Category: Blog

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Finish mom’s solar wiring and get it in the mail back to her.

Narrative: The latest design is to lay two “Gates” side by side and strap the panels to the top using zip ties or fencing wire. We need to support the top of the gates to about a height of 2 feet if we can.

Pretty much spent the whole day putting connectors on wires to charge mom’s golf cart using solar panels.

The sun is more than 200′ from the house so I’ve come up with wiring that allows them to put them up temporarily as they are needed. MC4 connectors are standard but difficult for most and impossible for an elderly person. I’ve changed the connectors out for Anderson SB50 (Standard Battery 50A) connectors with 100Ft sections of wire to run to the house. (can be extended to 400 feet)

This turned out to be quite a project, it took me all day to put connectors on all these wires.

This strike crimper turned out to be a life saver, a couple whacks from a hammer and the crimp is super solid.

Feelings: Atlanta police officer was charged with a long list of wrongdoing for shooting the man at the Wendy’s. It certainly feels like the BLM demonstrations have raised the bar on police use of force these days. We’ll have to see how this plays out in the courts.

Tomorrow: Groceries.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.

Plans:

• 08:00 Juice and French toast, then coffee
• 09:00 Morning planning meeting.
• 10:00 terminate two 100Ft solar cables for mom.
• 13:00 package up the two solar cables and eat lunch.
• 14:00 Time for a nap
• 16:00 quick battery test and clean up.
• 17:00 Dinner
• 18:00 Tried to watch a movie, I am waay too emotional.

Narrative: I cut the ends off a 100Ft 12AWG extension cord and replaced them with Anderson SB50 connectors so that mom could connect/disconnect them easily. The voltage on these connectors is a nominal 34Volts at 5 amps and open circuit voltage of 44 volts. It would benefit her and me if we could run three panels in series, that would have an open circuit voltage of 66V! Little worried she’d get shocked and an continuous arc is more likely when disconnecting the wires.

I am going to color/key code the connectors to their position in the series connections from the panel, solar charge controller to the golf cart.

Feelings: There was a skirmish in New Mexico that tells a tale.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/16/albuquerque

Then, a white man in a blue T-shirt appeared to rile the crowd, according to video obtained by KOB4. People erupted in shouts, and the man took a few steps back. A masked protester swung a skateboard and struck him in the shoulder. The man backpedaled out of the crowd, but continued to exchange shouts with protesters.

Someone in the video encouraged people to follow the man and get his license plate number. Several people followed him, and one tackled him to the ground. As he tried to stand back up and three people tried to hit him again, the man in blue pulled a gun and fired four shots, striking one man and scattering the crowd.

In a second video that captured the moments following the shooting, the gunman sat in the middle of a road as the New Mexico Civil Guard ‘militia’ members formed a circle around him. One man carrying a semiautomatic rifle, and wearing camouflage fatigues and a military-style helmet, kicked the handgun away from the man and stood with his foot on top of the weapon.

Police responded to the scene with tear gas and stun grenades to force the crowd back. Officers detained several members of the ‘militia’ group, according to reporters and witnesses at the scene. Video showed officers placing the apparent gunman into a cruiser.

“Notice how calmly they’re all being detained,” former housing secretary Julián Castro tweeted Monday night. “Don’t tell me George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks and Eric Garner — who did not harm anybody — couldn’t be treated differently. What Julián Castro didn’t say was that most of the men recently killed would still be alive if they hadn’t resisted while being arrested.

Tomorrow: Need some more emotional barriers, this world is getting to me.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Spending a tremendous amount of money preparing mom for the next emergency power outage.

• 07:00 Up and sipp’n coffee.
• 08:00 Testing 48V battery banks. (I have at least six batteries that are bad.)
• 12:00 I think I need four new batteries to make this right,
• 13:00 nap time.
• 13:40 Up getting organized.
• 14:00 added small 4.5AH batteries in parallel to balance the 48V string.
• 17:00 Raining
• 18:00 Dinner
• 19:00 Scrabble with the wife.

Narrative: I have two strings of four Duracell batteries in series (48V) from Batteries and bulbs. Both strings are struggling to produce half their capacity and they are only a year old. (Replacement is called for at 50% capacity.) I have a new string from Interstate that does produce the power, but they’re only a week old. To extend the two Duracell strings I’ve paralleled a small 4.5AH battery with the weakest battery in the string. (I have 5 of these small batteries from UPS units.) I am letting the strings reach a full charge tonight and will do another load test on the Duracell strings tomorrow. Three of the batteries seem to be fairly matched and still had power left in them when the weak one reached 10.5 volts.

Feelings: We’ve got to lower the tempo on these BLM demonstrations, burning buildings is not a lawful protest. Apparently they are looking for a woman that torched the building with a molotov cocktail who was not part of the protest.

Tomorrow:

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies. We are still higher than the peak when the Governor gave the sheltering in place order.

Plans:

• 08:00 Up, eating breakfast and making plans for church.
• 12:00 Nap time.
• 14:00 Up getting organized.

