I was invited to do a tech talk by DEV.BG a few weeks ago, and I chose to discuss my recent heat pump upgrade project, the integration with the existing PV system, and Home Assistant. The tech talk was in…
Installing a rooftop solar panel system at our house was not a simple decision. In Bulgaria, household consumers have access to some of the lowest electricity prices in the EU, making it challenging to financially justify the cost of a…
We have a 4.88m x 2.74m x 1.22m (13m³) Bestway swimming pool in the backyard. We only use the pool when the pool water temperature is > 25°C, but it only happens if there are intensive sunshine and high ambient…
I am working on a smart IoT controller for my solar hot water tank and I need to be able to control its mode of operation over the Internet. My plan is to have the controller subscribe to an emonCMS…
Earlier this year I purchased a 220l non-pressurized evacuated tube solar heater and installed it myself on my rooftop. It is a relatively cheap (~440 Euro) solution for domestic hot water. I chose the non-pressurized type because of its simplicity…
I thought it would be a nice experiment to put the Funky in a solar-powered garden lamp. I got one recently with the intention to use it for that particular experiment, it is quite cheap, costs a little over one…
With the summer in its full glory, I am starting to see excess hot water generated by my solar water heater. In a sunny day I get up to 85 degrees C ( may even boil if not used up)…
As I already mentioned before, I have an non pressurized evacuated tube solar water heater on my roof. In that same post I outline the possibility to calculate the solar energy that will fall on a flat surface (panel) with…
In my previous post, I outlined how to calculate the solar energy that reaches a solar panel in any orientation at any time. In the mean time, I created an emoncms input processor that calculates the momentary yield based on…
I have been experimenting these days with the possibilities to calculate Sun’s position and the light intensity in kW/h that will be available for my 2.088m2 evacuated tube solar heater. I wanted to log this in emoncms and visualize as a baseline to compare…