07.20.07
Posted in Trojan Deep Cycle Batteries, deep-cycle-batteries at 3:27 pm by admin
Trojan Deep Cycle Golf Cart Batteries are the ideal deep cycle battery to buy when looking for an affordable alternative energy battery. These batteries can be used in tandem with 4 6 volt batteries. These golf cart batteries have a large capacity, they are reliable, a quality product and affordable.
Trojan actually invented the golf cart battery. The last a very long time and 98% of golf carts have a Trojan battery under the seat. Why do we use a golf cart battery for solar energy projects and wind turbine projects? The reason is because they are very reliable and have the right amount of capacity. Remember you want 24 volts total which means 4 of these batteries will do the trick. That will only cost you about $400 and will be a great investment to be well on your way with a succesful energy project for your home.
“More than 98% of America’s top golf courses use Trojan Batteries in their fleets.* Why? Trojan invented the golf car battery back in 1952 and has been making superior products ever since. Check under the seat of an electric golf car and you’re likely to see Trojan deep cycle batteries. Built to deliver superior performance, durability and reliability, these batteries are Trojan’s flagship line and can meet the challenges of the toughest, hilliest courses in the world.
- Trojan’s proprietary Maxguard® Advanced Design Separator and exclusive Alpha Plus® paste formulation team up to increase battery life, extend run time and decrease maintenance.
- Durability, reliability and proven technology mean you can depend on Trojan batteries for consistent performance day in and day out.
- Outstanding technical support is available on the phone or on the web.
- Products are available through Trojan’s worldwide network of Master Distributors “
*Based on listings of top golf courses in Golf Digest, Golf Magazine and the US Open list of venues 1995-2010.
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07.19.07
Posted in Consumer Report, Rapaport Diamond Chart at 9:44 am by admin
The almighty Rapaport Sheet!
Many people rave about the Rapaport sheet because of its prestige but the only ones who can accurately read it and interpret it are jewelers who understand the different cuts of a diamond. Just because you know the name of a particular diamond cut is not going to help you with this sheet. You have to know about depth and angles through a microscope. Forget about using a Rapaport sheet. A jeweler will help you interpret one which they are happy to do as they can inflate a diamonds price with this report almost 30%. Your best off checking with several diamond discounters and comparing similar rings.
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07.12.07
Posted in deep-cycle-batteries, quality-deep-cycle-batteries at 6:31 pm by admin
How do you start on an alternative power project for your home?
To begin the process you will need a base. That base will always be batteries. Most people cannot afford deep cycle sealed batteries. These are the batteries found in fork lift trucks and other large excavation type equipment. These batteries run several thousand dollars a piece. You could easily be up to $10,000 just in batteries for a small starter project for a cabin in the woods.
A better more affordable solution for those who do not have $10,000 to shell out on deep cycle batteries is to buy unsealed deep cycle batteries. These are sealed but by deep cycle battery standards and terminology they are not. When you look at the battery it is sealed according to what you see but let’s not argue with the experts.
Get to it! What batteries should I get?
Buy Trojan brand deep cycle batteries from a company that sells golf carts or golf cart supplies. Unless you live in a city that has a large battery store such as Interstate Battery you will have better luck dealing with a golf cart supplier or repair shop and you will only pay a little more for the batteries then driving to an industrial battery store that may not even be anywhere near you.
You want 4 batteries that are 6 volt batteries. They will each be over 200 amp hours in storage capacity which will make for maximum storage by having 4 batteries. Sure you could get 2 12 volt or 1 24 volt but you won’t have the battery storage capacity you need. That is why most experts would agree, you need 4 6 volt deep cycle batteries.
These batteries go for about $100 a piece. So your out $400 instead of $10,000. Not too bad. Unlike a Fork Lift battery you can only discharge these batteries about 50% which is why we need a lot of capacity because half of the storage will not even be utilized. If you were to drain them completely you would be severely depleting the lifetime of the battery. Not a good idea!
Now what do you need after you buy these batteries?
These batteries are your base for this alternative energy project. Now you will need a couple of inverters. Why you need two inverters instead of just one is something you don’t want to forget. Laptops, and certain other appliances with low voltage could be destroyed if not powered through an inverter specifically made for these smaller appliances. Be sure you research and buy an inverter for these low voltage items.
The 2nd inverter you buy will be for larger appliances and devices like, air conditioners, refridgerators, microwaves and most other home appliances.
Again cell phones, laptops and these smaller items will need to go through the smaller voltage inverter.
