Joshua Plymouth

So I live in an older house and there used to be bees in a double pane window, the bees are back and a lot! like 50 or more! How do I encourage them to stay around, and even move them into some sort of trap? Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

Alright all, this one threw me for a loop. Its a thought I have had many times when thinking about geothermal greenhouses, that require low cost to heat, however this one breaks all the rules! This thing is held together very cheaply, and almost looks like trash thrown together. Now most people would turn their nose up to such practices but it makes my heart race! Because as many know, the hurdle with low input greenhouses is up front cost. Digging cost, lumber, perhaps, tin, and polysheets and water barriers, glass or plastic panels, irrigation. In todays economy those are no small price! Chads Midgley has constructed greenhouses almost entirely out of compost (straw and woodchips) and ripped greenhouse plastic to build these greenhouses. I have often wondered if compost alone could be the way to make a greenhouse however my consistent concern has been spontaneous combustion. As we all know if composting hay gets hot enough it can explode. This is why in the past when such ideas drifted into my head I discarded them. The threat of fire in either straw or woodchips seems substantial.





Somehow he has resolved that. Perhaps the environment is wet enough, or perhaps enough of it is not exposed to oxygen directly. I'm hoping anyone can assist me in finding additional resources on greenhouse construction like this. Diagrams, rules of thumb, anything at all.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:I grow strawberries as a perennial in full sun. It works really well, as long as I kept the grass weeded out. It only takes one year of not weeding out the grass for a patch to succumb. Annual weeds don't compete well with the strawberries.

I'd love to see pictures.

I'm fascinated with the prospect of growing lots of strawberries, in a way that myself and my family can have some, and even have enough to sell. Not something too large though. The large scale industrial strawberry farms replant the strawberries each year, am I correct? however strawberries are perrenial. Is there a permaculture solution to growing strawberries that enables them to live in  a little area and just produce as they will as time goes on? I'm not completely against using poly as a way to block weeds, but I feel like using straw and mulch would a  healthier solution to keeping weeds down. What options exist that could guarantee me strawberries next year? seeing as it is now winter. Any thoughts or ideas are welcome, or other growers and their methods, in books or videos! Thanks!

I'm looking for thoughts, ideas and options for a really old brick chimney. I want to use it,  It has basic masonry, all the way up. No liner, no pipe. As I see it right now if I want to use it, installing a multi-hundred dollar liner is the best option. However I do not know if I can install a liner like that right now. It would improve my quality of life this winter by leaps and bounds if I could use it safely, but the inability to clean it out properly really worries me. A long time ago there was a chimney fire in this old brick chimney, and the fire was quickly put out, however I really want to avoid something like that. One thought I had was to run a thin pipe up through it and force the smoke to only be able to go into that, but The chimney gets really tight, with a width of 6 or 5 inches, so it will be hard to get anything up there at all. Another thought I had is doing some sort of chemical reaction that could react with the creosote and melt it off, or burn it up in a non dangerous way.

Some pictures for reference are attached.

Any thoughts or ideas are welcome!

Michael Qulek wrote:David is very correct.  That is a scam product designed to separate you from your money.  It is a cheapo PWM controller marketed by a company called "MPPT Solar".

There are a couple of clues for you to look for in this ad.  Reading the questions and answers section, you see...

3. Q: My solar panel is 36V 200W, can I charge 12V battery?

A: To charge a 12V battery, the working voltage of the solar panel can be between 17V and 23V, and for a 24V battery, the working voltage of the solar panel can be between 36V and 46V.

The fact that the solar panel can only have a max voltage of 23V is a BIG clue that it is a fake.  Real MPPT controllers, start at 100V, and go up from there.  

Another clue is that shipping weight of 12oz.  A real MPPT controller has lots of heavy copper wire toroid-rings.   The MPPT acts as a transformer, taking high raw solar voltage, transforming it down to battery charging voltage, making extra charging amps out of the extra volts.  A real MPPT controller will have a shipping weight measured in pounds, not oz.

Please forget the 12V starter battery idea completely.  You will quickly destroy the batteries, waste the money you spent on them, and get disillusioned about solar.  Let me give you some suggestions for putting together a reliable system that won't fail you.

Start with golf-cart batteries.  They are designed to be deeply drained, have fairly high capacity, and can be found just about anywhere.  Typical GC batteries are 6V, so you need to buy two to make a 12V battery bank.  You wire the two batteries in series.  Wire the negative terminal of battery #1 to the positive terminal of battery #2 to make 12V.  An economical choice right now is the 210Ah GC from Costco, which is 110$ right now.  Get two of those.  A step up from those is Trojan's T-105 GC.  Those are 250Ah, but a bit pricier.

