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MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329
Posted: 03:19am 22 Jun 2018
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I have temporarily turned my interest from windmills to solar applications. Specifically, I have built a couple solar cookers. One is permanently mounted in my side yard, while the other is portable. Each is based on the same design concept and that is this:
A reflective array of mirrors simply funnels sunlight down to a focal point, which is the cooking
The cooking vessel is merely a ceramic slow cooker pot with the glass lid. It intern sits inside and oven bag, the kind you would use to cook a turkey in your oven. This is by far the cheapest way to insulate it from air currents. Each of my cookers will get up to 400°F in direct sunlight.
The mirror array is attached to a 180° square metal tube bent into an arc, which is adjustable up-and-down to adjust latitude deviation’s due to changing seasons. The entire unit rotates left and right, so it can be pointed due south since in my case, I am in the northern hemisphere at a mean latitude of approximately 33° north.
Of noteworthiness, the metal piece, which fastens the mirror array to the rest of the cooker is cut with a square hole, which rides on that metal arc.
One cooker uses four flat-plate mirrors fashioned into somewhat of a funnel, which when pointed directly at the sun, focuses each mirror onto the cooking part. The other one uses a recycled metal lamp shade, which has been recovered with two dashboard reflectors, which I bought for one dollar each and is fastened to the arc in the same manner.
The fancier of the two, the one which is in my side yard mounted permanently entails a lot of welding and cost me probably $40. The one made out of the old lamp shade and dashboard reflectors cost me a whopping five bucks. Each one heats approximately the same, but the one using the lampshade is more susceptible to Highwinds.
I will try to figure out how to put some pictures on here, but Honestly, I have no clue how to do this. The pictures are inside my iPhone 6s, which is what I am using to post to the forum.
I will need some help posting pictures, please — ANYBODY?
I am posting using an iPhone sex ass. Does anybody know how to post pictures here? The pictures are locked in this iPhone, but are not identifiable as a file, so at this point I am pretty much lost.Edited by MacGyver 2018-06-23Nothing difficult is ever easy!
Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman,
"Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!"
Copeville, Texas
Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904
Posted: 08:46am 22 Jun 2018
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mac, in your post window there is a row of 12 icons on top of the page window. Click the 11th (from left) and follow instructions. You need to re size your pictures so the biggest dimension is'600'. If you try to upload bigger the program will let you know what the max size is.Klaus
zaphod Regular Member Joined: 03/06/2018 Location: United KingdomPosts: 93
Posted: 06:38pm 22 Jun 2018
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I do hope you can post pics it's sooo refreshing to read something with no electronics at all!! I am a very keen woodburner and BBQ advocate so even if I can only run it a few day's a year here in the cloudy UK I would love to give it a go :) Could you transfer your pics to a PC and upload them from there maybe ?Cheers Roger 1Kwp DIY PV + Woodburner + Rainwater scavanger :)
MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329
Posted: 01:31am 23 Jun 2018
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Thanks, Klaus. Okay, here I go:
I tried several, but it said my file size was a little over 2000 MB, so it is too big. Now what?
Maybe what I will do is take a video and uploaded to my YouTube channel and then drop a link for that and that way I can yackety-yack well I am taking pictures and explain what I’m doing and it might be easier that way.
Ya think?
Anyway, it’s getting dark in Texas, so I will have to do it tomorrow or the next day, but I’d watch. I will get it done. Thanks for your help everyone.
Nothing difficult is ever easy!
Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman,
"Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!"
Copeville, Texas
Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904
Posted: 09:42am 23 Jun 2018
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Well, I did mention that you have to reduce the file first.
How? there are several free programs on the net that do just that, you only need to choose a suitable one.
I use a program called 'irfanview'
It puts an icon on your computer screen when downloaded. Then one drags the picture file onto this icon to open it. I usually import the pics from the camera so they are saved to desktop.
Once irfanview opens my picture, on the side bar is a "resize, resample" which lets me select to which size I want to reduce the pic. The reduced pic shows on the screen now. This needs to be saved (to the desktop or wherever) with a modified file name if you want to keep the original as well.
Just put on your 'smart guy' hat and experiment a bit with that program ( or any other you choose) to get the hang of it. You can do all sorts of things with your picture, you can even save it in a different format, etc. etc. Edited by Tinker 2018-06-24Klaus
MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329
Posted: 01:17am 24 Jun 2018
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It has been cloudy and overcast here in North Texas for the past two or three days.
As soon as the clouds clear up and I have clear skies, I will shoot a video of each of the solar cooker things I have built and post them on my YouTube channel, Because I can do that with just the push of one little button on my iPhone and then drop a link here and I think that will be better than me trying to reinvent the wheel, as regards resizing pictures and stuff. Sorry guys.
I’m just too old for all that. Mac chuckles.
🤓Nothing difficult is ever easy!
Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman,
"Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!"
Copeville, Texas
MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329
Posted: 12:25am 26 Jun 2018
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I “FINALLY” was able to upload a video of each solar cooker on to my YouTube channels.
Go to YouTube and push on the little magnifying glass and search for either crazy rabbit, which will be spelled QUAZIE WABBIT or search for “ My Back Shed”. I have two channels and one mirrors the other pretty much although the crazy rabbit one has less old stuff and no personal stuff, but only thing is I’ve built.
Hope this works out. There are two solar cookers shown. One is permanently mounted in my side yard, while the other is portable and can be taken on a picnic.
In either case, the food to be cooked is placed inside a crucible. I used the ceramic pot from a slow cooker with its own glass lid. The crucible is then placed inside and open the bag, the kind of wine would use to hope this works out. There are two solar cookers shown. One is permanently mounted in my side yard, while the other is portable and can be taken on a picnic.
In either case, the food to be cooked is placed inside a crucible. I used the ceramic pot from a slow cooker with its own glass lid. The crucible is then placed inside and open bag, the kind one would use to tour Cook a turkey in the oven. This insulates the cooking pot from surrounding air currents and on a sunny day, either cook or will heat up to around 400°F. You will definitely want to wear clothes on your hands when removing the cooking part after it has been on there a few hours. Cook a turkey in the oven.
On the portable one, the weight of the cooking pot holes everything steady, but I may have to come up with some way to work the reflectir, to keep the wind from blowing it out of focus.
It’s on my “to do“ list.
. . . . . MacNothing difficult is ever easy!
Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman,
"Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!"
Copeville, Texas
Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
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