Which Stove

Early preparations for the planned the long walk around the mountain resulted in me re-examining my cooking equipment.  45 years ago weight and volume was a major consideration.  If you were going to be carrying “stuff” on your back you wanted it to be a light as possible.  It also needed to fit in a small backpack as “stuff” tends to multiple to fill the available space .

Back then I cooked using small gas canisters on an equally small aluminium pot.  The pot was mostly used to boil water for a drink as I tended to be lazy and not bother heating the food, rather consuming it cold.   Cold baked beans, cold Irish stew, etc

I still have that pot and cooker

The cooker fits in the pot for transit with a sock to stop it rattling.  The equipment had several deficiencies.  Most notable was the inefficiency of the cooker if there was a breeze.  Pouring the hot water from the pot also involved an interesting technique.

Unlike Australia, there isn’t a shortage of available water in New Zealand.  That particularly true of my planned route which circumnavigates a snow capped mountain with numerous stream that I’ll have to wade (I’m not looking forward to that part!).  I’ve therefore decided to eat dehydrated meals (freeze-dried).  This will require boiling water as part of the rehydration process.   Being lazy, I want all this to be completed swiftly and therefore started looking at the latest technology. 

My attention was drawn the the ‘JetBoil’ system.  However I couldn’t justify the price and after looking on Aliexpress, found a much cheaper Chinese replica.

 

 

The APG Outdoor stove consists of a vessel (I’ll call it a mug) silicon lid, burner, pot ring, stand and carry bag.  It accepts the same type of gas cartridge as my 45 year old stove.

The APG is larger than my original pot/burner and slightly heavier.  The exterior of the mug has a removable neoprene sleeve which acts as a thermal barrier retaining the heat and allowing the mug to be held.  It has two folding handles.  The mug is made from aluminium which has an anodized coating.

The base of the mug has a flat central ring with radiator fins around the circumference.

 

Heat from the burner is directed onto the centre of the base and then horizontally onto the radiator fins.  This design appears to be very efficient in capturing heat and directing it into the mug.

The inside of the mug has volume marks pressed into the metal.

Maximum heating volume is 0.8 ltrs.  But total volume is 1.4ltrs.  There is also a mark at 0.5ltrs which will be very useful as that is the volume of water required for most dehydrated meals

The burner and mug clip together.  The burner has a piezo igniter and folding gas valve to adjust the flame.

 

The flexible silicon lid has a large hole on one side of the lip and smaller strainer sized holes on the opposite side. 

I particularly liked the small vertical lip adjacent to the large hole.  This protects your lower lip from being burned when drinking directly from the mug.

As an alternative to the mug, a pot stand can be fitted to the burner.

The assembled cooker

I needed to establish how many 500ml ‘boils’ I could get from one gas canister.  To do this I weighted the full canister on Jan’s kitchen scales.  After screwing the gas canister to the burner I added  500ml of water to the mug and attached it to the burner.  The stove was then lit until the water reached boiling.  This took approximately 2½ minutes.  The stove was then disassembled and the canister re-weighed.  The process was then repeated until all the gas in the canister was used.  The result was 36 cycles.  It was actually possible to place your hand on the side of the base of the mug during the boil without burning your fingers.  This suggested to me the radiator fin design of the base was very efficient in absorbing heat from the burner.

I was using tap water on a mild winter day in Perth.  The water on the mountain will have come from snow melt and I’ve therefore decided to reduce to number of boils by a third.  Plan on 24 boils from a container on my walk.

How many times will the stove be used?

5 days @ three meals daily = 15

5 days at five hot drinks daily = 25

Total of 40 boils.   Two gas canisters are required!

Which stove will I take?  They are almost equal in weight, but the APG is larger.  However the APG appears to be more efficient.   I wouldn’t want to cook food in the APG as cleaning it would be messy.  This isn’t an issue with the old aluminium pot.  Moreover you wouldn’t want to use a metal utensil in the APG as it might damage the anodizing.  Again, not an issue with the aluminium pot.

As I plan on eating dehydrated meals I only require boiled water.  I’ll use the ARG!

Projects

Two projects completed and three new ones.

The bulk of the scrap timber has now been used.  I’ve probably made my usual error and built an oversized cradle.

