paul wheaton wrote:
Bryan Matthews wrote:
paul wheaton wrote:The challenging part is the shipping. I think I have optimized the shipping part. So, as odd as it sounds, we would offer price breaks at 4 bricks and 9 bricks.
Would you be interested in having a European Printer supplier for your card decks? This would save transport money/co2. Prices can stay the same because of all products sold here from the USA normally have import/export taxes.
I would be open to this. I thought Maddy might do it, but she seems uninterested.
In that case if the time arrives, email/purple me. Whatever you prefer regarding this matter.
Make me an offer that ican't refusewill love! My email is paul at richsoil.com.
Dillon Nichols wrote:One died while monitoring some pretty heavy loads a couple months after I bought it; another when I'd had it a year and had only used it a handful of times... I am assuming the deaths are down to crappy manufacturing/QC, but a brief postmortem showed no terribly obvious causes of failure beyond that.
So, unfortunately not really anything to learn here except 'cheap chinese gadget is built to cheap chinese quality standards'... Last time I looked there really wasn't much in the way of alternatives though.
elle sagenev wrote:
paul wheaton wrote:
Thekla McDaniels wrote:I also want to say I am appalled that your art work was stolen as the printing got sub contracted out to and through so many printers. I really thought there was a law against that, but I guess it is differentially enforced.
There are laws.
I suppose I could spend $20,000 in a lawsuit that would be spread out over seven years, and by the time I won, the business would be dissolved and long gone.
Come now Paul. I highly doubt you get 20k and 7 years in. As someone who works for lawyers I can say that is probably very doubtful. Send them a threatening letter, from a lawyer with law, etc., and see what happens. At the very least it might scare them out of selling the cards. Doing nothing is like giving the thieves a stamp of approval.
Besides, You don't sue the subcontractors subcontractor subcontractor. You sue the person YOU contracted with. It is their responsibility to try to recoup their costs by going down the line, not yours. Or throw all the stones at once and name every single party involved in the original complaint.
Steve Farmer wrote:1) You're on a budget
2) You're got some soldering kit
3) You've got special requirements regards matching panel size to window size
4) You're indoors so don't need professionally made weather hardened solar panels
So.. buy some solar cells from ebay, which will cost you about a third of the price per watt compared to a ready made panel, and custom make your own panel(s).
The main thing as you learn is to be very very careful how you handle the solar cells, they are extremely fragile. If you handle them carefully when moving, soldering and securing to a backing panel, then you will be OK.
On the batteries, technically yes you can use car batteries for light use but don't let them discharge more than 10%. ie keep them at 90% charged or higher, otherwise you will kill them.
However, don't use car batteries indoors because when you are charging they give off hydrogen gas and in certain circumstances lead and sulphur compounds. Maybe you have a balcony or roof space which can house a battery enclosure?
For any given power, Voltage is inversely proportional to current. And higher current gives higher losses in the cabling. So at low voltages eg 12, 24V, losses in cables are high. Keep your cable runs as short as possible and use good thick cables for any runs that have to be longer than a few metres.
Post some pics on here and let us know how you get on.
Dillon Nichols wrote:Hi Bryan,
I would suggest you go ahead and get a kill-a-watt or equiv. Mine tend to die fairly promptly, which is annoying, but I haven't found anything comparable to use instead, and they're pretty handy.
A solar panel this size will not be powering your fridge... If you find a panel that fits the full window, it might be rated at 40W peak output. Your actual output will be lower; among other things, you will be limited in your angle options, and the glass will take a bit of a toll. Beware of shading the panel, it can take a disproportionate toll on output.
If the fridge is key, you might consider a larger battery bank than your solar panel can reasonably recharge; charge the bank off of an AC-powered charger when AC is available, then use the solar to maintain the bank until needed, and to slow the draining of the bank. Recharge when power comes back.
You can likely power your laptop/phone/modem and some basic lighting, preferably 12V, from even cheap car batteries, although you shouldn't expect very long life or runtimes from this sort of battery. Figure out the total combined wattage you need for these items, and determine if your current 12V-230V converters are adequate. I would only ever advise use of a quality pure sine inverter, but you can experiment with modified sine/step wave units if you aren't overly attached to your devices. Decide if you want to accommodate the fridge before buying...
The 'some sort of power converter/charger for it all' you mention is a solar charge controller. Readily available in all sorts of prices and quality levels. An 'MPPT' controller will get you a bit more power out of your panel vs a 'PWM' controller. Again, I'm not a fan of the cheaper options, but they sure are cheap.
For the solar panel itself, for your situation getting the best possible fit for the window is pretty much the primary concern here.
I'd suggest getting everything up and running with the best of the batteries you have, and upgrade the batteries after that.
Paul Andrews wrote:Sounds like an exciting project and I hope you get permission.
Have you ever tried pounding earth to fill just one tyre? It is incredibly labour intensive.
Maybe earthbag construction might be a better bet for this project.
I hope it goes ahead whatever method you choose
Good luck
paul
Heidi Hoff wrote:You might try this site from Québec. I don't know these folks personally, but they have been giving talks all around Québec, promoting the idea of food resilience through climate-appropriate production systems. They are rather high-tech, but they do offer plans and instructional videos at very reasonable prices. We might end up using these resources ourselves.
paul wheaton wrote:The challenging part is the shipping. I think I have optimized the shipping part. So, as odd as it sounds, we would offer price breaks at 4 bricks and 9 bricks.
Would you be interested in having a European Printer supplier for your card decks? This would save transport money/co2. Prices can stay the same because of all products sold here from the USA normally have import/export taxes.
I would be open to this. I thought Maddy might do it, but she seems uninterested.