Author Topic: Blasphemy..... Solar power.  (Read 148412 times)

BruceM

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #285 on: December 05, 2017, 06:38:52 AM »
To answer your question, Starfire, yes, where an appliance such as a toaster/broiler would normally switch power through a timer, element selector switch and oven temperature bimetal switch, none of those contacts were designed for DC so I rewire the appliance to use Mosfets to control the elements (a TO-22O transistor for each element) and use the stock switches/thermostat to control the gate of the transistor only.  I bolt the transistors to a piece of aluminum sheet and/or on the inside of the metal case to act as a heatsink...not much heat is generated due to the low on resistance.

It is one thing to do some modest 12V current switching with AC switches and another entirely to switch several amps of 120 VDC.  AC designed Bimetal switches used for burners and heating elements will arc and be destroyed the first time they open. Many AC switches only work for 120 VDC when the current draw is pulsed as it is with some universal motors.  The DC arc will quench when the current drops...so this is in effect really an AC application.  Both current and voltage affect arc length when open contacts. 

Since a $3 TO-220 package 200V MOSFET can handle most typical appliance currents I don't find this DC switching issue a big problem.

Arcing at DC contacts used to be well known and commonly handled. I expect more switches will be available as higher voltage DC continues to grow. 

I am concerned about RFI/EMI for myself because it profoundly affects my brain function and health.  Short term affects are profound confusion, fatigue or "wired" and pressure headache progressing to complex partial seizures.  Because of temporal lobe involvement, it is very unpleasant.  It's frequency dependant in that some EMI sources will be immediately debilitating whereas others will only gradually made me more and more confused and "glitchy". I did have well documented absence seizures regularly prior to my home EMF cleanup years ago, but no longer do.  I have had MS and epilepsy for 29 years. The rapid MS progression (and excruciating headaches at the base of the skull which I can to learn was associated with rapid new lesions in MRIs) was halted by ELF magnetic field home cleanup and avoidance. I was left with  the old damage but got a new chance at some sort of life. It's not easy but I am very grateful for the relative independence and freedom I have, at least in my home environment.

Two weeks ago I went to town and got a 10 day MS and autoimmune thyroid disease flare up from a 40 minute rural drive to and 25 minutes in a grocery store. When I'm doing better, I might recover in 4 days.  I take medication to be able to drive safely.  It's very limiting and frustrating.  Frustrating because most of the problems (except wireless communications) are totally avoidable and correctable.

 My adverse reaction to a cell phone has been recorded via EEG by a neurologist, and all my evoked potential and QEEG/EEG test results are abnormal as measured next to a computer in a relatively low EMF medical office with florescent lights off.

There's an article about my home written by a Danish guy at the url below.

http://www.eiwellspring.org/emc/HighlyShieldedHouse.htm


 







starfire

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #286 on: December 05, 2017, 07:10:52 AM »
Bruce, I have never ever heard of this malady, ever. 
I cant help thinking of my early days as a radar tech, on cold days we would remove the motor drive brushes, short the SCRs that pulsed the magnetron  and stand in front of the wave guides to keep warm!!
We never knew about sterility, cataracts or anything like that.
After reading your article, Id say I had a close call.
Is your situation stable, or likely to worsen?
The absorber for microwave energy is graphite, perhaps a powder could be mixed into paint, next time you redecorate?
Im assuming too, that lower frequencies are worse? And what about stationary magnetic fields?
Im also wondering if a DPST switch could have it contacts wired in series. This would make it harder for an arc to establish itself as its unlikely both contacts would open exactly at the same time.
Many years ago, I was fascinated by a mercury vapour "ignitron", a huge vacuum device  that converted 40KV DC to 50Hz AC, at several hundred amps....serious stuff.
I believe it functioned by cyclically firing each anode, these arranged in a circle, this immediately was extinguished by the next one, and so on.  I got a very bad case of sunburn watching this.....
Wiring switch contacts in series  may work similarly, one contact opens, initiating a small arc, and very soon after, the second opening contact would extinguish it?
May also be worth a try.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2017, 07:31:30 AM by starfire »

