Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi

Have included an "upgrade" this weekend to track the power consumption of the solar component of our aquaponics system.

The reason is that our aim is to develop a ~10kl aquaponics system that is running sustainably (i.e. power from the sun and wind, water from rain and fish feed from ).

We are still a long way of - adding the small power meter helps me to track the power used by the pumps.

Here is a photo:



The two analogue meters on the left show the Volts and Amps from the solar panels (28V, 4A - a cloudy morning).


The two analogue meters on the right show the Volts and Amps for the DC pumps (25.4V, 3.0A - only one DC pump running when picture taken)

The meter in the middle (a ~$15 ebay special) show cumulative power usage for the pump/s. In this case ~ 5446 Wh (i.e. 5.4kwh since Saturday when it was installed).

PS - please note the nominal system run at 24V DC. The analogue Volt meters are AC meters that i had spare was modified to measure DC current. They overestimate the Voltage by ~5%).


Gabe
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=16929

Very nice! Id like a set up like that actually.

I do like this,time to start researching the availability of parts here.

Very cool system Gabe! I'm actually planning on making a large sustainable system like that in a few years. I'm actually looking at heavy usage of arduinos to control and monitor everything. They're cheap and highly customizable if you're looking for additional controls!

Cant wait to see future progress on this system!

-Ryan

We seem to be having a warmish winter this year in Perth.

This is my systems third winter and the best growth so far. Some of the veggies are show bench quality. Here is a few brag photos.

I really need to get off my arse and get my solar running. What is the total capacity of your system gabe?

Can anyone identify "who I am?".



I am find these buggers in my iceberg lettuces.

im a caterpillar

Yes it's a caterpillar. I'm not certain of this but I believe that is what's called an Army Worm - usually common in lawns.

Hi Gabe
i am pretty sure that is the caterpillar for the large brown moth with white stripes

Thanks Frank - Dipel gets rid of them! Have you sprayed with Dipel yet?

Hi Gabe yes i bought some yesterday and with the good weather we had today i sprayed them

These two have now made their permanent home in the pond amongst the koi.



The fruit trees are in full bloom. This year I am prepared for the fruit fly!

I have finally thrown the towel in for DC pumps and decided to give inverters another try!

I have found that the brush-less DC pumps have two major flaws

- Can't handle any dirt
- Use a lot of power (a big issue for me because i try to run my system on Solar)


I consequently bought this dinosaur inverter from gumtree for $275. It is 20 years old, build like a brick and suppose to handle anything that one can throw at it.




Here is a photo of it installed (in the chicken shed)


And a picture of the power consumption (232W). The inverter is now running the 20kl/h water pump and a small air pump for the DWC system

sweet setup Gabe..

In the first photo, how do you wire the ammeter to measure amps coming from the solar panel? I would have thought the current output of the panel would match the current the load (pump) is drawing? ie panel only supplys amps of what the load is using