What was your most interesting recent non solar project?

[gotbeans]

Raspberries are a native plant here, so they grow well all on their own! but thanks for the ideas.
-in fact, part of the area for the greenhouse was covered in raspberries that I cut down to make some room

Yea but the joan J has no thorns and produces first year growth!
much easier to manage than floricane growth
you can dive into the bush and start eating

 

[auTTiMan]

I installed flooring in my Winnebago View.

 

[S Davis]

Getting ready to install a four camera DVR system on my work truck, cameras are wireless and being installed in my commercial work cap, DVR and receivers are going across from my 75amp breakers for my Multiplus in rear seat area of my work truck.

I need to remove the headliner and get a video cable to the display, at the rear view mirror.

I can’t go a day without someone trying to run me off the road and with insurance rates the way they are you need proof you didn’t do anything wrong.

 

[PreppenWolf]

Got the garden de-rocked after the pigs tilled it for us. Also working on farrowing huts (piglet birthing).





Farrowing base and framing is 4x6 PT.

 

[fmeili1]

Last weekend I've installed a window AC unit in a small greenhouse (6.5' x. 6.5') which my wife loves to use. Usually here in the middle of the Mohave desert it will get unacceptable hot inside it.

I don't longer need to pay for electricity because of my off-grid solar system, I've decided to throw in such a simple Midea 5,000BTU ($150) unit to be able to use the greenhouse the whole year around. It consumes about 400W in highest cooling settings. It works nice and keeps the inside about 20-30Fahrenheit lower than before with full sun and even better with partial sun (about 3 hours per day full sun and 2 hours partial sun).

The unit has no electronic, just simple mechanical knobs and I left them always at max. cooling. I control (on/off) it with a ZigBee smart plug depending on the inside temperature (ZigBee temperature and humidity sensor) via smart home rules.

Now we have around 100-104F outside, curious how it will work when we will hit 115F-120Ft

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Last weekend I've installed a window AC unit in a small greenhouse (6.5' x. 6.5') which my wife loves to use. Usually here in the middle of the Mohave desert it will get unacceptable hot inside it.

I don't longer need to pay for electricity because of my off-grid solar system, I've decided to throw in such a simple Midea 5,000BTU ($150) unit to be able to use the greenhouse the whole year around. It consumes about 400W in highest cooling settings. It works nice and keeps the inside about 20-30Fahrenheit lower than before with full sun and even better with partial sun (about 3 hours per day full sun and 2 hours partial sun).

The unit has no electronic, just simple mechanical knobs and I left them always at max. cooling. I control (on/off) it with a ZigBee smart plug depending on the inside temperature (ZigBee temperature and humidity sensor) via smart home rules.

Now we have around 100-104F outside, curious how it will work when we will hit 115F-120Ft
View attachment 218225

View attachment 218226
View attachment 218227

well put some shade over it, even reflective wrap on the top of the outside of the unit will make a huge difference in how well it can cool for the same power input. we have little covers for all of our split packs that are insulated and reflective, I noticed a difference last year in our daily sell back rate even though all house settings are the same. sadly I am not the one that thought of this... my wife was, so I have to sort of keep it a secret...
edit: added photo of one of the cheap covers for our units.

 

[fmeili1]

well put some shade over it, even reflective wrap on the top of the outside of the unit will make a huge difference in how well it can cool for the same power input. we have little covers for all of our split packs that are insulated and reflective, I noticed a difference last year in our daily sell back rate even though all house settings are the same. sadly I am not the one that thought of this... my wife was, so I have to sort of keep it a secret...
edit: added photo of one of the cheap covers for our units.


View attachment 218334

THanks a lot for this simple but great idea
I'll try this tomorrow.

 

[BKY2003]

I got an old wood-stove free for picking it up, and bought some black stove pipe.
Hooked it up and got some HEAT into my Greenhouse since it is still below freezing at night where I live...in the North-woods.

Now if there was only some easy way to trade my problem with @BKY2003 's we could both be better off!!

Bought a 55 gallon drum stove for the winter, thanks for the idea.

Burnt up my plants the last 2 years, surprisingly that misting system worked.

 

[PreppenWolf]

Farrowing huts now have roof and floors. Might be at a standstill till next week. Rain coming for 5 days supposedly. I have plenty of indoor Honey Do List items to avoid working in the rain and I think I'm still 3-5 weeks from piglets.

 

[featherlite]

Love it!

 

[Suijkerbuijk]

My hobby is car repair after damage by road crash
From my hobby to work .
For me a car is like a big model car what you have to fix .
But now i'm sick so i can not it again .

I repair from car electronic to painting the car.
I dit it all .

Today i have stap in solar systeem and how to use.
Not for work but something i can do for my self and explain to other people ( i'm from the Netherlands)
So i do not have to work for cash (its pay by the state)

 

[PreppenWolf]

Back working on the huts. Good weather for the next week, hoping to finish. Exterior will get Tyvek wrapped and then vertical board and batten.