AdeV

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #287 on: December 05, 2017, 11:22:53 AM »
You can get some very high power MOSFETs these days; even ones which switch at logic levels (5v), e.g. http://uk.farnell.com/infineon/irlp3034pbf/mosfet-n-ch-40v-327a-to-247ac/dp/1758306 - 327amps continuous at 40v, although I'm guessing you'd want a fairly hefty heatsink on that...
Cheers!
Ade.
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AdeV

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #288 on: December 05, 2017, 11:49:23 AM »
Cheers!
Ade.
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AdeV

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #289 on: December 05, 2017, 11:58:56 AM »
This one is the cheapest, but it's got quite a high "on" resistance (0.2 ohm), so I'd not recommend it personally.

Note all my links are Farnell because that's who I tend to order from; you might find Digikey or Mouser (or a local Australian electronics supplier) cheaper/more practical than Farnell.

This might be a better part for you; 0.038ohm ON resistance, 44A @ 300V, it's not logic level though, so you'd want a 10v supply & another transistor to switch it from a microprocessor. Also it looks like it needs a minimum voltage of 250, if I read the datasheet correctly...
Cheers!
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BruceM

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #290 on: December 05, 2017, 05:13:56 PM »
A warning about using MOFETs:

You must read up on Mosfets and their gate drive in order to use them as switches.  The ones with very low on resistance  and thus high current ratings MUST be switched on and off very quickly.  The gate is voltage controlled but has capacitance to be overcome when switching quickly.  Thus you will find "gate driver" chips which will provide a very brief current of 6A to overcome that gate capacitance quickly.  This is the easiest way to do it; use an integrated circuit gate driver chip, preferably with an opto-isolator.  Then your control signal need only light the little internal LED at about 8 milliamps of current, and the gate driver will bang on the Mosfet gate for you.  You must be a bit smart about circuit layout and such as well. 

Mosfets do bite back on those not familar with them.  EMI and ringing voltage the gate can cause exploding Mosfets.  Brief banging of 6 amps of current is in itself a major source of EMI. Application notes for gate driver ICs are useful and should be followed.  There are plenty of design notes online by MOSFET manufacturers also.

Glort, if you will give me the specific application, I can make you an example circuit for a high voltage, moderate current MOSFET control.  It is much simpler to do "low side" (switching the ground instead of the high side or positive voltage leg).  You need a 12VDC supply relative to ground to operate the MOSFET which is being used as a low side switch.  You will need a mosfet which is considerably higher in voltage than the voltage you intend to switch to allow for inductive surge in voltage on switching off the current.  Opto-isolation is a good idea for less problems with EMI, glitching and other EMC ("glitching and interference") related problems, in general you should not connect a high voltage, high power MOSFET to a distant logic level signal by wire.

Besides MOSFETs, there are IGBT transistors and modules for high voltages and currents.  IGBT's have the same gate structures as MOSFETs with the same driver requirements, but use bipolar power transistors.



BruceM

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #291 on: December 05, 2017, 07:45:14 PM »
Tin foil hats are still the domain of the delusional; the degree of shielding to the brain , brain stem and nervous system as a whole is minimal.  I find that large changes are needed to feel a difference from a problematic EMI source; 30dB of change is just noticeable as an improvement, 60dB feels much better, 90dB and I can't notice it at all or have very long latency. So typical simple commercial level fixes (<30dB) are not usually worth the effort and I've been forced to design from scratch for low EMI.  ELF magnetic fields totally penetrate the body and can't be shielded to a high degree without multiple layers of silicon steel, aka electrical steel or high nickel alloys such as mu metal. For ELF magnetic fields I also found that small changes didn't matter-  but orders of magnitude (+/- x10) do. 

Electrical Sensitivity has been around for quite a while and the industrial liability misinformation campaign has been highly effective.  It has been well proven as a physiological problem by Marino. 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21793784

Marino did what any respectable, competent, unbiased researcher would do- he talked to the person (a woman physician with ES), tested the person for frequencies  that they reacted to without much latency and without serious health repercussions and fairly short recovery time.  He then ran the controlled double blinded testing using these frequencies to prove that this was a physiological phenomena for this patient.  This obviously was quite a project and a small fortune (and a lot of misery) was spent to prove this conclusively for this one patient.   

