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Free Energy Growing

justanotherbozo

Active member
Veteran
So what would we use this for? Air flow instead of fans? Wonder how high the humidity would be on the compressed air side?

For electrical generation, wouldn't the 'direct' water to impeller, be more efficient? Hmmmm Makes me wonder what the mines use for 'terminal equipment'.
...sorry man, i didn't see your question and from what little i understand about this technology it can be used in many ways, ...for example, one of the side benefits to iso-thermically compressed air is that, unlike the air from an air compressor, it is free of contaminants like oil and such that you will find in air from a compressor so it would be suitable for scuba tanks and things like that, plus, it is very cold so running an open line from the plenum into a well insulated room gives you instant freezer, sans electricity.

...in the mines i believe they use this air to power small turbines to generate electricity and i believe it could be used to power some kind of generator as well.

...and the mechanical energy potential is almost limitless, you could power every tool in almost any kind of shop from saws and drills to air-hammers, shit man, almost anything.

...i'm not in a position to be able to do anything concrete yet being still a renter so i've not done as much research as i need to but i hope to buy a piece of land in the next couple of years and then i will find a way to incorporate this tech into my power footprint, it's just too cool to not find a way to use it.

peace, bozo
 

FunkBomb

Power Armor rules
Veteran
The new cabinet design looks good. I'm looking forward to your next run with the new LED lights.

-Funk
 

hush

Señor Member
Veteran
This thread is so filled with wonderful information!!! I can't get enough of it. I'm still reading this thread, so forgive me if this has been answered already, but can HIDs be run on a DC setup like this? I would imagine they can, if the sine wave generator is as badass as you say it is. But every time I see free energy grows it seems it's always with fluorescents or LEDs. Just curious. I want to do this one day with my future grow room which will be nothing but banks and banks of T5HO.
 

Big Sky

Member
This thread is so filled with wonderful information!!! I can't get enough of it. I'm still reading this thread, so forgive me if this has been answered already, but can HIDs be run on a DC setup like this? I would imagine they can, if the sine wave generator is as badass as you say it is. But every time I see free energy grows it seems it's always with fluorescents or LEDs. Just curious. I want to do this one day with my future grow room which will be nothing but banks and banks of T5HO.

yes, its actually a dc/ac setup-
The main issue here is the inverter- as long as its pure sine wave your ok, good clean waves of power better then what the electric company gives you- the cheap inverters are modified sine wave and not good for electronics like PC, TV digital ballasts etc-
you just have to be sure to supply enough power generation via wind or solar vs how much you use-
So if you wanted to run a 600w hps you need close to 600w of solar panels -
i ran a 400w hps with cool tube and two 90w LED UFO's from blackstar in there-
i did dim the cool tube down to 50% power as it was a digital ballast- the UFO's only draw about 80w each-
but i have 516 watts in panels running a 24v system then converting it over to AC-
 

hush

Señor Member
Veteran
Thanks for the quick reply. Your setup is a serious accomplishment. I'm sure you know that, but I want to say it again... Your. Setup. Is. A. Serious. Accomplishment. It's truly something to be proud of. And with all the badass innovation being documented all over this website, I'm selective about who I say that to. FWIW.

Just, wow.
 

Big Sky

Member
The new cabinet design looks good. I'm looking forward to your next run with the new LED lights.

-Funk
meee to! ;)
The new ones are friggin awesome to-
Had a whole new manufacturer put together something really nice-
they wont be in this setup-
It will be in a much larger area soon-
;)
i say about 3 weeks and a new thread will be up-

excellent thread :woohoo:

i will do this someday:thank you:
Cool man glad you liked it- You see regardless of what some might think I'm very knowledgeable about many things lighting and electrical-
:ying:

Just wait till I show you what my latest designs can do!
cheers!
 

