Customer Reviews

The Easy Guide to Solar Electric Part II, Installation Manual

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I purchased to books from Amazon...this one and "Photovoltaics: Design & Installation". In the begininning of this book the author says that you should not try installing an PV system, leave it to the professionals. It kind of contradicts the title doesn't it? Maybe he should have said that on the cover. Being a pretty good DIY person I found that this book provides very little practical information on hiow to actually install a solar system. It lacks detail in in describing materials and "How To" guideance. A much better choice is "Photovoltacs: Design & Installation". Very detailed instructions with examples. There are work problems at the end of chapters to test your understanding. An excellent book

Pieper has a lot of practical knowledge but some things he writes are plain wrong. On page 17 he writes: "The frequency of the sine wave is measured as Hz per second" (should be cycles per second which is Hz). On page 18 he says: "the sine wave [is] 220 volts between two peaks" (should be 311 v; 220 is the RMS voltage). On page 23 he says: "amp hours [are] also refered to as amps per hour or amp/hours" (not true). In page 27 he writes: "At some point, the resistance gets so high that it creates heat inside the conductor" (there is always resistance and heat, the problem is the temperature rises too high). He also is convinced the minerals in petroleum jelly help conductivity on the battery terminals (pp. 123&159) and says "search current" when he means "surge current" (pp. 120&125). Whole pages are such confusing technical nonsense that it is impossible to to give a short account. He self published - he should have had a technically competent person help him with theory and a good how-to book editor help with the practical stuff. I'm sure he is a very competent electrician and there is some good practical information in the book, but it is nowhere near as advertised.

By title, this book claims to be a "how to" guide. The first section, however, belies this by explaining that you should leave it to professionals. Having thus disposed of the technical aspects, the author fills the remainder of the product with self-righteous, ultra-greenie, anti-capitalist claptrap, unsupported by fact or even verifiable cites. Not even well written propaganda, and most certainly not useful to anyone wishing to learn anything useful about installing a PV system.

I found this book at the public library in my search for a good guide to solar electric systems. I found a small amount of the information useful but, most was a waste of my time. The writer does not explain ideas in a very coherent manner. He uses a great deal of book space attempting to be funny and expressing his political views. If you are interested in a good solar electric book this is not it. I am still looking.

For me, this book was terribly bad; not worth the buy. It might appeal to a different crowd.

Bought this book to try to learn something about solar. Have been using it for a while and want to ramp things up a bit.

This book is VERY BASIC. It was written in 2000 or 2001, so most of the tech info is obsolete. Might be good for the coffee table or kids but thats about it for me.

This book is basically a rant sprinkled with a few facts and several incorrect statements. It is on the suggested reading list in CT for the license exams- completely unreasonable in my opinion. I think with a little bit of effort one could extract all the useful information and reprint it on maybe 4 pages. When I want a narrative I read a novel. When I want a technical book I expect just that.

Having just recently moved into a solar house I've been trying to broaden my education on solar electricity. Both of Mr. Pieper's books, part one and two have been very educational for me. Very easy to read and understand without previous technical knowledge!

This book is great. It covers the bases and gives the information one needs. It's a core book for this subject.

Reading both of Adi Pieper's books on solar I was pleasantly surprised. Being an analyst in the aviation industry, I come across many very boring and conformistic writings. This book is like a fresh breeze. You cannot describe the alternative form of energy generation without critically viewing the conventional forms available. Readers who do not understand this are sad examples of the energy problem we are presently facing. Compared to several other solar books available this book is inspiring, informative, technically precise (although their are two small mistakes with his math), and has helped me install my own solar system. I also reviewed two other books (refusing to name these, which is a cheap shot under the belt) which are boring and very confusing.