Visit us on the web for product and project information!
For grid-tied power systems, www.grid-tie.com
Solar water pumping:  www.PVsolarpumps.com
Non-electric gas appliances, www.LPappliances.com
Efficient and DC appliances, www.eco-fridge.com
And our main page at www.oasismontana.com

GREETINGS FROM OUR SOLAR POWERED OFFICE: Hello folks (this is Chris Daum, owner, here): Another year has come and gone, and I am happy to report that I have had installed the system of my dreams...FINALLY….more details below!

For those of you who aren’t “on line”, or are beginning your project, we have an extremely informative Product Catalog on disc for $10 ($20 out of country)—essential for your energy library! Products, system sizing, pricing, components, importance of energy efficient appliances, battery care, and wind turbines are just some of the topics covered. If you are on-line, you can see example systems at www.oasismontana.com/systems.html.

To assist your information input, we’ve tried to develop as much on-line information as we can. For solar water pumping, see www.PVsolarpumps.com; for utility-tied photovoltaic systems, visit www.grid-tie.com; for efficient AC appliances, DC ’fridges, coolers and freezers see www.eco-fridge.com; for natural and LP gas appliances, see www.LPappliances.com; we now offer composting toilets at www.eco-potty.com and our main page is www.oasismontana.com. Visit our web pages and stay a while! Or send us an e-mail and get on our e-list for the latest technology information and pricing specials.

• Greetings
• Oasis Montana System Upgrade
• Solar Module Pricing
• Outback Battery System
• Who We Are and Ordering Information
• Battery Monitoring
• Tri-Metric Meter Diagram
• Cordless DC Ranges
• Solar Tracking
• The Importance of Energy Efficiency
• Solar Incentives Information
• Kill-A-Watt Meter
• Renewable Energy News Bites
• Pepper Seeds Available
• Quotable Quotes

In mid-December the Oasis Montana staff completed the major system upgrade at Chris Daum’s home/office; the eight 60W solar modules and 2500W 24V inverter were replaced by twenty-eight Sanyo 205W solar modules, an 8KW 48V Radian inverter (new from Outback Power), and two Midnight Solar Classic Charge Controllers. The system can effectively run the entire place, including the 1.5HP 240VAC water pump, and when the sun is shining, still have power to feed back to the utility. In the event of a power outage the system works fine in an independent fashion, since the inverter is able to feed power back as well as act as a stand-alone inverter for remote power systems. “If I wanted to add a generator to this set-up, I could do that too”, states Ms. Daum, “but right now, in times of low light, the utility grid is my back-up as needed, instead of a generator that might be used in a remote system.”

There’s really not a module missing at the top (right) of the main array; there’s a plumbing vent there as well as the morning shade of the stove stack, so a module was left out to conform to code and common sense (you don’t want shading on your solar modules at any time, if it can be avoided). The array configuration is seven sets of four modules series-wired for the proper input voltage for the Classic charge controllers.

“Initially I was going to keep my old inverter and battery set-up and just use the Sanyo’s in a straight grid-tie (batteryless) configuration with an SMA or Fronius inverter. Then this new inverter came on the horizon in late summer. The more we heard about it, the more inclined we were to give it a try; you can still feed power back when you are making more than you are using, and it has the surge capacity to run my 1.5 HP, 240VAC water pump."

The existing batteries, sixteen Rolls/Surrette S530s, were rewired for 48V; since they are only 2 years old, they are likely to last another 8 to 10 years with proper care. “I like the idea of having backup power; we are at the end of a utility line, and have frequent power outages, so it’s very convenient to have seamless continuity of power if there are any storms or line problems. And it’s really hard to put a dollar value on that kind of reliability!”       

WHO WE ARE and ORDERING INFORMATION: Chris Daum, owner and manager of Oasis Montana, has been in the renewable energy field for 23 years.  Our staff offers experience, personalized service, tech support, quality components and good pricing. We are happy to work with your installer, electrician, or contractor, and locally we can install your power system (or even fly to your site for installation). We provide detailed wiring diagrams with the systems we sell. TO PLACE AN ORDER: E-mail or call us for your freight; if you have any questions about your system or product, please contact us. E-mail is easiest and fastest (but we know that you aren’t all on line). We accept Visa/Mastercard (personal and business checks are fine). For our international customers, we accept bank transfers— e-mail or call us for our banking information. Our hours are 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Mountain Time, Mon. – Fri. If we‘re on another line when you call, please leave us a message, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can, but you may have to leave a message if we’re with a customer or on one of the other lines. 406-777-4321 or 4309 or e-mail us at info@oasismontana.com — for tech support on renewable energy systems, e-mail larry@oasismontana.com. We’d be very happy to help you with your power project — send an e-mail or give us a call!
 

