changing the forum ideas?

[mobile_bob]

in my "panhandling" thread i made mention of some ideas for condensing
and then adding more relevant topics to this forum.

some other topics that might be interesting

1. with the increasing interest (as evidenced by the tiny house movement) maybe we could add a section with topics relating to this sort of thing?  it would appear that there is a rather large movement toward tiny house building and living... and that would seem to me to be an area where taking some of what we have worked so hard on in the past, might well be very relevant and welcome to that community?  lets face it, a 6/1 was never able to heat an average home in any but the most temperate climates, but... my bet it one could do famously when it comes to a tiny house?

i for one have had an interest in tiny house living for years, maybe going on 20 years now?  has it been that long?   how big of a thermal battery would it take to enable a 6/1 or similar beit another modern diesel or a gas engine to heat a tiny house?

i see these things on tv now, a could programs devoted to it are "tiny house hunting" and "tiny house nation" both of which could use more info when it comes to heating/cooling/power for their projects... most have batteries and inverters... but are in my opinion often minimal and not very well thought out... basically a couple pv panels, controller, two batteries and small inverter.

2. control systems: this is something that i for one have been interested in for decades, having built my first solar tracking unit in 1976 for a hot water concentrator.  then maybe starting 10 years ago now when my good friend George B. got me started with the bs2 stamp...  life went on for me, but i am still avidly interested.  i remember thinking, "oh just wait bob, someone will build the system and in a few short years it can be bought off the shelf for penny's on the dollar... only problem is that day really hasn't come!  i think there is still a bit gaping hole needing filled with this one.

3. battery tech:  looks like our friends over at tesla will end up being a battery company? and they have or were supposed to have a 7kw (daily cycling) hand on the wall battery/inverter system for something around 3grand? maybe that tech is getting close to being a game changer at least in some way?  or maybe as part of another storage tech?  there may be something there, heaven knows this game could sure use a better battery system.

4.

tag your it fellas

bob g

[mike90045]

6/1 was never able to heat an average home in any but the most temperate climates, but... my bet it one could do famously when it comes to a tiny house?

I think Tom (Hopland, Calif) runs his hydronic heat from his 6/1, and only has to supplement a little bit from the wood stove.  Large house. I'll let him cover his specs.

The Tesla Battery Wall was only a stunt, not practical at all. Was only designed for headlines.

Tiny house is good for a solo that works elsewhere.  Otherwise, if a work at home type, the computer usage (even a laptop) is enough over 10 hours, to consume a lot of power.   And the fridge.  The smaller they get, the less efficient, so that's going to be an impact too.   
But, it think a tiny house section would be good, can enough PV and battery get it through the summer & winter ?  Tiny means less wall thickness for insulation, or more expensive thin insulation.  Lots of factors

[LowGear]

Rethunking is often a good idea.  Obviously, co-generation is a pretty narrow place of interest based on our traffic here.  Here's my two bits per suggestion:

1.)  Tiny housing.  With a population that's growing old quickly and down-sizing living space may find those people's interest.  I'm an Airstream kind of guy but I enjoy watching folks building down.

2.)   Let's face it.  X-10 is dead so I'm shopping electrical control systems too.  OK, this isn't exactly what was suggested but real people trying purchased items is always more interesting to me than YouTube reviews after a weeks use.

3.)  Energy storage is the new black.  I'm looking for a working system that utilizes one of the say 24 or 27 KW EV car batteries converted to housing off grid use.  Tesla is a bit pricey but it got us talking and thinking outside the lead-acid box.  I think they're selling down-under.

4.)  Heat pump technology has been the silent giant and yet I rarely see much about this progressive technology. 

Casey

[Tom Reed]

Thanks for the lead in Mike, our heating situation actually works out to be mostly wood with occasional supplementation from the Lister. With only needing to run the generator around 250 hours per year, it just isn't run enough to contribute much heat. Some thermal solar panels on the roof for hydronic heat are planned for some time in the future.

I like the controls and battery discussions, but you've got to be a bit of a renegade around these parts to live in one. It's illegal to live in an RV and tiny houses are not big enough to be counted as a mobile home. That leaves them in limbo land when looking for a place to site them. My daughter has wanted a tiny home for a long time, however when the reality hits of cleaning out a compost toilet or how to setup a water system she drops the idea.

