it would still be cheaper than retrofit options considering you can buy a couple dozen for under 100 bucks.
Castles in the Mud, GFF's "Intelligent Domicile" build thread
- Thread starter gonefirefightin
- Start date
Have you looked at boat shit?
Interior Boat Lights | West Marine
Shop interior boat lights at West Marine, including LED strip lights, waterproof dome lights, utility lights and more. Get free shipping at home or in store!
www.westmarine.com
LEDs require more than just lower voltage, they need current controllers, ripping out the electronics will likely remove the current controllers too. Unless they just have resistors in series which is suboptimal.
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@gonefirefightin I spoke with my lighting engineer friend and he said there's just not really much in the marketplace for what you want to do residentially. There's only just a few companies who offer solutions for class A office space buildouts. If you want me to connect you to him, for you to ask more questions I'm sure he won't mind answering.
Between all of my boat and RV experience, I have looked into it substantially and there are some options but very limited as far as aesthetics, most of the options would be perfectly fine for an offgrid cabin but not so much for a home. As of right now, I have about 4 fixtures that work fine in the RV running straight 48v via cat6 and a PoE switch but the actual wall switches are the issue there since they all resemble a bulky plastic rocker switch. I still have some parts and pieces coming from the Amazonians to give a try with but I've found that nearly all LED's will run native 12-48v DC without any issues, its the AC versions that require controllers.Have you looked at boat shit?
Interior Boat Lights | West Marine
Shop interior boat lights at West Marine, including LED strip lights, waterproof dome lights, utility lights and more. Get free shipping at home or in store!
LEDs require more than just lower voltage, they need current controllers, ripping out the electronics will likely remove the current controllers too. Unless they just have resistors in series which is suboptimal.
I am going to try some switches that resemble residential wall plate types but are specifically made for DC with self-cleaning contacts.
Thx mang, about the same I've heard after asking the low voltage groups on Facebook and such. It also seems those outfits for the commercial entities won't sell to residential or consumer markets and the prices are crazy for what they actually are.
Do you ever go to Toshis parents' house and hangout? Do they have a bongshed? Do they make Tonkatsu for you?
Only met them once, they happened to be out front working on a drainage issue with neighbors from the hood, Introduced myself and tried to have a chat, but they didn't talk much. They didn't seem impressed since I wasnt holding some sort of medical professional degree I assume, lol
Not even sure if they have a sense of humor, but I imagine I will get to know them better once I start using a skillsaw at sunrise.
I know not a damn thing about this 48v DC concept for lighting a house. My googlfu took me to this site -
wattalight.com
Can you utilize standard bases in your 48v system and run these led bulbs?
48V DC LED Light Bulb | 10 Watt | Standard E26 Base
Conserve your battery power! This 10W 48 Volt DC Watt-a-Light LED screw-in bulb produces a staggering 950 lumens while using only 10 watts! Replace a 100 watt incandescent and see 90% energy savings. Our copper/chrome standard medium Edison screw base (E26) is highly corrosion resistant and...
wattalight.com
Can you utilize standard bases in your 48v system and run these led bulbs?
That would work for a traditional table lamp or other practical lighting and is a useful option if I choose to make some lamps or fixtures but in the end, there are better options I've found for light sources but I seriously doubt I will have a use for an E26 socket base.I know not a damn thing about this 48v DC concept for lighting a house. My googlfu took me to this site -
48V DC LED Light Bulb | 10 Watt | Standard E26 Base
Conserve your battery power! This 10W 48 Volt DC Watt-a-Light LED screw-in bulb produces a staggering 950 lumens while using only 10 watts! Replace a 100 watt incandescent and see 90% energy savings. Our copper/chrome standard medium Edison screw base (E26) is highly corrosion resistant and...
Can you utilize standard bases in your 48v system and run these led bulbs?
My media/entertainment rack should put out some serious BTU's as well
MR16 LED Track Light Bulb | 3 Watt | 48V DC | GU-10 Base
Replace those hot-to-touch halogens and save energy and money! Use our attractive, bright LED track light to replace your 35W halogen track lights (some customers use this to replace 50W halogen track lights). This product is for use with DC systems only.
wattalight.com
How about track lights?
