Labour Saving and General Guntering

patsy_mccabe

I lost the rachet spanner, short extension bar and 19mm socket from my Teng Tools socket set. I have it over 30 years as it used to be my Dad's. Gutted I am. I think I left it on the bonnet of the tractor when I changed the wheel with a puncture.
I found the little tub of copper grease about 1/2 mile from the house and I know i used it with the rachet, Asked all me neighbour farmers and none seen it. I still have the plastic case it came in and never even lost a socket to date. Checked and double checked everywhere.

funkey_monkey

Any recommendations of a heavy duty gate return? To be used on a 4ft field gate into a recently planted forestry.
Note sure whether a gas strut or a spring would be a better option.

I've taken a quick look online and most seem to be light options for house rear accesses.

2018na

Quite a clever idea

chooseusername

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Any recommendations of a heavy duty gate return? To be used on a 4ft field gate into a recently planted forestry.
Note sure whether a gas strut or a spring would be a better option.

I've taken a quick look online and most seem to be light options for house rear accesses.

If gate is not already hanging,
Maybe off-set the bottom hinge to get a 'rising gate',
and let the weight of the gate work for you, like a rising butt hinge.

Nekarsulm

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Any recommendations of a heavy duty gate return? To be used on a 4ft field gate into a recently planted forestry.
Note sure whether a gas strut or a spring would be a better option.

I've taken a quick look online and most seem to be light options for house rear accesses.

A 20kg weight suspended on a light wire rope.
One end secured to the gate, about 12 inches from the hinge end, and the other end fastened to another stationary object.

SCOL

Any Ideas lads ?

I have a wavin downpipe coming off a big shed that goes into a drain ( 4/5 Inch ). I was hoping to pipe a cattle drinker
( probably an old cast Iron bath ) into it some way and have the overflow back into the drain.

I'll be looking out at it from the kitchen so I don't want a holding tank or anything unsightly.

_Brian

SCOL wrote: »

Any Ideas lads ?

I have a wavin downpipe coming off a big shed that goes into a drain ( 4/5 Inch ). I was hoping to pipe a cattle drinker
( probably an old cast Iron bath ) into it some way and have the overflow back into the drain.

I'll be looking out at it from the kitchen so I don't want a holding tank or anything unsightly.

Surely one of the kits for a water butt connecting to downpipe. Run that into the bath. Then plumb overflow of bath on down into the drain.

SCOL

_Brian wrote: »

Surely one of the kits for a water butt connecting to downpipe. Run that into the bath. Then plumb overflow of bath on down into the drain.

I don't think they come that big, do they ? Ideally I was think along that line, of what you see at the side of houses a small attachment onto the gutter small pipe into the butt.

_Brian

SCOL wrote: »

I don't think they come that big, do they ? Ideally I was think along that line, of what you see at the side of houses a small attachment onto the gutter small pipe into the butt.

This crowd might have something

https://www.freeflush.co.uk/collections/filters-and-diverters

Say my name

SCOL wrote: »

Any Ideas lads ?

I have a wavin downpipe coming off a big shed that goes into a drain ( 4/5 Inch ). I was hoping to pipe a cattle drinker
( probably an old cast Iron bath ) into it some way and have the overflow back into the drain.

I'll be looking out at it from the kitchen so I don't want a holding tank or anything unsightly.

A 4,500 litre plastic tank, three quarter inch pipe from that to a concrete water trough with a ballcock.
Overflow pipe from the top of the tank.

There'll be no other way to do a proper job on it.

I'd find an old cast iron bath myself as a water trough a bit of an eyesore. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

K.G.

SCOL wrote: »

Any Ideas lads ?

I have a wavin downpipe coming off a big shed that goes into a drain ( 4/5 Inch ). I was hoping to pipe a cattle drinker
( probably an old cast Iron bath ) into it some way and have the overflow back into the drain.

I'll be looking out at it from the kitchen so I don't want a holding tank or anything unsightly.