For those who aren’t sure what exactly an inverter is 
An inverter converts the energy produced via a generator whether that generator be a gasoline or diesel generator, a wind turbine, a solar panel as well as many other various generators out on the market and makes it available so that you can plug in a home appliance into a standard power socket and operate your appliance.
If for instance you had a wind turbine you would be feeding this energy into your batteries directly bypassing any other type of generator you had. Ultimately the inverter will always be the end device you plug your appliances into. You would never plug a solar panel, wind turbine directly into an appliance.
I forgot to mention that the inverters will probably end up costing you about $1000
Do I need anything else for my base?
You will also need a device that monitors how much energy is left in the batteries and when it is time to feed the batteries more energy to charge them back up. A light on the device or an alarm will sound letting you know when the batteries are close to their 50% threshhold. At this time you could power on a gasoline powered generator to charge up the batteries or let the wind turbine trickle feed the needed energy into the batteries over an extended period of time. You could also allow both a wind turbine and gas generator to both add a percentage of the needed energy back into the batteries.
This extra device will be the final piece to the basic base station for alternative energy and will cost about $300 at the most.
As you can see you can keep this beginning alternative energy base station under $2,000 and be on your way to being completely off the grid. Now all you need is a generator of some kind. If you have the money you could buy a wind turbine and solar panels if you can afford that. Wind Turbines can be as cheap as $700 and go up from there. Solar panels are basically astromically priced and takes years to recover the money. In a typical scenario it may take 15 years to recover your solar panel investment not to mention the maintenance and possible replacement of old panels.
There are companies out there that let you use their panels for free and you just pay them for the energy they produce. I would check into that if you still are set on buying solar panels.
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Posted in Actun Tunichil Muknal, Belize Caving, Vacations at 2:37 pm by admin
Having fun in the Belize Jungle and Pyramids
When staying in Belize there is no doubt you will spend much of your time on the beach. With the 2nd biggest reef in the world next to Australia’s you would be dumb not to snorkel or dive in the reef. After diving, snorkeling and lounging on the beach you will want to get off your lazy butt and head into the interior of Belize to check out the Pyramids and jungle. You will want to go to San Ignacio Belize which is the jumping point to the several different jungle and pyramid locations.
Travelling to San Ignacio
The place you want to go to first after doing the beach thing is San Ignacio. This city is very close to the Guatemalan border. On your way to San Ignacio have the bus drop you off at the zoo. You will see a sign stating that you are now enetering the zoo. Once you have made it in about 200 yards you start to wonder if your lost down some abandoned road but then you will actually start to see the zoo. They have it setup as if you are walking through a jungle. The animals are lightly fenced in with chain link and you can get quite close to the wildlife. They have a black Jaguar which is very rare and several other mean looking felines. Parrots, Eagles, and many different birds are located here.
Playing with the baby Jaguar
There is a young baby Jaguar staying here that was rejected by the mother and so it was raised by the staff. It acts just like a baby kitty and loves people and attention. That was by far the neatest part of the zoo trip. We didn’t actually play with the Jaguar but we were able to tease playfully with it from the other side of the cage.
Riding a bus in Belize
After the zoo you will wait at the bus stop and a bus will be by shortly. Each time you see a bus just try and waive it down. If it is a bus that is allowed to stop it will stop for you and you will be on your way to San Ignacio. Bus fares are very cheap. You could take a bus from Belize City to San Ignacio for probably $5 US.
Where to stay in San Ignacio Belize
After arriving in San Ignacio Belize you will want to stay at “Martha’s Guest House”. They have very affordable clean accomodations. They charge $45 US a night to stay at their guest house. The place is amazing inside and I promise you will be more then pleased with your stay there. They currently only have air conditioning in some of the rooms but for $45 a night you only get a fan. This is good though as the fan blows so hard you will not need an A/C.
Martha’s guest house also does a great job in setting up discounted travel excursions into the jungle available by various tour companies. We went with PACZ Tours which the hotel setup and were more then satisfied with the professionalism and knowledge of the tour guide. We found the tour rate to be quite competitive then if we had gone at it on our own looking for someone. The tour guide could have easily have been mistaken for a college professor. In fact this tour company is certified by the government as official tour guides. We really got our money’s worth during our tours.
