On a mat! On a mat! Got me rolling on a mat!
31/07/08 23:19 Filed in: Double
Trouble!
Double Trouble at the Caravan
15/07/08 23:22 Filed in: Double
Trouble! |
Caravan
Playtime!
02/07/08 08:06 Filed in: Double
Trouble!
Main bus control
I’ve recently started planning and designing the low
voltage renewable power system for the new house. It
will be a little while before I really get a chance to
implement the design, with boys taking up most of our
spare time, and it will take a little while to settle
into the new house. However, I’ve already started
making requirements, and I’ve hunted out some
components. Some of the initial designs are now in my
notebook.
The majority of the system will be controlled by a nice all-in-one control panel, which is designed for a top spec motor home. However I also need an additional Main bus control panel to remotely control the main battery disconnect, and monitor the status of the Main bus. The Main bus will form the heavy current backbone of the system (initially spec’d for bursts of100A), and will provide power to the main panel as well as directly supplying heavy loads such as inverters, heavy pumps or motors. The Main bus should be able to cope with bursts of current up to 100A at 12V from a sudden ~1KW load.
A few of my requirements for the Main bus control panel included:
One of my favorite websites for low voltage supplies is www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk. On this site I came across the following switch panel:
This fits my needs nicely, and I really do like the big red switch
My initial wiring diagram is included. This may require further tweaking, and I suspect there are a few simplifications possible, but I’ll need to look into these further:
Basic Operation
The majority of the system will be controlled by a nice all-in-one control panel, which is designed for a top spec motor home. However I also need an additional Main bus control panel to remotely control the main battery disconnect, and monitor the status of the Main bus. The Main bus will form the heavy current backbone of the system (initially spec’d for bursts of100A), and will provide power to the main panel as well as directly supplying heavy loads such as inverters, heavy pumps or motors. The Main bus should be able to cope with bursts of current up to 100A at 12V from a sudden ~1KW load.
A few of my requirements for the Main bus control panel included:
- A master switch which will remotely connect and disconnect the Battery bus from the Main bus, this will basically switch off everything
- An instant visual indication of the current state of the Main bus (Red light for Main bus power failure)
- A indication that basic verification of Main bus had been confirmed (Green light for system verified)
- A plunger push button to start the Main bus connect, and start Main bus supply verification
- A warning alarm system to alert us of a sudden power failure or a failure with Main bus verification (flashing Amber light with buzzer)
- A parallel switch, for paralleling any auxiliary batteries with the battery bus
- A timer module, which will provide a delay for Main bus verification. This is required to prevent the startup loads causing triggerging a low voltage battery or overcurrent disconnect.
One of my favorite websites for low voltage supplies is www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk. On this site I came across the following switch panel:
This fits my needs nicely, and I really do like the big red switch
My initial wiring diagram is included. This may require further tweaking, and I suspect there are a few simplifications possible, but I’ll need to look into these further:
Basic Operation
- Main bus is disconnected from the live Battery bus, the red switch above is down, and no lights are displayed. Everything is disconnected except those on the Hot Battery bus.
- The user lifts the main switch cover up, and lifts the main switch up. Main bus control panel is now live. The RED light will indicate that system Main bus is disconnected.
- The user starts the Main bus connect and verification system by pressing that START switch, at this point the RED light will extinguish, and the the Main bus becomes live.
- During the verification time all connected items will be powered allowing the initial burst of power to stabilize on the Main bus.
- After a 3 seconds the Main bus verification system becomes enabled. If it fails, the RED light will come on and the Alarm will start (flashing Amber light on top with buzzer). If the verification system passes testing, the GREEN light will illuminate to indicate that all systems are running normally.
- If at any time the verification system detects a problem, or the Main bus loses power, the RED light will come on and the Alarm will start.
- The Main bus can be switched off, including verification alarm system by switching off the main switch and by moving its red cover down.
- The parallel switch connects the Hot Battery bus to the auxiliary Hot Battery bus.
- I may add an optional yellow light at some point to provide a visual indication of the 3 second delay between Main bus connect and Main bus verification. Alternatively I may just illuminate both RED and GREEN light together for a short period of time.
Bridging the Generations
18/06/08 20:03 Filed in: Double
Trouble! |
Family
How many engineers does it take to fix a childs mobile?
18/06/08 08:05 Filed in: Double
Trouble! |
Geek
Well in this case one fortunately. My brother and
sister in law kindly gave us this cool little mobile a
few months before the twins came along. Since we’ve had
it, it has played plenty of music, but no turning.
Well, I felt I couldn’t be beaten by something so
simple! Then I opened it up, and about 4 parts sprung
out in all directions, oops! Anyway, the mobile
connector rod appeared to have separated from its
friction clutch (presumable a safety feature in case it
gets jammed). It was simply a case of reattaching it.
The real problem is growing a third hand to help put
everything back together again. Anyway, with a bit of
wrangling we have the wee cute mobile working again for
a second life, with plenty of tune, and some movement
again. Don’t you love happy endings :-




