For all of our tests, we fill the tank till it runs over with gas. Then we do our drive test, and record the distance. We fill the vehicle again, to determine the amount of gas used. This is in our minds, a real world test that gives the actual results of using our diy hho hydrogen generator on a real vehicle.

We did have some really good successes in increasing gas mileage with HHO, and we helped a lot of others find the information they were looking for. I know that a quick online auction search gives hundreds of results for HHO, so people must still be working on hydrogen kits for their vehicles.

I think the main reason many were hesitant to try it is because they didn’t want to void warrantees on new vehicles. This is a valid concern for sure. If you put a homemade contraption on your car and some unrelated issue pops up, you might have to explain the device at the dealership with some fast talking. I had one of these attached to a 2007 Toyota Tacoma and it didn’t hurt the truck at all, but I admit I was a little concerned about warrantee implications myself.

I going to give the links to our previous work again here just to make it easier to find.

Fun With Hydrogen HHO Generator Tests

This article has a video and some basic info about how an HHO cell can be hooked to a car to give you increased gas mileage. The video shows us popping bubbles of HHO, as well as the truck we were using hooked up.

HHO Hydrogen Generator Safety And Electrical Hookup

This post links to a video all about the safety and electrical aspect of hydrogen generators. And using hydrogen, there are some safety issues to be aware of. I’m all for explosions that look and sound cool. I don’t want to see anyone hurt themselves or blow the engine up in their car.

Where to Find an HHO Hydrogen Kit

It’s true, these items can’t be bought at Walmart. But, some of the parts can be found there. I just updated this post with new info today.

How Do You Keep an HHO Hydrogen Generator From Freezing?

This post doesn’t really give the answers per say. However, some of the commentors on this one had some good thoughts on how one might keep their hydrogen kits thawed out in cold weather. So it’s worth checking the comments on this one for ideas. Not to mention a few funny cracks mixed in there.

For my first attempt I’m going to start with only ?a small panelwith 36 cells I bought in an online auction. I noticed that there are some really large quantities of Solor cells available in these auctions. I’m going to experiment with one or two small batches to see if this is something I can comfortably do, before I get in over my head with a massive stack of loose cells.

I’m going to use a sheet of glass for the base layer, with the individual cells soldered together and then attached to the glass with ?a daub of silicon. On toP of that will be a sheet of plexiglass. There must be a space between the plexiglass and the solar cells. In the event of an impact, like hail, a cushion space will keep the cells from being damaged. I am planning on drafting up these plans and putting them online in a post called Do It Yourself Solar Panel Plans. Hopefully anyone that is trying to save a bunch of money like me can use these ideas to help them come up with something functional.

I plan on writing another post that will discuss the exact electrical layout necessaryfor this system and whether it will power a backup battery bank or be used to send power back into the grid. Both of these have their benefits, and backup power would be nice, but at first I think we will be using a grid tie in system. The main reason is cost since a battery bank is a really expensive part of any Solor system and not a purchase we are willing to make right now. In the long run I would like to make both of these a part of our electrical system, but for now I will focuses on just getting the solar panels constructed.

With a few quick searches on eBay, it was easy to see that I could indeed get the rawmaterials for my do it yourself solar panels. In fact, several of the sellers seemed to be giving away instructions for putting them together.

Right now I’m waiting for my first 36 solar cells to arrive. I have solar cell plansrot put them together, and I’ll make sure I let you know how it turns out!

Last fall I installed in floor heating, by the “staple up” method. It sounds easy, doesn’t it? In theory, it is.

The “staple up” method involves attaching hot water tubing to the underside of the floor. Then hot water will move through the tubing, which loops round and round between the floor joists. I have done all the work myself. The concept certainly has its appeal: locate the wood-fired boiler in a small insulated shed some distance from the house and run water pipes under ground to transfer heat for both space and water heating. Over the pastyears more and more people have chosen outdoor wood boiler systems to replace or augment their existing systems.

Of the many advantages to this system, not having to bring the wood and all of the bark bits, etc, into the house, really appeals to my wife. Of the disadvantages is going outside to stoke it on a cold winter night.

There are certain considerations to make before dedicating yourself to having a wood boiler system installed. The first thing to consider is smoke. ?If you live with close neighbors, or in an urban setting, you may not be able to use this system. Check your local laws, and discuss it with the owner of the closest house.

Another is the brand of outdoors wood boiler to install. Some are much more efficient than others! And with a more efficient burn they smoke less as well as use less wood. Some can run on natural gas as well as wood, for when there will be no one around to fill it.

Like most iPhone users, I’m an addict. I check email, facebook and Twitter. I like texting, and when I’m at loose ends I might play a game or two on my phone. With all of these fun activities, it is so tempting to continue texting and using the phone while I am in a vehicle, even if I’m the driver. It doesn’t seem that dangerous, does it?

