Category Archives: Home Repair

Solar on the Go Kart – Part 2

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The deep cycle battery that I ordered for my Solar on the Go Kart finally arrived!

First thing to do was to mount the battery on the kart. The battery turned out to be bigger than I anticipated, so I had to make a bracket and remount the voltage regulator. Once that was done, I connected the regulator to the battery terminals, and the other leads to the solar panels.

I checked the yellow LED on the voltage regulator. It was illuminated, indicating that the battery was now being charged.

It took about 5 hours to fully charge the battery, with all 3 solar panels connected. Once the battery was charged, of course I had to recharge every battery-operated device that I own. That included, cell phone, tablet, electric razor, electric drill and electric lawn edger. However, the best was my bike – eBike Build.

I also decided to illuminate the wooden shed. I had a 35 year old battery-powered lantern in storage. The lantern’s two huge 6V batteries were long gone. I soldered up the wire extensions from the lantern to the battery, and connected directly across the solar battery terminals. I now have light in the shed.

I am now generating power for devices, dwellings, and transportation. I say, “Move over Elon, there’s room at the top for both of us.”

Modern Console

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The house that I live in had a lot of built-ins from the previous occupant. One of the built-ins was a double-sided wall bookshelf unit, with an oversized floor console.

One of the first things that I did was to remove the bookshelves, that made the room look much bigger. However, I never did anything about the oversized floor console other than paint it.

One day I was looking at a magazine and saw a modern console with legs. I was going to get rid of the old console, so I thought why not see if I could reconstruct this behemoth.

Before I could reconstruct, I needed to deconstruct – so out came the circular saw. I cut off 12″ from each end, and reduced the height by 5″ as well.

Once re-sectioned, I glued, nailed, and clamped it all back together.

I purchased the legs for $5.00 each at a local hardware store. They came with everything needed to easily attach them to the underside of the console.

I selected a charcole grey gloss paint for the new finish. I left the legs with the “1950’s blonde” look, but did put a light coat of varnish on them.

The smaller size and 1950’s style legs really gives the console a mid century modern look. Total cost for the transformation was $35.00.

So happy that I decided to recycle and reuse, rather than add to the local landfill!