BAOFENG UV-3r

Dude.  This is an awesome radio.  The best part is the name - like HAL (IBM) in 2001, it is named like the Yaesu VX-3r - only one letter off.
Review of the BAOFENG UV-3r

Minn Kota trolling motor

Went to Armco Park with the crew - and used a perfectly awesome Minn Kota 12Volt trolling motor attached to a 11ish ft. Jon Boat.  Made wake - we were flying at least 4 knots!!!  Had good range and had reverse.

Item 44506 Harbor Freight Drill Press

Item 44506  - fits nicely on the bench.  was very very cheap.  Seems substancial enough.  It works.

BIG ROCK DIRT PARK - Maysville KY.

Duke at Big Rock let me charge up at the office - what a cool dude, and what an AWESOME PLACE!!!

I found some VERY VERY VERY light LIFEPO4 batteries that have internal BMS / Prismatic design.  They are 36AH and weigh 5LBS for each 12 volt battery???????

I will put them into service as soon as I can find the money.

http://www.batterystuff.com/batteries/shorai-lithium-lfx36l3-bs12.html

Before and After Petroleum

All NON-Petroleum Powered!

Powered by Battery Technology - Autocross

I have installed 8x88AH C&D UPS12-310 batteries in the Triumph to replace the Powersonic 35AH ones.  I will make a couple quick-change packs for the motorcycle with those powersonics.  I believe I won Slowest time of the day at the MVSCC Points Event #5 yesterday!!! :-)  I was not that farr off of the ICE cars, however - and it was a very long course.  I had the same "slow launch" problem, and broke the tranny tailshaft mount - but improved over the 3 runs i took.  Very pleased with the way the car handled... very close to 50/50 weight.  I will pull the motor and advance the timing 12 degrees on the advice of pooey1911 (youtube) before the next event next month.

Mower Design III - lost 50 lbs

Although I was getting plenty of exercise with the 130lb 35AH mower - my back was not enjoying it.  SO, I have swapped in some 22AH batteries that weigh half as much - and I'm ready to mow!

THERE!!!! I mowed the whole lawn with the Electric mower!!!

I murdered the stock batteries that came in the 8AH 48 volt Craftsman Push mower trying to mow a half acre lawn every couple weeks by charging it with a 15 Amp charger a couple times mid-mow.  I wanted it to outperform a gas mower - so It had to go the whole distance without a fillup to do that.  So,  I took a round 1/8th inch x 21inch valve cover from Mendleson's and cut a hole in the center that the motor could poke through.  I started by drilling a hole in the center and cutting pieces of pie - then the circle after scribing it by tracing a CD spindle cover.  Then, I drilled some holes for tie-downs and layed out the 4 powersonic 12v - 35AH batteries.  Made some cables from some 4GA wire at Autozone, and wired it up.  I also added the SOC meter.  It mowed the whole lawn without stopping today!  I'll make it look pretty soon. :-)

SSTV Image of the Earth that was sent to me in the front yard this morning before work!!

ARISsat-1 is a Ham Radio Satellite launched from the ISS.  For more information - AMSAT'S Website


I received it using a 20 year old handheld Kenwood 2 meter radio and a 5-element antenna I made by changing the length and position of the elements on the beam of a Radio Shack FM(88-108MHZ) antenna.  It was an audio signal - along with greetings in several languages, etc.  I played the audio signal through a patch cable out of my iPhone into a laptop - and used a piece of freeware called RX-SSTV to make the image.

ARISsat-1 Telemetry Data heard last night!!

I watched some of the deployment by NASA of ARISsat-1 yesterday - very cool!!
I set up a home made 5 element YAGI on the back porch last night and we heard the bird go over at 1:58AM this morning!!

This is what she said:

MET 675 minutes

IHU temp is + 29 degrees

Control panel temp is + 24 degrees C

battery voltage is 31.50 volts

battery current is -209 ma 

"NEW" Batteries for Project Triumph!!!

