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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 12 Oct 2023 10:51am
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Thermoelectricity at work
https://pellethead.com/product/drifters-camp-stove-wood-pellet-burning-electricity-ge nerating-usb-charging-camp-stove/
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 12 Oct 2023 01:25pm
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Hmmm
A fire Very near a lithium battery....what could go wrong?
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 12 Oct 2023 02:15pm
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Chuckles, nope, not for me.
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 12 Oct 2023 07:12pm
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The Biolite stove is made in the Netherlands and sold at REI stores. The Drifters stove is sold only in Wisconsin. Could not find country of origin. The size reference for the Biolite shows its about the size of a thermos bottle. It charges a single Lithium size battery so not cabin size. I agree with Gcrank1 comment. A portable solar charger for your cell phone might be a better option.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 12 Oct 2023 07:53pm
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What got me interested in this was the thought of using some of the free natural stiff we all get as part of our cabin adventure, whether it be wind, sun, water, etc. For me, in my forest, it’s wood.
I spent yesterday bucking, splitting and stacking firewood, while my wife spent the day in the cabin watching TV. Then, with the fire going, last night I had to run the genny to recharge the battery bank…
Got me wondering, since I always have a huge pile of wood, can I somehow generate electricity from wood instead of losing all that heat out the chimney?
This stove came up in my brief look into it. Obviously not the answer, just thought it might lead to thoughts or experiences others might have had. Oh well, back to gas and lp generators. Thanks for the research Dave.
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 12 Oct 2023 08:24pm
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I was reading on this and it is possible to generate... at least the DIY stuff I was looking at.... around 120w using peltier "conductors" using a wood stove, though likelyhalf that. I'm going to look into it more but 60w × 24 hours a day is 1440w @ 12v is still power.
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Fanman
Member
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# Posted: 12 Oct 2023 09:41pm
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Quoting: gcrank1 A fire Very near a lithium battery....what could go wrong?
It does seem like a better design would be the stove with the Peltier junctions (thermoelectric generator), and a cable connecting it to the charger electronics and battery.
Even if it's not a fire danger, it can't be good for the battery and electronics to be right next to the heat of the fire.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 12 Oct 2023 10:49pm
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Amittedly I have not dug deep into the specs but it appears to be just a low voltage USB charger, maybe not even the 'fast charge' 5v, so limited usefulness.
Fwiw, even at the cabin (or on the way) I charge my phone off the car, at cabin I can charge any USB device at either of my LFP bats because they already have the ports, or off any cig-ltr with the plug in USB adapter.
In many ways the new generation pocket sized auto jump packs makes sense to have and all Ive looked at have USB charge ports.
I also have an rechargeable emergency LED light with USB port.
Better than the little stove might be an inline turbine for the regular stovepipe with an outside the stack generator (though it would slow the stack flow); a woodstove turbo-charger concept?
That outta be right up yer alley Paul!
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 12 Oct 2023 11:40pm
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Quoting: Nobadays generate... at least the DIY stuff I was looking at.... around 120w
Yes, I too came across some higher wattage DIY videos, but knowing nothing about the technology, I found something commercially available to post. I don’t need any USB charging capability, got over 500AH of LFP battery (albeit a decade old now). Also a microwave oven, big flat screen, and recently added a washer/dryer. And we’ve been living here full time, so solar battery ‘catch up’ days are rare. Got lots of generators though, lol.
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 13 Oct 2023 12:27pm
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Found this.... wood stove power generator
Our stove will be lit up soon and won't cool down until we leave later in the year/next year. My concern would be creosote build up from cooling the stack. With our catalytic stove maybe not as bis an issue.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 13 Oct 2023 01:11pm
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That’s neat. Found something similar last night: https://www.tegmart.com/wood-stove-thermoelectric-generators/#:~:text=Our%20Wood%20St ove%20TEG%20Generators,cool%20their%20internal%20heat%20sinks.
