Wind Turbine = Electric Motor?

I recently acquired an old wind generator from my Dad. He had some high winds come through and beat the blades right off. They don't make replacement blades anymore, so he let me have it. It also has some sort of controller which I hope can be adapted to a motor controller (hook up the generator on the receiving end instead of the generating end). I will post pictures once I get a chance to go through the documentation.

Bucket Garden Update

I planted some radishes on the back half of the top of the bucket (I'm told they grow really fast). So far I have Lettuce, Swiss Chard, and one Radish that have sprouted. I added a plastic grocery sack over the bucket and the seed pods, I think this helped to maintain temperature over night (since the bucket is next to a window). As a result the seeds are doing better. I spray the pods and the top of the bucket each day with a water bottle to keep them moist but not soaked.

I recently purchased "All New Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew and have started reading it. I found out I planted the seeds too close together on the top of the bucket, so I will have to transfer some of the plants to the side pockets of the bucket as they get larger.

I highly recommend this book. Mel was an engineer by trade and failed miserably with his first garden, so he decided to use his engineering skills to simplify gardening and make it more efficient. Chapter 1 goes over all the wasted materials and space that most "single row" gardens have and how he figured out how to cut them out of squarefoot gardening to make it simple and streamlined.

I will probably build two of these squarefoot garden boxes in my back yard this year after the snow melts. I am also considering a green house for growing lettuce and spinach next winter.

Bucket Garden

Here is an experiment I am trying. I found several videos on-line about these bucket/barrel gardens. The concept is to maximize your growing area by going vertical.  A 5 Gallon bucket is the equivalent of 25 "row feet" of garden space (or 25 plants). A 55 gallon drum is the equivalent of 100 "row feet" of garden space. Because it is vertical it takes up less space, but your yields are the same.

This one gallon bucket let me add one row of pockets around the side using a hairdryer and some wood shims. I planted carrots on the front half of the top, and I am estimating I can get three more plants on the top with another 7 in the pockets around the site. So roughly 10 "row feet" of space. I started some tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, and Swiss chard in the pods. I will transfer them to the bucket after they sprout.

Solar lights from a bottle.

Here is a nifty way to reuse bottles to make lightbulbs. They are using this in electrically strained areas around the world.

Lawnmower links and timeline

Lawnmower Conversion Links:
http://www.arttec.net/Solar_Mower/index.html
(the site that motivated me)

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Vehicles/LeeMower.htm

My Timeline:
2008- Gas lawnmower dies. Purchase adapter and blade, put new cord on electric motor, pull engine from the mowing deck, and mount electric motor to mower deck.

2008-2010- Graduate from college, change jobs twice, and move three times.

May 2011- Find bushing to fit blade adapter to drive shaft, put tin on underside of masonite, mount blade to drive shaft and blow several breakers on test run.

Electric Lawnmower Update

I have had some trouble with the electric lawnmower throwing breakers. I set it on the bare concrete the other day and plugged it in to see how long it would go before it threw the breaker. The answer is exactly 76 seconds. I assume there is something going on internally that is causing extra friction, and therefore too much Amp pull. I will need to take the motor apart and see what is going on. Because of this issue I have been using my old people powered Reel mower all summer, hopefully I can get the electric mower up and running reliably for next year. The one time I successfully used it, it worked like a champ. The grass looked like it had been mowed by a grass powered mower. Those who have used both rotary and reel mowers know the quality cut difference. For those who don't, it takes roughly 3-4 passes on a reel mower to get the same quality as one pass on a rotary mower.

Homemade Air Conditioner

The air conditioner in our van went out, and it would cost more to repair than the van is worth. We are headed to Washington state next weekend, so I went and found plans for an alternative air conditioner. This set up cost me $30 because I already had the fan, ice chest, and inverter.

I am including this on the blog because this type of A/C can be used in electric cars.

I hope to test this out before we take the actual trip, and I will let you know how well it works. Reports on-line for this type of A/C is up to 20 degrees F cooler.

Parts:
(Prices are rounded off to the dollar)

Ice Chest (Already owned)
Car Fan (Already owned)- $10
400w Inverter (Already owned)- $35
Fountain water pump- $15
10 feet Vinyl tubing 1/4in ID 3/8in OD- $4
10 feet copper tubing 1/4in OD- $8
2 hose clamps (1/4 in)- 85 cents each.


Method:
Put 2 gallons of water in the ice chest with lots of ice. The pump circulates the ice water through the copper tube which the fan blows past, there by circulating the cool air through the vehicle. This may also be used to cool a small to medium sized room in a house.

Edit:
This worked well for the kids in the back seat, but up front we were still quite warm. I would recommend a bigger fountain pump than what I used. It had trouble keeping a steady flow of water through the copper tube because it was topping out the height the pump was designed for, a larger pump would not have had this problem.