Well, the evidence shows that texting while driving reduces your reaction times to a 70 year old driver, or worse. Texting is responsible for a lot of traffic accidents, many of them resulting in death. Society needs to find a solution to this problem.

Safecell can help drivers make the right choices. If you start up the Safecell app when you start your trip, it tracks your position and notifies you of local laws regarding cell phone use in vehicles. When a text or call comes in, Safecell will warn you of the potential consequences of picking it up while driving.

But the best part about Safecell is that it records a users cell phone use while driving, awarding points for safe behavior. Users can eventually trade these points for all sorts of rewards, with vendors such as Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and many others. 500 points are valued at $5, and the users of Safecell get a point for every safe mile driven.

With all of the great rewards available, it is an awesome way to earn an iPod, Amazon products, even travel vouchers from a cruise line. At the same time, the roads will be safer in places like Alberta, Canada. It’s a win win situation, so please, check out the Safecell Application and see if it’s right for you.

Otter lets phone users control their texting in a vehicle in more than one way. There is a really good video which shows the features of Otter, better than I can describe them (check out the Otter video here). GPS based motion sensing technology allows the user to set Otter to block incoming texts and calls, if so desired.  While the vehicle is in motion, the Otter app will silence alerts and ringtones and allow the driver to focus on the task at hand, driving. At the same time, customized reply messages can be created which allow users to inform callers and texters that they aren’t being ignored, and their message will be returned when safe.

Parents can set Otter to do these functions in their teenager’s phone, with a password. This allows parents to set ground rules for their driving aged children to keep them safe behind the wheel, eliminating temptation.

My personal opinion is that spouses should be able to passcode the phones of their husbands and wives with the Otter application to keep them safe behind the wheel, not just teenagers. Everyone seems to be in denial about how dangerous it is to be a distracted driver. Yes, teenagers are texting and driving, but so are housewives, salesmen, and truck drivers!

I would love to try out Otter myself, but unfortunately that isn’t possible on the iPhone at this time. Apple, get with the program and help us have this functionality! You don’t want Android to get the drop on you, do you? Texting and driving is a safety issue, and phone manufacturers are enabling people to make poor choices. I think all of the companies which put phones on the market should be trying to eliminate cell phone use by drivers.

According to one website, Edgar, Snyder and Associates, a law firm specializing in representing injured people,there is a lot of hard evidence that cell phone use and texting played a big part in a lot of car crashes. They claim that “in 2007, driver distractions, such as using a cell phone or text messaging, contributed to nearly 1,000 crashes involving 16- and 17-year-old drivers”. That is statistics where only those in that age group were involved, and only those that admitted to or were specifically seen using their cell phone. These statistics don’t count 30 year olds, for instance, and almost all the 30 year olds I know think it is perfectly fine to text while driving.

Another statistic from that same site claimed that in 2008, “at any given moment, over 800,000 Americans were texting, making calls, or using a handheld cell phone while driving during the daytime”. That is a scary amount of distracted drivers. If you drive in North America, it seems pretty likely that you must be one of the culprits since it is so wide spread. What are you going to do about your behavior?

Apparently, between 2001 to 2007, an estimated 16,000 distracted drivers were killed in the U.S. because of texting or using a cell phone. The numbers sharply increased after 2005, as cell phone subscriptions rose. This sounds like a no brainer. People are dying, simply because they don’t have their mind on the road. I haven’t found the statistics for Alberta yet, but I am sure that distracted drivers in Alberta are just as much of a problem.Everyone needs to be proactive, not just with their teenage son and daughter, but with their own actions. I’ve texted behind the wheel. I have to stop. Right now. What are you going to do?

More recently, Alberta legislation has been seriously considering passing laws to punish those who drive while distracted, and this includes texting while behind the wheel, as well as any cell phone use. There are valid reasons for laws that restrict electronic device usage by drivers, and everyone should be willing to save lives and property damage by going along with the law.

I myself have always been fascinated with bizare text messaging deaths. While it does at first seem improbable, text messaging can cause your death, and not only from driving distractedly. It can also lead to painful events if you don’t forward a texting chain letter. That’s right, not only do you receive legitimate and incredibly important life altering messages by text on your cell phone. You can also receive chain letters, junk mail texts and spam texts. Beware of the consequences, if you should happen to just delete that chain text…

Driving while distracted by texting seems like it is just as bad as driving while impaired by lack of sleep. Every year many Alberta drivers hit the ditch, other vehicles, and wildlife because they were foggy with sleep deprivation. What’s the difference between being unaware of your surrounding because you are texting or because your eyes were shut for a few seconds? A car crash is a car crash, even when it is no ‘accident’.

A vehicle incident that happens when you are watching a movie while driving is definitely no ‘accident’ either. This is negligence, operating a motor vehicle while impaired by stupidity. There is no way a person can claim that they didn’t know better than watching a movie while driving. The only way a person could be more negligent would be to talk or text on the cell phone, while eating, while watching a movie on your laptop computer, while driving. Alberta’s Worst Driver, here we come!