Getting rid of jackals.....

[Czauto]

Hi guys,

I decided to share my installation with you so here goes......

I was born and been living in Beaufort West all my life. In 2012 I bought a 4 bedroom house close to the middle of town, a few hundred meters from schools, shops, etc. I bought the house without even seeing it for R380k. The main reason for this was this was the 2275m2 plot it was situated on. Even better was the fact that it had entrances from 2 different streets, and the main building was build quite close to the front street. Seeing that rental space is a problem here I immediately saw a vision of a workshop in the backyard. House in front, workshop with separate entrance at the back. I moved in and started working from the small little garage that was in the backyard.

Well 4 years later it looks like this

Anyhow. Still a lot to do. I can proudly say that I've done everything myself. I've built the swimming pool, built the carports, designed and built the steel structures, done the roofing, cladding, bricklaying and eve the painting myself. Gosh I even mow the lawn myself.

But this is about my solar project so here goes. I already started about 3 years ago to become as efficient as possible. LED lights, Low energy rating fridge, etc. The main problem as we all know was the 150ltr geyser and my stove. I decided to go LPG on those about 6 months ago. (still using the 48kg bottle I got when I installed it) Voila!! My electricity usage decreased by half. Now I could start planning for a solar system. At first I only had a Mecer 2440Va Ups running off 2 120Ah Shoto deepcycles. This worked fine through the loadshedding but you know how it is with men and their toys. I WANTED MORE!! 

Last year November I bought 6 x new Dreamquest 250W panels and 2 second hand PowerStocc 3000MV grid tied inverters. I immediately built a temporary frame for the panels and fitted it to my roof the next day.

Mmmm. Quite happy. The inverter was saying I was producing an average of 10Kwh per day. Nice!! BUT.......why was my prepaid meter still going like hell? Don't laugh. I didn't know

So....I found out what a bi-directional meter was going to cost me...The meter and installation by the municipality, R7800. To do that they first had to change my connection from overhead to underground. Another R5800. Let's see.....R13600. Almost what I paid for the panels and both inverters so I thought, screw this. Off to Gumtree the inverters went and both was sold within a few days. I made a small profit and ordered an Axpert 5Kva MKS from Geewiz. Great service with it being delivered within 2 days. I bought 4 Energizer 105Ah sealed lead acid batteries "just to get going". 

I installed the Watchpower program included to see what was happening. Sooo...not very happy with that. Google, here I come. One of the few monitoring software I found was AICC. I installed the Windows version. Ahhh! this is more like I want to see. Okay, so it's not being developed anymore. What the fcuk is a Raspberry Pi?? I did some more Googling and ordered a Canakit Raspberry Pi startert kit. This was for a Pi3 B, Power supply, Hdmi cable, breadboard, jumper wires, led's, resistors, etc, etc, etc. I started playing with the Pi and liked it. Time to use it for what it was bought for. Well, long story short, had some issues with the Pi and the dashboard (mostly Network I suppose) and in the end decided to use the old AICC software again on my laptop. I sourced a BMV-700 and everything is going well. I know my battery bank is way too small so that would be my next investment, before I add more panels. I'm also busy designing a 2 axis solar tracker frame. The linear actuators and controllers are available on Ebay for just over R2000 as a kit. 

Oh yes, Highbay lights. Cheapest LED ones I could find was R2000+ for a 150W one with 3500lumens. 85w CFL, E40 lamp holder and a mixing bowl from the local Chines R5 shop. Highbay lights with 7000 lumens each (85watts) for less than R300 a piece.

The rest of my floodlights have been replaced by 10watt MajorTech Led units. I found them a builders recently for R89 a piece and bought 10. The light is almost double that of a 50W unit I bought on Bidorbuy a while ago so I'm more that happy. My floodlights is connected to a Day&night switch so I had to go more efficient with them. Consumption at night when everybody goes to sleep, average 320W.  

Lighting inside the house is covered by 18W panel lights. This is my old office (becoming a store room now).

Seeing that there was no outside light coming in I fitted 2 of the panel lights. Plenty of light for 36Watts.

So that's my current installation. Watch this space........

[DeepBass9]

Where,s the jackals?

[Czauto]

Lol. Old joke. Should've explained it better. Jackal in this sense meaning Beaufort West municipality. Our municipality is way more sly than any jackal out there.....

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[___]

Lol. Old joke. Should've explained it better. Jackal in this sense meaning Beaufort West municipality. Our municipality is way more sly than any jackal out there.....

