Northern Michigan Solar Powered CabinAlternative Energy Living at the 45th parallel
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First of all, welcome to our site! We've been around for several years and conduct all kinds of half baked DIY projects on our show, This Old Shack. Be sure to check out all of our half witted articles and pages. If you have questions, just Email us and we will do our best to confuse you beyond all belief.NAVIGATION Email or Contact us here
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We're going to build our own solar panels!Read the diary entry here. |
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Disaster planning should be part of every single household across America, strike that, the world. When disaster strikes, people die or lives are c80%hanged. In times of plenty, forego the Playstations and buy extra food. You can explain a lack of toys better than a lack of food to your children.
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In
1980 our military switched its entire food ration program over to the full
moisture MRE pouch system. These are the meals we tested on "This Old
Shack". |
Quite possibly the best preparedness site in the world.
There were several reasons for the switch:
Sprinkle of rain = power failure.
Giving a little back by not using so much.
Independent living.
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National Weather Service Article
Diary 3-20-07
Latest Diary entry:3-20-07 I started to do the first episode of "This Old Shack" but after stammering into the camera for a half hour I decided to wait for a more opportune time. If you remember from my last entry, I've labeled all the batteries and split them into two planned banks, Large and Small. The large one for inverter use, the small one for 12 volt power use.
After the first two tests where I place a constant 6 amp load on each battery individually, I discovered that the charge time for each one (S1, S2, S3) varied. By a lot. How I did this was by charging each unit from a 70% charge to full charge (according to the Schumacher Smartcharger) at a 2 amp rate (Note: yes, this isn't a real world example. While at the cabin, I charge at 30 amps) in order to bring the batteries up to full charge with as little stress as possible. What I noticed is that battery S2 got to 90% and stayed there. A loooong time. At a charge rate of 8 amps, it came right up to a normal charge. What I've done is equalize the battery with my manual charger and will test it again tonight. The other two small bank batteries are performing nominally (note to self: gotta start using more NASA like terms - call it NITWIT: Nasa Infusion of Terms With Interesting Testing) and don't look like they're a problem, even the one that did in fact give me problems when it was new.
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How I testThere are several people on various newsgroups and discussion areas that waylay in uninformed or those just starting out in the off grid world of self power generation. This involves an almost religious belief in a phantom 6v golf cart true deep cycle battery that is superior in every way to any other battery in existence.
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