Project Son of Tom: Sins (or rather, leftovers) of the father...

 I've had a busy week of doing ill-advised things with electrical equipment, bit here's a nice little appetiser.

We'd picked up a set of 12V strip LED's from Aldi that look pretty nice run around the inside of the awning and I wanted a nice, neat way to power them. With the upgrades going into Tom II I had a few bits and pieces lying around, not to mention access to an expanding collection of power tools so while I was on the roof rearranging panels I set Kat to work cleaning up the coffee table out in the Gazebo. In short order it had the finish sanded back (using a "broken" sander I salvaged and repaired one morning whilst procrastinating) and waxed, and some holes cut strategically in the top. I had some old refurbished UPS batteries that have now been rigged up on the shelf out of the way. The little 160W panel I started out with all those months ago moved to its new home over my bedroom. A little bit of splicing and a cheap controller later and Son of Tom was energised, and is now providing a handy little lighting and charge station out in the Smoker's Lounge.

The result is really pretty nice. The little VRLA batteries hold enough juice to run the lights and a couple of USB devices through the night (although the 65W draw of my laptop has them begging for mercy within 20 min). The addition of a UV mozzie vacuum keeps the worst of the biting insects at bay. It needs a bit more careful routing to neaten the cables, but all in all I'm pretty pleased with the result.

All it needs now is a drinks cooler, a couple of shotguns, and a lawn to tell the neighborhood kids to get off...





Matthias Liffers When the apocalypse comes, I’m heading to your house.
  • Peter Raven We're all going to hell, but at least I have fairy lights?
    Edit or delete this
  • Matthias Liffers Artificial lighting is important for productivity.
  • Peter Raven Not when I activate the "rave" settings.
  • Peter Raven That said, I reckon I could rewire a house circuit to bypass the grid cutoff. Would just be a question of dumping surplus load. Given enough time, available parts and some helping hands I've learned enough I could probably off-grid a suburban block to at least maintain services during the day, and lighting at night...

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