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But I thought tru-jackal Prince was out off office by now? :-P

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[Czauto]

Mr Prince keeps making amuck everywhere he goes. He's like a pest you cannot get rid of and the slyist jackal of them all.
The quicker i get off grid the better. My municipal water supply has been completely shut since March 2016. Still i get billed for an interim reading every month. About R800 monthly without using a drop of their water......and lets remember, thats only for water. Taxes, sewage, etc gets billed seperately and i've got prepaid electricity. Last time i bought electricity i received 182 units for R400.
I'm starting to think jackal is not a strong enough word anymore for the bastards.

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[Chris Hobson]

11 hours ago, Czauto said:

Lol. Old joke. Should've explained it better. Jackal in this sense meaning Beaufort West municipality. Our municipality is way more sly than any jackal out there.....

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I thought I had work for you!

 

[Czauto]

Real jackals is a problem but they don't do nearly as much damage as the government ones. Chris i heard a rumour that the real jackal population is out of hand in the karoo national park and that springbok populations are in danger in the park so thats another problem, maybe by bad management

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[Chris Hobson]

There is a media backlash to research in the Park and jackal culling. What folk don't want to acknowledge is our environment is anthropomorphic. One cannot leave nature to do its thing because we have upset the balance and nothing is going to correct it bar returning to the Stone Age. Natural environments need to be managed since they mostly have a perimeter fence and therefore cannot function completely as natural environment. They become small islands and small islands generally don't have large predator populations. People want to take man out of the equation yet for millions of years man has been part of the equation. Our influence has skyrocketed and we need to become good stewards and this includes some unpalatable truths for the good of the whole rather that a furry, cuddly iconic species. 

I could go on and on.......

[Czauto]

Exactly. This is why numbers must be monitored and kept under control. I saw a group of about 300 eland walking in the park a while ago. 300 eland to 6 lions......good maths

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[___]

Chris, all that talk of good stewardship sounds so religious... :-P Thoroughly tongue in cheek of course, I believe the same things about responsible treatment of life and nature.

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[Chris Hobson]

On 24/01/2017 at 8:02 AM, plonkster said:

Chris, all that talk of good stewardship sounds so religious... :-P

It is - our lives depend on it. I am for the punishment of cruelty to animals. However, you find that the people who get really upset about conservation issues tend to focus on lions rhinos etc. South African amphibians (all of them) are in a steep decline. I have yet to see someone collecting money for the Save the Rana foundation or that it gets extensive media coverage. I am a trained biologist so I suppose this touched a nerve..... I'll shut up now.

[Czauto]

Bahahaha. Completely off topic....and that because of a topic description that wasn't thought through.  I'm sorry!

Okay then. Getting rid of jackals........Get one of these

 

[Chris Hobson]

1 hour ago, Czauto said:

Exactly. This is why numbers must be monitored and kept under control. I saw a group of about 300 eland walking in the park a while ago. 300 eland to 6 lions......good maths

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Before Shamwari introduced lion into the larger reserve personnel had worked out that the lion would eat x blesbok,kudu and other antelope and compiled a report weighing up the increased revenue of having lion for tourist to view against the value of the animals eaten. Based on this report lions were introduced into the main reserve area. Unfortunately no one provided the lion with the report and they took one look around and realised it was hard work hunting impala etc and it was far easier to hunt the buffalo. Cyril Ramaphosa would be proud. Within weeks the buffalo and lions were separated

5 minutes ago, Czauto said:

Bahahaha. Completely off topic....and that because of a topic description that wasn't thought through.  I'm sorry!

Okay then. Getting rid of jackals........Get one of these

 

Nah we don't need a reason to completely trash a thread. Most predators are antagonistic towards each other and will eat or just kill the young of rival species. Now to persuade the jackal to eat the caracal young and visa versa and leave my sheep alone.

[___]

No worries there, my father is a farmer and I know all too well how people (who have never seen a Jackal except in pictures and MAYBE in some zoo setting) can go overboard about the conservation of this or that animal. Major retail stores will punish/reward you by paying more for your meat if you promise not to hurt the predators for example. Many farmers simply ignore the reward system, the predators cause way more damage anyway. These bleeding heart types also completely ignore the misery of the domesticated animals, eg a sheep ewe that's had her udder eaten from her body by a jackal... still alive, in great pain, and likely to die soon.

Of course that is not an excuse to swing over to the other side of the spectrum and indiscriminately kill animals.

