Anybody have any updates on the nano-solar electric tech or LEDs?

[tracysaboe]

I posted the following 3 articles to Digg in the hopes that the digg community might have other articles that are more recent.

http://digg.com/hardware/STMicroelectronics_Discovers_Cheaper_Solar_Cell_Production_Method

http://digg.com/hardware/Solar_Electric_on_Cloudy_Days

http://digg.com/gadgets/Could_LED_Cluster_Bulbs_be_cheaper_then_light_bulbs_in_the_new_future

If you could please digg these, and perhaps comment here or there if you know of anything more recent about these technologies since these articles were first published I'd be apreciative. When these articles were published all of them esaid they'd be availible on the marketplace for these w/in 5 years. Well, for one of these technologies, it's been almost 3 already.

Just wondering if I'm going to need to spend $20,000 on my solar electric system or if I'll be able to get away with 3 or 4 by the time I manage to get to NH.

Tracy

[mraaron]

    I have seen the LED cluster bulbs for sale.  They are already in use in traffic lights, due to the hassle of changing those bulbs, especially ay busy intersections.  I saw an ad for a device that looked like a flourescent under cabinent light, but it was full of white LED's.  If I can find it I'll post it here.

     Luckily, those LED lights draw so little energy, that a deep cycle 12vdc battery would probably be fine to get you through the cloudy days if thats the only load you will have.

     I've heard about solar "paint" that you can paint on a nonconductive surface, place leads on, and seal with clearcoat.  This looks to be the most promising solar development yet, but its probably ten years from being cost effective.

      I'm interested in the low wind speed startup windmill sets.  That will be down the road for me though.

[mraaron]

   Here's the link on those undercabinent lights.
http://www.realgoods.com/shop/shop3.cfm/dp/304/ts/6500116

[tracysaboe]

Thanks mraaron.
I did find this company
http://www.nanosolar.com/

But I don't se any estimates on how much $ per watt generating compacity these things will be or how close these varying technologies are to mass production.

The only thing about LED bulbs is that currently an LED clustures that generates the same lumins as a standard 60 watt bulb are around $20, so even thoughthey only use less then a 6th the wattage, they're still not really worth it. But I had read a report somewhere on a company that had figured out how to make them for cheeper -- to the point that such an LED bulb could be made for about the price of a standard light bulb. But it was about 5 years away from production.

The Nano-tech would likely be less stable then solar cells. But if they're a tenth the price per watt or less, it really doesn't matter.

Tracy

[KBCraig]

LEDs cost more, but they last much longer. I think they're still more expensive overall, even factoring bulb life.

The big drawback to LEDs is that they don't produce full spectrum light. I've tried a lot of different flashlights for work, and the LEDs just don't cut it. They can be blindingly bright if shined in your eyes, yet don't provide good illumination because the light is "flat" and narrow spectrum. I stick with xenon incandescents.

Kevin

[tracysaboe]

That's why the clusters use Clusters of Red, Green, and Yellow to produce white light.

The Green ones are the hardest to make aparently.

I did find a couple other companies too.
http://www.miasole.com/
http://www.daystartech.com/

Tracy

P.S. what are some good, decent traffic message boards devoted to Solar electric?

Tracy

[Pat McCotter]

That's why the clusters use Clusters of Red, Green, and Yellow to produce white light.

Red, Green and Blue light make white light.
Red, Blue and Yellow pigment make white pigment.

[tracysaboe]

Yes. Red green blue.

Tracy

[mraaron]

P.S. what are some good, decent traffic message boards devoted to Solar electric?

Tracy

Here's a good forum from a good magazine.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl?board=energy

     For a cheap alternative, you could use 12vdc flourescent fixtures, but the LED's last longer.  I used to use a flourescent fixture, and had a 12vdc halogen bulb, from a vehicle dome light for close up work.  I had this hooked up to a 12vdc power supply  for a ham radio transceiver, that was plugged into 120vac. When the power went out, I switched the whole setup over to two 12vdc deep cycle batteries.  And I lived in the sticks, and the power went out alot!  So when the power went out, I would just flip a toggle switch.  Usually the power was repaired in under four hours, and when it came back on I would charge the deepcycles from a car charger.  One of my neighbors, another ham down the road, could run almost everything important off his battery bank.  He had a solar array, and a 12vdc generator from a car powered by a briggs and stratton engine that sipped gas. 

[tracysaboe]

I can't use flourecent lights. I have dog-like hearing (Litterally. Talk to my hear/nose/and throat specialist I had as a high schooler) and I hear the buzzing, and the flickering also gives me a head-ache. Now, I've been told that you can fix that by speading up the frequency in the Alternating current power-flow to the point that it's undetectable -- but it's a hassle and I don't know much about how to do it.

Tracy

[mraaron]

   Yeah, I know what you mean.  Better stick with LED's.   I like the new led conversions for mag lights and mini-mags.  LED lights have really extended battery life, thats nice when you're miles from nowhere and have to carry what you need.  I like those LED lights that you crank to recharge.  Very handy.

[Michael Fisher]

The best small pocket flashlights run on lithium-ion batteries for a LONG time and have a very powerful light beam.

Unfortunately they're very expensive at $100-200, and that makes them useless in my book. 

[tracysaboe]

Those magnet powered batteries that you just need to shake to recharge are only about $20 and they use a few yelow spectrum ultra bright LED bulbs.

They last practically forever.

BTW.
Crossposted this to the Bckwdshm forums.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl?board=energy;action=display;num=1156749148;start=0#0

Tracy

[KBCraig]

The best small pocket flashlights run on lithium-ion batteries for a LONG time and have a very powerful light beam.

"LONG time" is subjective; a 3D Maglite runs a very long time (hours!) before hitting 50% output; the best 2-cell 123A LiON ("2x123A") lights can only run an hour or so before dropping to 50% output. They run at 90%+ output until the batteries can't handle any more output, and then they drop drastically to about 10% output.

Surefire lights, et al., usually have what is called a "V2 chip", which regulates and manages power output from batteries to the bulb. Cheaper 2x123A lights don't have power management. They follow a far different output curve. But, they're cheap, and still very bright for a longer period than similarly-sized lights that run off of alkaline cells.

For true flashlight geekery, you have to visit http://www.flashflightreviews.com

Kevin

[mraaron]

   I had an LED light that you shake to recharge, but it rattled when I was hiking, drove me nuts, so I bought a windup LED and it works great, it has a 3 LED and 1 LED setting.

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