4:42 AM
I actually got up an hour ago to feed the fire. No mysterious wake up except for the alarm I set on my android phone.
And I snoozed through that for an hour.
9:12 AM
Cats fed and watered including the outside stray I named big cat. It is very dark and very cold out there. I found out leaning outside the window taking these pics.
Since I took those pictures a few minutes ago the snow has started to fall.
The heavy blanket is falling now as they had originally predicted and changed their minds. The weather people. They said tomorrow.
I am out of power, my solar batteries are too low, my phone is down to 17 percent. I may be forced to go off-air.
More good news the forecast is now for 30 cm of snow. I would need my snowblower for that. OH YEAH, I need a generator to start the snowblower. But wait I need the snowblower, so I can get the generator, which has now been delayed for a week.
Now that is a big problem.
Once long ago, I was known as a problem solver, I took immense problems and found solutions others could not see. I am older now, and I am in pain most of the time. That task is more difficult. I needed to find solutions for my problems today.
I remembered I had some older batteries ones that have been deemed as not useful anymore. Kind of like me. They currently had more voltage in them than my solar bank. If I could run that voltage through the MPPT controller. That would theoretically boost that low voltage. It might be enough to give my solar bank a little charge.
I would need to make a wire connector to run from the old batteries to the new ones. It could be done. It wouldn’t be much but perhaps enough to charge my phone and tablet and keep the solar batteries alive. I would attempt that after I take a break. I was tired and stuff was hurting. Breathing seemed difficult. No fever so far, I get concerned every time I go out in public. I was out there four days ago.
I made cables from some old jumper cable clamps and 10 gauge wire. My idea didn’t work out, as soon as I hooked the battery to the MPPT controller dropped to the lower voltage. The problem was, outside the snow had a scattering effect on the light and was actually making the panels output some power. More power than the old batteries. I just needed to go out and try to keep the panels clean.
I hooked the old batteries up directly to the new batteries. Either they would equalize or get worse. I had to try.
Just like I had to try starting the big gen again. Remind me next time to buy a gen with an electric starter.
Anyway, my phone and the slow charging portable power bank I had were charging. I had been working on building a better bower bank with old laptop batteries, but I needed to test the capacity of each 18650 cell. For that I needed power. I also had plans to convert my mountain bike to a stationary charger using an alternator hooked to the back wheel. And there were the Peltier coolers I wanted to attach to the wood stove in reverse to convert heat to electricity and of course the wind charger sitting on my bench. One day I had hoped to do all that.
I watched a YouTube video where someone had made a human-sized hamster wheel with a charge controller to help charge solar batteries. I loved that idea. Exercise and power generation at the same time.
My phone was at 60% now, the power bank at 3%. As soon as my phone was done the tablet was going to the charging station. As far as the voltages reported at my desk they hadn’t changed. 12.2 and 12.1 for the two solar battery banks.
I had another problem to solve. I had done the stupid thing again, yup I emptied the wheelbarrow. I needed to change the chain on the chainsaw and then go out and cut more wood, then chop said wood and bring it in. What was I thinking?
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