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MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329
Posted: 03:39am 05 Aug 2009
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Thanks. Hide and watch!
:O)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
Wes Lemarr Newbie Joined: 07/09/2008 Location: United StatesPosts: 35
Posted: 07:30am 15 Aug 2009
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MacGyver,
I like the way you think, you sound like a guy I would like to know better & would love to talk to live. I am especially intrigued with you “Windmill Air Compressor” ideas & I have a large machine shop at my disposal, maybe we could help each other?
Wes LeMarr
wes@oemparts-express.com
MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329
Posted: 03:31am 07 Oct 2010
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Crew
I'm reviving this thread because I'm on the verge of actually completing many of my projects in the coming months.
I was in Home Depot today and saw they have a string of 100 LED lights intended for use with a solar cell mounted in the garden. The price was $25 and that's for 100 of the little buggers. They also offered a set for a "christmas tree" that runs off three 1.5 volt AAA batteries. I thought I'd share all this in case anyone is of the idea to change their shop lighting to LEDs or maybe wants some portable LED lighting for camping and such.
As soon as I'm out of prison (read that: divorced) I'm going to change all my lighting to 12-volt LEDs. I'm also going to hook up a homemade alternator to my bicycle, so I can recharge a deep-cell marine battery each time I work out (daily). That battery will be dedicated to lighting only.
I've looked into purchasing 12-volt appliances as well, but for the trade-off in time, meaning the difference in time it takes to brew a cup of mud with 120 volts as compared to 12 volts, I may just invest in a hefty inverter and leave the kitchen appliances alone. As it stands, I usually make dinner in a 120 watt crock pot and it takes about 2 hours to brew. That's less than 1/4 a kilowatt usually about 5 days a week and the cost runs out at less than the price of a can of soda pop! If I want to fry something, I use compressed propane gas,
I've all but given up using my windmills to compress air. I've decided of late to join up with the rest of the crew and build alternators instead. Someday, I may actually make one that works like I want it to. They all "work" but none has worked "well enough" yet to satisfy my tastes. I'll keep at it.
I'll be back here from time to time as things progress. I may even resurrect one or two of the really off-the-wall projects like my 12-volt clothes washer as well. The clothes, by the way, hang on plastic hangers and a 12-volt bilge pump circulates soapy as well as clean water (different cycles) through them as they hang here. After a drip-dry, I hang them on the line outside, then into the closet. Looks & works funny, but works!
. . . . . 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
powerednut Senior Member Joined: 09/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 221
Posted: 09:22am 09 Oct 2010
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Mac, just a tip. In Aus 12V compact fluro lamps are getting quite easy to buy at the local hardware store (bunnings). These fit straight into a standard lamp fitting. Just rewire to your 12V batteries and your done.
I use a couple of these all the time - not quite as low power consumption as LEDs, but they arn't as directional as any LED lamps I've seen.
The main advantage is they are dead simple.
MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329
Posted: 02:30am 10 Oct 2010
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powerednut
Thanks for the tip. As it is, all the lights in my new "house" are already 12-volt and are the stab-in type used in newer automotive applications. For those who don't know, I should explain that my "retirement home" is a 25-foot Milan 25RKS pull-behind travel trailer, which I will do a youtube movie on sometime soon so everyone can see how I'm going to accomplish living my 12-volt lifestyle.
The spade-type LED bulbs are readily available here in the States at a place called "Pep Boys Auto Supply" and although they are a bit pricey (some as high as $29 each) they run with nearly no (read that *NO* heat) and are supposed to last like half a million hours. I don't know how long half a million hours is, but suffice to say, it's probably worth the cost as well as fitting in nicely with my goofy 12-volt lifestyle plans.
March 18, 2011 is the magic day. Not much will happen until that passes, but when it does, the machinery around here will spring back to life and there will be some major (read that over-the-top RADICAL CHANGES) taking place where MacGyver's concerned!
I know everyone's sick of hearing me say this, but "Hide and watch".
. . . . . Mac 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: 01:09am 28 Sep 2011
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I'm back!
It's been a while since I've updated this post, so here goes:
I'm happily divorced, retired and settled into my 12-volt lifestyle. My water is solar heated and when it's cloudy, I have the options of heating water with shore power (electricity) or by using my $24 propane bar-b-q. There's a heater core, which sits inside the bar-b-q and I run it at it's "light me" setting. That's just barely on, but it's enough to heat 20 gallons of water toasty hot in only a matter of an hour or less. I'll share a post on that soon in a different thread.
