As I started researching remote controlled airplanes, I came across something spectacular. Something I’ve wanted my whole live but never knew it : FPV flying.

FPV flying, also known as First Person View flying is when you attach a small video camera and video transmitter to your airplane (or helicopter) which transmits the video back to you on the ground in real time. With the use of video goggles or a laptop, you literally fly the plane as if you were sitting there in the cockpit.  (The camera even moves left/right, up/down as you move your head!!) You can also record all your flights. This takes RC flying to a whole new level !   You can fly much further since you don’t need to actually see the airplane from the ground and figure out which way it’s heading.

So I spent many hours on the internet, and found the youtube channel of AltitudeRC which is a small group of Montrealers who are involved in this hobby.   Thanks to AltitudeRC, I was able to get myself everything I needed to get involved in RC FPV flying.  (Actually I’m still missing the video goggles, those are really expensive)  They were really great.  For a couple of weeks I was sending almost daily emails packed with questions about which RC plane I should buy, which video transmitter/ receiver I need, which Camera, how to put it all together, etc, etc, etc ….

In the end, I got a SkySurfer airplane / glider from BananaHobby (their customer service sucks, but their prices are good), I got an 800mw transmitter / receiver from DinoDirect (Slow shipping, but can’t beat the prices!) ,   a micro video camera from FoxtechFPV (they’re awesome) , and an “easy pod” to mount my camera and transmitter to my plane from NG Hobbies (also awesome).

I haven’t yet done any FPV flights, however I have gone and flown my new airplane a handful of times at the park near my house.   My first time out was really stressful.  The first 2 times I tried flying I didn’t stay in the air any more than 5 seconds per “flight”.   After that things started going better. (I say that, but that first day every time I “landed” I had to fix things on the plane so that I could fly it again)  There really is a large learning curve to flying RC planes,  I don’t think I could have done it as a kid.  I’m still stressed out when I go flying since it’s still very new to me, but things are getting a lot better.  The park I fly in has lots of obstacles, so I recently figured out that it makes things MUCH easier to simply fly the plane WAY above any obstacles; that way you don’t need to dodge them.

Here’s a video of my first day out with the plane :

Here’s a video of my first time trying to fly on a windy day :

Here’s the video of the first time I REALLY crashed my RC airplane (flew it into a tree) :

And here’s the video of the last time I went flying (after I crashed it into a tree) and decided to try going really high to avoid obstacles :  (kinda boring since the plane is too high to see most of the time, but checkout my sweet landings )

For more information about RC flying, checkout the website of the guy who helped me : www.altitudeRC.com   .. (actually, I made the site to thank him for all the help he’s given me, but all the content is his )

How to build a Wind Turbine with PVC Windmill Blades
envoyé par annabellagirl. – Vidéos des dernières découvertes technologiques.

I’ve been spending lots of time on the computer in the past year as it’s become my job, and my back started to ache on a regular basis.

I’ll be posting pictures here, in the meantime checkout the links below that show other people that have done the same.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Desk-Chair-from-a-Car-Seat

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cheap-Car-Seat-Office-Chair/

http://www.arrickrobotics.com/chair/

Stay tuned for the pictures !
(I haven’t forgotten about the solar installation blog post, I’ve just been busy … it’s coming !)

As soon as I get the pictures and video’s off the camera, I’ll post it all here.

Stay tuned!

Step 1: How much power is needed ?

As usual, the first step in setting up a solar power system is figuring out how much electricity you actually need to do what you want. This particular project / upgrade is so that my brother in law can use his laptop WITH wireless internet all day every day from their off-grid home.

Here are the calculations I did and sent to my brother in law:
2 lightbulbs @ 20 watts each for 4 hours a day : 160 watts
Average laptop power consumption is 60 watts (hopefully I’m going a little high here) x 8 hours a day : 480 watts
Total guess of inverter losses while using all this for a day : 30 watts (just trying to be safe here)
Equipment for internet : Modem, Router, antenna, etc (TOTAL guess) @ 10 watts x 8 hours a day : 80 watts

So in an average work day, you’ll be using 750 Watts.