Narrative: Testing the first of two 35AH batteries removed from the 48V string yesterday using about 40W load. I started out with 7W and increased it looking for the battery to falter. When I got to an hour at 28W I plucked a 40W light bulb out of the closet and used that instead of the four candle lights. I also have a 60W light if I get that far with the battery.

The first of the two only got 7AH out of it before the inverter called it at 10V. The second was 11AH and running at 11V when I pulled it. The charge has been 3.5A (1C) and it is still charging this morning at 7Ah+. I expect the internal resistance to increase as the battery is discharged, however the resistance is a little high to me for a 35AH battery. (I think the 18AH batteries I have were much lower.) The voltage of this second battery discharged below 70% jumped to 14.2V at 3.5 A charge, which I thought was not very good. These batteries seem way too “Mushy” to me for a UPS, meaning the internal resistance is pretty high. (Maybe a couple of ohms.)

Thinking of doing a test at 1C which is 3.5 Amps on all three strings. 3.5x50V is 175W, these UPS units are good for 1200W which is 24Amps. (Almost 7C) Maybe a better test in my case would be 350W or 2C, the batteries should last about 4 hours at that rate.

I have started to build the cables to connect mom’s solar panels to the golf cart. Normally waterproof MC4 connectors would be used but since this would be a temporary setup and mom would have a hard time connecting / disconnecting them I am transitioning to red Anderson SB50 connectors.

Feelings: Police are on such difficult ground, their jobs are impossible and there is a camera everywhere to find fault in their decisions made at gunpoint.

Tomorrow:

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place even though the Governor has lifted that restriction.

Plans:

• 07:00 Breakfast and planning meeting.
• 08:00 Blogging, moving cars, pulling network and cameras from Pam’s house.
• 09:00 Cleaning.
• 10:00 replaced 2x 35AH batteries in the UPS battery bank.
  • All of the batteries that were being individually charged at 14.2V were warm.
  • The 1A fuse to the battery tender was melted, it may have been loose since the other half of the fuse was fine. I had to use a new fuse.
• 11:00 Florida is having an outbreak, mom cancelled her hair appointment.
• 12:00 checking batteries, ordered Generator Wagon.
• 13:00 Ordered blue and red SB-50 connectors for Nancy.
• 13:30 Nap
• 15:00 Getting Organized
• 16:00 Dinner
• 17:00 Scanned document from Nancy
  • Turned on water and A/C for Pam.
• 18:00 Watching movie
• 20:00 Checking about church tomorrow.

Narrative: Pulled two batteries from Secondary 24V UPS and replaced two batteries in the Primary 48V UPS. Disconnected half of the battery bank to do a load/run test on the new string of four batteries. The old TWO batteries were slightly higher voltage on the onset of the test than the newer TWO batteries. I also connected two banks of solar panels across the battery bank to extend the run time.

Feelings: Demonstrations and riots are not diminishing…. Now they have a list of 10 demands! An officer shot a suspect that shined a tazer at him today in Atlanta. It is reasonable to use deadly force against the suspect if the officer is solo to prevent the loss of his weapon. It is not so clear when there are more than one officer in which the second officer can protect the downed officers weapon. A tazer shot at the officer’s face could render the officer blind which to me is significant harm. In any case the suspect was not clearly an “Unarmed civilian” running away as the paper described. Certainly not a reason for a police chief to resign her post. (my opinion.)

Tomorrow:

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place even though the Governor of Georgia released seniors to go about their business as long as they wear masks and social distance.

There have been 755 people that went in the hospital in Gwinnett County Georgia so far. (Cobb=747, Dekalb=725 and Fulton=940.)

Plans:

• 07:00 Up and having breakfast
• 08:00 Vacuumed floors
• 09:00 Running Gen#2 with 10/40 oil.
• 10:00 Gen#2 inverter failed, the gas saver feature is broken.
• 11:00 Writing in my Blog.
• 12:00 Creating drawings, bag that… I’m taking a nap.

Narrative: Fought with the batteries today. I have three 35AH 48V strings and one of them has been giving me fits ever since I tied them together. Today I found one of the batteries in the string at 8 volts. (Meaning two cells were ZERO) I’ll not be able to trust that battery again. I put four power supplies on the string to charge each battery individually and disconnected the string from the UPS. It’s $500 to purchase a new string, I am scoffing at that for the time being.

Feelings: Seattle has lost a city block to the BLM protests.

Tomorrow: Saturday.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Prepare grocery list for Friday.

• 07:00 Up eating oatmeal today.
• 08:00 Walking around the block
• 09:00 Running Gen#2 and using up old gasoline
• 10:00 Separated east west solar bank into East bank, West Bank and South Bank.
• 11:00 Ordered Chilis
• 12:00 Eating Lunch
• 13:00 Recording Solar power curves.
• 14:00 Continued running Gen #2 burning fuel. NAP time
• 16:00 Cooling refueling Gen 2
• 17:00 Dinner
• 18:00 Running Gen 2 and Gen 1 to burn fuel, watching SW #1
• 21:00 Packing recycling and garbage for pickup tomorrow.

