Self-Sufficiency Archives - Knowledge Weighs Nothing

How To Get Old Commercial Solar Panels For FREE (UPDATED!)

August 21, 2017

That’s right, there is a way you can get solar panels for free! I know someone who did it and so can you. Here’s how it’s done…

Solar panels are used everywhere these days. They are often used by construction crews and traffic systems (signs, cameras & emergency signal lighting etc) and these are where we are going to focus, because they quite often have contracts with the solar panel providers. Whenever a solar panel become cracked or damaged, they are replaced under contract, even when they are still serviceable.

UPDATE: We have several solar farms locally, that generate and sell electricity as a business. I reached out to two of them. Both had old, in some cases slightly damaged solar panels, which still functioned. Both said I could have some of these panels for zero cost. In fact one of solar farms offered to deliver some for a small fee.

I enquired about the efficiency of these panels. It was explained that these old or slightly damaged panels were not as efficient as new solar panels (hence why they were replaced). With a solar farm, everything is about the efficiency at generating electricity. They are a business. That said, for home use (and at zero cost) these panels have years of life left in them. Additionally, if you have the space you can simply have more panels, to make up for any lower efficiency with these older solar panels.

The solar panel provider ends up with a whole load of damaged but working solar panels. They can’t sell them so they usually have to pay to have them disposed of. What you need to do is find the contact details for the solar panel providers and give them a call to see if they have any damaged but functioning solar panels you can take off their hands.

The person I know who did this got around $800 of working solar panels for free, just for a bit of detective work. He saw a solar panel on a road sign and noticed the sign had a sticker with a phone number on it to report a problem. He simply phoned the number and asked for the solar panel provider’s details and gave them a call. A few phone calls later and a trip to their facility and he had a load of free solar panels.

I guess you could also try researching and directly contacting solar panel manufacturers too. They must get loads of panels that are damaged or defective that still work but can’t be sold. Even solar panel stores must get loads of damaged but working solar panels returned, or have panels that get damaged in storage etc. No one wants to pay to have to dispose of damaged goods. Take advantage of this and you could get free or heavily discounted stuff that works just fine.

Just a little thinking outside the box can save you a huge amount of money. Give it a try, all you have to waste is a little time and a phone call.

Related post: How To Build A Water Wheel Generator

The Rocket Mass Heater: Everything You Need to Know

July 11, 2017

Rustic rocket mass heater used to heat a permanent tipi

Looking for the most efficient way of heating your home? Perhaps you’ve heard all about rocket mass heaters and just how clean they are? Whatever the reason, this guide takes a closer look at these heaters, explains how to build them, and covers all of their benefits (of which there are many!).

Wait A Minute… Just What Are Rocket Mass Heaters?

You’re likely here because you know all about rocket stove mass heaters and the benefits that they provide. However, for those who may be less than completely up on everything that these handy heaters can offer, here’s a quick summary.

Rocket mass heaters can:

Heat up your home with 80% to 90% less wood than is required with a traditional fire or log burning stove.
Exhausted output is practically all steam and CO2 (this is minus a little smoke at the beginning).
Heat from a single rocket mass fire can burn and heat your home for days on end.
A rocket stove mass heater can be easily built within the space of one or two days (less if you have a helping hand from friends or family).
When being particularly careful, you can build a rocket mass heater for under $20!

Rocket Mass Heaters… What Are People Saying?

Rocket stove mass heaters have great reputation amongst the survivalists and off the grid living crowd. Here are some of the most common comments that you’ve likely heard:

“I burn nothing but dead branches, and the heating within my home has never been warmer”.

“They burn cleaner than any other form of heating… and are a lot more efficient to boot”.

“I’m a city dweller who uses rocket mass heating to cut down my bills”.

So, now that we know that these really are the most efficient forms of heating on the planet, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of how they work, and what you’ll need to build one.

The science behind a rocket mass heater

OK, so you may be wondering just how rocket stove mass heaters work, particularly as they seem to buck all the trends and go against all of the fire guidance that you’ve ever been taught (e.g. they output no smoke and the wood burns sideways).

What’s more, with a 75% efficiency rate you’d think that the most wood you could possibly save on would be the remaining 25%, right? And to top it all off, just how on earth can such a contraption not emit a plume of smok,e given that there’s a gaping big hole right in the top of it?

