Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.
Plans: Keep an eye on the hurricane headed to Florida.
- 07:00 Up drinking coffee and making plans.
- 07:30 Time to walk around the block.
- 09:00 Blogging, checking the AC unit and reading the news.
- 10:00 The handle for the garage arrived, 30 minutes and it’s all fixed.
- 11:00 Located a relay module and troubleshooting why it doesn’t work NodeMCU.
- 12:00 Nap
- 13:00 Lunch
- 14:00 Started car #2 but forgot and left it running a couple hours, LOL.
- 15:00 Soldering a wire onto four NodeMCU boards so I can use them with relays.
- 16:00 Dinner
- 17:00 Tested relay modules and they work (Finally!)
- 18:00 Getting ready for church
- 20:00 cleaning up and getting ready for bed.
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.
NodeMCU ESP8266 Wi-Fi SoC
As you can see from the above picture the NodeMCU V2 fits pretty nicely on a common breadboard leaving one row of pins on each side to attach wires to.
The V3 takes up the entire width of the breadboard making it necessary to connect to the pins directly. Also, it turns out, that the V3 inserted two diodes between the USB 5V and the VIN pin to it’s internal 3V regulator. Those diodes prevent me from using the VIN pin as a 5V power out pin. (Which I had done on the V2)
The jumper wire I added still leaves the reverse voltage protection of the two diodes to the internal power supply. It adds the ability to use the VIN pin as a 5V power OUT pin like the V2 does.
Now that I have 5V available from the VIN pin I can drive 125VAC @ 15A relay modules directly from the NodeMCU and control them from the Home Assistant software.
DC Power generating and Inverter
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)
Articles about our current racial climate
“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: Wednesday, mow the back yard and church service.
Retirement: 1st SS check in seven days!
Project Engineering: Need to test mom’s golf cart solar charger.
Purchases: Garage door handles.
Repairs: Replaced the headlamps on the Blue Ford Focus this morning. (Looks remarkably better.)
Religion: We were called to look in our dark corners and bring them into the light on Sunday.
Family News: Mom’s in the hospital, hopefully she got home yesterday.
Pi News:
Arts: No movies yet.
- Health: 220Lbs, too heavy.
- Slept pretty good last night until I forgot to turn on my CPAP.
Travel: Florida travel looks within reach.
Government: (Social Security)
Media: No Instagram posts today and we’re off Facebook.
Injuries: No injuries.
Pi News: Upgraded the Home Assistant software.
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