Lets say you get 4 hours of sun per day, you need 190 watts worth of solar panels. (you currently have 30)

Step 2 : Find the solar power equipment you need at the best price possible.

So now we know we need atleast 190 watts worth of solar panels.   During our original 30 watt install, we got almost everything at Canadian Tire, but this kind of project goes beyond the kind of things Canadian Tire can supply.    Finding a Canadian supplier was very important for me.  Customs are a pain, and shipping delays are much more prone to happen when ordering across the border.  Mostly though, the price of shipping batteries can’t be cheap, they weigh a ton ! The closer they come from, the better.

I lucked into finding a website of a solar company in Ontario.  The thing is, Ontario has no shortage of suppliers for solar power equipment, the problem is finding an Ontario supplier that has pricing that’s comparable to the best deals I could find online.   After a couple hours of going from site to site, I came across my saving grace, Flanagan and Sun.

I knew how much power I needed, I knew that I’d make the mount for the solar panels myself, and I knew that I was going to install it myself.  I sent Sean (the owner of Flanagan and Sun) an email about what I needed, and then he made me a couple of quotes.    He never once pushed me to have him install it.  Quite the opposite actually.  He’s been happily answering my questions about how I’m going to be installing this.  The pricing was excellent.  Not only that, but he had recommendations and advise that was very helpful.  We accepted a quote for 370 Watts worth of solar panels, 4 x 115 amp hour 12 volt AGM batteries (Which makes for a battery bank that holds 5500 watts worth of power),  and the appropriate inverter / charge controller.   Flanagan and Sun couldn’t have made it easier for me.  They literally put all the parts I would need together into a nice simple quote. (right down to the fuses and the box that holds them)  It would have taken me weeks to research each individual part to make sure they all worked together properly.

Here’s the quote we ended up accepting :

2  x AS5M36 Amerisolar 185W PV module @ $666.00 each, Total  $1,332.00
4 x  MC4 MC4 Wire Connectors  @ $30.00 each, total $120.00
1 x MNPV-3 Midnite Solar combiner box @ $86.58 each, total $86.58
2 x MNEPV-15A 15A Midnite Solar Din Rail DC breaker @ $12.48 each, total $24.96
1 x MM1524AE Magnum 1500 Watt, 24V Inverter/35 Amp PFC Charger @ $746.40, total $746.40
1 x SS-20L-24 Morningstar Sun Saver 20 Amp Regulator W/ LVD,TC – 24VDC @ $92.82, total $92.82
1 x BABY-Box Enclosure for 1-4 MNEPV or MNEAC Breakers @ $39.00, total $39.00
2 x MNEPV-20A 20A Midnite Solar Din Rail DC Breaker @ $12.48 each, total $24.96
4 x EV 31A Batteries AGM EV 31A batteries (114Ah at 20 hr rate) @ $163.80 each, total $655.20
4 x BAT_CABLE Battery Cables @ $25.20 each, total $100.80
1 x  Inverter Cable… Pair of 5 ft inverter cables. @ $78.00, total $78.00

The only thing we didn’t know was the price of the shipping.  This was a pretty large concern for me.  I figured it would easily cost $500 JUST to ship the batteries, if not more.    I figured if it cost too much, we’d buy everything from him EXCEPT the batteries which I’d pick up myself in Montreal before going to do this installation.    I gave him the OK, and asked him to get back to me as to how much the shipping would cost.    I didn’t hear from him in a couple of days.   I assumed he was busy and it took a little bit of time and effort to calculate the size and weight of the shipment in order to give an accurate shipping estimate.  What I didn’t realize was that he had already ordered and gotten everything, but was finding a way to get this to us without it costing a fortune.  (I was very surprised that he didn’t ask for a deposit once I told him to get all this equipment together for us)  In just a little over a week after I gave him the go-ahead, he had arranged to have one of his employees drive it all the way down to my sisters other (on the grid) home which is over 3 hours away from him for only $185 !!  I don’t know what they were driving, but it seems to me like just the gas for the trip would cost over a hundred dollars, then you’ve still gotta compensate someone for spending over 6 hours of time doing the driving.

