Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Recent Posts
161
Solar / Re: Fixing solar panels, I did something stupid
Last post by bigrockcandymountain -
No pictures because I can't seem to resize them right now.  The fixing went great again.  This was a 290w Silfab panel and all 3 bypass diodes were very smoked.  The cases were cracked.  4v open circuit when I started. The nameplate says 39v should be voc. 

Oddly enough, the diodes just clip in on these.  No soldering required.  I even had diodes in stock because i have done these before.  The tough part is cutting into the plastic box where the diodes are, and chipping out the silicone in there.

After i clipped new ones in, i siliconed the box back shut with grey rtv silicone gasket maker (because i had one open) and it had exactly 39v in the sun.   I haven't actually hooked it up yet, but I'm sure it will work. 
 
162
Alternators, Generators, Motor Conversions / Re: I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!
Last post by bigrockcandymountain -
Oddly enough, we have the same eecol electric in Medicine Hat and every time i try to deal with them, my results are the same.  It's like unless you have an electrical business, they don't want anything to do with you.  

Nice, simple decogging.  I like that. 

On the TS-60, Charge Solar has one listed for $310 but only stock in Barrie.  It says call for availability in Calgary.  I can inquire if you are stuck.

I have a brand new TS-45 on the shelf you can have for $100 if it would work for you.  I bought it for some 48v systems i was selling at the time, but ended up liking victron controllers better for that application. 
163
General Discussion / Re: I got one
Last post by bigrockcandymountain -
Ahhh, when i saw your post that you "got one" i knew what you were talking about.  Except it's a Ford....

I'm pretty sure at some point i looked at the mustang too, and was surprised at how well reviewed and spec'd it was.   Congratulations on your new purchase.   Any "It's a Ford" comments from me mostly come from envy. 

Found On Road Dead
Fix Or Repair Daily

165
General Discussion / I got one
Last post by SparWeb -
I know what you're going to say...

"It's not a REAL Mustang".

20260406_185329 Mach-E.jpg

Well, yeah I have to agree.  Whatever it's called, it's actually a nice car.  This is the 2021 model.  It has a lot of mileage (130,000 km / 80,000mi) for an EV.  It's got a lot of gadgets and the big screen driver interface.  The interface has its problems, these things always do, but it's not a mess, and I figured it out quickly.

The stupid marketing brand seems to have put me off for a long time.  Why would Ford put the Mustang badge on this car?  For years I've had a list of EV's to watch for on the used market, and this didn't get on it for a really long time.  That's even after I had a coworker drive one and enjoy it for several years.  Well, the image problem with the car (and maybe because that coworker could be an ass) kept me from really seeing the car itself.  Funny how a bad marketing stamp can throw me off, even though I think of myself as all technical.

These "Mach-E" Mustangs aren't very common, so it was a while before any showed up on used car dealer lots I monitor.  This one had a price (finally) below my price threshold.  I also wouldn't say the "SUV Cross-over" body style is a sensible one, but the dog will hop in the back, and my wife will go get bags of horse feed with it, so it's practical enough.

I've been driving it daily for over a month.  Glad I got this.  Being designed with some pep, it has that EV "kick".  At green lights, if I'm first off, everyone disappears in my rearview mirror.  Guess who's being an ass, now.
167
Solar / Re: Fixing solar panels, I did something stupid
Last post by SparWeb -
My buddy Pierre will be pleased to hear that - about the repair, not the damage of course.
He's really keen on this, like right-to-repair and preventing these things from going to scrap.
I now have a whole bunch of panels that he picked up free and gave to me. More than are actually installed on my garage.
168
Alternators, Generators, Motor Conversions / Re: I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!
Last post by SparWeb -
Another thing going on here-
I'm looking for a replacement Morningstar TS-60 Tristar charge controller.  I did something stupid and cycled my batteries on to the Sol-Ark inverter without first throwing the breaker on the Tristar to keep it offline.  I already learned the hard way last year that when I do that, the Sol-Ark checks new batteries coming on-line by ramping up a recharge current to measure how they respond.  With the Tristar still in the circuit, the voltage goes up to 60V and it flips on the diversion control.  That makes the Sol-Ark think "oh jeez they're really badly discharged, let's give 'em more".  Putting the Tristar into an overvoltage condition at the same time as it's dumping current at 100%.

