Josh Tinley

Chris Olson wrote:
Instead of buying a couple new 1300ah 24V forklift batteries you could've bought four Rolls 12CS11P's for $4400 bucks, work the snot out of them and they'll still last 10 years. The CS plates in the 5000-series Rolls batteries are considerably heavier duty than forklift battery. Forklift batteries often have tubular grids and are more prone to stratification from RE chargers that don't put out enough power to properly charge one. The 5000-series Rolls is a dual container battery with "jars" just like your forklift battery, and you can replace individual "jars" if one goes bad over time. The 5000-series Rolls batteries have sailed the Atlantic in fishing trawlers and yachts for close to 30 years and they are THE only kind of batteries most boat captains will buy for their boats, where having a battery failure at sea is not an option.

I have been speaking to Steve at GB Batteries ALOT today. He was extremely helpful. He even tried to help me revive my dying battery, but alas, it is beyond saving. I truly appreciate all of Chris' feedback; he clearly knows what he is talking about after reading his posts on various forums however I'm not sure i understand why a Rolls 5000 is better than a GB battery. At least by looking at the plate thicknesses, the GB battery has positive plate thickness of .270" and negative plate thickness of .185 for the 12-85-15. The Rolls 6-CS-25P has plates of .260 and .180 respectively. Am I missing something? I know they are different AHs, does that matter for thickness? Also, the GB rep was insistent that they use plates, not tubes as Chris has indicated before.

Thank you,
Josh

Hi Jan,
Thanks for the quick reply. If I were to get a second dog that were more geared to protecting poultry and eventually livestock would that help calm the existing dog down? What is a general rule of thumb for introducing the existing dog full time to the flock? What breed of dog would work well for protecting poultry?

Thank you,
Josh

Hello,
I have a Blue Healer / German Shepherd mix. She is about 6 months old. Just recently she has started attacking the chickens in my flock. I can't tell if she is being playful or intending to hurt them. I think this all started because I threw some old chicken parts into the compost after processing and she got into the compost. Has she now made the connection? Her purpose is to supervise the chickens. How do I train her and discipline her to not hurt the birds?

She is extremely sweet and friendly to people and we try to give her lots of love and attention when the chickens are put away.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you,
Josh

Peter Berg wrote:

Robert Dearborn wrote:One feature im unclear on from the sketches and the podcast - is there a heat riser inside the barrel above the heater ? What is its proportion ? Im assuming it doesnt reach to within 2" of the underside of THAT monster barrel !

Your assumption is spot on, there is a riser inside the barrels. It's reaching up to about 3 to 4 inches below the top of the first one, so the top gap is one barrel plus 3". The riser is an 8" ceramic fiber tube, it could be shorter but it is being used as a whole.

How durable is an 8" ceramic fiber tube as oposed to using firebrick for the heat riser? Are they easy to come by? They sure look easier to assemble.

Thank you,
Josh

Hi All,
Thank you for the replies. I'll give that a try. I am currently throwing them kitchen scraps and very rarely scratch. I'll try putting sod in their coop and encourage them to forage by limiting their feed.

-Josh

Hello,
I have 10 birds that are 11 -12 weeks old that won't forage. These are my first birds and they were all brooded from chicks. I have them penned up in a 100sf area of electronet fencing with a 35sf portable coop (which is too heavy but is a great workout to move around). I have had them in a single spot for over a week. I have watched the birds and they don't seem to forage very well. all the vegetation in that area is completely intact with very little soil disturbance. But they seem to eat plenty when of chicken feed and kitchen scraps. Since they haven't had a mother hen to teach them to forage what is the best way for me to encourage this behavior? Do I remove there feed? If so, for how long? 4 of the birds are Rhode Island Reds, the other 6 are a black bird with white stripes that I picked up from the local farm store. 1 of the black birds is a Rooster.

I also have 2 dozen Red Ranger Broilers that are only 2 weeks old so i'd like to get this figured out. I am anxious to get them working to build soil and reduce feed costs.

Forgive me if this has already been addressed. I searched and came up empty, perhaps i was using the wrong search terms.

Thank you,
Josh

Is it possible to just plant a garlic clove that you get at the Grocery store? Do you need to order it from a seed retailer? I would assume you can so long as it wasn't pasteurized or irradiated.

This is great, My wife and I were just watching How To Build Rocket Mass Heaters with Ernie and Erica. We are very green so it seems a bit daunting. It led us to the conclusion that we need to hire someone or get more experience. I am thinking of attending this, after all it is in my hometown.

BTW, do you know if anyone builds RMH's in the Sandpoint area?

Thank you,
Josh Tinley

paul wheaton wrote:Steven Harris just sent me this email:

I own NiFe batteries, I have since 1994. I know them well. The BIG reason to NOT buy them, they are incredibly expensive, they are charging you 9x the price of a lead acid and guarantying you only 5x the life. NiFe batteries are VERY inefficient, which means a significant fraction of the energy you put in, does not get stored, something like around 25%. They are VERY VERY gassy, that is why there is such a huge head space on them to hold SO MUCH extra water, which MUST be distilled water ONLY. They have a high rate of self discharge, so if you just leave them there, they can loose 10% or more of their charge PER DAY.

so yeah...they have a very long life, but everything else they have is a huge disadvantage.

I wonder if these are good tradeoffs and how great a tradeoff it really is. I'm new to off-grid power but the place I purchased has a SolarOne battery that is supposed to last 15 years. The sytem is configured to require a full charge every 3 days and an equalization charge once a month. During the summer this is fine but to qualify for a full charge or equalization charge I would need to run the generator for an extended period of time, up to 3 hours after fully charged. Since NiFe batteries are more forgiving does this level the playing field? I'm not quite as concerned about the self discharge since in my eyes both the lead acid battery I have now and the NiFe will require regular charging.

Is the NiFe battery overrated? I like the idea of it lasting forever but not so sure i like that it requires constant water input. From a self sufficiency standpoint, unless i am making distilled water, the system requires more input.

-Josh

My Wife and I just moved up to CDA this past fall. This weekend we are going to go look at properties from Bonner Ferry to Priest River, possibly as low as St. Maries. How are you liking it up there? Any feedback on good areas to consider? Ultimately we want 5 acres, eventually off grid. We have two young kids so building a house isn't going to be practical even if we would love to do an earth contact home.