Randy Voss

Thanks Dale, the Led Technology is moving forwards quickly and the costs are rapidly coming down the 7 watt leds that i got from eBay are what i had hoped for, 7 watt LED Link.
I am going to get some of the 9 watt to try out as well, the 7 watt were brighter than i thought they would be and cost 4.50 ea when i ordered 3 at a time (drops to 3.39 if 5 are ordered) and they were shipped from the US. , i had mine in 3 days from California .



Hope that helps anyone who is looking for a cheaper led solution. don't get the cool white bulbs, they still have too much blue tint to them to be good in living areas .

i didn't see it on the website but i wonder if it can run E85 , even better if they make a diesel version

It uses a standard front drive styled drive train (An inline, 3 cylinder, .9 liter, 55 HP, fuel-injected, SOHC gas-powered, liquid-cooled, automotive engine. ) which is a big attraction for me , the 3 wheeled cars that we see most commonly are rear drive using motorcycle components making then fall into the motorcycle category for licensing and insurance , which is fine if you already have a motorcycle license but a turn off for those who do not.
I want to test drive one, as a single person i can see a real advantage to this over an standard gas/electric car.

A great source for batteries is your local interstate dealer , used return batteries called ECONO batteries . The Batteries that are returned under warranty ,Tested and have been found to have nothing wrong with them ( usually because some one thought the battery was bad and it was the starter or alternator that was the real problem , or in a few cases they left the headlights on and blamed the battery )
they sell them for 26.00$ ea and they have deep cycle ones too. i got all my ups batteries from them 12 OPTIMA red/blue topped batteries for 50.00 ea and all the ones i got tested @95% or better on load tests ,so i have been very happy ( the reds were 25 AH and the blue deep cycle were 40 AH ). The OPTIMA battery in my Jeep Cherokee is 18 yrs old and still starting it on the -10 mornings.
They wont always have the OPTIMA batteries but if anyone's looking for cheap batteries to use for solar that is a good place to check out. they have no warranty on them but if you get a bad one within 30 days or so they will swap it for another one.
One other thing , they some times have larger batteries that the phone company turned in that were backup power batteries that are a few years old that are like new they just swap them as part on regular service due to their age.
Hope that helps any one starting out in solar on a budget.

I have a question , how hot are your Exhaust temps ?? I.e. hot much of the heat are you capturing Vs. how much loss goes out the chimney .
The reason i ask is i was thinking of building a gravity feed pellet stove/RMH to put in the basement in the other half of my building (i love the idea of a pellet stove that needs no electricity to run)

AHH , that makes sense. i remember that my high pressure sodium lights say 2.5A on start up and 1.2A running, that would also mean that the more a CFL is switched on and off the more power it will use if it is turned on and off a lot (like a busy bathroom) verses just leaving it on all the time (in theory)

I almost forgot , something i noticed when i took the picture of the bulb.
AmpsXvolts=Watts (at least that was the way i had learned it ) the side of the bulb clearly states 120V 200Ma which is 24 Watts not 13 Watts , what kinda math are they using i wonder??

I have had it with CFL`s , even the expensive ones don't last as long as the manufacturers claim they do.
a year and a half ago i bought 6 new GE 13Watt CFL bulbs (package claimed 5 year life span) to put in my living space when i added new fixtures , in the last week 5 of the 6 have failed ( 2 at the same time, While i was watching them ).
If i didn't believe in planned obsolescence i would be a believer now LOL. these like all the lights in my place run on a whole house UPS so i know a power surge didn't ruin them. they are all on the same switch so all of them had exactly the same number of hours on them and the other 4 lights that were on that same switch were the cheap Chinese 3 Watt Led lights and they are still going strong, all run 4-6 hours every day.
switched the CFL`s to 9 Watt LED today , we will see how long they last under the same usage.

David Livingston wrote: I have never heard of sheep being bothered by moth infestations .

David

Several funny visions popped into my head when i read that . Wool is flammable also , we used to burn it when i was a kid to get rid of it when there was no market for it. put it in a pile and toss in a match and it went up fast. might be less flammable if it was washed to remove the oil i would guess, might be able to treat it with something to keep the moths out,and flame retardant like they do with cellulose insulation .

Andreas, it would be quite easy to convert your furnace to run on waste engine or veg oil, just look at how a modern commercially made waste oil furnace burner head works.
the waste oil furnace burner head pre-heats the oil to 60-77C and then uses a a small air compressor to blow the oil past the ignition electrodes to burn the oil. (similar to the way a paint gun turns paint into a mist).
There are quite a few videos on YouTube of people that have converted old oil furnaces to do just what your talking about. I built the one that i use in a converted fuel oil burner to burn wast oil to heat my shop from scratch for less than 200.00$ it still has the electronic safety controls and runs from the thermostat just like it did originally.