Solar Power courses on-line?

Howdy folks,

(I accidently posted this message on the 'advanced forum' and now realize it should have been posted here. "Sorry" to those who are having to read this for a 2nd time.)

I just found this Forum, so this is my first post.
I am a newbie at Solar Energy an hope to learn more.

Other than http://www.solarenergy.org/, any idea where I can take some Solar Power courses on-line?

Thank you,
Keith Stanford
Tucson, AZ
eenncar@aol.com

Comments

  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Solar Power courses on-line?

    Hang around here for a couple weeks, and if you like what you hear. The "classes" are more along the line of a student asks a question, someone replys with an answer, and then opinions and more answers show up. No set lesson plan though.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    Re: Solar Power courses on-line?

    Do you have specific questions or topics?

    The Wind-Sun solar store has quite a few FAQs on their site... Just go somewhere (say storage batteries) and look for the FAQ. They are generally very detailed and sometimes little tidbits about specific issues with particular vendors.

    If you are an installer, having the appropriate electrical contractor experience and licenses is a beginning.

    If you are looking for a job as an installer, reading about Grid Tied installations and looking through one vendor's products and online help (like Xantrex) will give you a good idea about what the boss is talking about during the interview (even designing a system won't be your initial job).

    If you want to understand/design, for example inverters, getting an engineering text book about switch mode power supplies would be a good start.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: Solar Power courses on-line?

    I found this http://www.sanjuancollege.edu/reng on the Home Power dot com site in the "Advertisers' sites" page. http://www.homepower.com/ , it's in Farmington, New Mexico. Maybe they have a long distance online program you could take if you're not local.

    Cheers,

    Bad Apple