Leaf Band progress

Well it's been ages since we have updated the blog and for good reason.  LEAF had high hopes of going fully solar but financial restraints kept that from happening.  We are not giving up the goal, but simply slowing down the pace just a little.  We did manage to get a real drummer, and thus are saving tons and tons of power, in turn making our work easier for us in the long run.  LEAF's new drummer "Just George" is a godsend.  He is everything we could ask for in a drummer.  He's drama free, wise, handsome, and never stops playing....EVER

We have made a few panels, and have collected five deep cycle batteries which i guess is a nice step in the right direction.  Who knows what 2012 will bring, but everything is heading in the right direction.  ONE LOVE!!!!

Solar Panels errands...

Today I'm planning on buying the encapsulant for the solar panels we have built for our fall run of shows.  I have wrestled with different ideas for this part of the production process from simple plexi-glass to full on silicone epoxy that runs 70 bucks a quart.  I'm going with a short term material at first which if taken care of should last a couple years easily.  Leaf is looking to use a two part bartop epoxy system with UV inhibitors added to increase lifespan. The cost on this stuff is about 80 bucks for two gallons which should definitely cover all of the solar panels we have made so far.

In testing the centers of the solar sunflowers we made, well I made them, but they produced a whopping 1.83 amps, and 1.53 amps respectively.  This is huge.  With a goal of 6 amps, the other five leaves should put us well beyond that.  Perhaps we will even approach ten amps.  Leafjam.info has most of this info in condensed form.  

New video of this next phase of Leaf solar band will  be up this week.

Leaf signing out,  one love

Leaf Solar assembly photostream

Here's a slideshow of the first two panel designs...!!!  Leaf is on the rise!!!!

1st Solar Leaf Assembly

    Well the solar cells arrived all broken and chipped, just like Leaf likes em!  And it became a priority to get those little suckers hooked together to see what kind of shapes are possible.  Utilizing the classic method of soldering tabbing to the cells I proceeded to prep my cells for assembly.  Here is a picture of the cells as they looked after i took them from the box.

    The idea is to design solar panels in the shape of a leaf.  Leafjam powered by the sun!  Want to thank silicon solar again for all their great energy ;)  They have the best deals on broken solar cells and are super legit. Silicon Solar Website    As soon as i finish the first leaf then i will post the pics...  Soon!

    Tommy Mason Leaf

Silicon Solar...

   I just wanted to take a sec to thank the guys at Silicon Solar for doing what they are doing.  Now I know that they are simply making money and in that sense they are just perpetuating a western materialistic paradigm, but they are doing good.  Providing solar education as well as cheap second hand pre-used equipment for the beginner to learn on.  (Breaking solar cells can get expensive)

   So a big THANK YOU from Leaf silicon solar!  You have made our solar band dream a reality.

   Tommy from Leaf.  Leafjam.com

How Long will the LEAF charge last? (2) Solar Cells

      Leaf solar powered has limitations that regular leaf doesn't.  The power available to us when we are plugged into a wall socket is limitless and can push through power spikes within appropriate voltage.  This makes this project so much more interesting than a simple band setup.

    The question about how long my leaf charge will actually last is one that has answers which are in direct symbiosis with the answers we plug into the question, how loud does leaf want to play?

    I love these problems.

    Integral to all of this are the photovoltaic cells which we will use to power our system, and charge our batteries.  We ordered about 200 watts of broken solar cells.  We use these because it's way cheaper, and it's re-using scrap and Leaf likes re-using.  200 watts worth is 2 pounds of broken solar cells which comes out to around 50$ for them all including shipping...

  

How Long will the LEAF charge last?

    Now that we have figured out all this Solar Band stuff in "theory."  It is time to answer the question, "How long will my LEAF battery last?" in reality.

    Well if we are burning up 50 amps per hour and we have 400 amps, then we have 8 potential hours in hour battery bank for the LEAF.   But thats only if we burned our battery bank to nothing.  Thats not reality.  If you burn your battery bank to nothing it won't last very long.  

    Lets just assume we are going to only use 25% or 1/4s of the battery bank capacity at a time.  Leaving 3/4 left in reserve to prevent from over discharging.*  We then know the LEAF battery banks will give us 100 amp hours, 1/4 of 400, which will give us 2 hours of battery life.

   So the answer to "how long my leaf charge will last?" in answered.  2 hours @ 25% drainage

      one love till next time...





*Over time over discharging will shorten the battery life substantially.  So don't do it... ever.   Or else!!!  lol...