King of the Wilderness

Chapter 412: Chapter 235: Christmas Family Dinner

Lin Yu’an walked straight towards the giant container warehouse, and moments later, he walked out carrying a square-shaped orange and black device.

On the side of the box, striking white letters were printed: Jackery Explorer 2000 Pro. (Dian Xiao Er Outdoor Power 2000 Pro)

Lin Yu’an brought this device, which looked like a large suitcase, into the chicken coop and steadily placed it on a wooden rack that had been pre-built in the corner. ƒreewebɳovel.com

Aliya’s eyes lit up: "Using a portable power supply? Darling, I thought you would just run an underground cable from our main house’s central battery pack over. That darling of ours can easily support just one more small chicken coop, can’t it?" fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

"An underground cable is the ultimate solution, but for now, this is more flexible. Besides, I did the math, and the energy efficiency ratio of this solution is astonishingly high."

Aliya looked at the two plugs in his hand, starting to do mental calculations: "Let me think... A 9-watt bulb, we’re planning for 14 hours of light each day, that’s 126 watt-hours a day."

"Absolutely correct." Lin Yu’an nodded approvingly, inserting the plug into the socket of the "Dian Xiao Er."

"That’s the minor part of the energy consumption. The major part is this heated water basin, with 100 watts of power. Although it has a temperature control, during winter, its operational hours will definitely be long."

Aliya continued to analyze: "Exactly, especially during the coldest parts of the night. Assuming it runs a total of 12 hours a day, that’s 1200 watt-hours, so our total daily power consumption is 1326 watt-hours, roughly 1.33 kilowatt-hours."

"This level of power consumption isn’t a problem itself. After all, we spent nearly fifteen thousand US dollars this summer to assemble that power storage system."

"Comprising 16 high-quality lithium iron phosphate battery cells from Ningde Time and a hybrid inverter from Victron. We also built it a constant temperature battery cabin."

Lin Yu’an looked at Aliya and posed a question, "So, dear Engineer Ms. McKinley, what’s the cost of producing these 1.33 kilowatt-hours with our diesel generator?"

Aliya immediately replied: "The key point is, we won’t start that 20-kilowatt diesel generator just for these 1.33 kilowatt-hours. We’ll wait until the main house’s power storage system reaches its threshold of 20 kilowatt-hours, then run it in its most efficient load range for a few hours."

"So, under these optimal conditions, our generator can maintain a diesel consumption rate of 0.4 liters per kilowatt-hour. Diesel is 6 dollars per gallon, which converts to 1.59 dollars per liter."

Lin Yu’an smiled and took over, completing the final calculation: "So, 1.33 kilowatt-hours, multiplied by 0.4 liters of optimal fuel consumption, multiplied by 1.59 dollars per liter, gives us the actual daily cost for powering this chicken coop, roughly 0.84 US dollars."

"Less than the price of a cup of coffee, but this expense, at less than 1 dollar a day, can give us at least 16 fresh eggs."

The two of them exchanged a glance, each seeing admiration for the other’s wisdom in their eyes, as if returning to their days of working harmoniously on group projects at Texas Tech University.

Lin Yu’an gently patted the orange and black device: "This ’Dian Xiao Er’ with its 2160 watt-hours, is enough to power the equipment here for a full three days."

After placing this powerful energy core, he began the final electrical installation.

He took out the metal water basin base that Aliya had prepared and placed it in one corner of the chicken coop’s main house. This was the electric heating water basin, with a built-in thermostat to ensure the water source doesn’t freeze.

Then he took out another key device, an LED light base integrated with a photosensitive sensor and timer.

This was the professional poultry coop lighting equipment he specially selected while procuring materials during the summer.

He fixed the light base at the center of the roof, then carefully rotated the dials on the timer, setting the switch time to six in the morning and eight in the evening, exactly fourteen hours.

Aliya watched him intently from below and laughed, "Are you winding the clock on our ’egg production machine’?"

Lin Yu’an laughed too, tightening a mere 9-watt LED bulb, and then he descended from the ladder.

"That’s right, in the endless darkness without sun, providing 14 hours of light each day is the only way to keep them producing eggs."

Finally, he plugged the heated water basin and timed lighting lamp into the AC socket on the front of the "Dian Xiao Er."

As he pressed the power switch, the LCD screen of the power supply instantly lit up, displaying remaining power: 40%. The indicator light on the heated water basin base also emitted a faint red glow, beginning its standby mode.

The entire chicken coop life support system was officially activated.

When all the work was finished, the southern twilight had faded away long ago, and darkness again enveloped the Earth, only the glow of the aurora and the LED lights on the site tirelessly shining.

This chicken coop looked exactly like the design drawings.

But its main house interior had transformed into an insulated "warm chicken coop" capable of resisting polar cold.

Lin Yu’an turned off the lighting, and the whole world plunged into the tranquility of the aurora.

He walked over to Aliya, wrapping his equally exhausted yet incredibly excited partner in his arms.

He lowered his head and pressed a kiss onto her forehead, "Let’s go, Chief Engineer, we should prepare dinner—today is Christmas Eve."

Aliya smiled and returned a kiss on his cheek, "At your service, Mr. General Contractor. But tonight’s dinner, you won’t interfere, that’s the stage for Emily and me."