Episode-890- Listener Calls for 4-27-12

[Hootie]

The Survival Podcast http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com

SERIES:     TSP
EPISODE:  890
DATE:        April 27, 2012
TITLE:       Episode-890- Listener Calls for 4-27-12














SOURCE FILE:
http://www.survivalpodcast.net/audio/2012/4-12/epi-00890-listener-calls-4-27-12.mp3

FILE ARCHIVE:   
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/episode-890-listener-calls-for-4-27-12

DESCRIPTION:
Today I take your calls on snakes, the AR15, solar panels, pepper spray, fruit storage, off site storage, mulching, overseas travel preps, real estate, electronic currency and destroying vs. saving America.
Remember to be on a show like this one just pick up your phone and call 866-65-THINK. The best way to improve your chances of being on the air is ask your question or make your point up front, then provide details.
Also please do your best to call from a quite area with a good connection and speak up so you can be well heard. I can’t put all calls on the air but I do my best to get most of them on.
Join Me Today As I Respond to Your Calls On…
Why I used to breed snakes and why I still keep some
Making choices and cutting though hype when buying your first AR15
Another real world example of why you should carry pepper spray
How do you store surplus fruit from weekly shopping
Should you store firearms off site and what should you look for if you do
If you get a damaged solar panel for free do you use it as is or “repair it”
Getting mulch into a remote area
Prepping for overseas travel, specifically to less stable parts of the world
Thoughts on investing in real estate right now, especially raw land
Is a cashless society on the way, yes, so what do we do about it
Biltong from lamb and goat, can you do it, if so whats the good and bad of it
Why don’t banks want your change any more and what does it mean
A shocking video called If I Wanted America to fail
My response to the above video – “If I Wanted to Save America”
Resources for today’s show…
Members Support Brigade
Join Our Forum
The Berkey Guy – (sponsor of the day)
Silver and Gold Shop – (sponsor of the day)
The S&W M&P AR-15 Platform
New Brownells CQB Site
Robar’s Firearms – Frank Sharpe’s recommended company during his response they do the NP3 coating he mentioned
Back to Eden – Video on Using Wood Mulch
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.





INTRO & CLOSING SONG:
“Revolution is You” by Gregg Yows

TRANSCRIPTION PROVIDED BY:
Hootie

[Hootie]

...
[00:48:30]

Jack Spirko: Anyways, Lets take another call.

[00:48:32]

Paul: Hi, my name is Paul. I am from Australia. I have got a question for Steven Harris. I just bought a solar PV panel. It 170 watts, when it is peak power when it was undamaged and it is damaged. I have got 2 questions. The first is that the glass is that the glass is shattered all across the front and the question is, "What is the best way to fix a shattered panel on a solar PV panel?" It is best to glue or seal some glass over the top? Or is there something I could spray on that would not affect the performance of the panel too much, so it will not get damaged by the sun? Any tips on that would be great. The second one is that I am thinking of getting a... This is a test, and if it is successful I am thinking of getting these panels and gluing them on the roof. I was thinking of using them without any batteries for peak power so I could do things with them like use power tools with them whenever the sun is high. A lot of power is needed for power tools. These panels cost me $30 for 170 watts, so they are cheap. I thought that if I could get a whole bunch of these and put them on the roof, when the sun out I might be able to use some power tools. I thought if I could get away without using any batteries then obviously you don't have any real maintenance. Eventually these panels will give up the ghost, but I think they will go quite a while. What do you think of that as an idea? Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thanks very much, bye.

[00:50:18]

Jack Spirko: That is a great question for Steve Harris. I am going to warn the audience right now. When Steve starts this question he is going to sound sarcastic and he is almost going to sound like he is beating up on Paul. He is not. He doing what I often do when I get misunderstood for doing from time to time, so occasionally I explain it. Steve is pretty upset at, let us call them, "The Hucksters" in the industry. Some of the options that people arrive at about what they need to do come from those Hucksters in the industry. When you hear the initial condescension, Paul don't take it personally. This is not about you. Audience don't take it personally it is not about Paul. It is about the people that are selling a five page eBook that tells people you can repair solar panel for $50 and telling them they are going to run their house with it. That is what you are hearing in the undertone message here. You are going to get a great answer as to what do as well. I just wanted to profess  that because Steve can come off like I do once in awhile. We are not coming down on the caller. We are coming down on the source that has maybe put someone on the wrong path because we get tire of those sources, basically victimizing people. Here we go Steve, take it away.