All my lighting is LED and many of the other household functions, such as fans and entertainment is courtesy of 12-volt deep-cycle batteries I charge back up using a solar panel on the roof, next to the water-heating panel. The little windmill has gone up and been taken down several times. When I get it right, I'll post that build.
I also have an invverter, which allows me to use 12-volts (albeit,marginally) to operate 110 VAC stuff when needed.
I built a solar clothes dryer (not a clothesline), but I'm thinking a clothesline's actually the BEST design anyone has ever come up with to date, but decided against the 12-volt washer and spinner; too much bother. When push comes to shove, I use the laundromat down the street.
I use propane gas to cook with, though I have built a few solar cookers, but it's been too overcast where I live to let solar cookers be of much use.
In another week or two, I'll have finished a new heater core, which will be mounted where my forced air unit used to be. This will allow me to pump solar-heated or propane-heated water through a heater core with a 12-volt fan forcing air through it and into my three under-floor heating ducts and heat my little house.
I posted a Youtube video showing my new house; look for it in my profile if you want to see where I live now. More as it happens.
. . . . . 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
MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329
Posted: 03:01am 14 Oct 2011
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Update
I moved the water-heating core to the inside. That allows me to heat water using propane without having to go out in the weather to do so. It's very simple really and I've attached a few pictures to show how I've done it in case someone else wants to do the same:
First off, this is my single propane stove burner. My former stove had
three burners, but they didn't work as well as this one large one, so I
trashed them in favor of this cast iron one.
This is a top view of an automobile heater core with a sheet of 3/16"
aluminum sheet lying atop it as it sits on the stove burner. The sheet
of metal traps the heat within the fins of the heater core and allows the
water, which circulates through the core, to pick up more of the heat.
Shown here are the stainless braided inlet and outlet water connetors.
There is a quarter-turn valve on each one and that black thing in the
center of the shot is an electric recirculating pump. Water is pumped
from the bottom of the 20-gallon water heater (@ the lower right-hand
side) then through the core and back again to the top of the storage
tank.
Several people warned me about doing it this way, saying I could asphixiate myself, since the stove gas has no flu. I thanked them one and all, but pointed out that I cooked each and every day on the same burner and haven't died yet. There is a fan-forced vent atop the stove just in case it's needed, but so far, it has not been necessary. By the way, I don't cook or heat anything on the stove unless I'm home to watch it. When I leave, I turn off the gas at a master valve located on the front of the cabinets below the water heater, right next to the lighted switch that turns on the electric element inside the water heater, should I wish to heat the water with electricity (bad idea), but an option none the less.
Heating 20 gallons of water to shower temperature (about 120*F) can be done with the burner set to quarter-inch blue flames running for about one hour. The cost of the gas compared to the cost of an equivalent amount of electricity is nearly free. When heating with solar or gas, there is also the cost of the recirculating pump to consider; about 5 cents a year!
I have built another heater core into the air vent just under my forced-air fan, which feeds heated air to each of three under-deck registers. This is facilitated by re-routing the hot water using still more valves. No sooner did I complete that project, then I discovered merely blowing air through an all-aluminum-finned core sitting atop the stove does a better job. I can heat my entire place in about ten minutes using the aluminum-finned core, the only drawback being my having to get up and do it, where the hydronic core in the under-floor FAU can be controlled by a thermostat.
Tomorrow I'm moving my solar panels to a more effective rooftop location than they are presently placed. I have also purchaced a "Delta T" switch, which will turn on the recirculation pump ONLY when there is a preset difference in temperature between the roof panels and the storage vessel. It also has a freeze-protection feature, which may come in handy should the mercury plummet.
I'm manufacturing a better-looking stove-top air-heating core and when it's done, I'll come back here with another update. As soon as I'm finished with moving the solar panel (tomorrow?) I'll start work on the world's simplest axial-flux alternator and windmill.
. . . . . Mac
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
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 08:14am 16 Oct 2011
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That's a bit like my ride on dishwasher There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329
Posted: 09:06pm 21 Oct 2011
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Madness
Turns out KiwiJohn prety much hit the nail on the head. It's pretty hard to compete with something as simple as a clothesline, but I enjoyed the build, which is 99% of why I try all the goofy stuff I think up. Still, every now and then, I come up with a keeper.
I think I'm due!
. . . . . . 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
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 09:18pm 21 Oct 2011
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If you can't get clothes to dry in wet weather putting a fan on them will make them dry much faster.There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
grub Senior Member Joined: 27/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 169
Posted: 10:20pm 21 Oct 2011
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Water evaporates at lower temperatures in lower pressures. So make a vacuum tank that you can put your clothes in, then evacuate the air and let stand to dry the clothes. Theoretically it should work.
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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