Narrative: Found out that the 48V SCC can’t push more than about 170W into a battery this week. I separated all three pairs of solar panels this morning and gave each one of them a 48V SCC of their own. The power created was significantly higher than previous days with over 800WH per pair of panels in series, 2.6KWH is pretty good for one day! That will run the refrigerator, but not our CPAPs. I need more efficiency or put more panels on the roof. I’ve looked at the 48V SCC efficiency before, but I can’t remember the details to write it here. (It wasn’t 40%) The highest wattage from a pair of panels was roughly 130W (65%) today.

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Friday, hmmm…

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Reading, Reading, Reading…

• 07:00 Up making French toast to reduce my egg/day consumption.
  • Making plans with the wife.
• 08:00 Running Generator #3.
• 09:00 Cooling Gen and watching groceries.
• 10:00 Hurricane Prep.
• 12:00 Running Gen#4, the fuel may be old.
• 13:00 Eating lunch updating my blog.
• 14:00 Lunch and Nap
• 16:00 Cool Gen #4 and program SCC
• 17:00 Dinner
• 18:00 Planning for church.

Narrative: I’ve been thinking about mom’s golf cart and how to charge it with solar panels. She mentioned mounting them on the roof of the golf cart, which has some merit. The roof is not perfectly flat, we’d have to put a piece of plywood underneath the panels. The standard width is 48″ which will hold a 100W panel length and the panels I sent mom are 27″ wide so she’ll need 54″ front to back for two panels. (6″ overlap)

https://notenoughwire.info/2018/09/28/da-list/

Feelings: The grey data with all the violent protests suggest that Mr. Floyd had a personal relationship with the police officer. He also resisted arrest provoking the grounding of Mr. Floyd which wasn’t part of the video on social media. Not to mention Mr. Floyd was on a strong narcotic.

Tomorrow:Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies. Our A/C unit has hiccupped with no permanent damage. The refrigerator freezer section also hiccupped ruining a few items. (I don’t yet know what happened, there was a lot of ice on everything.)

Plans:

• 07:00 Up for breakfast and Coffee
• 08:00 Went for a walk
• 09:00 Writing in my blog, calling mom.
• 11:00 Still arguing about the pig in the horse trailer.
• 12:00 Nap
• 14:00 Writing in my blog again.
• 15:00 finished application for Social Security payments.
• 16:00 Dinner
• 17:00 Movie Time (Star Wars a new hope)

Narrative: I finally did it, I applied for Social Security benefits today!

As far as the solar panels go the latest option is to lay the panels over two 4×1 boards with a hinge in between them held up off the ground about 12 inches. (Needs to be 30 degrees or so.) Since it’s on the ground, the horse cannot co-exist with the panels.

If I can get the horse trailer into the front pasture, that’s a better option. (No construction and the panels are elevated and anchored.)

I’ve bought red Anderson SB50 connectors for the solar panels and Blue SB50 connectors for the golf cart battery connection. (Which may not be needed.) I may decide to put the SCC near the panel and push the 48V to the batteries over the long wires.

The boost SCC looks like it’s not very good over 150 watts, so two panels is about all it can handle. *Unless I’ve mistaken one of the settings.

If we’re using the 1×4″ boards the panels will have to be parallel. If were putting them on the horse trailer we can series two panels to reduce the losses.

Feelings: Demonstrations are looking more like unions fighting for as much as they can parlay this Floyd tragedy for.

Tomorrow: Church and a rainy day.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies. Gwinnett County is the highest in Georgia right now with 85 new cases per day which is 15 cases higher than when the crisis was called for the state. The two neighboring counties being a close second. 85CPD x 30Days contagious is 2550 active cases in a population of just short of 1M people. (Assuming 100 People in Kroger the risk is roughly 25% of meeting someone contagious with the virus and may not know it.) So, we’re sheltering and having everything delivered.

Plans: Not sure yet, its still early.

• 08:30 Up and eating breakfast
• 09:00 Talking about the drama with BLM.
• 10:00 Running generator #1
• 11:00 Checking neighbors house.
• 12:00 Cooling generator #1 and thinking about a nap.
• 13:00 lunch and a nap
• 15:00 Running Generator #2 but forgot to open the gas vent.
• 16:00 Mowing the lawn
• 17:00 Eating Dinner
• 18:00 Playing scrabble

Narrative: Mom’s golf cart came back from the shop. They did not connect the inverter on a removeable cable. It has been permanently mounted under the dash on the passenger’s side. We tested the inverter running the Dish Network hopper and Ricky’s small tv and that worked fine. Ricky knows to run a second extension cord to the power strip in the Livingroom for the big tv and torchier lamp to provide light for the Livingroom, den and kitchen. The only thing is that cord will be across the floor where mom drags her feet when she walks. It might be possible to run the cord around the kitchen floor or countertops to avoid the hazard.

Feelings:

Tomorrow:

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To