[veggie]

So... maybe a revamp with the theme of "Small Energy Systems" encompassing all forms of micro energy.
The micro cogen URL name can still apply because pretty much all projects that we undertake are a "co-generation" to some other form of energy that we also use.

New Main categories such as...

Power generation from rotating equip:
=======================
--->Diesel
--->gasoline
---->Alternate fuels
--->Micro turbine
--->  etc... etc...
--->
--->

Power generation from Solar:
======================
--->PV
--->Battery Banks
--->Grid Tie
--->Charge controllers
--->Dump loads (heating !!)
--->Solar H20 heating
--->pumps
--->Differential temp controllers

Other headings ?
==============
---> ?

Other headings
==============
---> ?

I'm sure others will have additional suggestions for topic headings.

my 2Cents,
Veggie

[SteveU.]

Well . . . on the other headings front put in Consummations Solutions.
The best advances I've made here personally has just been upgrading as absolutely needed the consumers sides.
The new generation LED's have cut my annual lighting energy needs by huge. AND unlike the over-promoted CFL's have the service life's to be worth it.
Same with refrigerators, washing machines here. Vehicles. Tractors. Chainsaws. Etc.
Newer production IC engines saves me at least 1/2 annual fuels buying outs for the same amount of works produced.

Sorry to say: most to get to chat "interchange" are all about the sexy woo-woo Tech.
Or . . . into endless ideas ran-up-flagpoles speculating with no Practical/personal Useing proofing outs.

Wife's high school friend is house staying in the folks house (out guest house) next door for the summer.
She too dreams, and talk-talks of a Tiny House. Or an old bus and doing a conversion.
Does nothing about it. Tells ME what I could do to improve our houses.
I tell her to go get an older RV trailer. Live in that over the course of a Wet PNW winter.
Done it. Condensation. Condensation. Will kick your ass. Give you the-cough.
Now 2x, 3x that lived-in space in a site built cabin with de-humidifying wood heating is quite comfortable. But too old-school; not sexy enough for most Alt's.
No-o-o-o. Not until they re-imagineer the wood stove from two centuries refractory brick lined heavy plate or cast, evolved, available off-the shelf, to a burn-out will kill you make from thin-thin scrap barrels - Rocket Stove.

This same throw out the known Baby's with the using baby-water seems to happen in all Alt's thinking's.

Nature of Alternative approaches it seems. Be very impractical, woo-woo, sexy as the-must-be better. Go back to zero. ONE wheel must better! Woops. Too tipsy, too hard to balance and control.
Whee. Two wheels IS better! But cold and wet carrying a Sweetie too. She complains. Hold tighter to snuggle in warmer, you say. Then comes baby.
Now onto three wheels to have capacity and weather enclosure possibilities. Uhh-ooh. Back to instability. Tipsy-ness. Unsafe. Do Not Kill The Baby, she says.
F-i-a-n-a-l-l-y.  Re-evoled to four wheels as the best possible minimum. Gives safety and stability and traction. Full weather protection. Full crash protection possibilities.
Right where very practical Henry Ford, Louis Chevrolet, Walter Chrysler (and other Practical engineers); working from the previous past proven: BEGAN.

Talk-talk, is the cheap buy-in. Proving/Using results is the expensive.
Steve Unruh

[playdiesel]

To help my suggestions  make sense requires some back ground on me.  I came unto the slow speed diesel scene when the LEF was down and out and ended up here because it was the only site at the time. I knew there was some relationship of ownership here and the LEF but your other post here is a bit confusing to me because it references owing the LEF, selling it, and still owning it,, at least the way I read it?  I am an engine guy, not into Co-gen and barely into generators, just what I need to know to keep my ST heads running during our infrequent outages. While it is a mystery of sorts why some forums take off while others whither and die It is obvious that co-gen has an EXTREMELY limited audience. I dont see tiny house being any different? a fad at best in my opinion.  Heck we barely have zoning where I live but they wont allow a person to live in one of those due to the small footage.  The LEF is primarily a Lister and Listeroid engine board thus the engine traffic has gone there and has actually increased to the point that it is a viable site ( I think?)  However the traffic on the generator and systems forums on the LEF is also very lightbut heavier than here. I think it is also fact  that the readership of both sites is basically one set of people?  I don have any suggestions for saving this as a stand alone site but with you apparently having some ownership of both sites or at the least some rights left on the LEF why not combine the two sites into one and have one site with high traffic? That is my suggestion and hopefully everything I have said us taken constructively as that is how it is intended.

