by admin | Feb 22, 2014 | Tech Updates
After installing my battery monitor, it became very convenient now to get a reading for both voltage and current. Just a few presses of a button and I could get the two values straightaway. One more number the battery monitor displays is the percentage of the battery capacity. Knowing how much energy is left on the batteries while running a large load is very useful just like during the power failure on the morning of Friday, February 21. In the past, I would run to my generator and start it and transfer the power of the office network to the generators. Last Friday, I used my solar energy system and was able to support the load for the duration of the power failure. Because my battery monitor showed me the percentage of charge left (I had the perimeter lights on the system the previous night), I knew the system can run on the batteries for at least five hours. At this time, my experiments on the solar energy system will be put on hold until I am able to acquire large solar panels. If there are individuals or organizations who are willing to help me complete my setup and my experiments, please email me at jerome.auza@auza.net or call me at 09178898932 and we can discuss the details. I hope my experiments can encourage the use of renewable energy systems and help reduce the cost of...
by admin | Feb 22, 2014 | Tech Updates
By Jerome Auza The term ‘hackers’ used to mean something positive among computer programmers. If you are able to make a program that solves a complex computing problem, you will be called a hacker. It is a badge of honor. Until someone used the word hacker to describe someone that does malicious programs. Nowadays, people who make computer viruses and malware, or people who make attempts to defraud or steal sensitive personal information. Today’s work, entertainment and personal communications involve computers and mobile devices on a very large scale and it becomes very important to keep your personal information secure. In the 1990’s, computer viruses created by “hackers” were mostly created to destroy computer data and annoy users. Back then, computer networks is not common. In the present, most computers and mobile devices are connected to the Internet and the nature of “hacking” changed from data destruction and annoyance to fraud and theft of personal information. Software that does the work of the “hacker” is commonly termed malware. A lot of malware can be running on your computer without your knowledge because all it does is collect personal information and send that to its creator in a sneaky manner which is mostly undetected. The longer it stays there, the bigger chance it will be able to get your personal information that becomes useful to the “hacker”. Once your personal information is stolen, the “hacker” can then pretend to be you and maybe send emails to your contacts asking for money because “you” are in a foreign country and have lost all your things because you were mugged. Your helpful...
by admin | Feb 8, 2014 | Tech Updates
It might just be coincidence, but I think Mother Nature has a sense of humor. Last week, I said that I will start saving money at Auza.Net by putting our perimeter lights on the solar system. The days following that “historic” day for Auza.Net were cloudy and of course, my solar panel system soon ran out of stored energy after just two and a half nights. Just the same, I saved a few kilowatt-hours and maybe about Php30.00. That also got me into thinking that my assumptions on how much energy is actually produced and stored could be wrong. I should really need to understand the dynamics of the energy production in relation to the weather for a successful solar energy system. Fortunately, my battery monitor which was purchased in the US arrived late last week and after I installed it on the system, I am able to conveniently measure voltage, current and the battery state of charge. The key item in the installation of the battery monitor is the shunt resistor (with 500A/50mV rating) which is a precision resistor designed for accurate measurement of current going through it. This replaced my home made shunt resistor described in an article a few weeks back. Also, I placed this shunt resistor at the negative terminal instead of in-between the two batteries since the battery monitor also measures the total voltage of the battery which it cannot do if the shunt resistor is placed elsewhere. One might ask why I am going through the trouble of accurately measuring current and voltage. Why not just buy a large solar energy system and...
by admin | Feb 1, 2014 | Tech Updates
After a few months experimenting with solar energy generation in my spare time, I finally was able to start using the system to power up some of our lighting requirements. We have about seven CFL bulbs lighting our right of way and part of the perimeter fence at night. This is controlled by an optical switch that automaticall turns on the lights when it is evening and turns them off in the morning. I measured about 120W of power drawn from the battery for all the lights. Assuming the lights are on 12hours, I will be saving about 1.44kWhr per day or about 43.2kWhr per month. At Php8.5/kWhr, this amounts to Php367/month. This doesn’t seem much but this actually means that I only need to increase battery storage capacity and also solar panel generating capacity and I can increase my savings gradually until I get free electricity. My solar panel, after checking it again, actually has a capacity of 128W and not 100W as I mentioned before. This means I have only less than 10W reserved generating capacity to allow for cloudy days. So I will change some of the bulbs to a slightly lower power rating in order to keep the power consumption at about 80W. I also plan to add another set of batteries to make my total storage capacity of 400AH because during brownouts, I can also use the system to power up my network equipment that consumes about 230W. I can avoid using the generator if the power interruption is only for short periods. This is handy for night time power interruptions because the generator...
