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Joined 3 days ago
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Cake day: March 7th, 2025

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  • ryan_e3p@lemmy.worldtoPreppers@lemmy.worldWhere to start?
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    2 days ago

    Yeah, there may be things in it that are… Perhaps not meant for distribution. I’m conflicted, because as much as I’m not all “yay, piracy” (at least when said property is readily available for a reasonable cost), if there’s a situation where things do collapse, schools and education is still going to be important. Not just K-12, but more advanced higher education. Libraries may end up being raided and having their contents burnt by morons looking to stay warm in the winter, and I don’t have nearly enough physical space to hold even a tiny portion of the digitized books.




  • Have you considered dropping down to a chest freezer and mini fridge when needed? The two combined can pull as little as 50-60W (each about 25-30W on average). A full size fridge draws a lot more since they’re a lot less efficient. The chest freezer especially is beneficial since worst case, when properly filled, can go 3 days or so without power and still remaining ice cold.







  • Once I have everything a bit more organized, I’ll do a full writeup including parts used. I need to sort of redo… well, everything! My new greenhouse build is taking place on a different part of the property that will let me take better advantage of the space, and I need to move it all to accommodate. But, it will be a lot more organized as a result as well. I have a data rack that I repurposed that can hold 1,500lbs. It’s wheeled so I can move it if need be, but to be safe, I’m going to put enough pieces of reclaimed pallet wood underneath the frame to sort of take the pressure off the wheels themselves. The rack will also make it easier to expand battery capacity, since each shelf can hold either 2x 24v 100AH batteries, or 3x 12V 100AH batteries.

    I’m very excited to start the greenhouse up, especially it will be a self-contained, automated, solar powered dream. 4x IBC totes totaling 1100 gallons with UV disinfecting lights, fed by a well with a filter and the tap located inside the greenhouse (to avoid freezing in the winter), with the well having both an automatic pump to draw water as well as a manual one if needed. Hydroponics set to keep the plants hydrated, with the capability to have a wood stove to keep it warm for winter growing (which will also heat the water in the totes via copper pipe around the stove pipe with a 12v pump cycling water, a double plus since water is a great thermal battery!). All managed by my Home Assistant server, but I can always manually turn things on/off as well with 12v timers and switches.