diy solar

diy solar

Project Farm tested product list

svetz

Works in theory! Practice? That's something else
Joined
Sep 20, 2019
Messages
7,201
Location
Key Largo
Love the channel and love how well he thinks out his testing procedures. Sometimes I do not buy the product that won but the one that worked the best in a test that matches my needs.
 
New to me. I like this guy! Man I wish I had one of those 2-stroke bike kits when I was a kid.
I put one of those together for a friend using a $99 walmart beach cruiser.

Sorry the pics arent better but you get the idea. Those kits are junk but if youre a good hillbilly engineer and can afford to put another $150 or so into upgrades you can make them work reliably.
At virtually every step of the assembly something had to be made right or modified. The rear hub mount is just plain unsafe, the runout and out of round will make it throw the chain so we bought a 3pc aluminum hub mount off ebay for $40. The chain tensioner is useless, another $22.. The cruisers coaster brake wont stop the heavier, faster bike, so we got front and rear center pull brakes that operate together off one lever. About $65.

The output shaft gear (countersprocket)comes with ridiculously sharp unground teeth, its well known this can break the chain so meticulously softened that up with a dremel.

All the included hardware is junk, goes on once strips if you back off. After 20 hrs of running, 2 of the exhaust studs broke off in the engine, had to ez out them and replace with better hardware jb welded in place.

After a few months it barely ran, there were a number of leaks in the intake, I overhauled that whole assembly grinding things to fit better and reassembled with RTV. Ran better than ever and all the hard starting issues were solved.

If you keep it inside get ready to clean gas and oil off the floor daily as it drips from the exhaust.

Ill say this, if you dont have some skills and put it together solely with its included parts, its life will be very short and theres a strong probability a rider will be hurt in a crash when it throws or breaks the chain.

When it was done my friend was impressed and asked me if I wanted to embark on a moneymaking venture with a few dozen kits and bikes. At the time a business was selling complete bikes a lot like ours for $600 on craigslist.

No way. Not only was the profit too small and the labor too much, someone or their kid would get hurt on one and sue us.

Because at that point we are the manufacturer.
 

Attachments

  • 20180412_032711.jpg
    20180412_032711.jpg
    287.6 KB · Views: 6
  • 20180412_032703.jpg
    20180412_032703.jpg
    314.6 KB · Views: 6
Love that channel too, maybe we can get him to do some solar / battery testing , etc

It is high time he shifts the farm shifts to solar, so maybe?

But I don't see him (or anyone) doing some components. For example, solar panels are straightforward (see Comparing Solar Panels). If they're based in countries with good consumer protection laws (not China) the vendor datasheets are accurate or you can take them to court and win. There are also independent lab tests on many products that are publically available. For example, see the California GO database.

He's done some battery testing for power tools and those are in the list, I believe he shows which cells are in them. As to inverters, while he does a good job researching and testing there's so much hands-on experience necessary for such a test I think it takes more expertise than he has; that is someone like Will. But I could be (and frequently am) wrong; the guy's amazing. Maybe get him and Will to partner up for a few episodes? If nothing else, I think Will would like to try the jet-powered bike from the leaf blower episode. ; -)
 
Back
Top