Nostalgia

niel
niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
in General Solar Power Topics #1
remember solarex?
do any of you remember my saying i had one of their panels from around 1980?
it seems i stumbled upon some old literature and an order form. you will note the date on the order form just below the sun image. the pv i have is figure f and is number 72,123. you can do the math as to $/watt by the price tag on the order form of $289.95 and it is a 7w pv and not 9w as i thought i remembered it to be.
i guess i ordered it around 1977.:D8)
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Nostalgia

    i guess i should put the rest of it in here as i'm sure that this brochure will get lost just because i found it.:cry::roll:
    do note these solarex panels were ordered from edmond scientific and i don't think anybody else carried them at that time that i am aware of.
    btw, page 3 is on the 1st post.
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  • garlic
    garlic Solar Expert Posts: 43 ✭
    #3
    Re: Nostalgia

    Funny you posted this Neil as list night I was looking for bedtime
    reading material and decided to scan through a 1982 issue of
    Mother Earth News for solar adds.The only one I found was a tiny
    send in form from a company by the name of "Solarwest Electric"
    that was an "authorized distributor for ARCO Solar inc."

    I remember those panels in Edmond Scientific.I loved their
    catalog as a kid.In '74 I ordered the Digi-comp I mechanical
    computer kit:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digi-Comp_I


    I am curious about the dawn of homeowner solar electric stuff.What could be had
    for charge controllers etc. back then, or was it mostly home brew ?
    Was a charge controller a Simpson 260 and a knife switch?

    Those Edmonds concentrator cells are interesting too.

    Thanks,

    garlic
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Nostalgia

    now that's a good question regarding controllers back then. i obviously didn't have one, but i don't recall any be offered anywhere that i knew of either, well, at least not around '77 anyway. the pvs were small and could be regulated with linear regulator ics and other more common regulation methods of the time and would most likely have been a diy project.

    anybody know of the first commercially available controller and what it was capable of?
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: Nostalgia
    niel wrote: »
    now that's a good question regarding controllers back then. i obviously didn't have one, but i don't recall any be offered anywhere that i knew of either, well, at least not around '77 anyway. the pvs were small and could be regulated with linear regulator ics and other more common regulation methods of the time and would most likely have been a diy project.

    anybody know of the first commercially available controller and what it was capable of?

    I bet Solar Guppy knows the answer to this. :D
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  • backroad
    backroad Solar Expert Posts: 185 ✭✭
    #6
    Re: Nostalgia

    Man, you guys are really antiques...:):):)
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  • garlic
    garlic Solar Expert Posts: 43 ✭
    #7
    Re: Nostalgia

    On the trail for an answer after having found nothing online,
    I went down off the mountain today to the library in Chico to
    see what I could find.

    I checked out a 1987 edition of "the Solar Electric House" and in
    it I found Table 4-1 "Comparison of various voltage regulators".
    There is the "BOSS solar sentry 20A-switching shunt with Schottky diode"
    and the "TRI Solar BCR" with the same setup.

    The " Boss Power Control"was the only series type with "optional
    Schottky diode"

    The book states that series controllers all bulk charged through relay
    contacts then float charge through a "transistor that bypassed the relay
    allowing a maximum of 3a flow".

    The book indicates that 30a was about max controller capacity and all
    relay switched.Almost like the had evolved from old style automotive
    regulators.

    The thing that really amazed me in this book was that the attitude was to
    have as many batteries as possible regardless of array capacity.

    "the battery bank at the Hudson Valley house has 140(yes one hundred forty) Delco 2000 batteries" fed by 24 Mobil Solar Ra-180 PV modules.

    The chapter on inverters is very short as the book seems to encourage
    the use of primarily DC loads.
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: Nostalgia

    Makes sense, considering the state of inverters then.

    I still have the remains of the old "Alpha" inverter at the cabin. 36 VDC, 600 Watts. "Sun" transformer that screamed all the time it was on. Weighs about 150 lbs. That's why it's still there. :p

    My first regulator was a Motorola lifted from a Rambler. :p

    How times have changed, eh?
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  • garlic
    garlic Solar Expert Posts: 43 ✭
    #9
    Re: Nostalgia

    I remember seeing Tripp lite inverters in JC Whitney catalogs
    back in the 70's,thinking at the time (I was maybe 12) how cool
    it would be to take the battery out of my step dads 1 ton and
    with one of those inverters watch tv in my tree fort.Some things don't change
    except now my tree fort is a cabin on a 1000' high ridge and the tv is a
    laptop pc.;)
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #10
    Re: Nostalgia

    i remember those tripplite inverters. noisy little square wave generators weren't they.:confused: oh, but to have a light on during a power outage amazed my neighbors. heathkit also had one.
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  • mikeo
    mikeo Solar Expert Posts: 386 ✭✭✭
    #11
    Re: Nostalgia
    i remember those tripplite inverters. noisy little square wave generators weren't they?
    I happen to have a working 12 volt 1000 watt model setting on my shelf in the barn if someone would like to acquire it just for old times sake of course. Skill saws sound really loud running off it and heat up fast.
    Mike
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  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    #12
    Re: Nostalgia

    A lot of motor homes come equipped with Triplite inverters as well as things like abulances etc. I have dealt with a few, and they claim that they are true sine wave, but the documentation is not clear.

