Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
I got banned from another site for "rudeness." Imagine that!
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What have you done today?
- Thread starter Smithy
- Start date
Yvonne Smith
Well-known member
I can guess which one ! Permanent or temporary ? (You offended the Foo-Foo people, right ? )
Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
I'll have to crawl in the back door to figure it out myself. Permanent as far as I can tell.
My guess is that it was the NPR thread today.
My guess is that it was the NPR thread today.
Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
Must be it, my one post there was erased though it was quoted and that remains.
"The Secret Of Super Healthy Old People" in Health.
A link was given to NPR podcasts full of crazy, like telling mothers that it is all right to hate their children. Literally! Oh, and a new one about "medical racism."
"The Secret Of Super Healthy Old People" in Health.
A link was given to NPR podcasts full of crazy, like telling mothers that it is all right to hate their children. Literally! Oh, and a new one about "medical racism."
Axel Slingerland
Wordy Blues Rocker
I see posts like that and I always think "They have skit for brains, and their flush knob is broken." You know... Skit. That's Swedish... 
Wow if @Jacob Petersheim got banned for that, then my claim of being and ex huzzie- surely would not make it
enlighten me on the Foo Foo people.. SF ?
Yvonne Smith
Well-known member
Some people on that forum seem to be able to post just about anything, appropriate or not, and it is fine with their whole group. Someone else can disagree with it, and they are apt to be attacked just for having a different opinion, if they are not in the clique.
I think that this is why @Axel Slingerland left there, too.
Axel Slingerland
Wordy Blues Rocker
The favoritism didn't bother me. You'll find that on every forum known to man. You could talk about politics from other places, no problem, but I didn't like the anti-American politics sentiment. I don't much care for it myself, most political discussions just crack me up, but I thought the reaction to posting this Time Magazine cover was over the top censorship.
If you want to ban politics, ban it 100%. Nobody is allowed to discuss it, period. Not that scenario Yvonne described, which was exactly how it was.
If you want to ban politics, ban it 100%. Nobody is allowed to discuss it, period. Not that scenario Yvonne described, which was exactly how it was.
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Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
Got my 35 foot extension cable for running between solar panels and power stations sitting in the shade or under rain cover.
Found out one reason it was probably cheap, even though it was just on deep discount unlike other lengths of the same. These typically have the two wires bunded into outer sheathing that is half red half black but joined. Here each of the two wires is in a separate sheath, making it harder to work with, spool out and coil up, etc.
Took some effort to undo the factory coiling and get it all packed flat on a cord reel. Letting it sit in the shaded warmth outside now, hoping it "takes" the new shape. What a tangle!
I had wished it had the "toolless" MC4 style connectors but for the price I can live with that. I already have plenty of those to fight with so I have the wrenches required.
It's amazing how much trivial lore one only acquires through experience with a new hobby. Plenty of articles and videos for newbies, but none are ever complete.
Example:
Small power stations need to have their AC outlets either mounted high or "upside down" (ground pin up) otherwise a lot of stuff based on "wall warts" can't plug in... unless you perch the station on the edge of a shelf. An awful lot of small tool-battery chargers use such "warts."
These "wrenches" are primarily for assembly/disassembly of the connector bodies, used in pairs. Typically blue so you don't lose them, but they do come in other colors or even zinc-plated aluminum instead of plastic. The "prongs" on the end are used when you want to unplug a male from a female MC4-style connector.
The "toolless" variant of these connectors doesn't require the fork, they are sort of built-in, available at a squeeze.
Found out one reason it was probably cheap, even though it was just on deep discount unlike other lengths of the same. These typically have the two wires bunded into outer sheathing that is half red half black but joined. Here each of the two wires is in a separate sheath, making it harder to work with, spool out and coil up, etc.
Took some effort to undo the factory coiling and get it all packed flat on a cord reel. Letting it sit in the shaded warmth outside now, hoping it "takes" the new shape. What a tangle!
I had wished it had the "toolless" MC4 style connectors but for the price I can live with that. I already have plenty of those to fight with so I have the wrenches required.
It's amazing how much trivial lore one only acquires through experience with a new hobby. Plenty of articles and videos for newbies, but none are ever complete.
Example:
Small power stations need to have their AC outlets either mounted high or "upside down" (ground pin up) otherwise a lot of stuff based on "wall warts" can't plug in... unless you perch the station on the edge of a shelf. An awful lot of small tool-battery chargers use such "warts."
These "wrenches" are primarily for assembly/disassembly of the connector bodies, used in pairs. Typically blue so you don't lose them, but they do come in other colors or even zinc-plated aluminum instead of plastic. The "prongs" on the end are used when you want to unplug a male from a female MC4-style connector.
The "toolless" variant of these connectors doesn't require the fork, they are sort of built-in, available at a squeeze.
Kyng
Well-known member
Been to a board games group, where I played two games:
- My Shelfie (where the object is to arrange different-coloured tokens on a Connect 4-like grid - representing books on a shelf. You get more points for arranging them in specific patterns);
- Forest Shuffle (Build a forest out of trees, and fill it with all different kinds of plants and animals
).
Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
I not sure what others are seeing on home electricity rates.
I called over a billing error a few months back, and they asked me to join a voluntary "savings" program. It offers a better rate most of the year, but charges me double from June through September from 2PM to 7PM (peak load time).
One of my larger consumers (since I rarely use the A/C and try to rely on nightly cooling and then keeping the house shut up all day) is the refrigerator. It's also one I wouldn't want to have shut off for 5 hours each day.
'Fridge-start eats just under 1000 watts, running only needs 415 watts or so. That starting load is also inductive. So most of my power banks aren't up to it (I tried).
My AC50B in "power lifting mode" can handle 1000 watts for a short time. But that's pushing it, and it is also only a 448Wh battery. So I had to get a nice fat appliance extension cord and wheel my AC200L "big guy" within range of the "fridge cord" plus extension and an outlet up to the task if I lose battery.
I'm running a test keeping an eye on power use. I hope to find that I can at least run it during those peak hours when my billing rate is high... preferably a couple of days between charges. Or ideally run it 24x7 for a couple of days.
This way I can put that load entirely on solar power. When there isn't enough sunlight for days I can always recharge the AC200L from AC power off-peak.
As a bonus, the AC200L can be monitored on my phone via WiFi.
I called over a billing error a few months back, and they asked me to join a voluntary "savings" program. It offers a better rate most of the year, but charges me double from June through September from 2PM to 7PM (peak load time).
One of my larger consumers (since I rarely use the A/C and try to rely on nightly cooling and then keeping the house shut up all day) is the refrigerator. It's also one I wouldn't want to have shut off for 5 hours each day.
'Fridge-start eats just under 1000 watts, running only needs 415 watts or so. That starting load is also inductive. So most of my power banks aren't up to it (I tried).
My AC50B in "power lifting mode" can handle 1000 watts for a short time. But that's pushing it, and it is also only a 448Wh battery. So I had to get a nice fat appliance extension cord and wheel my AC200L "big guy" within range of the "fridge cord" plus extension and an outlet up to the task if I lose battery.
I'm running a test keeping an eye on power use. I hope to find that I can at least run it during those peak hours when my billing rate is high... preferably a couple of days between charges. Or ideally run it 24x7 for a couple of days.
This way I can put that load entirely on solar power. When there isn't enough sunlight for days I can always recharge the AC200L from AC power off-peak.
As a bonus, the AC200L can be monitored on my phone via WiFi.
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Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
Hmm. I think that 415 watts is the refrigerator running its automatic defrost cycle. I don't hear the compressor running and there is no vibration. Regular periodic cooling seems to use only 135 watts.
Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
Now I've set this up on the AC200L:
I can always "dump in" solar power whenever. Either run a cable out to solar panels or carry in smaller "buckets" (power stations) charged from sunlight and "pour in" their charge via DC input.
If grid power fails, it always goes over to battery power... assuming you have charge.
It lets you designate time periods when grid power is costly.
I can always "dump in" solar power whenever. Either run a cable out to solar panels or carry in smaller "buckets" (power stations) charged from sunlight and "pour in" their charge via DC input.
If grid power fails, it always goes over to battery power... assuming you have charge.
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Axel Slingerland
Wordy Blues Rocker
Living in an apartment building, I can't have solar. Or at least, I thought I couldn't until I noticed one of my neighboring apartments has three large panels in the living room window. One of these days I'm going to have to ask them about that. The sun shines on that window all day long.
Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
Because of the many tall dense trees roof- or ground-mounted solar is impractical for me.
I'm just playing around as a hobby more or less, using flexible folding solar panel arrays that I can drag around the yard through the day.
Apartments would be tricky. Even a south-facing balcony could be problematic. A window? Maybe a large single pane could work. But even partial shading drops the output significantly, and non-ideal angles really cut into what the panel can ideally collect.
As it turns out after some experiments, I can barely run just the refrigerator totally on solar power... and that's assuming that every day is very sunny. So I'll settle for 2PM to 7PM when my rates are high, and recharge at off-peak hours to make up for any missing sunlight hours.
Even heating up a quart of water to make a small pot of coffee burns 1500 watts, albeit for just minutes. But at that draw I have to use my largest power station. My smaller ones in the 500Wh battery capacity range can't supply enough AC current out. Forget my "lunchpail" 300Wh units. All of those work better for tasks like lighting and small fans. I think my air fryer slurps something like 1750 watts while in the heating part of its cycle.
I'm just playing around as a hobby more or less, using flexible folding solar panel arrays that I can drag around the yard through the day.
Apartments would be tricky. Even a south-facing balcony could be problematic. A window? Maybe a large single pane could work. But even partial shading drops the output significantly, and non-ideal angles really cut into what the panel can ideally collect.
As it turns out after some experiments, I can barely run just the refrigerator totally on solar power... and that's assuming that every day is very sunny. So I'll settle for 2PM to 7PM when my rates are high, and recharge at off-peak hours to make up for any missing sunlight hours.
