I came for "The World's Second-Best Speakers" and stayed for... well, everything else as well. This is such a great, random, tech/engineering channel. I love it all.
Oh yeah u gotta have some quality moonshine and a fine laser cooked burger with some fortified hotsauce While you listen to the best music the massive speaker can provide....
Quick tips as a solar cook in Michigan. 1. Consider anticipating (with practice) the optimum solar coverage on the pan 10-15 minutes into the future. That will give you time to ready other items for your meal (bun, lettuce, etc.) 2. Its okay to preheat the pan, especially if the food you will be placing is cold or frozen. 3. Far better to keep from spilling on the reflector and to make it easier for yourselves to prep the pan with the food before you put it on the reflector. 4. A glass lid will contain splattering grease, heat and let you watch the progress. 5. Its advisable to have a thermometer to insure food safety temperature of 165-170 minimum. 6. If cooking things like potatoes - chopping into smaller pieces reduces cooking time. 7. Mass of the pan will retain heat even when temporary clouds pass over. More massive, once up to temperature the longer it will hold the heat. 8. Sunglasses are advised. Potential exists to permanently injure your eyes. Smart. 9. Control the temperature by adjusting the angle. You don't have to keep it at top temperature. The Solar Cooking wiki has tons more tips and solar cooking appliance design. I have cooked cornbread inside the home in Michigan winter. For 28 days of April in a row I've also cooked all meals for my household while underemployed in late winter. I made raisin rolls, angel food cake, fried eggs, hamburger, soups, baked potatoes, muffins, oatmeal, etc.
I'd put transparent plastic foil on the mirror surface, like these adhesive foils that stick without glue. Makes it easier to clean and the reflective material won't get scratched over time.
@@SolarCookingGermany I'd be cautious with that. Transparent plastics look like all forms of light go through it but doesn't. I think infrared is one of those and if memory serves me correctly that's actually where a lot of the energy from the sun lies on the electromagnetic spectrum.
Its crazy actual how much energy there is just in 1 square meter of sunrays... It gets very visual when showing it like this vs a solar panel and a watt meter
If you keep getting a hot spot your pan is NOT close enough to the reflector. You are at or near the point of focus. Drop it until the whole bottom of the pan has heat on it.
... "your pan is NOT close enough" or. far enough away from the reflector. If higher up, maybe more of the splatter would blow away and not contaminate the mirror.
A concentrated hot spot is more forgiving in getting the most energy into the pan. As the sun moves the hot spot is still on the pan where if you focus the entire pan then you start losing part of your energy like an eclipse.
a tip for aligning it is to look at the shadow. not the bottom of the pan or at the sun. you want the shadow of the reflector to be a perfect circle, that way you know it's pointing directly at the sun. and much less likely to blind yourself.
Hey you two , I've been watching since your first worlds best speaker series and was hoping that enough people would support your channel to make your efforts viable. I'm happy to see that your numbers seem to have added up to at least breaking even. I'm sure from what it appears to met the hours spent on production , editing, research, etc when multiplied by a low rate of pay per hour shows me that you have heard and soul invested in this and that, you actually care about bringing to me quality , economical, evidence based projects that result in furthering my developing of my journey here on earth effectively for those who are left handed. Appreciated very much so thank you
Thanks! You are correct. This has been a labor of love. As we grow, and the income increases, this only means that we'll be able to undertake more ambitious projects. We believe the future is bright and maybe our efforts will add a few watts to that future.
TI JR. Is completely right about the color of the bottom of the pan. Very seasoned backpacker/camper here and we would paint the bottom on our cooking cups and pans. We directly compared them and the time to boil water got cut down to less of half of the time. I cannot remember the exact amount. it was over 10 years ago.
I'm only 18 minutes in so far, but these would be ideal cookers for a wok! Once a wok is seasoned it becomes black and would absorb heat magnificently, and as a bonus stir fry's cook so quickly you wouldn't need to adjust the solar stove during cooking.
The guy across the street is probably used to your projects... If not he is calling the NSA/TSA and talking about two guys trying to shoot death rays at the jets dropping the chem trails.
2 things, if the person who made these were into Astro then you'd dial in the inclination and polar align it and all you'd have to do was move one axis. 2nd thing, it's really easy to make a DIY XY solar tracker using 2 solar cells and a motor per axis. Per axis put one cell next to the other then place a tall piece of black plastic between them. Wire both cells to the motor with one of them having their polarity reversed. When the sun hits both cells equally the motor will stop spinning.
OH DEAR,TSK TSK TSK- BRAINS THE SIZE OF A PLANET - BUT NO LID ...DEEP SIGH.... EVEN BETTER, MAKE AN INSULATED LID.... YOUR WELCOME. 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 FROM RICKY GERVAIS- HE WITH THE MIND THE SIZE OF MANY UNIVERSES 🙃
This was very cool and I appreciate the good audio and the great multiple camera angles showing off whats going on especially the far out camera angles give great perspective.
Heh, I bought this exact parabolic solar cooker a few years ago. It's bulky, but boy does it get hot! 🔥 I eventually wanna mod mine to automatically track the sun. I use a square copper plate that I sprayed the bottom with black furnace paint to absorb as much heat and quickly spread it. It makes browning so much more even and very little risk of scorching.
I noticed that a big portion (maybe 40% ish) of the bottom of the aluminium pan is reflective, which means that part won't absorb the heat from the sun. I would most certainly be more effective if the bottom was completely black, like the cast iron pan is. Edit: I noticed you brought up precisely that later in the video 👌I'm glad we agree
Living Energy Farm uses these. Additionally they have used solar panels feeding directly to a resistive hotplate, as well as a cooker called the Roxy, which is a direct drive DC oven heavily insulated with rockwool and using a thermostat.
An interesting demonstration of your new parabolic reflectors might be to use it to record audio at long distances by hooking up a microphone to the focus point. Since you have two of them, you could even use the other to throw your voice and see how far away you could effectively communicate by sound.
it goes a long way - there's a bridge here that has a walking path under the abutments at both sides, and they have parabolic reflectors formed into the concrete on both sides - it's easy to hear someone whispering that's standing in front of the other parabola on the other side of the river, a few hundred feet away
done that many years ago, could hear people talking several blocks away. Also if the reflecting surface is indeed metal, you can have one of these at a remote piece of land with no cell signal, place your phone at the focal point, and aim the dish at the horizon in the direction of the nearest cell tower. adjust until u get 1 bar signal, done :)
@@enigma51ted You can also get a cell signal booster that has a fixed higher gain antenna that you permanently mount up high with good line of sight to the cell tower, and then it has a local antenna that provides local coverage to phones around the repeater - no needing to stand out in the middle of the yard infront of a large parabola :)
@@enigma51ted I was thinking a stainless mixing bowl or steel wok would be good for that as a handheld unit. Have you ever tried an earbud headphone as the microphone?
I'm so glad to see this channel grow. It's much deserved and the professional aspect as well as the intelligence spread throughout these videos are unmatched!
The tip for your RTV silicone, place it where you want it and don't immediately attach both sides. For doing automotive parts it's suggested you wait for it to set for a few minutes, so it can harden into a rubber seal, then screw them together and squeeze the seal instead of squeeze the schmoo out
The problem with that technique is that it doesn't bond the surfaces together. It produces very good gaskets but requires a secondary clamping system to securely hold the surfaces together.
Cool project. RE: A camping cooker - years ago a friend of mine made a solar cooker from a beach umbrella. He removed the fabric and replaced it with a mylar sheet. It was years ago so I can't remember what the result was, but it sounds promising.
