Busy Day At The Off Grid Homestead

I spent some time working on batteries. I got the old Simplicity garden tractor going again and used it to haul some logs out of the forest for my tiny house heating.

I have a junk battery that I am hoping to fix up and use to run my Jeep. The battery has a hole in the side and I think it is otherwise in good shape. I am hoping to patch the hole and use the battery for the Jeep.

I used some steel putty. It is a putty made of two different types of materials that you mix together and then patch holes with it. It is chemical resistant so I hope it will work.

I put it on the hole in the battery and let it sit all day. Problem is that it did not stick to the plastic although it claims to stick well to plastic.

Later in the evening I put some battery acid from one junk battery into the one I am trying to fix. But sadly the acid leaked from the patch. And it leaked out the bottom of the battery as well. There is another hole in the bottom. This is very unusual. I will try again though. I want to see if I can make this work because surprisingly I see otherwise good batteries with a hole in them quite often.

I hope to find something that will stick and resist acid.

I left the old Simplicity garden tractor sitting where I had the accident in spring when I broke my rib. I was going up a steep slope and it rolled over on me. During the fall I broke my rib. I left the tractor there all summer.

I went out with a jump starter and starting fluid. Sprayed a bit of starting fluid into the carburetor, turned the key and it fired right up. This is a reliable and rugged old beast.

I went out and cut some wood for the tiny house wood stove. I used the Simplicity garden tractor and a wagon to haul the wood out of the forest and over to my tiny house.

I split the logs that were larger and needed to dry out a bit. These were dead standing trees but there is a bit of moisture in them. I stacked them all up in the sun and they will be usable in a few days of wind and sun.

The solar batteries I picked up from the scrap yard the day before are performing well on the off grid tiny house. I am going to use them for a while and see how well they perform for me.

I may be putting together two systems for solar power. One can be on standby and I can switch over between the two as needed.

I have enough solar panels to set up two complete systems. Sadly the solar charge controller I have can only handle 800 watts though. I will be investing in another large solar charge controller one day in the near future.

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Troy
http://www.thedoityourselfworld.com
http://www.theoffgridproject.com

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