The Importance of Battery Monitoring: With any solar power system, understanding how the system is performing is essential for protecting the owner’s investment.  If the system is battery-based, being able to monitor the batteries’ level of discharge is important since batteries are generally the weak link as well as very costly. Many off-grid owners develop a skill called ‘load management’, which means you are conscious of when you turn off appliances and multiple loads together, especially during times when the sun is not shining much or the gas-powered generator is not running.

Most off grid systems use a digital meter to automatically set a predetermined low voltage setting that can turn on a gas-powered generator to make sure that your batteries never go below a certain percentage of discharge.  The level of discharge will vary from owner to owner, determined by how often (or little) they want to run their generator or by how much sun is available in the area. Often discharging the batteries 50% is common for owners, but many will recharge after the batteries have discharged only 20%.  The 20% level is often used when the battery bank is grid-tied, which allows for recharging from the grid and is cheaper than burning propane, diesel or gasoline in order to run the generator for charging.  If a system owner is using a Magnum Energy inverter then they need to invest in an auto gen start (AGS) that works with the remote digital meter.  The remote meter has the AGS settings in the meter and the auto start uses these settings to start the generator automatically when a certain low voltage set point has been reached.  Outback has the AGS set points built into their MATE system monitor as well, which activates a relay switch to turn on the generator.  In addition, the MATE has many more charging set points to work with, making it both more complex and advanced then the Magnum’s AGS.  Fortunately, the new MATE 3 that Outback Power has developed is more user-friendly than the original MATE models by using more icons and having easy-to-use buttons dedicated to a variety of functions.

Often with small modified sine wave (or square wave) inverters that still have a built-in AC charger, the inverter does not have a meter; instead it has knobs on the inverter used to adjust the charger's set points.  Unless the owner uses the stand alone AGS that Magnum offers (which monitors battery voltage on its own without relying on a digital meter) the owner will have to manually start the generator.  So the owner still needs a meter of some sort in order to know what is the batteries' state of charge.  In this case, the most common meter is made by Bogart Engineering, and is called a TriMetric meter.  Many people use the TriMetric meter as a back up in order to make sure the main system’s meter is accurate.  There are a few options with TriMetric meters; the original is called a TM-2020 and is used with 12-24 volt systems.  Since 48 volt systems are more common today, Bogart has come out with the TM-2025A which can be used on systems from 12 to 48 volts.  For the system owner who needs more capabilities than the Trimetric offers there is the PentaMetric meter.  This meter can monitor one or two systems at the same time using a common negative. When only one system is used it can show battery current plus two charging sources/loads.  It is also possible to interface the PentaMetric with a computer for remote monitoring.
No battery system should be expected to function properly without some form of monitoring system.  Often with grid tie systems, the monitoring equipment is an added expense and people decide to omit to save a few bucks.  Luckily, grid-tie systems are so turn-key the owner is able to get by without knowing the system's output.  The downside to this is if they do have a problem they usually do not know about; and thus end up paying for utility power while the PV system that they have purchased fails to do its job properly.  With an off grid system, battery monitoring is essential for maintaining the system’s health and without it, the owner will likely be disappointed in the short lifespan of his or her battery bank.  Having some form of monitoring device for your system is key to understanding your system's capabilities (or limitations) and helps the owner interact with their system, leading to greater battery longevity and better performance.  Not having a battery monitor to give you your system's information is very much like driving a car without a working gas gauge!  It is worth the investment in a decent battery monitor to protect the integrity of the heart of your system--the batteries. If you have any questions about a battery monitor, call us at (406) 777-4309.

Tri-Metric Meter and Diagram

COMING APRIL FIRST:  Peerless Premier Cordless DC Ranges:  Beginning April of 2012, the Department of Energy has banned the production of standing gas pilot ranges in the USA.  These new ranges from Peerless will have a DC electronic ignition system that will operate off of a battery pack consisting of eight double A batteries, and those will last at least 3 to 4 years (and, according to their tests, perhaps as long as 7 or 8 years).  They will give an audible signal when the batteries start to get low, but will continue to operate for some time after that.  There will be a small overlap period for the changeover in production, and the standing gas pilot ranges will continue to be offered until they are out of stock.  If your preference is a standing gas pilot range, you should order yours now.  But, these DC ranges do offer some benefits compared to standard gas pilot ignition ranges, including enhanced safety, convenience, energy savings, and the ability to work in the absence of AC power or during power outages. 

