Walt Barrett Set To Manufacture 12 Volt Salt Water Powered Cells In USA

A to Z Global Marketing Inc announced this morning  11/22/2010 that they will be manufacturing their new 12 volt salt water powered energy cell no later than December 31 2010.  The new cell will produce 12 volts at 800 ma of DC power for 24 hours a day, and does not depend on sunlight, however, the cell must be fueled daily with a very mild dose of salt water.  The cell can light LED reading lights directly and will charge rechargeable batteries. The cell easily lights LED camping lights. Completed cells will be offered, and also home assembly kits for experimenters.  We are rapidly evolving these cells to power electric bicycles and then on to scooters.
These cells are ideal power supplies for third world applications ande NGO's should contact us.  All interested parties should contact  wbarrett1@aol.com 

Salt Water Power Cell More Data Follow Up Post By Walt Barrett

November 9 2010

Due to the fact that some many people have responded to my post this morning I am doing a follow up now.  My intention was to gauge the interest before going into production.  Frankly speaking, I am overwhelmed. Our company has been engaged in energy research since the 1970′ s   We were always able to make low power electricity, but with recent discoveries that we have made we are now able to supply enough power to run a powerful light directly off the deceptively simple looking power cell that you see in the photo below.  We can supply these units in any voltage needed.  This unit provides a little over 3 volts DC.  It can also charge four AA or AAA batteries easily.  The units will be built here in Rhode Island,  USA utilizing local labor and materials.

One of the most important features of the cell is that there will never be a fuel problem as the cell can run on salt water, urine, filtered residue from wood ash, lemon juice, vinegar, and many other acidic substances.  It is surprisingly versatile.  We have made it very simple and fully field serviceable. It is not a sealed unit. All the parts are easily removed for cleaning etc.  It can be used over and over again for years.  Certain elements may require changing every year but are very inexpensive.    We are continually finding more free fuels for the Power Cell.  It can be purchased as the cell itself, with the output positive and negative leads ready to attach to a charger or light, or it may be purchased  with a light already to attach. We are aiming at a dealer price of $29.95  and as the sales increase we will be able to lower the price through increased manufacturing efficiency, and quantity purchasing of the parts.  The unit will easily pay for itself  because no batteries are necessary to light the light.  The great advantage over solar is that it will run around  the clock.  No sunlight is ever needed.  Another advantage is that our 12 volt models can be used to power laptops, cameras,  special electronic equipment, submersibles, cell phone chargers and a myriad of other useful applications.  We envision this technology powering small vehicles in the very near  future as we expand our customer base.  Anyone interested in being a dealer for this product should contact me as soon as possible. We will need to know how many units you will commit to order.  Our terms are 50% with the order and the balance before shipping. To get the dealer ($29.95) price you must order a minimum of ten units.  My suggestion is to pre-sell them. Contact wbarrett1@aol.com

My Parent's Micro Home by Walt Barrett

I have been writing about micro homes, solar, and energy-efficient homes for 35 years. People never really paid much attention to any of it, and my Internet Blogs have gone virtually unnoticed for years. Recently, however, I have started receiving email from people who have read my articles about solar-powered autonomous micro homes. Many of them are simply looking to down size, which I happen to think is a great idea, unless you have tons of money to save towards your future. The other people who have written to me have no place to call their own at all, and very little money either. All of these people are seeking as much information as possible about building micro homes, and also the support systems needed to make them a comfortable place to reside. 

When you build a micro home the savings really add up quickly. First of all, if you are handy enough you may not need a mortgage. That alone is huge! A tiny well insulated home is less expensive to heat and cool, another major savings. Because of the LED lighting systems we have developed, solar lighting is relatively inexpensive. The electricity saved on lighting enables you to downsize the number of solar electric modules needed to power the home. Believe me, this is not rocket science as some people would like you to think. I like to keep things simple.

We will be discussing the down sizing of all the systems required to run a home, and alternate ways to do laundry and store fresh food. Downsizing and green living will definitely leave you with more money in your pockets. We are also going to be discussing how to achieve zero output for all trash and waste products. Not recycling is like burning money. We will discuss all these topics in future articles. Today I am focusing on how my parents micro home. If you don't have a lot of money, it's a great story that should offer you some encouragement to move ahead with your dream.

My intention is to do a new series of articles and films to assist anyone who is really serious about green living, micro home living, and just plain saving money by downsizing their homes, the number of cars they own, and the size of their ever-growing utility bills. I will discuss building your own home, and the various support systems as opposed to buying a completed professionally built home and related support systems. The technology is all available free on the Internet. You should also become expert in salvaging other people's junk. I did it for years when I was a kid. I got my first bike by dump picking in the Pawtucket, RI city dump, and building it from salvaged parts, and I don't care who knows it. When I was in the military, and very poorly paid I used to go to the base landfill where I found all kinds of wooden furniture, building material, and many other items. “A dump is a yard sale where everything is free.”

