I used to think I was crazy. Literally seriously demented, and awfully crazy. And probably beyond help...
Until I saw this:
I believe it is a 1/3 or 1/4 scale replica of a Czech electric locomotive, running on 240VAC overheads. The equipment in the machine room looks pretty beefy on the DIN rails in any case! It's on 600mm gauge, and can be found here:
http://www.zeleznice600.cz
Upon seeing this amazing creation, I breathed a sigh of relief - possibly I'm not so crazy after all? I shared my finds to Minimal Gauge Railways in any case, and surprisingly enough, Stockers didn't chastise me for being over gauge, like usual! I think he's used to me by now...
So, what does this mean for my railway? Calculations aside, I'm buying a rather well appointed van, in the gated community here! I'm paying a bit for it, but it will, with care, retain its resale value, or provide a rather comfortable home on a block of land for me when it comes time to step forward once more.
Hearing from other residents here, it is considered probably the "best van in the community" in terms of presentation and interior appointment. And in four years, interest free, I'll own it.
Ok, you say, so no money for trains for the foreseeable future, right? Yes, you're correct, so I have to go cheapskate:
No, I'm not making exactly that Coke can heater, as I don't need hot air - I need hot water! One of the things I'm not getting with my van is a hot water service. Now, this isn't too much of an issue right now, as I boil my water for washing up in my kettle, two full jugs will fill my small sink, and I throw a heap of cold water on top to suit. Yes, it's a small jug.
However, I'm going to own this van and be paying it off over four years - that's March 2020 before I own it! - and having a supply of reasonably hot water would be nice.
That's a screenshot I did of this contraption - mine will be built from a Foxtel pay TV dish, reflective Mylar tape, a CPU water cooling block on the arm at the focal point (yeah, shrewd hey?), a small stand, insulated Pex piping to the water tank, possibly some kind of intercooler, or heat exchanger, and an Arduino with a control board, IR non contact thermometer, and a suitable program to log and control everything:
http://www.switchdoc.com/sunairplus-solar-power-controllerdata-collector/
http://www.freetronics.com.au/products/irtemp-ir-temperature-sensor-module#.VrrMO4ZXerU
A couple of solar panels to power the widgetry mounted to either side of the dish, and I'm in business! Solar hot water baby! Even on a cloudy day, I'm told performance is great, due to the concentration of the solar energy at the focal point. Now, I paid attention in Microwave Transmission Systems when I did my trade, that checks out.
Like, honestly - do you think I'd pay hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars for a gas hot water service, and then the cost of the gas bottles on top, when I sweat every other day from the heat here? I might be crazy, but I'm not stupid!
This has actually piqued the attention of my Uncle Tom. I'll go into that at a later stage. It involves linear power generation.
I'm hoping to get the dish soon, I'll look around the dump shops and demolition yards. Only need one right now, this is a small test system, a proof of concept. I want to get some live data off this thing first, for about a year, then I'll move forward with it.
Do you know what makes it sweeter? I've obtained, by means, an RTL-SDR with an upconverter that'll allow me to do the HF bands. All good you say. Sure, now I can receive weatherfax from Charleville. So I can log my performance data against the weatherfax synoptic charts and cloud formation charts I receive! This is all for free! Just gotta get a balun for an SDR, and wire up an antenna between two poles for HF. By the way, the SDR and the Orange Pi that will be running it are still in the post, another two weeks away, I reckon.
I've also gotten the user manual and service manual for my beloved Sony stereo system I saved from the trash by realising that I can use the Game input on the front with a $3 cable and my computer. Looking into it, the CD load mechanism for the actual player part in the back of the sixty disc changer works fine, it's the changer itself that's not rotating. It seems a little jammed, but unfortunately for me, it is a mission to get to the bottom of the deck to get the carousel assembly out to get a look at it. Everything on the top has to come out first! However, if I could get the carousel working, I can use the game mixing. By the way, it's a linear transformer power supply, it'll work fine from a little inverter, unlike a switch mode which will blow fuses on the 12VDC side, no sweat.
Looks pretty linear to me!
I haven't tested my new soldering iron, I need some batteries for my new TVs remote, and my multimeter. Payday is tomorrow, I should write it in the list.
I'll be temporarily setting up my Orange Pi for the time being here in the old van, pending the move to the new van. There is a bit of work to be done, of course. I need to try to get a phone line connected at some point. Andrew has promised me reasonable priced ADSL.
It's all on the go now!
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