Terve Suomesta! Hello from Finland!

[MarcusHawksley]

Hi,

I am a Brit living in Finland and trying to start a green life. I have tried living a low impact lifestyle since I can remember however now I am trying to step onto the property ladder and finally be able to make adaptions to my home. and start growing food for myself on a larger scale than a window box and a few pot plants.

However my main interest at the moment is to develop a 12v system for my house running LED lighting, and all minor electronics (mobile phone, stereo, laptop etc.), and then expand it to running some of the hungrier equipment as well. The aim is that the system will be powered by renewable energy. and as many components will be recycled as possible (using car electronics systems to provide essential system parts and components to build my own wind turbines.

I am only starting at the moment, but if all goes well and there is interest from the poll then I shall post my progress in the forums. any advice and questions are welcome at any point though!

[Wombat]

G'Day Marcus,

i have a 12volt system currently operating in the house which provides lighting and some power direct and through inverters. But it is always interesting top see how other people do it!

Welcome to the site!

Nev

[Muddypause]

Yeah, I'd say post about your progress anyway; never mind about any poll results. I mean I don't ask people if they are interested in my little life first - I just post.

I don't run a 12 volt system myself, but I often think it is strange that we have to have so many transformers to drop 230v down to low voltage - why not have a dedicated system.

From the little I know, you will have to plan out your wiring runs carefully - low voltages won't go down wires in the same way as higher voltages; it is overcome by the resistance in the wire in fairly short distances. One way round this is to use much thicker wire, but copper is expensive, and this can be prohibitive.

I would also suggest you have a search around the forum for a few recent posts about exploding LEDs. Also the comments about just how unpleasant the quality of light seems to be. But hopefully these are developement problems that will be resolved in time.

Anyway, welcome to the forum.

[Millymollymandy]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

[ohareward]

Hi Marcus, welcome to the forum. We are still on 240v, but most of our bulbs are the low wattage fluorescent type. Australia has mostly changed to this type and NZ is also down that path. We can buy them when they are on special for $10.00 (3pounds 58p)for 5. They last 5 times as long as ordinary ones. Good luck with your project.
Robin

[revdode]

However my main interest at the moment is to develop a 12v system for my house running LED lighting, and all minor electronics (mobile phone, stereo, laptop etc.), and then expand it to running some of the hungrier equipment as well.

I'm not sold on the idea of 12V for general use but I do work in lighting development and know a little about the design of LED lighting systems. I don't know your background, you are probably better qualified than I am, but if you need any help, or just someone to bouce ideas off feel free to PM me.

[9ball]

:welcomeish:

Definately interested in how you get on with the project

[Andy Hamilton]

I would interested too Nev(wombat) wrote an article for us a while back about his experiences and I am glad it was mentioned again as it somehow managed to drop off this site. Just put it back up, here it is.

Strangley enough, I was talking to a friend about this on Saturday and he said that you can put crystals below the light source to amplify the light. Not sure how safe this is or if it works but certainly seems like an interesting idea.

Oh, and welcome to the fourm I look forward to reading about your endevours.