Epic solar boat adventurer Stress testing my old battery

Ive had this big old deep cycle battery for years, and I dont know enough about it so I thought Id learn some stuff.

Its a conventional, unsealed, 100ah lead acid, deep cycle thing.

At least I think its 100ah. Thats the kind of thing youd think someone would emboss onto the side rather than adding it as a stamp. That and the voltage.

At least they went to the trouble of embossing the + and - marks.

So with this kind of battery, it seems they dont mind being run down as much as, say... a car battery might. Car batteries hate it when they are run down, and it shortens their lives in a big way.

A deep cycle battery (also called a flooded battery apparently) is a bit more forgiving, but they still see damage with every bit of use. The lower you allow the voltage to get before recharging, the less charge cycles you get from them before they need replacing. 

As I understand it, 11.8v is considered "empty", but thats at rest 6 hours after you stop using it.

I need to know what "empty" is when Im cruising along drawing 20 amps or 35 amps (that being the amount of juice the motor pulls from the battery at speeds 4 and 5 of 5.

So my education for today turned into more questions than answers. It looks like its business as usual.



120 Things in 20 years thinks the Internet might not know something I need to know.

Read More..

Testing Garden Assumptions

I dont believe everything I read or hear and tend to experiment with a lot of ideas.  This guy likes to do the same, but I have to say he is doing a much better job of testing garden assumptions.  If you have ever wondered about the efficacy of things like coffee grounds, Epsom salts, or rock dust, heres the place to see for yourself what you might expect.

Read More..

Making and Installing Ollas in the Garden an Ancient Watering System

Saving water with ollas is a great idea.  This series of videos from High Desert Garden shows how to do it easily and inexpensively.     High Desert Garden also created a video showing how to make your own ollas from clay, but using terracotta pots is less expensive, faster and easier.

Ollas will buffer the water needs of a garden, but realistically they are not large enough to get you through the day, so High Desert Garden uses an ingenious method of feeding the closed ollas from a larger reservoir.

Read More..

Testing the Bell Siphon

In this picture you see the 800 gallon fish tank on the left.  The grow bed on the right and the sump tank below.  These tanks are built with 2x4 walls filled with fiberglass insulation.  The bottom and walls are also lined with sheets of 1-1/2" rigid insulation..  I added this more for puncture protection, but the extra insulation should also help keep the system at a constant temperature.

Here Im  testing the bell siphon and its water tight connection. At first the length of the drain pipe needed to be adjusted so that the siphon would break, but its working now.  I used a 1" bulkhead and 1" standpipe with a 2" bell.  The bell has 3 - 3/8" legs cut at the bottom.

Sealing the bulkhead to the EPDM has been a challenge. Im a little anxious about that, so just to be safe I have decided to drain the grow bed, and cover the connection with silicon before adding the gravel today. I finally had to cut a larger hole in the plywood and set a 3/8" x 6" x 6" piece of plexiglass over the hole.
I decided to use 45 mil EPDM in the grow bed because of my concern for the sharp edges of crushed gravel, but the problem I keep encountering is the 45 mill Firestone EPDM is so soft, and stretchy that it can easily be pulled out of the seal.

I used 10 mil Pond Skin in the other tanks.  This was purchased at Home Depot and is not Firestone.  This 10 mil Pond Skin does not have the same soft and stretchy character.  I have yet to install the overflow from the fish tank, but my preliminary tests lead me to believe I will not encounter these problems with the 10 mil.

If I continue to have problems with the 45 mil EPDM I will glue a patch of 10 mil to the 45 mil or if the test Im performing now proves workable, I may silicon the plexiglass to the EPDM and make my bulkhead seal directly to the plexiglass.

Read More..

Water Rules for Chico CA

Lawn watering restricted to three days a week.
Odd numbered addresses: Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.
Even numbered addresses, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
No lawn watering on Monday
• No watering from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., except by drip irrigation, microsprayers or by hand.
• New homes need to have drip irrigation for landscaping.
•Water should not flow to non-irrigated surfaces, like sidewalks or into the gutter.
• When watering, water should not run off the landscaping.
• When washing cars, the hose needs to have a shut-off nozzle.
• Water features such as fountains need to recirculate.
• No watering outdoors within 48 hours of a measurable amount of rain.
• No watering or refilling ornamental lakes or ponds except to sustain existing aquatic life.

For the past few years I have been actively experimenting with many water conservative method of gardening.  I have built experimental gardens which I enjoy sharing with others. 

If you are interested seeing a variety of water saving ideas, and wish to visit my gardens send me a message on Facebook - bob.campbell.chico

Some of my gardens can be scaled up to commercial size while others are appropriate for apartment balconies.

Read More..