What Solar Panels to buy?

Okey, so the last couple of days I have been thinking about getting ready for my next roadtripp. I need more power! I use the computer quite a lot and on my last roadtripp I could only use the computer for about 2 hours before I needet to run the car and recharge the battery. I only have one battery so far in the car. I planning on getting another one.


From the SW Exergon catalog: http://www.sunwind.se/media/48360/sunwind_katalog_2013.pdf




Ok, so back to tha solar panels. I am thinking about buying two SW25 panels (25 watts if you havent figured it out yet). They are quite affordable (and they are on sale right now, whey). They are small enough to be able to put back into the (small) car and not TAKE ALL available SPACE. I am thinking about using a roof carrier to put the panels on. And of course make it possible to remove them, when I am not using the solar panels. Put them away so the dont get stolen etc. I am also thinking about getting a charge controller, but more about that later.

I think the size is important. Atleast Until I can have them permanently on the car, they must be small enough.



SW25 is my choice. 643 x 282 x 35 mm.They have 18,5 (top voltage) going from them when the sun i shining. The more the better when the panels gets into some sort of shadow.



Another nice foldable solar panel is this one. But it is to expensive for my taste. The Weight is 2.45 kg.



Folding Solar Panel, Only 315 x 315 x 35 mm when folded. But 3000 swedish crones is expensive. Thats about 500 dollars.



Sandhammaren and Mälarhusen beaches (bathing)

So after being to Simrishamn I was curious of one of the best beaches in Sweden. According to a local touristpaper, it is the best in the world, yea right (not quite, but nice).

I got there a little late in the evening. The beach name is Sandhammaren (Sandhammer in english).

Near the parking lot this Pic is on a board. For guidance. Apparently cows can seen.



Heading for the Baltic Sea view (water), this beach is located as far south east of Sweden as you can be.



A bit cold in the water, but anyywaay.. I like walking with sand between my feets (no matter what)

Almost empty, no sign of people.. the day people has gone home. The summer weather was really bad this year (2012)

Walking toward the Mälarhusen, the next "beach", north of Sandhammaren. A nice beach! About 3 kilometers away from Sandhammaren.

Here I found a walkable trail to Vitemölla, 42 km. BUT it was late, and I Needed the bike for that. Or is it just a trail to the flag pole? No one knows.

Here is Mälarhusen badplats (Mälar (a lake nere my hometown) houses bathing)

Well it is a nice beach, but the time was ticking so I had to move on..

Bye

Next on the trip: Simrishamn

Okey, after bath (Röroms beach) I got in the car and drove to Simrishamn, (I am aiming for Ystad now).




I was hungry so I thought about eating here, Glada Räkan Restaurant (Simrishamn)




 But No.. I got some kebab food instead. Eating in the car. The foodplace didn´t take Visa card so I had to pay cash..




After eating I took a walk (I like walking), checking tha place out! I was looking for some nice beaches..




And I found a small beach in the middle of the town. But.. I was just me and the birds. Not so nice weather.. Judge for your self. Nice with a town beach, huh?



I continued and found a toilett in this house. Well after that I was ready to leave Simrishamn. Nice town but nothing special (if you ask me). The next thing on the road trip was checking out "the world biggest sandbox" according to a Ystad magazine.. Sandhammaren, to be continued..

A week of change

What a week, far from my "normal life"..

• Stomach flu, really stomach ache, which resulted in me not being able to work out and I was home from work. You only wish one thing when you are ill (guess what). Prioritize the health.

• My stepfather had a stroke. I got a call friday night. The first description was that he was paralyzed on one side! That he did not recognize the people and did not know where he was. Thankfully he quickly became better and is now "in the game" again. A strong reminder that life is fragile and should be taken care of!

My emotional life has thus been extremely "worried" this week.

• I have decluttered the "like crazy."

Many boxes of electronics and five bicycles have been delivered to Återbruket (re-use), of which I received the following question "Are you going to throw that bike it in there!?" By one of the workers there.

- Well this crap must go. It's been standing too long.

Everyone suggest that I would sell it.. (Yes I could.. but..I do not think that I have time to try to sell "crap", it will take too loooong (it is to much stuff), my time on this earth is limitied. I have already done many ads of stuff for sale (and it seems like more work than it is worth honostly). Its hard to sell stuff (and get something payed for it)! And the bike had a flat tire (and some broken spokes) so I did not want to donate a broken bike to the Brödet och Fiskarna (“Bread and the fishes”) (an organization here in Sweden that support projects for the poor in the world.)

Despite very cleansing there is little progression, it is barely visible (not quite true, you can see a tiny bit of change anyway). Sometimes it feels impossible due. of all the stuff I collected all my life, but I know that with small steps in the right direction, I will "get to the finish.", and be more freer.


Well that’s all for now, gotta continue with the “deown” stuff, bye.