So your getting power from the grid and stepping it down to 48v from 110v to make light with less power consumption?
power is solar/batteryMR16 LED Track Light Bulb | 3 Watt | 48V DC | GU-10 Base
Replace those hot-to-touch halogens and save energy and money! Use our attractive, bright LED track light to replace your 35W halogen track lights (some customers use this to replace 50W halogen track lights). This product is for use with DC systems only.
How about track lights?
So your getting power from the grid and stepping it down to 48v from 110v to make light with less power consumption?
Gotcha. Sounds like fun. Is this the sort of fixtures you are looking for?
www.usailighting.com
Scroll down and theres some nice looking fixtures.
PoE Lighting Options | Power Over Ethernet Recessed Light Fixtures
USAI Lighting offers 3
www.usailighting.com
Scroll down and theres some nice looking fixtures.
Yep, that's the concept but unfortunately those outfits generally only sell through commercial distributors with rather large minimum orders and the fixtures themselves are far from cost-effective for residential applications. I sent both of those joints emails to see if they retail out to consumers but I doubt I will even get a response from them. I am currently batting around 2 out of 15 for even a response from these PoE outfits.Gotcha. Sounds like fun. Is this the sort of fixtures you are looking for?
PoE Lighting Options | Power Over Ethernet Recessed Light Fixtures
USAI Lighting offers 3
Scroll down and theres some nice looking fixtures.
Their websites look like marketing jargon for what they want their company to be, rather than what they can supply to market now.
You should hang this over your kitchen island...
www.dlaguna.com
www.extremetechnologiesllc.com
You should hang this over your kitchen island...
Bushwick PoE Chandelier Linear Pendant Light
The BUSHWICK PoE CHANDELIER LINEAR SUSPENSION is an extraordinarily elegant design consisting of two vertical frames surrounded by two horizontal frames and a double-wall of optically pure superior-quality gem-cut crystal prisms.It has been specially adapted to work with Power Over Ethernet...
www.dlaguna.com
POE LED Lighting
Powered by POE Switches through Cat6 POE LED Drivers provide up to 30Watts of 12-36VDC power to POE lighting fixtures.
www.extremetechnologiesllc.com
there is what looks like a aircrete dome complex home near glacier national park...
This county is hilarious, first they were amazed I was doing all my own paperwork as apposed to hiring a surveyor to do all the application process. I originally filed the paperwork for the zoning to be done which around here is called a "forest template" since it is primarily timber country.
Long story short, sent in the paperwork in November, they just sent this
This was only a review of my application to make sure it was "complete" before actually doing the process. How does it take 10 weeks to deem an application complete and do nothing else?
Long story short, sent in the paperwork in November, they just sent this
This was only a review of my application to make sure it was "complete" before actually doing the process. How does it take 10 weeks to deem an application complete and do nothing else?
After several weeks of intensive research, site evaluations, and viability tests I have narrowed down my construction method to using concrete, and lots of it.
Thus far I like Superform for their specific style and manufacturing of ICF's. https://www.superformicf.com/icf/
Litedeck seems to make the most advanced roof forms using ICF's https://liteform.com/icf-deck-forms/
MST seems to have the highest production quality and features in the Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) rebar world https://www.mstrebar.com/
And using a Geothermal ground loop system to circulate the radiant slab will essentially be all the climate control needed since it will be a net zero structure.
Thus far I like Superform for their specific style and manufacturing of ICF's. https://www.superformicf.com/icf/
Litedeck seems to make the most advanced roof forms using ICF's https://liteform.com/icf-deck-forms/
MST seems to have the highest production quality and features in the Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) rebar world https://www.mstrebar.com/
And using a Geothermal ground loop system to circulate the radiant slab will essentially be all the climate control needed since it will be a net zero structure.
Is that a prison or just russian?
reminds me of the fucking CLEVELAND CLINIC FOR BRAIN HEALTH
Where if you have a compromised brain and are told this is where you need to go, the bodies are leaving in trucks
The nice thing about the ICF system is you can still use traditional drywall interior and any method of exterior you like. doesnt have to look like a bunker.
this guy....
Says he doesn't want a house that looks like a bunker
Come on man.
You could make it look like a bunker......
They're trying to weed out the tourists, who build moldy empty houses.
They have two questions, internally - How long can he beat his head on the wall and how much money can we get?
It's pretty good timing maybe - I quasi operate an old fruit warehouse complex that rents out it's space. I recently evicted a concrete cutting company and a construction company is moving in. Their main focus is pre-formed concrete walls, or so they say. I haven't seen what they actually have going on yet. I'll know more in a month, when they move their business into this commercial space.