Big Sky

Member
Thanks for the quick reply. Your setup is a serious accomplishment. I'm sure you know that, but I want to say it again... Your. Setup. Is. A. Serious. Accomplishment. It's truly something to be proud of. And with all the badass innovation being documented all over this website, I'm selective about who I say that to. FWIW.

Just, wow.

Well thanks a bunch!:thank you:

I needed that to be honest..I've caught some crap as of late about LEDs but the folks running anything I design are having serious results-
I put a ton of work into it and a good chunk of change just to see if it could be done-
Its a small scale experiment in the end but shows folks how to really make use of solar and small spaces-
i didnt doc my last grow in it- all bs aside i did about a qp per section top and bottom for a half lb yield-
to me thats pretty jam up for some soil in a 3x3 closet split into two rooms- each room is only about 3x3x3.5 high-
micro growing can be a blessing if done right, and with low energy cost setups like this they add up in the end- that extra 1/2lb of quality product is always a bonus if you got other things going on to-
But the main thing about a solar grow that is KEY!
its a life support system-
my power went out several times during the year- i was able to plug an extension cord to the inverter with a splitter, at night , and run a 32" LG flat screen, ps3, mini fridge to keep food cold and a few lights till 4-5am in the morning- the party never stops!!! lol
then at sunrise the lights come on- swap it over to the distribution panel and it is game ON in the grow till sunset-


Sadly, i am selling the system to a fam member for 3k-
I'm moving up to the co area for good and needed to unload it to someone who would use it to its ability ;):dance013:
my next one will be soooo epic!
looking at about a 4500 w system with a 1600w turbine added for an off grid power pull of about 5200w in a 12mph wind/sunny day-

it will cost me about 10-12k to develop right-

thanks for all the support!!:tiphat:
 

Big Sky

Member
good luck in co. come back with pics of your new rig.

thanks!
appreciate it-
Love Co-

It will be my 8x4x7'H tent and some other stuff for veg, a 24 site turbo kloner and cloning booth-
all tight, right and clean like a lab-
going to blast some digilux and LED mix-
it will be on the grid-
Then set up a few 4x4 or 3x3 tents for testing booths ;)
do some true side by sides etc-
fun stuff ahead!
 

Greenheart

Active member
Veteran
Inspiring! Sweet setup.

The best battery I have ever purchased was an Optima brand battery. I purchased it seven years ago. Many batteries fail in winter around here so to me that speaks pretty highly for them. It is the low-end red top model even.
 

Big Sky

Member
Inspiring! Sweet setup.

The best battery I have ever purchased was an Optima brand battery. I purchased it seven years ago. Many batteries fail in winter around here so to me that speaks pretty highly for them. It is the low-end red top model even.

right on..yeah i was debating them-
I have always used those for my rice burners ive build and street cars ;)
Pounded the crap out of every one and usually my yellow OP lasted longer then the race cars did-
1 battery..3 cars lol

Optima are the best battery ive ever laid hands on myself in terms of 12v-
My next setup i do will be in my new home in colorado-
i'll probably just do 12v this time as its easier to find parts for even though im partial to 24-48v systems-
I went with a trojan-T series like generic battery from the auto parts store-
6v golf cart 215 amp hour-
when running solar you really want a true deep cycle battery-
The way it was explained to me by the guys who i bought all my equipment from was..the 6v are made to haul fat guys on golf carts all day, every day, for 18 holes of golf and still make it back to the clubhouse with life to spare-
they have an average of 5-7 year life span , pretty much the OP's are on par with that- but being 12v the deplete faster -
This causes more cycles of charging over a shorter period of time, making the OP run half its normal life span-
Where as in a car- its always charged by a alternator/generator.
So they dont actually get cycled , or depleted then recharged-
They never go through a full cycle.
If they did, they would only last about 1/2 its normal life span-
So 6v are really the best for solar-
OP are anything motor vehicle or RV for sure..go OP all the way ;)
cheers
 

Big Sky

Member
lotsa luck go your way big sky, you deserve some.

hey thanks !
I think its going to be good, found a house, things are looking good-
get to make the long travel next week so i'll be back!
Wife says she loves my hydroponic stuff so thats what you guys will get nxt-
Moms in soil, everything else will be DWC -

Going to be running some fresh clones, probably blue dream.
Planting down seeds so they can veg-
cannaventure selections and Gage Green ;)
 

Greenheart

Active member
Veteran
lol mine has seen quite a few vehicles as well. Good info I did not realize the depletion/charge cycle thing on the 6v vs 12v.