I put another down pipe connectoronto the gutter beside the existing one and drilled holes in it to let the water down then i have a90 degree bend with a stop end on it into which i plumbed a 3/ 4 pipe leading to the wash down pump tank which has a ballcock on it when tank full ballcock closes and water goes down existing gutter .ill try and get a photo up

emaherx

I've added some lighting and a small pump to water my poly tunnel from some IBC's.
https://farmer-eds-shed.com/solar-powered-lighting-and-polytunnel-watering-from-rain-water-storage/

IMG_20201004_154433 by Farmer Ed's Shed, on Flickr

IMG_20201008_180710 by Farmer Ed's Shed, on Flickr

IMG_20201008_192007 by Farmer Ed's Shed, on Flickr

IMG_20201008_192034 by Farmer Ed's Shed, on Flickr

NcdJd

Hi Emaherx

Great work as always man. Am I right in understanding what you done there

A solar panel going to a controller using two black wires. You have 4 wires going the from controller to pump ?

Then for the lights your running them directly off the terminals off the battery and the lights are daisy chained ?

emaherx

2 wires from Pump to controller, 2 from panel to controller and 2 from battery to controller. Both wires on the panel are black they just have tags on the end marked + and -.

Lights are all daisy chained through a switch and an inline fuse directly to the battery. Solar controller cuts off power to pump once voltage drops below a certain level to protect battery, but the lights use such little power and I don't want to be left in the dark if pumps knocks off.




Edit: Daisy chain is probably the wrong term, lights are all wired in Parallel off a single dual core cable, daisy chain implys serial connection using a single core cable. Parallel connection means the lights don't all go out if one unit fails (unless theres a short to blow the fuse of coarse).

NcdJd

emaherx wrote: »

2 wires from Pump to controller, 2 from panel to controller and 2 from battery to controller. Both wires on the panel are black they just have tags on the end marked + and -.

Lights are all daisy chained through a switch and an inline fuse directly to the battery. Solar controller cuts off power to pump once voltage drops below a certain level to protect battery, but the lights use such little power and I don't want to be left in the dark if pumps knocks off.

Thanks man, I've two sheds I've no power to but am thinking now I could also do something on this for my polythene:) clicked on your website, great you have all the links to the kit you used that was gonna be my next question.

NcdJd

Good pressure out of that pump. You should have a go at drip irrigation for them plants.

emaherx

NcdJd wrote: »

Good pressure out of that pump. You should have a go at drip irrigation for them plants.

Ha, funny enough just invested in some drippers yesterday. I'll probably be doing something with soil moisture sensors and some temp humidity sensors too.

jimini0

emaherx wrote: »

2 wires from Pump to controller, 2 from panel to controller and 2 from battery to controller. Both wires on the panel are black they just have tags on the end marked + and -.

Lights are all daisy chained through a switch and an inline fuse directly to the battery. Solar controller cuts off power to pump once voltage drops below a certain level to protect battery, but the lights use such little power and I don't want to be left in the dark if pumps knocks off.




Edit: Daisy chain is probably the wrong term, lights are all wired in Parallel off a single dual core cable, daisy chain implys serial connection using a single core cable. Parallel connection means the lights don't all go out if one unit fails (unless theres a short to blow the fuse of coarse).

Excellent job. Im in the middle of something similar. There is good light out of those. I was goin to use led spot lights from a tractor.
Can I ask you about the fuse set up? How?

emaherx

jimini0 wrote: »

Excellent job. Im in the middle of something similar. There is good light out of those. I was goin to use led spot lights from a tractor.
Can I ask you about the fuse set up? How?

There's great light out of them for the poly tunnel, but they wouldn't be my first choice for a cow shed. The tractor spots might be a better option alright but there's a big selection of 12V options these days.

My brother got 12V bulbs that have a standard ES or possibly bayonet fitting and is using standard bulkheads in stables that he has.

With regards a fuse, just use any inline automotive fuse holder and place it on the live cable close to the battery.

Most of the charge controllers have their own inbuilt protection so loads connected there should be OK, but a fuse will never hurt.

jimini0

emaherx wrote: »

There's great light out of them for the poly tunnel, but they wouldn't be my first choice for a cow shed. The tractor spots might be a better option alright but there's a big selection of 12V options these days.

