Solar Hydro Hybrid

  • Solar Hydro Hybrid

    Posted by BiggKidd on September 11, 2022 at 2:03 am

    Howdy folks I’ve been living off grid here in south central Va for 15 years using solar and gas generators for power. The biggest downfall of living with solar power is batteries. I’m about due for a new set now and the money is just not there with the price of things these days. I have also been wanting to build a pond for years but never had the means. Late last summer I bought a 70 or 71 model Cat D4d cheap real CHEAP. So here I am with a machine as old as I am. Anyway I was doing some long over due clearing and found a nice low spot that was holding water and started putting a berm across it to build a fence on. Then I had a better idea a small pond something maybe 50- 60 feet across. Dang it photo’s are on the tablet. More from another device. lol

    BiggKidd replied 1 year ago 2 Members · 15 Replies
  • 15 Replies
  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 11, 2022 at 2:12 am

    WWe got a bullet washer one evening about a month ago and this happened in just a couple hours. That was 8 to 10 feet of water probably.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 11, 2022 at 2:19 am

    Anyway I had decided by then that wasn’t going to be large enough and there was another drainage ditch 50-75 feet away. So i spent three and a half weeks getting the water back out. While that was draining i started getting the other side dug and a 4″ pipe in.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 11, 2022 at 2:32 am

    In the last post the first two pics were taken from the same spot facing different directions. Third pic shows where I was hand digging the rest of the pipe in. Fourth shows the D4 sitting on the hump I am removing to make the dam taller and the pond larger. Last pic was a shot of water draining for almost 4 weeks. I never did get the last few feet out.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 11, 2022 at 2:39 am

    AAfter I finally got the rest of the trench dug out and the pipe in. I haven’t gotten any new pics since but I’ve moved about a quarter of that hump to the dam which has raised it another foot or so. It’s raining again now so who knows when it will be finished. Plus I can only supply a few gallons of diesel a month toward this project. So far I’ve used about a hundred gallons doing this.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 11, 2022 at 2:47 am

    That 4 inch pipe is to hopefully pull some hydro power from one day. The idea is to one day be able to pump water up from the creek about 70 feet lower and a couple hundred feet linearly from the pond when the sun shines and let it out for power when it doesn’t. The pond is a rain catchment system only otherwise. The last measurements I took told me the pond is likely to end up around a half acre or possibly a little larger. It may end up nearly 20 feet deep if it ever fills all the way. Should make a pretty good battery one of these days. LMAO

  • Radiojoe

    Member
    September 12, 2022 at 2:08 pm

    Have you ever thought of using a ram pump? https://www.instructables.com/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 12, 2022 at 2:14 pm

    We are going to try one and see. The creek is small and only has 30-35 feet of fall in 1600 feet of length.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 14, 2022 at 12:32 am

    Moved a few more tons of earth today after slightly adjusting the right steering brake. This old dozer really needs new steering clutches and brakes, not sure how much longer I can limp it along without fixing it.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 15, 2022 at 6:18 pm

    Believe it or not my little Chinese tractor did what the D4 couldn’t. I put my homemade ripper on and it was able to break up ground the D4 couldn’t. Now I can push a layer off with the D4 then break it again and repeat until I hit solid rock or get where I want to be. I can only go down 4-8 inches at a time but that’s dang good progress considering!

    I’ll try and get pics to post next time I go up.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 15, 2022 at 10:34 pm

    I’m using the homemade Ripper on the back of the tractor to break up the ground and pushing it off with the Dozer. I would guess I took another 12 to 16 inches off the top of that hump today

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by  BiggKidd.
  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 16, 2022 at 8:29 pm

    Tractor was doing great breaking up the ground UNTIL I was already straining the hell out of it and hit a root or rock or something. At which point something had to give. The something was one of the old welds on the TPH lift arm, broke it clean in two AGAIN! The is the first of my welds to break on one of these arms. Both arms have been broken a few times but never where I had already welded them until now.
    Even considering that I got quite a lot of earth moved using the dozer. Lucky for me I was on the last pull of that round of breaking up ground when the arm broke.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 19, 2022 at 10:21 pm

    I know I mentioned the steering brakes and clutches are pretty much gone. Well since I haven’t been feeling to great I spent the down time trying to find a cheaper option for fixing the brakes at the minimum. Caterpillar wants about $1,300 per side for new brake bands. I think I found new linings I can rivet on myself for about $100 for both sides. Now if I could find some decent instructions on replacing brakes and installing the new linings. Waiting on word back from the seller if these will fit my machine. I know I mentioned the steering brakes and clutches are pretty much gone. Well since I haven’t been feeling to great I spent the down time trying to find a cheaper option for fixing the brakes at the minimum. Caterpillar wants about $1,300 per side for new brake bands. I think I found new linings I can rivet on myself for about $100 for both sides. Now if I could find some decent instructions on replacing brakes and installing the new linings. Waiting on word back from the seller if these will fit my machine.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    September 20, 2022 at 12:31 am

    The company did get back in touch and they are the correct parts so now I just need to see what the total cost will be and hope I have enough left after bills next month to order them.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    March 26, 2023 at 7:46 pm

    For now this project appears to have more or less turned in to a pond project, I may revisit adding pumped solar / hydro power down the road, but one step at a time.
    Whelp I decided to go ahead and attempt to get the dozer going. Which after an hour or so I did. Then I proceeded to make on hell of a mess! I didn’t count but I’d guess I managed to take out 6 or 7 medium size hardwoods, mostly over a foot in diameter but less than 18 inches. There were also several smaller trees that came down. This was all in the area being cleared for the pond. Now the real work of breaking them down begins, and I’m already pooped!

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    March 27, 2023 at 12:33 am

    A few pictures from today and the toys I got to work with. I cut that entire tree up with that little baby Echo cs330t even though that big Sthil chainsaw was sitting right below it. if a little light saw will do the job why tote the weight of the big heavy saw

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