Solar Panels

[Joel Barlow]

Alas, the little solar panel from the Chinese baseball cap I bought long ago at the (new) airport does not supply power sufficient to recharge a motorcycle battery...

Yesterday's newspaper said the (mainland) Chinese will be making cheap panels soon, but that unit cost for solar power remains significantly more expensive. Still, i have seen panels on roofs, and would like to know commercial details. Have not yet found where they are sold. Anyone know?

[chownah]

Alas, the little solar panel from the Chinese baseball cap I bought long ago at the (new) airport does not supply power sufficient to recharge a motorcycle battery...

Yesterday's newspaper said the (mainland) Chinese will be making cheap panels soon, but that unit cost for solar power remains significantly more expensive.  Still, i have seen panels on roofs, and would like to know commercial details.  Have not yet found where they are sold.  Anyone know?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you look at the panels that you see out and about you may find that most/all of them are for heating water and not for making electricity. Don't know where to get PV panels but I've seen links posted here on TV...seek and ye shall find.

[Gary A]

I live in Loei province and just today I was returning home from the village of Nong Hin and spotted a solar panel mounted on just a piece of pipe in the front yard of a small Thai house. It appeared to be very thin and was about 8 by 4 feet in size. I very much wanted to stop and take a look at it and learn some details. The next time the Thai wife is with me I'll see if she is willing to go talk to the occupants.

Alas, the little solar panel from the Chinese baseball cap I bought long ago at the (new) airport does not supply power sufficient to recharge a motorcycle battery...

Yesterday's newspaper said the (mainland) Chinese will be making cheap panels soon, but that unit cost for solar power remains significantly more expensive.  Still, i have seen panels on roofs, and would like to know commercial details.  Have not yet found where they are sold.  Anyone know?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[redbicycle]

Alas, the little solar panel from the Chinese baseball cap I bought long ago at the (new) airport does not supply power sufficient to recharge a motorcycle battery...

Yesterday's newspaper said the (mainland) Chinese will be making cheap panels soon, but that unit cost for solar power remains significantly more expensive. Still, i have seen panels on roofs, and would like to know commercial details. Have not yet found where they are sold. Anyone know?

As i as i know the amphur will supply free to the tentant if their place canot get the government pwer supply. I ever talk to the owner before he say he ask it for free and te company that supply it its in sukhumit. bkk.

[Limbo]

The solar panels in the little Akha/Lahu village at Nam Tok Huay Maesai are good for 150 Watt.

Every house had got one.

So finally these villagers can enjoy the blessings of Thai television.

Limbo

[lannarebirth]

Alas, the little solar panel from the Chinese baseball cap I bought long ago at the (new) airport does not supply power sufficient to recharge a motorcycle battery...

Yesterday's newspaper said the (mainland) Chinese will be making cheap panels soon, but that unit cost for solar power remains significantly more expensive. Still, i have seen panels on roofs, and would like to know commercial details. Have not yet found where they are sold. Anyone know?

As i as i know the amphur will supply free to the tentant if their place canot get the government pwer supply. I ever talk to the owner before he say he ask it for free and te company that supply it its in sukhumit. bkk.

Nonelectrified rural homes qualify for solar panels from the electric authority. It's a long waiting list. I'm on the list for 2 and after 1 1/3 years am getting the first one this month. It is a program in association with Solartron, the primary Thai manufacturer of solar panels. Ther is a new program I believe that will provide solar panels for pumping water, so that rural farmers may participate in the more lucrative produce production sphere. You can check out Solartron at

http://www.solartron.co.th/ . There really isn't much difference in the price of solar panels anywhere, whether you buy from US/UK or China. Solar panels are a commodity and the price is about $USD4/watt and tack pn anothe buck for batteries/controllers. There is possibly something new on the horizon however, and that is this www.naosolar.com . when or if it comes to fruition I can't say. For Thailand I like the idea of task oriented solar power, but I think it is not the best solution for supplying a homes complete energy needs, unless price comes down considerably.

