Wednesday, February 26, 2020

I was about to forget Texas History Season

https://wmckemie.blogspot.com/2019/02/im-lazy.html

In searching for today's happenings (in 1836), I found:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Texas_Revolution
A great resouce!
San Antonio was taken by Santa Anna a few days ago.  The Alamo is under seige.  Ill fated Fannin in Goliad has received a plea for aid.

For months, I have been averaging a few pages per night of "Three Roads to the Alamo".  HIGHLY recommended.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/615501.Three_Roads_to_the_Alamo
I'm tempted to describe it as a recounting of the pre-Alamo lives of Bowie, Crockett, and Travis.  But, of course, they had no lives after the fall of the Alamo.

Consider observing Independence Day, then San Jacinto Day, and honoring those who gave us Texas.

Australian Fast Deploy PV

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-powerwall-solar-australia-fires/
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/02/21/teslas-helping-australian-bushfire-victims/

The ground mounted panels are very similar to my "Steeply Sloped Two Face Rails".

They are semi-obviously configured to spread the peak of production in order to capture as much energy as possible in PowerWalls.   I use the peak spreading to maximize my use of transformers and AC wiring.  But, in a micro grid with Power Wall storage, it is important to try to keep maximum power below that which can be accepted by PowerWalls; that is, 5 kw per PowerWall battery.

The Australian scheme is instructive in that the upper panel ends are self supported; no rail.  It appears wind stability is acheived by weighted lower panel attachments.  Pondering this very efficient PV mounting scheme makes one realize how terribly inefficient (read: "costly") roof mounts are.

If anyone susses out more detailed "direct from Australian" information, please post.

I found this absolutely HORRIBLE multi-media web site:
https://5b.com.au/
But, it leads to:
https://www.resilientenergy.com.au/

Here are a few quesitons.  The panels used by 5B seem to be bigger than 72 cell.  Can anyone count?  The standard module seems to be made of pairs of 5 panel rows.  Each module seems to be made of four pairs of rows of panels sitting on five ground blocks.  I wonder what power those modules might produce?   One photo seems to have a string inverter but I could not identify.

In some photos there are indications that the mount blocks that rest on the ground are tied to the ground.  Are they concrete blocks?

I imagine that 5B has given it far more thought and study than I.  But, I'm surprised at the shallow tilt angle of the panels.

Ray offers this link to 5B brochure:
https://5b.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Maverick-Brochure_180919.pdf


3/1/2020
I've been pondering.   What is needed to construct the hinges needed at the tops and bottoms of the panels?  A long piece of metal that has a "P" crossection.  The P can be cut into relatively short lengths of 1" to 6" and attached to the backs of the panel frames with the commonly available self drilling and self tapping screws.  Hinge geometery could be used so that all panels are identical.  The tops of the East facing panels must have the hinge segments offset from the positions used by the West facing.  That is, the "tops" of the panels are used for the tops of East facing while the "bottoms" are used for West facing tops.  Likely only four hinge segments are needed for each panel, two top and two bottom.  The hinge stock material could be constructed of steel; round tubing plus a flat.  Or, it could be extruded aluminum.  The hinge axle diameter, perhaps 1/4" to 1/2".  Likely steel rod for the axle.  Or tubing if the diameter was 1/2" or greater.  The same hinge stock could be used to attach the lower hinges to the ground plates though it might be easier/cheaper to use another form.

I'm eager to see details of what 5B has done.  I continue to think that a steeper angle might be better.  Certainly better for pushing production away from mid-day and thereby maximizing potential energy production with the available "to grid" capacity.   A limited "to grid" capacity is the same as the limit imposed by limited battery charging capacity if something like PowerWalls are used in a micro grid.  I'm viewing this 5B system possiblity as a cheaper and sturdier ground mount rather than a fast deploy system.

If popularized, the hinge system could be made into the panel frames at the time the panels are made.  Stacking for shipment might be a problem.  On the other hand, the hinges might be used to stablize a stack of panels on a pallet.  The hinges might make a better and cheaper roof top mounting system.



