The Sun

Surely, I can affordably rig up some solar input to safely charge a marine deep-cycle 12V battery or two...?  Y'all have ideers? Maybe I'll ask at Habitat for Humanity.

The present setup will yield about 24 hours of APAP*-only juice, so that'd be three normal days. But having the phone charger connected to the inverter one night made me 2.5 hrs. short of Night #3, so I just bring it back to town every other day, basically.

However, inverting the 12VDC to 120VAC uses up more than half the ampere-hours that the battery has to offer. If I had a box that would step down 24VDC (two batteries in series) to 5VDC, and also have a direct 24VDC tap to power the APAP (that's what it takes), then I'd get about five days, I estimate.

With a solar charger of sufficient size, I'm guessing I could keep the APA and phone going indefinitely, with no need for the grid for that stuff.

However, I'm doing very well on the new machine. Here's some of the patient-friendly data:

BigBuck suggested some parts at Amazon for me to rig such a setup together.


*APAP = Automatic Positive Air Pressure; a Continuous PAP device that auto-sets its pressure within a prescribed range. It's a tiny fan with a sealed blower connected to a CPU.
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Used Cat Tent For Sale

$11,895, or best offer.
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DIY Kitteh Tent!

UPDATE: Better photo, all pinned an' all. NOTE strategic paw-hole.

Stranger has been in it, and approves.

Okay, so I haven't stretched and pinned, yet, but I will!

Make one yersef!
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Day/Dusk

Curly stayed close by, unsupervised... for the most part. He got under the house.

The spice must... go, in cheap plastic trays from Dollar Tree!

Who would ride one of those?

I would!  I would!

"Does it say 'dead beer storage' outside my house, Jules?  Does  it?  Just tell me!"

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Little Projects To Keep Me Off The Streets

 The mad laboratory for SCIENCE!  She blinded me with SCIENCE!

Sharpie on the peel-able translucent coating, to center up Solar LED Unit #1 on the 8"x10" Lexan panel, and using something that smells (and acts!) just like Tester's model airplane glue to make the bond. Damn, I'm age 12, again!

What the Finished Project looked like last night around 10:00. Only six of the eleven units are charged enough to be lit, now, but that's okay!

In charging mode, this afternoon, in the bathroom window, which faces west. Charge!

Shedding MAJOR photons, tonight!

"Closet" (such as it is in the farmhaus) re-org. L to R: proper hanging rod, $8 (DollarGen), hangars (6/$1, Dollar Tree), shirts (mostly Goodwill t-shirts, @ $3/ea), hanging closet organizer, $4.95 (Aldi), belt, $8 (DollarGen), Chino by Air-Tex canvas bag I use to haul laundry around, used as hamper in its present configuration, $0 (gift from a generous Atriot!).

Tuesday & Wednesday were good, productive days. It takes so little to make me happy.  :)
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Monday Is Also A Day

I wouldn't mind winning the Cold Beer Lottery. Any lottery jackpot, for that matter.

Laundry started, dinner was next. Dominos had a $7.99 pick-up special -- large 3-topping. Mine were onions, roasted red peppers and mushrooms. Half a large 'za, 800 calories. Hey, I had peas and corn for lunch!

Holla for the Dollar Tree. Getting some kitchen diddleys and stuff for the solar bathroom.

Wanda's all loaded up. Let's go home.

A rare sight in my presence: a paid-for sixer of Sweetwater 420, in toto.

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Dollar Store Dementia

See this?  Yes, of course you do. It's a solar-powered 3-LED lamp I got at Dollar Tree. For... $1. Plus tax. So here, $1.10. Cheap, Chinese crap, right?

Well, sure -- what isn't, these days?  Amazingly, they actually work!  For now. At $1/ea., I splurged, and bought six.

At 5 a.m., they were still providing enough light in the bathroom to at least conduct a necessary transaction in there, if need be. And they were on from ~8:30, last night?  Yeah -- they automagically come on at dark if you leave the switch on (and shut off when there's enough light to charge by), which is a lot to ask from something that cost a buck, I think.

But I want MOAR.

Six more ought to do for the bathroom. I'm going to affix them to a strip of clear acrylic plastic, and put a nylon rope handle on each end, so that I can hang it/them in a window, and then elsewhere where a little illumination could be handy at night.
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