smallsolar

smallsolar, 14 days ago to random

I’m going to my first #repaircafe today, it’s in a nearby village and I emailed to ask if I could visit and they said yes! I’d like to do something similar in our village as there seems to be the need and the resource just needs the organisation…

smallsolar, 21 days ago to random

#permacomputing #hardwarehacking question

Bg : I’m in the process of upgrading my internet, switching to full fibre rather then old broadband.

I’ve now got a spare old router which should run #openwrt (plusnet 270N), I’ll likely upgrade the ram chip as a side project and perhaps the rom as it’s technically fairly easy.

But the question is what to actually do with it, I’ve already got most of the projects you find on the internet, any off the wall ideas? I’ll have serial, 1/2

smallsolar, 1 month ago to hydroponics

#hydroponics update: I’ve now got 11 pak choi 🥬 in my #Kratky method setup but it’s been super slow, my suspicion has been that my garage is too cold so I’m now running an experiment, one box is not insulated or heated, the other has a cheap 10W aquarium heater set to 18C and also badly done insulation - let’s see how this goes (also knew all those cheap hygrometers would come in handy!)

RickiTarr, 1 month ago to random

Silly Story Time:

My husband has always been scared of spiders. If a spider needed removed I would be the one to deal with it, as I've always admired their work. For whatever reason, spiders love our Bathroom, and there always seems to be one or two in there no matter what hubs has tried to keep them out. So, I started naming them, I called one Henry, and I told hubs that he was really social, because every time you'd sit down on the toliet, he would pop out of his hole and just sit by your feet until you were done, then he'd crawl back. Another one would crawl out by the wall when you'd shower, and I told him that was Henry's wife Helena, and she was kind of a pervert, because she liked seeing people naked, but Henry didn't mind, because he liked them freaky. Whenever we would come out of the bathroom, we started giving updates about what Henry and Helena were up to. One day they disappeared, and we were both kind of sad, but last night hubs comes out of the bathroom, and says, Come look! He points to the wall by the toliet, and there is a little spider, and he says, Henry, he had a son! We are very excited about this development!

smallsolar, 3 months ago to random

It’s nice to see some sunshine today. The challenge I’ve got is when it’s cloudy I really need the 4 #solarPanels I have, but when it’s sunny I don’t.
It’s time to start thinking about how I can utilise this extra power.

I probably should invest in a better battery but also perhaps an inverter so I could run an occasional household appliance off the solar.

It’s tricky on a small scale.

smallsolar, 3 months ago to climate

My #climate conscious 4yr old continues - she learnt about #polarbears and that they use their claws to break ice to get fish but there aren’t many left as they are ‘endangered’ because the earth is getting warmer. Her solution is less cars and aeroplanes.

When asked how we do this she announced with confidence that she’ll become an evil queen and use her magic…
Unexpected dark turn.
#climatechange

smallsolar, 3 months ago to mastodon

I’m upgrading my garage ethernet network so maybe some down time on the solarcene.community #solarinstance. Pleased with myself as instead of jumping to am&zon I went on #eBay and got a 8 port network switch #secondhand . It was missing the power adapter which is fine as I’ll be rigging it anyway to run off 5V (it’s a TP SG108 and I’ve already got the 5 port version which works fine off 5V with a little modification).

Means I can finally put in place my plans to automate the #mastodon instance

smallsolar, 3 months ago to solar

Managed to finish my second #solar array! It’s pretty much identical to the first one. Means I have 480W in total in panels, while winter has been pretty tough in regards to solar I anticipate summer will be good - might even not need to have both arrays deployed. The design allows them to be folded down for storage (though quite heavy to move)
#SolarPV #solarpanels

smallsolar, 4 months ago to random

We have a grass lawn (Im sorry 😢, my family like it) - my plan is to slowly seed it with more and more clover over the next few years - any tips apart from just scattering seeds etc.
#clover
#nolawn

smallsolar, 6 months ago to solarpunk

I’ve just been informed by my 4yr old that we really need to use less cars and aeroplanes as the world is poorly. She also informs me that eating more vegetables will help.

Perhaps there is #hope

#solarpunk

smallsolar, 7 months ago to gardening

We are still getting courgettes which makes me super pleased. Meanwhile our pumpkin plant is now invading our wall strawberries

#gardening #vegetables #growyourown

A cheeky pumpkin which is growing in a wall mounted tray of strawberry plants

smallsolar, 8 months ago to solar

This article from #lowtechmagazine about Direct Solar Energy captures my approach to small #solar projects. While I have a traditional panel/controller/battery setup I am very interested in ‘No-Battery’ systems such as my #solarpanel + super capacitor #waterpump. Article shows the hidden costs of going off grid, how in the future we need to change our behaviour to achieve the efficiencies we desperately need
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/08/direct-solar-power-off-grid-without-batteries/

realcainmosni, 8 months ago to random

Long shot...

I have an SD card belonging to a friend, with the last photos she has of her late husband. Unfortunately it seems to have a hairline fracture. Very occasionally I can get as USB reader to recognise the card and the first 4K block, but it's usually dead as a door nail. I'm sure an expensive lab could recover it, but that's well out of reach. Any sane ideas welcome.

skyfaller, 8 months ago (edited 8 months ago) to random

I have some books that I don't want, but I'm not sure how to dispose of them properly.

Let's start with the worst case:

• poorly-written book
• expressing potentially harmful ideas
• by an objectionable author

One example might be Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. I think I have to hold on to it because even though I hate it now, it was important to my political evolution. But let's say I decide I need the shelf space, and it's time to say goodbye.

What is the most ethical way to get rid of it?

smallsolar, 9 months ago to random

Family day out today and went to The Mechanical Art and Design Museum in Stratford upon Avon. It was amazing, we all loved the various mechanical art pieces from simple automata to crazy marble runs. I can’t recommend it more! (We were enjoying it so much I didn’t take any pictures)

Check it out if you are ever local. https://themadmuseum.co.uk

#madMuseum
#mechanicalArt
#kineticart
#StratfordUponAvon

smallsolar, 10 months ago to gardening

It ain’t much but it’s honest work

#gardening
#growyourown

smallsolar, 10 months ago to solarpunk

@solarpunkpresents really enjoyed season 3 episode 1. I think it’s key that #solarpunks debate and discuss everything and it’s good to hear alternative opinions. I was particularly interested about the concept of mineral footprint, where are we going to source the nails and screws of the future?
#solarpunk

smallsolar, 11 months ago to random

I am currently listening to the audiobook of Less is More (Jason Hickel) and to help keep up the optimism I’m reading Solarpunk Winters (@sarenaulibarri et al). It seems to be a fairly good balance, I’m certainly less anxious then when I was reading The Climate Book earlier this year!

#solarpunk
#climatecrisis
#capitalism