Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.
Plans: Keep an eye on the hurricane headed to Florida.
- 05:00 Up checking the Tropical Storm headed toward mom.
- 06:00 Coffee and morning meeting.
- 07:00 Fixing Tricare login
- 08:00 Generator run
- 11:00 Generator wrap-up, two are cool and working on the third.
- 12:00 Generator run complete, getting organized.
- 13:00 Nap
- 15:00 Storm passing over us, checking thermometer placed on Bench Diodes
- 16:00 Troubleshot and fixed bench diode thermometer
- 17:00 Dinner
- 18:00 Ordering a part for our screen door and Skimming movies
- 19:00 Remove old DC light fixtures on porch.
- 20:00 Order garage door parts with Instant Pot parts.
Narrative: Feeling a little better about our country surviving BLM. It’s a difficult time because we are finding it difficult talking to our friends of color without offending them.
Ran three of my five generators today. I warmed them for a minute or two then ran them at 1/2 power (250W) for about two hours. I then pushed them to 100% power for several minutes. Cool off is run them with the cover off and a fan blowing air into the cowling. *The alternator on the end and muffler seem to be the hottest parts of the engine. By far though, the alternator takes the longest to cool down.
NodeMCU Status: They’ve been working perfectly since I dropped the number of NodeMCU’s on Home Assistant to TWO. I have had to change the sensors, I had a couple that the readings were not even close… I am glad they are stable now, it was very aggravating when they went offline! I want to up them to three, I know I cannot do four. *Raspberry Pi’s are rather cheap.
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 Automation. 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.
The 3B draws considerably less power than the 4B which almost has to have some form of additional cooling or it will throttle the CPU.
Solar Assist Status: I am back to one solar charge controller with the three banks of two panels tied in parallel. I am surprised how much intermittent clouds affect the power supplied by my panels.
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: Saturday, mow the back yard.
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: We were called to look in our dark corners and bring them into the light today.
Family News: Mom’s in the hospital, hopefully she got home yesterday.
Arts: Watched Rear Window with the wife.
- Health: 220Lbs, too heavy.
- Slept pretty good last night until I laid on my back, woke up startled.
- I am a bit sleepy this morning.
Travel: Florida travel looks within reach.
Government: (Social Security)
Media: No Instagram posts today and we’re off Facebook.
Injuries:
Pi News:
Accomplishments:
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