Butch

[LowGear]

Mr. Dream here,

I find the changes in life-styles to be really interesting.  I live in a nice turn of the 80's house in South Kona about nine months out of the year.  "What a nice view" I hear and often reply "Let me set my pick down and take a look".  The other three months I live in a 384 foot apartment.  I've thought about the two places and it seems that I only use about 400 feet of the much larger rambler when I'm here.  As the population grows we are simply going to have to down size our individual footprints.  Getting this site to pick up interested parties in that arena might be challenging.  One of the things I really like about this site and LEF are the "Back to the Future" approaches to problem solving.  I'm still dreamy eyed about the exhaust powered vent tower that pulls air across the radiator.  (I'd like to use the big word but I can't find it.)  I guess that may be part of my interest in electric vehicles and all of their "innovations".  Hub wheels and the like were innovations at the end of the 19th century and "not" at the beginning of the 21st.

I know!  Let's do a survey.  Let's find out what all the people that have left more than two or three posts are doing with their spare time now rather than contributing to Microcogen?  We still probably have like minds.  Joan and I'll be watching something about solar roofs and electric vehicles and there's a place that looks much like ours with a bearded genius at work.  I'll comment "Joan, you must start leaning into that razor more often."  I can write this stuff when she's out of town.  Maybe they've found something so butt-kicking interesting that they don't have time for their old friends anymore.  We can hope.

Casey

[Tom T]

Maybe an open section where all ideas are welcome but watched close the good ones move to its own place and let them continue to grow some times the wildest thought turns into something big and very use full  if nothing else  brake the boredom.  Tom T

[mobile_bob]

the LEF was bought, never sold, and has been running along just fine under Ade' capable handling for quite some time now.

for the record there were a few of the LEF members who contributed part of the purchase price for the forum, the balance i floated myself back at a time when money was much easier for me to get my hands on.

my goal in all this is to simply let the LEF continue doing what it is doing, and my interest is only in protecting the content prior to the purchase of the forum, or very close to that date.

because i personally have not put much time into the LEF since this forum came about, i really don't have the same connection to the post purchase content of the LEF.  it just doesn't seem right to lay claim or some claim to post purchase content just because of having some monetary skin in the game.

the original goal was to combine the two forums into one, and then sorting out things as best we could. after some time we could condense and split the discussion to fit both sides of the group in such a way that everyone would feel comfortable and play well together.

the only problem with that dream was (well actually a couple of problems) came down to ...

1. trying to get both forums combined was going to be a bit of a struggle, one of which my understanding was we could do it, but the reality was apparently much more difficult that first anticipated.  probably what should have been done was to put out the bucks needed to hire an expert to do the deed... it just never got to that point and the longer we waited the more difficult it became.

2. no matter how well we did it, and how well it was planned and implemented, lets face it, you can't make everyone happy.. and it became clear to me that trying to do so was going to result in even more friction... waiting for things to calm down only made things that much more difficult from a tech view point.

so....

at this point, the way i see it comes down to the following

1.  is there enough interest to put out the effort to redefine the forum?

2. is there enough interest or bluntly enough folks that feel that we have something here worth continuing?

3. is there roughly 9 people that would put up 20 bucks a year, or 18 that would put up 10, or 36 that would invest 5bucks?

hell i would put up the first 50 bucks and i am on a very fixed income and have only a small fraction of the time i would like to spend on the forum.... but i still think that it would be worth that to me to continue for another year, especially if we get enough other support to not only pay the freight but also help to take over some parts of the ongoing management of the forum, things like vetting new applicants, working on restructuring, archiving, and whatever?

but i have to be honest guys, as much as i would hate to see it happen, i just am not in a place where i can see myself floating the full cost of the annual cost of the forum.