 

I shall have to remember to warn the little girl’s parents not to allow her to place her new baby brother in the cradle

The second completed project was the alternative 12V power supply for the laptop.   It came with a 240V power brick which converted the electricity to 5V DC with a USB-C plug.  I thought to myself “Great…. when I go away I won’t need the 240V power brick as I’ll be able to recharge the laptop using a 12V USB cigarette adapter and a USB cable with a USB-C plug on one end!” 

How wrong I was   A standard USB cigarette adapter provides insufficient power.  Moreover, the laptop has a special rapid charging functionality using the USB-C port.  I discovered all of this after my initial failure along with some subsequent research.  A standard cigarette 12V to USB 5V adapter only produces 2.1A, which means the power output is just over 10Watts.  The laptop requires considerably more power.  Moreover with a special rapid charge USB-C cable the laptop will accept up to 20V.  After more searching I was able to purchase the necessary 12V cigarette USB charger and high capacity cable.

 

You might be able to read the rated output on the shaft of the charger (118W).  It does recharge the laptop, although I noted the charger also gets very warm during the process.  However I now have a way of recharging the laptop from the 12V battery in either camper trailer or 4WD.

Three new projects have been identified.

I’m going to replace the 8 speed derailleur on the e-bike with a Shimano 11 speed internally geared hub.

The price of the hub in Australia was extortion and as a consequence I end up buying it from a retailer in Germany.  They wouldn’t ship to Australia so it went to our son in Manchester who forwarded it on. 

I have decided I would like to attempt to walk the “Ring of Fire” track in New Zealand.  It’s located on the volcanic plateau in the middle of the north island.  The 78km walk circumnavigates Mount Ruapehu. 

There is an annual “Ring of Fire” event where the runners attempt to complete the track as quickly as possible.  I believe the record in 8½ hours.  Whilst I am silly enough to attempt the walk, I not that silly to consider completing it in a day.  I plan on taking 5 days spending each night in a National Park Hut.  It will be interesting to see whether the body can cope with the physical demand.

My last project is more of an intellectual challenge.  I’m attempting to configure Docker on a Raspberry Pi.  If successful; I’ll then configure a Docker Stack.  No doubt young people can do this in their sleep, however it’s proving to be quite a challenge for me.

Robin the Load functionality on the MPPT controller is configurable.  I can program it so the Load terminals are only powered when there is sun on the solar panel.

 

A conundrum

The digital timer ordered from China arrive several days ago.  No instructions were included; which made for an interesting time.  Why buy a timer?  I’ve decided to alter the operation of the pool solar water heater.  You may remember the heater pump is activated by a thermocouple switch, that in turn is activated by the temperature of the water in the heater panels.  This setup works, but relies on the water reaching 85°C.  Whilst that happens it isn’t circulating water as frequently as I would like.

The idea is the digital timer will complete a programmed timing loop and activate for a set time at the end of each loop.  During this activation period the pump will push water through the heater panels.

Why is it that when you look at the product photos on Aliexpress the item turns out to be much smaller than you anticipate?  My timer is ¾ the size of a cigarette packet.  Two water resistant 12V 40A relays where purchased at the same time because I (correctly) didn’t trust the timer maximum current rating

With no instructions the conundrum was identifying what each of the timer terminals did.  Eventually I took it to my brother who has an oscilloscope and several better quality multi-meters than my el-cheapo. 

After an hour of experimenting we established the three terminals on the left were the 12V pos & neg with the 3rd being a signal terminal that triggered the timer.  The three on the right were a common in the middle and a Normally Open at the top and Normally Closed at the bottom.  Essentially the right terminals are a switch activated by the timer. 

I want the timer to only work during the day when the sun is on the water heater panels and there is power to the pump from the photo-electric panel.  Why pump water that isn’t being heated and why flatten an old 12V battery in the process?

It was then a case of drawing out a wiring diagram

The MPPT Solar Controller will receive 27V DC power from the solar panel on the shed roof. 

The MPPT battery terminals will feed the battery, timer and water pump.  The latter through a relay

The Timer will be activated by a signal (12V power) from the Load Terminals on the MPPT controller.  The Load Terminals only work when there is sunlight on the solar panel.

