GIRLS' ROOM: Solar power tutorial

[Van Lady]

Hi All,

I just wanted to let you know about a series of YouTube videos on all facets of solar you maybe interested in viewing. The presenter is female and keeps it simple.

If the topic is new to you as it is for so many women this may help.

She is not done will the series yet. I have included the link to the first video only ....if you are interested you can find the others as she is posting them in order.

Happy travels!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TrainChaser]

waaaaaaaaah! It's not simple enough for my poor little brain! I'll have to watch about 3 minutes at a time, repeatedly, and maybe I will get it eventually. But I'm not going to hold my breath.......

 

[Headache]

When it comes to electrical of any kind math is your friend. Unfortunately math and I have had a very frustrating and downright hateful relationship since middle school. An analytical mind also helps which of course I don't have either...but it won't stop me! I WILL have a complete solar system for my rig someday and LIKE it!

 

[anewbiewannabe]

Thanks! I'll have to check it out later when the time is closer and I have access where I can watch youtube.

 

[mothercoder]

I'm going to have to take a look at this. I can't tell you how much it frustrates me that I don't immediately get this. I took the hard sciences in college including physics and to do so I had to take enough math to get through Calculus...which I got a solid "B" in! Then I went on to teach HS physics for a while. But solar power and even just understanding the basic wiring of a van are causing me undue amounts of frustration. Maybe in the intervening years my math neurons have gone dormant.

 

[AngryVanMan]

I haven't watched this series yet, but I've seen some of Pippi's other work.  She is very sharp, tackles all sorts of projects and seems to put a good bit of thought into her video presentation, which is a great combo for visual learning IMO.  I'm going to check it out, you never know when you might learn something!  

Judging by her RV Solar playlist, the 4 part series is complete, and she did a follow on set of videos about making DIY solar panels.  I don't particularly think DIY panels are the way to go for most conventional RV setups, but I do keep some cells, wire, and materials to build panels for custom projects that need a small or non-standard footprint - probably a good skill to have anyway.

If you watch the playlist in its lowest quality setting (144p) all six videos would use 80.75MiB of data, and just the 4 part solar series would use 45.69MiB.  That's just for the videos, the YouTube webpage is kinda bulky too, but it's better in mobile or using the app.  144p is pretty bad quality, but it gets the point across most times.

 

[mothercoder]

This is Pippi's? She's awesome. I think I watched this series on solar early on before I studied it a bit. It was clearer than most other exclamations that I have seen but it still wasn't completely clear to me. Maybe on the second pass it will click.

 

[TrainChaser]

Mothercoder: "I'm going to have to take a look at this. I can't tell you how much it frustrates me that I don't immediately get this."

I have a hard time understanding something that I can't see directly. I tend to get it eventually, but it seems that it has to ferment in my brain a while. Like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. My friend's husband in SoCal is a physicist, and he knows how to explain complicated things so they make sense. I am contemplating contacting him if I don't pick it up pretty soon.

 

[DrJean]

Oh Pippi is a real genius and I enjoy her videos very much!

I like charts... my mind is a visual one and one visual can eliminate hours of explanation for me!

 

[DrJean]

One thing to remember... or to remember to check in the future when you're ready...  such as on that chart that shows the size of the wire you need for your purposes...

a #2 gauge and a #2/0 gauge are not the same size.

When talking wire size, the larger the number the smaller the wire in size.  So a #10 (gauge) wire is smaller than a # 2 (gauge) wire.

That's until you get to the ex. #2/0. In my example this is pronounced two-ott.  In talking "ott" wire sizes they go like you would normally think, the smaller size being the smaller number and up.  ("Ott" size wires are in the larger wire category beyond the regular gauge wire. I suppose this is so they didn't have to be talking wire sizes of #395 for example ? )  

If I may say one more thing on this, visualize and realize that a larger wire will carry more power than a smaller wire.  Right? You knew that!  Tiny battery wires on the old walkman 9v versus the gigantic wires on the power poles along the street!  It's good to match your needs but going one size up can be a good decision if you're in doubt.

It's easy to experience analysis paralysis on some of these things.   I know this stuff but still have brain freeze at times.