Compressor fridge, freezer keeping your food cold. My investigation.

Okey, I thought I should write a post about keeping food cold (on the road).

Let me tell you something pandero (from a movie), I own an electric fridge from Waeco. However it has not a compressor, but instead uses a peltier element “doing the cooling”. This box works, but is COMSUMES to much power!! Way to much. I have used it on one summer trip for two days, that’s it! The rest of the time It has been left at home! Useless piece of #@£! (piip)

The little thing consumes about 3 ampere (of course 12 volt direct current). This empties my car battery really fast. I can run the fridge say 5-7 hour and the car will (at best) perhaps manage to start (Yes only one battery, the starter battery). If I run the fridge longer the car won’t start. So every 5-6 hour I have to start the engine on the car and run it about an hour to recharge it somewhat. Really annoying!

Well, as you can imagine, this situation does not work for me! So what to do? I find no other solution but to replace the fridge with a model that consumes a lot less current.  The only choices for me are compressor models (I won’t go into why I have come to this conclusion).

Ok, I know we are trying to keep thing simply right (minimalism and so on…). So is it really necessary to have a fridge?

-          No, I have managed fine without any fridge on my small road trips that I have done.

BUT I do miss it sometime.. I do like milk to my coffee, sure, you can buy McDonalds’ coffee (but the taste wary a lot, last time I had coffee in McD it tasted awful), and McDonalds can’t be found everywhere (waking up with a nice scenery in front of the ocean).

And I also like butter and a good sandwich. Cold water is also nice, a cold beer,  yoghurt for breakfast and  the banana will last longer and so on.  Yap.. Cold food has a place in my heart.

So let us just say that keeping food cold is a luxury, and you have to decide if it is worth it to you.

So what’s the most current consumption friendly fridge/freeze I could find? Well.. Isotherm stands out.

At about 0,7 ampere it will last about 3-4 times longer than my presently Waeco (peltier). Quite a big difference, don’t ya think?

Here are some pictures in Swedish (but I guess you smart people can figure it out). An Isotherm model with a Danish Danfoss compressor seems to be what I am after..  BOOM.



Waeco Coolfreeze, to much current.. not for me.



Isotherm TB32 only 0,7 A on average. NOT BAD. Test Winner.



Isotherm current consumption, dimension and the well known Danfoss BD35F compressor



Next on the tripp: Karlskrona

Okey, so they told me that I wasn't getting any younger so I had to move on..

Beeing close to the town of Karlskrona I turned the wheel toward what I thought was a "military" town. And yes it was.

Arriving to Karlskrona, driving around in the town, checking the place out. Doing tha chochka chockha?

Found a parking lot and left the car, took the bike for a ride and found a beach and a jump tower ( I always looks for beaches, trying to find the best beaches, always). The weather was a bit windy and no volks..

Continued, went back to the car and continued into the camping site nearby. Here I found the beach of Karlskrona Camping.

I continued to the town and found some canons? What has happened here? What are they protecting? Is there gold in this building??! Have this canons been on a boat or what? YES, the questions was popping up in my mind and never seemed to stop.

The mind had to cool of so I toke myself to the water, and found this nice scenery..

I also found a big boat, a coast guard boat.

Going further I found a marine museum, nice, I had to check it out!

Here is a military vessel and i bit further down an older sailing ship.

Aboard the sailing boat. I felt like climbing the ropes, but I was not so sure if that would have been appreciated.. so I stayed put.

So I left and went uphill past this house.

and found a begger, He is a stature of Rosenbom, who was poor and begged for money. He died by getting so cold and frozen one winternight. His arm was straight and in a begging position when the people found him dead. Now symbolizing that we should help the poor..

I weht looking for a nice place to stay the night. Here is the payable parking place near the harbor, quite a lot of re-creative vehicles... but I didn't like the place, a bit to crowd y for me to sleep here (I thought).

I moved on and found this big object. A big truck? My guess: a vessel loader... Don't know :)

After a couple of hours inspecting the town of Karlskrona I went back to the camping, left the bike and toke a walk. This nice white "ducks" (my vocabular is limited as you might have noticed). They looked so free and happy.

After this I returned to my car and loaded the bicycle on the back of the Kia, and moved on, I didn't want to sleep in Karlskrona, I didn't feel at home, didnt find a good sleeping-spot, I had to move on.. I was aiming for Ystad again.

Bye, 

Being normal and do what most people do, or....

This post is an response to Christines Defying Normal post, that you can find here.

I am doing my best writing in english... :)

----- -----

Excellent post!
I know what you mean. I feel the same.

During my life I have tried several different jobs, but I always felt like something was wrong. I had much more fun, and was happier when I had “free time” and nobody could /can say when I should be jumping or whatever (no boss). Of course there has been good times in the job also. And I have learned a lot from wiser people and so on.
BUT I have always been the happiest when I have lived simple and had the ability to do whatever I want, being free and enjoying the simple things in life.