There will be a total of six Premier Cordless Ranges that will be introduced and supported accordingly, comprised of the best-selling range sizes in the current Premier range line up.

You can view our entire appliance line at www.LPappliances.com
 

To track or not to track. . .

Since the advent of the solar module, people have been trying to find out ways to make their arrays more efficient so they could harvest as much sun energy as possible. Some of these innovations have included reflecting mirrors, magnifying lenses, concentrators and cooling systems. Perhaps the most effective of these has been the solar tracker. Since a solar module will provide the most power when the sun’s rays are striking the cells perpendicularly, it would make sense that if you optimize the amount of time they are in that orientation the greater your power production. A solar tracker does just that, it “aims” the solar array at the sun and continues to track it throughout the day. Some trackers produced today use electric motors to change the orientation while others such as the Zomeworks Tracker use a passive system that relies on the weight-shift of refrigerant gas within its rail tubes to pivot the rack. It has been found that these trackers can increase your system’s capacity by upwards of 35% in summer, which in turn leads to a smaller array size and thus a reduced system cost. In winter, the gains are much smaller.

Recently though, the latter benefit may be shifting. With solar module prices plummeting down below $2.00 per watt and the costs of metal on the rise, we have been finding that in many cases it is making more sense economically to steer away from the trackers and lean more towards simply increasing the system capacity. In other words instead of using a tracker to increase your output by 35% it now costs less to leave the array fixed and just to increase the installed capacity by 35%. It will not only pencil out less expensive, but it will also give you peace of mind that there are no motors or moving parts that may require maintenance or replacing. Another thing to keep in mind when planning a grid tied PV system is that many rebate programs are set up to give you back a certain dollar- per-watt of installed capacity. If you were to install a tracker with a smaller array -- your rebate would be smaller as a result.

That being said, there are times when trackers do still make sense in the design of a system — one being if you simply need an array with less square footage of modules. Other advantages come into play typically when dealing with solar water pumping; for example: if you have a low producing well and want to pump as much water as possible from it in one day without pumping it dry. In this case a tracker will help the pump operate at its maximum potential for the better part of the day, rather than a fixed system which will start slowly, peak at mid day and then taper off.

Hopefully, new innovations with trackers will again shift them back into the spotlight, because let’s face it, they are pretty cool!

If you think you have a situation where you think a tracker would suit you, give us a call to see what model works best for your project; you can also view info at www.oasismontana.com/zomeworks.html.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY (or, the cheapest power is that which we do not use!)

We just keep throwing it away. Energy that is—we keep throwing it away like litter along the highway.  A little air leak here, a power strip that we never turn off, the draft that never gets sealed, idling our vehicle longer than we need for warm up, bumping the thermostat up another 10 degrees to knock the chill off—any number of ways that we just keep loading the atmosphere with our wasted heat and power.

Fortunately, one of the prime things that we encourage our customers to accomplish is energy conservation. For those considering the switch to a renewable energy source it can make the difference between affordable or not. When we own our own power plants, we become much more mindful of where our energy dollars go. Since component costs are relatively high, we have a tendency to conserve power wherever we can! Another module at $400, a larger inverter, two more batteries...it quickly makes economical sense to conserve power. 

It’s funny, when I was talking to a client this week about their home, they were laughing when they told me that most people never knew that they were off the grid! There really isn’t any difference regarding the source of electricity--power is power and the source just doesn’t matter to the refrigerator, microwave or light bulb: as long as it is available and the right voltage/frequency, the appliance will run. Energy conservation is easy, simple and cheap. Getting started is probably the most difficult step in the entire process. There are so many ways that a person can go—getting started on one of the paths will allow the next path to be followed when the time comes.

Let’s start simple. If you see a piece of paper—pick it up. This is a simple start for a litter problem and you can be just as simple with your energy conservation. If you see an unneeded light on—turn it off! Use of Compact Fluorescent or LED Lights is another great way to reduce the energy that you are using in your home or business. If you aren’t sure just what that old beast of a refrigerator is pulling for an electrical load, we at Oasis Montana have a great little inexpensive monitoring tool called a “Kill-a-Watt” meter that will let you know what any appliance in your home or business is using for energy. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to walk in to an appliance store and know what you are presently spending in energy use when you look at those fancy yellow stickers with the “Energy Star” ratings?