Many people who write to me are really down, and out, and depressed. I feel terrible about that, and personally, very discouraged that our own government is not doing more about it. Well we have already seen that our government is not really that concerned about our own poor, and is far more interested in meddling in the affairs of other countries. So it is up to those of us who can to help people get started in the right direction, and give them some hope for the future.

This is my way of offering the folks who have written me some needed encouragement. I'm going to tell you a personal story about my parents who had nothing when they were married in 1929, but through hard work, and determination they managed to build a home, and eventually live a happy life.

When my parents were married in 1929 my Dad worked in the receiving room of a very large cotton thread spinning mill. My Mother was a highly skilled secretary, and seamstress, but in those days the wages were terrible, and they were lucky just to have jobs. They managed to buy a small house lot overlooking a lake. It cost $50.00. My Dad managed to pay for it by selling the rest of the lots on our dirt road to other people who were in the same predicament as he was, and that is how we got our land. The next thing they did was to clear only the areas they needed for the house, the yard and the driveway. They left the remaining large trees in place for shade. My Mother, who was very talented in many areas including art, drew up a plan for what we now call a micro home. It was 20 feet wide and 24 feet long with a sleeping loft divided into two bed rooms. The first floor had a large room in one entire half of the first floor that we would now call a living and dining area, The other half of the first floor was mostly the kitchen with a small area that was set aside for a future bathroom. That was basically the house plan.

When the economy got better he got a job working in a commercial laundry running an extractor which is really a very large washing machine. Then he would come home, have his supper, and go dig out the foundation hole for the cellar. When the hole was finally dug by pick, shovel and wheelbarrow the two of them gathered all the loose rocks from all over the lot and walled up the cellar, removing the piers when they were finished and mortaring all the rocks as they built it. That foundation is still perfect to this day. During WWII Dad was too old for the military so he took a job working in a shipyard building liberty ships. He never made so much money in his entire life. After the war he took a job doing the maintenance for all of the public libraries in the city of Providence and remained there until his death in 1974. He was sixty-nine. Mom was 91 when she died in 1998.

I have made a video to go with this article to show you what is possible through hard work, perseverance, salvage, and a great deal of saving, and scrounging for materials including stone and timber gathered right off your own land. We always had a large garden, and chickens, ducks, rabbits and fruit trees. It all adds up at the end of the year. In future articles I will discuss building your micro home from virtually free and inexpensive building materials extracted from your own land, and don't ever let anyone steal your dreams!

I hope you enjoy the video. It's a true story.

Thanks,

Walt Barrett

Building a composting toilet with a urine separator by Walt Barrett

Composting Toilet by Walt Barrett

I promised that I would write an article about the composting toilets that we build, so here it is. It includes my idea of a sliding adjustable urine separator.

The customers that we have using this toilet are very happy with it.

One of the main killers in the world is contaminated drinking water. In third world counties people can be very careless about where they dispose of their fecal matter. The sad results are disease followed by death usually from Cholera! This is because the runoff from this human waste is polluting the streams, rivers and lakes in those countries. We don't need fancy units to solve this problem. All we need is to convince people to properly dispose of their own waste in a composter protected from the rain to prevent runoff. You would think that at least in the last 5000 years the could have learned that.

Well this is our version of the composting toilet for the off grid home so that you can have the indoor convenience and a safe, economical disposal method for human waste.

Please read this and don't skip any steps or you will ruin the project.

It's tricky in a couple of spots to get the unit in square.

This is a relatively simple unit to build and I am just going to take you through all the steps right now. My son John and I sketched out the design we had been discussing for a practical composting toilet, and figured out the dimensions that we needed to fit the actual standard toilet seat and make room below for the two plastic collection bins and the vent stack. We also wanted to build as many units as possible from a single sheet of decent quality 3/4 inch plywood. While at the Home depot we had a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood ripped into three long pieces approximately 16” wide each. Those cuts must be exact so all three lengths have the same width. Home Depot or Lowe's will use a panel cutting saw which will make perfect cuts if the sheet is measured correctly. Note that due to the width of the saw blade the width will be slightly under 16” . You can compensate for this on assembly by assembling the pieces so that the box is slightly narrower than 16”

Next we cut two 16” wide X 16 inches high for the two (2) end pieces.