Well many of these questions are answered as soon as you see a rocket mass heater in action, here’s a quick overview…

How rocket mass heaters work – In detail

With the sticks within a rocket mass heater stood straight up, it’s only the bottom ends that burn and, what’s more, as they are at a junction within the heater, they burn sideways. The heat within is also insulated, which is why rocket mass heaters get so hot. As this naturally has a strong convective current, encouraging hot gasses to hit the barrel where they then expel much of their heat, consequentially cooling the gasses and making them easier to push around the heater. The gasses that finally exit are then simply made up from steam and carbon dioxide.

The main magical act that makes a rocket mass heater super special, and the main working of the rocket mass heater that we should be in awe of, is found within the heat riser. Here this open ended combustion chamber, coupled with a strong convective current, ensures that the smoke never gets sucked upwards and instead the air is continuously sucked in from the wood filled hole, meaning that no smoke escapes at all. In fact, it’s so hot within this top region that most of the smoke gets burned up!

How to build a rocket mass heater

2 Rocket mass heater plans from the tried, tested and completely trusted experts

The ‘Bonny Convection Bench’ rocket mass heater

The first tutorial is based upon one of the most popularly referred to designs for rocket mass heaters there are. Constructed by Ernie and Erica Wisner, this is a roadmap that has been carefully put together by two engineering veterans (who reassuringly have over 700 rocket mass heater builds under their belt).

Here’s the link for the ‘Bonny Convection Bench’ rocket mass heater professional build plans. It currently cost $25 but they are professional quality build plans that could save you $1000s

‘RocketMassHeater-Annex6’ rocket mass heater

Need a pretty large rocket mass heater for your home? Well the second tutorial below are for a heater that’s more than capable of heating a 3 storey, multi-level family home, even in cooler regions such as right by the coast. The reinforcement within the plans along with the in-built air flow channels ensure that any flooring, hardwood or otherwise, is completely protected whilst providing for effective circulation that heats the whole house.

Here’s the link for the ‘RocketMassHeater-Annex6’ rocket mass heater professional build plans. It currently cost $25 but they are professional quality build plans that could save you $1000s

If you need an adapted plan to fit within your cabin then here it is. This design maps out an eight inch diameter rocket mass heater which takes up just 3.5 foot by 9 foot on the floor.

Rocket mass heaters versus the traditional wooden stove

There may be many readers out there who are avid fans of the conventional wooden stove, and who may be seriously pessimistic about just what a rocket mass heater may be able to offer them. So this section is dedicated to demonstrating just how a rocket mass heater compares when talking about heating efficiencies between the two.

“They say that a current wood stove is 75% efficient… so if the most improvement that can be seen is 25%, and rocket mass heaters can heat the home with a tenth of the wood… isn’t a rocket mass heater then 750% efficient? And why wouldn’t 100% be the maximum efficiency rate at which you can operate?”

The statement above sets out both a confusing landscape as well as a few common misunderstandings. And there are two ways in which this conundrum can be answered.

First, you should measure the temperature and volume of smoke that leaves your traditional wood stove (in short, it’s both extremely hot and of a large amount) and compare this to the exhaust found within a rocket mass heater (where there is a trickle of output that has a temperature of a little more than room temperature). This shows that there is far more heat that is retained by the rocket mass heater than by the conventional stove.

Second, we should look at the figures. Being 75% efficient does not consider the heat that escapes up through the chimney in smoke form. If we were to test a conventional oven within the lab we’d find that between 14% and 16% of the heat were escaping in smoke form alone. So then the 75% rating then becomes 64%. The higher rating is simply marketing spiel helping the big stove companies in their quarterly figures.

Lastly, we must consider that this original 75% may not be all that it seems in any event. This is a rating that was found within a laboratory with experts who were focused on getting the very best rating (and therefore skewing the results). So even though a wood stove may be able to achieve 75% when in ideal laboratory settings with a bunch of experts, the rating that you’ll receive within your home is likely to be far less. In fact it’s been found that on average the operating efficacy of a conventional wood burning stove tends to level off at around 35%, which becomes ever less efficient for those who are opting to burn damp leaves (where efficiency can run at something like 5%!). Now in comparison we take rocket mass heaters, which have no way of losing their inner air flow, and thus never lead to a slow, inefficient burn.

