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Was it something I said?
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Hi Guys.
Well was it?
Possibly you've all got a bet on to see who is going to be first to
break the silence in the New Year. Why didn't someone tell me?
May be that you've all made resolutions not to type anything here until someone else does, eh?
What......what.........what?
Regards to all.
Sticky.
Jan. 4, 2010
(Edited Jan. 9, 2010)
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What? .. what`s that noise ? ... oh, It`s you John
.. sorry about that, I must have dozed off. A-ho .. creaking a bit this
morning, what time is it anyway ... o.m.g.!!. No magic fairy to wake me
up, I`m home alone .. Carole has gone off to register herself as
unemployed, and I`m left looking after the bread maker. It`s whirring
and clucking away to itself out in the kitchen.
Minus 4.5 degrees Celcius outside, no wonder nobody is up and
about. I`ve looked around on here John, I guess it`s just you and me ..
shall I put the kettler on? My amorphous solar panels have arrived from
Maplin and they are adding an extra 40w or so into the batteries in this
low angle foggy sunshine. The controller box is about 6in by 6in by 3
in. It is quite sophisticated, lots of outputs for Invertor, USB
charger, 3,6,and 12v jack plugs too. The 4 panels are bolted to a uPVC
sectional tube frame about 4ft by 3 ft, this makes it quite heavy, but
with the supplied legs and straps it will stand up too a massive amount
of wind.
I guess that you may well find it a bit big for popping on the roof
of the caravan, maybe the smaller 20w panel would suit better. Hope all
is well in Stroud. I expect a few more may come out of hibernation
soon, Anth was awake yesterday for a little while ..Ha Ha. Catch you all
later on .....
Jan. 4, 2010
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OK for you guys tucked up there at home, or in
parts foreign basking in the sunshine, me? I was auditioning for the
part of a brass monkey, I had so many layers of clothes on I felt like
the Michelin Man, or was it the Elephant Man? Went away to Essex for the
New Year, No! don't ask, and it was so cold the car was very reluctant
to start to come home yesterday, unfortunately it did and so it was back
to work at dawn this morning to freeze me n*** off, still other than
that it has been a beautiful day. I've decided that seeing as alcohol
usually has a very low freezing point it would be a good idea to drink
as much as possible, I might freeze to death but at least I won't notice
it, Ah! roll on spring and summer so as we can get back to some proper
English weather - wet!!!!!!!!!!!
Stu
Jan. 4, 2010
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Hi both.
Sorry to awaken the slumbers Bill.
Sounds as though you are still having fun Stu.
Fancy spending New Year in Essex, do people still live there? Many
years ago I used to visit Greys or is it Grays, whichever, I can guess
why it was called Greys!
Question. What do Essex girls use for protection?
Answer. Bus shelter.
Bill I guess you missed one of my earlier postings, 'cos I also have the same solar panel set as yourself.
Not too much of a problem for the caravan though. The plan is to
rig up a frame to mount the frame supplied on a two inch dia aluminium
pole then attach same to towbar of caravan by the jockey wheel clamp,
having removed the jockey wheel once the van feet are down. I
reckon to elevate the array to a height of about five feet from bottom
to the ground, just enough to keep it out of harms way.
Luvley Jubley!
Regards to all.
Sticky.
Jan. 5, 2010
(Edited Jan. 5, 2010)
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Happy New Year guys.
I know nowt about solar panels but I do know Stu, that it was -5 at
4am yesterday when I left for the Cornwall run. Brass Monkeys wasn't
the word. I could have done with the alcohol you mentioned but I've
decided to go on the wagon for a while. Need to shift some weight etc.
Probably won't last but you never know. Heavy snow forecast for tonight
so with any luck I won't be able to get the car out tomorrow and I sure
as hell won't be walking Avonmouth for the van!!We'll see.
Take Care all.
Rich.
