Powers

[degringolade]

 

Pictured above is another step toward my life in twenty-five-some-odd months.  May not seem like much, but you have to start somewhere.  

The evil empire sent me a notice that one of the item I was interested in was on a never-to-be-repeated sale, so I acquiesced and forked out forty bucks for a ready to go solar panel with a spiffy design that seems like a dandy test bed.  Folds up nice, it is lightweight, and you can plop it down wherever there is a patch of sunlight and draw from the inexhaustible bounty of the sun.

Now that the sales pitch is over, I will but down my thoughts and spend the next week or so explaining how this thing, my current musings about the nature of magic and polytheism, and the inevitable decline of the west all tie together.

So the thing is pretty low-power.  2.4 amps isn't a whole bunch of power.  Best thing that the thing an pull is 3 amp total.  

So, when I think about this kind of thing as a working proof of concept, it makes a lot of sense.  I am not going to cook a meal with this thing.  This is for the odd things that make life easier.  Cell phone for communication, LED lighting for remote use.  Ebook for reading.  Music player for tuneage.  Right now these are the ancillary uses that I have for low-power systems.  Once I can provide for these, then I can stary expanding out into other possible uses and then maybe break some coin for a bigger solar cell.

Overall, gotta think about energy use for the future life of hermitage.    Overall, I am thinking that my energy needs are pretty spare.  Once the Rona starts ramping down, I can cut energy use significantly by dropping the use of Bessie.  What I am thinking for retirement is a RadBurro or similar electric tricycle and the solar system to have it available for once a week.  Heating and cooking is next. 

Comments

[nodrog]

Gravity power. Look into it.  There's a company that makes a generator / LED combo (think smartphone flashlight) where you put heavy anything into a bucket near the ceiling, and it whirrs slowly downward, takes three hours or so, powering that phone flashlight all the while. Heavier the anything, brighter the light.

Beats being in country dark.

Update to add: It would work the same on the Moon or Mars, with larger weights.

Interesting to imagine:  You start the night in the top of a high bunk bed and waken near the floor, with all your phone and flashlight batteries charged!

a favorite tune

[chefxh]

Back in Tucson in the early 90s, there was a scratchy AM radio station that really GOT me. Back when "alternative" was construed much more narrowly than it is now. Then it got sold to go to an "all sports all the time" format and they played that REM tune on a loop for their last 24 hours.

Cf. my journal tag "iteotwawki".