Off=grid post, 3-26-22

It has been a busy day. First thing out of the gate, I got my swamper out. The forecast was for 90 degrees or higher, so that is hot enough for the swamper. Tomorrow will be hot too, by the way. The swamper needed some cleaning up. So that took up some time.

Meanwhile, I have my power tote project nearly finished. I wanted to add a couple finishing touches, and so I have. I haven't added up the costs of this project, but it is much more than I bargained for.

The full charge/discharge cycle test determined the capacity. It was a bit disappointing. More than a bit, actually. It won't be able to run the swamper for a full day without some recharging, drat it.

But not to worry. If I were to add a solar panel of sufficient capacity, it will keep this thing charged up. But that wasn't the plan before. It may be the plan now, and for now. The thing is, if this stuff is going to cost so much and deliver so little, I may have to reconsider what's next.

It would help to have shade. This location is murder during the late afternoon. It faces west. Yikes. The idea was to put up some shade, and use that as a mounting place for the panels as well. This would make running the a/c a thing of the past. As well as the swamper works, the a/c still needs to cool down the bedroom. It gets mighty hot in there. That where a shade would help a lot, I would think.

Out on the property, the plan is to dig a basement. This would help for all seasons. Cooler in the summer, and warmer in the winter. Some passive solar could help in the winter. The idea there is to heat up some water, and store the water for warmth in the cooler evenings. Some warm water delivered to the basement could make it nice and cozy. But that is another project for another day.

The big idea overall is to minimize the amount of energy needed, and make use of advantages there are to be had. By digging a basement, you escape the extremes of temperature without having to use a lot of energy to make it comfortable. That in turn, requires less energy to run the household. Which means a lot less equipment needs to be brought to bear in order to do the job.

The bigger goal still is to be able to step outside of the grid, which is being abused in order to oppress people. Too bad there are so many today who seem to be okay with that.

The nature of things

This may seem like an unusual post. That's because of the unusual thoughts I'm having, I suppose. It is hard to explain. Perhaps it would help to use a device that I've used before. The device is a comparison between the movies and what I'm thinking of. An example would be the same ones I've cited before.

The first example is the movie "The Matrix". The Matrix is supposedly about some dystopian future. But what if the Matrix exists today? What if the movie is the way things really are? According to the movie, all of what everyone experiences is real, but that's not actually the case. The case is that a reality is created for everyone, and everyone is programmed to fit into that reality. There is no such thing as free will in a completely artificial existence. The Matrix, as depicted in the movie, could be the very thing that we are all experiencing in this world. As such, the movie isn't about something created out of imagination, but an artful way of expressing how life actually is.

Our world is created for us. We are constantly told what to think. We are constantly told how we should act. There is nothing spontaneous. It is all programmed in. If anyone deviates from the script, well, that's a problem. That person has to be corrected. Those types are like the "Neos" of the Matrix, who have to be hunted down and corrected, or terminated. It is a false existence that cannot be discovered unless one is "red-pilled". There are those who prefer the blue pill, and to go on believing whatever they want to believe. But you those others have to be willing to go down the rabbit hole to discover the truth. Not everyone wants to make that trip, in fact, few people in real life, do.

Then there is this other movie. "Brave New World" is a world in which this programming takes place in a "real world", which differs immensely with the world in the Savage Reservation. Which world is real? Eveyone living in each respective world sees reality according to how they are programmed. Savages are "savages" because they are taught to be savages. They chose nothing. Neither do people in the Brave New World. If someone like John finds himself misplaced there, he cannot live with it. The outcome is death. The same fate came to his mother, who no longer fits into the "civilized world", and had to be drugged to death. There is no room for deviants. Both John and his mother found themselves in a situation in which life could no longer go on. John couldn't reconcile himself to that world, and his mother could. But it did not save her, and John couldn't separate from that world. The Brave New World ended up killing both. John and his mother couldn't live in either world. Both wished to escape only to find that there was no escape.

What do you do when you are the odd man out? You either adapt, or you die. If the adaptation is not possible, then life is not possible.

How much freedom do we really have? The word gets used a lot in America, but this country might as well be a Brave New World. There is little chance for changing anything because in order to do so, you really have to make a choice. Does anyone really want to make a choice? We all seem to be pretending to be free, but we aren't. There is a tremendous amount of pretending in this society. Calling oneself "free" in that context has no real meaning.

If you cannot adapt to that reality, you may end up the "odd man out", in a world that has no place for those who don't fit in.

Perhaps that is what is happening. The movies are telling us what exists, and it does so in the guise of entertainment. Yet there may be something bigger behind it. An attempt to go down that rabbit hole. To do that, one needs the will for the red pill. When there is no such will, there can be no escaping the Matrix. Even if you do escape, what is the nature of the alternative?

Off-grid post, 3-24-22

The work on the power tote continues... I call it a power tote because it is inside of a plastic tote. This protects it from short circuits. There are so many live areas on this thing that a mis-step can cause a short.

The power tote is protected with switches and fuses. Hopefully, I can avoid shorts. If there is one, it will blow a fuse. Those are cheap. Some of these parts are not.

It is being tested now. Everything is looking good, but the testing isn't over. I am taking it very slow and cautiously. The first test with the inverter was with a 23 watt fan. It went on a discharge cycle, then it was charged back up. Voltages were monitored. Watt hours calculated on the discharge/charge cycle were compared. Things lined up, so I went more aggresively with a 88 watt fan. This one was run for 30 minutes, and charged back to previous state with power requirements as expected. Full charge has not been attempted. That will be the test of the bms.

