The Tenacious Unicorn Ranch / @TenaciousRanch / Steampunk Penny / Penellope Logue / Phillip Matthew Logue - Don't cry because it ended, laugh because it's still getting worse.

[break these cuffs]

Still amazing that these guys refuse to do anything to acknowledge their off-the-grid/very-tenuously-on-grid situation. It's like the indoor troons have no clue where they're living, and the outdoor troons just ignore it and try to kick the can one day further down the road.

Not saying they should be ashamed they don't have a composting toilet, but there are so many things that would actually be helpful and would also make good optics: water storage, greywater irrigation, normal composting, greenhouse, canning food and/or digging a root cellar. These guys just act like they're in the middle of a city until they go outside.

If I believed their story, I would expect them to use a cash influx not only on a bunch of Chinese slave-made plastic tat, but to say "oh finally we can get that hand crank mixer; that'll reduce the power draw," or a fancy new indoor clothes dryer. Instead, it's gun parts, stickers, and toys.

It effectively illustrates just how much of a larp this is. A lot of people who start out in the homesteader, sustainable self-reliant lifestyle don't really know what they're getting into regardless of how many youtube videos they've watched. Felling, bucking, splitting, and drying a few cord of firewood is work, but it's not that bad when you spread it out. Except you have a million other more immediate projects to do on the weekend and after work. Suddenly the days are getting shorter and fall is fast approaching. Now you're going to have to buy some preseasoned because you don't have time to get it done. Hopefully friends can help you out. You also didn't fell those pines and grind the stumps to make it less of a pain in the ass to get the quad in and out of the hardwood stand. Oh yeah, the quad is down. Trailer is broke too.

If they're committed, they persevere and learn. They'll take their lumps along the way as everything seems to go wrong, but they'll figure it out or they'll quit. Most likely they'll scale things back and their dream will take longer to realize than they'd hoped. They can't go on social media and scream nazi rape to get what they want for free. They won't just have unlimited amounts of cash to buy their way out of the shitty situations they find themselves in, unless they're the trustafarian types.

 

[Comandante Marcos]

@Aunt Carol: Lehmans is the ultimate in cool imo. They sell to the Amish and to people who realize that a hyperconsoom lifestyle is literally unsustainable for them and the planet. While you're checking out that dryer, try to find their plunger washer, which is literally a specially designed plunger for washing clothes. Aluminum tub, clothes, detergent, then go to work plungering the fucker. Oh, and that plunger was designed during the Gilded Age long before electric washing machines ever existed. There's a version made out of copper on display in the local history museum in Sparks, Nevada. That plunger is dated 1908. Fuck, I hadn't thought of Lehmans in ages. I need to start perusing their site again. Thanks!

 

[Gone Ham]

I don't want to derail the thread too much, so I'll try to be brief, but lately I've been trying to learn about solar power. What are people talking about when they mention running certain appliances directly off DC?

Really tempted to Edison vs Tesla sperg here, but I'll just give you the tl;dr. DC ('Battery' current) is a direct current that is (basically) X volts at a constant flow. AC (modern power systems) is more feasible for large-scale things, as there doesn't need to be a generator. It oscillates, however, making appliances weirder. A good example of how it works is this video by Tom Scott.

Spoiler: Sperging pictures of AC vs DC

 

[AnOminous]

They can't go on social media and scream nazi rape to get what they want for free.

Unfortunately that's where you're wrong.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Really tempted to Edison vs Tesla sperg here, but I'll just give you the tl;dr. DC ('Battery' current) is a direct current that is (basically) X volts at a constant flow. AC (modern power systems) is more feasible for large-scale things, as there doesn't need to be a generator. It oscillates, however, making appliances weirder. A good example of how it works is this video by Tom Scott.

Spoiler: Sperging pictures of AC vs DC

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Right, my question is more along the lines of application. Are we talking about running power directly from the solar panels to the appliances in order to reduce conversion loss? Does it still need some kind of transformer so the fridge (or whatever) doesn't melt/explode?

 

[AnOminous]

Really tempted to Edison vs Tesla sperg here, but I'll just give you the tl;dr. DC ('Battery' current) is a direct current that is (basically) X volts at a constant flow. AC (modern power systems) is more feasible for large-scale things, as there doesn't need to be a generator. It oscillates, however, making appliances weirder. A good example of how it works is this video by Tom Scott.