Monday, February 24, 2020

Ray's new chademo charger

https://photos.app.goo.gl/X3eMKs6Gz1pgLcC37

The charger is from http://evseadapters.com :
https://www.evseadapters.com/products/portable-chademo-ccs-combo-dc-quick-charger/

7+ kw from a "normal" 240vac source.  Shown in a chair in the first photo.
The third photo shows the source power adapter, J1772 -> NEMA 14-50R.  The charger is equipped with a NEMA 14-50P.

I first test charged an imiev which has a 3.3kw onboard charger.   The chademo charger was set to a limit of about 4kw so it was not appreciably faster than from J1772.  With full power supply, it should charge any chademo equipped car at 7+kw.  Note that commerical chademo stations have an upper limit of 50kw though it is rumored that many do  not do more than about 30kw.

2/26/2020
Ray has corrected my imiev charge power estimate in a comment below.  With normal AC J1772 charging, the imiev is limited to 3.3kw.  The test DC charge was about 5kw and could be "dialed up" to over 7kw.  That is, my imievs can be charged in less than half the time.
Ray wishes to clarify his reasoning for buying an external DC charger instead of having the onboard AC charger repaired on his RedLeaf.  A Dallas Nissan dealer gave a quote for the repair of about $3k.  The Nissan dealer charged a $300 fee for that quote; a good example of why Teslas are gaining popularity.  Ray correctly reasoned that he would be putting $3k into a $1k-$2k car bringing it's worth to $2k-$4k.  The more costly DC charger (about $3.5k, I believe) is portable and can but used on multiple cars even after the target car dies again.

At this writing, the jury is out on charging the pictured Tesla.  The charger was indicating a normal charge but the car, 4th photo, was indicating no charging.
Note there is almost no reason to use the chademo charger on a Tesla.

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Storage Food


I made a run down to the LDS store in San Antonio.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YTMh1y5iSdXMUg5B6

More than 12 cases of 6 #10 cans will fit in a Model 3.  Maybe 15-18.  I picked a case each of eleven items that have a shelf life of 30 years.

https://simplefamilypreparedness.com/lds-home-storage-centers-lds-canneries/

Their menu / price list:
https://providentliving.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/providentliving/content/content/english/self-reliance/food-storage/home-storage-center-order-form/pdf/HomeStorageCenterOrderForm-US-short.pdf?lang=eng
Delivered rather than picked up from a store, each case costs about $10 more.

2/29/2020
Made another run to the LDS store.  Contrary to my fears, it was not too crowded though the people there did comment on the increased sales due to the pandemic scare.  I overheard conversation about limiting amounts sold to each customer.  I'm guessing that might apply to more than a few cases of each item.

I got one more can of each of the 30 year items so I can test/experiment without breaking cases.  Plus, I got some less than 30 year stuff.  Honey, carrots, potatoes, peanut butter.  They had no granola.  I will be making one or more InstaPot batches to try out.  Likely one or more kinds of beans, some rice, onions, canned SAMs tomatoes.  I suspect it would be best to leave out oats, and pasta.  Suggestions solicited.  I will have surplus from each opened can; neighbors are welcome to try on their own.

3/14/2020
I just returned from a trip to Nawlins and points north.  I stopped in the Slidell LDS store because I had failed to find granola in the San Antonio store.  The LDS volunteers in Slidell told me that granola had been dropped from their available products.  A chat with the people there revealed that their sales were way up due to the pandemic.  Little to no panic buying, though.  They seemed to have most everything in stock.   LDS folks are exceeding nice and helpful.

3/21/2020
The panic is officially on!  I see all sorts of irrational behavior.
I finally got around to making an InstaPot concoction yesterday.  I found I need another/better can opener to open the #10 cans.
1) white beans, 3 cups
2) white rice, 2 cups
3) onions, 1 cup
4) somewhere around 15 cups of water
I had intended to put in some tomatoes and sausage or other meat but did not get around to it.
I did no presoaking and cooked without pressure.  About two hours; the Great Northern beans seem to need less rehydrating time than pintos.