Precast and ICF are a bit different since they are putting up the walls where I would be pouring them. They sound like heavy commercial types doing warehouses, Costco’s, etc.
Shorthand for those down here is "Tilt Slab".
In highschool, I spent two summers working the bottom rung for a tilt-up warehouse contractor. We were pouring the sandwich panels with 4" blue foam in the middle of two concrete layers. I saw a dude lose part of his pinky one day when we were setting panels. We poured the walls 7 deep and the crane was busy picking them up.
These new renters say they're doing residental pre-fabbed concrete walls - exterior and interior. That's basically all I know at this point, besides the fact they are paying more rent than the concrete cutters.
Gulag then
my house is kinda the stick-built version of this:
two 2 x 4"-framed walls, each with their own insulation. then an air gap between them. studs are 36" on center and offset between the inner and outer walls to avoid heat transfer. makes for R-38 overall, 9.5" thickness.
* Mushrooms not included.Is that a prison or just russian?
reminds me of the fucking CLEVELAND CLINIC FOR BRAIN HEALTH
Where if you have a compromised brain and are told this is where you need to go, the bodies are leaving in trucks
Finally found a ICF specific architect, Seems my minimum R-value at this point will be over R30 based on the manufacturer's calculations
Since I don't want to ever paint the fucking exterior or deal with replacing anything on the harsh coast weather I will still run an additional vapor barrier on the exterior behind some cement-based siding (style still undetermined) thus putting me around R38 in an R15 minimum climate zone.
Since I don't want to ever paint the fucking exterior or deal with replacing anything on the harsh coast weather I will still run an additional vapor barrier on the exterior behind some cement-based siding (style still undetermined) thus putting me around R38 in an R15 minimum climate zone.
Wind turbine generator research
TLDR version.
Basically, 90% of the market for wind power is a congealed mosh pit of fakes, clones, inaccurate/dirty voltages, and way exaggerated performance claims. A mildly performing system will cost about $3-4k if your battery bank isn't that large. The cost of the generators themselves runs in the $1-3k mark but you will also need to buy the infrastructure such as a tower, guy wires, rectifier, charge controller, conduit, wire runs, and termination hardware. It mostly comes down to what wind values you have available and how much of a battery bank you have.
First of all the main issue starting is what kind of wind you have at your location determines the type of turbine you should use depending on your wind.
Laminar flow is what all turbines excel in but there are some designs made for turbulent flow for those who aren't on a ridge or have a copious amount of trees/obstructions or height restrictions.
Determining your average wind values at your site is probably the largest factor that will determine the type and scale of your system. On the coast, I have a very good average wind value, in fact, the best in the state.
The beach house property has a wind power classification of 6-7 (outstanding to superb) compared to the entire state. So much so that there will soon be a very large contingent of wind turbines off the coast in a few years. As of now, the large commercial wind farms have yet to capture the laminar flows of the coast. Nearly all of the commercial farms are capturing the laminar flows of the Columbia and eastern River basins. You can find all of this data here https://windexchange.energy.gov/
The next step is to find the right turbine for your local winds
Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) will always provide the most peak power since they succumb to a larger square area of laminar wind and will typically be more efficient. Vertical Axis wind turbines (VAWT) excel in turbulent flows and lower wind speed but can't produce as much wattage as Horizontal by nature.
The actual turbines themselves on the market today are a huge lottery of claims, I have come to the crude point of determining around a $1,000k benchmark for separating the wheat from the chaff. Anything less than $800 bucks is typically junk and should be avoided unless you have very small voltage needs. These cheaper clones will typically boast anywhere from 400 -1200 watts when in fact they will never touch more than 200 watts at full performance and that has to be at least a 14mph wind. Most good-sized battery banks over 400 amp hours won't even recognize a charge current under 10 amps. All of these Chinese clones will typically have a ceiling fan motor or an automotive-style alternator generating the DC voltage.
Thus far in my research, I have determined that even the best outputs and figures that a manufacturer can provide are at total peak wind speed and generation requires some pretty crazy numbers such as wind speeds at 50mph of pure laminar flow and still maybe getting close to 2k watts.