Even heating up a quart of water to make a small pot of coffee burns 1500 watts, albeit for just minutes. But at that draw I have to use my largest power station. My smaller ones in the 500Wh battery capacity range can't supply enough AC current out. Forget my "lunchpail" 300Wh units. All of those work better for tasks like lighting and small fans. I think my air fryer slurps something like 1750 watts while in the heating part of its cycle.
Axel Slingerland
Wordy Blues Rocker
I have no idea what most of that means, but back in the band days we had a Generac generator (which if I recall correctly, ran on diesel) that could power all of our gear and have a little power to spare. That generator saved us many times, for outdoor gigs or gigs where the venue did not have adequate power, etc.
Anyway, I know Generac makes home generators. I see their ads on YouTube and now they're telling people to get prepared for hurricane season. One of their smaller ones for camping would be enough to run your Fridge and maybe some other stuff.
Anyway, I know Generac makes home generators. I see their ads on YouTube and now they're telling people to get prepared for hurricane season. One of their smaller ones for camping would be enough to run your Fridge and maybe some other stuff.
Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
I have a Honda EU2200i. This is a nominally 2200 watt gasoline generator that could run the refrigerator and a little bit more. But something like an electric kettle or air fryer maxes it out except for enough to run a few lights. And of course you need to keep adding gasoline as it runs.
Handy for camping, emergencies, etc. but not practical for constant daily use (to avoid high electricity bills due to peak rate pricing).
Typical portable solar panel arrays provide a nominal 100 to 120 watts, but in real use you seldom collect more than 60 to 70 watts from them, and the output isn't appliance-ready. So you also need a device with batteries, a "solar converter" to accept varying input power and an inverter to go from batteries to 120 VAC. I have one larger array (350 watts) but these cost considerably more, they are heavier to jockey around, still get you maybe 230 to 240 watts in reality - plus you need those other components (or a "power station" package) to make use of them.
Handy for camping, emergencies, etc. but not practical for constant daily use (to avoid high electricity bills due to peak rate pricing).
Typical portable solar panel arrays provide a nominal 100 to 120 watts, but in real use you seldom collect more than 60 to 70 watts from them, and the output isn't appliance-ready. So you also need a device with batteries, a "solar converter" to accept varying input power and an inverter to go from batteries to 120 VAC. I have one larger array (350 watts) but these cost considerably more, they are heavier to jockey around, still get you maybe 230 to 240 watts in reality - plus you need those other components (or a "power station" package) to make use of them.
Axel Slingerland
Wordy Blues Rocker
Sometimes I really wish I still had that Generac generator. That thing would run for days on a tank of gas / diesel whichever it was. When we lived in Eureka, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), which I sarcastically call Pacific Gas and Extortion, was doing Public Safety Power Shutoffs (cka a p**s p**s) during high winds for about a year and a half after their faulty equipment caused forest fires that burned down the town of Paradise and parts of Santa Monica, California.
They were quite annoying. One lasted four days days, right after I spent $300 on groceries for the month. Lemme tell ya, I was not a happy camper. I was quite happy when I found out Gov. Newsom sued them to make them fix their stuff and pay for what they destroyed. Fortunately I had enough money to replace the food, but when I heard that, I was like "What about my groceries?!!!"
Anyway, I came in here to post this yesterday and got side tracked... Yesterday and today I did something I have only done a few times since I got out of the hospital two years ago.
I played my guitar.
My chops are all but dead, but I still remember some of my favorite songs we used to play. I played the first three songs on The Allman Brothers Band: At Fillmore East before my hands and soft fingertips gave out... It sounded horrible to me because I'm so out of practice, but when I started playing, my son appeared in my doorway, just like all of my kids used to do whenever I played guitar. This feeling came over me that I have not felt for years... How you feel when you're on stage and people are enjoying the show. Plus it gave me something I have not had for two years. Hope. Can I get my chops back? I don't know. But I'm going to try...
They were quite annoying. One lasted four days days, right after I spent $300 on groceries for the month. Lemme tell ya, I was not a happy camper. I was quite happy when I found out Gov. Newsom sued them to make them fix their stuff and pay for what they destroyed. Fortunately I had enough money to replace the food, but when I heard that, I was like "What about my groceries?!!!"
Anyway, I came in here to post this yesterday and got side tracked... Yesterday and today I did something I have only done a few times since I got out of the hospital two years ago.
I played my guitar.
My chops are all but dead, but I still remember some of my favorite songs we used to play. I played the first three songs on The Allman Brothers Band: At Fillmore East before my hands and soft fingertips gave out... It sounded horrible to me because I'm so out of practice, but when I started playing, my son appeared in my doorway, just like all of my kids used to do whenever I played guitar. This feeling came over me that I have not felt for years... How you feel when you're on stage and people are enjoying the show. Plus it gave me something I have not had for two years. Hope. Can I get my chops back? I don't know. But I'm going to try...