This does not prevent industry from cranking up their cigarette science media campaign.  For example, one utterly bogus study widely publicized in the media used a cell phone on but at low transmission power (-30dB lower) for the "sham" exposure, in a medical office building with multiple WIFI sources, and undocumented and uncontrolled (!) background cellular and radio/TV/wireless levels.  The fact that the placebo or sham had the cell phone on at a lower power was not in the published report or in any media reports.  Almost anyone serious ES would never be able to immediately detect on/off reliably in that situation.   Just the EMI from the DC to DC level converter in the phone and it's processor and display emissions would be enough to have them all miserable, and it did.  Then top it off, statistics were used to invalidate the one or two who were able to detect the difference in transmitted power levels.

There is no doubt that some people with or without physiological ES will have or develop learned, phobic behaviors, obsessions, anxiety, etc. It is the nature of the brains of all mammals.  It is also sadly the nature of humans to ridicule, discredit and attack anyone different or with a problem outside their own personal experience.  Attacking others seems to help people deal with their fears or feel better about themselves.

Glort or Starfire asked about my car-
I have a 1985 MB 300D (the last year of mechanically injected diesels) which I modified about 20 years ago with a PV panel on the roof to charge the battery so the alternator could be left off.  I degaussed the steel belted tires and drive chain, and removed most electronics including the tachometer, radio, motorized antenna, environmental control, cruise control.  The car itself is below 0.010 milligaus at highways speeds on a fairly smooth road, and the wiring harness has no measurable EMI and is totally quiet on an AM radio held right on the harness or battery cables with engine running.  This car got me back a lot more freedom for many years until the cell tower situation even in rural areas got so out of hand.  Now I'm back on a short leash. After driving by 6-8 cell towers, and 20 minutes of driving alongside WYE power lines, I'm at my limit for fairly safe driving.




 










« Last Edit: December 05, 2017, 08:37:27 PM by BruceM »

BruceM

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #292 on: December 05, 2017, 11:00:14 PM »
Glort-
Here's a good example of a opto-isolated gate driver, in a dip IC, 8 pin, that is moderate in drive capability and only a couple bucks.  I picked it is the data sheet less cryptic than some others.  It's a $4.80 part.  Similar parts with 2.5 amps drive are about $2.70 at Digikey in the US. The magic search words are opto gate driver.

ACNW3410 
https://docs.broadcom.com/docs/pub-005667

It requires 8-9 ma of drive current for the opto led to turn it on.  It's a 3 amp peak driver, as I recall.  The  on or off signal can be slow, and is current not voltage so it solves a lot of glitch problems plus is suitable for high voltage and high current switching since the gate drive is fairly substantial.  One of these, your power MOSFET, some capacitors, a 12 or 15VDC supply plus a 1 ohm resistor to the gate and you're done making your basic solid state DC power switch.  There are some 4.5 and 5 amp drivers in dip packages also.  Less selection in dip packages (through hole) these days.

How hard you must drive the gate depends on the MOSFET and application voltage and current, and how often you are switching it.

In modest current appliance switches,  I cheat with Mosfets that are rated for very slow switching, since I don't conveniently have 12 power (could but don't want to bother) and thus don't want to use a gate driver.  Instead I cheat.  I can pull the gate up with 100K ohms to 120VDC for "on" and a 10K resistor to the low rail (always connected) will make the off and just 12V via the resistor voltage divider at the gate for "on".  The on switch time will be quite slow, perhaps 100 usecs, ballpark.  That must fall will within the safe operating area (SOA) specified on the data sheet for the MOSFET to use this cheat.

If I was switching PV power directly, I'd use an opto gate driver IC like the above, and I'd add some caps on the PV power to reduce potential glitches, and add an 18V zener diode to protect the gate from pv power spikes.  A TVSS (transient voltage surge suppressor- a fancy type of zener diode) on the pv power line wouldn't be a bad insurance for a few bucks. 












