A few experiments in alternative energy

Alternative energy is something that is always on my mind. I of course want/need to find ways to do this on the cheap. If you are a regular reader of this blog you know I always try to find the cheapest and most efficient solution to any problem I have. I have been reading a lot of the posts over at Dragon's blog. He has a really nice set up that he has put together on a small budget. He has also coined a new phrase "The Re-Volt". Dragon's system is mostly a 12vdc system. By using 12vdc devices you avoid loosing energy through the use of an inverter. There are many things you can purchase that use 12vdc. 12vdc electric blanket is one that I thought was great! Check Dragon's post and links for more very informative 12vdc systems.

I have a few things that can be used to generate some alternative energy too. One being a small solar panel that I took off of my solar electric fence charger. Here it is while in the sun and hooked up to my new meter. In the sun producing 11.71 amps.

OK, so how can I use this? I just happen to have a lawn mower battery that has a very low charge. Here you can see it's reading 5.52 vdc rather than the 12vdc a fully charged battery should read.

I hooked the solar panel to the battery. Placing the meter between the positive leads.




A reading of 4.50 amps are entering the battery through the solar panel.



This reading is made with the solar panel attached and not much sun at this time. You can see that the power from the battery and the solar panel combined are now 10.13 volts. After charging for a few hours I will take another reading to see what the battery alone reads. Update!! 1 1/2 hours later--no sun, nearly total cloud cover and the battery now reads 7.59 volts. The small solar panel is charging the battery. I have not charge controler so I will have to keep close check on it. That is good news for sure.

Another project that may be of use is the cordless drill motor/generator. This is just a motor taken from a cordless drill. I had a blower wheel that I think I got from an old air conditioner. Attached the blower wheel to the motor shaft with a wooden dowel rod. Not the best set up but it was what I had at the time, so... I then took the rig over the the overflow from my pond. This overflow runs year round. By placing the wheel, which is now the turbine, so that the water passes over the turbine thus turning it, I can produce a small amount of dc power. A very small amount is all I was able to get from this. 0.15 amps. I will be doing a lot more work on this set up. I know that Dragon uses this as a wind turbine and gets good results from it but I don't get much wind. The overflow runs year round though and may be the best for me.

If it can go wrong, it will !!

Well it's been one thing after another today here on the Johnson Family Farm. I had hoped to start work on the milking stand today but the rain kept me from that one. Ok, I'll go down to the clubhouse to work on some renewable energy projects that I have had in mind for some time now. Walked in the door to find that the chimney was leaking like crazy, water all over the floor and all. Ok, I'll work on that and get it fixed. After climbing the ladder in the pouring rain I finally got the pipe sealed off pretty good. Or so I thought. Went back inside and got a fire started in the wood stove. After a few minutes I began to hear drip, drip, drip. Once the stove pipe had heated up it must have melted the sealer a little and began to let more water in. At this point I'm out of sealer. I put a pot near the stove to catch the water and let the fire die down some. Nothing else I can do at this point, I'm not going back to town to get more sealer today. I had to leave the farm 3 days in a row and that's about it for me for a while. I'm a home body to the 10th power.

I did check to see what I had available to me for my off grid projects and was pleased with what I had. 2 cordless drill motors that will work as 12 volt DC generators. 1 24 volt permanent magnet motor from an old electric scooter that will act as a DC generator also. 1 small solar panel that I took of off a solar fence charger that works as well. I hooked up the new volt meter to each of the cordless drill motors and gave each a spin. Each showed voltage while being spun. Same with the Scooter motor. Hooked the leads to the solar panel and even with it raining like crazy outside and me being inside with just the light from the door window the meter read 8.2 volts. I have some goodies to play with for sure. Now just decide how to turn the motors, wind turbine or hydro (homade of course). I do have 2 12 volt rechargeable batteries from the scooter that are in working order. I gave them a full charge here in the house with the adapter that came with them. Rather than use an inverter to change this 12 dc power to 120 ac power, I want to have a complete 12 volt dc system. You can get some nice lights that run off of 12 dc and many other useful things too. Still looking into all that. At least I got some idea of what I have and what can be done with it. The first thing that has went right today, I'm feeling better now.

