Alright, I am back where I have my fiber optic connection to the internet!!
This was a very busy couple of days, and I will try to keep this readable.
Things we got done this week out at the farm. 1) we upgraded the solar powered sprinklers to a four zone DC powered system that covers 90% of the dam face. It was a lot of work, but I am very happy with the results.
Here are the pictures:
This it the new intake, it is 1 and a half inch PVC one foot under water about eight feer out from the dam. If the water rises as much as 3 feet, I am still okay, and if it falls as much as five feet I am still okay as well.
The pumps are 12volt DC shurflo and I love them, they have not been treated well but they just keep right on going. In the future, I will be adding an enclosure with a fan for the pumps. The intake is anchored and supported with very high class floats.
Here are the solar panels I am using for this project. They are 85watt panels and I have them connected for high amp. I get something close to 20 amps in full sun. I use a simple 20 amp solar controller to keep the cost down while I am proving the concept. I am using three 12 volt batteries to hold the charge, they are in the black box. All of the panels are zip tied down to each other on the bottom and they are also zip tied to the buckets using 550 cord sent through half inch holes on both sides of the buckets.
On an side note: the 550 cord/zip ties worked great in the storm we had on monday night!! Everything stayed anchored right where I put it.
The water then travels through two hoses to the main manifold where it can pressurize any of the zones.
Her is a picture of the manifold with the four zones as is yesterday! There were several earlier pictures that I will add after this one, but here is how it ended. The two middle zones cover about 110 feet laterally and about 60 feet vertically each. The end zones cover between 70 and 90 feet circularly each. The reason I left it with that coverage was that I ran out of pieces to add to the project, it could easily support another zone or two, or I could simply add another head to zone one to complete the coverage on the east side of the dam face. The zones are numbered 1 through 4 from east to west.
Here are a few picture from earlier this week as we were building sprinkler 3.0! The white bucket houses the new DC powered sprinkler controller. I weighted down the bucket so it would not be bothered by the wind. The bucket has two drain holes just in case!
Now on to the rest of the weeks work!
I finished repairing an old fish feeder given to me by a friend that no longer needed it. I gave it a new brain and I gave it new motors and a new spinner plate. But as you can see, I need to choke down the feed as the discharge motor can not handle all the feed that comes through! I figured if I make a plastic plate to fit over the hoppers drain port, I should be able to slow down the feed and get a better pattern. Any thoughts?
Here is a picture of its new brain!
There is more good news, I got a few pictures of the Tilapia eating the Aquamax!
And of course, I would be remiss if I did not show off my new friends!
I also added 3000 lbs of ag lime to the little pond to try to clear it up a bit. When I go back next week, I should see some results.
All in all, this was a very busy week out at the farm. It paid off very well and I am proud of the work we did.
Let the questions begin!!!