Lol I almost choked when he said to use oil for bacon. I've been dying to see a thorough video like this, so glad it was this channel that did it. You're awesome man, truly awesome.
@@boots7859 Yeah, but keeping it from sticking takes a little more temperature control than they had, which was basically full-blast hot. Or some oil. Or putting the bacon in BEFORE the pan is hot so the fat releases as it warms. Cold bacon into a super hot pan with no oils will stick every time. Unless it's stainless and has just a tiny bit of water for the whole leidenfrost thing... It's surprisingly complex, really. In a cast iron pan that was already hot I probably would have smeared a little oil on it. I saw someone else suggest butter but with no control over the temp they might scorch it which is even nastier than vegetable oil. I'm rambling. I must be hungry.
Love what you do here, and another awesome video involving light and optics. Been watching here for years and awesome that you're up to a million subs now. This is definitely a channel that does a lot of cool stuff and worth subbing to. Thank you for all the awesome content.❤
@@kaydog890you mean whoosh over my head because it was sarcasm? Perhaps. Always hard to tell in the internet. Usually he does introduce his son in his videos but doesn’t in this one. Maybe one of the thousands of RUclips viewers genuinely didn’t know their relationship *Shrugs*
congrats on 1 million subscribers! your videos always remind me of how much an impact on our energy consumption we could have with simple, mostly passive devices.
Thank you for the demonstration both reception and transmission of light. In central Florida these cookers could very well serve as an reserve cooking source for hurricane season. Cheap and inert, no fuel needed. Used with a heavy cast iron skillet or dutch oven you could readily make a full meal without need for foraging for or storing fuel. Peaceful Skies
Hello nice cookers the aluminium pan paint the bottom flat black engine paint then it will heat up good..and you focus point needs to be bigger and it will cook more even and not so much of a hot spot..and one I hope yall will look into is 60/40 global cooker it works great .I made one 8 years ago and it's still going great..
1. What about modifying the pan support so that the pan is past the focal point, at a distance where the illuminated hot spot is a little smaller than the bottom of the pan? Same total energy input, but more evenly distributed so that you’re not as dependent on the conductivity of the pan to even out the temperatures. 2. Ahhh… the colored search lights… you NEED a third one with blue LED’s, and three individually variable power supply’s, to play with mixing the primary colors. It would be a fun way to demonstrate how tv’s, computer monitors & digital cameras produce millions of distinct colors using only red, green & blue.
These things were tested in rural Mexico about 60 or 70 years ago to see if they would be better than cooking with wood. The verdict was that it was better to go out and hunt for sticks and make a wood fire in your kitchen than to go outside and be dependent on sunlight. It was just too much trouble to only cook in the daytime, and then to have to have a good cloud free sky. The only exception was a woman who had a business as a weaver, who had to dye her own yarn. Since she did not have to dye yarn often, it was no problem for her to only dye when she could boil a big pot of water, out in the sun, and she was glad that she did not need to go out and find wood first.
The audio is so clear. Great work on this video. I’ve been checking back for the next segment of the AC series, still hoping for more of your insights.
Not when it has paint or any kind of coating with any kind of thickness on it. The coating would have to be extremely thin (and made out of specialized, highly IR transparent material) for it to stay a good IR reflector. "Emissivity values range from 0 to 1, with 0 representing a perfect mirror that reflects all energy and 1 representing a perfect absorber and radiator of all energy. In reality, most objects have emissivity values between 0.01 and 0.99. For example, highly polished metals like copper and aluminum have an emissivity below 0.1, while roughened or oxidized metals have an emissivity of 0.6 or higher. _Most flat-finish paints have an emissivity of around 0.90,_ and human skin and water have an emissivity of about 0.98." Note that even roughed up and oxidized metal surfaces have significantly increased emissivity. Putting a coat of non specialized paint on aluminum will only increase the emissivity and decrease the IR reflectivity _that much more._ This is _very basic and well known_ information. 🙄
@@thatmckenzie Obviously it depends on the coating. Some materials reflect IR, some materials absorb IR and some are transparent to IR. Spaceblankets for example are made by vapor deposition of aluminum particles on to mylar or polyethylene plastic sheets. The shiny aluminum particles on the surface reflect IR. But the moment you put something on top of that layer, unless it is really, really thin and IR transparent then it will not reflect IR. In other words, say you spray painted the top of a spaceblanket, well, that side that is spray painted will not reflect IR anymore. The paint instead will absorb IR. We are talking about paint on a pan here, not special lens coatings. In this case, it will be much like the above with the example of a spaceblanket that is spray painted. Good IR _reflectors_ typically are made of _bare _*_metal surfaces_* that are extremely polished and shiny. And yes, bare aluminum surfaces that are very polished and shiny are excellent IR reflectors. But the moment you slap paint on the surface, no longer. Quote from a quick google search, "Emissivity values range from 0 to 1, with 0 representing a perfect mirror that reflects all energy and 1 representing a perfect absorber and radiator of all energy. In reality, most objects have emissivity values between 0.01 and 0.99. For example, highly polished metals like copper and aluminum have an emissivity below 0.1, while roughened or oxidized metals have an emissivity of 0.6 or higher. _Most flat-finish paints have an emissivity of around 0.90,_ and human skin and water have an emissivity of about 0.98." Note, even roughing up or oxidizing metal surfaces will increase the emissivity and decrease the IR reflection of same. It is _obvious_ that putting a coat of regular, non specialized paint on such a surface will do so even more. Obvious only to those with a thinking brain though.
@@thatmckenzie What published findings do you see in relation to spray painted spaceblankets? Care to share any actual titles? If you spray paint the non metalized side, of course the spray paint coating won't do anything, because it is not covering the shiny, reflective aluminum particles. As I said, bare, shiny metal surfaces are good at reflecting IR. Conversely, if you take a new, backpacking wood stove made out of polished, shiny metal, and you rough up and/or paint the surface, you will increase the emissivity of it. Meaning, heat will radiate out of that new stove better once roughed up and/or painted. Here is a list of some materials and their emissivity: "Here are some examples of emissivity values for different materials: Aluminum foil: 0.03 Anodized aluminum: 0.9 Smooth, polished aluminum: 0.04 Rough, oxidized aluminum: 0.2 Asphalt: 0.88 Brick: 0.90 Rough concrete: 0.91 Polished copper: 0.04 Oxidized copper: 0.87 Smooth, uncoated glass: 0.95 Ice: 0.97-0.99 Polished iron: 0.06 Human skin: 0.97-0.999 Snow: 0.8-0.9" Note that both anodized, and rough and oxidized aluminum have significantly higher emissivity values than Al foil and smooth, polished aluminum. Spray paint and paint will increase the emissivity of aluminum surface even way more than having the surface being anodized or roughed up and oxidized. This will be my last reply to you btw, as you are just not getting it. You have too much ego, arrogance, and stubbornness to learn.
I’m also very interested in another follow up to the A/C unit that used calcium chloride as the desiccant. Aside from the efficiency comparison, I was more interested in the efficacy. How well did it cool? Could it be used to power a freezer or meat locker?
It may not be ridiculous for camping with the right design. I think that a "mylar umbrella" design could actually work with the bonus that it could serve both as cooker and umbrella, make the handle sturdy and it is also a walking stick.