 

[green mountain boys]

Last weekend I've installed a window AC unit in a small greenhouse (6.5' x. 6.5') which my wife loves to use. Usually here in the middle of the Mohave desert it will get unacceptable hot inside it.

I don't longer need to pay for electricity because of my off-grid solar system, I've decided to throw in such a simple Midea 5,000BTU ($150) unit to be able to use the greenhouse the whole year around. It consumes about 400W in highest cooling settings. It works nice and keeps the inside about 20-30Fahrenheit lower than before with full sun and even better with partial sun (about 3 hours per day full sun and 2 hours partial sun).

The unit has no electronic, just simple mechanical knobs and I left them always at max. cooling. I control (on/off) it with a ZigBee smart plug depending on the inside temperature (ZigBee temperature and humidity sensor) via smart home rules.

Now we have around 100-104F outside, curious how it will work when we will hit 115F-120Ft
View attachment 218225

View attachment 218226
View attachment 218227

I have used greenhouse shade cloth to reduce the temperature inside the greenhouse in the summer. It is available in many different shade %. Chose the one best for you. I have used 50% mostly. It depends on the crop you are growing.
Here are some examples. I do not have any experience with this company. I am only using this link to show what is available.

https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/collections/shade-material

 

[fmeili1]

I have used greenhouse shade cloth to reduce the temperature inside the greenhouse in the summer. It is available in many different shade %. Chose the one best for you. I have used 50% mostly. It depends on the crop you are growing.
Here are some examples. I do not have any experience with this company. I am only using this link to show what is available.

https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/collections/shade-material

Over last two weeks I've learned that the AC unit is not powerful enough in case the greenhouse gets full sun (while outside temperatures are between 100-115 Fahrenheit). So I've bought a manual awning to shade the greenhouse and mounted it about 3 feet over the roof to have enough light for the plants but no more direct sun.
I've installed it on the weekend and the results are great. At first, I was pretty sure that the 5,000BTU unit would be able to keep the temperatures low enough, but I've underestimate how much the sun is heating the greenhouse - the AC unit was not able to keep the temperature while the greenhouse was in full sun.






This is a temperature diagram without the awning (blue is the greenhouse temperature and orange the outside ambient temperature in the shade):


This is the result with the awning:


Max. temperature is now 33.8 Celsius with awning instead of 40.3 Celsius without. The up's/down's in the blue curve are because the AC switches on at >=33 Celsius and off at <=28 Celsius (via smart home rule and remote ZigBee power switch on the AC).

When I'll find time, I want to convert the manual awning with a wiper motor and two remote relays (Shelly Plus 1 dry contact) to a powered awning to be able to control it via smart home rules (e.g. slide in if too much wind and at night and if no direct sun; slide out if sun hits the greenhouse, etc.). The powered awnings are way too expensive, instead of $150 they will cost 4-6 times more compared to the manual!

I think the wiper motor could be mounted directly to the shaft where the manual crank is hooked in. Two micro switches should be installed to protect the awing if fully open/close and the two relays should control the direction. A cheap 12V/10A (or 20A) LED power supply will be enough. An additional up/down button should be also mounted on the wall to be able to manual control it. So I think for about $100 I can convert it to a powered awning with smart home integration.

... I step from one project into the next... looks like it will never ends... but it's fun!

 

[nycamper62]

Well I bought another Jeep so atm I'm just emptying every pocket.

Actually I'm chambering (w/concrete blocks) a wood stove outside of camp & plan on using small fans & 4" piping to use forced air to help heat the RV. A sort of outdoor furnace project.

 

[seneysolar]

Actually I'm chambering (w/concrete blocks) a wood stove outside of camp & plan on using small fans & 4" piping to use forced air to help heat the RV. A sort of outdoor furnace project.

Definitely need a picture of this when complete!

 

[pvdude]

Troubleshooting this 1951 Collins Radio R-390 receiver.
Would not power up.
Tested some of the tubes in the power supply section, and also removed and tested the AC line input filter.
Filter had failed, after only 73 years of use.
Not sure who send my complaint to......

 

[seneysolar]

Troubleshooting this 1951 Collins Radio R-390 receiver.
Would not power up.
Tested some of the tubes in the power supply section, and also removed and tested the AC line input filter.
Filter had failed, after only 73 years of use.
Not sure who send my complaint to......
View attachment 221528

If its the same Collins they still make aircraft radios and avionics.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

Farrowing huts now have roof and floors. Might be at a standstill till next week. Rain coming for 5 days supposedly. I have plenty of indoor Honey Do List items to avoid working in the rain and I think I'm still 3-5 weeks from piglets.

View attachment 219944

Did you mill that lumber? Looks bigger than standard dimensional lumber.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

Troubleshooting this 1951 Collins Radio R-390 receiver.
Would not power up.
Tested some of the tubes in the power supply section, and also removed and tested the AC line input filter.
Filter had failed, after only 73 years of use.
Not sure who send my complaint to......
View attachment 221528

We used those for the time sync signals from WWVB.
To sync the clock for station wide recording track.

Most of the receivers used for SIGINT were the Watkins Johnson

Used to put our food on top of them to keep it warm..