It came out VERY well! Rice overcooked, beans undercooked slightly.  Doctored at serving time with some combination of creole seasoning, margarine, blended chipolote jalapenos, shredded cheese.
I gave away one quart, ate about a quart, put three quarts in the freezer and have more than a quart left to eat today.

When you see propaganda in the news about people going hungry and the need to donate food, consider that the above contains about $2 worth of ingredients and produces about 5 man-days worth of food.  If stimulated, I may make closer estimates.  One quart might serve as a full day's food supply for one person.

3/28/2020
Starting my second InstaPot concoction.  I decided to do a better estimate of cost:
1) white beans 
.71 lb/cup  3 cups = 2.13 lb; $2.00
#10 can cost $5 for 5.3 lb; $.9434/lb
2) white rice   
.84 lb/cup  2 cups = 1.68 lb;  $1.31
#10 can cost $4.25 for 5.4 lb;  $.78/lb
3) onions         
.33 lb/cup  1/2 cup = .16 lb; $.61
#10 can cost $8 for 2.1 lb; $3.81/lb
Total cost for the 3 ingredients is $3.92.  My estimate is that one pot will feed one person for about 6 days.  $.66 per day plus whatever meat and serving time additions might be made.
Today, I will cook beans for an hour or so before adding rice and put a link of Italian sausage in with the beans.  Note I have adjusted the first recipe by reducing onions to 1/2 cup.

4/24/2020
I made my 3rd white bean/rice InstaPot concoction today.  A slight improvement on even cooking.  For the first time, I soaked the beans a couple of hours.  Also added a few fresh carrots.  No added meat/sausage.  Can of beans is nearly exhausted, the rice, about half.  So, the can of beans might serve 30-40. 
As with other batches, I will eat on them a couple of days and freeze several quarts to consume over the next couple of weeks.

THEN, on to pintos or black beans!

8/17/2020
After a hiatus, I made another Instapot.  My hog trapper has been supplying me a lot of hog meat and I've being given a lot of cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes.  I addition, I've been dealing with a lot of my pears.
I opened a fresh can of black beans, used some rice, SAMs canned tomatoes, and blended canned chipotole jalapenos.  Came out well.

I'm almost convinced I can get by without a grocery store.   I still buy cheese, avocados, bread, totillas, potatoes, onions, carrots.
 

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Record day for PV energy sales

February 2, 2020 I sold 130.5 kwh to my utility through my house meter.  That's the most for any single day on any meter.  That's above my normal daily use of 20-25kwh with no EV charging or air conditioning.  My water heater consumes about 2 kwh/day.

How many panels?  I've previously reported 157: https://wmckemie.blogspot.com/2019/05/httpsphotos.html
Current count is 197.  140 of those are on a too small wire which limits peak power.  A problem I'm working on correcting.  My observed total peak powers are about 20kw.  My new transformer should support 30-40kw and I will be working to achieve those levels.  So, I might look forward to ~240 kwh/day.  Perhaps more since my new steeply sloped TwoFaced Rails are less limited by peak power.

The 130 kwh should be worth about $8.32.  Out of that, I have to pay a ~$.75 connection fee.  With ~35kw production, I might see peak daily values of around $15 on the house meter.  I have one other meter that will likely achieve those levels of sales before the house meter.  On that peak day, the other meter produced a sale of 103.7 kwh but that was through a 15 kva (15kw) transformer.

2/10/2020
The OTHER side of the coin!
On 2/09/2020, I sold only 2.9kwh to my utility.  The cause?  Heavy overcast all day.  I barely got the PowerWall charged and the water heated.  Early in the day, I went off grid so the PowerWall would not be tempted to do any selling to the grid.  I went back on grid only after the PowerWall was nearly charged.
Prospects for today look worse.  Near noon, my PowerWall is down to 28% and losing ground; I'm producing 200-300 watts and using 400-600 watts.

2/15/2020
Another record on 2/14/2020: 134.8 kwh after having added 12 more panels on a "steeply sloped Two Faced Rail" in south field.  That was not an "all day sun" day.  I still have about 10 more panels to add to that rail.

