BL> Secondly, why the hell isn't he using gas bottles for the frig,
BL> or even kerosene? Is he a Green freak?

DD> (or concerned that I won't always be able to purchase oil
DD> products?)

 If it ever reaches that stage, you will have two choices: convert to
whatever we then use for portable energy (hydrogen fuel cell, methane,
ethanol) or join the other 8 billion on the planet, dying horribly like
Mad Max III (Beyond the Thunder Box).

 Somehow, I think the first choice makes more sense.

 Have you ever thought what *would* happen if portable energy ceased
to exist? It *can't* happen! The price might go up, and put fuel cells
(or whatever) outside the reach of most people, but the alternative is
a complete collapse of civilisation and that won't happen.

 What *will* happen is no more access to *cheap* portable energy.
That's all oil does for us at present... cheap.

DD> Try to buy a kero fridge in Australia today.

 Someone must make them, somewhere, but LPG makes more sense anyway.

DD> Try to get an absorbtion fridge to cool properly in an tropical
DD> climate. 

 Where are you... Bolivia? Gas fridges are less efficient that
compressor types, so use a bigger evaporator and forget about the 
deep freeze. Do like the Abos - eat your kangaroos fresh, and go and
kill another one when it goes off.

DD> Try to move a 45Kg gas cyclinder with a motorcycle.

 Try home delivery. I dunno where your tropical extate is, but if
there's a road, there'll be a guy in truck willing to deliver gas
bottles for money. How did you get your 120kg of battery up there?

BL> when it comes to real power like a frig or cooking, there is
BL> nothing to beat hydrocarbons.

DD> One does not cook with solar panels - unless you've got a
DD> shitload of them 

 Trees are hydrocarbons too. You usually cut them down first, then
you set fire to them and cook the kangaroo while dancing around naked
singing " Ooola, boola... mighty Ba'al," and stuff like that. Or you
can use a gas bottle and a barbie. Nudity is optional with the barbie.

  BL> My bushie relations were using kerosene refrigerators 50 years
BL> ago!

DD> That is the last time they were available - ineffective as they
DD> were.

 They were not ineffective... merely inefficient. There's a
difference.

BL> In fact, if David likes to measure his fully-charged trickle
BL> current, he will find that it is almost that much anyway
BL> (assuming the dickhead who wrote the software had half a brain,
BL> and that is a real ask, in my experience of programmers Brenton
BL> excepted).

DD> You do appreciate that for quite some hours each day these
DD> cells get no charge at all? 

 Yes. In fact, my opinion of solar power is "giggle" but the Sun
(praise mighty Ba'al) will eventually fully charge your monster
battery, at which point the floating charge (or as I put it the
"trickle" charge) current will be something like an amp. Lead acid
cells have a natural internal leakage. 2% of the 10-hour rate is 
about what I'd expect for a car battery, and a gel cell will be maybe
half that... 0.45A in your case. In other words, if you leave a fully
charged battery sitting there, no load, it will run dead flat in 1000
hours, about a month to be on the safe side... which is why you need
solar charging, even if it's only for an hour a day.

Regards,
Bob


   

--- BQWK Alpha 0.5