Re: [RE-wrenches] Slow clocks

[Roy Butler]

Allan, Same here, some parasitic loads are necessary- answering and fax machines need to stay on. I want to add my off grid clock experience to the mix. When I went off grid in 1997, I switched all my clocks to battery units. I love 'em! Wall clocks, desk clocks and best of all, my alarm clock that runs for almost 4 years on 1 battery! The other clock batteries go for 2+ years, can't beat that. Oh, I should mention my 1887 Seth Thomas double wind/ 28 day schoolhouse clock. Best one of all, although the bio interface used for winding the clock doesn't always work as it should ;-) It's not a clock problem when I don't get somewhere on time..... Roy Butler NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer® NYSERDA eligible PV & wind installer PA Sunshine Program Approved PV Installer Four Winds Renewable Energy, LLC 8902 Route 46 Arkport, NY 14807 607-324-9747 www.four-winds-energy.com Although no trees were killed in the sending of this message, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced. On 4/6/2011 10:09 AM, Allan Sindelar wrote: Todd, Come on now! Times have changed. People expect more from their systems now, and lower module costs make that possible. It's not the electric clocks per se - it's everything else that we come to want on all the time, that happens to also have a clock in it. I don't know anyone any more with a modern system whose inverter ever goes into sleep mode. With three teenagers who have grown up in the digital age, rural wireless, all the electronics, my off-grid home has about an 80W continuous tare load. Maybe ten years ago (kids were small), we had no tare in the winter, but even then it never went to sleep. And we let all or most of the phantom loads stay on during the rest of the year when we have an excess of PV energy. Allan Allan Sindelar al...@positiveenergysolar.com NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician Positive Energy, Inc. 3201 Calle Marie Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507 505 424-1112 www.positiveenergysolar.com On 4/4/2011 8:46 PM, toddc...@finestplanet.com wrote: I wasn't going to say anything, but electric clocks off-grid? really??? Todd On Monday, April 4, 2011 6:20pm, "Kent Osterberg" <k...@coveoregon.com> said: > Kris, > > Even with generators using an electronic governor, the frequency changes > with load. Also while inverters are stable their frequency is not as > accurate as utility power. Clocks that use the ac frequency as the time > standard will not work reliably when powered with off-grid power. Such > should be disclosed in any contract to install an off-grid power system. > > Kent Osterberg > Blue Mountain Solar > > > Kristopher Schmid wrote: > > I have an off-grid client who tells me that his clocks lose about 1 minute > > per hour while he is running his backup generator. Has anyone seen this > > before? Do clocks use the zero crossing on a 60Hz wave for keeping time and > > could a frequency discrepency in the generator cause this? > > > > My thanks to the brain trust... > > > > Kris > > > > Legacy Solar, LLC > > 864 Clam Falls Trail > > Frederic, WI 54837 > > 715-653-4295 > > sol...@legacysolar.com > > www.legacysolar.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > > > Options & settings: > > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > > > List-Archive: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > > > List rules & etiquette: > > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > > > Check out participant bios: > > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Options & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > Sent from Finest Planet WebMail. _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org

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