I have been driving the Triumph on errends, an autocross, and have made a couple commutes to work - but the batteries I originally chose lack the discharge rate and the AH to get the job done. Pictured are the "old" batteries on the left - and the "new" batteries on the right. They are 67 lb UPS batteries rated at 88AH / 800A Discharge (the blue ones are 25lbs and 35AH and the most I've seen from them is about 400A Discharge momentarily). The "new" batteries are actually 7-8 years old and were in service in a UPS system - since they are a "10 year" battery, I'm hoping to get some bonus life out of them in my electric car tests and racing. While unloading them, I realized that adding 870 lbs of batteries (156V) to a 1600lb car would require welding in braces for the suspension and even stiffer rear springs - so, I have decided to go with a 96V system. ALAS - my beautiful Logisystems 550AMP controller is a 120-156 Volt model. This last weekend, I acted on a hunch and removed some of the old batteries - and VIOLA!!! it works great at 96Volts!!!! These Logisystems controllers have been called "fragile" and worse - so, operating at 96V should make it happy and allow it to live longer, I figure! I am in the process of welding up battery boxes now. I plan on 5 in front, and 3 in back. This busts my 50/50 weight distribution - but is still better weight distribution than stock - and puts the car just 100 lbs or so overweight - although I still need to accurately weigh it.

Assembling the Hemnes Black-Brown 6 Drawer - From Ikea

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70121249

"The_Boy" and I recently assembled the Hemnes Chest of Drawers for my mom when we visited her. I am posting a couple observations on this Blog as it might benefit someone else.

Everything was well done, including the picto-gram instructions, and were understood by a 13 year old.

The only problem was the anchor pegs that you screw in to the sides - if you monster truck them in there - and they are bottomed out into the wood too far, then, when you insert the round disks and turn them, they don't completely cinch down and lock into place. They stay tight, however, cause they have little ridges on the ramps. Anyone not assembling this kit will not understand what I have typed :-)

Death of the State Sand Hog - and Replacement

I got a call at work that the hot water was too hot at home - hmmm. Seems that a thermostat went Wide open Throttle and was pumping out 170 degree water. We threw the breaker - (the high temp cutoff should have tripped, but didn't) and the water stayed hot for almost 3 days. Bummer. Initially, I was ready to pick up a 13 dollar thermostat at ACE, but found that the tank was leaking at the top. So, I replaced the whole thing with a Whirlpool 50 Gallon Water Heater Lowes Item#121802. And installation kit. It was pretty easy as I didn't have to sweat the joints as it had flanges.

Righting a wrong

In October, I borrowed one of my brothers' trucks. I towed a car carrier with it, and managed to jacknife it - crunching the bumper and ripping off one of the rear exit exhaust pipes. I bent the bumper back out to look pretty OK - but have lagged on fixing the exhaust. :-( So - I went to UnderCar Specialty Warehouse on Springfield Street in Dayton - they are AWESOME!!! and worked with me to get something that looked good - split - exiting behind the passenger wheel - very stock perfect and didn't cost 700 bucks!!! The exhaust is all stock - and includes the largest muffler ever made.

Poor Man's Dim bulb Variac

I am preparing to bring back to life a 1936 Crosley Model 715 Table Top that belonged to my grandparents - and on which my dad and uncle once listened to programs like "The Lone Ranger." It has paper capacitors and if I just plug it in after sitting in an attic for 40 years, it will be very unhappy. It could also have all manner of other shorts and problems that could cause it to catch on fire. Better to warm it up carefully using a VARIAC. I don't have one, so I built one using an incandescent light bulb. The idea is that as the watts go up, the light bulb bears the brunt and lights up and turns energy into power or Watts into heat and light, or whatever semantics you prefer :-) The bulb is in SERIES along the hot wire and one mixes and matches wattage to achieve the desired volts.

I tested it on my Technics receiver - which draws 53Watts at "Idle." First, I tried a 60Watt bulb, and it pulled down the voltage too far - the receiver cycled on and off as the bulb lit brightly, then went out. A 100 Watt bulb yielded a drop in voltage down to 104.5 Volts. I believe that the Crosley draws 35 or so watts, so the 60 watt bulb may be appropriate to start out with - may yield 50 or 60 volts or so. I'll let it simmer for a couple hours. Then, I'll screw in the 100 Watt bulb and let it think about that for a few hours, then bareback into the outlet if all is well.