2/26/2020
New record for 2/25/2020: 141.3 kwh as reported by the utility.  My Curb energy monitoring shows production for that day of 170 kwh.  Curb measured production (as opposed to utility reported sales of 134.8 kwh) for 2/14/2020 was 149 kwh.  I can hope for a 50% increase in peak power production with the 37.5 kva transformer.  Therefore, I can hope for peak sales of up to 200 kwh/day.   I continue to plot.

2/28/2020
New record for 2/27/2020: 144.6 kwh.  $9.25 less $.75.   Across the road meter sold 130.8 kwh.  Coming up on $20 for good days.  Curb has been working only intermittenly.  That's, I think, due to cloud dependence.

3/6/2020
New record for 3/5/2020: 148.4 kwh.  $9.50 less $.75.  Production was 160 kwh.
Across the road sale was 130.9 kwh.

4/14/2020
New record for 4/13/2020: 159 kwh.  $10.33 less $.75.  Production was 169 kwh.
Across the road sale was 129.5 kwh.  The power was turned off part of the day due to electric work.
Coincidentally, 4/13 was the last day of the billing period.  Before the bill is generated, my best guess is that the bill will be a credit of $190.  That due to a generally cloudy rainy month.  I did run air conditioning two or three days of the month.  WAIT!  I can quantify the AC demand.....14.1 kwh.  I see I also used about 10kwh car charging.

4/27/2020
New record for 4/26/202: 185.1 kwh.  Nearly $12 worth.  Production was 230.5 kwh.  Across the road sale  of 147.5 kwh.  The house production was enhanced by replacing some panels and increasing power capacity to south field with a second wire.  Peak powers went from 20-21kw to ~25kw.  Potential, with the current 37.5kva transformer, should be 30-40kw.  An additional 6kw worth of panels (or maybe 12kw) is planned in a 2-6 month time frame.
Across the road now has a 50kva transformer replacing the 15kva and power/energy over there will be going up soon as I develop the "north of party shed" field.  "Good days" will soon be giving me ~$25 on the two meters.

5/11/2020
New record for 5/10/2020: 194.6 kwh.  Aided by no need to run air conditioner.  Production was measured to be only 181 kwh.  There was likely some energy missed due to internet outage.  Across the road sales were 151 kwh but 197.8 kwh the day before.  I have additional PV across the road but am having trouble keeping it all operating.  Peak powers at both meters are around 25 kw so I have additional capacity to grow into.  I'm working on it.

7/4/2020
Bluebonnet has completely screwed up their "report daily energy to customers" system.  So, the Bluebonnet data has not been reliably available to me.  Looking back from July 4, I see at least one record that went unreported at the time.
209 kwh were sold 6/12/2020.
Even with increasing production, setting records has been more difficult due to the around the clock use of air conditioning and the daily ~2kwh use for water heating.
I believe the peak day sale on the "across the road" meter has been 253kwh.  No water heating or air conditioning over there.
My peak credit has been $684.95 for the 31 day billing period that ended 6/11/2020.



Saturday, February 1, 2020

Fully Charged at COTA

A VERY successful and well attended event!  I am heartened that the EV revolution has finally hit the tipping point where a recurrance of the sabatoge perpetrated by GM and partners in the early 1990s is not possible.  There was an EV1 on display which I hope will push the attendees to educate themselves on EV history.  A good starting point:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_encumbrance_of_large_automotive_NiMH_batteries
https://insideevs.com/news/398686/audi-e-tron-tows-gm-ev1/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-all-

Actor turned YouTube pod caster, Rodney Llewellyn, in his current incarnation of
https://fullycharged.show was the driving force behind the event.  Chelsea Sexton (/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Sexton) was one of the panel moderators.

