Creating something new, day 37

Lead-Acid cells and the crane

It takes a few hours to assemble the lead-acid battery cells. The primary goal is having a working lead-acid battery, the secondary is getting the highest capacity, and the tertiary goal is the highest discharge current, but I assume the last two are related. If a battery have double the capacity, the load will be half, and this is comparing the same chemistry.

I clean the cells with filtered rainwater from the barrel outside, which is the closest I have to distilled water right now. I will keep a logbook how I constructed each cell, and test which cell works best so that I in the future can copy that process to every cell, and then develop and refine further from the improved baseline. The cells are already marked, but I mark on the outside of each cell what type it is.

I divide the cells in groups. I assume lead plate surface area is most important, so stacked plates is the baseline. I try different conditioning, which is also why Digraldi cast them in sand so the basic plate got a rough and thus larger surface. So I try different treatments and make three cells with roughed up plate surface, and three cells with even and tight cut groves with a knife, and three untreated cells as a baseline. I add another cell with just half the amount of untreated plates, and two with zig-zag plates. A future test will be to try to change the cells polarity several times to see if it increase performance.

Then I fill them with sulfuric acid - sorry; 'oil of vitriol'. The types I made three of I fill with a slightly different acid concentration to test how the acid concentration affects performance, one cell of each type have the weakest acid, one of each has the middle, and one of each has the stronger. Its just something like 4% difference, but it will be another datapoint. If all the plates with the strongest acid shows better performance it will be proof that its the best, and in the future try that baseline.

I have been able to establish that 'oil of vitriol' is sulfuric acid, even though its certainly not completely pure and only has a about 30-40% concentration, but I couldn't really measure it better through weighing and volume. But its nice that I could buy it, as it means that I for now, don't have to think about trying to manufacture sulfuric acid via burning sulfur with saltpeter in a vessel with water vapor. I have maintained lead batteries for forklifts and cars so I know lead acid cells should be topped up with clean water when they have been charged, so the lead plates are covered, and the acid concentrations there must not be too high a concentration of acid. I have a vague notion about seeing 1.2 'something' on the Hydrometer thats used to test charge state, and it should measure density, so I'm trying in that neighbourhood.

These are probably the first Alfheimr rechargeable batteries, and a bad battery is better than no battery.

At the moment, I've only attached the wind turbine to a pole on the garden fence, which isn't the best location, but it works. I have connected the lead-acid cells as two 12V batteries, and will charge them over a few days while periodically check and write down how the cell voltage change and how much current is charged. I will disconnect one of the extra resistor so that the charging current can be higher, but I want to start slow.

The lead-acid cell that rises slowest during charging should have the most capacity, and the one that drops the fastest during discharge should have the least capacity. By cycling a few times and finally measuring the discharge via a resistance and time, I will get a good measure of capacity, and I can also measure how the cells work with higher current draw, and if the data indicate that the best at high capacity and high current isn't the same cell design.

I also need to make something so the charge voltage in the future is properly limited so the batteries doesn't boil in case of too strong wind, but thats for the future.

My ships crane has finally been installed. The boat builder and the others from the crew have been very helpful, and they've even completed two cargo nets during Iselin's journey.

After the first few tests with various available barrels and more, there are many volunteers for the next test, and it is quite easy to lift three from the crew, swing them over to the hold and lower them in a controlled manner, so something like 250kg works without problems. No strained sounds or feeling. The cargo net is really easy to use. Just spread it out on the ground, make a pile of barrel and sacks, hook the corners of the cargo net onto the hook, and we can easily lift it all in one sweep. If the man using the winch lose his grip when lowering or lifting, the centrifugal brake bites hard after perhaps a 10 cm fall, and holds until the load is crank up a little so the latch disconnects, and then the load can raised or lowered in a controlled manner. How fast the brake bites depends on the weight of the load, and if the load is to light, it will not activate. There is sufficient friction in the block and tallow system for an empty hook to almost stay where one is. The gentle swinging makes the empty hook slowly drop unless the handle is locked.

To say that I'm damn pleased is an understatement, and the crew is really impressed by the crane. Our tests has attracted interest from the other ships close by and the gathering of people on the pier attracts more, so in the end when we lift large heavy loads we have many many cheering spectators. Our new carriage that stands next to the ship has received even more attention.