Step 3 : Plan the installation

In this case, even though this is a much larger installation, it will be pretty easy since there’s an existing setup.  I already did all the work on the fuse panel the first time around so I don’t really need to touch that.    However, this system is so large compared to the existing one that we decided to not use the parts from the original install (solar panels, batteries, inverter, charge controler) .  This is a fresh solar power installation, and we’ll use the existing panels and batteries for something else which we haven’t decided yet.    Since we’ve gone from 30 watts of panels to 370 watts, we pretty much had no choice but to upgrade to a 24 volt system instead of the 12 volt system they currently had.  (Solar panels above 100 watts in the 12 volt range is rare, and more expensive per watt than  solar panels that supply 24 volt power)

Also, at this point we’ve got 4 batteries instead of 2, and they’ll be getting charged much more aggresively than the current setup so we need to move it out of the house for safety reasons  (Batteries produce flammable gasses while charging – this wasn’t really an issue before since we were basically just trickle charging them with 30 watts of solar panels).

We decided to house the batteries, inverter, and charge controller in an old freezer which will be outside right where the panels are.  The freezer will help equalize the environment, but we’ll need to put a few air vents in it to make sure those battery gasses have somewhere to go.   We’re also going to seperate the freezer into 2 sections.  One for the batteries, and the other for the inverter / charge controller.  The inverter may spark from time to time, and we don’t want the gasses from the batteries to ignite when that happens !!!

The batteries pretty much HAD to be outside because of the way their house is setup (just one room).  However the inverter didn’t need to be outside.  The reason we’ll be installing it outside is because of the distance between where the solar panels will be and the house.  A cable run that will move 24 volts of power 100 feet with minimal losses is expensive,  however a cable run that will move 120 volts isn’t.  This will save a couple hundred dollars.

Step 4 :   Install your Solar Power !

At this point, I’m under a week away from the installation date.  All the equipment has been delivered,  however I won’t get to actually see it until I’m there for the installation.  The only thing that I don’t know how I’m going to do it is mounting the solar panels to the top of the freezer.  I really need to see the panels to figure that out, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to use parts from the old solar panel mount for the new one.

Final Words :

I will be documenting every part of the installation and will post updates here as always ! Installation is scheduled for November 27th – 28th 2010.

If you have any questions regarding solar power, please feel free to ask in the comments section.  If you’re looking for a supplier or installer located in Canada, contact Flanagan and Sun ! (Please mention that Jason from TechieNATION refered you)

Click on the comic to see it full size.  I stumbled upon this comic about the feasibility of solar and wind power and just had to put it up.

Recently they’ve decided to invest more money on this system to make it MUCH bigger. (about 10 times bigger actually)

Stay tuned to see what they requested, and what I’m proposing based on these requests. (It’s great practice to understand how many solar panels and batteries you need for an off-grid solar power system)

X10 has been around forever (It seems).  I’ve spent 8 years visiting their website here and there, and 8 years getting spammed daily with their new “sales”.    To be totally honest, their whole site is a maze of different sales pitches and “packages’ that are currently on sale “ONLY FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS!”. (yeah right)   It’s very affordable.  All these things combined always had me wondering if it was a giant scam.

Last week I decided to place a small order and test these things out.  (And to make sure it wasn’t a scam)

I ordered a transceiver module, 2 lamp modules, 1 remote control that can control over 200 “things”, 2 switch modules, and a little serial Adapterb so that the PC can communicate with the modules.

Here’s how it works :

1) The transceiver Module : It’s a little box the size of a deck of cards that plugs into an electrical outlet.  It has an antenna sticking out of it.  BASICALLY, this module receives wireless x10 signals and passes it on the existing electrical wiring to other modules.  (Which don’t have or require antenna’s)  The Transceiver module also has an electrical outlet on it, which means it also doubles as an appliance module.  (So you can plug something into that box and turn it on/off via remote control)  The Transceiver module can only pass on signals to devices that are connected on the same electrical circuit, so you  need a few transceiver modules to be able to control every part of your home.