I was attending mainly to learn more of one of my speculations, a Finnish charging infrastructure company: https://www.parkingenergy.com/.  On arrival, I found the plans for shuttling attendees the ~1.5 miles from the parking lots to the event building were overwhelmed by the volume of attendees.  So, I jumped in helping other Tesla drivers in the shuttling service.  I just moved all the junk in the back of my car rearward and folded the rear seats up.  I did get one favorably comment that I probably had the dirtiest Tesla on the COTA grounds.  Other Tesla owners tend to be obscessive about car cleanliness.  I still have some Candadian gravel road mud on my car (from an August 2019 trip).  I returned the second day, Sunday, to do more shuttling.  Though attendance the second day was a bit down.  Maybe something to do with the SuperBowl conflict.  I found the shuttling more comfortable than roaming the exhibits and sitting through presentations.

Quite a few EV test drives were being given by several manufacturers including the Audi Etron and Chevrolet Bolt.  Many individuals gave test drives/rides in their Teslas (including Roadsters).  Though the Tesla company was absent there was a large Tesla owner presence.  Two Xs were displayed with camper trailers in tow.  Quite a few very nice conversions were displayed.

Test rides were not associated with the shuttling service but I had one couple request a demo as they were being returned to the parking lot.  I kicked it out of "chill" mode and exited the COTA facility.  Just at the exit, I was presented with about 1/4 mile of empty road so I did the acceration demo up to about 80 mph.  Then, on down the road to demonstrate AutoPilot.  Likely, another Tesla sale made for about 10 miles of test ride.

Probably the major attraction was the Rivian pickup truck and SUV.  They were not driven, only on display.  I asked one of the Rivian people manning the exhibit if the cars had been driven to the event.  "No", they had been trucked in.  So, I don't know how functional the cars are.  Rivian had offered 50% discount on event tickets to reservation holders.  That was a major reason for the heavy attendence.

While shuttling, I was able to survey the reasons for attendence and the locations represented.  The Austin area was not overwhemingly the home.  Perhaps Austin was less than half.  A good fraction of the attendees I asked had come to see the Rivians.  I did not fail to mention that, compared to the CyberTruck, the Rivians have a charging problem for long trips.

Much of my chatting with riders contained questions like: "When did you get your car?"  "How far have you driven it?",  "How do you like it?"  "Have you had any trouble with it."  Answers included "I bought my first S in early 2013; it now has ~130k miles on it.  One no cost battery replacement.  This car is a little more than a year old.  Odometer is approaching 30k miles.  I drove it this summer one charge beyond Edmonton.  I more recently circumnavigated the Grand Canyon.  I have not encountered a Tesla owner who is not in love with his car.  Every Tesla owner is a Tesla salesman."  "This is one of the very rare 3s with SuperCharging."

One of my riders was a very well versed but new 3 owner.  He demonstrated how to use voice control which I had admitted to not using much.  "Turn dome lights on".  "Set climate to 65 deg".  "Turn air conditioning off".  All worked well despite a new voice not well positioned and with some background noise.

Ticket demand was so high that they closed Saturday sales a few days before the event; Sunday ticket sales continued.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mpag5Lev7torm3LWA

Photos:
1) Audi Etron; several were offered for test drives.
2) and 3) The first show event in the larger of the two "theaters".  There were about 17 rows of 18 seats.  300+ seats.  The seating area was lined on three sides with people standing about three deep and there were people sitting on the floor.  Another 200+.  In 3), Chelsea Sexton is on the left on the stage.  This room, rather misnamed "Giga Theater", hosted quite a few indoor exhibits as well as the stage.  Across an entrance hall, was the "Mega Theater" which I did not enter; it hosted parallel concurrent presentations.
4)-6) The Parking Energy exhibit.
7) Some of the outside displays.  This is the starting point for test drives.
8)-11) The Rivian display of their pick up truck and SUV.  Further down: more photos before the Sunday event start.
12)-13) Conversions were well represented.  Including from EVWest.
14)-21) Inside displays including the EV1.  The Taycan was not driven.
22)-25) Valence has been resurrected as LithiumWerks (https://lithiumwerks.com/).  Like Valence, they have little interest in selling small quantities.


https://youtu.be/Z56qQjoPGB0