Those 55 gal barrels of snowman could be really handy in, say, August.
retired, living self sufficently in Alabama (Part 2)
porkpal,
you got that right LOL
new battery bank installed now, 6 golf cart batterys 6 volts 232 amp hours each, hahaa 67 pounds each also, just finished wire'n em all in this morning, gonna see how they do now.
Are those all on the windmill?
freedom_sailer, it is a real joy to be following along with you through this transition to more independence from the System!
Cajun,
all these are connected to my solar panels, im goin to weed out the weak batteries i replaced an keep the best ones for the windmill and waterwheel generator .. also ...
i have a new windmill on the drawing board now, LOL another project
Darius,
yeah i like my independence from the system, when i built this cabin the closest power line was over a mile away .. LOL an its still over a mile away .. dont want it down here. an surely dont need it.
Do the batteries have to be a special kind or can you use car batteries? Our diesel truck has 2 big honkin batteries and even they won't start the diesel engine if the block warmer is not plugged in on cold nights.
I think the difference is the amperage you get with the six volt batteries wired in series.
I have heard the terms "deep cell" and "marine" batteries but I don't have a clue about the difference. I know DH used marine batteries in his boats when he had the charter business.
Caj, here's some info on various battery types
http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm
good info there Darius ... i wont ever go with the wally world el cheapo's again .. but they lasted 5 years of extra hard service i abused em pretty bad. cant really complain but .. you get what you pay for......
Perhaps with the economy so bad, there may be more golf carts being abandoned/trashed... which means more deep-cycle batteries? On the other hand, folks who can afford to play golf and use a cart may not be feeling the pinch so much... yet.
Ohhh boy--got the fever bad.
Started 39 Tomato varieties and 22 Pepper varieties in my cold frames today.
VORTREKER,
this weather keep on bein warm like it has the last two days i'll probably be doin the same very soon .. the fever is rise'n
spent today changing out my belts and pulleys on the waterwheel to chains an sprockets, just gotta get a longer chain now an get it hooked back up. the chain will have less drag than the v belt an pullys i was running ..
also tapered my blades on the windmill this afternoon to get some more tip speed from them ..
Very nifty! It looks in the picture as if your windmill is in the trees. Does it get enough wind in summer?
Porkpal,
not as much as i'd like... also the post/tower i got it mounted on will go soon as i get my 66 foot free standing tower took down from my other place an hauled over here .. im not gonna stick it 66 feet in the air .. the tower is in three 22 feet sections im gonna use em seperately an have probaby 2 windmills an one for my tv antenna . .. man's gotta have some entertainment ya know ... LOL an im tired of watching only 2 channels
Do you have a treeless hiltop you can move it to?
Cajun,
yes i do but its too far away, and there's more trees up there than down here on the hillside.
putting taper in the blades also did what i expected it speed'd it up alot. lookin into some lighter material for the new blades, when ever i find it. hahaa not sure what im looking for right now but i'll know it when i see it. LOL RECYCLE something
Maybe some thick sheet metal? I am a big recycler too.
What are they made of now?
Would the metal from the side of a fridge be big enough and thick enough for one blade? Lot's of old fridges thrown away here and there.
Porkpal,
they are made from masonite siding right now, testing out new blade designs .. not really sure what ill end up use'n for the final product.
Cajun,
sheet metal like that would be too flimlsy i think. need something stiff, strong an rigid. and that'd hold its shape well ...
Corrugated tin?
Would something like Twin-Wall polycarbonate hold up to the stress?
Porkpal,
not sure how the corrugated would be .. but who knows hahaa ill try anything once
Darius,
it just might, gonna look around n see what i can find ..
The corrugation is on the inside but polycarbonate is too flexible I think.
Twin-wall polycarbonate wouldn't be flexible.
Nor would Lexan.
Lexan is a trademarked (brand) name of polycarbonate.
Lexan is almost bullet proof .. where plexiglass is some brittle stuff. Lexan is also high
Lexan is real hard to machine - believe me.
Dyson,
yeah i've has some dealings with lexan, we used alot of it for windshields on dune buggys an such.. much more scratch resistant than plexiglass.
I've heard of folks using 4" PVC and spliting it into 1/4's for the blades.
Chancemft,
yeah, i was thinking bout useing some 4 or 6 in. to make some out of, i made em before outta 4in. for smaller windmills, find me some sch. 40 6 in stuff ...
spent today haulin in 8 in. cement blocks to build my dam up an seal in my raceway, got the side next to the cabin finished, gonna do the far side tomorrow. then close my gate an let the creek fill back up an give the waterwheel a good test run, got rain headin this way in a couple of days.
I can't wait for pics! Power bills get any higher here we may start seeing water wheels up and down the creek.
Cajun,
with the water flow you have in your creek you could make some good power with just alittle bit of work, maybe not enough to run your home on, but enough to reduce your power bill some. an maybe have lights n such in places you dont have now. like your barn or other out buildings etc ... also you could install a spiral pump or ram pump an have automatic watering for your animals an chickens .. something to think about for sure ....
This message was edited Feb 23, 2011 10:16 AM
If we owned this place I would have already looked into it but it's the parsonage for the church. It would be nice to have some lights at the chicken yard and the goat shed that wouldn't add to the power bill. I wish I knew something about electricity.
couple of shots of the block work on the dam, got em ruffed in an sealed, just gotta cement in some more big rock behind them for support, then fill em up with dirt to within an inch of the top and cap em off with some cement to make em look pretty LOL ...
view no. 2, also another block has been added to the far side past the gate/overflow had to dig out into the bank to get it set in an cemented. LOL i cant draw a straight line .. nither can i lay blocks straight. haha .. there was a reason i laid em like i did tho, they work better with the flow of the water out the gate arranged like that. an the lip left in front of em will give me something to lay flat rock against an cement em to it all to cover up the cement blocks ... sometime in the future
This message was edited Feb 23, 2011 5:58 PM
