However, a problem with LEDs is a somewhat picky
drive requirement. Driving from solar, which is not
a hard fixed voltage source, would greatly reduce
system efficiency.
Yep you would probably burn them out.
12 VDC is also awkward.
Not all that bad. I run mine in groups of three connected in series, then all the groups are connected in parallel. A simple voltage regulator then steps the 12 volt down to 9.6.
Other
forms are mature and will not improve, but LEDs
are still in development and improving both in terms
of efficiency and cost.
Been working with a guy who just bought a couple hundred brand new white LED�s for ten cents a piece!!! And I thought I got a good buy at 20 cents for surplus ones.
MadSci, if it were just me, yes I could handle going without the a/c, we did it for many years while my children were growing up... But, my foster daughter cannot handle the heat... Above 74 degrees she gets a bit drowsy, Above 76 degrees, and she falls asleep... above 80, she goes into seizures. She was put into that situation once, while she was at school, apparently their a/c broke and they didnt bother to call any parents... I dont know exactly how hot it got before she went into seizures, but the school swears it didnt get over 80.... So, I have to be very careful of that.... At this point, I think my best bet will be putting a window unit in one room, and keeping her in that room while we are home.... If I can just finish out this month without turning on the a/c, I will be happy!!!
The friend who told me about the paint, said he put it on his roof, and his bills went down from over 300 to around 170, so close to cutting the bill in half.... He is even willing to paint my roof for me, so cant beat that!
I also sent an email to the people with the free a/c information.... According to them, because of where I live, this system would not benefit me (I cant believe a sales person would say that) but did suggest that if I could find someone who would be able to drill (using an auger??) holes straight down then it would help.... here is what he wrote
Quote:
For a climate like yours, we have come to mostly suggest the "vertical version" of the tubes, where the tubes are actually inside a whole bunch of very shallow wells (like water wells, but not nearly as deep). Depending on whether you could find someone who would make a bunch (maybe 30) such shallow boreholes (maybe 30 feet deep), and what they would charge you for that, you might be able to benefit from that version (which is slightly different in that it is filled with water instead of air). But even then, you would certainly still need to use your existing A/C to do the final cooling.
If you could find someone who would be willing to bore those holes for maybe $200, I might think it was worth considering. But they would probably try to get you to pay $1,000 or more, and then, absolutely no. I guess I am thinking a High school kid with one of those hand-turned auger-type post-hole diggers, because if any larger equipment was required, they would try to charge you way too much.
So, a little research on my part and see if I can find people willing and able to do this.... We shall see... Its refreshing to know, that there are still people out there honest enough to say my product wont work for you!!!!
__________________ God is and all is well
~John Greenleaf Whittier~
I would not expect that someone could be that sensitive to heat. Although friend wife claims to be, still she has yet to actually pass out. :wink:
Here is another insulation thought. Windows are a source of great heat loss, or gain. So for my bedroom windows I have taped �bubble wrap� over them, this made for warmer rooms this winter. Of course it is a little hard to see out of them, but at night I don't care and light does come in during the day.
An honest salesman, now that is refreshing!! As far as holes in the ground go, do you have a well? If so you could take the well water run it through a radiator with a fan blowing on it for cooling. The now warmed water is dumped down the wellhead to be recooled.
I'm with ya, just me. No A/C until absolutely necessary.
We've already hit low 80's once or twice, but not 2 days
in a row yet. However several consecutive days of high
70's have heated my place up in areas where I have no
window or ceiling fan. Consecutive days of 80's are due
in early May, according to weather reports.
My reason for not using the A/C is conservation of energy;
I'm trying to do My part.
However, Duke Energy also sent out letters asking
customers to sign up to allow Duke to decide When to
turn our Heating and A/C's on. I declined - smacks of
big-brotherism to me. I'm Not wasteful of energy and
only I will decide when to start my cooling or heating.
BTW, my corkscrew bulbs only take 1 or 2 seconds before
coming on - NOT minutes. One lamp in a dark hallway, is
on almost 24/7 and hasn't burned out yet - prob ever 3
months now. With the old type 40W I'd have had to replace
at least once, possibly twice by now.
__________________
May you always have..Love to Share, Health to Spare, and Friends that Care!
When I was a Farm Bureau insurance agent I dealt with some quirky wealthy clients.
One was a descendant of Andrew Carnegie's founding partner in the steel business. His huge home on a lake near Tallahassee was designed by Edward Durell Stone and looked like something from the "Great Gatsby". The home had 12 foot ceilings and had no air conditioning. I often saw this billionaire out plowing with his John Deere.