Jan. 5, 2010
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Hi Rich, I don,t think you made it to the depot
today if the snow in Frome is anything to go by, last night it was clear
at 1 am and looking out of the window at 6 am it was covered, no post,
no buses, four inches deep and still snowing, better get out and brush
the car down, then connect the leccy to the motorhome to keep the
batteries charged, looks nice though and they say there is more to come,
keep warm everyone, not including Ken ,Steve and Rodger who may be
thinking of how to keep cool.
Jan. 6, 2010
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Hi all.
Yes, Anth, good fun this snow innit?
Not at work today, unable to get out of the village for abandoned cars. We are on a steepish hill though.
Been doing a bit from home by E Mail and phone, already cleared a fault on a machine at Burnley, over the phone!
Was at Weston - S - Mare yesterday morning, weather was super
then down on the Somerset levels, but back at the office by lunch time
and that's when it all turned belly up. Had a job to get back home!
I have pasted some piccies in 'Odds and ends' in a new album, 'Our
village in the snow' if anyone has any more, stick 'em in the same
album, I'm sure our overseas friends would love to see them for a bit of
a laugh!
May have some more to add yet.
Have fun.
Sticky.
Jan. 6, 2010
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Hi John, the weather in Frome today is great, nice
and bright and plenty of sunshine but still cold in the shade, no sign
of any gritting on any of the side roads though and it is now compressed
to an inch thick slab, must get out and brush some of the snow off the
motorhome as it is still about six inches deep on the roof, off to put
the trickle charger on the battery now as the PSU on the van wont get up
high enough to fully charge the batteries, keep warm.
Anth
Jan. 7, 2010
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Dunno why, but we got left behind in this part of
Dorset. We thought we'd got away with it completely and then yesterday
we had our first snowfall. Didn't last though. Until yesterday morning,
the BBC weather people showed an inverted horseshoe of snow cloud right
around us, north, west and east, covering Wiltshire and Somerset
but with us sitting pretty well clear of it. Like John said, must
be something we said. Watching the telly news took me back to those days
in the fifties when Old Nick had to close the school after snowfalls
because we only had buses to get home on and they couldn't get up the
steep hills around Bath when things got really icy. Oh happy days.
Jan. 7, 2010
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Hi Anth and David,
Brings back memories David, your comments about Old Nick closing the school at the frst sign of any significant snow.
I lived at Corsham during those halcyon days and once or twice we
only got home by the skin of our teeth. I seem to recall that the
trouble always seemed to be around the Hawthorn area with the bus
slipping and sliding all over the road, but eventually we always got
through. Looked forward to being sent home 'cos it meant that we could
spend the next few days tabogganing.
We seem to be having the same weather as you Anth, beautiful sunny
day today so took some more piccies. I have posted some more in the 'Our
village in the snow' album as per my earlier posting. You really must
get on with the motor home attention. The caravan is all snuggled up for
the winter, but I did remove the battery the other day and brought it
indoors. May rig up the solar panels when the snow clears, just to give
it a bit of a charge.
Got to go now, tea calls.
Sticky.
Jan. 7, 2010
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Hello John and all,
John .. The solar panels .. may I suggest a modification to the
assembly instructions suppiled ... instead of attaching the 4 panels to
the frame with the output leads to the top, reverse them to prevent
ingress of water over time. The problem is that the original flexible
cable unions will harden, water will seep in along the wire and corrode
the cable (where it cannot be accessed). I had this problem a few years
ago with one panel of the same design construction.
I know that the cable will bend up, but if you encourage it behind
the panel when they are stood upright, there will be no chance of water
entering (provided you don`t submerge the panels totally). Mine are in
the back garden (with the snow cleared away) parked on gravel leaning
against the conservatory wall, tilted at 15deg from the vertical to
capture maximum radiation at this time of year. The controller can
be connected with the very long lead supplied to the battery
indoors. As a precaution I have used 2in wide high grade insulation
tape to wrap the five push connectores on the panel cabling just to
prevent corrosion, (which has also been experienced over the
years with this type of connector)
I have been using these amorphous panels for four years now and as
long as they remain sloping they usually self clean. Snow is a bit of a
problem, but a "squeegie" rubber window blade on one end of a broom
handle (and soft handbrush taped on the other end) is a perfect cleaning
tool for those "little akward out of the way places". I
have another eight panels low down on the bungalow roof as
well as another 10 smaller ones on one edge of the conservatory to
clean.
