Excited about Green Power Science!

So Now What?

Not to long ago I went on a preparedness spree. Due to the economy I thought..."Well maybe I should get some supplies just to be on the safe side."
Needless to say I went nuts. Most folks I spoke to thought I was nuts for buying everything I did....heck...even my wife questioned it. However its like I told all of them...."I would much rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it!"

So a couple weeks ago there was a nice little ice storm in my area (new england area)that took out the electricity for oh...a little over a week. Oh....but not to worry...myself and my family were very well prepared!

So What Happen?

So when everything came down during the ice storm we did very well. Better than most! And for the folks that thought I was nuts..... Well lets just say they were happy I was around. (To be honest everyone brought something to the table, it was a community effort.)

To be honest I had a good time during that outage, and the best part is I learned where I could improve.

So What did you Learn?

Well to keep us warm we were using a kerosene heater. The only downer is there is only one local place that sells kerosene. Now I know most people would think...well big deal....
The problem with this is that most gas stations during the outage were also down. We were lucky that this one wasn't. So here is weak point #1

For electric we used the typical generator. (Weak spot again.) Even though we had a generator we didn't have any running water.. We used sump pump water for our toilets, and lots of Purell for hand washing. So another point to improve on.

Ok..So Now What?

I started to look into solar hot air collectors again (I have been wanting to build one for a long time now) and other alternatives... That is when I found this dude doing some crazy stuff.(Dan Rojas of Green Power Science) He reminded me of myself as a kid with a Magnifying glass melting my lego city's.

He was using a Fresnel lens to boil water, melt glass, melt steal, and all sorts of cool stuff....It wasn't until I saw the video of him in a swamp scooping up some water saying he'd end up drinking that water by the end of the video. I was thinking two things....First...that's sick, second...the dude is AWESOME!! So from there I looked at his videos and became more intrigued.

This guy got me so excited about alternative energy. It seems to be my new addiction!

No lie....I have been driving my wife nuts, and doing research to about 2 AM every night for the past week. If I could spend a week with this guy to learn and geek-out with... I'd be in geek glory!

The very cool thing about Dan Rojas of Green Power Science is he shows you how you can make most of these things with everyday items for the average Joe. He shows and explains everything from creating a boiler, Making a perfect circle on a table saw, making a Parabolic mirror, and much, much more. All very cool stuff I promise!!

He reminds me of Mr. Wizards world only for alternative energy. Fun to learn, and giving a little bit of inspiration at the same time. (This guy needs his own cable show!)

So Now What Ya Gonna Do?

Well watch more of Dan's videos, study, ask lots of questions.

I now have a lot of projects I want to do. One being the solar hot air collector, (Designs, engineering, and more designs) a windmill or two, and maybe a few solar cells. I also have a few other side projects that will be more for fun/educational purposes. (build a Tesla Turbine, and a sterling engine (Once again something Dan is doing)

So when ya gonna start?

Well I am gonna use my shed as a pilot. So I started to get it ready, but wont be able to do much until spring. (no real room). My first project will be a hot air collector, (need to find high Temp materials, don't want any construction fatigue). From there I think I will move onto a wind mill.

Well that's it for now. I will keep you posted on my test subjects, but in the in the meantime why don't you stop over at Green Power Science and tell Dan Hitechgeek says hi! He's an awesome resource, and I highly suggest checking him out!

Lots of Info for Geeks and Technician (ESI)

Well it's been a while since my last post and I thought I'd post some info I found a few years ago that could be helpful to many out there.

A few years ago I was looking for some schematic diagrams for something (dont ask....I dont remember what.) and after going through a few hundred web sites I came upon this place.

It looks like someone took a lot of time to help/provide technical information to anyone who might need it.

Some may know about it, but I'm sure there are a lot that do not.

So Whats There?
Well for starters there is a forum with tons of info. If you need a hand with something why don't you stop by, I'm sure the folks in there would help ya out!

So What Else?
Well all types of info on equipment ranging from "tv's ( plasma, tft-lcd, widescreen, hdtv ), dvd, vcr, car audio,gsm,digital camera, computer monitors (tft-lcd panels or conventional crt), test equipment, power supplies and many more digital and analogue electronic devices."

Datasheets
There's also datasheets about "integrated circuits diagrams, diodes, transistors, operational amplifiers, pic, pcb design etc."

But Wait theres More!!
Software
There is also "programs, eprom, eeprom, bin files used in equipment repair."

"Most files are pdf and djvu formats, zip or rar compressed."
Pay attention when downloading, many are broken into multiple zip/rar files.

One other nice thing about the site is all users can add their files essentially helping the site/community.

Well thats all I have right now.......However I am thinking of playing with some solar stuff.....but we'll save that for some other time!