This outfit seems to have a good grasp on the industry and will truly tell you that for an average you should just cut your wattage in half for the constant.
windandsolar.com
This turbine will do 2k watts but it has to be running at full RPM in a specific power band to produce the advertised wattage which will differ from anywhere so assume it will average 1k watts at 48 volts. As of right now, I can tell you that 600 watts of solar will charge 400 amp hours of lithium in 6 hours or less so getting 1k watts from a turbine theoretically should charge 600 amp hours of batteries day or night.
The question then comes to, will 600 amp hours be enough alone to run a house.
TLDR version.
Basically, 90% of the market for wind power is a congealed mosh pit of fakes, clones, inaccurate/dirty voltages, and way exaggerated performance claims. A mildly performing system will cost about $3-4k if your battery bank isn't that large. The cost of the generators themselves runs in the $1-3k mark but you will also need to buy the infrastructure such as a tower, guy wires, rectifier, charge controller, conduit, wire runs, and termination hardware. It mostly comes down to what wind values you have available and how much of a battery bank you have.
First of all the main issue starting is what kind of wind you have at your location determines the type of turbine you should use depending on your wind.
Laminar flow is what all turbines excel in but there are some designs made for turbulent flow for those who aren't on a ridge or have a copious amount of trees/obstructions or height restrictions.
Determining your average wind values at your site is probably the largest factor that will determine the type and scale of your system. On the coast, I have a very good average wind value, in fact, the best in the state.
The beach house property has a wind power classification of 6-7 (outstanding to superb) compared to the entire state. So much so that there will soon be a very large contingent of wind turbines off the coast in a few years. As of now, the large commercial wind farms have yet to capture the laminar flows of the coast. Nearly all of the commercial farms are capturing the laminar flows of the Columbia and eastern River basins. You can find all of this data here https://windexchange.energy.gov/
The next step is to find the right turbine for your local winds
Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) will always provide the most peak power since they succumb to a larger square area of laminar wind and will typically be more efficient. Vertical Axis wind turbines (VAWT) excel in turbulent flows and lower wind speed but can't produce as much wattage as Horizontal by nature.
The actual turbines themselves on the market today are a huge lottery of claims, I have come to the crude point of determining around a $1,000k benchmark for separating the wheat from the chaff. Anything less than $800 bucks is typically junk and should be avoided unless you have very small voltage needs. These cheaper clones will typically boast anywhere from 400 -1200 watts when in fact they will never touch more than 200 watts at full performance and that has to be at least a 14mph wind. Most good-sized battery banks over 400 amp hours won't even recognize a charge current under 10 amps. All of these Chinese clones will typically have a ceiling fan motor or an automotive-style alternator generating the DC voltage.
Thus far in my research, I have determined that even the best outputs and figures that a manufacturer can provide are at total peak wind speed and generation requires some pretty crazy numbers such as wind speeds at 50mph of pure laminar flow and still maybe getting close to 2k watts.
This outfit seems to have a good grasp on the industry and will truly tell you that for an average you should just cut your wattage in half for the constant.
Raptor G5 5 Blade Freedom Wind Turbine Generator
Raptor G5 Freedom Wind Turbine Generator made to withstand extreme heat and sub-zero temps. Our blades are designed for high speed, high efficiency, affordability and durability.
windandsolar.com
This turbine will do 2k watts but it has to be running at full RPM in a specific power band to produce the advertised wattage which will differ from anywhere so assume it will average 1k watts at 48 volts. As of right now, I can tell you that 600 watts of solar will charge 400 amp hours of lithium in 6 hours or less so getting 1k watts from a turbine theoretically should charge 600 amp hours of batteries day or night.
The question then comes to, will 600 amp hours be enough alone to run a house.
In Denmark, villages band together and buy 3/4/5 real wind turbines, plonk them in a field and get free power and then in 10 yrs or so when the capital is paid off, get the passive income and free power. I could have told you smol wind turbines are trash for free. Maybe see if your neighbours might be up for that?
Smol scale turbines are worth the money and have proven to be a viable option for consumption needs but the large scale options are well over the cost of grid convenience and my consumption rates. The average cost for one single turbine in the 50-100kw range is roughly $500k to a cool million US$. I seriously doubt I will have $500k invested into the complete house and property. On my small-scale tests I have been able to do just about everything on 400-600 amp hours of lithium which roughly converts to 4.8kwh, the average household uses 30kwh but that also includes major electrical appliances such as water heater, clothes dryer, HVAC, stove/range etc. whereas my major appliances will be LPG and take a significant load off the electrical demands to be more feasible for solar/wind.