what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[ls99]

Some days ago dragged out an old DEL inverter 24-30 VDC in, 120 VAC out 500 watts max, weighing 150 lb. Yeah it was an old one, replete with 2N174 transistors on heat sinks. Still working. 45 Amp DC current draw at full rated output, Hmmm, not very efficient. No idea how many thousands of $$$ it cost new. They were rare items then.

Actual value $0.0 as a ups. Since my camp is 12VDC solar/battery based, could not use it. Nowdays inverters are around $ 350 for 5000 watts. weighing around 20 lb.

Ripped the unit apart, recovered about 40 lb of copper from transformer windings, about $2.50 per lb can get some $ out of it, and another 60 lb of transformer cores at scrap iron rates. Next time I head to the junk jard.

Now if I can figure out a way to recycle power transistors for some cash.

So never mind repairing some stuff, it is not even worth using even if it is working.

 

[Pleeplus]

Last weekend a group of us did some cross training by running up and down a large hill (1/4) mile for an hour carrying 50 lbs sand bags. Long story short, the hill was uncut and I now have poison ivy from my knees to my ankles! I am not sure if it was the repeated exposure, open pores from sweating or me getting to be a wuse as I get older but the itch factor is off the charts! I spent this morning at the docs getting corticosteroid cream and Atarax to speed up the healing process and help me sleep at night. The timing could not have been worse as we leave for a vacation in D.C. tomorrow. At least we should get good seats on any public transportation while we are there as my legs look like I am suffering from some sort of leprocy! Fun times......

 

[M Paquette]

Speaking of part availability, at one of the startups that I joined, we used a superVGA chip in our application, which was an industrial/commercial product and not a product for end users. By the time we had the product in production, that chip was obsolete and discontinued by the chip maker. Yikes!

LOL! I worked on a sophisticated in-circuit test system that drove generated binary data streams to device/board inputs, and monitored the output to make sure it was functionally correct. The system was built around 256 bit static memory devices to hold the stimulus patterns for each input.

256 bit memory. Guess how long that lasted...

When I left, they had done a redesign to use the 'new' cheapest part they could find, a 1024 bit chip, with 256 bits actually used. That part was being phased out by the vendor for 4096 bit parts... The control software was in FORTH and couldn't handle more than 256 bits. Oops.

Welcome to the Moore's Law hamster wheel. 1983...


Today is Happy Fun Analog Day, where I'm playing with antennas, signal processing, and other such radio stuff in preparation for a huge exercise this weekend, the ARRL Field Day activity.

I like this more than digital.

 

[Walt34]

DW has the dining room table back, at least for a while. I bought a mat cutter for framing photographs a few days ago and neglected to study the dimensions. Set up, the thing is huge! The only place to use it comfortably is the dining room table because that's the only place that has good lighting and a table that I can walk around on all four sides.

While I also ordered a variety pack of color mat board those are apparently traveling from Australia via itinerant steamship since it won't be here until next week. So I went up to Michael's craft store and bought a few just to see what it was like to do mat cutting, but I don't have the colors I need to do the other photos that I want to frame. And the stuff is expensive at Michael's, $15/sheet vs. $4-$8/sheet online so I won't be buying much of it there.

Fortunately this mat cutter easily disassembles to a more manageable size and can be stored under a workbench in the basement. And DW does like the results so she'll tolerate the occasional dining room takeover.

 

[pb4uski]

Yesterday I rented a drywall hoist to sheetrock the ceilings of our attic loft over our new two-car garage. Only 10 sheets of roc, but lots of cutting, positioning, etc. DS came over to help, thank God. Anyway, it was one of the most humid days we have had thus far and I was sweating like a pig, but we got it done.

I usually like DIY projects but am able to take my time. But yesterday I was rushing to get everything up in order to go to a friend's for dinner and return the hoist as I had my golf league today so I was rushed and didn't enjoy that at all.

As sore as I was from all the overhead work, I thought I would have a bad day today at my weekly golf league, but I had an very good day (6 under net) and we finished second.

 

[Khan]

Received a package of smoked fish, and mangoes from Florida.

 

[JLoft]

Is there any engineer left who can read resistor color code anymore? It has stuck with me since early teenage years.

Of course, but the short phrase that we learned to remember the code in our first EE class is nowhere PC enough for me to print here.

And all the techs I worked with early on were very patient to teach me good soldering techniques. Working late nights might mean I had to do reworks all by myself at times.

 

[Gumby]

Of course, but the short phrase that we learned to remember the code in our first EE class is nowhere PC enough for me to print here.

I've spent my whole life looking for Violet.

 

[REWahoo]

I've spent my whole life looking for Violet.

 

[NW-Bound]

My early knowledge of electronics was self-taught, starting when I was 12, so did not know of any shortcut. After working enough with these resistors, I could tell their value at a glance, because with 20% and 10% tolerance, there were only so many values and the color patterns became instantly recognizable.

I just recall this incidence. A circuit I built did not work right. It drove me nuts! Then, when probing around, I found that one of the resistors was of the wrong value for what I wanted. One color band was slightly off-color and I took it as something else. Much swearing and frustration prior to that discovery. Arghhh!!! No, I was not color-blind.

PS. I did not grow up here to learn the bad mnemonic phrase. Indeed, I just looked it up on the Web. Yes, after all these years!