If you liked this post, but you’d like something a bit simpler to build first, why not check out our DIY rocket stove post?

(Images from: Wikipedia & Ernie and Erica Wisner)

Easily Fix Old Drill Batteries (To Work Like Brand New!)

June 13, 2017

I have an old DEWALT cordless drill. The battery no longer holds its charge. I contacted DEWALT ages back about a replacement battery but they quoted $85 PLUS P&P… I am sad to say that my trusty old drill has sat unused since. I purchased a new cheaper drill for half the price.

But all is not lost as thanks to the videos below, I am now able to breathe life back in to my trusty old DWALT drill! I can ‘hot rod’ and repair the battery for less than $20! I am over the moon! If you have an old battery drill, or any other battery power tool that’s no longer charging or holding its charge, DON’T pay top dollar for a replacement battery, or a new tool. Hot-rod the battery pack and replace the battery cells. It’s pretty straightforward to do. Watch the video below.

UPDATE: I have since stumbled across another video tutorial. This one shows how to upgrade your old NiCad battery drills etc, to lithium battery drills! This means you don’t need to purchase a new drill, to take advantage of the newer, much improved lithium battery technology. You can simply upgrade your old drill’s battery by replacing the battery cells in it.

How To Hotrod a Cordless Drill Battery (Replace The Battery Cells!)

Upgrade Old NiCad Powertool Batteries To Lithium Batteries

Rain Harvesting: How To Store & Filter Rainwater

June 8, 2017

UPDATE: this post is a combination of a few smaller posts that were knocking around from the early days of K.W.N. As these posts contained excellent information on rainwater harvesting and filtering, I have compiled them here in one larger post.

dumpadayuse-rain-water-to-water-your-garden

I stumbled across this diagram a while back. Unfortunately, I was unable find the original source or any further details on materials and construction. However, all is not lost as the diagram pretty much shows you all you need to know to collect and store rainwater at home. Includes fixtures and fittings. It shouldn’t be too difficult to replicate this system using just the diagram.

How To Make A BioSand Homemade Water Filter To Filter Collected Rainwater

Most people who collect rainwater, do so for watering their garden and crops. The thing is, rainwater collected from the roof of your home etc is perfectly drinkable if it is first filtered, to take out any toxins and bacteria etc. You don’t need a high-tech expensive industrial water filter system to do this; you can easily make something known as a bio-sand filter, which can all but be made for free…

Below is some additional information from Wikipedia

Bio-sand filters remove pathogens and suspended solids through a combination of biological and physical processes that take place in the biolayer and within the sand column. BSFs have been shown to remove 5.00-64.00% of heavy metals and 90.00-99.99% of turbidity and contaminants such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoa.

If you are interested in setting up your own bio-sand water filter, to run your collected rainwater through, check out: How To Make A Bio-Sand Filter To Filter Collected Rainwater

(Photo from: The Prepper Journal)

BioSand Filter Which Could Easily Be Adapted Into A Rainwater Barrel

Above is a large homemade biosand water filter system from Instructables. If you head over to Instructables, there is a very in depth, step-by-step tutorial explaining how to build this DIY biosand filter, plus a load of information on why biosand filter are incredibly effective at filtering water. The best bit, is the whole tutorial can be saved/downloaded in a PDF document, making it easy to print out and refer to whilst.

(Image from: jimmypat)

Simple And Affordable Water Tote Rain Storage System

If you have the space and your local County allows it, I think everyone should install a simple rain collection system. You would be amazed at how much water you can collect from the roof of your house or a shed/barn. You are pretty much only limited by the space you have to store the collected water. If you have lots of space, you could easily capture enough water for watering your garden and any fruit and vegetables you grow.

Harvested rainwater isn’t really great to drink, but if you are without your main water supply for whatever reason, it is feasible to use a survival/camping water filter such as this water filter to filter this water and make it safe for drinking.

If you’d like more information about building a rain water collection system, the folks over at Old World Garden Farms have built a great system and they have written an article about how it was put together and how it works. Check it out below.