Last month was the second time I did this (thick skull).  I made the situation worse by not shutting down the Sol-Ark immediately, and instead throwing the breaker on the Tristar.  That cut off its input current which probably left no "inertia" to absorb current spikes as it shut off its diversion load.  So it's dead.

I've sourced one at an electric wholesaler (EECOL, you might know them). As of yesterday I thought they had it in town, but today I found out they only have one in Edmonton, and they expect me to run around to one of their warehouses to fill out a credit application before bringing it to Calgary.  Way of doing business that started dying out in the 1990's. Do these guys seriously not know who their competitors are?  I want to buy local, but the locals are like this...
169
Alternators, Generators, Motor Conversions / Re: I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!
Last post by SparWeb -
Quote from: bigrockcandymountain – on
So what did you do to decog?  Did you get it back up and running?  I see I'm pretty late on this thread?

Better late than never.
To see the whole TORTUOUS process of decogging it, compare photos 1+2 with photo 3 above.  In 3 words: I rotated the magnets.  That's it.  I bumped them with a scrap of wood. I could have done that, so long ago, and not listened to it hum for years.

Not gluing them down and sealing the rotor is what led to the rusting.  That's taken care of, too.

It's back on the tower ready to go up.  Opportunities to raise it have been few.  I spent the weekend in the US, and on other days came home from work too late, or it's been too windy for a tower move.
170
Growing Food & Cooking / Re: 2026 garden season, what are you growing?
Last post by Bruce S -
Mary B;
Can y'all stop sending those north winds and cold nights down our way?
Cucumbers are squash don't mind so much but the tomatoes and green peppers are not happy campers :-).
Funny enough the basil is growing like a weed in this weather.
Burrrr!
171
Solar / Fixing solar panels, I did something stupid
Last post by bigrockcandymountain -
Every once in awhile I do something really dumb.  Yesterday was one of those days.  I was hooking up a solar cattle water pump system in a hurry, and hooked 24v batteries up reverse polarity straight to the solar panels.  Wow, it's even more stupid when i write it.  There was some bad noises and escaping of magic smoke.  I think i blew up all the bypass diodes in the panel.

The pump control box has the same mc4 connectors as the solar panels, so on a battery system, there are leads that go to battery with mc4 plugs on the end.  That's how it happened. 

I'll try digging in to the diodes in the next few days.  I remember sparweb had a great post back in the day about fixing panels by replacing diodes.  I have done about 4 panels since then with a 100% success rate.  Hoepfully this one goes well too. 
172
Alternators, Generators, Motor Conversions / Re: I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!
Last post by bigrockcandymountain -
The more time that goes by and the more I see and learn, the more I think i got really lucky with my motor conversion.  It's never been opened up since 2018 or whenever i put it up.  I grease bearings once a year, and work on the blades from time to time, but otherwise it is great. 

I know i thought about a drain/weep hole when i put it up, but I don't even know if I left one open or not.  We haven't had hardly any rain since 2018, so that helps i guess.

So what did you do to decog?  Did you get it back up and running?  I see I'm pretty late on this thread? 
176
Alternators, Generators, Motor Conversions / Re: I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!
Last post by SparWeb -
You've hit on the root-cause already!
The case of this motor is TEFC, totally enclosed fan cooled, and it doesn't have any vents or openings.
As I was looking for evidence of water, I noticed that the case was drilled for a lifting lug, but I hadn't installed the lug.  Peering down into that hole, I can see the stator!
Furthermore, the case does have a weeping hole, but only one the rear end of the stator, not the front end. 
So - a definite point of entry and not enough ways to exit. 
177
Growing Food & Cooking / Re: 2026 garden season, what are you growing?
Last post by Bruce S -
Didn't get much done lately.
A nice short vacation to KC that met us with a tornado , then another down in Belton, MO.
Weather that had all kinds of warnings going off headed into StL once again causing our tomato stakes to end up outside of the yard.
Luckily they're still to short to stake up.
Squash and Cucumbers all have pretty flowers on them so we had to quickly erect rabbit barriers.
Still no room in the freezers for more rabbits  8) .
Here's hoping the weather gets back to normal soon!!

