Solar Panels are up, and Our Internet is now RE

[valterra]

We'll see how this goes.  Just my luck there'll be a week of cloudy, windless days.

I finally have my solar panels mounted on the roof.  I'm not going to bother with tracking and all that just yet.  My house faces south, and so they are tilted at whatever angle my roof is.  I'd call it "standard."  Pictures to come when I get a chance.  

Also, I finally did it!  I finally have regular loads on my batteries!  First, I installed one of 5 night lights that I got for Christmas TWO YEARS AGO.  It's on in one of our smaller hallways.  I don't think my wife cares for the LED-type lights that much.  I tend to agree.  They're best for accent lighting.  I think better would be some T8 or smaller fluorescents on some kind of motion sensor, or some 6v flashlight bulbs.  (I work for the railroad, and can get the bulbs for free).  But those kinds of things will have to wait.  Anyhow, it supposedly draws a whopping 15 mA!  I have it on 24/7 and will put in a photo sensor one of these days.  Not too worried about 15mA ya know?

I ran some 16 GA wire into my computer room.  My DSL Router and LAN Router are both hooked up to the batteries now.  The DSL Router draws about 1A and the LAN Router says 12vdc 1.25A.  I think that's a little power hungry myself, but at least they're running straight off of the (nominal) 12VDC bus instead of having to use some kind of voltage conversion.  I measured one of the AC Adapters, and it was putting out about 17 volts!  At least I know THAT device won't blow up when my batteries get upwards of 14.5 volts.

Recently we'd switched to a little-known (and not advertised) phone & internet service from Windstream called "Greenstreak."  You get free incoming calls and outgoing toll-free calls.  All other calls are 10c / minute.  Plus 3mb DSL service, all for $29.99 / month.  That's a good deal for us since we never call anyone except on our cell phones.

Anyway!  Now we have GREEN Greenstreak.  Aren't we a bunch of hoity-toities.  :-)

Hopefully the wind will blow and the sun will shine.  60Ah / day with those 2 loads can add up.  I think another wind genny (or using the "off" button) is in my future!

[Nothing40]

Congrats!

I've had my DSL modem (before that a 56K modem) and LAN hub/switch running on 12V batt/solar bank for several years now.The UPS is handy too! If the power goes out,I can still check e-mail,and surf,assuming the phone line is still up,and functional (it usually is,it's only ever been dead once in ~12years.)

[DamonHD]

Well done!

I'm trying to switch to a DSL router which is 12V DC to be able to run it from my RE system simply, alongside my Internet server.  I only expect to manage a few hours per day at most from off-grid RE given my limited collection area below roof level.

I have a question pending with Zyxel at the moment as to whether their '12V AC' power DSL modems will actually be happy with 12V DC nominal.

Rgds

Damon

[ghurd]

Great!

Damon, a lot of that stuff puts 12VAC into a bridge very near where the power goes in. Might be worth a look inside.

G-

[DamonHD]

Hi,

I am indeed willing to chance it for £100 max to replace the unit but:

1. It would be nice to have the informal blessing of the manufacturer, even though the warrantee is void instantly if I do it.
   
2. Officially this breaks rules about connecting stuff to the telephone wires that is mains powered I think (fried lines[wo]men), in so far as I doubt that I will be able to prove that I have met isolation requirements.
   
   

Rgds

Damon

[TomW]

Damon;

If it immediately full wave rectifies the AC from the brick, then just connecting 12 volts dc to the AC in port might work fine. No internal mods so no voiding of warranty.

You should also know that asking them if you can mod it is a waste of effort. Most are just drones and will not advise anything not already in the manual.

Just my opinion.

Tom

[ghurd]

That's my opinion too.

The "drones" can not even comprehend what you are asking.

Just for giggles, call and ask if the 50HZ unit will operate better on 180,000 cycles per hour, or if 50 Hertz is the only frequency it will operate on properly.

Will 180 kilocycles per hour void the warrenty?

Yes!  Sometimes I have way too much time to kill.

G-

[DamonHD]

Hi,

Technically using any telco equipment without the approved power supply is (a) illegal and (b) nukes the warrantee.

But, be astonished, they've been helpful already, in spite of both of the above.

Rgds

Damon

[dnix71]

I have my dsl box running from a small true sine wave inverter which powers the official wall adapter. Mine uses 10.5v ac, not dc.

The small inverter also powers the usb and firewire external harddrives that add storage to my laptop. Those run off regular 110ac. I spent $140 for a true sine wave inverter because the computer setup is the only one I have and would cost a lot of money to replace. Modified sine inverters are much cheaper, but I won't take the chance just to save $100.

[DamonHD]

Indeed, I have considered using an inverter this way (and have a cheap MSW inverter just in case), but the potential inefficiencies in the step up and step down make me cringe.

I assume that I'd be lucky to get even 50% efficiency round-trip given other constraints.

Rgds

Damon

[DamonHD]

For the record, the manufacturer, Zyxel, has been astonishingly helpful considering in particular that they might only make one sale from me.

So, chalk one up to excellent pre-sales customer service and that at least one of their xDSL modems with a nominal 12V AC in should work from a DC supply of 12V to 15V, though all guarantees are off.  Not official advice.

Rgds

Damon