600 watts - adding up the actual cfl watts i.e 15w x 20 is what I ment
a custom version could be made for higher watts
if you have a electronic ballast , it could work to power the 4' tubes , but the wsb could also power the tube without a ballast by modifling it to but out the higher volts
I will be testing that[ Parent ]
I will be testing that"
This sounds enteresting. Another question then, since it's hard to push DC compared to AC, but we are talking low amps/watts also how heavy of wire would something like this need for running several or many 4' light tubes the best way? If all the lights are wired on one circuit at maybe 600watts would the standard house wire AC lines be usable or need rewired? At 120Vdc that would only be 5amps and about 6 amps at 96Vdc.
Example of what I mean, take the standard small retail store with many of those 4' and 8' fixtures. Or restarunts too. Would it be worth while for just CFL lighting to run all those fixtures off a few of these and batteries direct compared to using inverters?
I am thinking perhaps your board is supposed to use less DC directly than running DC though an inverter and making AC for the same job. Is that also correct?. nothing to lose
Spelin and tpying are my strong points, not electronics.[ Parent ]
#12 would be a little more
so you would just turn up the volts
I have run them @ 200v dc
direct would be better then a inverter , less lost [ Parent ]
Many of the retail stores (smaller stuff) I been around have the lights on breakers seperate from anything else, so they can be shut off at night and on in the day without effecting anything else in the store of course. So if half of those were wired to one of these boards and some batteries and either a windgenny or a few solar pannels, not alot of work or expense in changing out wiring and such? Pretty much just pull existing wires from the grids breaker and connect to this board and the power supply (battery bank)? Course you still want breakers and other stuff on the lights, but that's the basics of it? If so, makes changeing cheap and easy.
I know alot of places that each row of lights are on a seperate breaker. That would meen they could easily run row 1,3,5 off the grid and rows 2,4,6 off one of these. Never have to worry about total power and lights loss. For example a few days ago the entire city was without power for hours, so stores without back up had no normal lights at all. As matter of fact I just walked into the title office to register my trailer as the power went off, he had to fill out the paper in the dark, luckily the computers were on backups :)
Also I am thinking here all those great well light signs up on those giant posts, like BurgerKing, Wendies, Mc Crappy, gas stations etc.... Nearly all of those are CFL lit. Get those on batteries directly without inverters and major power savings nationwide!! All those signs are tall enough to be good wind gennie towers and also large enough to mount some solar on top of also. How hard would it be to set up a light sensor on the board to turn on at a certain low light level and off durring bright light, like weather conditons? Probably fairly easy? Just tap the power feed line from the batteries? Businesses replace those signs all the time for no reason. A total self powered package should be easy to sell. Inside most of those larger signs is just a big empty space and Light tubes basically. Plenty of room for Sealed lead acid batteries or others. And just running CFL lights all night (and several days backup) should not require any major sized banks really. Also I would think that wind loads on those signs would be far worse than the wieght of a few batteries pushing downwards.
Course for the signs everything could be mounted ground level and ran on wires same as from grid probably, but I am thinking self contained inside the sign itself adds lots of savings, 100' sign would NOT need 100' power line running up it :) Also they could be anywhere the grid is not, like billboards. Eliminating the power inverter and tons of wire provides tons of savings to pay for the other parts like solar pannels. Also makes everything more reliable.
As for me, I might like one or more for the house myself.. nothing to lose
They proved it themselves. A PV (or wind genny?) to charge the batteries, with a switching regulator type grid charger for backup, would save a lot of power and long term cost. They did not do it. (except BP that I know of, right after they bought a PV manufacturer... go figure)
Rants???
G-[ Parent ]
Most likely to many tax breaks to just waist it!
Kinda like the garbage they try to teach in every business class about 3 out of 5 businesses fail in the first 5 years. All crap!
2 of those 3 businesses that failed were a complete and total success!! They were intended to be tax breaks, intended to fail from the start, and the fact they failed makes them a really big success! Even I have done that! I even got paid a few times to help others do it.
Think about it :) If you need a tax deduction (writeoff) and want to vacation in a windy area like the Coast or Hawaii, start a windgennie business :) Take a vacation to China to look for Neos and Japan to find controllers :)
IRS says you have to make a profit 3 out of 5 years as I recall. Ok you claim the first year as a startup and it's exempt from that, 3 years of losses for deductions, go out of business in the 5th year. That's actaully 4 years of losses you can claim on the 3 out of 5 rule. In the meantime all those coastal vactions (err, business trips) to sell windmills are legitamate tax deductions. When you close that business go into solar, they have sun there too don't they. And yes I am serious about China and Japan too, as long as it can be shown to be for business in some way. Freinds have done it, I never needed the deductions to do it. (or had gthe money either)
Figure you also got about 35cents a mile deductions for driving around town and make everything you can a business trip also. Going to Wally world, buy something for the gennies a screw or a tool or something you need, business trip! Grab your other stuff since your already there on business :) Wanna take the kids to an amusement park 200 miles away, try to sell the park a windmill, business trip for 400 mile round trip. About $140 mileage deduction right there to help pay for expensive tickets. Just don't get to carried away with it, make it look real!
I set people up for a few of these in the past, but have not kept up with any recent changes in tax laws. I am maybe 5-8 yrs behind any changes, maybe more.
One person I remember very well made about $2,000 real profits, spendable money, and took about $10,000 in LEGAL tax deductions, making a total loss of about $8,000 to offset his other income. He did exactly what was intended and closed the business when he could no longer claim the losses, just opened another the next year for the same purpose.
I think that's why wally-world builds a brand new store and moves to the end of town, then about 3 years latter builds a brand new building acrossed the road and moves to it!! I know about 6 cities where they did that in the last 10 years or so. Some that they moved out of are now Sams clubs, some are just empty. Most likely all tax breaks in some way!
Since I like to drive so much and like west and southwest Texas I have been thinking about importing Mexican paintings and potery maybe some leather. Don't know the market now, but back in the late 70's it was great, and as things have a cycle it should be good now and picking up soon too, if the prices are still fairly low to buy it. That would make all my Texas, New Mexico, Arizona travels a deduction this year. That's alot of mileage!!. nothing to lose