Working like a pay slave?  Yes I also thought that is just the way life is supposed to be, UNTIL I found some great books (pointing me in some “not normal” direction), and some people on the Internet that felt the same as I.
Thanks for that!

Some people that I have been working with have told me that they think that it is nicer to be on the job then at home! Children running around wild, feeding them, being a taxi driver for the kids, and a “sweetheart” at home that bosses them around or goes shopping for all excess money. “Go out and make money so we can pay the mortgage”.. It is nothing wrong with that but it is not the kind of life I seek.

When you have lived the “good life” (a free life in my case) you always want that I guess.. The difference in output is how we play our life.. The are of course some benefits and cons that follow by each choice, but only you can decide what suits you.

And I know it is possible to be more free. I / you just have to find the way (yes.. perhaps easier said than done). It is not done over a night.

On the road again

After the trip to Öland and Kivik it was time to get on the highway again.



Here is the civil police and a tow truck. A Kia Sportage stood by the side of the road and had some problems.



The civil police took a picture when they drove by. I saw a flash in there black rear windos. This did puzzle me a little.. :-)

Later I heard there was a pyromaniac "running wild" in the area around Ystad, (which I was slowly heading for)

Anyywaaayy... I got a bit tired and I decided to stop at a parking lot and get some sleep.

And in the morning I got company by some nice birds (ducks?)

 They really liked my muesli! :) We were Best of friends!

Eating muesli from my shoe..

After breakfast we relaxed (together) a bit

A little nap after breakfast

But suddenly two driving school cars came by.. and the ducks left me..

The ducks went to this driving school cars to beg. They were hungry again..

C'est la vie .... And I had to move on...

Rörom Beach, after Kivik

Being on the top of the "mountain" of Stenshuvud Nationalpark I saw a beach that looked nice. Yes, I definitely had to check that place out!

There was big dark clouds in the sky. I was however in need of a shower or a bath. The water was freezing cold! But atleast I got into the the cold water (after a while, shocking my body) and cleaned myself up. I tell you, the children thought it was to cold also!

On the way down to tha Rörom beach

I also found a museum (close to the parking lot)..

Relaxing after a bath... Very few people in the cold water, the children only went to knee depth.

Here are some painters, painting the beautiful scenery (Rörom Beach)

The sky got darker and darker and the day ended with rain..

Over and out

Focus on the meaningful?

I think sometimes, is it wise to spend time trying to sell most of my stuff? It takes a lot of time to take picture, make images into web format and then write ads. Then it takes time to wait for potentials buyers. For example: This weekend I sold a pair of Jamo speakers to a buyer who drove from Ronneby, that is 1000 kilometers . Thankfully they hold the time that the buyers promised, but I have also sold windsurfing stuff to people who really do not hold the time they say they will come. And then I go for a whole day while waiting for them to come. Often free time wasted.

The black Jamo 707i sold this weekend. Getting rid of my stereo.

On my bathroom mirror says that I should "Focus on the meaningful." But I question whether it is worth the time to try selling the most expensive gadgets? I've put a lot of time to accumulate stuff and now I put a lot of time to get rid of them? Does it make sense? No, I don´t think so, but it feels better if I try to sell it before it gets donated or thrown away.

Oboy, Who would have guessed that not before I collected all this stuff, I finally realized that this is not what I want... 

The teacher will appear when the student is ready.

Utdrag från fukthandboken av Lars Erik Nevander och Bengt Elmarsson

 Only in Swedish, its about tin / sheet (van thinking) and moisture / humidity. How to isolate and so on.

Boken jag tänkte skriva några radom heter:

Fukt handbok, Praktik och Teori

Av Lars Erik Nevander och Bengt Elmarsson

Det här är en mycket bra bok för dig som är intresserad av husbyggeri och fukthantering. Själv läser jag den i samband med en kurs på Gävles högskola som handlar om byggnadsteknik i fastighetsbyggnader osv.

Nedan några klipp från boken. Framförallt eftersom jag är nyfiken på fuktproblematiken runt plåt (som är materialet i en skåpbil som ska isoleras). (Tredje utgåvan, Fjärde tryckningen)

//s43

”Ett hål eller annan defekt i en ångspärr har relativt liten betydelse ifråga om diffusionen men kan ha mycket stor betydelse för lufttätheten och därmed för fuktkonvektionen.

Ångspärrar placeras på den varma sidan om värmeisoleringen. Ångtäta material som ligger på den kalla sidan, t ex taktäckningar, kan i stället ge anledning till kondens och innebär i regel en komplikation av konstruktionen.”

//s138

”Plåten monteras mot läkt av trä eller metall och fästs med skruv eller nit vanligtvis med tätningsbricka.”