 

[ls99]

I've spent my whole life looking for Violet.

If you could have found her, she gave willingly

 

[davemartin88]

Played golf yesterday for the first time in about 4 years. Brother in law is in town and likes to play- last time I played was with him on his last visit. Second nine much better than the first.

We played a local, 9 hole course (par 35) whose daily special was $21 including cart to play 18 holes (play the course twice). The original plan was to just go and hit some balls at the driving range but the range was closed for cutting so we decided to play a round anyway. My first shot off the tee was terrible as expected but I did remember which end of the club to use although from the distance it went, not sure it mattered which end I had used.

We'll probably play again as family will be here for most of the summer- yesterday was about 80 degrees with lower humidity, a bit of a breeze so really perfect conditions. BIL is here from Arizona so really likes the "cool" weather, lol.

 

[Tailgate]

Practiced docking the new pontoon boat in the slip at the marina. Not pretty, but got 'er done.

 

[braumeister]

After working enough with these resistors, I could tell their value at a glance, because with 20% and 10% tolerance, there were only so many values and the color patterns became instantly recognizable.

I had a friend with red-green color blindness who taught himself to distinguish the colors on resistors well enough that he could almost always get it right. Extremely impressive!

 

[kcowan]

My friend and I climbed Sentinel Hill for the first time this season. Then we hiked cross-country to the Capilano River and followed it down passed the "dogs off leash" beach, passed the 9 hole golf course and then alongside the duck pond back home. It was a beautiful day.

Then DW and I drove down to the Fraser to see our friend's new condo in Steveston and walked along the River Walk into town for lunch. Halibut and Chips outdoors!

Great Day!

 

[springnr]

Slow start to the day, hanging out sipping coffee with the backyard buds.

 

[Ronstar]

Practiced docking the new pontoon boat in the slip at the marina. Not pretty, but got 'er done.

Congrats! It doesn't matter if it's pretty - as long as you can get it in your slip.

 

[Khan]

It was a rare non-rainy day.
Laundry on the line.
Picked first harvest: a cucumber; made salad using yesterday's delivery of fish.
Did more paperwork for finances.

 

[rodi]

I've spent my whole life looking for Violet.

LOL. That's the one I learned.
(never liked the Red part.)

We were talking about this mnemonic at work - and one of the guys had a different one - it involved Batman, Robin, Gotham Bridge, and a sex act.

Now - with chip resisters, they're too small to print the color code on them.

 

[seraphim]

Why all this talk of w#%k in a forum entitled Life AFTER FIRE? Lol. You guys are depressing me. I come here to avoid that stuff...

Goofed off all day, then went out and ate too much for supper. Ate part of DWs supper as well. With permission, of course...



Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[ERD50]

.... This morning's project ... was to install the magic jack. ...

Not complicated - except where our router is is not where our home phones all connect in to. Our old set up had the phone line coming from the phone company block on the side of the house - to a phone wire block on the garage wall - from there 3 hard wired extensions split off. I wanted to keep those extensions. So I needed to run the wire from the router, to this phone block in the garage. That involved fishing the wire through a soffet, then through attic crawl space in the garage.

No biggie - except I had to lean way into the attic space to fish the wire...

I'm just catching up on this, but if your router is near any of the phone extension jacks, the magic-jack phone output can be plugged into any of those jacks, and it will 'light up' all the other jacks in the house. You don't need to come in at the source. If this doesn't apply to you, it might help someone reading this.

The key is to be disconnected at the source, so the phone company isn't trying to feed signal into the magic-jack (they probably disconnected on their end), or more likely, that your magic-jack isn't trying to drive a length of copper wire between you and wherever the phone company pulled the plug.

-ERD50

 

[Sea Kayaker]

Well, it's the start of a Canadian long weekend and I intend to live up to my message board handle and get the kayak out and see what's happening out on the Salish Sea - might post some pics. Hopefully will see some orcas, though one has to have luck on their side in the hope that a pod will swim by. Porpoises, seals, sea lions, otters, and a plethora of sea birds are sure bets to see. Sometimes eagles and ospreys will pluck fish out of the water just metres away from my boat.

This is why I strived so hard for FIRE - more of this, less of my soulless working life.

 

[grasshopper]

Practiced docking the new pontoon boat in the slip at the marina. Not pretty, but got 'er done.

My greatest challenge when docking our party boat, was the dogs jumping off when we were close and the force pushing the bow about.

 

[NW-Bound]

Newton's 3rd Law in action, eh?

 

[Walt34]

Trimmed the bushes in the front of the house before they could get too far out of control.

I was going to go on a motorcycle ride but it wouldn't start. While I keep it on a battery tender and the battery is only about a year old it almost sounded like a down battery, but with some odd grinding noises thrown in. I measured 12.5 volts at the battery a few minutes later and put it back on the charger. Not sure if the odd sound was just the starter running slower than normal or if it's on the way out.

Now I'm not sure if I want to bother fixing this myself or just have the shop do it. I don't have much in the way of diagnostic tools to figure out if it's a solenoid, battery, or connections (well, those are easy enough to check). To work on it in the garage I have to move DW's car out for room. Ever since it wouldn't start a couple of weeks ago I've been so PO'd about that I've been thinking of selling it.