Nah. the light comes in straight, the dish makes the light go "cross-eyed". So the 'heat ray' disperses itself in just a few meters. (oops, I typed before finishing the video. they reversed it... )
Ideal set to make a Stirling engine. Made an array and used it at the Kuwait institute of Scientific Research (KISR) Requires a 2D tracking mechanism, but the efficiency beats solar photovoltaic arrays by more than an order of magnitude. Not based on mirror area but cost.
Concentrated solar seems the most mass and energy resourceful. Some days I feel solar photovoltaics is a scam, though I understand the benefits outside of the holistic lifecycle of the product. There is the Tamera community and they have a really interesting concentrated solar kitchen design and other related designs.
One Army YT channel and the video is Visiting Tamera community in Portugal where at time 8 minutes and 49 seconds the solar kitchen is demonstrated. I really like solar concentrated methods and I also forgot to mention the material science potential advancements for external combustion designs as well as higher pressure operations potential if I recall correctly.
I've been cooking food in a Sun Oven for years. Very compact unit, does not have a huge dish. Just big flat reflectors and a sealed, glass-covered black backing box. Can heat up to 350F on a decently sunny day at high latitudes. Good for baking roasts or casseroles. I've even baked bread in it. It's kind of like a slow cooker so you aim it past where the is now and when you come back in a few hours the heat has risen then cooled a bit and your food is cooked. Or you can keep turning it and keep the temperature up. Obviously you can't fry food with it. But for general cooking it's far superior to a dish reflector cooker.
@andrewmutavi590, "Sun Oven" is the brand. Is kind of dumb they no longer sell it with a pot so you gave up buy it separately. A black metal pot with a lid that fits on the tray is all you need.
That was a fun one, thanks for sharing! A few thoughts: Might be interesting to note that at a distance, the red light penetrates the atmosphere more effectively due to its longer wavelength. That's why the green can look so much brighter up close but on the clouds the red is almost as bright as the green because of the differing atmospheric attenuation. The aluminum pan is conducting the heat so well that it's spreading through the bulk, all over the surface, and dissipating into the air like an aluminum heat sink. Blackening the bottom with carbon i.e. over a wood or coal fire would fix the shininess in a non-toxic and non-combustible way. As mentioned elsewhere, the hot spot is from putting the pan too close to the focal point, you want the light spread over the bottom as evenly as possible. When re-aiming, if you overcompensate for the sun's movement you only have to adjust half as often. If you want a light backpacking version, something similar (though less perfectly parabolic) can be improvised with a few flexible saplings or tent poles tensioned into curved bows and a decent quality space blanket stretched over them. More rods give you a more round shape for tighter focus, but remember it doesn't have to focus into a tiny point to cook, just into a spot hopefully not much larger than the size of the pan. Last but not least: please learn about the studies on Teflon and the history of DuPont, you'll never cook with it again; stop ingesting fluorocarbons if you care about getting cancer or passing on birth defects, among other things. You're actually lucky that pan stayed cooler, if it had as intense of a hot spot as the other one you'd have likely released a considerable mass of teflon straight into your food. PTFE glass temp 240 F, melting temp 620 F. If you aren't inclined to spend the time researching, just watch Dark Waters - it holds up well under fact checking. Thanks again!
this is really cool.. can do the same thing even with smaller dishes.. like if you're out in the woods or something.. can actually come in really handy in dire situations
This channel just really cool I love watching and re-watching the content. That said I learned that these cookers can actually work well. Where I live we have a lot of really hot sunny days so will work well here.
If you could adjust the hight of the pan support a little lower you could have a less focused beam that covers the entire base of the pan and heat it more evenly.
LMAO. Compared to your other videos this one drove me nuts lol, and I'm not even knowledgeable about cooking. Let me start by saying this isn't a bad thing more so just super funny. It was very obvious two engineer / analytical types cooking here 😂. The comments between them like "oil for the bacon haha" to adding a "little" salt to the eggs had me rolling. Bacon was "almost done" but clearly still oinking a bit. Eggs were whisked like an engineer (and madman) would, for sure lol. A metric s-ton of oil used for the potatoes lol. I was actually surprised the eggs didn't merge with the cast iron where all the oil burned off. Anyway, great video and super funny.
Glass lids would help a lot. I like Solar funnel type designs better as they are safer on the eyes and skin. They can also be more compact. I will be making one out of fabric. Already have made some out of cardboard+Al foil, EVA foam with foil layer, and Al flashing. But the fabric one will be far lighter and more compact than all the former. I'm also working on figuring out how to use a vacuum insulated glass container since the funnel designs don't get as hot as the parabolic designs.
@@thatmckenzieNo, because that's reflected directly to the paint. Point is that the paint absorbed the light and converts it to heat. Then by conduction it heats the pan. No light to reflect here.
The only problem would be finding a black paint that wouldn't just cook off at the temps you're subjecting it to, that was the problem they were running into with the arms holding the pans, the grey paint was smoking
Hmm, am I missing something? The jet engine had a 3rd part coming, but it didn't come. The next video had a anouncement about a nifty trick on how to make the air conditioner heater even more effective than it is; but along came this video, on solar cooking. Hence the question: Are those videos unavailable for viewing on RUclips or have they not been posted yet (and will they ever be)?
I did an experiment years ago with a sattelite dish, which is an offset parabola. We made coffee, but I suspect the frying would do also good, as it would not drip on the dish.
@@drjones633 Not cool to give this. These people probably want to remain anonyms as do the makers of the video. And if something happened to those neighbors because of your actions you could find yourself in serious trouble.
@@drjones633 So your saying that these editing mistakes were done intentionally? Yes it's easy to find people, I now know his name but that's different to publishing it.
"We pretty much have to adjust this every two minutes ..." Yup. You have a SHALLOW parabolic reflector, based on a satellite dish. But if you have a DEEP parabolic reflector shape (like you do with, say, the SUNplicity), you only need to adjust every half hour or so - much more convenient.
I did that last year with a tv screen lens. Cut it half, framed it and connected it with a hinge, to make it more portable. Eventually it broke the glass window of my solar oven, I do not recommend this method 😀
OK, class, in today's lesson we're going to cover cooking, optics, materials science, and a little bit of electronics! Thank you, your videos are always worth my while.
You spray a fine mist of water into the air that's getting sucked through the condenser coil - the water evaporating cools the air (but increases the humidity), and the cooler air provides a larger delta T between the coil and the air, so you get better heat transfer. The problem is if the water you're misting has a lot of minerals in it, you'll get mineral build up on the condenser coil, which reduces the airflow, which creates a huge problem. There's really no other way to increase the efficiency of an A/C, and it breaks the unit over time, so not really advisable in real world applications, unless you like buying AC units more frequently
Came for the nightlight show, so the 28:30 is appreciated, and I was just about to utilize said info, but staying true to my character, I watched and thoroughly enjoyed every second of this video. Can't thank you guys enough, keep it up!
There was also green energy laser power or something like that out in Florida, he suspended two sheets of clear plastic in a frame and filled them with water to create a lens.
For conducting heat, you probably want a nice pan with an encased copper layer. Generally you can tell because it looks like the pan has an additional layer about 5-8mm thick on the bottom, though the copper may or may not be exposed around the edge. They take "slightly" longer to heat up, but are generally worth it (even on a regular stove, hotspots are an issue). But really I think you need to "unfocus" the reflector "petals" a little bit, to create a ring of much more minor hotspots. Solar-cookers make more sense if you "Think In Kelvin" 😉you only need enough sunlight to adjust the cooker from 300 kelvin to around 375 kelvin, which as a percentage of ambient temperature (mostly from sunlight) isn't that big of a leap.
