i am doing very similar experiments. if you drill a hole in the side of that bucket, about 3" from the bottom and put the element in there, it will heat the sand more evenly, and won't melt the end and connectors etc. just a tidbit i learned. good luck!
@@NewLightEnergy I have approximately 1200 lbs of sand around my wood stove. I have solar panels connected to a 300 watt heating element in the same sand, as a starting experiment. When the sun shines the element heats the sand. When I heat the sand to 200, it looses about 10 degrees in 24 hrs. It is insulated. Plan is to heat with sun and use wood fire for back up. I've got a ways to go.
When you put your multimeter across the heating element in an attempt to measure current, you were not measuring the current through the heating element, but the maximum current your solar panel is capable of supplying- which fortunately for you and your meter - is only about 10A. See my comment on your previous video.
I have used all my solar panel for my solar build. So unfortunately I cannot do anything yet until I purchase another and have a bit more time to experiment. A DC capable shut off is something I did not use in my video. The AC light switch I used doesn’t have a large enough gap to safely separate the contact points inside the switch. Please but even a cheap basic switch from Amazon that is designed for DC power. DC shut offs are much larger than AC. A tip I didn’t even know to consider when I started working with DC power.
@@jmanchild what grade of sand did you use? Did you have to dry it completely out and how did you dry it? I would think I would sit it in the basement beside my hot water tank and let the furnace pull the heat from it to pass it to the house through hvac.