And you're right, these well-doers forget that human beings are part of nature. That's actually the best part for me, seeing as I dabble a bit in religious philosophy as well, that for most non-religious people humans are essentially just a higher developed mammal, they insist there is essentially nothing special about humans. These same people who somehow feel superior because they are so at one with nature don't realise that if this is true, then whatever humans do is also a part of nature, it is no different to what baboons or jackal do. A human killing all the jackal in his immediate area is intrinsically no different than a baboon stripping all the fruit from a tree before they are ripe. The alternative to that -- which these people implicitly admit by their insistence that we are somehow separate from nature and ought not mess with it as we do -- is that we are a head above the rest and that there is some kind of objective responsibility in that. Now whether this is just illusory or whether there is a real divine stewardship matters little to my argument at this point: Once you arrive at this point, your only alternative is to manage the situation of 1) lots of humans, 2) lots of animals for food, and 3) too many predators for balance.

:-)

[Czauto]

Funny how everyone immediately noticed "jackal" but nobody noticed the enclosure I made from PVC trunking for my Pi (next to the BMV-700) You know how long it took me to cut out the Raspberry Pi logo with a small pencil grinder............

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Chris Hobson said:

I am for the punishment of cruelty to animals.

Cruelty and disrespect to animals tend to tell me that person can do the same towards his fellow humans for you have to have a screw loses to hurt animals.

And when a lion eats whilst the food is still alive, that is none of your business.

I for one would have no problem doing onto humans who abuse and make animals suffer, to suffer the same fate.

And just to let all know, I am NOT an animal person. They live in the bush, veldt, swim in the sea, lakes, rivers, I live in my housie. Ask the wife, WE don't have dogs, SHE does. Just don't hurt them. Then it is our dogs. 

And if the dog bit you ... "The dog did warned you, what did you do?" kinda guy. If you have dogs, you better be in charge.

Here are 2 true stories.

At a very prominent and expensive reserve, this lady from a very affluent suburb in SA asks the ranger: So how do you get the thorns so white? Do you paint them or use tippex?

Same game reserve. Ranger sits on a koppie checking out the veldt. Down on the tar road he see 2 giraffes coming around a corner. Few minutes later, there is a man with a camera walking behind them. Behind him is his wife with 2 little kids following her with their toys. 500m behind the kids ... 2 lions following it all. No-one got hurt.

 

So in my presidency I will order walls to be build around dorpies and cities, to keep the people in - for people are not too clever around wild animals. I will do this so that the animals can roam free in order for nature to flourish that we can live in a healthier and more balanced environment. And no farm will be allowed fences either, bar small holding camps for domesticated animals.

Take care of animals / nature so that you can prosper and flourish.

[___]

Funny how everyone immediately noticed "jackal" but nobody noticed the enclosure I made from PVC trunking for my Pi (next to the BMV-700) You know how long it took me to cut out the Raspberry Pi logo with a small pencil grinder............

I saw it! I wondered if it was diy...

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[Czauto]

Let's face it. I live in the Karoo, I've been born in the Karoo. I will die in the Karoo. I'm not scared of wild animals but respect them very dearly. I've moered a tattie because he was hitting his donkey with a broomstick. All animals cannot defend themselves but there was an equilibrium that was upset by humans. Try to minimize this upset and nature will flourish. I've hunted Kudu, Springbok, Gemsbok, Eland, etc.......years ago. I just cannot get it over my heart anymore to watch an animal through the scope of a rifle......and kill it. The biltong is moer lekker though. Nothing I can do about that. 

My wife's got 2 "worsies". I had a boerboel before them but I had to get another home for it because she started eating cars.....literally!! Now I just set my alarm clock to 3am every morning, go out, bark a few times and shit on the grass. No need for a big guard dog anymore. But me? These day I'll rather shoot something with 2 legs before I kill something with four..........you know. Now and then you get some goggas climbing over your walls to take stuff that doesn't belong to them. No sympathy to them!! 

[stoic]

On 2017/01/24 at 10:08 AM, Czauto said:

Let's face it. I live in the Karoo, I've been born in the Karoo. I will die in the Karoo. I'm not scared of wild animals but respect them very dearly. I've moered a tattie because he was hitting his donkey with a broomstick. All animals cannot defend themselves but there was an equilibrium that was upset by humans. Try to minimize this upset and nature will flourish. I've hunted Kudu, Springbok, Gemsbok, Eland, etc.......years ago. I just cannot get it over my heart anymore to watch an animal through the scope of a rifle......and kill it. The biltong is moer lekker though. Nothing I can do about that. 

My wife's got 2 "worsies". I had a boerboel before them but I had to get another home for it because she started eating cars.....literally!! Now I just set my alarm clock to 3am every morning, go out, bark a few times and shit on the grass. No need for a big guard dog anymore. But me? These day I'll rather shoot something with 2 legs before I kill something with four..........you know. Now and then you get some goggas climbing over your walls to take stuff that doesn't belong to them. No sympathy to them!! 

Ever considered writing a book? this was so entertaining