”Plåtbeklädnad utförs alltid med en ventilerad luftspalt bakom plåten.”

//s139//

”En plåt är ångtät och för att förhindra kondensation och anriktning av fukt används alltid en ventilerad luftspalt innanför plåten.”

”Råd

·         Luftspalter bakom plåtbeklädnader ventileras.

·         Eventuellt inträngande vatten skall kunna dräneras ut.

·         Material i fästdon och garneringar väljs så att korrosion förhindras.”

//s151 //

”Isolerade plåtväggar används huvudsakligen i uppvärmda industribyggnader. Väggarna utförs oftast med profilerade plåtar som fästs på reglar av plåtprofiler. Väggarna isoleras med mineralull med ångspärr på insidan och vindskydd på utsidan //(innanför yttre plåten enligt figur)//, enligt figur 32.19. För att inte få genomgående köldbrygga vid plåtreglarna används korsande reglar eller speciella distansreglar med låg värmegenomgång.”

//lite längre ner samma sida //

”Plastfolien i väggen skall anslutas till plastfolien i taket med ordentligt överlapp för att klara ev övertryck på grund av termisk drivkraft.

Fukthandboken, en bild från boken. Plåtväggar



En skärmdump om ThermoReflekt från:

http://www.wiedland.se/thr/



Egna funderingar på att isolera en skåpbil eller en båt ter sig som följer

Plåt / vindskydd alternativt läkt (för att skapa en luftspalt) /Reflectix alt. ThermoReflect isolering, , eller XPS (som i sig är en rätt bra ångspärr)/ plus ev. en ångspärr / och sen någon tunn träskiva alternativt någon annan lämplig beklädnad.

Läs mer om ThermoReflekt här:

http://www.wiedland.se/thr/

Comment I wrote to Bob Wells

This is a comment I wrote to Bob Wells post: http://cheaprvlivingblog.com/2013/03/choices-to-the-rat-race/

Thanks Bob, yes it’s all about courage, I am getting there =). Minimalism perhaps is too extreme even for me. I don’t want to live like a monk with no possession. I think that a van or a boat will have the size that is just about the right size (all you really need, except all those tools you might need (very seldom), but you can’t have it all as you have been pointing out (in your very good blog)). I want to “DeOwn”, simplify my life. Simplicity is Genius.

It is a good suggestion Bodhi (Geocashing), yes I already have some GPS:s so no more stuff at least =). However I am not seeking any new hobbies right now :). I am still in the "Rat Race" or as we in Sweden call it "the hamster wheel" and my "free time" is very limited. I still will have some interest that I think will be enough, when I one day leave the apartment and aim for mobile living (whether it be a van or a boat). I am already trying to adapt so my "hobbies" don’t need that much stuff (for the future). Those “new” interest are for example, reading and writing. Reading good books is something I really enjoy. Taking pictures and so on. Perhaps produce some podcast. I also like to train my body, and this interest will perhaps be a little of a problem when hitting the road, cause it involves a lot of washing (cause the clothes gets a lot of sweat and so on). Here in Sweden there are not that many laundries (washing places) out in the public. I think you guys in America have a lot more (anyway, that’s the picture I have)?

Little of my background in hobbies

I have so far terminated my windsurfing hobby (It was a hard decision). Plenty of stuff, cause I could sail in any weather, lots of boards and sail and so on. To busy working (rat race) and so on, didn’t find the time really (and again the input/output ratio was to low).

I still have my "electronic hobby", and man that involves a lots of "good to have" stuff, and instruments and so on. However I don’t find (priorities) the time now to construct any new little gadget.  And I think the input/output ratio is too low. (Too much time in input and too little to show for it).

I also have a former interest, collecting nice older racing bikes from the 80-ties. = A lot of nice bicycles (to many ...) I have put a lot of time into this collecting thing.. And I have all sorts of tools to be able to fix whatever problems occur. Today I see it as waste of time :).  Yes, many mistakes have been done.

I also have a lot of other not so much stuff oriented interests. I am for example a radio amateur (Ham). But I will try to sell this stuff now.

I know it will be good for me to downsize (by choice), so I can focus on the things that is most important to me.  I have “been all over the place” with all interest and perhaps you know the speaking “he who chases two rabbits catches neither”, well that pretty much sums it up for me.

Today I am feeling chained by all the stuff, not feeling free to move on. I have a huge pile of stuff/crap to get rid of and that is my biggest obstacle right now. There is a lot of money ‘invested’ in all this “crap”. =)

I still have my “doubts” about taking the leap so I am taking it slow, so I don´t regret anything. This is because in the past, when I have terminated a interest/hobby and a few years later have been regretting it  and I  had to start all over (more waste of time). Today I am taking it slow and for example have promised myself that I can’t under any circumstances start to windsurf again (in that case I have to rent gears).

Wow, that was a long post.. (My thoughts at the moment).