    Tony

    http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/power-inverters-chargers.cfm
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #13
    Re: Nostalgia

    i do not think they are the same ones tony. these ones were in a class by themselves i think and not the current variety they peddle today as these were pure unmodified square waves. i do hope they quieted down those screens from vibrating 60hz if they still use those screens.

    i have no desire for them other than to reminisce for mine went dead many years ago as i believe the transformer failed on it. it's now part of a landfill i would imagine unless somebody recycled the aluminum from it.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #14
    Re: Nostalgia

    Hi everybody.

    My name is Jesús and now I am carrying out a study about an old panel from the manufacturer Solarex. The modules were built about 1974 and they are still working.

    When I saw the old brochure in this thread I wondered if somebody could store some information about these panels. the panels models are HE50 and SX100EG.

    I have already asked in other thread in this forum, if anyone is interested.
    http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?t=13037&highlight=solarex

    If anyone could help me, I would be deep grateful.

    Thank you very much in advance.

    Regards.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #15
    Re: Nostalgia

    hi jes,
    i saw your other post requesting info and i wish i could help you out there, but i don't have more info than what i have shown. you can keep checking in once in awhile to see if somebody has posted the info you seek. as so few of those pvs were made/sold and so much fewer would have survived, it is even rarer for the literature of said pvs to survive. i do believe bp solar took over solarex years ago and it may be remotely possible they could have something on them yet, but getting a hold of the right individual that may have it without others ignoring your request could prove to be nearly impossible.
    don't give up hope.
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  • peakbagger
    peakbagger Solar Expert Posts: 341 ✭✭✭
    #16
    Re: Nostalgia

    If anyone wants to get good review of solar history, the Home Power CD with all their back issues is a good way to get some history. Lots of old ads and articles about long gone equipment. I think they give it away with a subscription. I think I paid for mine. The one bummer is that the search function doesnt work on the older editions but the indexes are available so it isnt that hard to locate something.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #17
    Re: Nostalgia

    so do you see the info he is looking for on those pvs? i don't think it would be necessary for him to subscribe just to find out if the info he's looking for is there or not.
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  • garlic
    garlic Solar Expert Posts: 43 ✭
    #18
    Re: Nostalgia

    I did a Google book search on Solarex SX100 and In a reference to "Solar Age:Volume 7 1982" it had the following snippet:

    "These panels also feature extruded anodized aluminum frames, and all are backed by Solarex's five year warranty. At 32 Watts and 2 amps, the SX100 is available from Solar Electronics for $399. Solar Electronics, 156 Drakes Lane, ..."

    In reference to the HE50

    "The electrical review, Volume 203, Issues 1-7" 1978

    This snippet:

    "The Solarex panels differ from traditional designs in that they use an almost square cell shape. ... Type HE 50 is suitable for environments with temperatures normally below 25°C and type HE60 is designed for hotter ..."

    Hope this will give you some leads.

    Edit to say:At $12.50 a watt, no wonder folks back then were buying more battery than panels to charge them.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #19
    Re: Nostalgia

    thank you for coming up with that info for jes.

    actually the one i have at 7w for $290 is over $41/w!!!!!:cry:
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #20
    Re: Nostalgia

    First of all, thank you all very much for your time and your answers.

    Now I feel almost stupid because I have search in google books thousand times about the manufacturer and models and there was no such clue.

    Anyway, now I would like to obtain both magazines or a copy from the articles but here in Spain is not really easy. I have tried to buy them but there is no place to. ¿Ideas?

    Maybe I can write some libraries and order a photocopy or scan from the magazines.

    Thank you again.

    Regards.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #21
    Re: Nostalgia

    jes,
    maybe you should try to contact home power magazine and see what they might do for you.

    http://homepower.com/home/
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  • garlic
    garlic Solar Expert Posts: 43 ✭
    #22
    When TRACE was king

    I remember when the DR series first came out,I was still in the Navy and
    was dreaming of my off grid homestead using a Hardy Chinese diesel,
    a Trace inverter and some number of Arco panels to power my place.
    Trace inverters were IT for some time if you wanted dependability,
    and functionality,a good time for industry pioneers Bob and Robin I'm sure.
    It was what you bought when you wanted to elevate your system above
    the car battery,the household wire that starts with a capitol "R",
    a few tail light bulbs,and an old car car radio mounted in a plywood box
    decorated by a few brushes with a propane torch.

    Reading through a manual for Trace UX inverters(back when you could learn
    quite a bit in a manual aside from lawyer talk),I ran across and interesting
    technology incorporated into the Trace inverters called "Impulse Phase Correction".

    It apparently helped to negate some of the problems of starting/running inductive
    loads with a MSW inverter.Can someone please explain to me how this worked
    (if it's not some kind of closely guarded cold war secret)and if the same kind
    of tech. is still used and/or improved in contemporary quality MSW inverters
    like the Magnum Energy RD series?

    My interest in old,proven,and reliable technology?You could say with my root cellar,smoke house,Ford 2n,and 1953 Maytag wringer washer,at least I am consistant;)
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