Another of my clients was the widow of Benjamin Moore (paint). Shortly after I left the business, she died and her plantation was bought by Ted Turner who married Jane Fonda there. I read that Turner's home in Atlanta had no air conditioning.
A nanowire grid could help make large organic LED displays practical.
By Prachi Patel-Predd
Metal mesh: A grid of 200-nanometer-thick metal wires could be used as a flexible and robust transparent electrode to light up flat-panel displays and organic LEDs.
Credit: Myung-Gyu Kang, and L. Jay Guo
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays are attractive because they are bright, efficient, and thin enough to be flexible. But they are currently limited to use in small displays, such as those in mobile phones. That's in part due to the failings of one piece of the device, a transparent electrode used to light up the display. Now researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a new type of electrode that could help clear the way for large, flexible OLED displays.
OLEDs consist of organic semiconductor layers sandwiched between two electrodes, one of which must be transparent to allow light to escape. Today's displays use a transparent film of indium tin oxide (ITO), but this material is expensive, fragile, and inflexible, which makes it unsuitable for large-area flexible displays. It can also degrade the organic light-emitting layers.
The new electrode is a grid of highly conductive metal wires so thin that they are essentially transparent. Electrical-engineering and computer-science professor L. Jay Guo says that the electrode should be more flexible and less expensive than ITO, while not degrading the organic materials. The researchers incorporated the grid into an OLED as the top electrode and observed no *visible difference in brightness between their LED's light emission and that of a conventional OLED made with an ITO electrode, although Guo says that he and his colleagues will need to do more-detailed optical measurements to see how the two compare. The work is described in an online paper in the journal Advanced Materials. https://www.technologyreview.com/Nanotech/18591/
Other
forms are mature and will not improve, but LEDs
are still in development and improving both in terms
of efficiency and cost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MadScientist
Been working with a guy who just bought a couple hundred brand new white LED�s for ten cents a piece!!! And I thought I got a good buy at 20 cents for surplus ones.
what is a good place to buy LEDs? I would like to go with LEDs, but they are expensive (at least the ones I've seen).
man, I would replace all my lights if I could find them for 20 cents apiece!!
what is a good place to buy LEDs? I would like to go with LEDs, but they are expensive (at least the ones I've seen).
man, I would replace all my lights if I could find them for 20 cents apiece!!
The place were I got my LED�s, it is a surplus house, and that was three years ago so I doubt that they have any left. However you could try this place.
Been working with a guy who just bought a couple hundred brand new white LED�s for ten cents a piece!!! And I thought I got a good buy at 20 cents for surplus ones.
Don�t know the company he got them from other then that it was in China, he reluctantly ordered them by email and was quite surprised when he got parts within 4-5 days!
However if you go with the 20 cent LED�s you will have to make your own fixtures.
These are some of mine.
This is not LED�s but it is really cool stuff a thin wire that lights up. You can bend it into all sorts of shapes. https://www.elbestbuy.com/
oh.. those pictures are cool! You made those? I'm impressed!
well, if you have to make the fixtures these lights work on.. that leaves me out. I don't know how to do that.
It's funny.. I was just thinking the other day that I should take an electronics course just to make some simple repairs in my house.. but I'm afraid I would end up like this woman:
On one of those links you posted, I was looking at one of the colored lights. they are now using blue and red light for acne. and light for collagen production. I think I will post about this on another topic.
but.. basically, I was looking for LEDs to replace my household light bulbs. take out the old and put in the LED. but those are around $40 a bulb. but they are supposed to last 10 years.
I made the switch about 1 1/2 yrs ago, I think it will be 2 years in October. The lights seem to start out very bright, but then they get dimmer just in a few weeks. The light, for me, is still hard to get used to. It doesn't seem near as bright as my traditional white light bulbs, but I have noticed a drop in my energy bill. Plus it sucks that you can't use them in dimmer lamps. I think my first bill went down about $20, but I replaced 12 of them.
I made the switch about 1 1/2 yrs ago, I think it will be 2 years in October. The lights seem to start out very bright, but then they get dimmer just in a few weeks. The light, for me, is still hard to get used to. It doesn't seem near as bright as my traditional white light bulbs, but I have noticed a drop in my energy bill. Plus it sucks that you can't use them in dimmer lamps. I think my first bill went down about $20, but I replaced 12 of them.
I believe LEDs have arrived for taillights and traffic lights but I don't think they're quite ready for home lighting. I got an LED trouble light for my handyman and he much preferred my old fluorescent trouble light. The LED's output is too directional, needs to have more of a 'flood' effect. I love my LED house key.
__________________
For now we see through a glass, darkly.... 1st Corinthians 13:12
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