Some people are already well on their way to understanding where their energy dollar is being thrown away or spent. Those folks have started on the path to conservation and simply need an idea on where to go next. Here are some idea’s: insulation is always a great move; “R” rating means the insulation’s resistance to heat flow. When you go from an R-5 to an R-49 in your ceiling you not only hang on to the heat longer, your heating requirements are lessened. Another thought that can help quite a bit is to seal the air distribution ductwork on your forced air furnace. By some estimates we loose over 30% of our heated or cooled air through leaks in our ductwork. Duct tape isn’t going to work, you need to use that sticky-comes-in-a-can stuff that you paint on with a brush. Once you have sealed your ductwork be sure to insulate it with a jacket of R-5 to R-8 insulation. As long as you are going to be heating or cooling the air, you may as well have the heat or cold that you are paying for! Otherwise you are throwing it away.

Some folks consider the idea of window replacement as a great investment move--and it might or might not be. There are some perfectly adequate windows in buildings and homes now that would have a better First Dollar spent somewhere else. Sealing a building to limit the natural air turnover rate to four times an hour may be a better investment. When you are getting serious about energy conservation it may be a good idea to ask for an energy audit from your utility. These are generally free to customers and can provide a good direction to start. For a nominal fee—generally around $250~$400, you can have a local energy audit company come to your home and they will provide you with recommendations on which energy conservation strategies would be best for you to employ. These audits will typically use a blower door test with an infra-red camera to spot points in your building that are leaking air (heat). These tests may include the use of a Duct Blaster to gauge the air tightness of your ductwork also. If you are seeking an energy audit company, be sure to ask if they are RESNET certified (http://www.resnet.us/). This will assure that they employ the latest techniques and practices in making sure that your home or building has the correct amount of ventilation, your natural gas or propane appliances are correctly adjusted, and help you to ascertain next best steps for you to take.

There are plenty of energy conservation ideas out there and we at Oasis Montana are more than willing to share some thoughts and concepts. We would love to sell you a power generating system that will meet your present consumption but that might not be the best for you. We may be able to reduce the amount of energy that you are using and wind up with a lot smaller system that will still keep you powered in the winter, cool in the summer. Ultimately it is your call; do you want to keep throwing it away ($ka-ching$) or is it time to start putting some of those dollars in your own pocket?

-Larry Keogh

Find out what solar incentives are available in your state at http://www.dsireusa.org
 

Kill-A-Watt Meter:
This electricity detector and monitor can educate you about your monthly electric bill and help you save a lot of money. You can now be a ’detective’ and ascertain what appliances are actually worth keeping plugged in. Simply plug in the Kill-A-Watt meter, connect your appliances to it and Kill-a-Watt will assess how efficient it really is, showing you the instantaneous power used, and also cumulative energy or kilowatt-hours used.

Kill-a-Watt, with an easy-to-read LCD display, will count consumption by the kilowatt-hour, same as your local utility. With the help of Kill-a-Watt you can figure out your electrical expenses by the day, week, month or year on a given device. Kill-a-Watt can check the quality of your power by monitoring Voltage, Line Frequency, and Power Factor. NEW PRICE of $25.

Now you'll know if it is time to install a power strip on your entertainment center instead of feeding those ghosts loads while you are sleeping or away from home. Or, is that laptop really cheaper to power than a desktop PC? And how much power does that HD TV use?

Operating Voltage: 115VAC Max Voltage: 125VAC
Max Current: 15A Max Power: 1875W
Dimensions: 5 1/8” x 1 5/8” x 2 3/8”
Still $29 plus shipping.

Renewable Energy and Alternative News Bites:

--Denmark aims to be fossil fuel free by 2050, with half of their electricity derived from wind power by 2020 and relying on biomass and biogas for the rest.  http://www.winddaily.com/reports/Wind_power_to_account_for_half_of_Danish_energy_use_in_2020_999.html 

--Cameroon Farmers turn dung into power:  http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/cameroon-farmers-turn-dung-into-power/  A government program in Cameroon is helping rural livestock farmers convert animal manure not only into fertilizer for crops, but bio-gas for lighting, heating and cooking -- as well as a source of added income. One farmer says she is using money from sales of excess fuel to pay for medical care, education and animal stock.

