On Sat, 22 May 2010 23:40:15 -0700, Winston
wrote the following:

On 5/22/2010 11:37 AM, Eregon wrote:
wrote in
news


I favor "green" energy sources too, BUT-- Anyone here wanna
calculate the square footage of solar panels needed to strike and
maintain a 110 Amp, 30 Volt welding arc for an average workday?
Say, stick welding 30 to 45 lbs of 1/8" 11018? I bet those panels
would be pretty darn big to support just one welder.

With a couple of matteries and a charger system, they would not need
to be very big.

i

The time ratio gets pretty ugly very quickly. A standard 120 portable
MIG welder draws around 2400 watts. A moderate solar panel (36"
square) puts out 45 watts in direct sunlight (and aimed at the sun)
http://www.harborfreight.com/45-watt...kit-90599.html
So you would need an hour of charging to weld for 1 minute.


Or at least 60 such units.

Not only would that be expen$ive but would really clutter up the place -
and youstill wouldn't be able to work after sundown or on cloudy days.
G

IIRC, wind turbines yield higher bang for the buck
as do photovoltaics, on average.

Here y'go, $1.25 per peak watt:
http://www.magnet4less.com/product_i...roducts_id=760

A 4.5 hour wind storm gets you an hour of welding per
turbine (at midnight, too.)

Yabbut, having to wait for a storm is a wank of a style.

Fuel cells might be in our future, and our box could power several
neighbors' homes, too. Instead of propane, the truck comes once every
few months with hydrogen. Google's doing it on a much grander scale
with its Bloom Boxes. http://fwd4.me/Pcr

--
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when
they do it from religious conviction. - Blaise Pascal

On 5/23/2010 6:39 AM, Larry Jaques penned the following missive:
On Sat, 22 May 2010 23:40:15 -0700,
wrote the following:

(...)

A 4.5 hour wind storm gets you an hour of welding per
turbine (at midnight, too.)

Yabbut, having to wait for a storm is a wank of a style.

So charge your battery bank with photovoltaics, wind charger,
biogas turbine and your plasma garbage converter, fuel cell, etc, etc.
Relying on just one source of energy is just silly.

Fuel cells might be in our future, and our box could power several
neighbors' homes, too. Instead of propane, the truck comes once every
few months with hydrogen. Google's doing it on a much grander scale
with its Bloom Boxes. http://fwd4.me/Pcr

They are still "Glitch Containers". IIRC
Still waiting for the promised consumer level box.

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when
they do it from religious conviction. - Blaise Pascal

Or corporate fear, whose god is infinitely more powerful and awesome
than anything else man has ever conjured.

--Winston

On 5/23/2010 8:06 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sun, 23 May 2010 12:11:23 -0700,
wrote the following:

(...)

They are still "Glitch Containers". IIRC

I seem to be missing something. Context, maybe?

I recall from the _60 minutes_ report that the exchange membrane
has been quite unreliable. As you know, that is a key part of
the system. The commercial scale boxes have maintenance teams
available. The home units would not.

Still waiting for the promised consumer level box.

They're here! $12k, 10KW. (For testing only. Just try to buy one.)

What level of testing do you want to do?
http://www.fuelcellstore.com/en/pc/v...&idproduct=911

--Winston