This has obviously been thought of before. The issue is that you have to constantly adjust the array to focus the light. Manually takes time. Automatically takes energy.
@@cloudoftime There is a video here on YT called "World's simplest sun tracker" by 3d Printer Academy. Two small solar panels, a whire and one motor per axis.
@@cloudoftime There are even more disadvantages than that, people don't think of the danger of pressured steam, the maintenance or even the noise it makes
I think there's a misconception with cast iron VS aluminum. As you know, aluminum is a better conductor and is LESS likely to have hot spots, especially if it's a decent thickness, because it conducts heat away from the heat source. People like copper cookware for its even heat and responsiveness. Cast iron, while it has more thermal mass, does not spread heat nearly as well. Once you put something in the pan and it soaks away the heat from the preheated areas, results in hot spots. You can probably do your own tests on this with smaller heat sources.
For this kind of concentrated sunlight, I would recommend better than sunglasses. Putting over sunglasses a pair of OD6+ laser rated safety glasses that only let through yellow and longer is advisable. I did this for the solar eclipse and used short duration persistence of vision to view the sun. No harm came to my eyes from such. As a backup to that, I also tried using the above in combination with a blue Copper 2+ with ammonia solution in a glass spice bottle for further attenuation, but this blurred the images. All were initially tested to let little to no light from a white LED lamp through. Welding shades might be even better, as would be adjustable neutral density filters with some additional short wavelength attenuation.
There is a moth somewhere there that thinks moth god finally came to earth to take them to promised lamp land! Also i cant believe you missed the chance to make a batman signal!
U can use parabolic trough reflector instead. Coupled up with a sensor and motor sun tracking can easily be made automated. Addition of evacuated tube would increase the efficiency and if u install a molten salt storage tank or a simple concrete/sand based heat storage system energy can be accessible even during the night. Btw would like to see solar thermal cooling system using ammonia or bromine solution.
It would be a great upgrade to replace the pan at the focal point with a fixed copper heat collector, and then have a heat exchanger pipe the heat to a hotplate mounted behind the reflector. Then you can set it up and let it preheat in the sun, while you're cooking you can adjust the collector without your pot balanced on it, and you wouldn't get grease splattering on your collector.
They make a splatter screen that you place on top of your pan, keeps your stove cleaner. Or just use a pan that has a lid. That will capture heat in your cooking vessel, makes it more efficient. Potatoes have a lot of water in them that has to be evaporated away. Physics robbing away the heat you want to cook with. Just move the pan away, stir flip, and then back in the sun. The best Solar spit roasters have high temp glass pipes just so this doesn't happen. Iron Chef challenge? I'd definitely watch. Another great vid.😊 BTW your son would go hungry in the woods.😂
I'm surprised how little area is needed for cooking. I'm sure with some fancy origami like satellites use, you can probably create some camping equipment.
This video is very cool as a demonstration of solar powered cooking, but even more fascinating as a study of sociology. Very comical conversation exchanges here :D
I came for the wall mounted speakers and stayed for the cooking classes 🙂 love this channel!
I came for "The World's Second-Best Speakers" and stayed for... well, everything else as well. This is such a great, random, tech/engineering channel. I love it all.
AvE sent me
Oh yeah u gotta have some quality moonshine and a fine laser cooked burger with some fortified hotsauce
While you listen to the best music the massive speaker can provide....
Quick tips as a solar cook in Michigan.
1. Consider anticipating (with practice) the optimum solar coverage on the pan 10-15 minutes into the future. That will give you time to ready other items for your meal (bun, lettuce, etc.)
2. Its okay to preheat the pan, especially if the food you will be placing is cold or frozen.
3. Far better to keep from spilling on the reflector and to make it easier for yourselves to prep the pan with the food before you put it on the reflector.
4. A glass lid will contain splattering grease, heat and let you watch the progress.
5. Its advisable to have a thermometer to insure food safety temperature of 165-170 minimum.
6. If cooking things like potatoes - chopping into smaller pieces reduces cooking time.
7. Mass of the pan will retain heat even when temporary clouds pass over. More massive, once up to temperature the longer it will hold the heat.
8. Sunglasses are advised. Potential exists to permanently injure your eyes. Smart.
9. Control the temperature by adjusting the angle. You don't have to keep it at top temperature.
The Solar Cooking wiki has tons more tips and solar cooking appliance design. I have cooked cornbread inside the home in Michigan winter. For 28 days of April in a row I've also cooked all meals for my household while underemployed in late winter. I made raisin rolls, angel food cake, fried eggs, hamburger, soups, baked potatoes, muffins, oatmeal, etc.
Thanks!
I'd put transparent plastic foil on the mirror surface, like these adhesive foils that stick without glue. Makes it easier to clean and the reflective material won't get scratched over time.
@@SolarCookingGermany I'd be cautious with that. Transparent plastics look like all forms of light go through it but doesn't. I think infrared is one of those and if memory serves me correctly that's actually where a lot of the energy from the sun lies on the electromagnetic spectrum.
Its crazy actual how much energy there is just in 1 square meter of sunrays... It gets very visual when showing it like this vs a solar panel and a watt meter
I would imagine cast iron would absorb more of the light too since it's black.
If you keep getting a hot spot your pan is NOT close enough to the reflector. You are at or near the point of focus. Drop it until the whole bottom of the pan has heat on it.
... "your pan is NOT close enough" or. far enough away from the reflector.
If higher up, maybe more of the splatter would blow away and not contaminate the mirror.
Indeed, get it out of focus to spread the heat evenly!
Yup, you can get the energy exactly the same size of the pan so there is absolutely no hot spot
A concentrated hot spot is more forgiving in getting the most energy into the pan. As the sun moves the hot spot is still on the pan where if you focus the entire pan then you start losing part of your energy like an eclipse.
@@nicodeklerk1617 That's a fair point. Depending on if you prioritize convenience or even heating both options are viable.
The best kind of genius is the genius that uses their genius for fun, interesting, cool and sometimes crazy-seeming things. Love this channel!
Thanks!
You're going to love the collaborative video we're working on now!
a tip for aligning it is to look at the shadow. not the bottom of the pan or at the sun. you want the shadow of the reflector to be a perfect circle, that way you know it's pointing directly at the sun. and much less likely to blind yourself.
Hey you two , I've been watching since your first worlds best speaker series and was hoping that enough people would support your channel to make your efforts viable. I'm happy to see that your numbers seem to have added up to at least breaking even. I'm sure from what it appears to met the hours spent on production , editing, research, etc when multiplied by a low rate of pay per hour shows me that you have heard and soul invested in this and that, you actually care about bringing to me quality , economical, evidence based projects that result in furthering my developing of my journey here on earth effectively for those who are left handed. Appreciated very much so thank you
Thanks!
You are correct. This has been a labor of love. As we grow, and the income increases, this only means that we'll be able to undertake more ambitious projects. We believe the future is bright and maybe our efforts will add a few watts to that future.
TI JR. Is completely right about the color of the bottom of the pan. Very seasoned backpacker/camper here and we would paint the bottom on our cooking cups and pans. We directly compared them and the time to boil water got cut down to less of half of the time. I cannot remember the exact amount. it was over 10 years ago.
I'm only 18 minutes in so far, but these would be ideal cookers for a wok! Once a wok is seasoned it becomes black and would absorb heat magnificently, and as a bonus stir fry's cook so quickly you wouldn't need to adjust the solar stove during cooking.