Most recommended tour to take while in Belize
The best tour to take while in Belize is known as ATM for short. The actual name is Actun Tunichil Muknal. You have to go with a tour company to take this tour as sanctioned by the government of Belize. For those who would like to know how to get there on your own I can tell you. You take a bus into Tea Kettle Belize from San Ignacio. Have them drop you off at the Yellow Catholic School. Walk down the dirt road until it dead ends. Take a right and follow that road all the way down until you get to an open site with a couple of palm tree canopies. These are changing rooms so people can change from wet clothes to dry clothes. Try and get someone with a car to drive you here as it is about 2 or 3 miles to this location. If you don’t mind the walk then go ahead anyway. Watch out for viper snakes and other poisonous snakes. It’s best advised to go with a tour guide and you will likley be reprimanded by a tour guide if they see that you are on your own.
You will be paying $85 a person to go into a guided tour into the jungle for about 1 1/2 hours. There a bush man tour guide will have you try various plants and bugs if you like and tell you of there medicinal equivalent in the pharmecutical drug market. This trek into the jungle is facinating on its own.
You eat a packed lunch as you arrive at this large mountain that jets straight up from flat land. Many of the mountains in Belize seem to come out of nowhere as they are not a gradual incline. You walk down a narrow slop into a jungle river only to find that it winds into a cave in the mountain and continues on for 5 miles on into the cave. Prepare for your next adventure that will last 5 hours in a very interesting cave.
We swam and hiked into the cave for 1.5 miles until we came to a place in the cave where we had to climb up several steep walls without climbing gear. The tour guide gave us step by step instructions on how to proceed up the cave walls without breaking anything or falling. We made our way up into the cave and began to see pottery from the Mayans as well as skulls and skeletons as we proceeded further. At times I was even walking over bones, skulls and pottery making my way further into the cave. All the while teh tour guide gave us instruction not to step on the artifacts as they are history and very delicate. These artifacts are between the time period of 600 - 900 A.D. This was around the time the Mayan civilization was having problems and was on the decline. They began to sacrifice some of the elite of the people in order to appease the God’s but of course this did not work and the civilization came to an eventual complete decline.
Scorpion Spider - Found deep in the cave.
After going in 1.5 miles into the cave we turned around and came back out and trecked back out of the jungle. Changed out of our wet clothes and drove back into San Ignacio Belize. There were about 6 people in our group and everyone of us were truly amazed at what we had experienced. It almost makes you feel guilty to walk over such old artifacts because I kept thinking I might accidentally step on a pot or a skull but I managed to not break anything.
About 1 mile in the cave. That’s me waving in the black shirt and Melody’s head is behind my hand
I recommend this expedition of all other possibilities when going to Belize. I doubt this cave adventure will be allowed too much longer by the government of Belize because of the chances that some of these artifacts being destroyed.�
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07.04.07
Posted in Affordable Belize Accomodation, Belize Hostel at 6:13 pm by admin
Me and my wife have been touring Belize on our honeymoon and I have found this place in San Pedro that is prestine. It has been here for about 8 years. They double as a hostel and have quaint private rooms for a little more money downstairs. A very nice English man runs the place and you feel very safe here. In fact San Pedro is a very fun safe environment for families and singles.
The upstairs is a hostel and costs $25 US dollars a night if there are two of you otherwise you share the room with someone and pay $12.50 US dollars. This is by far the most affordable accomodations in San Pedro Belize. The private rooms run anywhere from $40 - $50 US a night. San Pedro is often times referred to as the expensive island. When the locals mention this they are actually talking about how expensive the beach resorts are. By staying at Pedro’s Inn you can scrimp on the expense of the accomodations and spend your money on activities like, snorkeling, diving, ruin pyramid hiking and caving.
Pedro’s inn is only about an 8 minute walk from the beach offering the most affordable Belize accomodation. They are right behind Ramon’s Village which is considered the best pier and beach for snorkeling and swimming on San Pedro’s main busy center. Their beach is free for anyone to enjoy and they will not run you off if you are not staying there.
When your ready Pedro’s has been very helpful in setting up different activities and excursions at a discounted price.
We love it here at Pedro’s so much that after we went into San Ignacio to experience the Pyramids we came back again to San Pedro island to stay here at Pedro’s Inn again.
I promise you will not be disappointed. Pedro’s Inn has air conditioning in their private rooms and fans in the Belize hostel double bed rooms.
Peter runs the hostel\hotel and has a great hang out casual bar and pizzeria downstairs. Free internet is provided and he makes you feel welcome.
If you decide to stay at his Inn please let him know you found out about him on this site and mention my name ‘Donny”.