Hope everyone has survived the bad weather, and I look forward to this year (and its summer) with anticipation. Best Regards ...
Jan. 8, 2010
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Hi all,
I managed to get to work and do all the routes all week and apart
from broadsiding the van in Newport and being stuck for 45 minutes, all
was reasonable really. After I'd changed my brown trousers and got the
van out I went on to Cardiff. I think it's been lovely really with all
this clear sky and sunshine, but the white stuff I do without I
think !!
I hope you're all coping OK, I said to my wife that you just have
to get on with it ,don't you. Was it '63 or '64 when we had bad snow in
Bath? I remember walking into school from the Twerton estate for quite a
while. None of your softie Helath and Safety issues then was there!
They can't go to school in case they fall in the snow and hurt
themselves, but they can charge around in it at home for 12 hours
though.
End of rant !! Regards to all.
Rich
Jan. 8, 2010
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Hi Rich, close 62 / 63 was the really bad
one, I was talking to a courier yesterday he said all white van drivers
were mad, (his was black), but I suppose yours is yellow so it doesn't
count, glad your OK, probably enough to start you drinking again eh?
Stu
Jan. 8, 2010
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Hi all.
Real proud of you Rich, got to keep the flag flying for the van drivers.
Tuesday night got within a quarter of a mile from home and then
couldn't get through due to a couple of abandoned vans and really
treacherous roads, so left my little Astravan to its own recources for a
bit, went and had a cuppa, then returned with son and shovel and
managed to get by. Drove it home and parked it up! Wed couldn't do much
'cos 'twas still snowing. Thursday spent digging and thawing out
vehicles and today drove the Discovery to work. Had more snow tonight!
See piccies.
Thanks for the hints and tips regarding solar panels, Bill, sounds
like good ideas to me, will carry out assembly just as you suggest.
Interesting that you were getting 40 Watts from yours on a dull overcast day, if mine perform half as well I shall be delighted.
Have a good week end.
Sticky.
Jan. 8, 2010
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Correction regards the panels John, I`m getting
40 watts with low angle sunshine and aabout 10 watts when the sun
is scattered by clouds. I can get about 40 watts from the whole solar
array when overcast .. not just the latest 4 panel add-on. Sorry if I
did not explain it very clearly before.
I am using the laptop on a 12v to 19v invertor (as I write) from my
gel batteries indoors. I have just aquired a 200a gel battery for the
workroom, and am busy taking 20amps out of it when I run the 3ghz tower
p.c. with the 24in LCD screen. I have wired it up to a 800w sinewave
computer UPS unit (which had a single 12v gel battery inside
originally). This is the cheapest and cleanest way to generate 240v,
about £50 or so from places Like C.P.C. and Maplins. No cooler fan to
make a noise either.
So, now all year round solar driven computers etc. Even the oil
fired boiler is now able to be powered from 12v, we do have power cuts
here you know, (some overhead power lines through trees), and the
best boiler needs electricity for the compressor and pump. Bring it on
...
Jan. 9, 2010
(Edited Jan. 9, 2010)
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Hi Bill
Thanks for the update, I think I have taken it all on board, sounds ample good enough to me.
Like your cheap way of inverting using a UPS innards, but I guess
that the output current is fairly limited, Ok to run a computer though.
In any case one has to take battery life into consideration. More
strength to your arm I say, the less we rely on the national grid as a
power source the better!
Have fun.
Sticky.
PS Have you ever investigated fuel cells? I haven't but could bear looking into.
Jan. 9, 2010
(Edited Jan. 9, 2010)
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