New House nearly ready!
14/06/08 16:19 Filed in: New House
The new house has come along a lot since we last
visited the site. It is exciting seeing it again,
although we are very down that our own house hasn’t
sold yet. It looks good with fencing and slabbing
finished at the front and back, and the garage also has
its rear door. Here’s the South side of the house, with
gate to drive way and double garage:
Here are two views of the garden, the sitting room is flat to the garden (no step). Not a huge area, but it is mostly south facing. The long section to the side of the garage should get sunshine from morning to mid afternoon (South by South East), and hopefully we’ll have room for some bushes, a greenhouse, a compost heap, and maybe the external water storage tanks for the rainwater harvesting system. The area between the house and the garage will either be a patio or decked area with some greenery, with lights and maybe a water feature. Maybe we’ll get a bit of grass in somewhere. Access to the garage is provided at the rear by a windowed door:

The front of the house with a slabbed path. To the left is a field , and in front is a large pond (out of picture). The space between the houses is a shared slabbed path that allows access to the gardens at the rear. Great for allowing room to get the buggy to the rear:
Here are two views of the garden, the sitting room is flat to the garden (no step). Not a huge area, but it is mostly south facing. The long section to the side of the garage should get sunshine from morning to mid afternoon (South by South East), and hopefully we’ll have room for some bushes, a greenhouse, a compost heap, and maybe the external water storage tanks for the rainwater harvesting system. The area between the house and the garage will either be a patio or decked area with some greenery, with lights and maybe a water feature. Maybe we’ll get a bit of grass in somewhere. Access to the garage is provided at the rear by a windowed door:

The front of the house with a slabbed path. To the left is a field , and in front is a large pond (out of picture). The space between the houses is a shared slabbed path that allows access to the gardens at the rear. Great for allowing room to get the buggy to the rear:
The Cute Black & White Photo
13/06/08 17:36 Filed in: Double
Trouble!
There are four engineers traveling in a car
11/06/08 15:07 Filed in: Geek
There are four
engineers traveling in a car; a mechanical engineer, a
chemical, an electrical engineer and a computer
engineer.The car breaks down."Sounds to me as if the
pistons have seized. We'll have to strip down the
engine before we can get the car working again", says
the mechanical engineer. "Well", says the chemical
engineer, "it sounded to me as if the fuel might be
contaminated. I think we should clear out the fuel
system. "I thought it might be an grounding problem",
says the electrical engineer, "or maybe a faulty plug
lead." They all turn to the computer engineer who has
said nothing and say: "Well, what do you think?" "Ummm
- how about if we all get out of the car and get back
in again?"
Kitchen Eco Gadget and its over 300 years old!
07/06/08 11:08 Filed in: Eco
As many of you are aware, I am very interested in Eco
Gadgets, and I have a few around the kitchen, some of
which will be covered in a future posting. However, I
was sitting down the other day reading the latest
addition of “Clean Slate” the quarterly magazine from
the Centre For
Alternative Technology when I came across an
article about our old friend the Pressure
Cooker. My mother had one for years, and we’ve had
one since the wedding, but we’ve only occasionally used
it for soups and the like. Anyway, designed in 1679 by
Denis Papin, it truly is one of the best Eco Gadgets
you can have in your kitchen. Since the cooking inside
occurs at 125oC at a pressure of 100KPa or 15psi,
everything cooks significantly faster. I was also under
the impression that everything had to be submerged in
water, this is not the case, as little as 300ml of
water (barely covering the bottom) can be used to steam
pressure cook potatoes and carrots in as little as 4
minutes. Because the energy in the steam is only be
lost through the valve and metal chest, most of the
energy is being maintained in the chamber, meaning that
once pressurized the gas can be dropped down. C.A.T
quotes that on average cooking time is reduced by 70%.
All the recent versions, of which ours is one, have
various safety features, and tools to make cooking
easy. For the outset of £50, it could be just the
thing. Most come with instructions from cooking Veg,
soups, casseroles, and just about anything... Worth
checking out! By the way the picture below illustrates
last nights cooking of potatoes and carrots, and just
like it says on the tin, it took 4 minutes to cook
under pressure, and about a minute and a half to
achieve pressure. I’m impressed, you can bet my
pressure cooker will see more use..... Oh and there’s
something exciting about steam under pressure......


