Monday, October 19, 2009

rain prep...

Just in case....although it looks like Hurricane Rick won't directly effect the Field Lab - for some reason we have a 50% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow night. 50/50 is good enough for me so I got work on the "B" list of chores. Removed the remains of my wind turbines off their mounts, secured my 2nd solar panel to cinder blocks, and shifted my hut panels back into winter mode. The hut panels do just fine hugged up to the house this time of year. My wooden roll out solar mount took quite a beating from the elements over the summer, so when its time to shift them back to mobile mode in 4 months - I'll weld up a steel rack for them. Two more Field Lab visits coming up tomorrow then back to work on the greenhouse. 76,94,53,0

11 comments:

Jesse Hires said...

So no more wind turbines?

Barney, The Old Fat Man said...

In my RV travels, I run across folks on occasion who tried wind generators. Seems they mostly gave up trying them for one reason or another, usually repeated breakage of some sort. Solar panels seem to last forever.

jandean said...

Maybe you DO need a docent. But you show it all off with such charm.
Uh, er, um, I thought the weather station was fixed...

mike said...

dat cow in the background is hungry

jandean said...

Thanks... from all the meteorologically curious

Anonymous said...

I know some who run wind,I even ran it once. but you have to have a good turbin. The cheep blades dont last. And you need one that charges at 5 mph and doesnt stop charging at 35 mph.

John Wells said...

The wind farm will return, but there is much more sun here than wind on a consistant basis...and OGT - please tell us all what model wind turbine starts charging at 5mph.

Adrian said...

John, check out this address
www.earthtronics.com/honeywell.aspx
I saw this wind turbine in a magazine the other day. WT6500 wind turbine.

rj said...

Saw the Honeywell "turbine" in Fredericksburg a few weeks ago. It's new, not quite available yet and was generating power in their booth (but not much at 5 mph). It's relatively cheap (around $5k with electronics) but it looks like a bike wheel with actual spokes. Still the big question is how will it hold up to heavy storms and winds.

Anonymous said...

It starts charging but not at full capacity at 5 mph, you can check it out on www.mikeswindmillshop.com

The one with the aluminum blades is the one I had. ITs $450 bucks on sale.

Rick Hosmer said...

Does that last photo show 15 Harbor Freight 15W panels? I have never seen so many installed at one time.

I am just starting my solar electric education by purchasing a set of three Harbor Freight panels.

How do they work for you?