Shed venting project
Sheds with a metal roof tend to be cooler than one with shingles.. but still sometimes too warm. So we added two 4″ fans powered by a small 30w solar…
astro power
For those following the tales of portable power and our adventures at Starfest… the news is great! We used a 32AmpHour 12vdc battery in the popup trailer to runs its…
Observatory Power
Some questions came up locally about power, quality of power and their affect on astronomy equipment. Have you considered a whole house surge protector on your main panel? I think…
Pi backup
MFLASH 5000mAh Rubberized Power Bank – has been added to a raspberry pi as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). It was on a Black Friday sale for $10, down from…
LED lighting
Another major light fixture has bitten the dust. Our kitchen light fixture had 3x60watt incandescent bulbs. It was really never enough light for the kitchen and so when we came…
LED strip lighting
We’ve tried various kitchen undercounter lighting systems in the past… first were fluorescent, the compact fluroscent.. both took too long to turn on, to come up to full brightness, and…
Even more conservation
Our electricity rates in Ontario I believe are the highest in Canada. We use time of day with 8.3; 12.8 and 17.5 cents/kwh at offpeak, midpeak and onpeak demand. The…
widespread power outage oct 27th 2015
Yay! The day before the remnants of Hurricane Patricia (from down Puerto Vallarta Mexico way) were scheduled to run over us, the city of Kingston Ontario and the surrounding area,…
Ontario – coal free! since 2014 April 15th
Ontario has become the first jurisdiction in North America to fully eliminate coal as a source of electricity generation. The Thunder Bay Generating Station, Ontario’s final remaining coal-fired facility, has…
Earth Hour 2013
Last night, Saturday March 23rd, 2013 was Earth Hour, from 20:30-21:30 EDT. Starting about 10 minutes earlier, we went around shutting off non-essential power, including all lights inside. We headed…
Fall’N’Stars 2012
This was our 13th annual Fall’N’Stars Star Party (including the inaugural DSNOS). We’ve been at the Boy Scout Camp Sagonaska for 12 years now. The Event started on Friday September…
Prepping for the fall – chimneys
One of the chores associated with a wood stove is the annual (2012) sweeping of the chimney. It’s not a bad job but it does leave you coated in a…
weekend notes
GLOBE at Night: encourages citizen-scientists worldwide to record the brightness of the night sky. During 2 weeks of moonless evenings, children and adults match the appearance of a constellation (Leo…
Prep
Always a good idea to prep for a star party… in advance! Case in point, Fall’N’Stars 2010 Last year, you may remember, we took the Centre’s portable power pack (the…
A Visit to Wolfe Island
We haven’t been over to Wolfe Island in months, but finally had the opportunity earlier this week. Our primary reason was to go and visit some gardens.. some very nice…