[00:51:32]

Steven Harris: Hello Paul from Australia. This is Steven Harris. I am here to answer your question. The answer is, no  you can not fix your panels. I don't know why people continually insist <sarcastic voice> "I want to fix my panels." They are broken. It is Humpty Dumpty . All the kings horses, all the kings me, all the silicone, all the superglue, all the glass, and all the Plexiglas is not going to fix your panel. Here is the other thing, Humpty Dumpty has fallen off of ledge and spilled all of his yoke. You are making an omelet now. You do not need to fix the panel. People say <sarcastic whiny voice>, "Oh well, it is going to rain..." I know there is not much rain in Australia... <sarcastic whiny voice> "but it is going to it is going to rain and it is going to hurt my panel, awww." No it is not. <sarcastic whiny voice> "But Steve how do you know..." I know because I have wrote the book, literally. I wrote the book "Sunshine to Dollars" and it is all about getting these panels for nothing. I tell you how to do it in the book. And congratulations. It sounds like you are getting them for cheap or for nothing. I have had these panels setting up there working since I wrote the book back in 2002. That is over 10 years because it is 2012 right now. They are still working. They are still working fine. They are still outputting voltage. They are still charging the batteries. That is with out anything protecting them or any silicone and they are cracked. And you are right they are broken. They are not 175 watts anymore they are going to be half of that or they are going to be a third of that, if they are broken really bad. For $30 that is a really good deal. You are not going to get any better than that. Congratulation on getting some free or some cheap solar panels. You asked about... I don't get it. You want to put the panels on your roof, so you might be able to run some power tools when it is sunny. It is like, "Don't you already have electricity down there? Don't you have a source of power already?" What you are saying doesn't really make sense, unless you are trying to run really big power tools and you are worrying about peak shaving, because your electric company is charging you an exorbitant amount of money if you go over a certain amount of electricity during the day time. Here most of the people in the United States get charged one rate no matter what. There is no peak or off peak. There are in some areas but majority of us who live in civilized areas of the United States that aren't run by socialist governments that try to inflate our electric rates. We don't have that type of measures over us. If you hook up solar panels directly to the grid to try to do some peak shaving or net metering, you have to have a grid tie inverter that hooks up the panels directly to the grid with out any batteries. You have to have a net metering arrangement with your electric company so it will run the meter backwards. Any peak power you would use is run backwards when the sunlight is out. If you are remote, it does not sound like you have that. Pretty much the answer is, you need batteries. That is what most solar panels are for. A solar panel is pretty useless in the preparedness world without a battery. That is the whole idea of it. You get your own source of power, albeit a very expensive one unless you get the panels cheap like they are in my book. Then you are going to put batteries on it and you are going to have your own little power plant to give you your own little private source of power. You can hook up to it what you want run, what you want, when you want. You can do it when the sun is not shinning if the batteries are charged and everything else. Really what you need is a good set of batteries and you need a good inverter. You can get batteries really cheap too. You can go to people who sell forklifts and rent forklifts. You can get there older batteries for forklifts electric carts and stuff like that. They might not be good enough for the electric cart and everything, but they could still be very good for doing what you want. That is a cheap way of getting batteries. The other way to get cheap batteries is that are very good batteries that are brand new is that you go to the people who sell batteries for golf carts and you get those.  Be careful, golf cart batteries com in 6 volts and 8 volts. You want two 6 volts. Or if you are running a 24 volt inverts you want four 6 volts. I guess if you wanted three 8 volts to make up 24 volts you could, but that still negates your whole 12 volt inverter option. Most inverters are 12 volts. Pete to answer your question. Just get the cheap panels and put them up on your roof. Hook them up and start using them. Hook them up to a battery. Start making your own electricity. Congratulation on getting those panels. I hope to hear more from you. Bye... Oh and if anyone wants to hear all of my previous interviews and everything on The Survival Podcast of which I have had 7. I am the all time highest guest. Everything about me, my books, or if you want the book "Sunshine to Dollars" that tells you about free solar panels and stuff. Everything is linked. All my websites are at Solar1234.com

[00:57:04]

Jack Spirko: As you can see, you got a great detailed answer from Steve there. He does come up off the top rope once in a while like I do. But that is part of why I love him. He brings  a tremendous amount of information to the audience. With that lets take another call.

[00:57:18]
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