What was the RE related achievement your most proud of?

[Wolvenar]

List your first, biggest, or most impressive achievement so we can all share in your fun.
Got a RE project your really proud of, here is your chance to brag about it 

[David HK]

Its easy to answer that question.

I built an SMD version of the Ghurd controller and it works very well indeed.

David in HK

[bj]

  The solar install will be, when I get it done.
  In all honesty though, I think getting the addiction in the first place may be my best
achievement.  It has changed how I look at everything, and showed me that although I
can't change the world, I can change my little corner of it.

[tomw]

Personally, I am proud of our system (with 850 watts of solar, 1350 AH of storage supplemented by 3 turbines occasionally pushing a couple kilowatts into the batteries) that we built from a hobby into a significant source of our overall energy footprint. That, however, is not what I feel is my most significant "achievement".

I would have to say my efforts on the "other" forum to keep it a viable source of Spam free RE information for a bit over a decade fits that description.

And, of course, my involvement now with this forum after my self imposed exile from that "other" forum. Anyway, there you have it.

Since you asked.

Tom

[Wolvenar]

I applaud your efforts on all three achievements Tom, all constituted a huge investment of time.
We are all better for it.

[rossw]

I applaud your efforts on all three achievements Tom, all constituted a huge investment of time.
We are all better for it.

Here, here.

I appreciate it Tom, even if some others appear not to.

[frackers]

For 3 days after the 4th September 2010 magnitude 7.1 earthquake we were without mains power (not a long as many in the region but bad enough!). The domestic water pump, freezers, solar hot water pump/controller and a couple of hours of TV (to find out what had happened) were all supplied from the 450amp-hr of batteries and the wind turbine, all the while we were having over 600 aftershocks ranging from barely detectable 2.5's up to massive 5.5+ rocking the house and spitting more roof tiles into the gutters.

Exactly as planned (i.e. emergency supply), its just that we thought the "big one" would be the Alpine Fault and not a previously unknown fault-line running past the house within 2.5km of it.

I would say that the projected 200 years payback on the system was fully credited over those 3 days

Next project is some home made PV using the oztules method and grid-tying it but with a charger to the battery bank.

[rossw]

On thinking about it - I'd have to say the whole "taking the plunge" with the new house and going totally off-grid.
It's involved a myriad of RE and AE projects. Ultimately all quite satisfying but SO far out of my comfort zone at the time...

[tomw]

@frackers;

That is when An RE system truly shines. So far here it is only the rare few minutes of down time that we sail through. We get those twister things occasionally and they can knock out power over wide areas for months in some cases. Knowing you can keep some semblance of civilisation intact for your family has priceless value. Food storage, water and a light in the darkness are truly appreciated as you know.

Tom

[rossw]

Food storage, water and a light in the darkness are truly appreciated as you know.

I'd like to mis-quote that.

"Food storage, water and a light in the darkness are never appreciated... until they're not there"

[tomw]

@Ross;

In the words of my childhood heroes "Nyuk Nyuk".

Tom

[ChrisOlson]

I guess for me, getting this old thing running again.



















It's a Jacobs 23 foot turbine that I converted to battery charging.  But it never worked out.  It needed to run at 180 volts to put out the full rated 10 kW @ 25 mph wind speed.  The old grid-tie inverter for it was blown the but the multi-tap transformer in it was still good.  Even stepping that down with a transformer ended up being 350 amps, which our battery bank couldn't take.

I tried backing the governor springs off and that didn't work either.  The springs were too loose and the blades rattled all the time.  That was hard on the blade sleeves.

When I got it it had all the blades blown off it and the governor blade shafts were all bent.  I pulled the 1.25" governor off it and put on a 1.75 with new blades.  I tore the gearbox down and machined dual snap ring grooves in the mainshaft for the ring gear too, because the snap ring got folded over when the blades hit the tower.  I also replaced the old truck u-joints in the driveshaft with LoveJoy couplers, replaced the old steel disc brake rotor with a new cast one, and a bunch of other upgrades to it.

In the end it was a lesson on why wind turbines larger than 12 feet in diameter aren't practical for battery charging applications.  They're great in light winds.  When the wind blows you got enough power to run a small town.  Unless you got a "otherpower" 20 foot turbine and then the generator stator goes up in smoke and saves the day.  A Jake 23-10 don't go up in smoke.  It puts everything else it's hooked to up in smoke.

I still got the turbine but I'm not running it.  It was a constant headache worrying about a 20 mph gust coming along and melting everything I own into a molten glob.  Even though it didn't work, it was still fun getting it running after it sat on its tower for 19 years with no blades on it.
--
Chris

[kensue49]

In the late 70's I bought a copy of Mother Earth News"Handbook of Homemade Power".
I have been hooked on RE ever since.
Now 40 years later I am 1 year away from retirement and I have made a window mounted solar air collector, now gone with the second divorce.
I have a 120 watt solar panel and 240 AH 6 volt batteries in a 12 volt format.
I have killed two cheap modified sine wave inverters but I am loving the idea of solar.
I have a wind blue Delco converted wind generator to play with and no tower. I know but it was CHEAP.
I don't have the time yet to pursue solar and solar thermal as I would like but that will change in 14 months. I love reading about what others are doing and learning what I can.
Thanks to all of you for your insight and mistakes. I learn each time.
Kenneth

[Norm]

The one time I bought a $40 deepcycle battery from Walmart had a 240 watt inverter
and we had a power outage....was sure nice to have a fan going thanks to that.

Since then I've been hooked on RE
Norm

[madlabs]

Well, for me it's either building my power system and controller (660 watts solar, 1200 aH battery, DIY controller/data logger, or building my little windmill (treadmill motor, 40 tower, hand carved blades). Even though the windmill is a toy, I sure do like it.

Jonathan