Solar panals to power PC

***Yeshi*** · 02-08-2008

Hi,

Been sorting my house out recently.

Changed every single bulb from 40W to 11W Energy Saving bulbs.

Turned boilers tap temp down to a level where we dont have to add cold water when having a shower.

Put outside lighting which are on 8 hours a day on timers slimming down to 3 hours at night..

But my pc is on 24/7 and have been looking at PV Solar panals to charge batteries thus giving me the power to keep my pc on all the time..

That's about as far as i go.. don't know much about electrics..

Would a Solar panal be able to power my pc in winter months...

Would anyone here know what size panals would be needed and batteries etc??

**Channel Hopper** · 02-08-2008

You will need some solar panels (installed outdoors, and facing the sun most of the time) and a storage cell to accumulate the energy when it can be done, and give it out when needed.

If you can get a second motorised mount, it might be worth setting up the solar panels on that to maximise the energy input (maybe using the PC as a tracking device )

***2cvbloke*** · 02-08-2008

Simple answer is no. Unless you have a couple of thousand to spare, it's not going to be a simple case of slapping up a couple of panels and plugging it in to your PC. You'll need panels that can supply up to your PC's maximum wattage and more to cover the darker days and any other peripherals you use, you'll need a pretty large battery bank consisting of Deep-Cycle batteries (not cheap) for when there's no light, a solar charge controller, and lastly an inverter of suitable wattage...

The best option is to go for a wind turbine AND solar PV, that way you get power from the wind of the winter and the sun (yeah right!!) of the summer, you can get some neat little turbines which throw out a lot of power for much less than it would be for an equivalent solar setup, ignore the cheap tat from B&Q as they're lacking in power...

Either way, it's not cheap, so unless you're really commited, then I'd suggest just switching off the PC when it's not needed, unless it's running as a server or something, in which case just turn off everything bar the tower...

***Yeshi*** · 02-08-2008

Originally Posted by Channel Hopper

You will need some solar panels (installed outdoors, and facing the sun most of the time) and a storage cell to accumulate the energy when it can be done, and give it out when needed.

If you can get a second motorised mount, it might be worth setting up the solar panels on that to maximise the energy input (maybe using the PC as a tracking device )

Hi,

Cheers for the reply.

For the motorised system, sounds good but it would be a little expensive as the can be marketed at over £150.. adding the panal, batteries and invertor.. could be over £300 umm.. that by my reckoning.. lets see..

Lets asume 1kwh is £0.12p.. And the pc uses 1Kwh per day X over 365 days = £43.80 + rounded up to for peak surges £50.

Seems viable.. but i would have to make sure that the sun can charge my batteries to give me power 24/7 as stated..

im still stumped at what panals in Watt i would need.. and batteries etc...

As this is a DIY project im not employing someone to install and do all the worrying with calculations..

***2cvbloke*** · 02-08-2008

Actually, you might want to ask here, as they are in the know when it comes to solar PV...

_http://www.itsnoteasybeinggreen.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=28

(it's a spin-off forum of the BBC TV series of the same name)

***Yeshi*** · 03-08-2008

Originally Posted by 2cvbloke

Actually, you might want to ask here, as they are in the know when it comes to solar PV...

_http://www.itsnoteasybeinggreen.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=28

(it's a spin-off forum of the BBC TV series of the same name)

Cheers mate, your a star.

At this stage though im just looking into it.. but if what you say is right (which is more likely) then in winter i wouldnt get enough power..

Ill ask on that forum

cheers for link..

***2cvbloke*** · 03-08-2008

Originally Posted by Yeshi

Cheers mate, your a star.

At this stage though im just looking into it.. but if what you say is right (which is more likely) then in winter i wouldnt get enough power..

Ill ask on that forum

cheers for link..

No probs, I got my two panels through there advice, mine are only 8w total, but they're enough to charge a couple of batteries and power a light...

**HB13DISH** · 03-08-2008

Originally Posted by Yeshi

Hi,

Cheers for the reply.

For the motorised system, sounds good but it would be a little expensive as the can be marketed at over £150.. adding the panal, batteries and invertor.. could be over £300 umm.. that by my reckoning.. lets see..

Lets asume 1kwh is £0.12p.. And the pc uses 1Kwh per day X over 365 days = £43.80 + rounded up to for peak surges £50.