Pergola / Trellis / Pumpkin Hangers

The "Boss" asked me to make some things that pumpkins can grow on. I built them so that I could hang on them at 240lbs. Later, I learned (or hadn't listened in the first place) that they are baby pumpkins. Well, they sure as Hell aren't gonna have a problem growing on these things! :-)

U2 Show

While not technically a PROJECT, this show rocked! Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. I was there in my '87 Joshua Tree Spring Tour shirt with "The_Boy" and we had an awesome time!!!

Basement Stairs rebuild

I cut some red oak treads for the basement stairs. Still need to fine tune them, they are not perfect yet - they are within 1/4 inch, though.

Project Motorcycle Cup Holder

I was pretty intimidated by this one... I mean, motorcycles don't usually have cupholders.

But, I DID IT!!!!!

Follow the leader... He's on a Honda...

Swiftlock Laminate Flooring installation (Gunstock)

Since it has been 3 years since project Basement Wall Excavation, it is time to finish the basement!

Removed old drywall and blown insulation, hit the walls and floor with a wire brush, etched all surfaces with bleach/water, filled all imperfections with hydraullic cement, hit walls and floor with two coats of Drylock, R13 in the walls, Green board drywall, Black Vapor Barrier underlayment, Premium Underlayment (sandwiched with the black underlayment with 100% Silicone caulk at the corner trouble spots that potentially could see moisture), Swiftlock Laminate (gunstock) on top. Resin Molding, and T- Type Transition piece ripped down the middle made a nice Fireplace molding piece.

Used a 10 Inch Skil Table saw with the stock blade to cut everything including the miter cuts on the molding.

Earth Day 2011!

I was invited to show off the Triumph at Earth Day 2011 at work. I answered a lot of questions, and talked to a lot of people who were excited about electric cars. Due to heavy rain, I towed the Triumph with the Beater-W, but at least I was burning Gas for a good cause :-)

Fingernail Update!

Almost there!!

EV Friendly Businesses

I found that my parking lot was all parked up this morning - so I parked across the street where I'll be eating lunch anyway! Many Thanks to them!!!

Successful test of Motor wired as Cumulative Compound Wound

Last night, I took 2 lengths of 4GA copper stranded wire and wired up the fork lift motor as a compound wound motor. By connecting S2 with F2 and connecting A2 with F1. I'm not sure if it would best be called a cumulative compound now, or a long shunt compound - but it gave a performance boost off the line in 2nd gear and pulled 400 amps almost right off the line. RPMs started dying out around 4 grand, though. SO, the hot setup would be to incorporate a contactor to open the Field windings after it grunts up to 2 or 3 grand - leaving the series windings to spin the motor to oblivion (6500+RPM is what the bearings are rated for). Nothing got hot, and there were no fires. :-) The battery pack was pretty discharged at the start of the test - I'll test again tonight with full charge. Next step is to advance the brush holder 10 degrees to cut down on arcing and maybe get some better prerformance off the line. This test makes the car feel like it has a lot more low and mid range - feels like installing a towing cam. :-) Very cool stuff....

Homelite 14 inch electric Chain Saw

The Ice storm the other night took down a lot of branches - I stood out on the back porch and listened to the trees exploding... Both of my Ham Radio antennas came down :-( and a 300 lb branch was left teetering over the back yard. After connecting 2 8ft 2x3s together and then attaching my tree trimmer and getting on a ladder, I was able to cut it all down (in 3 1/2 hours.)

To cut it all up, I bought the Homelite UT43100 14 inch Electric Chain saw from Home Depot (I had a gift card.)

It is AWESOME! Outperformed my small old GAS Chainsaw - it cut through like it was cutting butter. Speaking of butter - I chose to keep it a Petroleum virgin (except for the plastic it is made out of) and I put vegetable oil in it - it worked great.

Rode the Bike Today

I rode the bike today - no power loss - it appears that the batteries did not object to living outside in the cold all winter!! I kept a charge on them so they didn't Sulfate up the plates!
Temp was 44 this morning - and about 40 now - hopefully it won't care too much about 4 degrees in relation to the range :-)