dave303e

So we have been on the system now since last night. Installers hooked the house to the inverter late afternoon and then installed the panels in the evening. At this stage in on and off drizzle this morning, we have been business as usual and done a load of laundry and battery is still at 100%. We did charge it up last night to full. Once I have the app all connected and set up will dive deeper. So far it all seems good. Base constant load seems to be very low so even in the rain we are creating a surplus. Pic taken before it was all wired in, ceiling still to go into the shed as well.

My concern with a wind turbine is that it is a permanently rotating solution that is exposed to the elements. The maintenance is going to be a lot higher no matter what. Next time you drive through farmlands count the number of working windpomps vs broken ones. If you have something spinning 24/7 you need to keep those bearings well sealed and well lubed. There are also other factors like buildings etc affecting the air movement.

the disconnection we still haven't done. But our one neighbor has done it- from what he said as eskom direct customers. You need to submit a cancellation of services in writing. They then come and pull the links. When they need a transformer they come remove it and take it away but that can take months which is not an issue other than the eyesore. They also pay you back the deposit on the transformer. But I will confirm once we have it sorted.

also horses for courses, at 4w/kg I am happy with a 38tooth for my day to day riding, because the area around the farm is so flat you can watch your dog run away for days. But I do have a 34 and 36 and swap them out when I know I will need them depending on where I am going to ride. We did the same with enduro motorbikes, over gear for XC/harescramble and then shorten the gearing up for technical events

you can get longer chainring bolts and add spacers. https://www.rapide.co.za/product-category/chainring-bolts-spacers/

guilty as charged, might have spent the last 40mins on the openstreetmap version of the SA topo maps and mentally traced along for the entire 2016 EA...

this is key. Kids need to learn to read maps. Maps are a bit like numbers, a good map can be read by any language. The GPS generation is a real thing, a real useless thing...

I think even as core experienced navigators it is always easy to say I should have just done X, Y, Z. We have all been there. I have an Hons degree in geographical information and I have done square circles in swazi forests with a map and 3 compasses in hand. My latest blunder involved walking a perfect bearing accross an open field for 2 km directly at a CP. The mist rolled in fast and it took 2 hours to find a cp which was 700m from where we were. I haven't listened to the interview. I will listen a bit later over lunch. Something that I have always done in terms of not getting lost is to know your handrails. In that area just head south as hard as you can and you will hit the N2 eventually. Better yet head east for the R339. It is easier with a supreme sense of direction and or a compass. But know a hand rail and hammer it all the way there. Again, easier said than done. Again just glad he is safe and sound

Sometimes(not always), there is an opportunity in there. I did the maths on our family dairy operation. We can actually save on average R6000/month by ditching eskom and going to solar. Just based on losses, diesel and line rentals. It comes at a huge investment(R650k at first calculation) but the reality is this implementation can actually really improve the business( employee moral/work conditions, output volume and quality and financially). It has been a slow degradation for the last 7 years so this would essentially correct for that and take it back to 7 years ago's power/diesel economics. In other news, our invertor and battery went in yesterday, panels go up today, eskom disconnected on monday once battery is charged and everything is settled and we can switch to the new backup supply

I have been saying this for years about KOM's. Digital doping is a lot easier than people believe. If you really wanted to you could easily max out your vitality points with nothing more than a laptop, some python and a free garmin/suunto/fitbit account... I am glad he was caught, glad they are tracking it. As for the rider himself- really that is sad. It is a bit like the old liver king this week. when it seems to good to be true. It usually is.

I had a similar thought about how quiet it was the other day. UTCT seemed a big hit this year with a new 100miler. I had a sneaky few weeks and ran a 10km pb at a random road race. It was a lot of fun training very differently and specific focused training.

Most beautiful is subjective, UTCT has as good if not better views of the same areas. A bit of a stretch( like apple marketers) n Moerse amount of people also do park runs every Saturday morning- why? Because they are there...

The most fool proof solution is a SPOT tracker. But that doesn't fit most people's budget. You can also get an alzheimers/kids tracking watch for R800 at makro and get a relatively good job done but a bit like insurance- you never really understand why you pay so much until it saves you. When you buy a tracking device- ask yourself- would you rely on it for an atlantic crossing? That kills all GSM based solutions... It is a bit like carrying a .22 derringer, it may give you a great sense of confidence and security- right up until the day you end up facing off against someone with an AK...

But at least with a 45km event you can literally get a medal, a pat on the back and a social media flex/ ego stroke for doing what is essentially a mid week training ride.

Glad he was found and glad it ended relatively well. We use whatsapp share live location. Data usage is minimal. It is literally X, Y coords, cellphone numbers and timestamp that is sent. What is nice is that you can tell it to share location for 8 hours and then after that it stop automatically. We also use it for longer drives. If you driving a long way to visit people then you can share with them and they know when you will be there etc. When my folks drive to the cape they share it with us. Takes 2 mins and gives a lot of peace of mind.

I still have not seen Makita 40v in stores in SA unfortunately. I am moving towards less corded tools, just makes life easier around the farm. I agree with you on the 216 blade, I have the metabo corded with a 216 blade. You can do so much with it. I have only needed a deeper cut twice and then I just flipped it and cut from the back. For most framing, roofing and general work you don't need much more.

You seldom go wrong with dt swiss. But I must say the Reynolds on the the mtb,s are really really good wheels. I have been nothing but impressed so far.

nope, just people in general, not necessarily road users. My wife pointed out to a few mtb riders who were on the running path not the mtb path on the spruit a few years back. The ladies response was "f.... off c.... we have always ridden here" and much like the way the worst drivers in the world can be spotted outside schools at pick up time. They had a child in the group, so the next generation is also in for fun and games. Part of the reason we left the city, too many idiots. On the farm we can hide and deal with less traffic and less people. The issues in the cradle always arise in the months leading up to 94,7. The issues on chappies are worst in the lead up to ctct. More people, more issues.

you can probable find a shorter or raised stem a bit easier. might do the same job.

there is a huge gap for someone to make these out of carbon fibre. Can make some really bling ones like the superbike ones

Let us know how the 40V goes. I am very keen to test that. Fridday night our power went out, it was off till late Sat afternoon. I am on a tight deadline building the shed. If it weren't for Makita, it would have been a disaster. I can quite literally say that with 2 5ah batteries a makita impact driver will drive pozi drives till the cows come home. We are on a dairy farm so this is quite literally. I off chance bought a makita circular saw that was on special a few months back. It also saved the day. I was able to continue framing walls and putting up sheets of corrugated steel without any added delay. If I had bought a circular or track saw a few years back. For my general work. I would never have bought a table saw. Back to your topic- I was drooling over the 36v sliding miter saw the other day. Wondering if I should hold out for the 40v stuff.

I have seen references pop up about weapons a few times. Something to note- before you can own a gun, you need to obtain a competency certificate. This involves a few steps. But what I feel needs to be reinforced, if someone asks for a reference for their gun competency I hope everyone is confident enough to know someone who should not own a gun and refuse to give reference. A simple no would have stopped a lot of incidents. It may lose you a friend or cause tension in a relationship. But you need to look beyond that at general public safety. Please most importantly tell your daughters. If their husband/partner wants a gun and they don't feel like that person has the self control or the right temperament . They must say no and not give the reference.

no, I would turn him in because he is a p.......s and donate the reward to the spca. but that is me...

More genius that the dumbass reporter who decided to write that hilux's and polo's are the most stolen cars in SA, forgetting to mention that they are the most common cars in SA...

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