My brother got 12V bulbs that have a standard ES or possibly bayonet fitting and is using standard bulkheads in stables that he has.

With regards a fuse, just use any inline automotive fuse holder and place it on the live cable close to the battery.

Might go with the spot lights. 2 would do in the shed I have. The roof is only 9 ft so if it dont work I can go with another option. Would I get the fuse holder in a motor factors?

jimini0

emaherx wrote: »

There's great light out of them for the poly tunnel, but they wouldn't be my first choice for a cow shed. The tractor spots might be a better option alright but there's a big selection of 12V options these days.

My brother got 12V bulbs that have a standard ES or possibly bayonet fitting and is using standard bulkheads in stables that he has.

With regards a fuse, just use any inline automotive fuse holder and place it on the live cable close to the battery.

Might go with the spot lights. 2 would do in the shed I have. The roof is only 9 ft so if it dont work I can go with another option. Would I get the fuse holder in a motor factors?

emaherx

jimini0 wrote: »

Might go with the spot lights. 2 would do in the shed I have. The roof is only 9 ft so if it dont work I can go with another option. Would I get the fuse holder in a motor factors?

Yes any motor factors, even the likes of Halfords have them.

You can always add more lights if needed. Obviously the more lights you have the quicker your battery will drain, but you can use multiple switches also to turn on groups of lights depending on the amount of light you need for whatever task you are doing at the time. Or add more batteries to increase capacity.

But start simple and you can easily expand later if you feel the need.

funkey_monkey

Nekarsulm wrote: »

A 20kg weight suspended on a light wire rope.
One end secured to the gate, about 12 inches from the hinge end, and the other end fastened to another stationary object.

I like that idea - I'll need to go and check the gate and see if this setup would work there. I was looking at something like the below, but getting mixed reviews on them:

Base price

funkey_monkey wrote: »

I like that idea - I'll need to go and check the gate and see if this setup would work there. I was looking at something like the below, but getting mixed reviews on them:

Someone had a picture on here a while ago of a gate closure made using the tine of a haybob. I cannot remember who but someone else may remember.

jimini0

emaherx wrote: »

Yes any motor factors, even the likes of Halfords have them.

You can always add more lights if needed. Obviously the more lights you have the quicker your battery will drain, but you can use multiple switches also to turn on groups of lights depending on the amount of light you need for whatever task you are doing at the time. Or add more batteries to increase capacity.

But start simple and you can easily expand later if you feel the need.

My solar panel and controller is the same as your only opened it up today. Its been in the spare room for a year. Got all the others bits so will start tomorrow.
Does the fuse go on the + cable coming from the battery to the controller?

emaherx

jimini0 wrote: »

My solar panel and controller is the same as your only opened it up today. Its been in the spare room for a year. Got all the others bits so will start tomorrow.
Does the fuse go on the + cable coming from the battery to the controller?

No just to any loads, the controller should have its own protection.

Xtrail14

Excellent thread and not strictly farming related but anyone got any tips on making wooden posts removable?
I was thinking of wrapping the end in bubble wrap and then cling film and pour concrete. Once set I should get post out?
Thanks

jimini0

Xtrail14 wrote: »

Excellent thread and not strictly farming related but anyone got any tips on making wooden posts removable?
I was thinking of wrapping the end in bubble wrap and then cling film and pour concrete. Once set I should get post out?
Thanks

This is an option if you only needed a few bit if you have alot of removable post could work out expensive

Buford T. Justice XIX

Xtrail14 wrote: »

Excellent thread and not strictly farming related but anyone got any tips on making wooden posts removable?
I was thinking of wrapping the end in bubble wrap and then cling film and pour concrete. Once set I should get post out?
Thanks

You'll get the post out all right but wood sitting in water for long periods will rot the wood fairly quickly.
Something to keep in mind for replacing posts in a few years as posts can vary in size.

Xtrail14

Lads thanks for replies, first option of buying those won’t work as I need to drive over where post was. It’s effectively removable bollards on a Cavan mans budget I’m after.