I made a big pot of chicken vegetable soup on Monday. Today we had left overs and that was about all the soup that we wanted for a while. I have been having canning withdraws for weeks now so I thought I would can what we had left. Got my jars out and cleaned and put them in the oven at 220 degrees to keep them good and hot. Got my caner out and noticed that the dial gauge was reading 11lbs. Wait, that's not right, it should be on zero. I gave it a shake or two, smacked it against my hand a few times and then it was back to zero. I'll still keep a watchful eye on the caner just to make sure. After I put the hot soup in the hot jars and place the lids on I put the jars in the caner. Let it steam for 10 minutes and then put the weight on. Everything seems to be ok. After about 5 minutes the dial was on 5 lbs. mmmmmm. Should be a little more than that by now I though, I'll keep watching. After 2 or 3 minutes more the weight began to rock, this is one of the many safety features on this caner. The thing is that is doesn't begin to rock until the caner is up to 15 lbs. and my gauge is reading about 6lbs at this time. Oh well, turn the burner off and set the caner to the side to cool. Once the jars cool I'll put them in the fridge where they will keep for a week or 2 no problem. I have read somewhere that the County Extension office will check your caner gauge and recalibrate it if need be. I'll have to look into that and see.

Well, if it could go wrong today, it did. But on the bright side, I'm warm, I'm dry and my belly is full. I'll make it 'til bedtime. Tomorrows another day, a better one I hope.

Rain Rain Rain

Nothing but rain here today so no work on the milking stand I guess. I'm gonna head down to the clubhouse and work on some renewable power projects. Dragon has a great post about his set and you should read it if you are interested in getting off grid on the cheap. Tell him the Scavenger set ya his way, he'll be glad to hear from ya. Then jump over and see Wretha's post on her solar set up too. Both are very good read and easy to understand information.

Goat Kids and Preps

Had to go to town today (Grrrrr) so I thought since I was there anyway I might as well pick up some goodies. Found this great first aid kit made by Johnson&Johnson. This thing is loaded with all kinds of stuff. 200 pieces and coverage for Skin: Wound Treatment and Protection, itch relief,burns,poison ivy toxin removal, splinter removal. Muscle: aches and pains,swelling,finger sprains,muscle pain. Body: diarrhea,body heat retention,colds and allergies. Equipment and instructions: emergency light, first aid instruction,temperature measurement. All in this neat plastic container that is marked as first aid. We needed to add some stuff to our first aid and this thing just has so many different things that I thought it would be a great addition. I would also recommend this to any one as a very good starter first aid kit. Walmart-$20.00 I also picked up 2 more 1lb (well 1.02 lbs) propane fuel bottles. I try to pick up a few of these each month. Walmart-$5.36 for a 2 pack.

Well I might as well pick up some more CFL's while I'm there too. These things can really save you some $$$. You get the same amount of light as a 60 watt bulb for only 13 watts. If you change all the bulbs in your house to these CFL's you will see a difference in your energy usage. Walmart-$6.97 for a 3 pack, they cost a little more but are well worth the savings.



Then on to Lowes. My meter has been on the injured list for a while now. It's an old one that my Dad gave me years ago. And I mean like 30 years or so ago. I have to have one for my alternative energy projects, so I'm already here, and it's cheaper to get it now rather than come back to town later to buy one. This one should fit my needs just fine. Lowes-$21.95. The funny thing is I just went to Walmart to pick up a prescription and Lowes to get 3 2x6's. Hey, it's stuff that we need and can use so I can justify the cost.

The new goat kids are really doing well. They are running and jumping around the lot and having a ball. They seem to be really healthy. The doe we have named Eve, they were born on New Years Eve and it just seemed right. She has a white spot on the top of her head. The buck kid will be Scout.