An introduction to coffee!
05/06/08 20:54 Filed in: Double
Trouble!
Since Fiona went into hospital I’ve really missed
sitting down in a nice coffee shop, with a decent sized
cappuccino and slice of cake. We braved for the worst,
and set out with the twins, both filled to the brim
with milk. Anyway, both behaved well and we had a nice
break out of the house. Oh, and the Thorntons Coffee
and ice cream shop at Fort
Kinnaird is recommended.




The Washing Machine Blues
04/06/08 17:42 Filed in: Geek
The last thing you need when twins arrive is to have
your washing machine go on the blink. When I looked out
the window with sleepy eyes this morning, and noticed
it was such a nice day, I took the initiative to catch
up with the pilling washing. Half way through the cycle
aloud crackling noise occured and the sump pump broke.
This has happened before when the rotor popped off the
pump motor shaft. However, unlike before, this time it
wasn’t going to just pop back on, it was just too worn.
After 10 minutes manually draining the machine, I
phoned up local washing machine supply center who
informed me that they had a new pump for £26. Poor
Fiona was left with double trouble, and I stripped out
the pump, got the new part, and installed the pump
again. After some initial testing, and a leak check,
I’m pretty sure everything is now back and working.
Wheeewwww!






The First Adventure Out!
03/06/08 19:32 Filed in: Double
Trouble!
They can be spectacularly upset sometimes!
03/06/08 19:28 Filed in: Double
Trouble!
The Docherty Twins are Home!
31/05/08 18:17 Filed in: News | Double
Trouble!
The Docherty twins and Fiona are home from the
hospital. We all got back to the house at 21:30 last
night, and for the we're still trying to bring some
organization to the house after the initial chaos.
First night went better than we initially thought,
after both screaming for a couple of hours, we finally
managed about 3 hours sleep and another hour and half
later. We've been trying out our new kit today, and
discovered that the swing and seats below work well.
More to follow:
The Docherty Twins have names
27/05/08 00:12 Filed in: Double
Trouble! |
News
The Docherty twins now have names: Twin 1 is Joshua
James Docherty (James after my Dad) and weighs 7lbs,
and is the one on the left with the blue hat. Everyone
thinks he looks more like Fiona. Twin 2 is Connor
Kenneth Docherty (Kenneth after Fiona's Dad) and weighs
6lbs, he is the one on the right with the yellow hat.
Everyone thinks he looks more like me.
Double Trouble
26/05/08 08:48 Filed in: Double
Trouble! |
News
Fiona and I have had two boys. No names yet, the bigger
of the two (which Midwifes say looks like Fiona) is
about 7 and 1/2lbs, the smaller (which Midwifes say
looks like me) is 6 and 1/2lbs. It was a long drawn out
labour, but the staff at the Royal Infirmary of
Edinburgh were superb. In the end the boys were born by
c-section, and Fiona has been recovering well after a
few complications from surgery. As of a phone call this
morning all three are doing well, and I've just woke up
from a 10 and 1/2 hour sleep. Here's the picture you'll
be sure wanting to see, details will follow:
Some eejit trying to dismantle a buggy!
09/05/08 17:33 Filed in: Double
Trouble!



