For emergency drinking water storage, check out: WaterBOB WB-06-001 Emergency Drinking Water Storage it fits in your bathtub and holds 100 gallons of water.

(Photo from: Old World Garden Farms)

If you are thinking about installing rain barrels to store rain water, just be aware that in some states this is illegal, sad but true. If you can have rain water barrels there are lots of things that you should and shouldn’t do. If you are storing water to drink, you need to do things differently than if you were storing the water purely to water the grass. I found a great article explaining the do’s and don’ts of building and installing your first rain barrel: The Do’s and Don’ts of Building Your First Rain Barrel

(Picture Credit: Rachel Tayse)

40+ Of Our Favourite DIY Solar Projects & Tutorials

June 7, 2017

Over the years we have featured a whole load of awesome DIY solar projects for you guys to try building for yourselves. This fairly big post is a round up of some of the shorter DIY solar posts we have done. I have rounded them up here, in one place, to make them easier to find. The DIY solar projects below are in no particular order, so make sure you have a scan through all of them! You can use the ‘table of contents’ below, to jump to any specific project.

DIY Beautiful Solar Light Pathway

How awesome does that look? This solar light pathway is made with glass blocks and solar powered LED lights. In the tutorial below, most of the items used were purchased, but I think you could pick up almost everything required for free if you ask around…

For example when we moved into our house, the previous owner had left 15 of those glass blocks in the garage. They knocked around for a while and then I ended up just giving them away. Also if you didn’t want the different colors, you could pick up some free unwanted solar garden lights, and utilize the solar panel and LED in the glass blocks; this method would also cut down on any wiring. If you want to give this a go, get on Freecycle (or similar) and see what you can acquire for free. Tutorial: DIY Beautiful Solar Light Pathway.

Build A Solar Panel From A Picture Frame & Some Solar Garden Lights

If you have been following K.W.N for a while, you’ll know we love cheap recycling/re-purposing projects. Today we have a nice little solar project to build a cheap solar panel from a picture frame and some old garden solar lights…

This would be a cheap project even if you were purchasing the solar garden lights specifically to build this solar panel. You can pick them up for a dollar or two and you could save the batteries and LEDs for other projects. It’s just not necessary to buy new lights though. Almost everyone has some of these solar lights laying around unused at home. The cheap batteries fail and then they get discarded in the shed. Ask around, I am sure you’ll have no problem getting hold of some for free! Once you have enough solar garden lights, check the tutorial and get building your own cheap DIY solar panel.

How To Get Cheap Solar Power: 14 DIY Solar Projects

For most people the dream of living off-the-grid can only be accomplished by utilizing solar power, but this doesn’t always have to mean purchasing $10,000 solar system to power your home. Solar power has never been this cheap! Here are 14 DIY solar tutorials to get you generating free electricity and cooking for FREE, using just the power of the sun.

There are cheap DIY solar projects here ranging from simple solar food dehydrators and cookers, through to small DIY solar generators and even a full DIY home built solar system…

DIY Home Built Solar Power System

If you truly want to live off-the-grid or insulate yourself against rising energy prices, you have to embrace and utilize solar power (unless you have running water source, in which case you could utilize hydro power instead).

The problem is that getting a professional company to kit out and set up you up with a solar power system can be very expensive, but if you have sound DIY skills, with a bit of planning and research, you can set up your own DIY home solar power system. Check out the link here to see how this can be done.

How To Make A Better Solar Dehydrator

We did a post ages back about how to make a different solar dehydrator, but that dehydrator was a completely different design…

Personally I think this solar dehydrator is a more effective design. The whole thing seems more effective and simple and this applies to how it’s built and how it functions. If I had to choose between the two solar dehydrator designs, I would choose to build this one. Check out the great photo tutorial (including materials list) from ’10 Degrees Above’.

Make A Cardboard And Duct Tape Solar Oven

Now I’ll admit – until I started reading up on them a bit more – I thought solar ovens were a bit of a gimmick, you know, something to do with the kids, or just a fun project that isn’t that practical… How wrong I was! On a sunny day these babies rock, I have seen them cooking all manner of foods, I have even seen one bake a loaf of bread!