If my logic is there will always be power to the timer but the pump will only be activated via the Timer when there is sunlight.  

A new control box is required as the original is now too small

And then I had an idea!

The offcuts of timber were starting to build up in the workshop and rather than throw them out I decided to make something. 

The first project was a small truck (lorry).   As you can see in the photo below the painting is up to my usual poor standard.

Experienced parents will have noted the wheels are not painted.  This has been done in an effort to ensure the future small owner doesn’t embed black grooves in their mother’s lovely timber flooring.  The front of the vehicle is almost vertical.  I could have fitted a front bumper, lights, mirrors etc.  However a vanilla front means the damage to the house wall will be large and uniform.

The timber is all glued and screwed.  No nails for the little monster to injure themselves with when it’s violently disassembled.

The second project is a toy cradle and this is where I had to devise an idea for sanding the inside edges of all the curves.

Ends

Sanding the convex curves with the orbital sander was relatively easy.  It’s the concave curves that required a solution.  After sleeping on the problem I had an idea.

Using my hole cutter I cut disks from a scrap of 18mm plywood.

These we then glued together and inserted onto a long bolt.

I then marked a vertical pencil line down the side before cutting a 45deg slot with a hacksaw.

The groove and circumference of my new roller was then liberally coated with PVA glue and then wrapped with sandpaper.

 

If the glue holds I should have a cylinder covered in sandpaper with the shaft of a bolt sticking out of one end.  The bolt can be fitted into the chuck of my drill press which should give me a rotating sanding drum to do those concave curves.

My guess is I’m not the first person to think of this solution.

 

WARNING – Nerd Post

Be advised this is a nerd post.   Unless you are interested in nerd things you might want to stop reading now.

This morning the postman delivered the USB Tester I’d ordered from China.

The tester came nicely presented in a foam padded tin box with a card on which a QR Code had been printed.  The code needed to be scanned to download the user manual.  A clever way of cutting costs.

What does the tester do?  From the manual…….

The FNRSI FNB48 USB tester is a high-reliability, high-safety USB voltage and
current detection meter and a mobile communication terminal fast charging
trigger. It has a 1.77-inch TFTLCD display and integrated USB-A, Micro-USB,
Type-C interfaces. Use external 16-bit ADC, PD protocol physical chip. It
can be used to measure the power supply or power consumption of products
such as USB interfaces, mobile phone chargers, U disks, etc.; it can be used
to measure mobile phone charging power and mobile power input and output
conditions; it can be used for charger fast charging protocol testing.

The Tester has a number of input and output ports

• USB-C Input
• USB-C Output
• Micro-usb Input

• Micro-usb port to Computer (for firmware upgrades, etc)
• Control knobs

All marked out on the back

! want to initially use it to identify several things

• What is the current battery capacity of our various mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc)
• Which of our chargers produce the most power
• Which of our usb cables has the least resistance and is the best of charging.

When charging devices we use various sources which include:

• usb port on the laptop
• powered usb hub
• 240V power bricks

I already knew the laptop port had the lowest power output.  But how low?  We also have a variety of usb cables.  Which would be the best?

The Tester even has an oscilloscope screen! 

Jan’s Samsung Galaxy S4 was used for the tests

Without boring you further I can advise the different combination of power sources and cables resulted in a wide variation in charging power.  The worst combination resulted in the phone receiving 1.29 Watts and the best 3.07 Watts. The best was more than double the worst.

I’m now using it to establish the true battery capacity of the old Samsung Tablet.  At this time I haven’t scratched the surface of the Testers capabilities.

It’s that time again

A parcel was delivered this morning.  It was from our youngest son to his mother.  The woman, when selected by me, has been so fortunate to spend the rest of her life in domestic bliss.  Her annual birthday had arrived and youngest son sent her a gift.  Working on the tried and true principle women don’t like being reminded of the passage of time, I don’t buy her birthday presents.  Son has much to learn.

Jan is a dog lover.  Particularly miniature dachshunds!  Noisy creatures who demand the last word.  Initially I though the gift might have had a link to me.