Very good point!
I have a cast iron wok that I use for camping. At least its cast iron and shaped like a wok. Thing is awesome
The guy across the street is probably used to your projects... If not he is calling the NSA/TSA and talking about two guys trying to shoot death rays at the jets dropping the chem trails.
😂he’s probably wondering why they have no protective gear on, no jet engine noises, no laser shows, no explosions, very suspicious.
😆
It's really difficult to do a hot midnight snack! :-)
I wish they were.
Except, aren't they in Canada?
2 things, if the person who made these were into Astro then you'd dial in the inclination and polar align it and all you'd have to do was move one axis.
2nd thing, it's really easy to make a DIY XY solar tracker using 2 solar cells and a motor per axis. Per axis put one cell next to the other then place a tall piece of black plastic between them. Wire both cells to the motor with one of them having their polarity reversed. When the sun hits both cells equally the motor will stop spinning.
Right at the videos end, I think I heard the bat mobile.
OH DEAR,TSK TSK TSK- BRAINS THE SIZE OF A PLANET - BUT NO LID ...DEEP SIGH.... EVEN BETTER, MAKE AN INSULATED LID....
YOUR WELCOME.
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
FROM RICKY GERVAIS- HE WITH THE MIND THE SIZE OF MANY UNIVERSES 🙃
he built one for solar panels, IIRC.
Do you have any video of the xy solar tracker?
@@gtechnosinc2518 "DIY Solar Tracking System Inspired by NASA" by NightHawkInLight
This was very cool and I appreciate the good audio and the great multiple camera angles showing off whats going on especially the far out camera angles give great perspective.
Alex took a lot of time with that to get it right!
Seems so. You guys are AWESOME! Keep it up.
Heh, I bought this exact parabolic solar cooker a few years ago. It's bulky, but boy does it get hot! 🔥 I eventually wanna mod mine to automatically track the sun. I use a square copper plate that I sprayed the bottom with black furnace paint to absorb as much heat and quickly spread it. It makes browning so much more even and very little risk of scorching.
The copper plate is a good idea. Aluminium will also work.
That's a great idea
I noticed that a big portion (maybe 40% ish) of the bottom of the aluminium pan is reflective, which means that part won't absorb the heat from the sun. I would most certainly be more effective if the bottom was completely black, like the cast iron pan is. Edit: I noticed you brought up precisely that later in the video 👌I'm glad we agree
This is the best cooking show i have ever watched 😁 👍
Living Energy Farm uses these. Additionally they have used solar panels feeding directly to a resistive hotplate, as well as a cooker called the Roxy, which is a direct drive DC oven heavily insulated with rockwool and using a thermostat.
An interesting demonstration of your new parabolic reflectors might be to use it to record audio at long distances by hooking up a microphone to the focus point. Since you have two of them, you could even use the other to throw your voice and see how far away you could effectively communicate by sound.
it goes a long way - there's a bridge here that has a walking path under the abutments at both sides, and they have parabolic reflectors formed into the concrete on both sides - it's easy to hear someone whispering that's standing in front of the other parabola on the other side of the river, a few hundred feet away
done that many years ago, could hear people talking several blocks away. Also if the reflecting surface is indeed metal, you can have one of these at a remote piece of land with no cell signal, place your phone at the focal point, and aim the dish at the horizon in the direction of the nearest cell tower. adjust until u get 1 bar signal, done :)
@@enigma51ted You can also get a cell signal booster that has a fixed higher gain antenna that you permanently mount up high with good line of sight to the cell tower, and then it has a local antenna that provides local coverage to phones around the repeater - no needing to stand out in the middle of the yard infront of a large parabola :)
@@gorak9000 Yeah, but if you get stranded on a desert island and have your parabolic mirror with you..... :)
@@enigma51ted I was thinking a stainless mixing bowl or steel wok would be good for that as a handheld unit. Have you ever tried an earbud headphone as the microphone?
I love how your videos feel like having a friendly science professor for a neighbor
I saw an automatic solar cooker at a bbq party i went like a year ago, was awesome to watch automatically follow the sun while cooking
Congrats on one million man. Great video
Thanks a million!
I'm so glad to see this channel grow. It's much deserved and the professional aspect as well as the intelligence spread throughout these videos are unmatched!
The tip for your RTV silicone, place it where you want it and don't immediately attach both sides. For doing automotive parts it's suggested you wait for it to set for a few minutes, so it can harden into a rubber seal, then screw them together and squeeze the seal instead of squeeze the schmoo out
The problem with that technique is that it doesn't bond the surfaces together. It produces very good gaskets but requires a secondary clamping system to securely hold the surfaces together.
It’s amazing to see how creativity can transform everyday items into something extraordinary.
the creativity here is on another level! 🤯
Thanks!
Remember the scene from "ET" when he wanted to "phone home"?
Cool project.
RE: A camping cooker - years ago a friend of mine made a solar cooker from a beach umbrella. He removed the fabric and replaced it with a mylar sheet. It was years ago so I can't remember what the result was, but it sounds promising.
1 million! well deserved, love the content. greetings from germany
Lol I almost choked when he said to use oil for bacon. I've been dying to see a thorough video like this, so glad it was this channel that did it. You're awesome man, truly awesome.
LOL, tell me you don't know how to cook without telling me you don't know how to cook..... Bacon comes pre-oiled.
@@boots7859 pros use a little water for bacon.
@@boots7859 Yeah, but keeping it from sticking takes a little more temperature control than they had, which was basically full-blast hot. Or some oil. Or putting the bacon in BEFORE the pan is hot so the fat releases as it warms. Cold bacon into a super hot pan with no oils will stick every time. Unless it's stainless and has just a tiny bit of water for the whole leidenfrost thing...
It's surprisingly complex, really. In a cast iron pan that was already hot I probably would have smeared a little oil on it. I saw someone else suggest butter but with no control over the temp they might scorch it which is even nastier than vegetable oil.
I'm rambling. I must be hungry.
Swerving is correct. Water or oil helps a lot when the pan is hot.
@@SwervingLemon I put a bit of water and the food on the lid and slap it on the top and hold it down while it explodes
Love what you do here, and another awesome video involving light and optics. Been watching here for years and awesome that you're up to a million subs now. This is definitely a channel that does a lot of cool stuff and worth subbing to. Thank you for all the awesome content.❤
Wow, thank you!
The back and forth between these 2 guys is hilarious
They sound uncannily alike, are they related?
@@GallileoPaballa father and son
@ZPdrumer whoosh.
@@kaydog890you mean whoosh over my head because it was sarcasm? Perhaps. Always hard to tell in the internet. Usually he does introduce his son in his videos but doesn’t in this one. Maybe one of the thousands of RUclips viewers genuinely didn’t know their relationship *Shrugs*
congrats on 1 million subscribers! your videos always remind me of how much an impact on our energy consumption we could have with simple, mostly passive devices.
Thank you for the demonstration both reception and transmission of light.
In central Florida these cookers could very well serve as an reserve cooking source for hurricane season.
Cheap and inert, no fuel needed. Used with a heavy cast iron skillet or dutch oven you could readily make a full meal without need for foraging for or storing fuel.
Peaceful Skies
These things have been on my mind for years!, thanks.
Hello nice cookers the aluminium pan paint the bottom flat black engine paint then it will heat up good..and you focus point needs to be bigger and it will cook more even and not so much of a hot spot..and one I hope yall will look into is 60/40 global cooker it works great .I made one 8 years ago and it's still going great..