BruceM

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #293 on: December 05, 2017, 11:54:36 PM »
Shielding of car windows can be done with metalized window film.  For around 1 GHz this can provide a modest -20dBm (power) or -40dB voltage reduction. Alas, for cellular, vertical cracks and gaps due to window and door gaskets will limit such shielding to half that or less, and it requires cutting some red tape to use it on the front window.  I didn't feel it was worth the effort and expense for an improvement I am not likely to notice much.   

I have to admit that on a bad day I find that people's boundless need to talk, text and tweet wirelessly everywhere at the expense of my freedom pisses me off. 

This is a CEO of a large company in the UK that has gone public about his ES. He has a moderate case and so far is coping fairly well but notice the open curtains and the overhead florescent lights off.  Some with ES develop MS or Parkinsons.  Spect scans are significantly abnormal for those with ES- the functional images provided by Spect scans look like that of a closed head brain injury (big black areas of no activity) and the patients have the same problems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4DKNs0G2kU

For your home cellular signal problem I suggest that any wired services are much healthier.  Putting a cellular repeater in the home is recipe for chronic health problems, as is WIFI.  Cat5 cable is cheap and easy to install.  Most critical is to turn the damn stuff off at night; sleep impacts have been noted in many studies.  Where there is only wireless service, the "Home Phone Connect" or phone plus internet via wireless devices can have their WIFI turned off and can drive POTS compatible cable so conventional phones can be use anywhere in the house plus ethernet cable for internet.  If a directional external antenna is used and oriented relative to the nearby tower to minimize radiation in the home, this can work out fairly well.  Just my 2 cents worth, hate to see you or your family have health problems when simple alternatives are available.









oldgoat

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #294 on: December 06, 2017, 12:59:23 PM »

I think brain tumors ( and tattoo removal) are going to be huge growth industries in the future with the younger generations in 30 years.
 
Probably not I worked on ABC transmitters for years (50 Kw-612Kcs) doesn seem to have affected me at all and none of my old workmates have been afflicted by brain tumours so far. Lots of other things but I don't think HF radio caused arthritis or any of my other ailments.

BruceM

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #295 on: December 06, 2017, 04:26:11 PM »
Oldgoat, regarding your experience,
"Probably not I worked on ABC transmitters for years (50 Kw-612Kcs) doesn seem to have affected me at all and none of my old workmates have been afflicted by brain tumours so far. Lots of other things but I don't think HF radio caused arthritis or any of my other ailments."

620KHz is not a microwave...not even in the far neighborhood.  I personally worked with one of the most brilliant software engineers I ever met who had been a Navy radar tech, as had his brother.  Both died leaving young children fatherless from aggressive brain tumor, and his last couple years after surgery and radiation where a horror story.

The incidence of brain tumors from cell phone use is very slow in developing, a moderate increase and is only one small part of the health risk.  The effects on cell wall ion transport, for example, will more likely show up systemically as an increase in general health problems - the specifics determined by your family genetics. The effects on blood brain barrier may result in increased tendency for neurological impairment and degenerative diseases. The same is true for toxic exposures...you get to watch as every health problem in your family tree plays out, most being what are now known as chronic autoimmune diseases.  So it is likely that arthritis, heart disease and any other common autoimmune diseases in your family tree will be activated by continued EMF exposure.  Building/home wiring EMI, when bad, is also thought by some to be a pretty strong cancer growth stimulant and has been linked to some school cancer clusters by Milham (epidemiologist MD).

The genetics and epigenetics lottery is such that it is easy to find someone who has, for example, smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day for 70 years and died at 90 in his sleep.  This  sort of occurrence has not a lot to do with public health and yet kept a lot of people smoking and dying horrible deaths for many years.

The biggest payoff is for reducing EMF exposures (EMI, ELF magnetic fields, and radio/microwave) in the bedroom, where your "CPU" rests and recovers each night.  EMI on home wiring is easily located via AM radio (the old Radio Shack 12-467 or Sony ICF-S10MK2) and flipping off circuit breakers to locate the offender, and one meter by Cornet does the other two fairly well.  Reducing your night time EMF exposure is the best bargain in health insurance around. The most common problems are easily solved and are within the realm of the handy DIY'er.