Along those lines, I disassembled the unit, and tested all the leads to the bms. All are looking good. However, upon reassembly, I noted a residual voltage on the terminals. This caused the inverter to shut off. This was bothersome until I realized the low voltage is enabling the low voltage circuitry of the inverter to kick in. It appears that is working also. Don't know what is causing the residual voltages. To check that before starting up, I am going to flip the switch a few times and check the voltage at the terminals for now on in this testing phase. It appears to happen when the voltage goes down due to current shutoff at the switch for the battery.

This inverter has a wired remote, which is nice. I rigged up something to sit it in. It will attach someone close to my recliner, which is my control position. There are no seat belts. You can call it a seat-of-the-pants type operation.

One thing is that seems like it might be bothersome. The battery is rated at 600+ watt-hrs. At the rate of discharge noted, it isn't going to do that well. Maybe it will, but now it doesn't appear to be even close to that.

One more thing. Inspection with cover off mentioned above included an inspection of all connections and wires. No sign of getting hot, or any loose connections. Looks like all components are checking out "a-ok".

That's all for now.

Off-grid post, 3-23-2022

 

I expected a delivery today. It is a 24 v, 500 watt inverter.

Delivery came about 1 PM. Got held up on some other events, and got back on this about 4 PM. There were two more connections that were necessary. I did those, then carefully put the connections together and did a pre-test before the actual test. Everything seemed ship-shape, so I crossed my fingers and flipped the switch. The gizmo came on and displayed the correct voltage. Great! Next test was to attach a small fan. Turned it on and off very briefly. Seems okay. More tests to come. Looking good so far.

The apparatus is not ready to go just yet, as tasks remaining are "mopping-up" exercises. Once that is completed, and the unit installed where I want, then I'll be in business with this thing. But not quite there yet.

I'm planning to run my swamp-cooler off this thing. The inverter is low-end, so I don't know how much useful work can be done with it, but that's what I'm trying to find out. Based on the manual, I can run it at 300 watts of load. That's not much. Everything is on spec as far as capabilities, but expectations have yet to be tested out. If everything goes as expected, the swamp cooler can run maybe 8 hrs max. This doesn't allow for losses. So it won't be that much in terms of capabilities.

Eight hours of swamp-cooler would be just about enough to get me through a hot day. Maybe. Summer months are around the corner, so I am wondering about that one. I forgot what the swamp-cooler's wattage is, but guessing around 70 watts. Eight hours would be 560 watt- hrs. That's within range of this battery's ratings. We'll see about that. The swamper is in storage, as the weather hasn't turned warmer just yet.

That all for now.

Off-grid post, 3-20-22

The power module set up is on track to be complete in a few days. After the screw-up mentioned previously, a change of plans was in order.

Crossing the wires did foul it up, or so the voltmeter indicates. No way to take it apart without really tearing it up completely. It cannot be returned, so maybe there's nothing to lose by trying. At any rate, it couldn't be used. It doesn't work. Just to be sure, I rigged up a test mechanism that put a load on the battery. I have a 24 volt charger that restored it to same voltage as before. I did this twice. The battery is in good order, and the wiring seems adequate.

One thing I got out of this experiment was the techique of shrink-wrapping the wiring connections. It seems that before that I would use other techniques. This seems to work well.

From time to time, I'll do some advance planning on the next leg of this project. That one would be a big one. The next idea is to become self-reliant in terms of electricity. The water part has been mastered, and this biggie could be close to being mastered. The last two big picture items are construction and raising food. I've already taken stabs at those, but those skills aren't up to snuff.

It's coming along slowly. That's all for now.

Law of Attraction

There was this idea floating around that you see in popular culture regarding some law that says you attract to you what you are, or something like that. If I look at this blog that way, I may not feel particularly flattered. Few people come here. Rarely does anybody comment. The first post in this blog was over a decade ago. I started off by asking a question, that can be seen as an attempt at humor. The question was: "Who am I, and what am I doing here?"

Those who come here may ask that same question. Who are you, and what are you doing here? I don't demand an answer. You can ask that of yourselves.

Nobody pays me anything to write this blog. There's no money, influence, or favor in it. But why write it at all? I suppose to feel some sense of importance, and to have some illusion of influence over the course of events. I can say "screw you" to the world, but the world is willing and able to do the same. I can try to reason with people, but if they don't want to listen, then it is all in vain.

I'm not a young guy anymore. I'm not particularly healthy. God knows how much time I have left on this Earth. I prefer to spend it doing constructive things. It may not end up that way. Lots of things seem to have gone wrong in my span upon this Earth. I hope that this is not another one in the list.

The way I see it, things could veer completely out of control at any time. I don't want to add to the probability of that happening. This blog doesn't have much reach, so it has limited ability to do anything at all. To the extent that it adds or subtracts, I don't want to kid myself as to that or to anything else for that matter. If it adds or subtracts even just a little, I prefer it to be constructive.

All in all, I am just a guy. I won't pretend to be what I am not. Things that are quite important right now in the larger scheme of things are not in my hands. I'd like to think I can have some influence, but maybe that isn't in the cards. So be it.

I am going to limit anything further to say about the larger scene. I do not recant a word of it. I do not like nor respect what our government is doing these days. But it is my country. I do not long for any other home.

That is all.