Sunday, January 30, 2011
Five years later
Well, I took a brief hiatus from blogging.
A brief accounting:
Solar lawn mower:
Still have the mower, but we have moved to a much larger yard, so it only gets used for trimming odd areas, such as under the trampoline (you can fold the handle and crawl underneath). The charge controller failed after 3 years of use. The solar panels were re-deployed to a fence charger and a lighting system (more on those to come).
Rain barrel:
The rain barrel was hard to use, as it got a lot of sediment from the roof, and had to be flushed out semi-annually. Also, it didn't help a lot when we needed it the most: our "Mediterranean" summers with little rain. It could sit empty for weeks, waiting for rain to fill it. And rain collection is supposedly illegal [!] in our state. It has been re-deployed as a horse training obstacle.
Solar light:
The lantern worked for about four years. An internal trace on the lanterns charge control board failed, and it was beyond my soldering skills to fix. The battery was shot, so the lantern was replaced. The same panel is hooked into the new lantern in a new location, and it serves well for a few minutes use each night.
Lessons Learned:
- solar panels, even cheap ones, are generally durable (at least for 5 years)
- Cheap charge controllers are not so durable, and may ruin batteries (due to no charging) when they fail. I will buy better quality ones from now on.
A brief accounting:
Solar lawn mower:
Still have the mower, but we have moved to a much larger yard, so it only gets used for trimming odd areas, such as under the trampoline (you can fold the handle and crawl underneath). The charge controller failed after 3 years of use. The solar panels were re-deployed to a fence charger and a lighting system (more on those to come).
Rain barrel:
The rain barrel was hard to use, as it got a lot of sediment from the roof, and had to be flushed out semi-annually. Also, it didn't help a lot when we needed it the most: our "Mediterranean" summers with little rain. It could sit empty for weeks, waiting for rain to fill it. And rain collection is supposedly illegal [!] in our state. It has been re-deployed as a horse training obstacle.
Solar light:
The lantern worked for about four years. An internal trace on the lanterns charge control board failed, and it was beyond my soldering skills to fix. The battery was shot, so the lantern was replaced. The same panel is hooked into the new lantern in a new location, and it serves well for a few minutes use each night.
Lessons Learned:
- solar panels, even cheap ones, are generally durable (at least for 5 years)
- Cheap charge controllers are not so durable, and may ruin batteries (due to no charging) when they fail. I will buy better quality ones from now on.