The tutorial below shows have to make a super quick, super simple solar oven from just a cardboard box, aluminum foil and some duct tape, and even this solar oven managed to get to a temperature of 280 degrees! This is a cardboard box and aluminum foil solar oven; imagine how much a solar oven would be if it was made from higher quality materials! I have read posts saying that 450 degrees is easily achievable. I’ll search out a higher quality, more permanent solar cooking tutorial, but in the meantime, have a go making this cardboard box solar oven and see how it goes. Tutorial: Make A Cardboard And Duct Tape Solar Oven.

How To Build A Solar Food Dehydrator

Being able to eat and enjoy the fresh fruit and vegetables your grow is one of the best things about becoming more self-sufficient. However, in many places the growing season is short. You end up with an abundance of crops in the summer and fall, but hardly any through the winter.

The main solution to this problem is to preserve your fruit and vegetables so you can enjoy them through the winter months. In my opinion, one of the best ways to do this is to dehydrate the food. You can purchase electric dehydrators, but why spend money on an electric dehydrator and continue spending money on the electricity it uses, when you can make a solar dehydrator pretty cheaply that costs nothing to run.

If you’re interested in building your own solar dehydrator, check out the video below. Also check out this link for more information on building a solar dehydrator.

How To Build An Awesome Solar Oven (Bakes Bread & Cooks Whole Chicken!)

A while back we did a post showing how to build a very cheap and easy solar oven from a cardboard box. Today we are featuring its big brother (built by the same person), which is made from wood, fully insulated and even has a sun finding pivoting base, making it easy to focus the oven at the sun.

People dismiss solar ovens as a gimmick, I think this is a mistake, sure, they are useless on a cloudy day, but it is worth building a solar oven because when the sun is shining, you can cook all day long for free! This particular oven can maintain a 300 degree temperature on a sunny day, and it is often used to bake bread and cook whole chicken.

DIY Solar USB Charger – Upcycle An Old Altoid Tin

If you are a fan of DIY and LOVE solar powered stuff, this is your next project. This Altoid tin solar USB charger will power your iPod or phone where ever you are.

Why spend 50 bucks on one from online when you can make one for a lot cheaper and a lot cooler looking. You can pop the solar panel away and no one will ever know what is inside. Tutorial: DIY Solar USB Charger – Upcycle An Old Altoid Tin

How To Build A Solar-Powered Still To Purify Any Water Source

The great thing about using a still, or in this case, a solar still to purify water is that any water source can be used, even dirty unfiltered water and sea water!

Boiling water is the most common way to purify water to make it safer to drink. The problem is that boiling dirty water with debris in isn’t very effective as even after the water is boiled, there is still potentially dangerous sediment and debris in the water. It is the same with salt water, boiling won’t make it drinkable… Purifying water with any still and in this case a solar still, will effectively purify both dirty unfiltered water and salt water. This is because in both cases, the sediment and salt etc, don’t evaporate, so they are left behind to be discarded. To find out more about building a solar still, check out the great post from ‘Off The Grid News’.

DIY Solar Water Heater from Stock Tank

Are you looking to get off the grid to heat your water? Batch heaters have long been known as the best choice in warm climates or for seasonal use in colder areas, and recent work with improved materials and designs suggests they may also be the best choice even in colder areas.

You could find a lot of the parts and materials needed to make this on craigslist to make this build even cheaper. Tutorial: DIY Solar Water Heater from Stock Tank

DIY Miniature Soda Can Solar Heater

A few weeks back I did a really popular post: Cheap To Build Soda-Can Solar Space Heating Panels.

This is very similar, although on a much smaller scale. This soda can solar heater from Primed Preppers is designed to fit on a windowsill. It is not going to completely heat your home, but every little bit helps.

I think this would be a nice fun project to do either with the kids, or perhaps as a proof of concept/trial, before taking things large scale like our previous post on soda can solar heaters.

How To Build Your Own Solar Thermal Panel For Around $5

I did a post a few days back about solar power for your home. Some folks on the Facebook page pointed out that the options featured were expensive and out of the reach of many people.

Today I am going to focus on budget solar power and when I say budget, I mean less than $5. That’s right, for less than $5 you can build a solar thermal panel, which will heat water to a temperature that scalds.

