The Red Ferret Journal

If you live in cold climes and have a central heating system then you should have a look at the WhisperGen microCHP. The microCHP is a natural or LP gas powered micro co generation unit which generates heat and power in your home. Co generation units are designed to generate most of the power required by a suburban home and if more is required then extra power can be drawn from the grid. Co generation also overcomes the transmission losses when electricity is sent over long distances meaning electricity is used more efficiently as it’s generated right where it’s needed.

The microCHP replaces the boiler in a central heating system and by expelling the hot water left over from generating power it can be used to heat the house or provide hot water. The unit can generate 1000W of electricity at 230VAC and 7.5 to 12 kW of thermal energy so it would be fantastic in your chilly northern areas. Obviously you can’t run a house on 1000W all year round so you will still need to be connected to the grid but for low-draw day-to-day applications the microCHP would be ideal and it also allows you to feed back into the power grid if you can.

The generator itself uses a four cylinder Stirling engine to transform heat into electricity via an alternator. Being a Stirling engine it has very few moving parts and is much simpler and quieter than ordinary internal combustion motors. Later models may run on diesel or kerosene as well. The unit is about the size of a dishwasher and is very quiet so you can stash it anywhere in the house. The company WhisperGen is from New Zealand but they’re setting up shop in Europe with announcements to come in 2009 so keep your eye on it.

With a WhisperGen™ microCHP in your home you can enjoy a warm living environment and achieve real savings by producing your own electricity to supplement your grid electricity supply. Plus, where regulations permit, you have the ability to export any unused electricity back to the grid thereby lowering your power bills even further!

Tags: whispergen+microchp, cogeneration,

The Blaupunkt TravelPilot 700 GPS satellite navigation system uses a novel video feed system to overlay the navigation instructions onto a display of your actual route. So instead of seeing an animated map, you actually see the road in front of you with arrows, signs and voice instructions overlaid on top. It’s one of those ideas that seems kind of obvious now it’s here.

Of course the big hassle is you can’t use it at night, but it comes with a special 2D map mode to cope with murky conditions. Check out this video of the thing in action. Funky-licious. Oh and a review here. Oh and it comes with a built-in digital television tuner. Sheesh! €599.00.

Program your city’s latitude and longitude into the Aube Solar Timer Switch and the thing will automatically turn your lights on and off according to sunset and sunrise. It doesn’t however adjust for daylight savings, so it ain’t that clever. Pah! $39.99.

Install-It is a tiny freeware utility which does one thing. Burn this prog to the root folder of a CD, add some other program files and when you insert the CD into a PC it will automagically display a list of the programs ready to install.  It’s perfect for creating basic but easy to understand disks for friends and family who need to install programs, drivers or other bits and pieces when you’re not around. In other words, think of it as a granny tool. Compatible with Windows 98, XP and Vista. Nice.

Australia has some pretty rugged country so naturally people have devised some pretty ingenious ways of getting around it in comfort and style, like this. The Tvan is a rugged, two berth trailer camper that fixes a lot of problems with existing campers. To start with it’s go-anywhere, seriously go-anywhere.

You’d expect nothing less from a company that builds trailers used by the Australian Army, Navy and Airforce. It has a 1,600kg fully articulated coupling that can angle up or down 30°, great for getting out of steep gullies. There’s also state-of-the-art hard core coil spring suspension. It has electric brakes and it’s own park brake so you know you’ll find it where you left it and best of all it can carry 500kg of cargo.

By far the most novel thing about the Tvan is the storage of the tent. In existing designs of camper trailers, the tent packs in over the bed and so if you have to break camp in the rain, your bed gets wet. The Tvan has a separate sealed tent storage area so the wet tent is kept away from the inside of the trailer. To set it up, the tail gate drops down giving the tent a hard floor and you then erect the tent over it. All done in about 3 minutes. The trailer sleeps two with a queen sized mattress and there’s plenty of storage inside and hard walls around you so it’s comfy and very water proof. If the weather is too much to put up the tent, just drop the tail gate, raise the hatch, climb into bed and shut the hatch, 20 seconds and you’re dry and in bed.

So getting there and accommodation is sorted, how about the creature comforts? Well, it has a 70L stone-proof water tank with the option for a second 70L tank with hand and electric pump. It can hold two 4kg gas cylinders and five 20L jerry cans. There’s a slide-out two-burner stove with sink and cutlery drawer. There’s options for CD/AM/FM radio, 100AH battery with 50W solar cell and battery charger, internal lighting, external plug-in power socket and a rack for carrying firewood. The only thing it doesn’t come with is a fridge.

All this reliability comes at quite a price, around $AU35,000 depending on which model you choose. It also seems they’re not available outside of Australia just yet but if you’re looking to go outback down here, you might want to look up one to hire.

The Tvan is an extraordinary camper trailer that provides unrivalled levels of comfort, equipment and performance. Quite simply, the Tvan is the best camper trailer available today. Tvan has been specifically designed to eliminate common problems inherent with flip-over type campers, which stow the tent on the bed. Unlike the flip-over style campers the Tvan stores its canvas tent neatly into the rear hatch, which allows you to keep your bed made up and everything nice and dry.

Tags: tvan, camper+trailer, offroad+camper

This USB PC to PC Transfer Cable promises to make the process of upgrading from an old computer to new much easier in every way. What’s unusual – and very useful – is the fact it’s compatible with Windows 98se, ME, XP and Vista, which is great if you’re moving from really ancient to modern hardware. $49.95.

Yumi is a bilingual rag doll that can speak 30 phrases in Japanese and English. We’re not sure if she’s designed to teach English to Japanese children or vice versa, but we’re sure that those parents with ‘achiever’ status inscribed on their foreheads – in whatever language – will be all over this beauty like a Shibumi rash. $39.99.

The Vista Codec Package is a standalone freeware add-on to Windows Vista which installs the codecs you need to run most popular media on the net and beyond. Sounds like a win.

Look, you never know when you’re going to need an Emergency Yodel Button in your life. Especially in these uncertain, challenging times. Really this should be a mandatory part of the anti–recessionary tool kit for every homeowner and entrepreneur in the country. Really. $12.50.

The Heart Rate Ring is designed to help you relax about your health by giving a nice visible readout of your resting heart rate. Don’t stick it on the finger you use for picking up those yummy McDuggets pieces though, will you? We don’t want dripping grease obscuring the display. $39.95.