TOPSFLO PV powered pump for solar water heating systems:
This is a new and very low cost pump that is intended for circulating water in solar water heating systems. Its a DC pump and is designed to be driven directly by a small PV panel.
It has a startup head capability of about 9 ft, and a nominal flow rate of about 2 gpm -- good for 60+ sqft of collector area. It is also good for temperatures up to 200F and has automatic shutdown for higher temperatures. Its a brushless design and should provide a long life. But, it is new, so I suppose there is a bit of buyer beware.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/Components.htm#TOPSFLO
Thanks to Rodney for sending in a note on this.
Gas to Electric Car Conversion in 3 Days!
This is an interesting project that took on converting a small gas powered Daihatsu Charade in a weeks time -- they actually managed to do it in 3 days!
They did quite a nice job of documenting the whole thing including a very nice video that gives a good feel for what's involved in a EV conversion. I suppose its only fair to say that there were as many as 10 of these guys working on the car at once -- it might take one of us a bit more than 3 days.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Vehicles/vhehicles.htm#3DayEV
PV System Designer
This is a handy calculator to get several alternative actual system definitions based on your available PV panel area, climate, and power range you are interested in.
It will pick several alternative actual systems based primarily on lowest price. The definition includes specific PV panels and a specific inverter with prices, but does not include other details that make up the system -- so, there are still a lot of things to add to get to a full system.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/PV/pv.htm#PVPowerCalculator
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Getting close to putting up the detailed how-to on our new, simple, solar water + space heating system -- maybe Monday.
Gary Feb 12, 2011