I told him I would be writing a blog about his place because I liked it so much and he bought me a few beers.
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06.18.07
Posted in Tyler Texas, Tyler Texas Real Estate at 4:27 pm by admin
The best real estate attorney in Tyler Texas
These attorneys receive most of their business from referrals and banks in town. They know their way around the real estate market in Tyler Texas and have been practicing for many years. They assist in closing homes and commercial buildings throughout east texas. If you saw their list of clients you would be amazed as they handle a large majority of Tyler Real Estate.
Because they handle a large volume of real estate transactions they can assist you with questions and problems related to the Real Estate industry. If you or someone you know needs help with a Real Estate closing or legal problem please give this law firm a call.
I have known one of the main attorneys (Huey Keeney) at this law firm for years and can vouch that he is honest, ethical, and a quality attorney. He is a pleasure to do business with and will have any and all of my real estate closings so long as possible.
They do not have an internet presence that I know of do to there not being a need for it although they are located at the address below and can be reached at this number. (903) 533-0007
Keeney Jr. Huey C Attorney
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| Address: |
912 First Pl
Tyler, TX 75702-5749
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| Phone: |
(903) 533-0007 |
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06.16.07
Posted in Rapaport Diamond Chart, True Wholesale Diamonds at 2:15 am by admin
Rapaport Diamond Chart
The Rapaport diamond chart is put out by a good Jewish company out of New York. This is a highly respected and sought after pricing sheet but does require some level of industry skill and interpretation with current market conditions to understand it.
There are several quality inspections of the diamond that must be done in order to look at the sheet and price it succesfully. Even after succesfully using the sheet to price the diamond you may find that the sheet could be as much as 30% off of the current diamond prices in the market.
Learning how to use the Rapaport sheet
To avoid the unnecessary headache of learning how to use the Rapaport sheet only to find that there are wide fluctuations out on the street in comparison I would like to suggest another way. Instead, go to several reputable diamond jewelery stores, preferably those that do not have a 75% off sale every weekend. Those stores couldn’t possibly be talking straight with you if at other times in the week they are selling their stuff at a 75% inflated price.
After collecting prices on a similar cut quality and color of diamond or diamond ring from several stores, then put these in a chart and follow these steps.
Take this information and get on craigslist and ebay and compare the prices with these true online auctions. You will have an even closer picture of what you can expect to buy a diamond for. Put several auctions on ebay on your watch list and then when the auction ends check and see what the buyer paid for it on the close of the auction.
Now go on craigslist which is a free classifieds site that is widely popular. Go to the jewelery section and look through the rings on here. You will likely find that there are several people whose weddings didn’t pan out and now they are trying to get rid of a brand new diamond ring.
If one of these rings came from Americus Diamonds, you can trade the ring back into Americus Diamonds for a new ring that is atleast 20% or greater in value. This means that if you buy the ring they are trying to get rid of for half its value and then trading it into Americus and paying the difference on a ring that is a little more valuable, not only do you get a wholesale diamond ring but one you choose and brand spanking new!
This is the best idea around on buying a wholesale diamond ring. Does anyone have a better way?
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06.12.07
Posted in Tyler Texas, Tyler Texas Apartment Crime Statistics, Tyler Texas Apartment Ratings at 5:07 pm by admin
Apartment Crime Statistics in Tyler Texas
We have come across a very helpful list of the crime statistics for the apartments in Tyler Texas. This list will help families moving into Tyler Texas in finding a safe home for their family.
Stacey is a Certified Crime/Traffic Analyst who has provided us this list. She can give updated stats for this year after going over last years data. You can call her at 903-531-1068 if you would like updated stats on the apartment complex you have narrowed down as a possible choice.
Here is the email she replied to me with along with the Excel files that contain the apartment crime stats for Tyler Texas. Please comment if these crime statistics were of help in your apartment search.
Attached is the information you requested regarding all apartment stats for
Tyler, Tx. There is a 6 month comparison on each apartment page. The number of
calls for service will sometimes (usually) be different than the actual number
of reports because either the victim can’t be located or once the officer is
dispatched the call is cancelled or there is no criminal activity detected.
Once you have narrowed you list of apartments, let me know and I will run more
current up to date stats for the apartments you are interested in looking at.
Thank you and have a wonderful day.
