Monday, March 22, 2010

BANK N GEN

Looks like 1000 AMP Hours to me. Even if the last two aren't hooked up yet. They are coming around though and I think they will be added later. My neighbor down the hill says we are supposed to have a very windy night and day tomorrow so since he usually knows what he's talking about I made a push to get the battery bank on the genny to make good use of the wind. Maybe I won't hate the wind so much now. Notice I said 'so much" Didn't say I won't still hate it.

What I have left to do now is build a box over the batteries, inverters and gauges and that will probably happen after I go back to Alpine for more free pallets. I'm starting to gain an affection for pallets. Especially free ones.

When I was topping off the batteries this morning getting ready to move them I had another fuel delivery problem with the charger and it died. Guess I'll try to get that taken care of before I move it out by the genny. Thank goodness for 2 wheel dollies! Those batteries would have killed me without one to move them on!
 I reclaimed my work bench by using part of the old tractor to hold the Harley tank. Just a quick fix and I'll come up with something a little more elegant sooner or later. In the mean time the work bench I reclaimed is now used to hold a 7 gallon  water jug for dish washing and so on. It was moved the the south side of the dungeon this morning and the water in it is already warm enough for a shower.  (Wheels turning in my head)

20 comments:

  1. Glad you got them all moved, I wish we could have been able to get that all done while we were there, but it's good the dolly did most? of the work. lol Hope everything stays in place for the big blow, let us know.

    Dale

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  2. According to the same neighbor We've had 70 and 80 MPH winds since we put it up. I figure that should have taken it down if it was going to. The genny is rated at 130 MPH wind, but I don't think the pole would handle it. When the wind gets real high the blade turns up like a helicopter blade to keep it from over speeding. I've seen it do that one time and that was in Plano believe it or not.

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  3. Cool, I didn't know that (the helicopter thing) I didn't know you'd had winds like that since we left, good to know it's still in place. I'm still looking for a small video of her running too. :-0

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  4. Dale, with my camera there ain't no such thing as a small video. As lousy as the internet gets here at times I probably couldn't even email you one. Looks like you may have to wait until you'll come out here again and maybe see it in live action. (Maybe not though) Would probably be better for you'll if you didn't though. I'll see what I can do tomorrow if the wind is really getting after it. Its picking up now, but not enough to really make it take off.

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  5. Hot diggidy Dog!!! You sure got it going Pal! I've always had a passion for that hard wood too. I think they are mostly made of oak, don’t really know. All you got to do is hook-em together and you have studs and stabilization. Then you use the roofing plywood for exterior. Shingle over that and you can insulate the inside with that fancy insulate paneling board. Next thing you know you’ve gotten a decent liven space. Kinda like my deer camp cabin.

    Are you going to run cable from the genie to the dungeon, just curious? From what I saw in the photo of yawl hanging it those guy wires should help a whole lot. If I know you, your idea on how to hang it was overdone and engineered with plenty safety factor, so I’ll bet she will be fine.

    My little deal is moving along. I’ll shoot you an email soon as a little more time goes by and questions are answered.

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  6. Tigger, the guy wires are way strong and aren't a problem. The stakes are in solid rock and I don't think that is a problem. Matter of fact the only problem I really see is that the bolts could loosen from vibration and cause a problem. I plan to keep an eye on that. In short I "THINK" it should handle anything the wind can throw at it around here.

    Nope. No cable from it to here. It will strictly be a long extension cord from there to here and laying on the ground. I'll have to rain prof the connection between here and there before the next rain and of course the inverters will be protected by the box when I get it finished.

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  7. No problem on the video, I forgot the internet connection would limit that. We'll see her running next time out.

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  8. Wouldn't see it running tonight. (So far) Its dead still and the only thing I hear is that elusive critter rattling stuff around next to the dungeon. Never can catch what it is though because when I open the door and head out there is gone. Maybe I need a night vision camera out there. Woops... there it goes again. What ever it is must be living under the dungeon and darting back under it when it hears the door open?

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  9. I'm sure it is MC, that's why I go out there armed to the teeth. Probably takes too long to get out there dragging an 8 inch cannon. Maybe I should switch to a pea shooter?

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  10. Hot dog, you got a new pet and it’s gonna give you something to do. It will be fun just figuring it out who it is. He, he. That will be cool if it doesn’t have rattles. If it does, don’t shoot off your toe getting excited! I posted tonight. Catch you later and lock the door. He,he. Good night.

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  11. I just figured it out. Its a rabid kangaroo rat!;)

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  12. Now that you have the power mostly sorted out when do you plan on growing some food? In your area I am assuming that now is about the time to plant since your night time temps are no longer freezing.

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  13. Scavenger, We have had a freeze for the last two nights. I HOPE they were the last. My neighbor is growing some tomatoes and when I go to Alpine I may get some stuff to grow. I had real good luck with early girl tomatoes in Plano when nothing else would do any good. Not sure how they would do down here though. I will get some Jalapeno plants to. Outside of that I don't know.

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  14. I was just going to ask if you had a solar shower to heat water and you answered my question.

    I hate SNAKES so I am glad that the critter you heard is a rat (even though I hate them too). I thought your dungeon was flat on the ground. I had no idea there was space below it like JW's containers.

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  15. Herbs
    Pumpkins
    Peanuts
    Summer squash
    Winter squash
    Snap beans
    Eggplant
    Sweet corn
    Okra
    Bell peppers
    Chile peppers
    Cantaloupe
    Watermelon
    Cucumbers
    Tomatoes
    Lima Beans

    To name a few..

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  16. hello all has anyone ever tried the upside down tomato plants that i have heard about looks to be a easy wat to grow them

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  17. tffn guy do you have any use for 12 volt batteries?

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  18. MsB, Hopefully before long I'll have a solar shower built. I figure I can use the ice melt for it when I'm not using it for pouring concrete.

    I don't know that it is a rat, just suspect that since we left a loaf of bread out when the guests were here and something small gnawed in to the sack and ate some of it.

    MC that's a pretty long list considering down here it will likely have to be grown in pots.

    RN, the neighbor that said we were supposed to have high wind last night and today bought several of the upside down deals from Alco and is going to try growing tomatoes in them. He hasn't done it before so who knows how they work. I got a harbor freight email and they are selling them for $10 there. Last time they had them on sale though I was going to buy a couple and they were sold out.

    As for the high wind? Never happened! It has been windless all night and still is. :(

    I could use some 12 volt batteries, but they would probably have to be as a second backup bank unless the amp hours matched the 6 volts. That would make them have to be 200 amp hours each.

    From what I've read it isn't good to mix batteries with different amp hour ratings because the lower number can get over charged when they are being charged as a bank.

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  19. Evidently there was some wind last night that I didn't know about. The batteries are at a much better state than they should be at this time of day. Considering I gave them hell last night assuming that there would be high wind. The wind is acting like it may be going to come up so I may save some gas today. Unless I go get the window AC and put it in the window. Then I'd have to run the generator to use it though. Na... Guess I better wait until the real hot stuff to resort to something like that. Its just 95.7 in here now with the door and window open.

    Scrounged through my junk pile and hardware buckets and decided to build a solar shower. Not finished yet, but I just may rig something up later to take a shower anyway and save the gas it would take to go in to SB. Did I say I sure could use a shower? The solar shower add on to It'll Du is now the new blog thread. Score one more for It'll Du! ;)

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