 

But then I remembered an earlier model

Shoe scraper used as a door stop

I’ve sometimes wondered if this might be me under heel.  No! An unkind thought.  Jan is far too kind and gentle for that.  Happy birthday to the girl who tossed her auburn hair, flashed her eyes and walked away with a delightful wiggle leaving me to follow whilst attempting not to stand on my tongue!

We’ve had almost a week of mizzle  and now I’m a confirmed West Australian I won’t go out in it.   However there was a break in the weather yesterday so I took the bike for a ride (it needed the exercise).

My longest ride to date.  66km and with no after effects; apart from a slightly sore posterior.

I was reading the latest blog post from WAL where David took a tumble into the canal and thought “I’ve done that”.  

It was our second trip to the UK and we hired a narrowboat for 10 days to complete the four Counties Ring.  Earlier in the holiday I’d purchased a pair of leather hiking boots and on that day was wearing them to break them in.  We had exited a lock just south of Stoke on Trent on a wet day.  I was wearing my raincoat  The boat was against the bank and I was attempting to depart with the boat in gear.  However the boat appeared to be aground  so I got off the boat and from the middle of the boat, attempted to push it away from the bank.  Suddenly the boat moved away and a gap appeared.  I decided to jump the gap onto the gunwale.  The soles of the boots were wet and didn’t grip the gunwale.  I was left dangling by my hands from the cabin rails.  Of course I didn’t realise the canal was shallow and hung from the rails whilst I unsuccessfully attempted to get a slippery heavy boot full of water up onto the gunwale.  Jan had knocked the boat into neutral and after giving up on the attempt to clamber up the gunwale I made my way hand over hand to the cruiser stern where I eventually dragged myself back on board.  Not without significant difficulty.

What lessons did I learn or re-learn?

• wet clothing is heavy
• the side of a wet narrowboat is slippery
• there is almost nothing to below the boat gunwale that provides leverage
• canals are often shallow
• don’t try a jump a gap onto a boat
• if the depth of the water is over your head wear a lifejacket
• it’s easier to climb onto the bank than a boat
• when I wrote the specifications for Waiouru it included a half circle step on the uxter plate.

    

It’s Broken

Apparently some males moving into late middle age or their early elderly years subconsciously realise their ‘Bucket List’ is getting longer whilst concurrently the available time is decreasing.  They then decide to replicate physical activities completed in their youth.   I think I might have joined this group!

For several months I’ve had the urge to throw a pack on my back and go exploring.  Probably more accurate to describe it as an urge to complete a trek.

I’ve dragged out my old backpack and dusted it off.

 

It’s only the second pack I’ve purchased.  The first was a small canvas pack purchased when I was 10 and used when I went deer stalking with my father.  That’s another tale.

I purchasing the above pack in 2000 and the selection was driven by the much earlier comments from my army instructors.  The exterior of the pack has to be ‘clean’.  We were not to look like travelling tinkers with various pieces of equipment attached (ie, dangling) externally.  It was explained these item caught on vegetation and could also be noisy.  Consequentially there are few points on the backpack where items can be attached.  It also follows the army practice of having an upper and lower compartment with a smaller day pack zipped to the back.  Sleeping gear in the lower compartment and everything else in the upper.  The day pack allowed for day trips allowing the main pack to be left behind.

The pack has one additional characteristic.  There is a zipped cover that encloses the shoulder and waist straps effectively turning the pack into a soft covered suitcase.  This makes it harder for airline baggage handlers to destroy your backpack.

Twenty years on and the current backpacks are lighter, with more attachment points.  But at my age I’m not spending money on a replacement.

As I checked through my outdoor gear I realised some had disappeared.   Fortunately not much.   I found my stove, which hasn’t been used for 22 years.   Best to check it works as I don’t want to eat cold food.  At the time it was “state of the art” and; surprisingly; parts are still available.  A testament to it’s design and build quality.

It’s a MSR Dragonfly liquid fuel stove made in Canada. I prefer liquid fuel over gas.  Primarily for two reasons.  Liquid lasts longer than gas and I can easily check the level of fuel left in the bottle.

After assembling the stove I started it and it worked for a minute before dying.  No matter what I did the stove refused to remain alight for more than a minute.  For the first time since I purchased it the stove was disassembled and thoroughly cleaned.  It still wouldn’t remain alight.