This is Scout wondering what those things are with the feathers.


Gotta grab a little warm milk before he goes out to scout the area again.Lou Lou looks like she may be getting close to having kids of her own soon. Only time will tell, I'm not even gonna try to guess again. lol

Pictures of a Homestead House Wanna-be

Here are a few pics from inside the house, Liv does such a good job making it look all pretty and all, I thought I would share some photos

Just to let you know you are in the laundry room.

Cabinets in the laundry room. One of my favorite things is this wooden pop crate turned counter shelf.

An old ladder we found somewhere and Liv decorated.

This is an old wooden highchair that was used by my only sister, she was born in '72, so it's been around a while.

An old dresser base someone gave me long ago now acts as storage/shelf and hids Liv's computer desk.

Everyone has a fall decoration tree don't they?? LOL

Off-Grid sewing machine from the early 1900's, still works like a charm.

An odd chair with some old suite cases and a picture of Savannah.

1925 RCA Victor Victrola, in perfect working condition, that we use to play old Christmas records around Christmas. The shelf on the wall is whats left of a very old wooden chair, we cut the legs off and shortend the seat area and hung it on the wall, everyone loves it that sees is. Also and old tube type radio sets on the record player. I guess you could say it's an old time version of an entertainment center. haha!!

Every homestead must have a good heat source, and a good place to sit an smoke when it's too cold to go out on the deck.

My Command Post !!

Ok, here is the real Command Post, Liv's chair with an old ironing board/step stool/chair for a table.

Cedar chest that I picked up for $5.00 at a yard sale acts as our coffee table.

And ofcourse every homestead has a 42 inch plasma, the girls told me they did.

Arm Yourself with Information

As we all are thinking about prepping for when the poop hits the fan, consider information as a #1 priority. Now we can search the net for all the good stuff that we like to learn about and read to our hearts content, but what about when the grid is down. When TSHF big time like, the grid will most likely be down too, leaving us all of a sudden unarmed with that infomation that was so readily available before. I suggest doing what I have been doing for a while now, if you like it and learn from it, PRINT IT. That's right, just click print, then store your hard copy in your organized notebook that you have just for this information. Sort by subject matter and now you can arm yourself on or offgrid with survival information. I hate to think that I had forgoten a firestarting trick or a water purification step in all the maddness that is to come. Think of new topics that interest you that you want to learn about and click and print. Make this notebook as large or small as you wish, the information you may need will vary with individuals and with their situations I'm sure, but you get the picture.

Putting up corn and other happenings

Finally getting around to posting after a crazy week. This is my MIL cutting some corn off the cob to be canned. We didn't get near as much as we had hoped, the silk worms and birds seem to have beat us to most of it. Second crop is a week or so away from coming in so hope we can get more.Just some of the mess that is involved with canning. We also boiled the corn cobs to make corn cob stock to be used in soups and such.After a few hours work this was the result. The jar to the far right is the cob stock.
We also pickled a few quarts the next night. Jackie said she would like to have the recipe to pickle so here is the one we used.

PICKLED CORN

Use 1 cup pickling salt to 1 gallon cold water. Boil fresh corn for 10 minutes. Cool. Let stand in cold water until ready to cut from cob. Cut and fill jars 1/2 inch of the top. Pour brine over and seal

Here are a few pantry shots.

Ventured out to the flea market again this weekend, I gotta stay away from that place. haha!

Picked up this american camper 2 burner propane stove in great condition for, belive it or not, $1.00

Perculator in good shape. $5.00, even when the SHTF a guys still gotta have his (Off-Grid)coffee. lolI could harly belive that I found this hand crank ( Off-Grid ) ice-cream maker for $4.00. I need to clean it up but it is working order and ready to go. My oldest daughter and her new husband are coming to stay with us this week and all my girls are gonna make home made ice cream. This is a Remington Cedar Works brand, Dixie Belle 5 qt maker and I even found the instruction manual online.