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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Costs of Alternatives for Running Fridge
    Posted: 08 Sep 2018 at 2:20pm
Glueguy, do they still have network TV!? 

I haven't had cable for 10 years. No landline either. Streaming only, via cellular data unlimited data plan. Have a cell booster and directional antenna for the Pod.  I still get old school Netflix discs in the mail though. 

Let me know if you want an extra TV antenna. Once I get that and the roof air off I can cover the whole top of the pod with solar, edge to edge with 72 cell modules which coincidentally are the same length as the pod is wide. I'll just go over top of the fantastic fan and the tank vents. 

Where in Norcal are you? I was in Santa Cruz before moving to the OBX. Miss the weather (or more accurately I miss the lack of weather) but not the cost of living. 
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lostagain View Drop Down
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Posts: 2587 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Sep 2018 at 2:46pm
We went one step further, with a savings in energy I might add, and took the tele out of our Pod.  Less weight to lug around and we never watched it anyway.  If we are desperate to watch a screen with entertainment, tethering the Mac to the cell phone (assuming there is service) works fine for the German romance movies with dubbed Spanish.  And we can charge the phone and Mac with the surplus energy we have from our solar panel.  

It'd be nice to mount solar panels to the roof, like they did on the wings of Solar Impulse, so that we can run the fridge, but that's an awful lot of work and money to invest for the moment.  Camping takes priority.
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Sep 2018 at 3:45pm
I installed this cell booster system in my Rpod 179. I clamp the pole for the high gain directional antenna to the flange of the slide. I leave the onmi antenna that comes with the kit on the TV, and move the booster cradle over there while driving. Works quite well 80-90% of the time with the directional antenna, but there actually still has to be a signal to boost.    In the bottom of some ot the WV hollows I sometimes camp in, not so much. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u47bXmgoIQ

There are lots of other really interesting techy videos on Tom's website. Definitely worth a look,especially the series on his 24V salvaged Tesla battery pack install. 5 kWh battery weighs 55 lbs and is 80-90% useable so more like 4x a dual golf cart setup at half the weight and 10x the cycle life. 

We actually use the television quite a bit especially on rainy days so I swapped for a 12V one, only uses about 1.5A. 

1 kW of surplus commercial size modules can be had for less than about $400 now. For sure there will be lots of work involved. Should be a fun project. 
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jato View Drop Down
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Posts: 3220 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2018 at 7:50pm
Wow, sun is 5 billion years old?  Hmmm.  From the RISE project done in the 1990-'s scientists had to capitulate on the age of the earth to no more than 12,000 years and that is on the liberal end.  This figure was arrived by looking at the half life of helium, and seeing how much helium is currently in our atmosphere.  Life cannot exist w/o this important gas but there is a minimum and maximum amount that is allowable for life to exist as we know it.
Also, remember that when you exchange your propane tank for another you are only getting one that is 75% full verses when you go to a local hardware store, or other that will actually fill you up, it is actually full. 
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Posts: 2629 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2018 at 8:27pm
Originally posted by jato

Also, remember that when you exchange your propane tank for another you are only getting one that is 75% full verses when you go to a local hardware store, or other that will actually fill you up, it is actually full. 
Actually, the amount of propane you get in an exchange varies quite a bit. We've gotten them as low as 75%, but we've also gotten them close to 100% (I weigh them when I get home with them). Unavoidable sometimes, as they "age out". Otherwise I take them to the local gas station that offers propane, and the fill 'em up.
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lostagain View Drop Down
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Posts: 2587 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2018 at 11:01pm
We take our propane bottles to the local Tractor Supply which is the cheapest around and fill them.  We're charged for the amount they put into the bottle, whether it's fully filled or otherwise.  We've got one old tank that I have to do an exchange on for one with a newer manufactured date.  Though you pay a little more for the propane, if you search the dates on the tanks, you can get a newer one that has a decent service life without having to hassle with disposing of the aged out tank.  

RISE project, earth only 12K years old?  hmmmm? I think that's a topic best left for a board that has topics other than rPods.
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Fred & Maria Kearney
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Posts: 2629 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Sep 2018 at 10:36am
Originally posted by lostagain

RISE project, earth only 12K years old?  hmmmm? I think that's a topic best left for a board that has topics other than rPods.
Wasn't Lucy over a million years old (pre-human)?
bp
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2018 at 6:49am
Are you sure it was helium? Helium is stable, doesn't have a half life. Helium is the least chemically reactive element known, so it doesn't participate in the biochemical reactions required by living things, or any chemical reactions for that matter. 

Helium is useful for life for breathing mixtures for divers as a substitute for nitrogen to avoid nitrogen narcosis, aka "rapture of the deep".  It's also good for filling dirigibles rather than using hydrogen, just ask the Hindenburg survivors if any are still around.   

And speaking of potentially exploding gas containers, that brings us around to propane tanks so we are back on topic Big smile 
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Posts: 62 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2018 at 9:00am
There are isotopes of helium, and these have half-lifes. This fact does not support any claims of a young earth.
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2018 at 9:45am
Yep, you are correct Our Pod. There sure are. The longest lived one is He6 with a half life of 801 milliseconds. And because of this they don't exist in nature.  Only He3 and He4 which are both stable. So the radioactive He isotopes are irrelevant.

Isotopes With A Known Natural Abundance
Mass NumberNatural AbundanceHalf-life
30.000134%STABLE
499.999866%STABLE

Known Isotopes

Mass NumberHalf-lifeDecay ModeBranching Percentage
3STABLE--
4STABLE--
57.595×10-22 secondsNeutron Emission100.00%
Alpha Decay100.00%
6801 millisecondsBeta-minus Decay100.00%
73.038×10-21 secondsNeutron EmissionNo Data Available
8119.1 millisecondsBeta-minus Decay100.00%
Beta-minus Decay with
delayed Neutron Emission		16.00%
9No Data AvailableNeutron Emission100.00%
101.519×10-21 secondsNeutron Emission100.00%
1994 Chinook Concourse
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