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 temperatures for a few days in a row. To speed things up and extend the…
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 feed and depending on its value run in different modes (manual on, manual off, auto…
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 and relative safety in case of overheating. Also, it does not require additional pumps, cold…
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 euro. Inside we have a rechargeable battery of unknown type. I’d assume it is NiMH, it is size…
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) temperature in the 220l tank and my normal use is less. On the other side,…
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 arbitrary tilt and azimuth at any given day and time. The user AminfiBerlin immediately asked the natural…
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 the increases of temperature in the water tank (I will describe that in a separate…
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 against. So to do this I need to know the exact location of the Sun…