Next, the charge controller.  A good for the money entry-level controller is Epever's Tracer 4210AN.  It can be used for either a 12V or 24V system, has a 100V limit, and can charge the battery with up to 40A of current, if the power is available.  You can pick that up on Ebay or Amazon for ~125$.  You connect the positive terminal of battery #1 to the + battery terminal of the controller.  You connect the negative terminal of battery #2 to the - terminal of the controller.  Once you let the the controller boot up, it will display the battery voltage, which should be ~12.5V or so.

Now, the solar.  Skip the little 12V panels designed for the automotive market.  You get far higher W/$ going with high-voltage residential grid-tie panels.  Shop for those locally on Craigslist, with local cash and carry pickup.  That way you avoid the high shipping charges associated with mailing panels.  Expect to get 3-4W/$.  Two 240-250W grid-ties (~75-80$ each) wired in series would be good, or maybe a single 350-400W panel (~175-180$ each).  Connect the positive and negative leads from the panel(s), to the + and - terminals of the controller.  Do this ONLY after you have booted up the controller first on battery power.  NEVER connect the solar to the controller before connecting the battery.  Build a frame to hold the panels directly facing the sun at noon.  On an average day, the best you can expect to see in terms of real-world solar output is ~85%.

This will give you a system that can power just about any RV appliance you want to buy.  It's best to not drain flooded batteries less than 50%, so this system will give you about 1.2kWh of power per day.  12V lights, a 12V TV, a 12V laptop power supply.  

Buy a gallon of distilled water and check the electrolyte levels monthly.  Top them off as needed, maybe once every 2-3 months.

You may at some point want to buy an inverter that can convert battery DC into regular household AC.  Make sure you buy "sine-wave" if you run anything powering an electric motor, a refrigerator for example.  Keep in mind though that an inverter just being left on is load on the system, and may consume 250-750Wh per day, depending on the brand.

Good luck!

Thanks so much for your suggestions Michael! Thanks for tipping us off about this product, detailed knowledge and experience is exactly what I want. The first thing I did after reading your post was look into some cheap golf cart batteries around, you are right I found some on facebook marketplace that are significantly cheaper than brand new ones. But I would not call them cheap! Next I looked at the Epever's Tracer 4210AN Great product, And after more digging I found many reviews about different MPPT controllers, and some common complaints and desired features, the price range is whacky on these products! It reminds me of something an Amish woman told me about the most expensive watermelon.... People often choose it over the cheap ones, even though she just places one of the cheap ones on the expensive table after a customer leaves...
Here is a great video I found about MPPT controllers. Though the video is a bit old, many of the products still exist, with small variations in prices.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_cVEYxj3E

Now about the solar panels, I actually found some great solar panels that i managed to get for a whopping $35 a piece... They are 260wt panels. However they have cracked glass. I will get more info on them. Here is the specs on the back.

Made in China
Maximum Power (Pmax)  260W
Maximum Power Voltage (V mp) 30.6V
Maximum Power Current (Imp) 8.50A
Open Circuit Voltage (Voc) 38.2V
Short Circuit Current (Isc) 9.00A
Maximum System Voltage IEC1000V/UL1000V
Maximum Series Fuse 15A
Module Application Class A

To address your first comment to just forget about 12v car batteries. It is clear there will be some expenses, and make no mistake it is not simply that I am trying to find a way to cheap out (though thats the only practical way to live right now). It is also the simple fact that old car batteries are over-abundant sometimes laying in scrap, or along roadsides. Free and easily attainable. If there was a way to work them into a solar system, not only would that be very practical, but it would also be more sustainable in a bad societal situation. If your $900 deep cycle batteries go bad and are unable to be replaced, what then will you do? If I have a collection of old car batteries.. And I just happen to have that, I worry less about bad batteries at night. After your comments I dug deeper trying to find more information and I actually stumbled upon this quirky fellows youtube channel. Who did exactly what I was talking about. He has an array of old car batteries restored with distilled water and epsom salts, He has a few panels, and a charge controller. Definitely something that will interest a lot of folks in this thread. Here are three of their videos that I feel are very relevant to this topic, but there are a lot more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9q4noZo0BY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEESf-PoQu4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJdPTLZees0

Stephan Halasz wrote:I am about to renew my efforts on a project like this, and a quick search online revealed this MPPT controller at a modest price.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0894CTHCY/?tag=cleanenergysm-20&th=1
I assume it's ok to post Amazon links here, new to the forum.  
In my past, I experimented more with old laptop chargers, or wall warts to charge, with dry cell batteries and had modest results.