Cheers!!
178
Growing Food & Cooking / Re: 2026 garden season, what are you growing?
Last post by MaryB -
Nice 80 degree day yesterday(I am NOT used to heat LOL ) so I cleared all the winter debris out of my raised bed, dug up crab grass roots as much as possible(impossible to get them all). One bed is a mess, need to turn all the soil over and sift out roots. Just half a 55 gallon barrel so won't be to much of a back killer...
179
Alternators, Generators, Motor Conversions / Re: I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!
Last post by MaryB -
Water is an insidious enemy and even on a sealed motor moisture WILL get in!

I have electronics at the tops of my ham radio towers... So many seal the box which is a mistake. A weep hole for condensation to find a way out is a must!

On a motor conversion I would add a weep hole in the lowest point of the case... doesn't have to be big, I use a 1/16 inch drill bit to add it... water will accumulate and as the motor heats it will expand the air in the case pushing the water out.
180
Alternators, Generators, Motor Conversions / I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!
Last post by SparWeb -
I'm not kidding.  I never finished it.  I've been using it in my wind turbine for years, but it wasn't done.  I knew it, but I didn't do anything about it.  Until now.

Here's how its rotor looked in 2008 when I stopped working on it:

DSCN7108 - Copy - Copy.JPG

The magnets have slight offsets, but are lined up on the axis of the shaft and secured with screws only.  No skew, no sealant. Then I moved on to do other wind turbine projects, built more motor-conversions, and used those for a long time.  The Toshiba conversion sat on a shelf.  Waiting.

Then in 2021, I did something stupid. While putting the blades on the shaft of the genny I was using at the time (a Baldor motor conversion) I neglected thread locking.  Less than a year later, the blades wiggled themselves off the shaft.  Surprisingly little damage, considering the blades flew free and fell 70 feet down (I was very lucky it wasn't a write-off).  However, the Baldor genny was unusable.  But I did have the spare Toshiba gen...

So the Toshiba was put to service at last, 13 years later.  It's been running for years like this, with 10-foot cedar blades on it, working rather well.  No - the real problem, which I have finally fixed, is that I never FINISHED the Toshiba conversion.  On motor conversions that I finished after the Toshiba, I carefully bonded the magnets in place, and fastened them with screws.  I didn't do that with the Toshiba conversion, probably intending to try various changes (I can't remember now).

Last month the Toshiba started making little grinding noises.  Subtle at first, but impossible to ignore after a week.  I shut it down, lowered the tower, took the blades off, and started inspecting.
Huh, at first I couldn't see anything wrong.  So I put the blades back on, and gave them a free spin...  grind grind grind.  I had to dismantle the wind turbine a lot more to find out.  The Toshiba was lifted off the mount, and brought into the shop.
Once I took it apart, this is what I found:

20260408_214534_Rusty_Magnet - Copy.jpg

Several of those magnets have rusted.  There are other signs that water got inside the case.  In the winter, the water, in the form of frost, infiltrated all of the gaps and spaces between the magnets and the rotor.  When corrosion started, the particles coming free stayed stuck, but CAKED in ways that lifted the magnets off of the surface of the rotor.  The worst of the magnets (shown here) has a lot of magnetic particles packed underneath it, probably from repeated cycles of ice forming, expanding, rusting, and leaving the particles to pry up the magnet for the next cycle.  Once the magnet was pried up enough, it started scraping on the stator.

So I took it all apart, cleaned it up best I could, and then bedded down the magnets with epoxy, and replaced all of the screws.  Plus a few coats of paint to keep water from seeping in.  While I did this I also DECOGGED the damn thing, too.  I've been listening to it hum for years now.

20260419_154125_Painted - Copy.jpg

With all that done, the shaft turns virtually cog-free, and it's being put back on the tower soon. Hopefully back in operation this weekend.