David and May's Heavy Star Cruiser "H.M.S.S Kalbarri". Kalbarri, Western Australia.
Latitude 27 degrees South.
Commissioned in October 2005. Planet defender class , armed with a triad of advanced weaponry, for the ongoing struggle against "fossildom" , and planetary degradation.!!"State Of The Art" Uni-Solar power modules, Sola-Kleen water heater and Zane solar pool heater. This luxurious stellar residence, with large H2O swimming pool is almost entirely energised by our nearest Star, with a small amount of backup from the local power grid.David and May are ex-alien citizens, having recently migrated from Arabia. Their love of natural energies, and deep concern with the politics of hydro carbon fuels and the future, led them to investigate the possibilities of harnessing "Star Power".....Atomic energies of the eternal flame !
Solar water heaterSOLA-KLEEN 300 litre flat plate, thermal collector system with all copper storage tank and heat absorber.
The Sola-Kleen delivers mains pressure water flow, but runs the tank and collector at atmospheric pressure, by way of a clever heat exchanger system. The smaller pressure reducer / header tank with internal ball cock is visible at the rear of the main tank. This feature, together with the high quality, all copper construction, results in superior longevity of around 30 years.
The 2400 watt booster element in the tank, runs on a time switch in winter, set to take advantage
of off peak electricity rates.
Power system
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40 x Uni-Solar US-64 Advanced, Amorphous, thin film, triple junction, photo-voltaic panels. ( 2560 peak watts) Equivalent to 3200 peak watts of "old technology" crystalline panels. at 50 degrees Celcius cell operating temperature. (Typical) Nett daily energy production into appliances ( after system losses) is 45 Amps x 6 hours x 50 Volts = 13500 watt-hours / 20% losses = 10800 watt-hours. ( 10.8 Kilowatt-hours )
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1 x Plasmatronic PL-60 regulator / controller with SH200 current shunt and PLS2 analogue to digital, shunt adaptor . This allows all solar electricity generated and consumed to monitored, providing an accurate assessment of the star cruiser's energy reserves at all times.
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12 x UNI-SUN 3000 watt-hour, maintenance free, energy storage batteries. Total capacity 36,000 watt-hours ( 36 Kilowatt hours) . The UNI-SUN battery is very clean and user friendly, as it never requires the addition of H2O. It is also very safe due to the explosion proof vents in each battery, preventing the possibility of a major catastrophe below decks.
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1 x SELECTRONIC PS1 "Stardrive" True Sine wave Inverter. Rated power output 6000 watts continuous, 18,000 watts surge. The "Stardrive" is an advanced computerised inverter, perfected by Selectronic over a 20 year period of "in the field" experience, in conjunction with Power Solutions Australia, the nations leading high power inverter manufacturer.
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1 x UNI-SUN priority load switching system. Lighting and appliance circuits are divided into priority and non priority. During extended cloudy periods, non priority power points and lighting, automatically revert back to the utility grid supply. This preserves the high quality, highly stable solar electricity for crucial computers, entertainment, communications and lighting and life support circuits ( bar fridge etc ) of the star cruiser.
Notes
The town of Kalbarri, some 700 km North of Perth, is fed electricity from the end of a long, aerial "spur" line, way out in the middle of nowhere. Power stability has always been a problem for local residents.
Western Power, the local utility did attempt to stabilize the system by building a small solar power station in 1995, but it was not a success, and nor could it ever have been because it did not incorporate energy storage batteries. This is very hard to do on a town scale because it is difficult to control consumers en mass, or moderate usage patterns on a Macro scale.
The answer is exemplified in "Heavy Star Cruiser Kalbarri", with local energy storage and sequential load shedding of non essential appliances. In this instance, my "grid switched" concept, wins hands down over the all too common techno babblers mantra of "grid feed, grid feed, grid feed" !! It's an absolute waste of time in an unstable grid supply situation, which is all to common in Western Australia, even in the capital city. Grid switched is cheaper, more stable and operationally superior. Systems such as my "Planet's Suite" can be supplied for as little as $3300, plus installation.