Seems viable.. but i would have to make sure that the sun can charge my batteries to give me power 24/7 as stated..

im still stumped at what panals in Watt i would need.. and batteries etc...

As this is a DIY project im not employing someone to install and do all the worrying with calculations..

Hi Yeshi,
A PC which is on 24 hours a day can consume more than 1KWh / Day
(1000 divided by 24 hours = 41 Watts, which seems very low as the usual PC power supply is supposed to handle 300-400 Watts).
The best way to figure this out is to try to switch off all appliances, read the electricity meter as accurately as possible, and then switch on the PC and work as usual.
After exactly one hour, check the reading again. The difference should give you the exact power consumption of this PC and all the attached peripherals.
It might be difficult to switch off all other appliances like a fridge, but this is the way I would go about it.
If part of the daily cycle the monitor is switched off, then this can bring the figure slightly down).
In my honest opinion, I wouldn't bother too much about powering the PC with solar panels or wind electricity generator, and just concentrate on using it for as less time as possible.
You had done already some major steps with the bulbs and heating.

***Yeshi*** · 03-08-2008

Originally Posted by HB13DISH

Hi Yeshi,
A PC which is on 24 hours a day can consume more than 1KWh / Day
(1000 divided by 24 hours = 41 Watts, which seems very low as the usual PC power supply is supposed to handle 300-400 Watts).
The best way to figure this out is to try to switch off all appliances, read the electricity meter as accurately as possible, and then switch on the PC and work as usual.
After exactly one hour, check the reading again. The difference should give you the exact power consumption of this PC and all the attached peripherals.
It might be difficult to switch off all other appliances like a fridge, but this is the way I would go about it.
If part of the daily cycle the monitor is switched off, then this can bring the figure slightly down).
In my honest opinion, I wouldn't bother too much about powering the PC with solar panels or wind electricity generator, and just concentrate on using it for as less time as possible.
You had done already some major steps with the bulbs and heating.

Hi there,

The figures which are posted above are from a friends pc.. he used a tester to check the output..

He purchased this tester because he didnt believe that his tv was using the same power on standby... when turned on it used something like 45W and on standby it used 2W. not something to really write home about..

My tower unit is on as like 2cv says its a server + the fact that i hate it booting up.. i just want to turn monitor on and away i go..

Im going to borrow my mates watt tester.

But i think if the tower, router and modem are powered by solar this could be viable..

The monitor which proberly uses allot more could be run from mains as this isnt on more than an hour a day..

Thanks for advice.. like i say im only thinking about it

All advice noted..

**HB13DISH** · 03-08-2008

The method outlined in my post is more accurate as it will show the exact cost of the use of electricity for one hour, which is what you are really after.
If the watt tester shows 41 watts (in accordance with 1kwh, then I would be very surprised and will even do this test myself, although it is rather difficult to switch off the air-conditioner in this hot weather that we usually have in August).

***Yeshi*** · 03-08-2008

Originally Posted by HB13DISH

The method outlined in my post is more accurate as it will show the exact cost of the use of electricity for one hour, which is what you are really after.
If the watt tester shows 41 watts (in accordance with 1kwh, then I would be very surprised and will even do this test myself, although it is rather difficult to switch off the air-conditioner in this hot weather that we usually have in August).

Hi,

Your method would be more acurate as ive not tested and just going off what someone else has told me.. (info from a retired zetec employee)..

I will borrow his tester and post the stats up here,...

Thankyou, youve been most helpful

***Yeshi*** · 11-08-2008

Done the test..

In an idle state of around 5 mins the pc tower unit showed on average 55watts..

In a average day scenario .. which includes downloading, browsing and checking emails via msn.. (all these instances at the same time over 5 mins) pushed out a max of 94Watts..

Also no matter how much i tried (opening closing diferent programs) i could not get it to rise anywhere above 94Watts..

So id suspect id be looking at 100Watts..

In the past half hour ive used 0.03kwh..

Remember you may have a 300watt power supply but this is the max that supply can handle.

**HB13DISH** · 11-08-2008

Originally Posted by Yeshi

Done the test..

In an idle state of around 5 mins the pc tower unit showed on average 55watts..

In a average day scenario .. which includes downloading, browsing and checking emails via msn.. (all these instances at the same time over 5 mins) pushed out a max of 94Watts..

