Saturday, March 31, 2012

Mystery project parts

I'm having the hardest time finding what parts I need for my mystery project.

It's not just finding the parts (either at an affordable price or by selvage) but also adjusting the system to compensate for the parts I've found.

My brain is getting tired learning all this new stuff.

The plan was to run something that takes 550W for at least 20m. That way I can make coffee. Because I'm sure there is loss and stuff throughout the system, I rounded it up to 600W for 30m.

My rice maker takes less than half that for 45min, but I know that the maths are not that simple.

I would like it to create AC power so that it will be compatible with stuff already around the house and I don't have to buy some special DC kettle or stuff.

Problem is, I don't yet have a battery and I don't know where to get an inverter or a controller for the input, &c.

But maybe this will help.



It plugs into a car lighter and converts DC to AC. It's not strong enough for my coffee maker, but it will run most things and it has a plug on it that looks just like the ones you have in the wall.

Originally I thought to take it apart, and try and steal the relevant components from it, but I'm not sure I would know what they look like anyway. Now I'm thinking make the system modular. Get a plug like a car lighter plug and attach it to the battery so that this can plug in. Then later when I find better components, I can easily replace them without major rewiring.

Any thoughts on where I can get an affordable controller thingy - the one that controls all the input from my solar panels (wired in series perhaps?) and my generator and a possible third input. They are all fairly low level input. I just need this controller thingy and a battery, then I can put it all together and start playing..

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