This option is small-scale and it is built around a reclaimed heat dispersal system from an old refrigerator (which you can get with the gas removed from your local dump). It has no pump as it is gravity fed and it requires no electricity to work. Just put it in the sun, turn on the water feed and you will get a slow but constant supply of very hot water.

Now this is all small-scale, but I see no reason why several of these panels could not be used together in some way, to meet a family’s entire hot water needs. The idea of using reclaimed heat dispersal systems from old refrigerators is genius and I definitely think there is enough here to run with, and create something more large-scale.

Head over to The Sietch and check out their tutorial complete with lots of photos to help you along the way.

DIY Solar Panel That Follows The Sun

Solar power is a great way to get off the grid or at least power some household items to be more self sufficient. The only problem with this is you have to have the solar panels pointing in the direction where the sun the most.

This relatively low cost and straightforward to build project actually allows your panel to follow the sun so you have more hours of sun on your panel, thus, giving you more power, aparently, between 30 and 50% more power! See the full instructable here.

How To Build Your Own Solar Thermal (Free hot water!)

This is a super simple, super effective, budget DIY solar thermal for hot water. It is so effective it can heat water to a temperature that scalds… The system can heat five gallons of water and due to the high temperature of the water, this is more than enough for a quick shower as you will need to add more cold water to adjust the temperature. The whole system costs around $30 to build.

To be fair, the person who built this solar thermal is based in Hawaii, but it has proven very effective there, so there is no reason this should not be just as effective for anyone else living in similar warm regions. It could also be utilized in cooler climates, but its performance is very much determined by the heat and sun. Even so, it could still be a worthwhile project, even if it is only effective seasonally.

Head over to The Sietch and check out their tutorial complete with lots of photos to help you along the way.

DIY Portable Solar Water Heater

I go camping pretty much every few months and I have always wondered if there was a way of getting hot water without boiling it over a fire! I found a DIY portable water heater that you can make for around $10 and can be folded and carried in a backpack, suitcase, car or boat!

This could be used to have a shower or to wash. Even better, if you were bugging out, this would give a much needed moral boost to get you going again. See how to make it.

DIY Solar Powered Radio (or other AA powered devices) For $3

This great tutorial shows you how to adapt a 2/3 AA cell powered radio to be solar powered, by using the small solar panel from one of those cheap solar garden lights.

Sure, you can go out and purchase a new solar powered radio, but they cost a lot more, and this way you can convert an existing radio you have. If you also have an old solar garden light as well, this project will cost next to nothing to complete. Once completed you can put rechargeable AA batteries in your radio and they will be recharged by the solar panel when it is left in bright light.

I am not an expert, so someone please tell me if I am wrong, but I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t do the same thing with any 2/3 AA cell powered device. The principle would remain the same…

If you want to give it a go, head over to Got Wind and check out the tutorial.

Make A Solar Scorcher (Fresnel Lens) Frame

How to build the Solar Scorcher

The Solar Scorcher in action, burning and melting stuff…

This DIY solar scorcher (Fresnel Lens) is so powerful that it produces a 2,000-degree ray of heat, that instantly sets wood alight. With a focused beam it can also melt sheet metal!

It could be used for cooking boiling water etc and I am sure it has some other genuine uses (fire starting and melting stuff etc), but I am mostly just featuring it as it is pretty cool and it seriously demonstrates how the power of the sun can be harnessed into something that’s crazy powerful. This DIY project was made with the panel out of an old TV and some low cost wood; the whole thing cost less than $8 to build.

Build A DIY Solar USB Phone Charger For $5

We have featured several DIY solar chargers in the past, some large scale with others being small USB chargers like this one. We featured a DIY USB charger a while back, but the cost came in a bit higher than this charger, due to the fact that that solar charger was effectively a solar battery charger which could then charge mobile USB devices via the power stored in the rechargeable batteries.

This solar charger doesn’t have a battery pack, it charges the battery in your USB device directly. This brings the cost down as you don’t need to purchase some rechargeable batteries to use for the project. It also means you never have to worry about the batteries failing over time (because there are none!) AND the solar charger is lighter/smaller and way more portable. It could fit in your pocket. Check out the tutorial.