Fun fact: until recently, there were still DC distribution grids (and still may be somewhere), largely because of things like old buildings with DC-powered elevators and other types of motor that work better with DC. If any still exist, they're ancient, and you couldn't actually buy the service any more, it's just for the few buildings with equipment that still uses it and have done so for sometimes 100+ years.

Right, my question is more along the lines of application. Are we talking about running power directly from the solar panels to the appliances in order to reduce conversion loss? Does it still need some kind of transformer so the fridge (or whatever) doesn't melt/explode?

Apparently, there are DC-powered appliances (including refrigerators) specifically for use with solar. At a quick Google glance they look pretty pricey but might conceivably pay for themselves in the long run.

 

[discombobulate]

The Leaf that IT has is around 58k miles. See the odometer and you can make out 58 through the steering wheel. Based on the second photo with a clear odometer, from an EV car site, this confirms the 58k miles.

Now we need to know how long a Nissan Leaf batter will last and it's degradation over time. Based off a Nissan dealer we know it lasts for 10 years or 100k miles on average:

Looking into the loss of efficiency we see (from the third photo) that the Nissan leaf is not only at half of its life but is has lost 25% efficiency.

So before we get the reduced range we need the know the starting range. Based on the trim and interior styling, we know it is pre-2018 when the Leaf got a facelift. Such the range is 100 miles.

With that in mind the reduced range is now 75 miles. Probably 70-65 miles due to the weather. The closest town is Westcliffe that is 20 miles away, one way.

The car will deplete close to 60% of it's battery on one trip into town which has the closest pharmacy for their Troon medication. They cannot make any Costco runs with it nor get to any major city
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Somehow I missed this post and started writing my own but you missed two things. First, 100 miles is tops for 2016/2017. If it's older than that it's 85 miles tops. Also, they're not going anywhere in the cold. All electric cars have problems in the cold but the Leaf is especially bad, losing at least half of its range. I note with great pleasure that it gets really fucking cold in the winter in the mountains of Colorado.

 

[AnOminous]

Also, they're not going anywhere in the cold. All electric cars have problems in the cold but the Leaf is especially bad, losing at least half of its range.

Never mind that it's absolute lunacy to try to use one of these offgrid. If anything, you want to completely reduce your fingerprint and use anything other than electricity whenever possible. Instead they're living like they're in a man cave in their mom's basement. Because they're men.

 

[Gone Ham]

Right, my question is more along the lines of application. Are we talking about running power directly from the solar panels to the appliances in order to reduce conversion loss? Does it still need some kind of transformer so the fridge (or whatever) doesn't melt/explode?

Ohhhhhhhhh. Uh, typically the best option is to (sanity wise) is to wire the system all to the batteries (so you don't need to worry about miswiring) and modern systems typically have decently lossless things, however, their idiotic golf cart shit is just autistic and not at all logical as it's wired in series. But typically devices only need a DC to AC converter to run, as it acts as a buffer unless the appliance is old as hell, then you can get issues

Never mind that it's absolute lunacy to try to use one of these offgrid. If anything, you want to completely reduce your fingerprint and use anything other than electricity whenever possible. Instead they're living like they're in a man cave in their mom's basement. Because they're men.

(Sorry for double posting) but an electric car off the grid isn't the worst idea ever. Or at least in the near future, it won't. It's a much more efficient battery for their usage, compared to what the hell they use now, but the issue with it is that the technology that the cars connected to the grid acting as batteries overnight for cheaper electricity isn't in use yet, so at this time, it's a dumb idea. Also the car being old and the batteries being fucked, in addition to Penny being the one fixing it

Edit: Mashable video on it

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Okay, I think I misunderstood what was originally being said then. My bad.

 

[Jump]

Right, my question is more along the lines of application. Are we talking about running power directly from the solar panels to the appliances in order to reduce conversion loss? Does it still need some kind of transformer so the fridge (or whatever) doesn't melt/explode?

Everytime you convert from one type of power to another your wasting the little energy you have.

