Solar Heating - Solid State Heating Elements demonstration on workbench workshop

[@Craftypiston]

That's why i subscribed, nice concept, especially being able to match it to the relative pv size.

[@solarpoweredge]

Appreciate the sub! I was not expecting this type of setup to do much at all... but it exceeded my expectation. I believe it is worth further investigation

[@a.mirmousavizadegan7962]

Can you share the original paper ?

[@ddouglas3687]

Wow cant wait for part 2! Just found your channel and you're doing amazing things! You need to get those prototypes to market!👍 Watching intently!

[@solarpoweredge]

Thank you :) I am thankful someone enjoys this stuff hehe. More on the way!

[@banmaga]

Hey there! Glad to see you are still posting :)

[@solarpoweredge]

Hello, hows it going :) thanks for staying with us... I should have a couple more done in the coming days. Working like crazy!

[@4QWzbaxSzUAq9]

maybe string the diodes through some copper tubing for conductivity and longevity

[@solarpoweredge]

@4QWzbaxSzUAq9 Good idea, been looking for some copper pipes to do that project

[@UndCon]

I did some tests with a solar panel giving out 24Volts and 100W. I connected 2pcs 55W 12V H4 Bulbs in series. Light is very inefficient, most power goes to heat and only a few % is light. That means most power in is turned into heat and as my 2 bulbs can take more power than the solar panel gives I'm on the safe side. I dropped the 2 bulbs in a small zinc-pot filled with sand blasting sand and covered the bulbs entirely - converting the zinc-pot to a sand battery. It gave me over 200 degrees Celsius and energy is slowly dissipated as power drops off = free heat into my garage.

[@solarpoweredge]

Nice! Very interesting setup

[@UndCon]

@@solarpoweredge it works amazingly well. Easy, to scale up if you have more powerful panels.

[@FloatingIdeasonanarrowboat]

Very interesting. It's a good concept. Probably needs a microcontroller looking at the yellow fan taco output to disconnect the load if fan fails. The problem with diods is themal runaway. If you have a large enough current rated aray it should be reliable. You can increase this by putting them in parallel series or get ones in the bolt through packaging and use insulation pads to mount them all on one large heatsink. Good luck. I'd love a water tank heater with the diode characteristics. So simple!

[@solarpoweredge]

Hello, thanks for the feedback. You might be happy to know, they did heat water. Incidentally that's one of many solutions to the thermal problems... liquid! Also boiled water with diodes... working through solar cooking applications, and a proper hot water tank project too. Will post a video update when I can.

[@tossancuyota7848]

this will make things a little more complicated but if u really want a heater thats cheap and heats real good you should buy a small s-v inverter mirco module board transformer and a bms for a 12volts lipo4 batteries been using it to boil my water the whole cost is more or less close in like buying 14pieces of diodes and a nichrome wire, that all sums to less than 10usd

[@solarpoweredge]

Hey, pretty cool idea :) I'll check into this. I've been eyeing those transformer inverter boards on ebay for a while now.

[@tossancuyota7848]

@@solarpoweredge it's cool product I used it to power my 500 watts Amplifier on my trike and other stuff in the house like bulbs

[@tossancuyota7848]

@@solarpoweredge just some huge caps a toroidal transformer and a rectifier diode and you've got an awesome magical item to power a lot of stuff hehhehe

[@solarpoweredge]

You got that right lol

[@paulipoika]

Once you find maximum power point you can use high power transistor on heat sink plate and use small zener diode ( 13 V ? ) to its base . That way you can handle more power .

[@solarpoweredge]

Good ideas, need to order transistors to experiment. Found putting the diodes in liquid greatly increases their power capability: 10a diode might take 20-30 amps when immersed

[@raylowe3324]

Excellent video. Would it be a good idea to mount the diodes to a heat sink and have the fan blow across the heat sink?

[@solarpoweredge]

Thank you sir. Yes, heat must be extracted to prevent damage to the diodes; heat sinking would help, for example TO-220 packaged diodes can mount directly. This was literally the very first test. After seeing the performance, I believe it's worth building something a bit more "official". Possibly mounted to a heat sink or some other method besides air cooling. If I get anything built I will upload and share it with you guys.

[@TheGhungFu]

Run banks in parallel? Also, could you use a high amp MPPT charge controller? And..... use a mineral oil bath as a heat sink?

[@solarpoweredge]

Yes they can work in parallel too. I have not tried an mppt controller this way. Did try putting them in liquid too, that works. Hopefully there will be better diode packages in the future for this type of application

[@TheGhungFu]

@@solarpoweredge Thanks! I have a spare Outback controller, 60 amps at up to 90 volts, and may try that. We've been off-grid solar for over 20 years, all DIY, and I have about 10 spare used PV panels. We have two guest bedrooms that can be challenging to keep heated in winter. Our main heat is passive solar and radiant heat floors, but keeping those normally vacant rooms warm means using warm water that can be used in other parts of the house. Water in a 450 gallon tank is kept warm (125-140 F) using a solar water heater (evacuated tube) and our wood heater. It also heats our domestic hot water. I'm definitely going to build a PV-direct parabolic heater to try in those rooms using my used panels. Hopefully, if friends and family show up on short notice, those rooms will be tolerably warm. Grindweenies just don't get that, when you make/harvest all of your own energy, it's problematic to just flip a switch and heat things up. Thanks, again! Hoping this finds you well.

[@solarpoweredge]

Welcome :) you have a very interesting setup for sure. I hope the parabolic works well. They do make a difference over time. Health is slowly improving, hope to be back up to speed asap... then I can get more panels and make more videos...

[@vegasromaniac]

It makes no sense what you are doing .. I'll do some more research but I don't understand the point 😊, I did watch the video .. that's the goal isn't it ?

[@solarpoweredge]

Well I may try to include more detail in the next video. The point is I am extracting heat from a solar panel source with only diodes and nothing else. The diodes can maintain near Max Power Voltage without any electronics. This is amazing. Resistance elements cannot do that without supporting electronics. Solid state heating will almost certainly be used in future PV DC appliances.