Bravo on your roof hookup, Glort.  I have the same problem with spacial planning now-  have to built it 3 times to get it right, can't foresee the problems.  I resort to mock ups when I can, but that only reduces the first round of revision.

Regarding your dislike of fluorescent lights; likely possibilities include light spectrum and EMF.

The light spectrum is very unnatural, big spikes at some colors, nothing like natural light or incandescent or halogen which is full and broad in spectrum.

https://www.comsol.com/blogs/calculating-the-emission-spectra-from-common-light-sources/

LED lights are also fluorescent lights (dab of phosphor over a UV LED) with the same problem.   

EMFs:
Fluorescent lights are now typically driven with a 100KHz high voltage square wave; an arc is started and topped through the mercury vapor at that rate.  The emissions of an arc are broad spectrum, so we have a 100KHz pulsed broadband emission. It is a tremendous source of radiating emissions, both directly and from the attached wiring. The older transfomer type ballast lamps had the broad spectrum EMI pulses at 60Hz.  You can confirm this with the aforementioned AM radio held near the lamps.  The idea that we expect young school children sit under these all day, and then give them methamphetamine when they can't stand it, makes me angry. 

I think parents should be screaming at their school boards for daylighting of classrooms, and pulling out wireless from schools.  Karl Riley's work on school EMFs is worth a good look as well.







« Last Edit: December 06, 2017, 05:17:15 PM by BruceM »

AdeV

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #296 on: December 06, 2017, 07:17:07 PM »
Some LED lights are getting pretty good with spectral distribution - e.g. Cree make some "daylight white" COBs which have a very decent red & blue distribution (still a bit cranky on the green) - this makes them ideal for certain plant-based activities (I'm told).

I've heard of a few people who are EMF sensitive, but I think most of us are pretty robust against it. Microwave radiation, at the milliwatt level (and that's right next to your router) will have insignificant effects on most people. Look how long it takes an 800 watt microwave oven to boil a pint of water - and that's 1000s of times more powerful than a typical WiFi hub/router, which is why the tiny amount of leakage from a microwave can easily knock out your wireless internet while it's on. Even a phone glued to your ear isn't going to have a noticable effect on most people - and if your ear gets hot, it's more likely the battery warming up than the radiation cooking your earlobe...

Obviously, if you are sensitive to this sort of radiation, then you're in a world of misery & it's only going to get worse.
Cheers!
Ade.
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Nonni

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #297 on: December 06, 2017, 08:29:49 PM »
solar power is now a day a best option and also in trend…it is quiet costly but one time investment…i live in hostel..and they plant solar plates..n we are happy with that…

BruceM

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #298 on: December 06, 2017, 09:32:19 PM »
Adev-  The old thermal model of radiation being safe unless it literally cooks you (the insane "microwaved hot dog theory") has been widely disproven.  That is NOT the mechanism by which cell function in living organisms is affected.  Industry promotes this myth since it allows very high peak levels which are handy for digital communications. 

Plenty of researchers and doctors around the world are concerned.

www.bioinitiative.org

As for human robustness to microwaves...if you check with a fair group of friends of all ages you'll find few that don't have a collection of chronic, typically autoimmune related health issues.  Commonly, your doctor might tell you it's "stress".  I agree, but the stressor may likely be environmental and perhaps EMF. How would you know without checking? But obviously, I'm biased.  I think that EMFs that can be simply and readily avoided should be. 






oldgoat

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Re: Blasphemy..... Solar power.
« Reply #299 on: December 07, 2017, 03:48:34 PM »
They were much lower requency than a mobile but the Radiated power was high much more than the 4 watts from a mobile towerb (50 Kw) for the local stations and (12Kw) for the 2 short wave aerials In those days they ran for 19 hrs a day. The favourite trick to impress the young trainees was to give them a fluorescent tube and watch their faces as it lit up from the radiation we would also earth the guy wires on the tower and draw an arc and they were most impressed to hear the programme playing over the arc