Complete Newbie to Electronics

Hi Scott,

Welcome to E-14. This is a very good place to start. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here and everyone is respectful of each other regardless of our different skill levels. Here is a web site that I found useful. It has good tutorials on all the basics as well as a way to ask the moderator questions. Of course you can always come here to ask questions too. The tutorials will suggest different simple circuits that you can put together and try. This is just a beginning and you will find there are a lot of good books and many ways to approach learning electronics. Make it fun and it will be a good adventure.

http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/

John

Hi shen_lun.

Welcome to Element14. Don't worry about getting flamed on here, it's not that type of community.

With respect to repairing old equipment, google is most definitely your friend. Many devices have known issues and vulnerabilities that are well documented across the internet (such as the Red Ring of Death on certain XBOX consoles). Your ability to diagnose these issues and apply your dexterity to work on such devices is your ultimate asset. Service manuals can also be incredibly useful to get hold of.

The community is always here to help. Demonstrate a little bit of self motivation and we will assist wherever we can.

Paul

OK,

I am still awaiting the electronics set that is coming in september, however I might be extremely ambitious but I a have a dream of becoming and off grid lifestyle, so I am interested in the electronics and system to generate power.

I understand that this would be a long road and something that would need monitoring and isn't something I can necessary set and forget.

Do you folk have any ideas on where to start this jounrney in regards to the power side of things. I know I can buy the solar cells from my local electronics shop (jaycar.com.au)but would like some potential other options as well, window or water,rain options as tasmania is very windy.

Your thoughts are really appreciated and I would start this journey after the other 'course' is completed so I have a better understanding of what I am getting into.

Kind Regards

Scott

Hi Scott,

Something like this takes a lot of planning. One of the things you can do is to asses your minimum electrical needs. How many watts of electrical power do you need each day in order to maintain the life style that you want. The next step is to check out the resources that are available where you want to live. You said it is windy and this might mean that Wind Power is preferred over solar. Once you know your needs you can see what it will cost for the infrastructure necessary to generate that much power. If you have checked out the tutorial web site you will see a section on basic electronic terms like Volts, Amps, Ohms, and many others. It will be important to understand what each of these term refers to and how they are interrelated physically and mathematically. Then you can begin to plan your get away from the grid.

John

HI John

I have had a look out our current electricity needs and it seems like 75-100 kw per day, but this is mainly due to the heaters in the house and the fact that as I am currently renting the house is poorly insulated.

I haven't looked into the tutorial websites on this site just yet but; have had a look on other websites for a general knowledge basis. I will go and look at the tutorials on the website just now.

So given that fact I would need a huge rack of solar panels, or figure out some way to intergrate both solar and  a small wind system some how.

Kind Regards

Scott

Hi Scott,

Yes the 75 to 100 kW need is going to make going off grid expensive and difficult. This power level translates to a continuous draw of between 26 and 35 Amps at 120 volts or between 13 and 17 amps at 240 volts. One thing you could do to greatly improve this is to change your heating to a non-electrical source like wood burning. The wood fired furnace could also be the source of hot water. The problem with solar is that you only have daylight hours to collect enough energy to get you through the night. This entails a lot of storage capacity. Another problem is that the average use that I mentioned is not your peak level. If multiple appliances run at the same time you may have to supply 2 or 3 times the power level for a period of time. Wind is not much better as it is also supplied at the whim of the weather. These are fun things to investigate but they also remind us of just how hard it was to live before we had the luxury of on tap power from the electrical utility company.

John

75-100kwh per day is extreme.

That equates to 75-100 units per day or 2250 - 3000 for a 30 day period.

100KWh/day is 4.16 Kw of heat every hour for 24 hours, and your power bill must be MASSIVE.

Mark

Hello Scott, you are welcome.

Let me just suggest a thing. With pirate electronics kit you buy almost 10$ of stuff for 60$. That is not the worth, in my opinion. At the same price you can buy a breadboard for a couple of $, a couple of Arduino and probably less resistors than what you have with this kit but sure it is very difficult that (without eating them) you need about 400 different resistors for ANY project you can start with. Take a look on Element14 what is the price of a resistor and you can have an idea. Sorry for my criticism but I really dislike those companies that attract the newbies with just something having (maybe) a nice design. If you want a metal box like that yellow one (the most valuable stuff in the kit, it seems) I can send you black and you also enjoy painting it of your preferred color.

With the same budget (about 60$) you can alternatively buy a Raspberry PI (B+ or version 2) and save again 20$ for discrete components. But it is better for you that before buying components you get a microcontroller board or SBC (Single Board Computer, just like Raspi) and start playing with it. See what happens and when a project start growing in your mind you buy the components you need.

Enrico

shen_lun

Scott.

If I understand correctly, heating is usually done via other methods on most off grid style systems simply because the cost of the generation is too high.

You could suppliment the solar and wind system with generator for the really cold periods, but the efficiency of this is questionable.

You stated you were renting, and I doubt the landlord would allow a solar system to be installed, which involves fixing to the roof (or outbuilding).

IMO you would be better coming to some arrangement to add a Heat Pump, which should lower your power bill if it's mainly heating.

Unless you are out in the country, adding a wind turbine is likely to get the neighbours complaining since they aren't quiet, and it may not be allowed in your area.

So yes in the right circumstances Off Grid could work, but the initial cost is quite high, and Jaycar is certainly NOT the place to start for a decent sized installation.

Kitset

I'm afraid it is too late if you have already purchased the kit you linked to.

I have used Terry King at Yourduino ( YourDuino ) for good quality reasonable priced goods with supporting information.

A simple beginner kit with an Arduino is USD$29

http://yourduino.com/sunshop2/index.php?l=product_detail&p=302

I'd like to promote element14, but sadly they are lacking in a basic kit ... although they do have very reasonably priced parts once you know what you want to purchase.

Tools

element14 have some good tools and at very reasonable prices.

Fluke make great meters, but there are alternatives that will do a similar job for less.

Keep an eye on the specials from your local element14, since you have time on your hands and don't need them tomorrow.

Mark