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.
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.
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.
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. COVID-19 cases are higher in our Gwinnett county than any other county in the state of Georgia.
Plans: Stay home and order everything online.
07:00 Up and sipp’n coffee.
08:00 Eating breakfast and making plans for the day.
09:00 Getting ready for church
10:00 Church service
12:00 NAP
14:00 Built AC source relay
15:00 Ordered Instacart groceries
16:00 Put groceries away
17:00 Eat’n dinner
18:00 Using the lawn mower as a vacuum.
19:00 Watching Cheers
22:00 Killing time
Narrative: I’ve built half a dozen AC source relays that have the task of keeping something powered while changing the power source. A UPS is great for keeping a computer alive, but what do you do if you have to change the UPS?
The answer is to put a relay with two power cords on it as the power source. That way EITHER cord can power the equipment. The relay has an AC coil so it activates when the second power cord has power. To date I’ve not had an issue with anything dropping out when the switching of the relay causes a short interruption in power. Most of my source relay boxes have fuses on the output line to protect the relay from arcing across the open contact.
Black is “Normal” and white is alternate power source. (N.O. contacts Closed)
To test projects like this I use an inherently limited power source. Usually a battery powered inverter that has just enough current to support the test. In this case I used a bench power supply that I can set the voltage and current limits. FYI, in most cases it didn’t matter that the source AC was a modified square wave inverter like the one below.
To keep the currents within reason I use 12 V for 100W or less, 300-600 Watts I like 24 volts and I use a whopping 48 Volts for 1000W and above. FYI 48V is very close to 60V for a lead acid battery. A great deal of care must be taken on choosing fuses for 60V battery banks. Automotive DC fuses are rated for 30 VDC and 3AG glass fuses are NOT rated for much above 60VDC at 7 Amps. High quality 15A, high voltage fuses are ceramic (Not glass) and filled with something to dissipate the arc when they open. (They are pricey too) High DC voltage fuse holders are like $10 each.
Feelings: According to our black families in our church that spoke up today, racism and prejudice are still rampant in the USA. Worse, they described their run-in’s with police often harassing them because of the color of their skin. They were very emotional describing their clashes with white people in authority not treating them or their children equally. The data supports some of their conversation today and they did not speak to the large number of black men belonging to gangs with guns in our cities.
Tomorrow: Monday, voting day. I’ve not applied for SS yet either.
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:
07:00 Up, sipp’n coffee and having breakfast with the wife.
08:00 Having a serious conversation about BLM.
09:30 Testing my UPS batteries and writing in my blog.
10:00 Looking up sheds
12:00 NAP
13:30 Organize, checking weather
14:00 Mow Lawn
17:00 writing in my blog
18:00 Ford v Ferrari (le mans 1966)
Narrative: mom wants to purchase a building rather than build one. Marion county requires a permit for any building bigger than 10x10x13. I went for another plan entirely, a folding stand for two solar panels on the ground that could be deployed after a storm takes out the power.
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: Mail my ballet today. (Last day)
07:00 Up late, 4 eggs and coffee.
08:00 Getting organized and writing in my Blog.
08:30 Working on my ballet.
11:00 Mailed my ballet, wiring my new batteries. Storms outside the homestead.
12:00 NAP
15:00 Delivered a loaf of bread
16:00 Working on the new battery bank
19:00 Helping the wife
Narrative: Bought new bank of batteries for the 2nd 48V UPS.
It is difficult to get four perfectly matched batteries, so I bought a battery equalizer. It sequentially connects a large capacitor across each battery to equalize the voltages. There are wires that will be across all four batteries that needs to have fuses put on them. These batteries can supply a hundred amps or more and the equalizer is maybe 22AWG wire.
Added two intra battery 30V ASO fuses to protect the end batteries from shorts and a $20 high voltage half bank fuse to protect the bank. 25Amps at 55V is 1,300W, a lot of power!
The UPS has internal batteries that would provide sufficient current to blow the fuses if I just connected this bank to the UPS without equalizing the voltages. To equalize the two battery banks I used a long 18AWG wire to reduce the current between them. Once they have equalized I removed the thin 18AWG wire and installed a much shorter/thicker 12AWG wire to power the UPS. The high voltage ceramic fuse is 15 amps at the center of the bank. The low voltage fuses are 25A are only between the end batteries.
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. Air Conditioning is unreliable, there may be a bad connection because of all the bugs in the ODU. But for now I am grateful it is working.
Plans:
08:00 Up and eating breakfast
09:00 Getting groceries
10:00 Drove the silver Focus, it’s been sitting for two months.
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
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:
05:30 Up, Sipp’n a cup of coffee
07:00 Making plans with the wife
08:00 charting solar power waiting on Mom and Ricky.
09:00 Talking to mom
10:00 Recording Solar and eating lunch
11:00 Charting solar power then a NAP.
14:00 Looking over prayer lists for tonight.
14:30 Checking on the hurricane, still headed towards Louisiana
15:00 Watching “Wind River”
16:00 Eatin Din Din
17:00 Disconnected the solar panels and watching “Wind River”
18:00 Getting ready for services tonight at 19:30
21:00 It’s 80 degrees and climbing.
The ODU compressor is not running.
I’ve turned off unused routers.
I’ve shifted the UPS heat back into the garage. (Should have done that already.)
Narrative: “Racist” card? At church tonight we were having a roundtable discussion and a young mother offered her experience with her child that couldn’t get into the gifted-and-talented program. She went on to explain how her child was being discriminated against because he was black. That may possibly be true, it is also possible that every mother of an “A” student thinks their child should be offered the gifted program. (I know several “White” families of talented children that were denied access.)
Google Foo: Looked up the number of incarcerated males to see the race distribution among them.
Last year, more than 1,000 people were killed by police, according to Mapping Police Violence, one research group.
“Black people were disproportionately among those killed, the group found. Black people accounted for 24% of those killed, despite making up only about 13% of the population.”
Opinion: It’s awfully difficult to start judging our police when they have a very difficult job of balancing preventing crime against individual rights. The pay doesn’t make it, it has to be a personal commitment to the community? Now with every one with a camera ready to post any discord to public media, they are under extreme scrutiny. It’s also worth mentioning that China would love us to get so divided that they could take over this country as their own.
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 is NOT social distancing, we’re higher than anytime this year.
Plans: Absentee ballets and applying for Social Security.
Absentee Ballets
Apply for Social Security
06:00 Wake up sipp’n coffee and making plans.
09:00 calling mom
10:00 Getting organized
16:00 LONG EMOTIONAL DAY
Narrative: Worked on our piles most of the day.
Sent mom some hurricane supplies and she ended up needing them on the first day. The power went off right after they charged up the radio with the sun all day. They also got two new battery powered fans today that might come in handy since the power is off.
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