[chownah]

Joel Barlow,

The description for this topic says that you are interested in finding alternative energy sources....and I'll tell you there is a very reliable source of energy that is often overlooked....it is the turning of the earth!! Think about it....every rotating body has energy stored in it and the more mass the rotating body has the more energy it has stored...and lets face it...one of the most massive bodies on earth is in fact the earth itself!!!!!.....hard to argue with that but I'm sure some will.

Anyway, I have my own (as yet unpatented) method for extracting energy from the turning of the earth...if you want to know how it works just let me know and I'll post it here just don't tell anyone since it isn't patented yet.

Chownah

[chang35baht]

Joel Barlow,

The description for this topic says that you are interested in finding alternative energy sources....and I'll tell you there is a very reliable source of energy that is often overlooked....it is the turning of the earth!! Think about it....every rotating body has energy stored in it and the more mass the rotating body has the more energy it has stored...and lets face it...one of the most massive bodies on earth is in fact the earth itself!!!!!.....hard to argue with that but I'm sure some will.

Anyway, I have my own (as yet unpatented) method for extracting energy from the turning of the earth...if you want to know how it works just let me know and I'll post it here just don't tell anyone since it isn't patented yet.

Chownah

Ok Chow, for the benefit of everyones curiosity I`ll ask you. How does it work?

[Simmo]

Anyway, I have my own (as yet unpatented) method for extracting energy from the turning of the earth...if you want to know how it works just let me know and I'll post it here just don't tell anyone since it isn't patented yet.

Chownah

Great. I have a perpetual motion machine to sell you.

[chownah]

First I need to explain some principles....then to the design of the device. I'm kind of low energy these days so it might take a few posts to get the job done.

Start with a gyroscope. A gyroscope is a rotating mass held in a low friction frame. A gyroscope will always try to point in the same direction...that is to say the gyroscopes axle (also called its axis) will always try to point in the same direction. By direction here I mean the same direction relative to space in general and not relative to the surface of the earth in particular. This means that if you placed a gyroscope in a gimbal (google "define:gimbal") at either of the rotational poles of the earth...placed it so that its axis was horizontal and then watched it over a period of hours or days or weeks what you would see is that the gyroscope would appear to rotate once each day. This is a result of the gyroscope maintaining the direction of its axis and the earth turning around underneath it.

It is essential that you understand what I have written so far for the understanding of how my apparatus works (perhaps you've guessed already). If you do not understand what I have written and wish to continue following this discussion...then it is best that you ask for a clarification of what I have written because it is absolutely essential in the explanation.

Chownah

[chownah]

Well, since no one has flamed me yet and no one has indicated they are in the dark concerning my previous post...I will continue....but please if you do have a question just go ahead and post it and I'm sure we can all argue about the answer.

So...since a gyroscope placed on a gimbal at the north (or south) pole (not magnetic pole by the way...the rotational pole) so that the axis of rotation is horizontal will appear to rotate in a horizontal plane once per day...every day...for as long as the gyroscope and the earth turn. It turns out (no pun intended) that you can place a gyroscope anywhere in the world and see a similar effect so long as the rotational axis of the gyroscope is oriented so that it will be parallel to the that could be placed at the earths north (or south) pole. This is a bit hard to understand but it is not critical that you understand this 100%...the important thing for you to accept is that this can be done anywhere and it is not just limited to the north (or south) poles (not the magnetic poles...the rotational poles).

So...if you now accept that if a gyroscope is properly oriented for a particular location on the earth you will see its rotational axis appear to rotate once per day....be sure you understand that I'm not talking about the gyroscope turning on its axis spinning rapidly around...I'm talking about the axis itself turning in a sort of "head over heals" fashion.