2) The Lamp Modules : This is pretty self explanatory.  You plug the lamp module into the wall, and you plug your lamp into the module.   Then, using a remote or a PC, you can send on / off and dim signals to that lamp via the transceiver module.

3) The Remote Control : X10 has a TON of remote controls.  As a man, I LOVE my remotes.  I got one that will be able to grow with my system as it expands, but there are many many other much cooler ones.  There are remotes that will control your TV, DVD, AND your x10 home automation equipment.  They have keychain remotes that look like a remote car-starter,  they have remotes that will control your PC (the mouse, clicks, everything) AND your x10 equipment, it goes on and on and on ..  I’ve turned on the lights in my kitchen from 100 ft away, outside, on the other side of the building that my transceiver module is.  VERY impressive! (I was originally worried it wouldn’t work through walls properly!)

4) The Switch Modules : These are my favorite.  You replace the light switches in your home with these switches, and now you can control your ceiling lights with the switch, OR by remote control / PC.  The wall switches fit in the regular wall switch outlet, and use the same faceplate you had to cover it up! Don’t forget, all these modules need to be on the same circuit as an x10 transceiver module in order to work! (Meaning if there’ s no transceiver module plugged into the wall on the same circuit that that switch uses to get it’s power, it won’t work!)

5) The “Firecracker” CM17A : This is a small adapter that fits onto the serial port of your pc and will let you control your lights from your computer.  With this, you can easily program your computer to turn the lights on or off via a quick click, or even setup schedules so that it does it automatically.  The software that x10 gives to go with the firecracker it basically just a picture of the remote I already got on the PC.  Nothing fancy.  Luckily other people have written software for it that can do a little more.  Using MisterHouse and this firecracker module, you can use voice commands to control everything, setup very fancy schedules, and do SOOO much more that I’m still just figuring out.  (It’s not the most user friendly piece of software, but it’s free and VERY flexible)   Personally, I just got a small piece of software that lets me control the firecracker via the command line, and then I setup batch files for the things I want to automate.  I put shortcuts to those files on my desktop, and I setup some scheduling using the built in windows scheduling feature.   Very simple.  X10 has a newer and better PC interface (using USB) and software, called ACTIVE HOME,  which is on my list of the next things to buy.

Every module except the transceiver modules have 2 dials on them.  One of them is to set the “house code”, and one to set the “unit code”.  Generally, you try and put everything on the same house code, but you give different unit codes to each module.  So lets say you have a transceiver module that has the dial set to house code A,  (the transceiver modules always take unit 1, you can’t change that, but the housecode you can change) and in the other room (but on the same electrical circuit) you have a lamp module that you set to house code A, unit 2.  On your remote you would program buttons for Unit 1, Unit 2, both housecode A.  When you press the button for unit 2, ONLY the modules that are set to unit 2 (and the same housecode) will go on or off.  Etc, etc, etc … All this to say that it’s very easy to “program” your modules.

So far, I’m VERY impressed with their products.  They ACTUALLY work how they say it would work! (wow, who knew?!)  The installation of ALL these things took under 20 minutes in total.  I ordered all of it on a Sunday, (to be shipped to Montreal, Quebec, Canada) and I had it by Friday. (And the post office was actually late delivering it – according to them they should have delivered it to me on Wednesday or Thursday!)

Now that I know that they’re not a scam and that the products actually get delivered and that they work, I plan on going much further with this.

This is what’s to come :

1) I will replace ALL my wall switches with x10 switches so that I have control of ALL the lights in my home.  This will involve a second transceiver module because the electrical outlets and light switches in my home are on 2 different circuits. (It’s very easy to test, shut of a single breaker in your fuse panel, then go walk around to see what’s not working.  You now know that all those things are on the same circuit and will only need 1 transceiver module to control everything from that circuit using the other x10 modules.  Keep doing that until you know how many different circuits you need to control and that will be the amount of transceiver modules you need) I’m lucky that I only need 2 since I’m in an a duplex.  I assume houses will need more.