Congratulations on reaching 1 million subscribers! Your videos are always fun and entertaining-must be the techie in me.
1. What about modifying the pan support so that the pan is past the focal point, at a distance where the illuminated hot spot is a little smaller than the bottom of the pan? Same total energy input, but more evenly distributed so that you’re not as dependent on the conductivity of the pan to even out the temperatures.
2. Ahhh… the colored search lights… you NEED a third one with blue LED’s, and three individually variable power supply’s, to play with mixing the primary colors. It would be a fun way to demonstrate how tv’s, computer monitors & digital cameras produce millions of distinct colors using only red, green & blue.
Is definitely a great technology. I use an evacuated tube version pretty regularly.
Would recommend using a cover or lid.
These things were tested in rural Mexico about 60 or 70 years ago to see if they would be better than cooking with wood. The verdict was that it was better to go out and hunt for sticks and make a wood fire in your kitchen than to go outside and be dependent on sunlight. It was just too much trouble to only cook in the daytime, and then to have to have a good cloud free sky. The only exception was a woman who had a business as a weaver, who had to dye her own yarn. Since she did not have to dye yarn often, it was no problem for her to only dye when she could boil a big pot of water, out in the sun, and she was glad that she did not need to go out and find wood first.
The audio is so clear. Great work on this video. I’ve been checking back for the next segment of the AC series, still hoping for more of your insights.
Aluminum is pretty reflective to IR wavelengths. That aluminum pan is bouncing the photons back off into space instead of absorbing the heat.
Not when it has paint or any kind of coating with any kind of thickness on it. The coating would have to be extremely thin (and made out of specialized, highly IR transparent material) for it to stay a good IR reflector.
"Emissivity values range from 0 to 1, with 0 representing a perfect mirror that reflects all energy and 1 representing a perfect absorber and radiator of all energy. In reality, most objects have emissivity values between 0.01 and 0.99. For example, highly polished metals like copper and aluminum have an emissivity below 0.1, while roughened or oxidized metals have an emissivity of 0.6 or higher. _Most flat-finish paints have an emissivity of around 0.90,_ and human skin and water have an emissivity of about 0.98."
Note that even roughed up and oxidized metal surfaces have significantly increased emissivity. Putting a coat of non specialized paint on aluminum will only increase the emissivity and decrease the IR reflectivity _that much more._ This is _very basic and well known_ information. 🙄
Maybe you could explain lens coatings, then?
@@thatmckenzie Obviously it depends on the coating. Some materials reflect IR, some materials absorb IR and some are transparent to IR.
Spaceblankets for example are made by vapor deposition of aluminum particles on to mylar or polyethylene plastic sheets. The shiny aluminum particles on the surface reflect IR.
But the moment you put something on top of that layer, unless it is really, really thin and IR transparent then it will not reflect IR.
In other words, say you spray painted the top of a spaceblanket, well, that side that is spray painted will not reflect IR anymore. The paint instead will absorb IR.
We are talking about paint on a pan here, not special lens coatings. In this case, it will be much like the above with the example of a spaceblanket that is spray painted.
Good IR _reflectors_ typically are made of _bare _*_metal surfaces_* that are extremely polished and shiny. And yes, bare aluminum surfaces that are very polished and shiny are excellent IR reflectors. But the moment you slap paint on the surface, no longer.
Quote from a quick google search, "Emissivity values range from 0 to 1, with 0 representing a perfect mirror that reflects all energy and 1 representing a perfect absorber and radiator of all energy. In reality, most objects have emissivity values between 0.01 and 0.99. For example, highly polished metals like copper and aluminum have an emissivity below 0.1, while roughened or oxidized metals have an emissivity of 0.6 or higher. _Most flat-finish paints have an emissivity of around 0.90,_ and human skin and water have an emissivity of about 0.98."
Note, even roughing up or oxidizing metal surfaces will increase the emissivity and decrease the IR reflection of same. It is _obvious_ that putting a coat of regular, non specialized paint on such a surface will do so even more.
Obvious only to those with a thinking brain though.
Spray paint a space blanket and show us the results you get, please. Your claim doesn't match the information I see published. :)
@@thatmckenzie What published findings do you see in relation to spray painted spaceblankets? Care to share any actual titles?
If you spray paint the non metalized side, of course the spray paint coating won't do anything, because it is not covering the shiny, reflective aluminum particles. As I said, bare, shiny metal surfaces are good at reflecting IR.
Conversely, if you take a new, backpacking wood stove made out of polished, shiny metal, and you rough up and/or paint the surface, you will increase the emissivity of it. Meaning, heat will radiate out of that new stove better once roughed up and/or painted.
Here is a list of some materials and their emissivity:
"Here are some examples of emissivity values for different materials:
Aluminum foil: 0.03
Anodized aluminum: 0.9
Smooth, polished aluminum: 0.04
Rough, oxidized aluminum: 0.2
Asphalt: 0.88
Brick: 0.90
Rough concrete: 0.91
Polished copper: 0.04
Oxidized copper: 0.87
Smooth, uncoated glass: 0.95
Ice: 0.97-0.99
Polished iron: 0.06
Human skin: 0.97-0.999
Snow: 0.8-0.9"
Note that both anodized, and rough and oxidized aluminum have significantly higher emissivity values than Al foil and smooth, polished aluminum.
Spray paint and paint will increase the emissivity of aluminum surface even way more than having the surface being anodized or roughed up and oxidized.
This will be my last reply to you btw, as you are just not getting it. You have too much ego, arrogance, and stubbornness to learn.
thats such a cool way bond over a warm meal love it
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE IMPROVED Air conditioner VIDEO WE WERE PROMISED IN THE LAST VIDEO??? 😅
AGREED ! .....Ive been waiting 6 weeks for that video...
I’m also very interested in another follow up to the A/C unit that used calcium chloride as the desiccant. Aside from the efficiency comparison, I was more interested in the efficacy. How well did it cool? Could it be used to power a freezer or meat locker?
Also have been waiting!
Yep, been waiting on the next ac video. It would be great if it could come out before the end of October when things get cold where I live.
@@McRootbeer yep...wanted to see the AC video while it was summer/ hot....now we are going into fall.
It may not be ridiculous for camping with the right design. I think that a "mylar umbrella" design could actually work with the bonus that it could serve both as cooker and umbrella, make the handle sturdy and it is also a walking stick.
49:25 "definitely use this for Christmas" poor old St Nick might get blinded and just crash into your house LOL
Maybe thats the secret plan to get all the gifts.
- yep, then you get all the gifts....
Since there's apparently infinitely many naughty people, Santa must carry infinitely many coal, therefore infinite power.
Nah. the light comes in straight, the dish makes the light go "cross-eyed". So the 'heat ray' disperses itself in just a few meters.
(oops, I typed before finishing the video. they reversed it... )
oh wonderful! another episode of my favourite cooking show!
Damn! You guys live the ultimate dads life. I rarely experience envy but this channel has all the cool stuff going on. Wish we were neighbors.
I can't get my son to help me design my analog circuits and he's an electrical engineer.
This channel is absolutely in the top 10 RUclips channels. Hands down. You guys deserve to become filthy rich and to post more often.
Thanks!
Of course, we agree.😁
Ideal set to make a Stirling engine. Made an array and used it at the Kuwait institute of Scientific Research (KISR)
Requires a 2D tracking mechanism, but the efficiency beats solar photovoltaic arrays by more than an order of magnitude.