ok fine, i will go one better, i will put up the first 75 bucks,  "if" we get enough folks to come up with the 100.
it would be worth that to me to have a place to come just to be surrounded by folks that have proven to be "how should i say it".... "THINKING INDIVIDUALS"

i don't know what y'alls experience is, but i find that sort of individual in short supply around this part of the world... seems like most folks are happy do just sit on their arse, drink beer, watch the boobtube and do little to nothing to expand their minds... i guess maybe it makes their head hurt to do so?   (i digress... )

i also know many of our members have moved on to other interests in their lives, however maybe we could get a few back if we make some changes?  i don't know...

its up to you guys...

tag your it.

bob g

[mike90045]

give me an address to send pay pal to for forum support

[playdiesel]

My ignorance of how things like these forums work is obvious. I figured you could just combine them like ingredients in a mixing bowl and call the resulting soup whatever you wish   This is why I best stick to engine innards and away from things electronic.

[mobile_bob]

hey playdiesel.... don't feel like the  lone ranger... i too am ignorant of things such as these... 

and a lot of other things too!   :0

as for an address

i will post it up on the thread in announcements

thanks guys

bob g

[SteveU.]

Hey ALL, try this. . . .
on the L.H. corner of the home page open up "more stats"
Look this over to see who has been pulling the heavy weight of starting topics; answering inquiries and such. Look at which topics have generated the most reads interest and such.

Some fellows been pulling the boat are gone now. Some: we know the reasons for.
And do not deceive yourself that quantity ever replaces quality!
Example; my Aus friend Robert Windt (nakedmechanic) only had five posts responses. But he did have quality in those from real-world propane and even methane conversions of working/loaded IC engines. Spark ignition, and Compression ignition.
He died. Why so quiet since 2012.
Another friend I encouraged(sponsored) here was Ukranian AlexseyA. He had the keys to Soviet era wet wood capable wood gasifer systems. Quiet for a long time now. Either endeavor disappointing in his own country. Or ate up in the last years Unkranian/Russian dust-ups.

And others gone quiet just disgusted with a personal offence tipping point, "I do not need this shit".
?? you may ask?

I live in a 1906 house remodeled 1940's then 1990's UP to 1300 square feet. Next door we have retained the folkes "new" built nin 1959 1500 square foot house.
Either of theses can, and have accommodated handily 4-6 person families.
So I am very irritated with the Tiny House'ers who say that I am a typical greedy, selfish, resource hogging, white, male entitled American. Only two of these even begin to be true. Wife an I earned and paid for theses house with decades of working, bloods and sweats. The Real Estate Agents, Banks, Title, Mortgage companies, and Investors Groups all hate us as no longer spin-trapped into their flipping-for-their-profits cycles.
I would never participate in a Tiny-House new Green-spin stylish fooo-paw, yuk. One cylinder engines MUST always be better? NOT.
Or a "better" McMansion to be flipped-for-profit fooo-paw, yukking up. 10 cylinders just must be "more bad" than eight! 12 cylinders better/badder yet! 16 cylinders!! Reasonable sense? NOT.

Back when this forum was sponsoring a fight-it-out section I was one of the ones saying; eliminate this "bread and circuses" or I am gone. I am not entertained by others miseries. Disgusting.
We each choose where we go. Where we stay. And Where we participate.
Sometimes Life interferes. Ha! The guy I wanted to take over my moderator-ship here recently got married. SWMBO's have an influence on participation too.
(I'm supposed to be 2 y.o. Godchild sitting right now. Not keyboarding. Opps! Gotton too quiet. Mischief's afoot for sure.) Bye for now.

Regards

Edit add. The breaking glass sound pulled me off was the child playing with my Wife's ambiance candles.
Sigh. And I've worked for years on wood-for-electricity to NEVER have to use dangerous, sooty, combustion lighting again! S.U.

[LowGear]

SteveU,

Do not think your post will inhibit me for one moment.  I shall go forward looking for misguided humor, delivering incompetent snap opinions and just missing the entire meaning of the thread.  And I too truly enjoy the contributions by the members that have obviously worked for NASA or some other gifted people organizations.  (I would have included MENSA but anyone that will pay money to belong to a smart persons club has just flunked the smart persons club most important test.  {One of my favorite jokes.})

Casey