John Russel Power4Home System Guide




If you were to do a search on Google for the name John Russel, most probably you will find the web site for the Power4Home e-book. Power4Home is fast becoming one of the top selling manual for Do It Yourself (DIY) home renewable energy guide on the web.

But who is John Russel exactly?

Reading the web page of Power4Home, it says John is a 46 year old home energy expert from Minnesota. Apparently, his greatest achievement is reducing his home electricity bill by using renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

Here’s a fact that many people many not know about e-book publishers on the web. Most publishers will use a marketing person to tell the story about their book or product.

Effective selling on the internet is all about telling a good story. The same principle was explained very well in Seth Godin’s All Marketers Are Liars book. Seth is a genius marketer that gives marketing lectures all around the world. He is also the proprietor of Squidoo.com.

Selling on the web is very different from selling in a retail store. There are virtually unlimited choices. To stand out from the crowd, the marketing people have to find a way to tell a good story.

The funny thing is, we as consumer, want to listen to the story before we make a purchase!

Coming back to the John Russel character, I bet he is a person created by a marketing agency to promote the Power4Home e-book. He may or may not even be a real person.

In doing so, is it morally wrong? It depends on how you look at it.

I have a copy of the Power4Home manual and I also learned a lot from the high definition (HD) instructional videos that comes together with it.



Would I feel cheated if I know John Russel is not a real person?

Actually, I couldn’t care less!

What I wanted is the information and content on how to make an inexpensive solar panel and wind turbine for my home. I don’t really care about the packaging of the e-book. If you think about it, John is part of the outer packaging for the Power4Home guide.

Are you more concern about the packaging or the content of an e-book?

If you are looking for useful information on homemade solar and wind generator, check out the Power4Home web site. They did a good job telling a story.

==> Click here to visit Power4Home now!

Portable Personal Solar Panel – 6 Key Design Factors




I love going to Starbucks. One of the reasons I hang out there is for the good coffee and also for the free wi-fi. I get to look at people walking around and do my work there. It’s a great experience.

Sometimes I would spend a whole day there working on my laptop.

If you think about it, our laptop has become as common as our cell phone. With broadband wireless signal available free in most area, we can now use our notebook to work from anywhere we choose to.

There is one drawback though and it is the battery lifespan. We can only work on your laptop as long as the battery can last. Sooner or later, we will need to use our power cable to recharge the battery.

Starbucks realize this and they prepare power outlets for their customers. At some other places, it will be quite challenging to find a power outlet to recharge.

All of our mobile devices are held back by its battery life. How do we overcome this? One good solution to the battery life issue is with a portable solar panel.

If you are planning to shop for a personal solar power generator, the following are 6 factors you may want to consider.

1) Light Weight.

Weight is sexy, or rather the lack of weight is sexy. Just look at the Apple MacBook Air. It weights practically nothing.

If you are looking for a personal solar panel, why not get the lightest product. Hauling a notebook plus other accessories in your backpack can be quite heavy. You want to minimize weight as much as possible.

2) Water resistant.

I live in a country where it rains most of the time. Sometimes, I do get caught in a thunderstorm and get myself drenched. As a safety precaution, get a solar panel which is water proof. You don’t know when you’ll be caught in a heavy rain or even snow. If it is water proof, you don’t have to worry even if you were accidentally spill coffee on it.

3) Toughness.

Durability is an important factor. A flimsy solar panel may break if you were to pack it in a suitcase or stuff it in an airplane overhead compartment. You want it to be able to handle all the bumps and shocks of executive travel.

4) Reverse flow protection.

Reverse flow is a technical aspect of the solar film. When the sun is shining, the solar cells will generate power and charge the battery unit.

Without the reverse flow protection, the power from the battery will flow back into the solar cells when the sun is out.

5) Foldable.

Get a solar panel which is foldable. This feature makes the panel very easy to be packed into a bag or briefcase. The panel can be either folded like an origami or rolled into a tube for easy storage.

6) Amorphous solar cells.

Again, this is another technical aspect of the solar panel. Amorphous solar cells works even under low sun light. You will get a constant power output even if the panel is under cloud cover.

Related web pages:
1) Brunton Flexible Solar Module from Amazon.com

2) Powertraveller SM-GREY Gray Solarmonkey Solar Power Charger – Suitable for cell Phone, iPod, PDA, MP3 player and many other digital devices.

3) Ambigrid Review – Reviewing The Ambigrid E-book.

5 Easy Ways To Extent Your Laptop Battery Life

This blog post was written on my laptop. I have been using the same laptop for the last 2 years. I noticed the battery life does not last as long as it used to. I guess it’s time to get a new battery pack.

How often do you replace your laptop battery?

Generally, the function of the battery is to store electricity. Therefore, the cost of buying batteries also falls under our household energy expenses.

After surfing the web for the cost of a new lithium-ion battery for my laptop, I was surprised how expensive it is. That has lead me to think whether there are any ways to extend the life of lithium based battery.

I did some reading and came up with 5 ways of doing so.

1) Use the power cable.
The best way to extend your laptop battery is not to use it. I don’t mean not using it literally. If you are at home or in the office, you can use the power cable instead.

In situation like this, we can take out the battery and use only current from the power outlet.

2) Charge the battery often.
If you are on the move and have to use your notebook, plug it in and charge it as soon as possible.

3) Don’t use the battery until it’s completely dead.
As it turns out, a dead battery is a battery that has been completely discharged. This is not good for the battery. Completely discharging the battery will drastically reduce its lifespan.

4) Keep it cool.
Most of us will use our laptop for a long duration. That will tend to heat up the whole computer. It is best to keep the notebook processor and its battery cool.

I think the best option is to use a laptop base cooler with exhaust fans.

Here’s another tip. During hot summer days, try not to leave your laptop in the hot car. Doing so will elevate the temperature of the battery. It’s common sense but some people still do it.

5) Not for storage.
Do not buy extra lithium-ion battery and keep it in your drawer. Unpack it and use it immediately.

Observe the battery manufacturing date carefully. If it has been more than 2 years, it is best to look for something that has been made more recent.

It can be tempting to buy cheap discounted battery on sale and keeping it for later use. That may not be a good idea.

Laptop Battery Reconditioning

Is it possible to bring a dead laptop battery back to life? It is not an impossible task if you know what to do.

If you are willing to give it a try, check out the Recondition Battery Guide at www.reconditionbattery.com. The manual has 21 content packed chapters that will show you step-by-step how to recondition your battery at home.

==> Click here to visit Recondition Battery Guide now!

Related web pages:

1) Rechargeable Battery Reconditioning – 5 easy tips to prolong the life of rechargeable batteries at home

2) Deep Cycle Battery Reconditioning