Not based on mirror area but cost.
Concentrated solar seems the most mass and energy resourceful. Some days I feel solar photovoltaics is a scam, though I understand the benefits outside of the holistic lifecycle of the product. There is the Tamera community and they have a really interesting concentrated solar kitchen design and other related designs.
images.app.goo.gl/K7PQ3C8fThtxTrhP8
One Army YT channel and the video is Visiting Tamera community in Portugal where at time 8 minutes and 49 seconds the solar kitchen is demonstrated. I really like solar concentrated methods and I also forgot to mention the material science potential advancements for external combustion designs as well as higher pressure operations potential if I recall correctly.
No need for a sterling, just heat water into steam and turn a turbine, same as we do for almost all of our power generation.
love your guys content, thank you!
I've been cooking food in a Sun Oven for years. Very compact unit, does not have a huge dish. Just big flat reflectors and a sealed, glass-covered black backing box. Can heat up to 350F on a decently sunny day at high latitudes. Good for baking roasts or casseroles. I've even baked bread in it. It's kind of like a slow cooker so you aim it past where the is now and when you come back in a few hours the heat has risen then cooled a bit and your food is cooked. Or you can keep turning it and keep the temperature up. Obviously you can't fry food with it. But for general cooking it's far superior to a dish reflector cooker.
use pressure crooker
Which brand?
@andrewmutavi590, "Sun Oven" is the brand. Is kind of dumb they no longer sell it with a pot so you gave up buy it separately. A black metal pot with a lid that fits on the tray is all you need.
@@tmlf1239 thanks alot I'll check it out
That was a fun one, thanks for sharing! A few thoughts:
Might be interesting to note that at a distance, the red light penetrates the atmosphere more effectively due to its longer wavelength. That's why the green can look so much brighter up close but on the clouds the red is almost as bright as the green because of the differing atmospheric attenuation.
The aluminum pan is conducting the heat so well that it's spreading through the bulk, all over the surface, and dissipating into the air like an aluminum heat sink. Blackening the bottom with carbon i.e. over a wood or coal fire would fix the shininess in a non-toxic and non-combustible way. As mentioned elsewhere, the hot spot is from putting the pan too close to the focal point, you want the light spread over the bottom as evenly as possible. When re-aiming, if you overcompensate for the sun's movement you only have to adjust half as often.
If you want a light backpacking version, something similar (though less perfectly parabolic) can be improvised with a few flexible saplings or tent poles tensioned into curved bows and a decent quality space blanket stretched over them. More rods give you a more round shape for tighter focus, but remember it doesn't have to focus into a tiny point to cook, just into a spot hopefully not much larger than the size of the pan.
Last but not least: please learn about the studies on Teflon and the history of DuPont, you'll never cook with it again; stop ingesting fluorocarbons if you care about getting cancer or passing on birth defects, among other things. You're actually lucky that pan stayed cooler, if it had as intense of a hot spot as the other one you'd have likely released a considerable mass of teflon straight into your food. PTFE glass temp 240 F, melting temp 620 F. If you aren't inclined to spend the time researching, just watch Dark Waters - it holds up well under fact checking.
Thanks again!
We need this with bigger sections, but only on one side, so you have easy access to the pan. And also add automatic sun tracking.
There are models with one segment missing at the top, for easier access to the pan from behind the cooker and not accidentally toasting your eyes
Awesome project for low cost. Thank you!
Our pleasure!
Brightest Christmas lights in the whole neighborhood. Eat you heart out Clark Griswold!
this is really cool.. can do the same thing even with smaller dishes.. like if you're out in the woods or something.. can actually come in really handy in dire situations
The cheese: From a hot bag into the frying pan, oh grate....
This channel just really cool I love watching and re-watching the content. That said I learned that these cookers can actually work well. Where I live we have a lot of really hot sunny days so will work well here.
If you could adjust the hight of the pan support a little lower you could have a less focused beam that covers the entire base of the pan and heat it more evenly.
Thank you for educating us. You are fantastic.
LMAO. Compared to your other videos this one drove me nuts lol, and I'm not even knowledgeable about cooking. Let me start by saying this isn't a bad thing more so just super funny.
It was very obvious two engineer / analytical types cooking here 😂. The comments between them like "oil for the bacon haha" to adding a "little" salt to the eggs had me rolling.
Bacon was "almost done" but clearly still oinking a bit. Eggs were whisked like an engineer (and madman) would, for sure lol. A metric s-ton of oil used for the potatoes lol. I was actually surprised the eggs didn't merge with the cast iron where all the oil burned off.
Anyway, great video and super funny.
Nervertheless, the video was a lot of fun even though i fast forwarded through the cooking :)
Cool video- but I agree, the bacon looked pretty sketchy;)
Glass lids would help a lot.
I like Solar funnel type designs better as they are safer on the eyes and skin. They can also be more compact. I will be making one out of fabric. Already have made some out of cardboard+Al foil, EVA foam with foil layer, and Al flashing. But the fabric one will be far lighter and more compact than all the former.
I'm also working on figuring out how to use a vacuum insulated glass container since the funnel designs don't get as hot as the parabolic designs.
"You might want oil or butter" So the BACON doesn't stick?!? Lol
7:50 - The dog won't care.
Gen Z……
IKR? Who adds fat to fry bacon?
oil bath like the guy on the left then it increases cooking time by multiples to heat as much oil as bacon. also yuck.
@@bub_syi never use anything when I make bacon. It goes straight into the cast iron pan
I really enjoy your content :) Looking forward to your videos every time. Keep up the good work!!
You could also try to paint the aluminum pan's bottom side darker, to absorb more light. I think that should work well
The aluminum would just reflect the IR back out of the paint, wouldn't it?
@@thatmckenzieNo, because that's reflected directly to the paint. Point is that the paint absorbed the light and converts it to heat. Then by conduction it heats the pan. No light to reflect here.
The only problem would be finding a black paint that wouldn't just cook off at the temps you're subjecting it to, that was the problem they were running into with the arms holding the pans, the grey paint was smoking
Is the paint made out of vantablack or something? The episode about how coatings work wasn't that long ago...
@@Blutzen BBQ paint or stove-pipe paint is heat-resistant.
That intro was completely relatable. So I was on eBay and... I hear you there.
Internets absolutely best cooking show!
You explanations are great! Nice work!
Hmm, am I missing something? The jet engine had a 3rd part coming, but it didn't come. The next video had a anouncement about a nifty trick on how to make the air conditioner heater even more effective than it is; but along came this video, on solar cooking. Hence the question: Are those videos unavailable for viewing on RUclips or have they not been posted yet (and will they ever be)?
Thank you guys, I look forward to every video! :)
I did an experiment years ago with a sattelite dish, which is an offset parabola. We made coffee, but I suspect the frying would do also good, as it would not drip on the dish.
I use the shadow to help aim at the sun.
Make the shadow the smallest you can.
Irony is that your video posted just after TED ed video about deadliest kitchen appliances.
Anyway Good work guys.
people still watch TED(whatever) talks? The non-official TED ones tend to be very low quality and generally a waste of time
@@gorak9000 Ted Ed is not a talks channel. It's a education channel. Animated btw.
youtube.com/@teded
@@gorak9000 TED-Ed is not a talks channel. It's a education channel. Animated btw.
@teded
Thank you for another comfy and interesting video 👍
And congratulation on reaching 1 M subs :)
3:18 Tell your neighbor he's a fing prick for me.