After several days of trying a bulb went on in my head.  The fuel in the bottle was years old and may even be the wrong type!  The Canadian instructions state it should be run on White Spirits.  However I’ve discovered White spirits in Canada is different to White Spirits in Australia.  Here the name of the fuel is ‘Shellite’.  It took me two days to find a retailer with Shellite in stock. 

After purging the fuel lines of old fuel the stove leapt into life. 

Yes, that’s a rather large pot for one person.  The pot size isn’t dictated by the size of my meal.  Rather, I though I would be clever and use it as a protective travelling container for the stove making it dual purpose.

A good idea; except the dregs of the fuel in the stove and pump are contaminating the pot.  I may have to rethink my brilliant idea. 

However the good news is the ‘broken’ stove actually works.

Nurturer Person Day

Jan was rather bemused to read today is not Mothers Day.  Apparently schools are teaching it’s “Nurturer Person Day.”  I guess if Jan is “Nurturer Person” then our three children are “Expense”, “Mistake” and “Cost a Lot”.   

Another pleasing bike ride today.  I rode 56km  and didn’t feel sore after.  Actually I’ve spare energy left ,which meant the pool got cleaned.

The bike route was around the lower portion of the Swan River.

 I covered the route in a clockwise direction starting in the east.

There are some very nice (and expensive) looking water front homes on the south side of the river in the suburbs of Applecross and Attadale. 

None look like they have much of a backyard, but then there is a large linear park between the homes and the shore.  However, with no room for a ‘man cave’ they don’t interest me!

Somewhere in the distance the river narrows where it enters the Indian Ocean.

A small part of my brain was telling me “That looks a long way to go!”

Behind me on the opposite bank the tower blocks of the CBD dominate the skyline.

At last I reached the halfway point.  The Narrows Bridge at Fremantle.

I followed the Fremantle PsP beside the rail line on the northern side of the river until the city was reached. 

Many of the tower blocks are occupied by large minerals companies (BHP, Rio Tinto, Woodside, etc).  Western Australia is heavily dependent upon mining.

A relatively recent addition to the city waterfront is “The Raft”.  A bar and bistro, with access only available by boat.  That probably makes it hard “to do a runner” without paying the bill.

Dave,

I think I may have solved the bike left crank problem.  After disassembling the entire mechanism I realised the cause was probably paint which had been liberally sprayed by the manufacturer over the square hub shaft and the square hole in the head of the crank.  The areas were cleaned back to bare metal and liberally covered with Loctite before reassembly.  To date the crank has remained tight.

Burnt by eBay Seller

Last year Jan bought a small kitchen device from an eBay seller and when the item didn’t arrive by the scheduled date I wrote to the seller.  A long exchange of correspondence ensued until I realised the seller was probably stringing me along.  When I sent to initiate a dispute I discovered so much time had passed it was beyond the deadline to dispute the non delivery.  Lesson learned!

In February of this year I ordered a water pump from an EBay seller in Chullora, NSW, Australia.  When the pump didn’t arrive by the latest scheduled date I queried the seller as to its location.  The seller requested I wait long.  Then the purchase disappeared from our eBay history.  Whilst we could prove we had paid via Paypal we were no longer able to raise a dispute and request a refund from eBay.  I kept communicating with the seller who kept asking me to wait.  I never got angry in my correspondence as I knew I couldn’t raise a dispute in eBay.  Eventually the seller agreed to refund our $84.95.

Today; three months after placing the order; the pump was delivered.  Now we have a pump and a refund.  That’s not right.  I wrote to the seller advising the pump had been delivered but as I’d previously advised him I no longer required it; having purchased a replacement locally; would he like me to send it back to Chullora and would he pay the postage?

This afternoon I received a reply telling me to keep the pump.  Why do I feel guilty?

 

I’ve been out for another long ride on the bike and regrettably, the problem with the loose left pedal crank hasn’t been solved.  The ride was approximately 40km and I felt good afterwards.  At least the enforced stops to re-tighten the crank gave my rear end a rest.

Both the original Bafang and Shimano cranks have now loosened.  I’ve been to the hardware store and purchased more Loctite.  This time I’ll thoroughly clean all the components before applying the Loctite.  If that fails I’ll look at drilling and threading the crank head so I can install a grub screw .