September 1, 2006

There were 2 posts published on September 1, 2006 (this is page 1 of 1).

Free Energy!

I was poking around the Internets today looking for marine products to blow money on when I came across this Solar Panel Kit at Harbor Freight Tools. Two hundred bucks gets you 3 15-watt solar panels and a power center to charge batteries. You add a deep-cycle battery or two and an inverter and you’ve got yourself a nice little solar power station.

As a geeky kid in the early 80’s I had a fold-up solar panel that would power a transistor radio (transistors, remember those?). I always thought solar panels were interesting to have around for projects. As a grown-up geek, I can imagine some cool uses for 45-watt panels.

Ernesto? Not Impressed-o.

Tropical Storm Ernesto passed through just east of the Triangle early this morning, hugging the eastern side of I-95 as it passes into Virginia. Winds near the center are sustained at 60 MPH, but here there is much, much less wind. The weather station’s wind gauge measured a gust of 20 MPH at 3:45 AM this morning. The gust must have been higher since the gauge is too close to the house for me to trust it. I’d say the breeze is well over what I’d be comfortable sailing in but not strong enough to be worried about falling trees.

The rain so far has been a bust, too. Yesterday got half an inch. Since midnight today we’ve had half an inch. We got more rain with the preceding cold front days ago when it dropped 2.24 inches in a day.

Still, I won’t complain about the rain. I’d been watching my lawn and trees wilt from the drought we’d slipped back into. A good, solid rain spread out over 4-5 days seems to be just what we needed here.