APARTMENT ANALYSIS (BEAT 1)2006B.xls
APARTMENT ANALYSIS (BEAT 2)2006B.xls
APARTMENT ANALYSIS (BEAT 3)2006B.xls
APARTMENT ANALYSIS (BEAT 4)2006B.xls
APARTMENT ANALYSIS (BEAT 5) 2006B.xls
APARTMENT ANALYSIS (BEAT 6) 2006B.xls
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05.30.07
Posted in East Texas Russian Boars at 12:42 am by admin
East Texas has a vast network of towns with surrounding piney woods where Russian boars were imported several decades ago and have flourished here. They are a nuisance to many because they destroy the lay of the land and get into gardens and landscaping.
This makes the idea of hunting them even more enticing to many east Texans. Interestingly enough, East Texas Russian Boar is highly sought after in France and other European countries. In the United States where we enjoy European delicacies it is nice to be able to provide a somewhat gourmet meat import back to Europe.
I in fact was walking around my land and discovered 5 Russian Boars snooping around eating vegetation and stomping around the dirt making ruts as they went around. Some of my friends and I are going to go out and hunt them once we get a hunting license and have the meat processed at a local meat shop. Right now we are just going to let them roam around until we get hungry enough to kill them.
If I wanted to I suppose I could have them processed and sale them on Amazon.com. I actually saw Russian boar meat for sale on Amazon.com. Pretty funny but the price it was going for was nothing to laugh about. East Texas Russian Boar goes for quite a bit per lbs. Who knows, maybe someday I will be selling my Russian Boar on Amazon.
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Posted in Affordable Generators, Quality Generators at 12:42 am by admin
Quality Generators
Many people have taken on the search to find an affordable generator for a cabin back in the woods, camping, or just for some power tools. It is a dream of some to simply be off the grid and not have to be at the demand of the utility. While taking on the search for a good but affordable generator you find an overload of information. A good place to start is a forum I happened upon during my own search - physics forums. This forum has many engineers not to mention electrical engineers that actually build generators from scratch. They can help in many ways in making the process of finding the right generator solution for your need.
I was going to buy a honda EU branded generator. The great thing about these is that they can run on just a gallon of fuel for a day. This of course is if you are using it for basic camping needs. It will power an a small window unit air conditioner and a few other things. The interesting thing about Honda generators is that they are easier to start then the other brands and much quiter. They are more reliable but they are also very expensive. MSRP is $2000 for the following specs:
| Specifications: |
| Engine |
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6.5 HP, Single Cylinder, Overhead Valve, Air Cooled |
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| Displacement |
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| AC Output |
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120V
3000W max.(25A)
2800W rated (23.3A) |
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| Receptacles |
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20A 125V Duplex
NEMA Plug Number:
5-20P30A 125V Locking Plug
NEMA Plug Number:
L5-30P |
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| DC Output |
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| Starting System |
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| Fuel Tank Capacity |
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| Run Time on One Tankful |
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7.2 hrs. @ rated load
20 hrs. @ 1/4 load |
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| Dimensions (L x W x H) |
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| Noise Level |
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58 dB @ rated load
49 dB @ 1/4 load |
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| Dry Weight |
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The great thing about this generator is that it will only produce the amount of energy you need. This means you don’t spend uneeded cash on energy being produced that isn’t being used.
We still have to deal with the cost. You are spending $2000 for a generator that is 3000 Watts max. This is not much if you are wanting to use this for a house. You then have to consider other options if it is out of your price range for what you need.
Diesel Generators
There are natural gas and propane generators but these are usually pretty expensive. Finding an affordable one of these can be as big of a challenge. You can get a DELB Diesel Generator that produces 6000 Watts max for $1,399 but this is still a lot of money when you consider the fuel you will need to buy to keep it running. If you feed the generator heated vegetable oil you can actually power it with this stuff after it is strained and basically have free electricity. There is a risk you could ruin your generator if you do not know what your doing so this alternative means is not for everyone.
Gasoline Generator, inverter, and deep cycle batteries
My affordable solution is to buy a Brigg and Stratton gasoline generator from Home Depot that produces 8,000 max watts and 13,500 running watts. This is plenty of power for a house off the grid. Next you buy an inverter and 4 deep cycle batteries at a cost of about $1,200. You then power up the generator, charge the batteries and run the batteries through the inverter to your circuit box. By doing it this way you only use the energy you produce and no more. When the generator is running you don’t have to worry you are waisting the energy being produced. This will allow you to live off the grid at a semi affordable cost.
My suggestion is to read up on the Honda EU3000 to see what its benefits are and basically make a bigger more affordable one using my suggestions.
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