2) Motion Sensors : This will be one of the best parts.  X10 has motion sensor modules that work with all the other x10 modules.  I plan on putting an x10 motion sensor by the front door.  When motion is detected, and it’s dark outside (did I mention the motion sensor has a photocell that can tell if it’s light or dark?) it will turn on the porch light.  I live in a duplex, so I don’t want to turn on the staircase lights of the neighbors, so there will be another sensor in the staircase that will turn on MY staircase light if someone goes up the stairs past the neighbors section.  When that sensor goes off, not only will it turn on the staircase light, but it will turn on the light in the entrance of my home.  The hallways light will turn itself off about 1 minute after it stops detecting motion. (The time before turning off can be set).  I will also put motion detectors in the bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen so that whenever someone walks in while it’s dark it will turn on the lights automatically as they walk in the room.  HOWEVER, (using the x10 CM11 USB Adapter with ActiveHome), if it detects motion in the middle of the night in one of these rooms (lets say between midnight and 5 AM) it will turn on the lights but will dim them to 30%.  (Who wants super bright lights when they have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?!)

The possibilities with these modules are endless ! The Video below shows a guy who used x10 equipment to make an “Emergency Party Button”.  It’s a must in all homes, where do you keep yours?

Why do this?!

Personally, I never would have thought I’d be asked why I would want to control my home automatically and/or via remote control.  However, all the non-techie people I’ve talked to about this ask.  My answer is simple, Why not?!  It’s not out of laziness, I can use a switch, I just like the techie value of this.  It’s fun, it’s techie, it’s handy !   SOOO many times I’m in bed falling asleep and realize I left the kitchen light on.  Now I can turn it off without waking myself up and spending another hour trying to get to that sleepy state!

My Conclusion

X10 is not a scam.  They deliver their products promptly and they work as advertised.  (Atleast the home automation equipment – I haven’t tried their videocamera’s yet, but I read lots of bad reviews about them. Hey X10, wanna send me free camera’s so I can test them out and hopefully write a good review? I recommend all techie’s who like the idea of controlling their lights and appliances by remote and PC to give X10 a shot.  I’ve spent under $70 for what I already have, what a deal !

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not making Thousands of dollars a month. I don’t have a series of pictures showing you how much money I’m making and letting you know that you can do it to !! (If you purchase some overpriced book about how I did it that is) I don’t have a house with a giant garage filled with the most expensive cars. I DO however, make almost half my monthly income from my websites and the website maintenance of a few other people. All my spending money comes from online sources.

Here are three easy steps that are almost guaranteed to help YOU make money online.

Step 1 : Get a good idea for a website.

Step 2 : Buy the domain name and get web hosting space.

Step 3 : Spend the next 10 years learning html, PHP, Java, and SQL while continually updating your websites, adding content, erasing spam, working on SEO, and getting sponsors and advertisers.

That’s it !! At this point, you’re making money online !! Good for you !!! See how easy that was?

If you work in a call center, then I’ve got something for you!

YOURmousepad.ca has a line of call center related mousepads for sale! These mousepads were specifically designed to use in call centers and are funny, motivating, and also demotivating. If you or a friend works in a call center, you should order yourself (or your friend) one of these mousepads ! They’re only 6 dollars, and it helps TechieNATION pay for it’s hosting!

Because of demotivationalpics.com (a website I inherited a couple of years ago) I’m equipped with a Heat Press and a printer with a bulk ink system. (I give-away demotivational mousepads during contests on this site) I currently have too many blank mousepads and transfer paper. (I’ve just launched a website about this : www.YOURmousepad.ca )

In your comment, please leave me your email so that I can contact you to get your shipping address, and the image you want printed on the mousepad.

….. I haven’t updated this site in a long time, I’m curious how long it will take for 5 people to take the time to read this article and comment.

