Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.
Plans: Keep an eye on the hurricane headed to Florida.
- 08:00 up drinking coffee, cereal for breakfast today.
- 09:00 Charging 48V battery banks and researching using 36V to charge 48V.
- 10:00 Still charging and researching.
- 11:00 Nap
- 13:00 Upgrading my Home Assistant software on my Raspi’s
- 16:00 Still working on Home Assistant software, I have four instances running.
- 17:00 Helped get dinner ready.
Narrative: I’ve added sections that a significant amount of resources are invested in almost every day.
NodeMCU Status: Temperature sensors are dropping out and I don’t know why. They’ve been working perfectly since I dropped the number of NodeMCU’s on Home Assistant to three. I have had to change the sensors, I had a couple that the readings were not even close. I spent a great deal of time today upgrading the Home Assistant software that these NodeMCU’s report to.
Solar Assist Status: Two solar charge controllers are paralleled into the 300W inverter that runs the computers in my cave. (200W) One controller is a MPPT controller and the other is much smaller but doesn’t drop off completely when a cloud interrupts the sun.
Battery Bank Status: The two 35AH batteries on the primary UPS are getting too warm in the garage, I need to move them. The garage gets over 90 degrees and that’s too warm for active SLA batteries.
Homestead DC Power: The bottom section of the above picture is two 15A 24V power supplies that work alongside the solar panels and provide power for the 300W inverters on the right side. The idea is that during the day a relay connects my computers to the 300W inverter and run them on the solar power. The system doesn’t make as much power on a partly cloudy day, much less in fact. Today I made 300WH more power than I consumed. (like 4 cents)
Homestead Air Conditioner: The air conditioner evaporator tubing is oil logged and preventing the four sections from cooling evenly. It doesn’t seem to be affecting the ability to cool our home in the middle of the summer months. The fix is to replace the coils at a cost of $1500 or the entire system for $8000. The current thought is to replace the entire system in September. I’ve adjusted the fan to run slightly faster to try and keep the ice off of the evaporator.
I put an Internet controllable outlet on the air handler, I can monitor how long it runs and cut it off/on remotely.
Homestead Refrigerator: The condenser fan squealed a month or so ago so I ordered a new motor which arrived about a week ago. I currently have a small fan pushing air onto the condenser coils of the fridge fan locks up.
“The current riots across the country are American terrorism — violence for strictly political ends, aimed at frightening a nation into obedience.” Seattle Radio Host Gives Narrative-Busting Account of What’s Happening in City: ‘Evil People’
“Federal officers protecting federal property are now the targets of demonstrators, not the instigators of violence. The real blame lies with progressive city leaders, who have all but promised violent protesters that they can act with impunity.” [WSJ]
Historians such as Oswald Spengler and Arnold Toynbee cited social cannibalism to explain why once-successful states, institutions and cultures simply died off.
Their common explanation was that the arrogance of success ensures lethal consequences. Once elites became pampered and arrogant, they feel exempt from their ancestors’ respect for moral and spiritual laws like thrift, moderation and transcendence. Victor Davis Hanson: America Has Chance To Save Itself Thanks to 3 Woke Industries (NBA, MLB, NFL) That Just Suicided
Feelings:
Tomorrow: Sunday services.
Retirement: 1st SS check in two weeks!
Project Engineering: Need a PWM for 48V solar panels.
Purchases: I thought I needed lawnmower blades sharpened, turns out I had a new one in the garage. Worked like a champ!
Repairs: Check for leaks in the air conditioning ducts.
Religion:
Family News: Mom’s in the hospital, hopefully she got home yesterday.
Arts: Watched the Andromeda Strain with the wife.
- Health: 220Lbs, too heavy.
- Did not sleep well last night, woke startled.
- Need dental cleaning, gums occasionally bleed a little.
- O2 level dropped below 85 last night for about 10 seconds.
- Feet puffy underneath, I can feel it when walking on hard surface
- Thick mucus cough occasionally during the day, esp. when exercise.
- Sleepiness today, took short naps, but need a good night’s sleep.
- BP really good today HR is normal.
- Still have trouble with minor yeast infection even when wearing shorts.
- Eyes can get very dry in the evenings and blurred vision.
Travel: Florida travel looks within reach.
Government:SS Check arrives in 10 days.
Media: No Instagram posts today and we’re off Facebook.
Injuries: Nope, didn’t get hurt today.
Pi News: I have three Raspi’s that are “PiHoles to protect DNS calls from our network. I have four Raspi’s that run the Home Assistant software. I have two Raspi’s that receive the ADSB transmissions from the airplanes near the homestead. One Raspi is being used to browse the web when I am digging for something using search engines, it protects the PC from “Drive By” malware infections.
Accomplishments: Nope, didn’t do much of that 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