My education on this continues: I guess cooling the cool side of the TEG requires water, rather than just attaching to the stove pipe and having the off side air do the cooling. Good reason these systems are not cheap (as just TEGs themselves are). Other problem for me would is my stove pipe is double wall all the way (came with the used stove). And do we really need the controllers too? For 100 watts, can’t it just be direct all the time?
Well it’s a lot of effort for a bit of juice, but once installed there’s nothing to do but keep the fire going!
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 13 Oct 2023 05:52pm
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I saw the Taggart website but it says "out of stock" on all their products.
Yeah water cooling might be an issue but I know they will generate considerably more power as the hot side/cold side temperatures widen. Must be a DIY out there somewhere!
The other thing that recently piqued my interest was a sand heater. Basically a barrel of sand with an electric heating element buried in it. The idea is to use it as a dump for excess solar power. Heat the sand then use the radiated heat to supplement other heating forms. Still looking at this!
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 13 Oct 2023 07:00pm
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Wonder if we could use one of those oil filled elec 'radiators' as a 'heat accumulator' rather than a barrel of sand?
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 14 Oct 2023 09:01am
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Quoting: gcrank1 Wonder if we could use one of those oil filled elec 'radiators' as a 'heat accumulator' rather than a barrel of sand?
They cool down pretty quickly. I've seen sand heaters using a fairly large container, don’t know how long they will stay warm but the DIY I was looking at heated the sand to ~300-400°F. Would likely radiate heat for a long time.
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Fanman
Member
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# Posted: 14 Oct 2023 10:51am
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In the 1970s, rocks were a popular heat storage medium. Air was blown through a solar collector (basically a black box with a glass top) during the day and then through a chamber filled with rocks, warming the rocks. At night air would be pushed through the warm rocks and into the building.
It also works in reverse in hot weather, the solar collector exposed to the night sky can cool the rocks, then you blow the air over the cool rocks to cool the building during the day.
Not terribly efficient but the low cost means you can make it big enough to be useful despite the inefficiency.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 14 Oct 2023 02:12pm - Edited by: gcrank1
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My dad was in heavy equipment so when he died we had a LOT of heavy junk iron to get rid of. Yeah, the scrap dealers loved bidding low on it and hauled it away, but I guess I could have stacked it all in my basement and directed the gas furnace outlet into it all. Using it as a heat sink the rise of heat from it might have provided our base heat and we could supplement with zone elec off the grid?
Just spit-ballin ideas, I didnt want to move that iron, but I do wonder if the idea has validity.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 14 Oct 2023 06:16pm
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Excess of solar charge is the least of my worries, lol!
I put in an offer for some TEGs (or peltiers, whatever you call them,~$20) just to play with. I guess you can do a couple things: heat them to pull juice out, or apply juice to cool attached electrical components.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2023 11:38am
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Got a $8 TEG in the mail. See if this video I took works.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2023 11:50am
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Guess it wouldn’t accept it. Here’s the gist
Set it on my wood stove at 00
Went to about 1/4 volt
Set pudding cup out of fridge on it
Almost 1/2 volt!
Amperage unknown..
Might have to buy 500. Chimney will look like a decorated Christmas tree this winter!
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2023 03:10pm
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Cool! Yeah would take quite a bunch of them to amount to anything.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 26 Oct 2023 11:23am - Edited by: paulz
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Two more things Nobs; first thing I had to do since it’s not marked for sides was hook a small battery to it. One side got very hot immediately, other stayed cool. Useful hand warmer..
I also tried it with one tiny LED light on the wood stove. Nothing. Hooked my ammeters up to it, .002 amps.
Guess I’m about done playing with this thing, going in the spare junk box..
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 16 Nov 2023 11:03am - Edited by: paulz
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I found some spare bulbs that came with something, so I thought why not try one on that TEG thing that now resides in the same junk box. Plopped in on the wood stove and surprise!
It lights briefly until both sides of the TEG get hot. Even more surprising was putting it under cold water to cool it off. It lights up again for a few seconds until it all cools off.
Can’t think of any useful thing to use it for..
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