Saturday, April 3, 2010

East Sunrise Equinox

Sure wish I had another day like yesterday.....but I didn't. Finally got around to installing the cooling fan and solar panel on the IP cam. Not so elegant but it works - for now. Not real confident this little combination is going to work that well in the long run though....most probably will need a more powerful fan and a bigger panel to cool the housing during the hot summer.

Had numerous neighbor/visitors and the usual bovine intrusion. Last effort of the day was to cut the bottom off a small cast iron frying pan to use as the heat sink on the solar fryer. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to chop the pan with a cutting wheel on my grinder. 72,94,38,0,B

8 comments:

JCK said...

Just as long as you don't want to bash someone over the head with that frying pan, it is pretty cool.

Happy Easter to you and the Long Horned Bovine! :0

tffnguy said...

Yep John, cast iron is a breeze to cut and drill to.

I'm wondering how well the WiFi key on my home built internet dish is going to hold up to the direct sunlight to. I may try adding something to the dish to shade it.

Dizzy-Dick said...

Be hard to boil water in it, or anything not solid. No sides to hold anything in.

Oh yeh, everythings dry in the desert. . .

Carolyn Ohl-Johnson said...

I was more impressed with that unique shot of your equinox. Nice!

delgrego said...

So the heat-sink-frying-pan sits at the focus and then you place the appropriate cooking vessel on top of that? Pretty sweet.

Gavin Thomas said...

John, I have to admit this solar cooker is really intriguing me. I love the whole idea. Once I find an old satellite dish I am going to try to make one of these. The cast iron skillet as a hot plate is a great too. I guess you could mount one upside down if you wanted to save yourself some cutting.

BBB said...

If you will make a wooden enclosure for your IP cam, I'd bet the current fan and solar panel would keep it cool. Two sides and a top with about one half inch clearance and enough front and back overhang will keep the electronics cool. Wood is the key material and ventilation is mandatory. We did this in RVN and totally eliminated heat related failures to some fairly heat sensitive equipment.

Like your site.

Ron/Debbie said...

Saw Benita's photo on Facebook. She seems to be laying around a lot. At age 22, she looks to be moving a little slower these days. She sure looked healthy coming in from the winter. Hope she stays around you this summer so she can keep the weight on and have an easier life. She has become the Field Lab's mascot.