The wagon from the doormaker return and makes it way through the crowd with the second load of security doors for the mansion, and the doors are the first official cargo to be lifted on board with the crane. With one door in each lift, it's easy. Two of the crew in the hold, two who handle the crane, and two on the pier preparing for the next lift. It goes damn smooth, and a few lifts later, everything is complete without any elaborate lifting on the gangway or down through the hole, and no marks or hitting edges. The crew love the crane. The winch is still a bit ugly, but I won't draw notice to it. The man who made the nameplate will build protection for the centrifugal brake and gears.

The crew will have to wait until the wagon returns with the last doors, and we talk about future improvements and additions. For big loads in the future and if its windy, they might have to have someone stabilizing the load with rope. Two more cargo nets will be made, and the crew will also mount the second deck plate on the other side, to be able to use the crane there, and they will also start installing the deck prisms.

Asta is very impressed as she has never seen such a crane solution before, and it will only increase the respect and reputation that the Millenium Eagle has already started to get. The ship's nameplate above the door leading in to corridor for the cabins, clearly says the name and is nicely carved.

Asta studies math intensively, and have tried to find other things to use it on, just to practice, which is great. She explain how happy she was when she could calculate the height above the ground of a third floor window of a building, by measuring the angle with the sextant, measuring the distance to the facade with the plumb rope she made meters and two decimeter markings on with colored strands, determine the height with the tables and math, and tie a bow on the rope to mark, and it turned out to be true. It impressed both the two crewmen who were with her, and the owner of the building. She has apparently since measured the height of pretty much everything nearby, although she hasn't been able to verify most of it. Buildings, trees, poles, masts, pier lengths etc. The sun seems to be what she measured the least. Its all terribly impressive for someone who started learning it a month ago.

I take a couple of papers with me so I can verify some calculations she has made. I don't intend to do it on paper if I don't have to, not when I have an emulation app with Ti83+ graphing rom on the phone and tablet, and the windows calculator on the tablet.

Asta look forward to test the small lantern for the ship compass, and test how it works and which color filter is most suitable etc. She intends to take the ship out on a small night sailing test in the future, maybe going over to a small town or two in the Daes kingdom and be able to measure its latitude with the sextant, and mark a few landmarks.

But the next few days they will take the ship out for a combined testing trip and delivery of security doors and more to the Academy Islands, and she can update us on the constructions. We shouldn't need the ship anyway in the next few days.

I give her the directives and sketches of other things that can be started after they have finished with the mansion. A combined barn and stable is needed at the site about halfway between the farm and the harbor, and a small 6x4 house there by the road can be practical, as a guest house if nothing else. With the culture here, it won't be seen as an insult to have quite high status guests stay in a separate house adjacent to the barn, especially not as its such a nice house with its own fireplace and nice view. The house will even have its own small garden and of course a well, partly to make water available for people along the road.

The barn and house will be located about 150m from the mansion, although it is probably triple along the road going around the cliff. In the barn I intend to have room for three carriages, 10-14 horses, 6 cows for milk and around 20 pigs, sheep, and many chickens and geese. Above the animals there will be a large hayloft, and the slope of the terrain will make it easier to reach the hayloft from the outside, via a ramp up on the short side towards the road. But there will also be a simple crane and hoisting systems at the other short side and in the middle on the long sides. Outside the barn, there must also be space for the manure pile, which must be easy to muck out to with shallow canals in the barns stone floor, and empty. This force the manure pile to be on the lower side, which is good so that it don't contaminate wells. So it is a fairly logical structure of the barn due to needs and the terrain.

There are of course no roads connecting to the islands now, but I hope that in the future there will be one to Orusingen, but regardless of road or not and if the carriages and horses see much use, all my animals must have somewhere to stay over the winter if it gets cold, and I want quite a lot of space for the future, although there will surely be another barn or two for even more animals in the future. But that will probably be next year, because we need food for the animals as well.

I might have to pay someone to have horses on the mainland, but if I go to Borgarsandr or similar, I will take a ship, not a horse. Spending a full day riding is just protracted torture compared to a comfortable ship that others sail. Its also probably not worth taking a carriage, as the roads are quite bad, and long. The road winds it way from farm to farm.

Living on an island has its problems that I really havn't thought about, and my nice new carriage will see very little use on the island. Unless my sambos starts using it everywhere. The north road will probably be more prioritized than I intended, and its quite a decent chance there will be more roads in general, although without paving. A dirt road going south from the village, around the mountains and connecting to the mainroad south of the mansion is planned. Its just a matter of when.

I also add a note and tell Asta to have Pedr build two 6x4 houses north of the harbor where the forest begins. I won't tell them yet, but its so the crew has somewhere to live during the comming winter.

Shit. It seems that I have to attend a feast.