Christmas Lights

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
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This year she needed an extra circuit brought in to power all the tree lights, lawn creatures, and the blower-powered ones. :lol: Joe would have "blown a fuse". ;) Then Santy had a mechanical problem and was semi-trapped in the chimney. It was hysterical. :D
 

blakerwry

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I have yet to think of a practical way to boil water without fire, damnit! I have tried 12V immersion heaters but they are crap. The one I brought for this trip lasted for 1 and a half cups before it burned out and crapped itself. That seems about typical of the bloody things.

While a white gas/gasoline powered stove seems ideal, some other possible solutions come to mind.

Power inverter + electric kettle... or candle warmer/hot plate.

One would have to be careful about the power draw from these units, so as not to exceed the capacity of the power inverter or car wiring.

You might also be able to heat small amounts of water by way of the exhaust system of your car. The exhaust manifold gets very hot, but may or may not be accessible enough for placing a tin cup/pot for the purposes of boiling water.

Personally, it would seem to ruin the atmosphere of the outdoors to have to boil water by way of motor vehicle, but in some cases it may be the only legal option. I would find myself hard pressed to camp at a location that did not at least allow for a small, single burner white gas stove. Though I prefer to cook directly over camp fire if at all practical. A camp fire is one of the elements of camping that I enjoy most, it adds quite a bit to the experience.
 

Tannin

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While a white gas/gasoline powered stove seems ideal -

In many ways it is. I have one, and use it most of the time. In Australia, Blakerwry, we have very high fire risk (probable the worst of any country in the world, although fires get pretty bad in several other places) and on high-risk days have Total Fire Bans - i.e., you cannot light a fire or a gas stove, harvest wheat, or even use an angle grinder unless you are securely indoors. You can't even use a BBQ in your own back yard.

These bans are not just essential for fire safety, they are backed by some serious penalties - I forget exactly what but I think it's a $10,000 fine plus 6 months in jail. Something of that order in any case. This is not unreasonable when you recall that a single fire can burn out hundreds of square kilometers, sometimes thousands, cost hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and firefighting costs (hired a big helicopter lately? that's serious money), and kill people. (Three people died in a bushfire in Western Australia just two weeks ago, for example. It's not uncommon.)

The other day, by way of example, I was in South Australia. Almost all of the state had a Total Fire Ban, except a small region in the east where it was judged that the weather was a little milder, and where, it so happened, I was planning to pass through anyway on my way back to Victoria. That meant that I could make camp on the South Australian side of the border, have a cup of tea, and fill the thermos - all before midnight, because at midnight a state-wide ban came into effect because of even hotter weather. (It was 45 degrees that day - for the backward ones that's 113 Farenheight. The next day was forecast cooler at around 40 degrees, but very strong winds, hence the extension of the ban to all parts of the state.)

Over the border in Victoria there was also a fire ban - and rightly so, it was wild weather and if a fire started you wouldn't get it out this side of February.

So any form of fire is out, alas. It has to be electric, solar, or some form of internal combustion.

You can get electric 12V imersion heaters but they draw a lot of power, take forever, and are horribly unreliable el-crappola made-in-China things. My last one made precisely one and a half cups of tea before it crapped out. The one before lasted about three. Junk.

You can get electric cups that run off your cigar lighter, but they too are el-crapola. The one I bought, thanks to the bloody lawyers, won't heat anything up to boiling no matter how long you leave it running, but cuts out at a dreadful and undrinkable luke-warm temperature wich would not really do for coffee and isnt even close enough to the temperature you need for making tea.

You can of course tow a caravan and use the gas stove in it, but I'm damned if I'm going to tow a whole bloody caravan just to boil water. I sleep outdoors and travel light.

I have an inverter but it's not big enough to run a kettle from, it's just for the laptop and cameras.

You can get 12V kettles, but I doubt the ability of the electrical system to stand up to the draw. Still, it's a possibility.

I've toyed with the idea of using the exhaust manifold, but don't really know where to go with that idea.

Solar is very slow and sensitive to wind, and probably not practical for someone who moves around as much as I do. In any case, the main times I want hot water are early motrning before sunrise and late in the evening after the lihght has gone.

Maybe the most practical option is an internal combustion generator/inverter plus a kettle. Unfortunately, kettles are high-power devices and you would need a pretty big generator to run one - yet more weight and bulk to squeze into a fairly small car - and I don't want a bigger car, I burn enough juice running this one - 11,000 kilometres in the last 30 days.

I dunno ... it's a puzzle
 

Tannin

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By the way, it gets a bit warm down here in Oz in January. This was not an inflated "trick" temperature reading, it's the real thing. For the backward ones among us, it equates to 115 Fahrenheit. I spent a fair amount of time in the car that day, but despite the heat the light was remarkably good, so I took advantage of it to get some very pleasing landscape stuff around the WA Wheatbelt, and - remarkably - quite a few bird shots as well: nearly everything stops normal activity when it's that hot, but around waterholes can be quite rewarding.

hot.jpg
 

Tannin

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Not a pretty shot, but interesting, I think. This was taken the same day after it cooled off a bit to a mere 45 degrees. It's two common birds, a Yellow-throated Miner and a Grey Butcherbird having an arguement about, of all things, shade. Yup, under that woodwork (actually the base of a windmill) must have been nice and cool, because under it was the Grey Butcherbird and about 8 or 10 Yellow-throated Miners, all flaked out and panting in the heat. (You can just make out anotyher two or three miners in the background on this side and there were more of them on the other side (out of shot).) I imagine that there was a water leak such that the breeze flowing through was pleasantly cool for them all.

