Saturday, January 5, 2019

Going Offgrid - in the most minimum way possible? From Vintage Auger hand drill to 500 watt solar generator

yeah I just bought a $1 hand drill - one of those heavy duty farm hand drills. The design is from the 1400s or something. Wow I better try to find the "brand" of my drill - these things start at $30 on ebay and go up to $250 dollars as "vintage" or "antiques."




But since I plan on making 1400 drill holes for mushroom spawn - off grid - I also got a cordless drill. Then I figured I want off grid power to recharge the battery. So I got a free treadmill to get the DC motor to hook up to a bicycle. But then I needed a charge controller for the DC Motor - so I just got a solar 100 watt package that includes the controller plus the wiring I need. So then I realized I need a battery - since I can't direct charge the cordless drill batteries. But the drill charger is AC so I also need an inverter.

Gotta review how to use all this wiring - but the product is being driven out of California still

So then I just got a lithium batter-generator solar powered - that I can then direct charge from the bicycle. It has a charge controller inside it so balance the cells charging in the battery. But I also use the charge controller from the bicycle DC generator. But to disassemble the treadmill - I needed a lot of special tools and so I spent $100 on tools while the DC Motor would be $150 on ebay. But I can use the tools to build the bicycle stand that I need - but I did buy those BMX "bike pegs" to hold the back wheel in the stand. Hope they fit. Wow - that was a "lot of electronics" - to just wanna drill some mushroom holes.


So that's the one side of the generator... but this photo is encrypted - so probably won't show.



Another encrypted photo. Dang!



Finally an unencrypted image - the top down view. So you get an emergency car starter.

But I figure now with this 500 watt battery generator - with solar panels and bicycle charger - then I can listen to a radio for any news or meditation music while offgrid. Plus charge the emergency flip phone for my nightly calls back to civilization. haha. And plus power maybe a DC cooler for when I harvest the shrooms and power the mini crock pot cooker to melt the wax when I cover the mushroom spawn holes. Also it includes emergency battery power jump starter cables. So yeah when I get this set up - then I could just ride the bicycle while powering say watching a movie. But since it's a lithium battery - then if I recharge it full once every 3 days then the battery will last only 4 years. So basically it's a minimum energy system - although the solar panels have a direct phone charger and DC power supply hookups I guess. I have no idea if this stuff will work. It's the first time I ever bought something off ebay - so it was a recently stopped product on sale. I hope it is working condition - says it's new. The seller is a 4 hour drive away - so if I drove to get it - that would be $100 a gas right there. yes all this "free shipping" stuff is really melting the planet - the "free trade" - just fly and truck stuff all over the planet all the time.


Even if I had wanted to buy a hand powered drill NEW then it would have to ship from the UK since they are no longer made in the US .The $1 drill I got was at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and I donated the MC-60 controller board from the treadmill - it converts AC to DC for powering shop tools like belt grinders or lathes.

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