As usual, we are having a great time! Using the list of camp grounds we rated last year, we picked lot 153 in the Dunes section this time. We can walk to the beach in about 3 minutes! It’s very secluded yet right next to the bathrooms…. Very handy!

The mosquitoes are out strong which has been irritating Marina a lot, but the racoons are slightly less annoying this year.

This is also the first time i get to use the screenhouse marina got me last year for my birthday!

Thats all for now, i may post more texts or pictures via my cell. I will be here for another 2 days!

Everyone that knows me is invited to Oka Beach on saturday june the 6th for my birthday! My cell will be on saturday to give people directions…. Hope to see u there!

What is a BBS ?

Bbs’s were the predecessors to the internet.  Before the internet was known or publicly available, techie’s like us used BBS’s.  Basically, a BBS is a computer with software that enables people to call in via modem. Bbs’s were not connected to the internet, since there was no internet,  so BBS’s had dedicated phone lines going into that computer in order to receive calls from people calling in with their modem’s. Most Bbs’s only had 1 line connected to it, which means there could only be one user on it at a time.  The more popular Bbs’s had 2 or 3 dedicated phone lines.  Doing this back in the day was complicated. There was no WINDOWS for multi tasking, and getting multiple modems and multiple “windows” of the bbs software to run on a single PC running DOS was not so simple.

About BBS’s :

The fact that most bbs’s only had 1 phone line wasn’t much of a problem because since you had to DIAL IN to these’s bbs’s, most users were local (Otherwise they would be paying long distance call charges).  You didn’t have to worry about being able to have the whole world logging in like you do now days.  There were a few BBS’s that were owned by large companies that had T1′s going into them, (Each T1 means about 23 users can connect at once) these sites were usually used for live chatting with other users, but they usually required you to pay in order to use the bbs. (Those T1′s cost thousands of dollars a month!)  These BBS’s were very popular because chatting on a computer was a totally new concept for everyone.  Remember, there was no IRC, MSN, or anything like that.  (There basically wasn’t any internet !!! …. well there was, but it was too expensive and most people didn’t know it existed at the time)

What does a BBS do ? :

Bulletin Board System’s had more or less the same basic functions of the internet.  You could send private messages to other users of the BBS, you had forums where you would talk about all sorts of random things, you had online games that you could play against the computer or other users of the BBS, and you had file transfers so you can share files with users of the board.

About File Transfers (and speeds) on Bulletin Board Systems  :

File transfers worked differently on BBS’s compared to today’s internet.  All users had to keep an upload/download ratio.  So basically, for example, for every megabyte of files the user uploads to the BBS (That others can download later) that user gets the right to download 2 megabytes worth of files from the BBS.  It’s important to remember that back in the day, BBS’s had 2400 Baud Modem and UP TO 33600 Baud modem as time went on.  This means the maximum transfer speed was between 2.4kb/sec to 33.6 kb/sec.  This is slower than most cell phone’s internet connections now days.  Downloading (or uploading) a single image file could easily take an hour back then!  (Right before the extinction of bbs’s, most boards that survived had upgraded to 56K modems which is as high as it gets on dial-up to this day.  (Which is still VERY VERY slow compared to basic high speed internet)

Still don’t get the hype about Bbs’s? :

Most people I talk to about my BBS days don’t understand the point.  I have trouble understanding that they don’t understand.    Anyone that uses the internet now, would have loved BBS’s back in the 90′s if they knew it existed.  A BBS was the closest thing to the internet that existed back then.  It was the only way to send a “digital” message to someone, the only way to play online games with multiple people, the only way to get pictures, programs, e-books, sound files, and random information ! Bbs’s were slow, only had local people calling in, but that’s all that was available at the time.  BBS users and SysOps (SYStem OPeratorS – The owners of the Bbs’s) were basically the pioneers of the internet !