--NREL's Electronic Atlas Maps U.S. Renewable Energy Resources: http://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2012/1681.html.  A new geospatial application developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory allows users to easily and accurately map potential renewable energy resources in the United States. RE Atlas is designed to facilitate energy policy development, investment, and education by making high quality data accessible and easy to understand. The tool creates dynamic maps of renewable resources, including biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind. RE Atlas can display resources individually or in a composite fashion. The interactive tool is free to use and available online at http://maps.nrel.gov/re_atlas 

--Negative Carbon Gasoline to be Road Tested by CoolPlanet Biofuels: http://www.energyboom.com/biofuels/negative-carbon-gasoline-be-road-tested-coolplanet-biofuels  CoolPlanet Biofuels has received approval from the California Air Resources Board to road test its negative carbon gasoline in California. The company's unique negative carbon biofuels are produced by converting low-grade biomass -- such as grass and woodchips -- into high grade fuel. The negative carbon byproduct that comes from the process of conversion can be used to sequester carbon and act as a soil conditioner. The first fleet test will involve blending this negative carbon blend with California's standard E-10 gasoline to help meet California's 2020 goal of 10% emissions reduction. CoolPlanet has the capability to produce over one million gallons of 2020 low carbon gasoline this year, and projects ramping to a billion gallons by 2015 and significantly higher volumes by 2018.

--Military Leaders Want US to Reduce Oil Consumption 30% in Next Ten Years: http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/23107
Some of the highest ranking retired military leaders have released a report "Ensuring America's Freedom of Movement: A National Security Imperative to Reduce U.S. Oil Dependence" calling for "immediate, swift and aggressive action" for the US to reduce oil consumption 30% over the next 10 years. The report is by the CNA research organization's Military Advisory Board. The analysis measured the effect of four different theoretical blockages in the flow of oil, each lasting 30 days, in the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, Bab el-Mandeb, and the Panama Canal. Under a worst-case scenario, 30-day closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the analysis finds that the U.S. would lose nearly $75 billion in GDP. But cutting current levels of U.S. oil dependence by 30%, the impact would be nearly zero. America must also diversify the fuels it relies on to insulate it from the inevitable disruptions in the world's oil supply.

--Largest Solar Powered Boat in World Record Circumnavigation Attempt: http://www.gizmag.com/tranor-planetsolar-circumnavigation-attempt/17039/ .  This big boat can hold up to 40 persons and can cruise at 14 knots, but it will only have crew of six for its around-the-world journey. - -Weatherized homes saving money for U.S. Families: http://energy.gov/articles/weatherized-homes-saving-money-families-across-us.  The U.S. Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program has supported the weatherization of over 750 thousand homes, including more than 600 thousand homes through the Recovery Act, over the past three years. On average, the program reduces energy consumption for low-income families by up to 35 percent, saving them more than $400 on their heating and cooling bills in the first year alone. These energy efficiency upgrades include adding insulation, sealing ducts, and installing efficient windows, heating & cooling systems—as well as providing jobs and supporting economic growth.

 




HOT STUFF AT THE OASIS!

We grew quite a few HOT peppers last year, some good short-season varieties; we also still have plenty of colorful corn seed to share. If you are interested, send us a few stamps or a self-addressed envelope and we are happy to share our organic home-grown seeds.

Quotable Quotes:
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.  -Ann Bradstreet

Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted; suffer them now and they'll o'ergrow the garden.  -William Shakespeare

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.
-Charles Dickens

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.  -Mark Twain (1866)

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.  -Ronald Reagan

The use of solar energy has not opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.  -Ralph Nader

What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?  -Henry David Thoreau

We are firm believers in nuclear power. It has proven to be a reliable source of energy in the past and will continue to be reliable in the future.  However, we really only need one power plant to supply us. It needs to have good distribution over most of the populated areas and easily available to anyone. It should be a proven design with no maintenance required and last a very long time without any upgrades or modifications. There should be no waste to deal with and be inaccessible to terrorists for their use. Such a power plant already exists. It is 93,000,000 miles away but, oh, so easy to hook up to…  -Unknown

Sunshine is spread out thin and so is electricity. Perhaps they are the same, sunshine is a form of energy, and the winds and the tides are manifestations of energy. Do we use them? Oh, no! We burn up wood and coal, as renters burn up the front fence for fuel. We live like squatters, not as if we owned the property."           -Thomas Edison, 1910

We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.  -Albert Einstein

Man does not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.  -Chief Seattle

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day another. The difference between them can be as great as a month.  -Henry Van Dyke

I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become, I will always plant a large garden in the spring. Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from participating in nature's rebirth?  -Edward Giobbi