Normally birds like these wouldn't tolerate a human so close to them, but in the heat, rules like that are relaxed. Indeed, I wouldn't expect to see miners so close to a butcherbird as butcherbirds are not big enough to take adult Yellow-throated Miners as prey but would certainly take chicks from the nest.

shade.jpg


There wasn't enough room in the shade for everyone and every now and then another couple of miners would try to fit in, shuffling all the others along, at which point (as you can see) the butcherbird would assert his right to the choice spot.
 

blakerwry

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We occasionally suffer fire bans in certain territories that I hike/backpack in. However, I don't think the risks are nearly as great here. Even in fire ban, I've tempted fate a time or two and made a small fire when I was careful and didn't feel at risk of spreading anything..

I like your idea of an ICE generator... but agree that the cost, weight, and noise make it impractical (even for a luxury). However, maybe you can get away with toting an old deep-cycle battery? Perhaps a dedicated battery would be strong enough to supply juice to either a hot plate/electric kettle... or even an dishwasher or smaller type appliance heating element.

Regarding the exhaust manifold... I'd pop the hood and feel for the hottest part. Then see if you can place a small (2-3cup) pot there.


Nice shots by the way, wish I was there. I'm stuck in rainy winter... the high tomorrow is a brisk 0.5C (where's that frosty emoticon?)
 

ddrueding

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A guy I knew a while ago had a second battery connected to his car just for auxiliary camping stuff. It charged off the car when it was running, but could be run completely dead and you could still start the car. Depending on how often you are driving from one place to the next, this could be a good idea.
 

Tannin

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0.5 degrees? Yike! I'll take my 46 any day before a 0.5, or even a 5.0 for that matter. But of course, a nice split-the-difference of around 22 would suit me better. And you, no doubt.

I have a second battery, Dave. On the other hand, I need to be reasonably conservative with the way I drain it because some of the places I go to are very remote and the second battery is something you simply cannot afford to be without. I usually have food and water enough to survive a week or two if need be, but even so, I don't like to tempt fate.

Also, I drink a lot of tea. Typically I go through 4 litres a day. There are several reasons for this:

1: I like tea.

2: In hot weather, you have to drink around that much or your body suffers badly. Most people can't cope with heat because they (a) don't drink enough to start with, and then (b) over-compensate, usually by drinking ice-cold stuff out of a cold-box. This leaves then dehydrated and bloated at the same time, lethargic, weak, headaches, washed out and generally buggered. Their system, having become fluid-deprived, can't absorb the fresh influx of cold fluid properly; meanwhile, their sweat glands have shut down because there isn't enough water in their system - it's all in the digestive tract where it cannot be used until their system starts to operate normally again, which takes hours. They wind up feeling very crook.

In addition, in everyday life most people only drink 1 or 1/1/2 2 litres of fluid a day (apart from drunks, which is a different thing). Once the temperature goes over 35 or so their systems are unable to absorb enough water to keep up with dehydration. I drink 4 litres of tea (sometimes water if I can't get tea) every day, (a) because I like tea, and (b) because pushing plenty of fluid through your system is good for you; it allows your kidneys to scour all the poisons out of your system without having to work too hard and this keeps you healthy, and (c) because when I hit hot weather my body is already adjusted to absorbing lots of fluid and I don't get so dehydrated, which means I can remain comfortable and productive. Oh, and did I mention that I like tea?

3: In hot weather, most people drink cold stuff, ice water of Coke or similar. This is a mistake. Your body craves the cool rush and so you keep pouring ice water down your throat - you are drinking because the drink is cold, not because your body wants fluid, and in consequence, you drink far too much too quickly. By drinking tea in hot weather (or any other hot drink that isn't laden with poisons - i.e., anything except strong coffee), you are drinking when your body wants fluid, not cooling. Again, this keeps your system running smoothly and efficiently, avoiding both bloat and dehydration. Also, I suspect that hot drinks are absorbed into the bloodstream faster because all chemical processes go faster with more heat, and ice-cold things slow the action of the digestive walls down to a crawl - but this last is only a guess based on a little logic, a little experience, and a complete lack of scientific evidence.

4: Some of the places I go, the water is dodgy and it isn't a bad idea to boil it before you drink it.

5: I like tea.

In a few minutes, I'll hit the web and see what I can find out about generators and kettles. I think I need to talk to someone who knows about car electrics - which I don't. What load is my alternator good for? How fast does a battery recharge? Is my wiring up to scratch? And so on.

But first, I'll make another cup of tea.
 

ddrueding

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I think more batteries is your solution, Tannin. You already have a good generator on hand (the engine) with a great source of fuel. Adding another (likely less efficient) generator specifically for this purpose doesn't make sense (to me anyway).
 
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