I’ve recently started planning and designing the low voltage renewable power system for the new house. It will be a little while before I really get a chance to implement the design, with boys taking up most of our spare time, and it will take a little while to settle into the new house. However, I’ve already started making requirements, and I’ve hunted out some components. Some of the initial designs are now in my notebook.

The majority of the system will be controlled by a nice all-in-one control panel, which is designed for a top spec motor home. However I also need an additional Main bus control panel to remotely control the main battery disconnect, and monitor the status of the Main bus. The Main bus will form the heavy current backbone of the system (initially spec’d for bursts of100A), and will provide power to the main panel as well as directly supplying heavy loads such as inverters, heavy pumps or motors. The Main bus should be able to cope with bursts of current up to 100A at 12V from a sudden ~1KW load.

A few of my requirements for the Main bus control panel included:

• A master switch which will remotely connect and disconnect the Battery bus from the Main bus, this will basically switch off everything
• An instant visual indication of the current state of the Main bus (Red light for Main bus power failure)
• A indication that basic verification of Main bus had been confirmed (Green light for system verified)
• A plunger push button to start the Main bus connect, and start Main bus supply verification
• A warning alarm system to alert us of a sudden power failure or a failure with Main bus verification (flashing Amber light with buzzer)
• A parallel switch, for paralleling any auxiliary batteries with the battery bus
• A timer module, which will provide a delay for Main bus verification. This is required to prevent the startup loads causing triggerging a low voltage battery or overcurrent disconnect.

One of my favorite websites for low voltage supplies is www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk. On this site I came across the following switch panel:



This fits my needs nicely, and I really do like the big red switch

My initial wiring diagram is included. This may require further tweaking, and I suspect there are a few simplifications possible, but I’ll need to look into these further:



Basic Operation

• Main bus is disconnected from the live Battery bus, the red switch above is down, and no lights are displayed. Everything is disconnected except those on the Hot Battery bus.
• The user lifts the main switch cover up, and lifts the main switch up. Main bus control panel is now live. The RED light will indicate that system Main bus is disconnected.
• The user starts the Main bus connect and verification system by pressing that START switch, at this point the RED light will extinguish, and the the Main bus becomes live.
• During the verification time all connected items will be powered allowing the initial burst of power to stabilize on the Main bus.
• After a 3 seconds the Main bus verification system becomes enabled. If it fails, the RED light will come on and the Alarm will start (flashing Amber light on top with buzzer). If the verification system passes testing, the GREEN light will illuminate to indicate that all systems are running normally.
• If at any time the verification system detects a problem, or the Main bus loses power, the RED light will come on and the Alarm will start.
• The Main bus can be switched off, including verification alarm system by switching off the main switch and by moving its red cover down.
• The parallel switch connects the Hot Battery bus to the auxiliary Hot Battery bus.
• I may add an optional yellow light at some point to provide a visual indication of the 3 second delay between Main bus connect and Main bus verification. Alternatively I may just illuminate both RED and GREEN light together for a short period of time.

Well in this case one fortunately. My brother and sister in law kindly gave us this cool little mobile a few months before the twins came along. Since we’ve had it, it has played plenty of music, but no turning. Well, I felt I couldn’t be beaten by something so simple! Then I opened it up, and about 4 parts sprung out in all directions, oops! Anyway, the mobile connector rod appeared to have separated from its friction clutch (presumable a safety feature in case it gets jammed). It was simply a case of reattaching it. The real problem is growing a third hand to help put everything back together again. Anyway, with a bit of wrangling we have the wee cute mobile working again for a second life, with plenty of tune, and some movement again. Don’t you love happy endings :-

There are four engineers traveling in a car; a mechanical engineer, a chemical, an electrical engineer and a computer engineer.The car breaks down."Sounds to me as if the pistons have seized. We'll have to strip down the engine before we can get the car working again", says the mechanical engineer. "Well", says the chemical engineer, "it sounded to me as if the fuel might be contaminated. I think we should clear out the fuel system. "I thought it might be an grounding problem", says the electrical engineer, "or maybe a faulty plug lead." They all turn to the computer engineer who has said nothing and say: "Well, what do you think?" "Ummm - how about if we all get out of the car and get back in again?"

The last thing you need when twins arrive is to have your washing machine go on the blink. When I looked out the window with sleepy eyes this morning, and noticed it was such a nice day, I took the initiative to catch up with the pilling washing. Half way through the cycle aloud crackling noise occured and the sump pump broke. This has happened before when the rotor popped off the pump motor shaft. However, unlike before, this time it wasn’t going to just pop back on, it was just too worn. After 10 minutes manually draining the machine, I phoned up local washing machine supply center who informed me that they had a new pump for £26. Poor Fiona was left with double trouble, and I stripped out the pump, got the new part, and installed the pump again. After some initial testing, and a leak check, I’m pretty sure everything is now back and working. Wheeewwww!

Its funny how people have different feelings towards stuff. Here I was, Looking out my very own door, and I spotted a fantastically free store of useful and exciting Geek Spares and Parts ready for building into my next unplanned project. That is, until reality sudden comes back down to earth: Moving house / Fiona saying "declutter" / distinct lack of time. "I'll get you next time, Gadget!... Next time!"

Development of my new master control panel which is to be installed in the new house are underway. I've connected up the control panel, switchboard, and the new 16 Amp Charger. Initial testing shows things are all working. I've got various cables, connectors, relays, and bus-bars to obtain before progressing. More on that shortly. Here's my test setup anyway:

Okay for a while now I've been looking into solutions for distribution and control of the 12V electrical system which I plan to install in our new house. The 12V system will be sourced from a new battery bank to be built. My initial estimates this will be around 440 Amp/Hours, in real terms this will give me just over 1KWh of capacity without eating into battery life expectancy. The batteries will all be of the 12V Lead Acid variety, but will be of the boat/caravan type, which are designed for deep discharge when compared with the car variety. The bank will be charged by an array of solar panels and a wind turbine (hopefully!), and if things are bad, a mains charger. I've even got a few ideas for a pedal power generator, and for desperate times, some form of cable which can be hooked up to my car alternator. The resulting output will run the following:

o A mains inverter, which will initially run mains lighting circuits in some parts of the house, and later all parts. All light fittings will be energy efficient and low power.
o Pumps to pump water back and forward from water butts at the front and back of the house. These water buts will form a rain water supply which is additionally pumped up to all WC supplies in the house, and later the supply to the washing machine.
o A 12V DC bus for the sitting room. This means I no longer need an array of 12V transformers for set top boxes, chargers. 12V sockets will be provided for car plug compatible devices which means I can charge phones, run laptops, run mini inverters, and charge household rechargeable batteries.
o Some 12V lighting in certain places in the house were practical.
o 12V supplies for garage lighting and 12V garage supply.

As some of you may already be a aware I have a large control panel in the garage of my existing house. This is very home made looking, and I've been looking for something more professional for fitting inside the new house for control, and monitoring of the majority of the system. The solution is a control panel and remote relay system which is developed by an Italian company CBE, who specialize in controls and panels for large motorhomes. I now have the control panel, and I'm now evaluating the installation design. Here are some pics: