Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Report from the Kingdom.....more updates!

KingTotsalot

KingTotsalot

Official Tot Lot King
Forum Supporter
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
10,439
Location
Mabelvale, south of Little Rock, Arkansas
KT now has on hand, stacked and well aged, all the firewood for the Castle's woodstove for this coming winter, and He is glad that task is completed.

A few days back, KT realized that the Queen had made some timely major purchase of beef, pork, and chicken before the prices skyrocketed, and now the winter larder is well established, stored in the Royal Chest Freezer in the Castle basement. But worry hit the King because, although the Castle has a small generator for the main floor, we had not one for the basement freezer, fridgerator, and wireless router!!:shock::shock:

Thus, not only in a power outage, might We be cut off from our internet lifeline, but our food storage for our feasts would be endangered....so KT dipped in to the Royal Change Purse and purchased a Harbor Freight 9000w Predator generator. It is stored near where it will be used should the time come. It is gassed, oiled, and has its 12v battery installed, so is now ready for the 3 hour break-in run. KT has purchased some 4x8 sheets of black board which will soon be cut up into baffle boards to lower the sound level of this monster! Left to purchase are a few new heavy gauge extension cords to get the power to where it is needed. Living in the countryside and being the end of the local electric companies service, has made power outages more frequent than normal, but usually restored within 12 hours. Total outlay for the entire set up will be around $900, even with the battery, cords, and wheel set. Fortunately KT found a coupon online good to the last day of August for $50 off, so that bit of discount helped.

KT watched about 10 videos about this particular generator on YouTube and even found some people running their entire house on it! It has very good reviews also and KT has noted several local repair shops that work on all brands...Predator, Generac, Onan, and Honda, so not anticipating any trouble getting it worked on, if necessary.

KT is curious if other folks in the Forum have any experience or tips for KT concerning generator use...? Thanks for taking the time to read this long post!
:laughing::laughing: KT will add some photos shortly....
 
Last edited:
Lots of prepping for the upcoming white death! Glad you are ready!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Congrats KT on your new generator AND for doing the research BEFORE buying it :thumbsup:
(I was assuming you did research it before buying, right ? :lol:)

While we have no generator now, I personally wouldn't mind having one, but it's not an urgent need for our area, power outages in our local area are fairly rare and when they do happen the power is usually restored within about an hour about 95% of the time.

It'd be neat if there were battery back-ups powerful enough to power a house for a few hours :lol:
 
ugadigger said:
Lots of prepping for the upcoming white death! Glad you are ready!
Click to expand...

KT has always had various back up plans for emergency situations, such as even tho the Castle is entirely electric...no gas...it has its own water well, manual as well as electric pump, and wood heater for heat backup...in the past few years, We have also stocked a sizeable pantry and have several alternative lighting methods, from old time kerosene lamps and lanterns to many rechargeable flashlights. Don't know about the "white death", but if yer dead, no need to prep! HA HA....and oh, yes, plenty of ammo for KT's Royal Armament.

GKL said:
Congrats KT on your new generator AND for doing the research BEFORE buying it :thumbsup:
(I was assuming you did research it before buying, right ? :lol:

It'd be neat if there were battery back-ups powerful enough to power a house for a few hours :lol:
Click to expand...

Been off and on researching generators for over a year now...just seemed like it was the right time to spring for this one! So a short answer is yes!

There are battery back ups available, seen them advertised occasionally on TV. But they mostly depend on solar panels and are very expensive presently. At KT's ripe olde age, His Majesty is not interested in putting 20K into a system that would never pay out in His Royal Lifetime! :laughing::laughing::laughing:
 
so here are the pictures, promised above.

Three pics of the Royal Wood Storage and two of the new generator and its packing box, now that KT has camoflaged it well enough not to be greatly noticeable unless you are right on top of it as box is screened from the yard.

The camo tarps are to help prevent prying eyes from seeing the stacked wood, and to keep the wood dry as it ages.
 

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KingTotsalot said:
Been off and on researching generators for over a year now...just seemed like it was the right time to spring for this one! So a short answer is yes!

There are battery back ups available, seen them advertised occasionally on TV. But they mostly depend on solar panels and are very expensive presently. At KT's ripe olde age, His Majesty is not interested in putting 20K into a system that would never pay out in His Royal Lifetime! :laughing::laughing::laughing:
Click to expand...

We have some rechargeable batteries we use for powerful flashlights, and have a solar rechargeable flashlight that also can be recharged with a hand crank, also have an LED lantern rechargeable by solar or a hand crank.

......and our favorite rechargeable - our plug-in hybrid car ! :lol:

We also have several solar powered outdoor lights, but 20K for a home power system ? no thanks, now maybe if they had an inexpensive version that used "D" cell batteries..... :laughing:
 
KT that’s awesome! I have always been curious if the HF generators were any good; will be waiting for your experience. There’s a guy on YouTube who lives in Canada has a huge audience: his channel is “My Self Reliance.” He stocks up for winter too!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nice buy KT your castle sounds similar to mine, right down to the Toro zero-turn! All electric, I run geo-thermal heating with a small Lopi woodstove for the cold Michigan winters. Speaking of winter, I can’t wait! Enough of these high 80 degree temps, I’m miserable.

I have a 8550W generator that I plug into an outside receptacle. We used to lose power several times a year being at the end of the grid, but electric co. has made large improvements and I’ve used the gen once in 4 years. The gen will power the entire house except for the geo furnace.

I burn wood through the winter, going through maybe a cord and 1/2 of red oak.
 
ugadigger said:
KT that’s awesome! I have always been curious if the HF generators were any good; will be waiting for your experience. There’s a guy on YouTube who lives in Canada has a huge audience: his channel is “My Self Reliance.” He stocks up for winter too!
Click to expand...

KT with the Queen built the Castle over a period of 10 years, both of us working full time jobs, living off the Queen's salary, and buying materials with KT's! Of course this was 45 years ago, and materials were considerably cheaper, but it was a good job for a youthful couple...not for the olde King now! :laughing::laughing:

Part of that was feeding the woodstove during those years...that yearly effort kept His Majesty in good physical condition for many years. Now that KT is older, He uses His Brain to do this job smarter, not harder! Ha ha. We shall see how well this Predator generator performs over time. Presently KT is building some baffle boards to quieten this monster down. Recently purchased a decibel sound meter and plan on running a test without the baffle system and with. The baffles work on the basic physics principle that air can turn corners, but sound can only reflect, not turning right angles. I will post the Royal Results in this thread once His Majesty has conducted the test, posting db without and db with baffles.
 
amc rulz said:
Nice buy KT your castle sounds similar to mine, right down to the Toro zero-turn! All electric, I run geo-thermal heating with a small Lopi woodstove for the cold Michigan winters. Speaking of winter, I can’t wait! Enough of these high 80 degree temps, I’m miserable.

I have a 8550W generator that I plug into an outside receptacle. We used to lose power several times a year being at the end of the grid, but electric co. has made large improvements and I’ve used the gen once in 4 years. The gen will power the entire house except for the geo furnace.

I burn wood through the winter, going through maybe a cord and 1/2 of red oak.
Click to expand...

Good observation about the Toro zero turn....incidentally, that's the Queen's! KT's Royal Mower is a Kubota BX2200, with a 60" belly mower, all hydraulic drive 3 cylinder diesel engine...hellava workhorse! This is what KT uses to drag firewood logs to the fire wood processing area. Logs get cut up with one of 2 18" electric chain saws, and then split on a 5 ton electric HF splitter. For really large rounds, KT has the HF 10 ton manual to make half rounds and the quarter rounds. These, even green, are light weight enough for KT to lift and place on the electric splitter. The Queen loves to be warm in the winter, so We normally go through 2 cords a winter, even here in the south! Ha ha.

We talked about the plug in idea, but realized we do not need to run everything in the Castle, so We decided not to spend that cash at this time. This is the second generator.
 
I'm jealous! I looked into this a few years ago, and never bit the bullet.

One thing I remember was important, was that the output voltage isn't terribly consistent and the waveform from most generators is not a "pure sinewave." For some devices, it doesn't matter, but for "sensitive electronics" and motors, it is. There were "inverter generators" that put out the clean power, but way more expensive.

Sadly, almost everything (refrigerators, freezers, furnace/ac, tv, etc) has a motor and/or electronic control boards these days.

For motors it was a matter of shortening their lifespan. If only used in emergencies, the benefits surely outweigh that negative.

How the "sensitive electronics" tolerate the waveform was anywhere from well tolerated to not tolerated at all. It probably matters whether it's using a switching power supply or a transformer, but I don't recall those details. Only that I probably should shell out for the inverter style to protect what's being run -- big dough for sufficient Watts of the inverter type, or go with less Wattage than I really want, and change up what is being run on some schedule.

Adding in the logistics of having enough (fresh!) gasoline on hand (assuming the worst here), the whole house systems that run off the existing propane tank start looking competitive! Go big or go home. I went home. :(

That was a few years ago, maybe the inverter type have become more mainstream and gotten more affordable...?
 
TorqueMaster said:
I'm jealous! I looked into this a few years ago, and never bit the bullet.

One thing I remember was important, was that the output voltage isn't terribly consistent and the waveform from most generators is not a "pure sinewave." For some devices, it doesn't matter, but for "sensitive electronics" and motors, it is. There were "inverter generators" that put out the clean power, but way more expensive.

Sadly, almost everything (refrigerators, freezers, furnace/ac, tv, etc) has a motor and/or electronic control boards these days.

For motors it was a matter of shortening their lifespan. If only used in emergencies, the benefits surely outweigh that negative.

How the "sensitive electronics" tolerate the waveform was anywhere from well tolerated to not tolerated at all.

That was a few years ago, maybe the inverter type have become more mainstream and gotten more affordable...?
Click to expand...

TorqueMaster, thanks for your comments. For several years, when needed, KT has run both the main floor fridge/freezer combo, and the large screen Royal TV with a generator, for up to 4 days at a time, and no problems. With this new generator, KT plans on running a refrigerator and a separate chest type freezer..... And because the new generator has a standard 12v cig lighter outlet, KT will plug in a 12v inverter to 120v sinewave output unit, cost about $50, to run the wireless router. That way Old KingTotsalot will have both His TV and His Internet available during any power outage. We already have a solar operated battery back up charger set up for iPads, cell phones, and our rechargable Li ion flashlights. The Queen built it, taking over a year to learn all the electronics involved. That is the beauty of retirement! Take as long as you need to learn whatever you are interested in! :laughing::laughing:
 
Look's like the castle is well stocked . Perhaps in these days of having more surly knaves
creeping about , His Highness might consider purchasing a couple of cannons to protect the Kingdom .
 
Update!

Today KT has run his baffle test. First, the background sound level outside is 40 db. Then KT started the generator and check the sound level ~ 20 feet from the generator....90 db...then covered the generator with the baffles and checked the sound level...80 db. A reduction of 1 order of 10 db is significant since sound measurements are logirithmic. Then , since it is a warm day..mid-80s...KT removed the baffle system and decided to let the generator run the 3 hour break in period. KT had a pleasant surprise! Upon entering the Castle, KT could hardly hear the generator running. KT got the sound meter, and sitting in His Royal Easy Chair, took a reading! Imagine KT's shock :shock: to see a reading of 40 db. So, it appears that the Castle is well insulated from the unbaffled generator...very tolerable indeed! :D:D

Now during the colder winter season when KT anticipates that bad weather or ice storms may cause power outages, KT can run this generator baffled to prevent disturbing the neighbors, whereas in the summer and fall, if the power is interrupted, the generator can be run without the baffling system, since the nearest neighbor's home is around 500' distance from the Castle with dense woods between the homes.

Unfortunately, the baffle material is not waterproof, but is a lot lighter weight than plywood, and since the generator will stored and used on the back porch, the baffling need not be waterproof.

KT hopes this information will be of use to interested Forum members.

KT went today and purchased a HF 50' 10 gauge triple outlet extension cord...price was ~ $70 with tax...no coupon..:mad: :laughing::laughing:
This cord will be sufficient to handle the load of both the frigerator and chest freezer....also good to have only one bright yellow cord snaking through the basement.
 
KingTotsalot said:
TorqueMaster, thanks for your comments. For several years, when needed, KT has run both the main floor fridge/freezer combo, and the large screen Royal TV with a generator, for up to 4 days at a time, and no problems. With this new generator, KT plans on running a refrigerator and a separate chest type freezer..... And because the new generator has a standard 12v cig lighter outlet, KT will plug in a 12v inverter to 120v sinewave output unit, cost about $50, to run the wireless router. That way Old KingTotsalot will have both His TV and His Internet available during any power outage. We already have a solar operated battery back up charger set up for iPads, cell phones, and our rechargable Li ion flashlights. The Queen built it, taking over a year to learn all the electronics involved. That is the beauty of retirement! Take as long as you need to learn whatever you are interested in! :laughing::laughing:
Click to expand...

Glad to hear your long outages have gone well!!! I like the inverter on the wifi idea and would consider the same on my bigscreen.

Congrats to the Queen on getting the solar system up and running. Seems like that also is becoming more mainstreamed, more affordable inverters and panels, along with better efficiencies.

Having time is great. Better if you can stick to a few pursuits rather than the dozens I seem to have!

I see you were testing the loudness of the generator from your royal BarcoLounger...how's the decibel level on that cannon?!? Pretty low I would guess since his royal highness needs to spend a little more time in photoshop to fool us haha! :)
 
TorqueMaster said:
Glad to hear your long outages have gone well!!! I like the inverter on the wifi idea and would consider the same on my bigscreen.

Congrats to the Queen on getting the solar system up and running. Seems like that also is becoming more mainstreamed, more affordable inverters and panels, along with better efficiencies.

Having time is great. Better if you can stick to a few pursuits rather than the dozens I seem to have!

I see you were testing the loudness of the generator from your royal BarcoLounger...how's the decibel level on that cannon?!? Pretty low I would guess since his royal highness needs to spend a little more time in photoshop to fool us haha! :)
Click to expand...

:laughing::laughing: KT does not fool with photoshop! That's the Royal photo alterer...GKL! KT must say, however, that the Royal Hearing Aids were not in use today, but the sound meter does not lie, just gives readings.
 
Well, We at the Castle are surely interested in how much rain will be produced locally later this week as these two hurricanes come inland. The first one is not projected to be much of a problem locally, but the second one is projected to come right through this area, with perhaps up to 6 inches of rain! Good thing the Castle is built on the locally highest hill in this area! :D:D. Then the winds are later in the week projected to be up to 50 mph here, so this new generator may get a quick workout! KT will go get two 5 gal. gas cans filled tomorrow, just in case. :lol:
 
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