The Conclusion :

Even though the era of bbs’s is now finished, you can still find a few online that can be accessed via TelNet. There are even a few rogue dial-up bbs’s still up and running.  Bbs’s taught me how to research things online, how to use a computer, and it’s basically where I learned to touch type.  Being a SysOp of my own bbs taught me valuable business skills such as marketing, customer service, and negotiation that I use to this day in my work and the way I run my telecom business.  For those of you who never got to know bbs’s but are internet addicts, you’ve missed out on the beginnings of the online world that we know today.  For those of you who used to go on Bbs’s, I hope this article brought back a few good memories from the past ! (Feel free to share them in the comments!)

Thanks for reading and for visiting TechieNATION !

What started TechieNATION in the first place was a post written about my now famous Solar Power installation in Kingston which provided a small amount of power for the first time to my little sisters off-grid home.  They have 10 acres of land, a small 600sq foot house, and have chosen to live “the simple life” for the moment.  Their only source of water is from a well at the bottom of a hill 100 feet from the house, and is powered by hand.  (a Good’ol fashioned well pump).  Last Christmas my Mother, Girlfriend, and I put our money together and got them solar panels. This years TechieNATION christmas project was a portable shower that could fit under their bed.

They’ve been sponge bathing for the last few years with the exception of the occasional warm shower at a family members home. This is what prompted me to try and build a portable shower that takes little room and no electricity.

This shower could easily be adapted for camping, trailers and RV’s, and installed in a more permanent and visually friendly manner.

Here are the parts used for construction :

• Large Rubbermade container that’s designed to fit under beds from Zellers
• 2 Thick pieces of scrap wood with holes drilled into the middle so that copper pipes can slide into it.  (I took apart a broken pallet from a loading dock and used that wood)
• 6 Feet of 3/4inch Copper Pipe. I used the thicker copper pipe to make sure it doesn’t bend and can properly hold up the shower head, pump, and shower curtain.
• a 3/4 inch copper pipe coupler so that I could split the pipe into 3 foot pieces and then screw it back together into a 6 foot piece. (This way the pipe fits into the rubbermade container when put away)
• A Guzzler brand hand pump that can move 8 gallons of water per minute if you want it too with about 18 feet of lift. (This is an excellent pump, it’s designed as a primer pump for boats before you turn on the electric pump)
• about 8 feet of garden hose.  The hose was cut into 2 pieces. I put on the hose connector myself to the short piece on top that goes between the pump and shower head. The shorter the hoses, the less amount of water is required just to fill the piping.
• A single setting shower head from Canadian Tire along with an adapter to be able to connect it to a hose.  (Shower head connectors and hose connectors are different sizes)
• About 12 feet of flexible copper tubing which was used as the shower curtain holder.
• 2 shower curtains. (There’s only 1 in the video, and as you can see it only goes half way around)
• 4 clamps to attach the pump and shower head to the copper pipe at the appropriate locations.

This shower had to meet the following criteria (I think) in order for them to like it and use it :

• They had to be able to hide it from sight and have it not waste any space in their small house.
• It had to take NO electricity because they don’t have enough solar panels to spare for anything other than lights.
• It couldn’t use water pressure to pump the water to the showerhead because they don’t have any water pressure at all. So it needed a manual pump of sorts to get the water from a bucket below.
• I REALLY wanted to connect it to a real shower head to make it more realistic.  It would have been easier to use a hose sprayer (and probably just as functional) but I really didn’t want too.
• It had to be efficient on water because it’s a lot of work to collect and heat in the first place.
• It had to look good.  (Ok so I failed miserably at that part, but it’s my first attempt, I could make it look a lot better looking with a little more time)

Lots of people have commented that I should have a water bucket on the top so that they don’t need to manually pump.  I agree.  However doing this would require making the whole structure much more solid, and there is very limited space above the shower head once it’s put up. (The shower head is a little over 6 feet up) If this was mounted permanently, I would put a temporary water holding tank up in the attic and have the shower head come out of the ceiling.  The pump would be mounted on the wall and only be used to move the warm water from the bucket below to the “tank” above in the attic.  Then they would turn on the shower head and have a hands free shower.