That leaves the two sides, the bottom, and the top. Now this is where you have to be careful. Look carefully at the construction of the box in the photos. We cut the two side pieces 22 inches x 16 inches high. That left the top and the bottom pieces which we cut

23 ½ ” inches long. Now we have all the pieces and that leaves us to position the store bought toilet seat and trace the hole in the top cover. I use the larger and better oval type toilet seat that fits the better quality toilets that you find in better homes and all commercial applications. They are much more comfortable for adults. I then drill a 3/8” hole for the saber saw, and cut out the hole in the top of the box. Make sure the hole is back far enough to accommodate the urine collector drain bin.

Now let's stop right here for a minute and make a cutting schedule.

All pieces are ripped 16 inches wide. It allows you to get the most toilets from one sheet of ¾ inch plywood. So here is the schedule. ” = inches.

2 End Pieces 16” x 16”

2 Side pieces 22” x 16”

1 Bottom piece 23 ½” x 16”

1 Top piece 23 ½” x 16”

At this point it is best to sand, and clean all the pieces off with paint thinner. Because if you are going to stain your unit like we do here. You must stain before you start using the wood glue. If you don't stain first, wherever you get glue on the wood the stain will not take and it looks terrible.

After the stain is thoroughly dry I use a couple of brads on each end and lightly tack the four sides together while just sitting on the bottom piece just to check for fit, and using a large metal square I make sure it will square up in three directions. You could also measure diagonally from corner to corner for equal dimensions in two directions. Then set the top on Just to make sure it fits squarely.

Once you are satisfied with all of the workmanship and the fit of all the pieces, it's time for the permanent assembly. This is how we do it.

1. Set the four sides that are lightly tacked together on your flat work bench surface.
2. Remove one of the ends that you have tacked on and tap the finish nails that were holding it back away so that you can hammer them in again easily.
3. Then run a thin bead of quality carpenters glue down just off center favoring the interior of the box. Do not use too much glue as it will squash out all over your finish. Thats why you always favor the inside edge. You cannot stain over excess glue blotches.
4. Now careful pet the end cap back in place and nail it securely with six long finish nails on either side.
5. Repeat the process on the opposite end.
6. Next you run a bead of glue around the rim where the bottom of the box will be nailed.
7. Set the bottom on and while someone helps to hold the box square you nail on the bottom using long finish nails about every four inches. It is very helpful if you nail a couple of cletes to hold the corners square while you nail your box together. Corner cletes on either end will also hold your box square while the glue is drying. If you have clamps, use them too get a tighter glue joint. You can also take a length of rope and wrap it around the box , make a loose knot, insert a length of stick and twist the rope until you get several pounds of pressure on your joints.
8. Be sure to wash off any glue that squeezes out of the joints immediately.

That leaves us with the top which never gets fastened down because it has to lift on and off to remove both of the bins for cleaning etc. the lid is kept from sliding around by use four pieces of aluminum angle tacked inner the rim on the center of each side to provide a snug fit to the box. That way the lid is easily removed for cleaning purposes. See the photos for the aluminum pieces.

Now you have built a regular composting toilet without a urine separator. We got our plastic collection bins from Walmart. We purchased a smaller fairly deep bin for the urine collector. We got the fittings and clear plastic ½ inside diameter inch drain hose, and clamps from the plumbing department at the home depot. The drain hole goes out the side of the bin and box as high up as you can get it without kinking the hose and still get a good gravity feed to your exterior collection system. The brackets are made from the flat perforated metal plated to buy at the home depot that are use for building decks and joining pierces together for various construction projects. I bent then to the shape I wanted using my bench vise and a rubber mallet. Be careful for sharp metal edges! If you want a vent stack you can put it in one of the rear top corners or elbow out of one of the rear sides, or end. It the best way to go and add a solar vent fan too.

This is a pretty good project for a beginner, but believe me, Manufactured units go from $800.00 to $2,500.00 dollars, and thats a lot of money for a person on a budget. This unit will work just as well. Just keep a spray bottle around with a little bleach and water in it to freshen up the urine catcher after each use. You can cover the fecal matter after each use with any kind of dries vegetable matter, like saw dust, Pete moss. Dried leaves, dried grass etc. Just don't get bleach water in the composting material.

You can empty the compost into a barrel with a watertight lid on it. If you are going to introduce earthworms to the compost you have to keep it moist without drowning the worms.

Be sure to make provisions fore the composter to drain excess fluids into more compost beneath it. Never compost anything near your water supply. Keep the composter as far away from you well as possible. After a couple of years the compost will turn int rich black soil. Throw all of your table scraps into the outdoor composter too.

Well, I think I covered everything. If I didn't, I'm counting on you all to let me know.

Walt

© 2010 Walt Barrett