Forum Discussion
Mr Wizard, that photo is of merely double canopy. Triple canopy has nothing but tree trunks soaring to 50'. No ground vegetation. It's not called a jungle either according to those who label it. "Tropical Savannah" is supposed to be the right word according to the x-perts. Some of the bamboo grows at a rate of a foot per day in Las Aguas (the rainy season).
The @#$%^&! gaviotas (sea gulls) will haul a quarter-pound rock aloft, then drop it. I haven't got a clue why they do it. You can hear the thwack through a foot-thick concrete roof. I park the toad under a limón tree, and Quicksilver has a patch of clear sky for limited panel exposure. Jesús has to change the transparent plastic shield every three months. The stuff is expensive and about 10 mils thick. Mexicans use it for a transparent tablecloth. It cuts power by perhaps 15% and cannot withstand more than a 15 mph breeze.
For rain forest, head for the southernmost state, Chiapas. The ruins at Palenque are in the middle of a vast swath of rain forest.
C.F.E. has been triple-poling the 87 KV power line through the wetlands so maybe this year fewer outages. It is quite frequent to have 80 to 100 relay blink-outs per hour in one of these thunderstorms. Microwave clocks are useless. I simply throw the 200-amp 3-pole knife switch open and go on battery power. Quicksilver is insulated while the concrete structure has intertied rebar throughout. The lightning drain system is paralleled copper bars leading to an aluminum ground rod. Hope I never have to see it work.
The @#$%^&! gaviotas (sea gulls) will haul a quarter-pound rock aloft, then drop it. I haven't got a clue why they do it. You can hear the thwack through a foot-thick concrete roof. I park the toad under a limón tree, and Quicksilver has a patch of clear sky for limited panel exposure. Jesús has to change the transparent plastic shield every three months. The stuff is expensive and about 10 mils thick. Mexicans use it for a transparent tablecloth. It cuts power by perhaps 15% and cannot withstand more than a 15 mph breeze.
For rain forest, head for the southernmost state, Chiapas. The ruins at Palenque are in the middle of a vast swath of rain forest.
C.F.E. has been triple-poling the 87 KV power line through the wetlands so maybe this year fewer outages. It is quite frequent to have 80 to 100 relay blink-outs per hour in one of these thunderstorms. Microwave clocks are useless. I simply throw the 200-amp 3-pole knife switch open and go on battery power. Quicksilver is insulated while the concrete structure has intertied rebar throughout. The lightning drain system is paralleled copper bars leading to an aluminum ground rod. Hope I never have to see it work.
