Worm Failure

I start this post stating that this project did not work out the way I planned.This is a post about what I did with the results and turned a learning experience into something useful.
OK, I have had a worm bin for a little over a year and a half.  I have read about the usefulness of using worms to compost and process kitchen scraps into useful compost (and fish bait!).  This has worked well for about a year and a half.  The bin did not smell, was unobtrusive (actually most people ignored it until I told them what it contained).  The worms were very active and made quick work of any scraps I threw into the bin.  This changed...

Day one...there was a funky smell.  I thought it was the garbage so I took out the trash and thought that was that.  Then, day two...I came home to a smell....like I threw away all the Thanksgiving leftovers in a can and forgot about it until St. Patrick's day.  Horrible. 

Well, the smell was my precious worm bin!  I had a massive die off.  I do not know what happened.  The weather had been cool and suddenly we were having summer temps ( I really only cool one room in my house with A/C).  Maybe I put something that didn't go over well with the worms.  I am not sure all I know is it stunk and had to go!  Here is a picture of what I was working with... (note all the worms you see in the picture were digging in the compost heap in the sky)

Well, I mixed in some dry leaves to try to "dilute" the dead worms and help keep any survivors.  (I also moved the worm bin outside...way outside).  The leaf "dilution" did not work and about all I could get out of the bin (besides smell) were these funky mushrooms (maybe these killed the worms?)

Well, about a month later no improvement so I need to get "rid" or "throw-out" this muck.  Why the sudden change and not let the compost finish?  Well, I had some persuasion:

Those little white crawlies aren't worms... they are maggots.  Hmm, I don't like maggots very much, but I do hear they are high in protein (in case you haven't had lunch yet).  They are much more noisy than worms as well (all flopping and crawling about).  Well lets do what a lot of people do with their problems, bury them!!

I'm all about some tomato plants.  They are, however, heavy feeders and my soil is basically an un-fired brick.  So I dug some holes beside the plants (this will serve to hold the compost and give me a more direct conduit for watering).  I added some crushed eggshells to the bottom of the holes.  This should provide calcium to the plants to help prevent blossom end rot.  Calcium helps prevent this fruit wasting condition (as does even moisture).  I capped the holes with a thin layer of soil and then covered that with mulch.  The nutrients from the compost will leach into the soil as I water the plants and they can grow roots to reach the compost to draw up the nutrients as well.  I was going to use the compost anyway so now it is in play!

Oh, in case you were wondering:  I do plan to start my worm bin over.  I have a trick up my sleeve...I don't keep all my worms in one bin!  So, we will go over starting a bin from scratch and I'll include pictures of the bin.  Stay tuned!

Simple Solar Battery Charger

This is a simple little project I used today.  I've been working on my car the past couple weeks (complicated project and very little time).  Well, I had concerns that I might need to freshen up my battery a little.  It was already out of the car and it was a sunny day so...

Simple Solar Battery Charger:  This is a "45 Watt" solar charger kit from Harbor Freight (normal retail about $140, which includes panels, charge controller, lights and battery hookups).  I purchased mine at a Flea Market for $100 (yeah, a blocking diode burned out a week later). 

These are great kits if you like to experiment with solar electricity.  They are convenient and practical.  I actually pass a house on my way to work that uses one of these to light their yard shed (a bargain in my opinion).

Here is the setup (remember I'm still down a blocking diode, more on that later).

Now, the battery was not really discharged.  It was about 13 volts, which a fully charged battery is technically 12.6 volts "at rest".

Here is a picture of a voltmeter hooked up to measure the solar energy capture!

This is the battery without solar juice:

The voltmeter reads: 13.31 volts.  Now hooked up to "the juice":

Reading 14.36 with strong sun.  This is right in the "sweet spot" for charging a 12V battery.  I am not so worried about amps.  The max for this set up is around 2 amps.  Now a word about the blocking diode.  This is an important part of any solar set up.  Think of it as a "one-way valve" for the charge.  If we don't have one (like this) and say I forgot about it over night...well that would be bad because at night the battery could discharge!!  For now I'm just more attentive to the set up.

What about if the sky is overcast?  Well:

Reading 13.55 volts with clouds in the sky.  It was not too dark but overcast enough so that you did not have a shadow. 

Now if I fix the blocking diode I could leave the battery hooked up for several days (in case it were really discharged).  Either way, next time I crank my car I'll have used a little (OK, OK, infinitesimal) renewable energy.

New Blog!! EcoGuy Projects!

Welcome!
I'm starting this side-shoot of my original blog (ecoguytravels.blogspot.com) to keep me busy and to share my ideas and projects with those that are interested in conservation, energy efficiency, sustainable processes, design, and products for helping others.  Often I will read of a project some scientist in a well funded lab (corporate or government sponsorship) and I will try to replicate that in my...lower budget lab (pocket change sponsored!).

I will post projects and follow their progress on here.  This will be a mixed focus.  Themes covered will be Tech, Gardening, Experiments, Waste (Reduction, Recycling, Reuse), and Home.  These subjects will be highlighted in my labels to help you sort and find them more easily. 

I will do my best to post pictures and instructions for my projects along with the hoped results, actual results and critiques.  If you have questions about how I have done something feel free to post as others may have the same question!  I will try to provide links to the origins of my ideas (when possible).

Let the Mad Science Begin!!