David Taylor

Thank you all for the input and ideas. And many great points to consider. Love the ideas of the compost piles and rain gardens. I had also considered having the gutters and directing the water right back under the structure...maybe with something like french drains (but percolating, not draining) , or even just trenches filled with gravel. You're absolutely right, Jim. I would be forgetting to water that tree in no time. Redirecting the rain that's falling anyway seems more realistic.

Fortunately I dont feel worried about the tree affecting the integrity of the structure. Very basic pole-barn style building with simple concrete footings and no plumbing. Widowmakers are a risk that I can't do much about. If one happens to fall on it, I guess I'll just repair it.

Thanks again.

David

I'm curious if a large covered structure built next to a tree (so over a large portion of its root system) would have a negative effect on the tree's health. It seems like suddenly denying a large amount of rainwater from the tree could be a problem, but structures are built around trees all the time, so maybe it's not a big deal at all.

I'm planning a covered work area next to a mature douglas fir tree. It won't have a foundation, so I'll still be able to water under the structure, if needed. Am I overthinking this? It's just a nice tree and I don't want to hurt it.

Just wondering if anyone has experience or knowledge about this. All I'm finding from google is how trees affect structures, not the other way around. I did find some stuff about how building around trees can hurt them, but just from compaction of soil, nothing about water.

Thank you for any discussion.

David

paul wheaton wrote:I think you can follow me on kickstarter.  I've never used that feature, so I don't know how that works. Here is my last kickstarter.

To follow Paul on Kickstarter (as a previous backer anyway), be logged in, click your profile icon on the top right, then click "follow creators" on the left under "my stuff". It will take you to a page of all your previous backed creators. Then just find Paul and click "follow"

Not sure exactly how it works if you haven't backed one of Paul's projects, I think maybe there's a "follow this creator" link on the top left of one of his previous projects. I know it's there on active projects, not sure about completed. BTW, I'm now following you, Paul =)

My mom's boysenberry is the best pie I know of. Have not tried cranberry orange. Would like to!

Jennifer, that picture of the cherry pie is amazing. If I look at it any longer it will drive me mad.

Marcos Buenijo wrote:Listen to podcasts available at www.battery1234.com. Also note that Steven Harris has done about 15 such podcasts on The Survival Podcast hosted by Jack Spirco. These are packed with practical alternative energy information.

Steven Harris considers the hydrogen production from batteries to be neglible, but you'll have to listen to the podcasts to get his full discussion (starts at 65:45 of part 1).

I will check those out, thanks.

Marcos Buenijo wrote:

Hi David. Where can you buy the computer you mention here, and what kind of pricing are we looking at?

Hey Marcos,

I got it at Amazon here and it's currently $379 with free shipping. And here's the specs for it. That company makes several different mini low power PCs so you may want to check a few of them out. One of them uses 3 watts at idle! Unfortunately that one is Linux only and does not support Flash (youtube) so that one was out for me. So far the one I got has been working very well. Running Windows 7 and it's plenty fast for it's size and power.

Cj Verde wrote:Well, we run our whole house. We do have a sun frost fridge/freezer which we've had for like 20 years but the fridge part hasn't really worked work well for a few years & even new I wasn't totally thrilled for the price.

The point is reduce your energy consumption - big time! We do run our generator quite a bit during the winter especially to run our pump. A great thing we did last winter was to put the pump on a timer switch because we used to turn it on and if we forgot to turn it off it would really run down the battery if the pump kicked on.

There are things you should just do without like a frost free freezer or a toaster oven or AC or electric dryer or electric water heater....

We do have a DSL modem on all the time (sometimes I'll put a timer on it so its off for 6 hours while everyone should be sleeping - I've got 2 teenagers). I do have a small aquaponics setup and the pump runs 15 minutes / hour (15 minutes / 3 hours at night). My husband isn't thrill about that though. He thinks its a drag on the batteries.

Yes, I am already in 'reduce-big time' mode. Recently sold my 250 watt max/80 watt idle tower PC and invested in a 26 watt max/9 watt idle Fit-PC3 mini PC (also happens to run off unregulated 10-15 VDC so could run off panels directly and bypass inverter). And have started monitoring all my power devices with a Kill-a-watt meter and am thinking about how long I use them and if I even want them anymore. It is definitely a mind-set. I'm fortunate to have a buffer period to learn, adjust my habits and plan ahead while I'm living with my parents.

Cj Verde wrote:No, that's not what I meant.

100 watts dc 12v is like 10 watts ac 120v!

I'm used to thinking in amps though. So my when my charge controller says we're getting in 40 amps on a sunny day that's great but the well pump uses 11 amps AC which is 110 amps DC! See?

Ahh ok. Thanks for the heads up about that. I definitely did not realize.

Cj Verde wrote:Here's an important formula:
watts/volts = amps

Good to know. I will write that one down.

Cj Verde wrote:One more thing for reference.
I have 17 panels of various wattage and the smallest chest freezer I can find. I only run it late spring/summer early fall so I'll be turning off soon. Of course, my whole house is off-grid, and I live in Vermont which I think gets an average of 4 hours over the year!

Cool. Sounds like you built your solar collection like I'm planning to...one panel at a time over a few years. Is that right? What other kind of devices do you run off that setup? Thanks again for the help.

Cj Verde wrote:

David Taylor wrote:
One 100 Watt solar panel producing 80 Watts per hour (after system loss) for 6 hours a day is 480 Watts or .48 kWh per day. Right?

So (2) 100 Watt panels would be .96 and (3) would be 1.44; enough for the freezer and then some.

Not quite. I think you've forgot about converting 12v to 120v.

Actually, that's why I figured in 20% loss from the charge controller and inverter. After everything said here, I am now prepared for up to 50% loss including from the batteries. Really hoping it's not that much though!

Thanks so much for all that great information and the ideas, Marcos. At this early point in my experiments with solar power, with sooooo much yet to learn and absorb, I just need to hook it up and start reading the numbers and see what I get. I'm glad you gave me the heads up about the much higher loss than I had been expecting. Frustrating to learn that but I'm anxious to see what I get from the components I chose. Will keep you posted.