Here’s the video of the portable shower getting put together :

Please feel free to leave comments, questions, and suggestions below ! I read and answer almost all comments !

Thank you for visiting TechieNATION in this past year, and I hope to hear from all of you over the new year !

I have spent the last 3 days installing imagemagick on the server hosting this site,  and learning how to write bash scripts, so that I can come up with this :  A demotivational (or motivational if you are so inclined) picture generator !

Basically, you upload a picture, insert a title and description, and the website will generate your very own de-motivational poster ! It still has a few bugs, but it’s basically operational ! Try it out by clicking here !!

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the makers of imagemagick for this amazing image manipulation software that can work entirely from the command line !  I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time but never could until I discovered imagemagick.  It’s really not easy to use, but it works!

My Cell phone carrier, Fido, has never sold blackberry services. (Which is strange because they’re owned by Rogers who was the first to offer blackberry service here in Montreal) I’m an email addict and this has been a pain.  About 6 months ago they finally offered a service like the blackberry, (Called blackberry connect) but was only supported on a specific Nokia brand telephone.  (Although lots of people have been successfully able to use the fake fido blackberry service with unlocked blackberries)

After a visit to the nearest Fido Store in downtown Montreal, I’ve discovered that things have finally changed! (Fido used to have a very easy to use website with all the information that is needed, now they’ve completely changed it and I can’t find anything I wanted on it.  So I had to go in person. Fido, if you’re reading this, what were you thinking?!)

Despite their now crappy website, I’m a big fan of Fido.  They give good service and have affordable prices.  I was happy to hear they now supported the 3G Wireless High speed Network.  They had 2 phones that I could see myself using.   The Iphone, and the Samsung Jack. (Also knows as the Samsung Blackjack 2, or the Samsung i616)

The Iphone I have used, was very impressed with the touch screen interface, but was just too expensive and lacked certain techie features that I can see myself using.

The Samsung Jack, I didn’t even know existed until that moment.  It looks like one of the common blackberry models that are out there.  I tried the Qwerty keyboard right away, and it worked great, which was almost the only thing I cared about since all I REALLY wanted was a phone with email support and a keyboard that with time I can learn to type REALLY fast on with my 2 thumbs.  (I used to have a Blackberry RIM 950 like the picture on the right, and the keyboard on that thing was amazing.  In the end, I could almost type as fast on that as on a regular pc keyboard.)

The Samsung Jack runs on Windows Mobile 6.1.  It includes windows Media Player, Office, VPN Access, email and exchange server capabilities,  and has a built in GPS.   There is a slot for a Micro SD card on the side which makes it easy to swap out music or video’s.

Other than the obvious email access, there is one thing I REALLY LOVE about the samsung jack.  It can be used as a modem for either high speed internet or dial-up !!  This means that I can connect my cell phone to my Windows PC via bluetooth or USB Cable.  The PC will give me the option of setting it up as a dial up modem or as a network adapter.  If setting it up as a network adapter, that PC will now have high speed internet ! (Although it will be part of the Data plan on the cell phone)  Otherwise, I can set it up as a dial up modem, in which case the speed will be much slower but the call will fall under the voice plan of the telephone.  (In my case I have an unlimited voice plan)  This will be handy for me to connect to remote phone systems while outside of the office, which can only be done via modem with special software.

All in all, I’m very happy with this cell phone.  The volume quality is great and loud (I have bad hearing over the phone), the interface is easy to use,  I’ve dropped it a couple of times already but it has survived.  I’m not all that impressed with the battery life though, although it’s not a deal breaker as far as i’m concerned.  To make things better, in the end I got this phone for FREE (since I renewed my agreement) and even got a free $80 nokia bluetooth headset.

If you need a new cell phone, I suggest the Samsung Jack thanks to all the features that techie’s will love.

Visit Fido, they’re one of the better cell phone carriers in Montreal despite their awful “new” website. For a full list of features about this phone,  visit this link!

Stay tuned for a review of my girlfriends new Iphone !