Make A Cheap Solar Charger From 2 Garden Solar Lights

I think almost all of us have some of those cheap garden solar lights, with many of those lights being broken/unused. If they are broken, see our previous post: DIY Quick Fix For Solar Lights.

If you do have some old unused garden solar lights, why not put them to good use and build this simple solar charger, which uses the solar panels from two garden lights? This DIY charger also has an LED light added for extra functionality. Once built this solar charger should be able to charge/power any small USB device. Tutorial: Make A Cheap Solar Charger From 2 Garden Solar Lights

Easy Solar Panel Or Cooker Sun Tracker Made From A Clock

So we have posted before about DIY solar panels that track the sun for maximum performance, see: DIY Solar Panel That Follows The Sun. The problem is that was a fairly technical DIY build. This solar tracker is much, much simpler though as it basically involves hacking a large clock to provide the mechanism to track the sun. Once built you just set the clock to the sun and it will then track the sun as the clock turns. Seriously, I don’t think you will find a simper or easier to build solar tracker.

This clock solar tracker could be used with a solar oven or a solar panel. Using a solar tracker should increase performance by 30-50% Vs a static solar panel. Check out the build tutorial.

How To Build A DIY Portable Solar Generator

First I should clarify – there are solar panels, solar chargers and solar generators. We have featured several tutorials showing how to build cheap solar chargers. These are simple to build as they are basically just a solar panel that produces electricity and charges when the sun is out, but when the sun goes in, it does nothing. This tutorial is to build a simple weatherproof solar generator – when the sun is shining the panel produces electricity AND then charges (and tops up) an internal battery so you can store the electricity to use later. To be fully weatherproof I would probably make a little cover to go over the external socket, just to keep it dry.

A solar generator like this would be awesome for camping, fishing and emergency preparedness etc. With it you can power lights and other small devices. Check out the full build tutorial here.

DIY Solar Powered Evaporative Cooler (Portable!)

In arid areas of low humidity (desert/ southwest US etc) an evaporation cooler or swamp cooler can reduce the temperature of a room by 20-30 degrees. In many cases they are even more effective than traditional air conditioning. Evaporation coolers are also very low-tech and cheap and easy to build and run. In fact the DIY evaporation cooler in the tutorial below is run via solar power.

DIY evaporation coolers provide true off-the-grid cooling for arid areas. The fact most arid areas have constant sun easily allows these cooler to run via solar power. If you hook in a battery to charge in the solar system, you’ll be able to run the cooler throughout the night too. A great option for RVs, trailers/caravans and cabins. Check out the DIY build tutorial.

How To Make A DIY Solar Furnace For Under $50

Free heating for your home, that’s the dream… Unfortunately, short of owning your own woods with a free supply of wood, heating your home entirely for free is probably going to remain a dream. However there are loads of DIY heating and insulating projects you can undertake that can dramatically cut your heating costs. See: Cheap DIY Energy-Saving Thermal Curtains, Endless Hot Water Without Electricity, DIY Bubble Wrap Window Insulation and 5 Ways To Heat Your Home For Free.

The video above shows how to make a simple solar furnace for around $50. It’s not going to entirely heat your home, but every little bit helps and even if it allows you to turn the thermostat down by one degree, that will save you a load of money over the winter.

(Image from: thegulley.com )

5 Things Needed For Catching Big Salmon

March 8, 2017

Salmon are one of the most famous sports fish that are widely distributed. The fish tastes outstanding, but their great fighting spirit might offer a robust challenge to you. There are many subspecies of salmon which would be a treat but catching king Salmon could make your day.

Hence, to help you in catching easily, we have brought up a list of five things needed for catching big Salmon.

Fishing Rod

Selecting the ideal rod for salmon fishing would be advantageous. The perfect and the best salmon rod would lead you more towards success and fun in catching king salmon.

There are various kinds of salmon fishing rods such as spinning rods, baitcasting rods, trolling rods, and fly fishing rods.
Generally, for getting hold of a king size salmon, a fishing rod of about 8-10 foot range would be better.
Keeping this in mind, the salmon fly fishing rods could be the right choice for you as these rods would be about 9 to 10 foot in range.

Moreover, the butt portion would also be important to consider for these powerful fighters.

