Gerry Parent

Hi Graham,   Wouldn't it be better (seeing as you have the roof space) to move the panels further away from each other rather than changing the angle which would affect their performance?

UPDATE:  Magnum declared the BMK to be defective and are sending us a replacement. Fingers crossed.

Hi Chris,    It is a common practice to use sharp sand for making cob. "Sharp" meaning sand that has jagged edges rather than smooth (like beach sand) which is rounded. The reason for this is that when the clay that surrounds the sand dries, it pulls the grains together and the angular edges lock producing a stronger finished product. A magnifying glass can be used to look closely at the sand that you have to see if it is more suitable than another. You can also of course feel the sharpness as well while mixing.

thomas rubino wrote:Just got a new candy temp (T&G dragon breath monitor) gauge to check the gas temperature in the studio RMH.

Its been running since 7 am, outside temps up from 10 F to 22F . room temp is 74F , READY... stack gas temperature 2' above the mass is  over 400F ! seemed to settle in around 420 F or so !  OMG I had no  idea I was loosing that much heat !!!  Hmmm  maybe a bell at the far end …  (wife will strangle me if she reads this ) She hates when I interrupt her happy artist life … with trivial things like heat!

I informed her the other day, I intended to install a 5 minute riser in that stove this summer... After the lecture … I will be shielding my work area from her work area during that project.

Poor, poor Thomas..... I feel for you man! The R&D of our new venture is taking its toll. Perhaps we should have opened up a warehouse or something to do further testing with the T&G DBM before we go public next time?  ;)

Sonny,   Glenn's comments about the chimney exit are all tried and true methods which would provide the most trouble free installation however, as your building is round and streamlined to the wind, perhaps downdraft may not be an issue for you? There are so many factors that make for a good draft. You could skimp on a few and still be OK but best to not make them unless you really want to accept the possible consequences (aka have a backup plan).
Sorry I couldn't add any assurance for you, but perhaps someone else may have more experience with a structure like yours.

Thanks for the update Thomas. I'll be all good to go (Thanks to you) once I get around to switching over my dragon to ceramic fiber as well.

Curious if you have peeked into the bell and seen if ash has accumulated on the bricks that jut out and now are insulating (on the top side and part of the wall they jut out of) rather than extracting heat.
Perhaps not enough to worry about?

Eric Hammond wrote:In the simplest terms, judging from what I see, the battery monitor is bad.

OK, so no more fiddling needed until Monday when Magnum gets another call and hopefully they see it that way too and covered by warranty

(using Paul's numbering system)

Must have missed that podcast... care to fill me in on the logic/joke?

145)  The battery monitor being plugged in to the circuit should not increase the voltage in the circuit, making me think there is a voltage leak internally to it.

Yes, I agree. That's why I also took a picture of the monitor disconnected to show the difference.

198r)  The very last picture tells me the monitor thinks amperage is always coming in to the battery all the time, and never leaving the battery at night, still charging through some miracle X

23b)  The amperage of 1000 amps at 48v = 48,000 watts from the panels at night seems excessive  (this one was slightly a joke)

Now, if the rest of the system would also join into the free energy miracle, you and I could be rich.

I also at this point would like to razz you about the wire nuts, and that you should get rid of them, we aren't building a house ;)

HA!  I knew when I took some of these photos that was going to happen! Kinda like hanging up you wash on the line for everyone to see. As they say though:  "NO GUTS, NO GLORY".
The ones on the far left of the first picture were from the fellow that put most of the system together before I got here. The one that was pig-tailed into the bmk power supply was just to save another trip of wire to a battery - post. I know its not professional and pretty for now and probably will get upgraded once everything is working properly. Thanks for the slap!

Eric Hammond wrote:The picture testing at the shunt, is that with the battery monitor plugged in?

Yes, plugged in....and thank you for link and torque needed.

Here are some pictures of our system and readings.... Let me know if there is something missing...

Eric Hammond wrote:
Hey Gerry, sorry it wasn't something simple!  I'm a little confused by some of the readings you said, mostly because without pictures its not clear what your referring to.  Also, not to second guess you in any way, but I would like a picture of the meter screen when your make your measurements.  We are dealing with REALLY small amounts of voltage here and the measurements are critical.

I'll snap some photos today

First, you did install the shunt in the NEGATIVE battery cable correct?  Were the fasteners torqued with a torque wrench?

Yes, Shunt is on the negative cable but not secured with a torque wrench. Couldn't find any info in the setup about what torque to use....any suggestions?

You need to set your voltmeter up to read mV.  I highly recommend this specific meter for ease of operation and accurate results/ with cost in mind.

For now I'm using a cheap Home Depot special volt meter but will order one of those your using as I need a better one anyways.

You'll notice on my shunt, all the terminals were coated with a conductive electrical grease (NOT di-electric)

Could you include a brand name as I do have di-electric but not what your suggesting.

Does that make sense?  That should be enough info to pinpoint the culprit.  It's worth noting, Voltage drop only works with the circuit intact and functioning.  We cannot unplug anything to make measurements.

Yes it does make sense to me. I'll get back to you once I get more readings.