Solar panels make DC. Batteries store DC. That part of the system you can not change. So the simplest thing to do is to just try and find things that run natively on DC.
Inverters can turn DC in to 120volt AC but they are very inefficient and draw lots of amps.
Because of the popularity of solar there are now lots of choices for DC appliances. Also DC stuff is popular with RV's and boats.

Lots of times the thing your using runs on DC anyways. Its just using a stepdown transformer. Look at anything with a "power brick". Read the specs on that brick. It might say something like:
INPUT 120volts AC
OUTPUT 12volts DC

Stuff that runs on 12-14 volts DC you can normally get away with ditching the brick and running directly off your 12 volt battery system.
You can of course get "car chargers" for your cell phones and laptops. Much better then running an inverter to go from 12DC-> 120volt AC-> 5volt DC.

 

[AnOminous]

Anyone have an opinion on whether it would be more feasible to use some kind of LNG-powered appliances rather than purely solar? Of course they'd probably find some way to blow themselves up with that shit but I mean for normal humans who aren't completely retarded?

 

[Gone Ham]

Anyone have an opinion on whether it would be more feasible to use some kind of LNG-powered appliances rather than purely solar? Of course they'd probably find some way to blow themselves up with that shit but I mean for normal humans who aren't completely retarded?

LNG is a much more intelligent idea for the long term, as it's hella cheaper for the items, along with it just being more efficient IIRC, as you can also use it for heating in some instances.

 

[Ghostse]

Anyone have an opinion on whether it would be more feasible to use some kind of LNG-powered appliances rather than purely solar? Of course they'd probably find some way to blow themselves up with that shit but I mean for normal humans who aren't completely retarded?

natural gas appliances are only a good bet if you have a source of natural gas; they are popular in amish country because the entire region is rotten with exploitable natural gas and usually whoever you lease the mineral rights to will hook you up with a line off your well for free if you want it. Even a depleted well usually still puts out enough to heat a small farm home.

Propane/NG applicances are not efficient, but as every other poster here has said, they are more efficient than gas-generator power and will work at night.

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

Jebus Fucking Christ, that might as well be fucking Mars. One year and they've turned a normal desert landscape into a dead zone. How the fuck does that even happen? Yeah yeah, 200 alpacas and blah, but still it's mindblasting.

The tranch landscape 41%ed itself

 

[AnOminous]

natural gas appliances are only a good bet if you have a source of natural gas; they are popular in amish country because the entire region is rotten with exploitable natural gas and usually whoever you lease the mineral rights to will hook you up with a line off your well for free if you want it.

I was thinking exactly of Amish country, but that's just plain old natural gas. Lots of them get it absolutely free which is enough for the few things they use it for. LNG is transportable and pretty energy dense. Natural gas is really good for heating, things like dryers, cooking. Cooking would seem to be really important for these douchebags, at least if they weren't probably just gobbling down Hot Pockets cooked in a fucking microwave, of all things, possibly the single worst appliance you could use offgrid.

 

[Gone Ham]

Cooking would seem to be really important for these douchebags

Remember the last time they tried cooking?

 

[Particle Bored]

Hey, d00d, don't insult Darude, Sandstorm was an awesome piece of music.

Do do do do
Do do do do
De de de de de de de
De de do do do do do
De do do do do do do

Yeah, no.

 

[Baloney Face]

I wish the gays hadn't let the troons jump on their bandwagon.

Like we could stop them.

Cooking would seem to be really important for these douchebags

Unlike with a refrigerator (which uses a motor to drive a compressor), there is no such thing as a gas operated microwave for the hot pockets.

 

[Jump]

I would use propane for the range/oven, hot water heater, and maybe a blueflame heater to keep the house from freezing if I am not there to feed a wood stove.
Everything else solar/DC because that energy is free once you have the system in. And with proper maintenance you can get some good life out of wet cell batteries.
The well pump is something you can't get around running off AC so that I would run a generator to fill a raised cistern (water tower) and monitor the water level.
The power thing is interesting to talk about but ultimately a pointless discussion in this case. The whole tranch project is doomed from the start because they took on 200 fucking alpaca and a bunch of other random things. Just feeding them the crappy hay they have to import is a massive drain on finances. The water they need means they have to run the generator all the time. They will never be anywhere near self sustainable.

This project could have worked out if they had a few milk cows, some chickens, and a few hogs. Would have made for a very boring thread though.