Updated
9/13/14
John Drake Services, Inc.
1427 E. 68th Street
Long Beach, CA 90805
voice line
(562) 423-4879
electricity from the sun by John Drake II | home
About Us | About this website. | Getting Started | Solar Panels / Photovoltaic Modules - Read Before You Buy | Make A Plan | PV System Layout and Parts | Start with the loads you are going to operate | Battery Types and Sizing | Battery Safety | Battery Charging Voltages and Temperature | Battery Trouble Shooting | Charging Batteries - You can't have everything. | Battery State of Charge and Measurement | Safety Devices Fuses and Circuit Breakers | Series & Parallel Wiring | Wiring and Power Distribution Connections | Photovolatic Module Specifications - Real or a Pipe Dream | Photovoltaic module solar panel location and positioning | Photovoltaic Module and Solar Panel Information | Charge Controller Types | Wire and Cable Types | Wiring - Doing it Right | Connections for Wiring | Voltage Drop - Wire Loss, What are they? | Outdoor Connections | Wire loss - Voltage drop charts | D.C. to A.C. Inverters | Low Voltage D.C. Lighting & Color Temperature of Light | Battery System Monitoring | Dont fool yourself - Spending your money wisely. | Solar Converters GS-1AC | Linear Current Boosters for Water Pumping | Utility Grid Intertie Systems | Solar Insolation Chart | More Information | Alternative Energy Expectations | Power Needs Worksheet | Reference Sources | Contact Us
More Information
Most of my experience, such as it is, comes from trial and error.
The errors have drained my wallet at times, added many scars from being
burned and in a few instances allowed me to be humbled in front of others.
I have been to a couple of alternative energy seminars but the most important to me,
was going to the "Arco School" in 1989.
It was six days, and five evenings of intense education and hands-on learning.
The school I went to, up in Chatsworth and at their plant in Camarillo, California,
was the last one before they sold their solar division to Siemens.
The school was about forty miles from here but Christine ponied up some money
so I could get a room up in Walnut.
This enabled me to study each evening with other students who came hundreds,
and even thousands, of miles to attend the school.
I thought I knew a thing or two about solar energy, in the school I realized that I
didn't know diddly.
The other students were great to know and work with.
The instructors from Arco were the tops, and that is no kidding.
That week at the Arco School was a watershed time in my life.
As I am writing this I am feeling kind of old, that was twenty-six years ago.