PowerSwitch

Dinor,
thanks for the link. Ive only been visiting the BBKA so far but look a bit further.
pete m.

Or take up a hobby that will become useful post fall, for example beekeeping!

Which is exactly what Im am doing at the moment. Anyone else done this yet? Im at the early stages but bees are amazing creatures. Im neck deep in books at the moment.

Pete M

Sorry for not commenting; ive been away. Having mentioned old books we do have a couple of antique books going back to 18 and 1700 s. The print is still perfectly clear. The bindings are failing though. Ive thought a bit more about my aims for the documents; I think the information I wanted to recor...

Hi all, thanks for the tips. I really wanted to capture some information for say a 20 year period. For example the drawings for my solar power supply, and notes on fixing it etc, experinces with compost!! etc. Ill probably put the sheets in plastic envelopes to help preserve them. Your comments on l...

I would like to create a printed manual of articles from the net. I would also
like it to last for a long time. Does anyone no if special paper and/or laser
inks are available for long term printing? What is the expected printed
page life from a laser?

Thanks for any info.

Pete M

Dinor, thanks for the info - I hadnt noticed you were in Spain. We really did get enough toms last year without feeding them but the raised beds have had manure and compost etc dug in. We are now eating lettuce (outside grown), cabbage, radish and the first pea pods have formed. This year Ive ignore...

I am already eating this years tomato crop. Dinor - are these under glass? I was feeling pleased because mine are flowering (in the greenhouse). We dont feed ours anything though. My crops last year were grown in rasied paper mulched beds and they were like triffids. I have been told by several peo...

Tess, Maybe you should think about a yacht instead of a narrow boat. The cost of the propulsion system you seem to need plus the capital for the narrow boat would pobably buy you a decent live aboard. Of course you would have to be based on the coast. Then you can go where you like without any fuel....

Andy, I included a battery monitor with my system (Studer smb-01). Partly because I wanted to keep a close track of the charge / discharge and partly because my system is outdoors so this gives me a monitoring display in the house. It was quite pricey though. It displays the current (+ into the batt...

240 W panels - Id no idea they were available with that output. How big (dimensions and weight) are they? To be honest Im finding it hard work wall mounting two of my 175W units. The correct answer to the question "Can you supply me with wall mounting brackets for my 175W 19Kg panels" is N...

On a positive note, now is the time to buy cheap stuff from America. Could it be the right time to import Solar panels from the states? Anyone fancy sharing a container? :? I have no idea how to go about this and I assume that the shipping costs would outweigh the savings but if the dollar keeps dr...

Today Ive just eaten the first radish of the season from the garden. It was green house sown then transplated. The garden sown lettuce are now coming up. I see a repeat of last years problems looming when we had to eat toms for weeks on end. I have to live on a diet of radishes for the next few week...

I noticed on the BBC web site this article : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6563013.stm Near the end the question is : Will we see a return to high inflation and high rates, then? Part of the answer is : And energy prices are coming down too, especially for household energy like gas. This doesn...

I wonder if I could tap the PowerSwitch team for some ideas? Im starting to think about changing careers. Right now Im a contract programmer and have been for 20 years. I have no work on. If you had a small amount of capital and breathing space what kind of retraining would you undertake? Here are s...

Thanks everyone;

Its not listed or in a conservation area and there is a small utility room extension on the back so hopefully the side wall panels will be OK. The panel on the front is for a later stage anyway.

Ill let you know what happens.

Pete M