Next, just imagine that the gimbal that supports the gyroscope has a magnet at its base which is attached to the gimbal so that it turns around with the gyroscope once per day....you are using the gyroscopes support mechanism to turn a magnet so it rotates once per day. Now imagine a coil of wired surrounding the magnet and.....voila...you have an electrical generator!!!!.....of course it is a very small one............but........imagine that your gyroscope is a HUGE hunk of concrete..or steel ..or lead..or whatever you can image that is really massive and could be made into a spinning mass!!!!....and attach to this giant heavy duty gimbal a really really big magnet with lots of wire coils around it!!!!!......and voila....you have a very big electrical generator!!!!

There are a few bugs to iron out with this apparatus. For one, the generator IS very big....but it still only produces a very small amount of electricity....but if you had million of giant spinning rocks or what have you then who knows what is possible?

There is another problem. I haven't done the calculations on this so maybe someone out there could take on this task. You have to get the gyroscope spinning before this will work (obviously) and it takes energy to get that mondo mass of whatever spinning....and the energy you get out is unfortunately quite small....so it might take a million years or so to get back the energy it required to set the whole thing up and get it spinning to start with......but I haven't done the calculations yet so maybe it would only take a mere 1000 years or so...don't know for sure....I'm sure the venture capitalists would want this figured out before they cut loose with the billions in development capital......and there is the problem of developing perfectly frictionless bearings to support this mother of all massive spinning objects....but....well....I don't know....but in theory....it should work....sort of....maybe....why not?

Chownah

[Nongwahyay]

Could it be that Chownah is pulling our gimbal???????????

[percy2]

Well, since no one has flamed me yet and no one has indicated they are in the dark concerning my previous post...I will continue....but please if you do have a question just go ahead and post it and I'm sure we can all argue about the answer.

So...since a gyroscope placed on a gimbal at the north (or south) pole (not magnetic pole by the way...the rotational pole) so that the axis of rotation is horizontal will appear to rotate in a horizontal plane once per day...every day...for as long as the gyroscope and the earth turn. It turns out (no pun intended) that you can place a gyroscope anywhere in the world and see a similar effect so long as the rotational axis of the gyroscope is oriented so that it will be parallel to the that could be placed at the earths north (or south) pole. This is a bit hard to understand but it is not critical that you understand this 100%...the important thing for you to accept is that this can be done anywhere and it is not just limited to the north (or south) poles (not the magnetic poles...the rotational poles).

So...if you now accept that if a gyroscope is properly oriented for a particular location on the earth you will see its rotational axis appear to rotate once per day....be sure you understand that I'm not talking about the gyroscope turning on its axis spinning rapidly around...I'm talking about the axis itself turning in a sort of "head over heals" fashion.

Next, just imagine that the gimbal that supports the gyroscope has a magnet at its base which is attached to the gimbal so that it turns around with the gyroscope once per day....you are using the gyroscopes support mechanism to turn a magnet so it rotates once per day. Now imagine a coil of wired surrounding the magnet and.....voila...you have an electrical generator!!!!.....of course it is a very small one............but........imagine that your gyroscope is a HUGE hunk of concrete..or steel ..or lead..or whatever you can image that is really massive and could be made into a spinning mass!!!!....and attach to this giant heavy duty gimbal a really really big magnet with lots of wire coils around it!!!!!......and voila....you have a very big electrical generator!!!!

There are a few bugs to iron out with this apparatus. For one, the generator IS very big....but it still only produces a very small amount of electricity....but if you had million of giant spinning rocks or what have you then who knows what is possible?

There is another problem. I haven't done the calculations on this so maybe someone out there could take on this task. You have to get the gyroscope spinning before this will work (obviously) and it takes energy to get that mondo mass of whatever spinning....and the energy you get out is unfortunately quite small....so it might take a million years or so to get back the energy it required to set the whole thing up and get it spinning to start with......but I haven't done the calculations yet so maybe it would only take a mere 1000 years or so...don't know for sure....I'm sure the venture capitalists would want this figured out before they cut loose with the billions in development capital......and there is the problem of developing perfectly frictionless bearings to support this mother of all massive spinning objects....but....well....I don't know....but in theory....it should work....sort of....maybe....why not?

Chownah

SWAS

I haven't seen Al in a while hope he is ok.

Always entertaining.