The tail section generally would range between 6 to 12 inches. Usually, the blanks of a salmon fishing rod are made up of graphite or fiberglass or a merger of both to provide flexibility and strength.

However, these rods are designed mainly with extreme strength along with the power and a tough hook to set right into the bony jaws to control these strong fighters for which they are popularly known.

Fishing Reel

The reel would include the most vital equipment while targeting king salmon. Particularly, the drag system would have to operate correctly on the reel when the big fish is pulling firmly. The drag system would have to be durable so that it doesn’t freeze up for great pressure and smooth so that it offers equal pressure even if the king salmon is pulling hard.

However, there are two important types of reels; one is the spinning reels while the other is conventional or baitcasting reels.
Spinning reels could work perfectly for beginners as it can be used easily but might not prove the best for catching King Salmon.

This is because these reels are not as hefty or strong as the baitcasting reels and also the drag system could not be good.

However, you could get some good brands of spinning reels that might work great. The conventional reel comes with a reliable drag system and is easy to crack under pressure. This is the reason that these reels could perform better in catching the king salmon.

In addition to it, the level wind reels could be an excellent choice for big salmon, which comes with the line strength of about 12 pounds.

Fishing Lines

The fishing line that you will employ for catching big salmon would determine whether your day will be successful or frustrating.

Although the monofilament lines are as always the most common choice for maximum anglers as they are cheap, it might not result in something effective in catching big salmon.

Specialty lines and super lines are constructed with several elements and amalgamation of items than the standard lines that make them ideal for catching big fishes.

Super lines, constructed through thermal fusion or braiding the strands of elements and designed with strength make it the most efficient line to land king Salmon. These lines lack stretch and have excellent knot strength. The diameter is just a fraction of the monofilament lines, and it permits deep, fast descent while trolling.

However, super lines might not make a good leader material always as these are not constructed of any smooth or clear material. Specialty lines are even often used salmon fly fishing from both in freshwater and saltwater situations. These lines would always be attached to a spool at the rod’s end and look nearly same in appearance and texture to super lines.

Monofilament Lines are also used in catching Speckled Trout, and if you are planning to catch speckled trout then monofilament line with fine diameter is pretty useful.

Fishing Lures

Spoons, spinners, and plugs could be considered to be the most effectual lures for salmon, especially for King salmon. Spoon lures comprise of concave, elongated oval fastened to a hook. Usually, the oblong spoon is made of a painted metal and designed to make it look like a small fish mimicking the fluttering, random movements.

Spoons would be useful especially for downrigger and troll fishing. The other potential lure of salmon fishing is the spinner, which is also popularly known as spinnerbait. There are many distinctive designs in this category, but the standard feature in all is the reflective blades of metal. These blades spin freely around while it is reeled in and create potential vibration in water that attracts the salmons.

The wobbling variety of Plug would also work perfectly for catching big salmon. These are hard, reliable lures that feature many hooks typically and are designed with reflective paint to look like a fish. There are two separated parts in wobbling plugs that are joined by a hinge, and it allows fluttering back and forwards while reeled in.

Such a movement, as usual, creates vibration and attracts the attention of the salmon. A cut-plug lure is another type of plug that is used for salmon fishing exclusively in Great Lakes as well as Pacific Coast waters. Moreover, the color would be the primary consideration for any lures.

Live Baits

There is no doubt that artificial flies and lures would let you catch salmon in significant numbers. But, there are some live baits that could even provide you the extra edge. In the famous saltwater fishing technique, the lure is tipped, that is, adding extra pieces of herring or worm to the lure.

However, you would have to be cautious about this that tipping much larger amount could affect the lure action negatively. Anglers use fish eggs fastened to a float while drift fishing salmon in shallow freshwaters.

Conclusion

Well, we hope that our mentioned list of five things needed for catching big salmon would render you a good idea about the essential requirements. You could experience a great catch if you use the correct materials. However, if you have any suggestion regarding it, please let us know.

Biography

Hi there, I’m Ted Thomas from GrayWolfLife, an ardent adventure writer. I write for readers with a genuine interest in enjoying the great outdoors. By sharing my experiences camping, hunting and fishing, I hope to inspire others to fully explore the depths of their passion.