Why what happened?
Oh I see it now with the dog. Yeah looks like an a hole
@@drjones633 Not cool to give this. These people probably want to remain anonyms as do the makers of the video. And if something happened to those neighbors because of your actions you could find yourself in serious trouble.
@@drjones633 So your saying that these editing mistakes were done intentionally? Yes it's easy to find people, I now know his name but that's different to publishing it.
Holy crap I don't see that at first. That guy needs a bat therapy session.
"We pretty much have to adjust this every two minutes ..." Yup. You have a SHALLOW parabolic reflector, based on a satellite dish. But if you have a DEEP parabolic reflector shape (like you do with, say, the SUNplicity), you only need to adjust every half hour or so - much more convenient.
How about a large foldable Fresnel lens to heat a small oven?
I did that last year with a tv screen lens. Cut it half, framed it and connected it with a hinge, to make it more portable. Eventually it broke the glass window of my solar oven, I do not recommend this method 😀
OK, class, in today's lesson we're going to cover cooking, optics, materials science, and a little bit of electronics! Thank you, your videos are always worth my while.
Where's the 2nd part to the Air Conditioning video, and telling us how to make a window A/C unit run more efficiently?
You spray a fine mist of water into the air that's getting sucked through the condenser coil - the water evaporating cools the air (but increases the humidity), and the cooler air provides a larger delta T between the coil and the air, so you get better heat transfer. The problem is if the water you're misting has a lot of minerals in it, you'll get mineral build up on the condenser coil, which reduces the airflow, which creates a huge problem. There's really no other way to increase the efficiency of an A/C, and it breaks the unit over time, so not really advisable in real world applications, unless you like buying AC units more frequently
Stop whining. The RUclipss are free. Don’t like them, don’t watch them.
Came for the nightlight show, so the 28:30 is appreciated, and I was just about to utilize said info, but staying true to my character, I watched and thoroughly enjoyed every second of this video. Can't thank you guys enough, keep it up!
Thanks!
If i remember right, there was a RUclipsr who made a parabolic dish like this by pulling a vacuum on a sheet of mylar
Was that nighthawkinlight?
That is some OG youtube stuff right there
There was also green energy laser power or something like that out in Florida, he suspended two sheets of clear plastic in a frame and filled them with water to create a lens.
@@MrTarfu Yup!
ruclips.net/video/8CLRTa_ocmo/видео.html
For conducting heat, you probably want a nice pan with an encased copper layer. Generally you can tell because it looks like the pan has an additional layer about 5-8mm thick on the bottom, though the copper may or may not be exposed around the edge. They take "slightly" longer to heat up, but are generally worth it (even on a regular stove, hotspots are an issue).
But really I think you need to "unfocus" the reflector "petals" a little bit, to create a ring of much more minor hotspots.
Solar-cookers make more sense if you "Think In Kelvin" 😉you only need enough sunlight to adjust the cooker from 300 kelvin to around 375 kelvin, which as a percentage of ambient temperature (mostly from sunlight) isn't that big of a leap.
Maybe try boiling water into steam pressure to spin up your little jet turbine to spin a magnet?
A direct solar powered turbine would be fun, like those science-shop gadgets that spin in a bulb. Or maybe using a rotor with ablative propulsion.
@@JeffBilkins Or a stirling engine on the pan
This has obviously been thought of before. The issue is that you have to constantly adjust the array to focus the light. Manually takes time. Automatically takes energy.
@@cloudoftime There is a video here on YT called "World's simplest sun tracker" by 3d Printer Academy. Two small solar panels, a whire and one motor per axis.
@@cloudoftime There are even more disadvantages than that, people don't think of the danger of pressured steam, the maintenance or even the noise it makes
Wins the Christmas light contest, in all states, at once. Just awesome science.
National parks don't allow fires by campers. They do allow solar cooking since it is flameless.
Flameless, untill it isn't. 😅
- -add sticks (small wooden things) to the focus - that flames...
Have forgotten the priceless smile on your both faces during father / som summer project!!
I think there's a misconception with cast iron VS aluminum. As you know, aluminum is a better conductor and is LESS likely to have hot spots, especially if it's a decent thickness, because it conducts heat away from the heat source. People like copper cookware for its even heat and responsiveness. Cast iron, while it has more thermal mass, does not spread heat nearly as well. Once you put something in the pan and it soaks away the heat from the preheated areas, results in hot spots. You can probably do your own tests on this with smaller heat sources.
For this kind of concentrated sunlight, I would recommend better than sunglasses.
Putting over sunglasses a pair of OD6+ laser rated safety glasses that only let through yellow and longer is advisable. I did this for the solar eclipse and used short duration persistence of vision to view the sun. No harm came to my eyes from such.
As a backup to that, I also tried using the above in combination with a blue Copper 2+ with ammonia solution in a glass spice bottle for further attenuation, but this blurred the images. All were initially tested to let little to no light from a white LED lamp through.
Welding shades might be even better, as would be adjustable neutral density filters with some additional short wavelength attenuation.
You two are the best science hosts. I LOVE the fact that your son grew into the second host position!
If you pre soot the aluminum pan it may work better and you could use a mirror to reflect the beam to some shishkebab
There is a moth somewhere there that thinks moth god finally came to earth to take them to promised lamp land! Also i cant believe you missed the chance to make a batman signal!
Made cookers with the lenses from old projection tvs. They don't suffer from splatter because the food is below. A tracking set up would be better.
U can use parabolic trough reflector instead. Coupled up with a sensor and motor sun tracking can easily be made automated. Addition of evacuated tube would increase the efficiency and if u install a molten salt storage tank or a simple concrete/sand based heat storage system energy can be accessible even during the night.
Btw would like to see solar thermal cooling system using ammonia or bromine solution.
See "Crosley Icyball", an early refrigeration device that works with ammoniak. You can heat one side with the sun and the other one freezes.
It would be a great upgrade to replace the pan at the focal point with a fixed copper heat collector, and then have a heat exchanger pipe the heat to a hotplate mounted behind the reflector. Then you can set it up and let it preheat in the sun, while you're cooking you can adjust the collector without your pot balanced on it, and you wouldn't get grease splattering on your collector.
Moar boat videos please!
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You want more visitors on how to moor a boat?
Reminds me of a scene in the novel "Footfall" where one of the characters sets up a "Stone Soup" get together for his neighbors using a solar cooker.
The satellite dish is COOKED
1 Million Subscribers.. congrats guys!
You should project your channel logo into the sky.
The Nerd signal! To the nerd mobile Robin! (pulse jet powered of course)
They make a splatter screen that you place on top of your pan, keeps your stove cleaner. Or just use a pan that has a lid. That will capture heat in your cooking vessel, makes it more efficient. Potatoes have a lot of water in them that has to be evaporated away. Physics robbing away the heat you want to cook with. Just move the pan away, stir flip, and then back in the sun.
The best Solar spit roasters have high temp glass pipes just so this doesn't happen.
Iron Chef challenge? I'd definitely watch.
Another great vid.😊
BTW your son would go hungry in the woods.😂
I'm bat-santa! You'll have to cut a santa hat stencil to shine it during Christmas.
I'm an Engineer -- a true nerd -- and I really appreciate your videos.
I'm surprised how little area is needed for cooking. I'm sure with some fancy origami like satellites use, you can probably create some camping equipment.
This video is very cool as a demonstration of solar powered cooking, but even more fascinating as a study of sociology. Very comical conversation exchanges here :D