You seem to have done your homework. Can you explain a little more why 6v holds a charge longer than 12v? If the bank was large enough that they didn't deplete before recharge would that make a difference? What makes it a "true" deep cycle battery? Do you think the high-end blue tops would be a good battery for such a system? I would eventually like to set up a homestead situation so I am trying to absorb the offgrid energy info. Have you ever considered using a wood gasifier setup to run a generator to help power the banks at times? The "waste" would be biochar for the garden.
 

Big Sky

Member
its all based on amp hours..the 6v have a real high amp hour rating on them-
Most 12v are much lower-
thats the simple answer lol
now with the optimal, if they have a 200ah+ battery then there is no reason not to use them-
Its really not a matter of 6v vs 12v etc- but more of an amp hour length-
The more amp hours a battery has the longer it takes to deplete-
so my initial answer was a little misleading-
12v do come in high amp hours but a good battery like an optimal with high amp hour ratings are very expensive-230$ + a pop sometimes-
6v golf cart batteries come with high amp hour ratings and long life spans so a lot of folks use them -
under 200$ a battery-

look at it this way- if i had 2 6v batteries in series to make a large 12v battery your having to cycle two batteries at 215ah ea-
where if it was the same system with a 12v battery instead, it would be cycling only one cell and with a lower amp hour rating causing it to loose charge much faster-
also being a 12v, the cell is twice the size, makes it take twice as long as a 6v to recharge-


Now your charge controller and inverter have a lot to do with how you use that power also- my inverter being pure sine wave will not allow anything below 22 V on the charge controller before automatic shutdown-
so if my battery bank is down to 22v instead of 24..an alarm sounds on the inverter- Letting me know the battery bank is to undercharged to run the inverter-
thats when you just shut the inverter and wait for the sunrise- within a hour or two your back up to full power-

if you want the best system go with wind and solar hybrid-
night and day- producing energy to keep the battery bank full-
Or just go solar, and have a large battery bank-
My system was basic 24v-
so i only had 4 x 6v batteries to complete the system-
another 4 added in series would of made a battery bank with over 400 amp hours! ;)
then you just keep adding..
large battery banks take a very long time to deplete so the bigger the better ;)
 

Big Sky

Member
hey anytime-
i really like the 6v- there almost the same size as a 12v but a little smaller so you can really pack those guys in a hidden battery bank or in the garage in a solar battery cabinet-

i will post up a drawing of my next system-
I always diagram everything before building it, sometimes a year or two in advance , it gives me time to run failure scenarios in my head and better the systems build right out of the gate when i put them together-
My next system will feature a 60amp ac distribution panel for an rv- i'll have to knock a hole in a wall somewhere and make a cabinet to hold it for easy wiring and access-
it will be pretty bad ass-
cause those distribution panels are 120v AC and have built in DC converters for DC and AC appliances! cha!
i would use one anywhere in a house, garage, rv etc-
there the shizzle ;)
and cheap! prewired and warranty-
if you go to develop something to try out hit me up i'll always try and lend a hand-
 

Big Sky

Member
ahh only 50? i was sure they would be at least a hundo-
wow- see what i mean- 6v usually come pretty standard about 200AH-
its all about the AH when picking batteries-
The best known battery out there are 1000$ forklift batteries- those are beasts-
if you can find those even in a junk yard and there dead in the water- buy it cheap have it refurbished ;)
save several hundred bucks and get a monster-
 

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