I have often read in the past that deep cycling auto batteries is really hard on their lifespan.  

I look forward to reading more replies on this thread, as the more I watch going on, the more likely I think an EMP is going to be a part of the next war waged on the US.  You know, like one floating over us at 60,000 ft in a Balloon, I mean UFO.  

Thanks for the link, I was looking at one yesterday that seemed very similar, but it has more negative reviews.
https://www.amazon.com/WERCHTAY-Controller-Tracking-Regulator-Multiple/dp/B09XF1S3W1/ref=sr_1_4?crid=NJSBFYFC5ZS1&keywords=mppt%2Bcharge%2Bcontroller&qid=1676880127&sprefix=mppt%2Bcharge%2Bcontroller%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-4&th=1

amazon review wrote:
Largest issue: in my specific setup (4*100w 12V panels) this solar charge controller will not consistently provide power to the battery. While the controller does appear to be able to handle the current (most I saw as just above 10 amps) it is unable to sustain this current. It will intermittently stop providing power to the battery for no apparent reason. I even confirmed that there was power by using a Multi-Meter. (22~23Voc and 10 amps)

I did not notice this intermittent charging issue until I installed my latest 2 solar panels ( I noticed I was barely charging the battery (maybe 120wh on a sunny day out of 2 100W 12V panel), but I initially contributed this to the fact that it was winter.

Lessons Learned: do not cheap out on your solar charger.

So depending on the type of panel you have... but I always try to look at the review, your link however does not have many bad reviews, though they look so similar! Smiling battery and everything...

I certainly appreciate your comments too about the state of the world, I am very much suspecting a complete down of many systems we take for granted. A powerful enough EMP blast could also fry all the circuits inside a charge controller, so depending on such systems is still only a crutch if things get really bad out there. But I'll take all the crutches I can get! And though car batteries are not deep cycle, they can be obtained for free if you find the right places. That means that they can be replaced easily enough too. The same cannot be said for other batteries. So basically you could have a large bank of "starter batteries" that you get for FREE (that's a pretty daggone good deal) with a small controller (a cheap microprocessor) that controls charging and discharging so as to keep them at optimal levels. The simple fact is lighting options are extremely limited without electricity. thats what made electricity a thing back in the day... Almost everything else has a work around, if you read about paul wheaton's underground freezers even refrigeration is possible... But lanterns just don't cut it for doing anything in the dark...

Angyl Eternity wrote:Yeah I've been mining ⛏️ Crypto for over a year on solar and was wondering if anyone was doin that and wanted to chat about it!

Carlos Lam wrote:Yep!  Rigs aren't 100% solar powered but get a good chunk from PV panels.  The rigs are in a grow tent to concentrate the heat (1).  The heat produced from the rigs is siphoned into a 2d grow tent (2) where I've stacked some wood (3) for my wood stove (the temp is over 100F and humidity under 10%).  Finally, the heat is pumped to the return duct (4).  

Absolutely awesome set ups! Truly amazing, how much are you able to mine a day on solar? How much electricity do you use? Give more info, this is awesome!

John C Daley wrote:The car batteries cant have deep discharges.
But if you play with number of batteries, total cost of those batteries you may be able to get something working.
I have used car batteries when I had no money spare.

Thanks for saying something, its good to know that it is possible. Tell me some about your set-up back when you used car batteries, what kind of panels did you use, and how many? What kind of charge controller did you use? Did you use AC or DC? I'm sure if you had no money to spare, you cut corners when you could. Thats how I am doing things right now, with rising prices dramatically climbing, the cheapest charge controller's online are 2/3 more expensive than they were in 2019. And I'm not needing a huge battery bank for everything right now, just some lightbulbs would make the difference between night and day. Thanks!

I have been doing research on solar panels and I even bought some panels of my own. I have been considering using a large array of used car batteries and perhaps replacing some of the liquid inside of the batteries, as I have found these videos online about DIY old car battery repair



Though many say car batteries cannot work with solar, I have also read experiences of people using them and only allowing the batteries to drop 10%, and to do so using a charge controller. I'm curious if anyone has thoughts about such a system, or knowledge on what charge controller/ components could help build this system.  I have read one of the best options to go would be a MPPT charge controller using an Arduino-based system. However I do not have a lot of experience with programming an Arduino, so I am looking at other options, however charge controllers are all over the place in types (and price). Please share your thoughts and experience. Thanks!