Also no matter how much i tried (opening closing diferent programs) i could not get it to rise anywhere above 94Watts..

So id suspect id be looking at 100Watts..

In the past half hour ive used 0.03kwh..

Remember you may have a 300watt power supply but this is the max that supply can handle.

Hi Yeshi,
That's good news, well done.
It all depends on what the server is doing.
If it has for example an application that requires a lot of resources like a DVB-S card for satellite reception and/or recording to hard disk, then this figure would shoot up appreciably.
It is possible that your machine is with a newer motherboard with a better power saving components than mine, which is three years old.
Also in the UK it is much colder than here, so the ventillation power consumption is lower.
I am tempted now to do this test myself, under several conditions. Just need some time and a colder day so that I can switch off the air-conditioner.
Which remids me, is there a solar panel solution to generate 3000 watts?

BTW: Did you use your mate's power tester as well?

***pgh13*** · 11-08-2008

Originally Posted by Yeshi

Remember you may have a 300watt power supply but this is the max that supply can handle.

Of course, in a tower case you could have several hard drives and a couple of CDRs. In branded desktop machines you often find the PSU rated at 150W or less, but then the expansion options are restricted by the space available

***2cvbloke*** · 12-08-2008

Originally Posted by HB13DISH

Which remids me, is there a solar panel solution to generate 3000 watts?

Only in the deserts of the USA, possibly Africa too, but those are somewhat expensive setups...

For here in the UK, the cost would probably require you to remortgage your house...

If you want that much power, you'd be better off with a wind turbine and solarPV setup, but again, it would be very expensive...

**HB13DISH** · 12-08-2008

Originally Posted by 2cvbloke

Only in the deserts of the USA, possibly Africa too, but those are somewhat expensive setups...

For here in the UK, the cost would probably require you to remortgage your house...

If you want that much power, you'd be better off with a wind turbine and solarPV setup, but again, it would be very expensive...

Thanks 2cvbloke. I wasn't serious off course. I just got my bi-monthly electricity bill and it was shocking but the next bills should be OK once August is over.

***2cvbloke*** · 12-08-2008

Originally Posted by HB13DISH

Thanks 2cvbloke. I wasn't serious off course. I just got my bi-monthly electricity bill and it was shocking but the next bills should be OK once August is over.

There's always the option of reducing the amount of appliances and lights you use, and I definitely recommend the wind turbine option, as when using a Grid-Tie inverter, you can sell unused generated power to the powerco, which both reduces your bill, but, if you generate enough, your bills will be very pleasant in that they pay you to be connected to the grid!!!

Of course, you need a few turbines for that to happen!!!

**PoloMint** · 12-08-2008

Last time I looked at turbines (not to get one, just to see how effective they were) I worked out they would take 20+ years to pay for themselves. Are things any better now?

***2cvbloke*** · 13-08-2008

Originally Posted by PoloMint

Last time I looked at turbines (not to get one, just to see how effective they were) I worked out they would take 20+ years to pay for themselves. Are things any better now?

They have improved over they years and increased in capacity, but you have to look at the proper ones and not things you see in maplin or B&Q to get more wattage from them. also, avoid the chinese rubbish as fairly recently several of them have failed dramatically leaving the buyers out of pocket and with holes in their roofs due to the blades being shed...

I know of one person (or persons) in the US who built their own turbines and have managed to produce 1KW on a single turbine, which is damned impressive, but this sort of thing needs a little skill. There are other DIY options though like the Chispito turbine, made from little more than a treadmill motor and PVC pipe, a brilliant design...

**PaulR** · 13-08-2008

Here's a discussion and (not so detailed) plans of 2KW home built wind turbine.

Wouldn't fit on your average window ledge though with its 3.4m wingspan!

**PaulR** · 13-08-2008

Errrrrrm

Forgot to put the link in _http://www.reuk.co.uk/DIY-2kW-Wind-Turbine.htm

sorry.

***2cvbloke*** · 14-08-2008

Originally Posted by PaulR

Here's a discussion and (not so detailed) plans of 2KW home built wind turbine.

Wouldn't fit on your average window ledge though with its 3.4m wingspan!

cut & paste

Errrrrrm

Forgot to put the link in _http://www.reuk.co.uk/DIY-2kW-Wind-Turbine.htm

sorry.

There you go, 2.2kW peak, that'll power your PC no problem...

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