Off-grid post, 6-19-22

So far so good on the testing of the solar power system. It has run all day with no shutdowns. The second power module( pwm2) is charging the first one (pwm1). Maybe I should shorten the abbeviation again to #1 and #2. I get tired of trying to remember stuff. This designation is easier for me to remember. Therefore, #2 is the "beast", and #1 is the one I've had for months now. Hope that is clear.

Now my attention turns to managing what I have, and maybe to optimize it. A couple kilowatt hours doesn't do all that much. But what it is doing now is enough to make me happy. But being the greedy mother that I am, I want more. So now I'm thinking-- how to make this work even better?

There's not a whole lot of spare power left, but there's some. Small tasks can be handled without using too much. One small task would be to pump water on the roof. That would cool down the place a little. Plus there's an unutilized sprinkler thingie I installed years ago. It used too much water, but what if I put a switch on a small pump that put about a gallon up there at a time? It's at an idea stage. More thought is needed. Not to mention so more hardware, which I don't have at this time.

If that works, it will lower the power requirements just a little more. There are a couple more ideas, one already partially enabled. That would be the wall. There's no wall on the south side. If I were to put one there, then most of the sun would be blocked from hitting the sides of the trailer. That would help some more. If I could optimize all this, perhaps the need for an a/c would go away. Or it would be minimized. An a/c uses way too much electricity for a solar power system like mine. A "beast" could handle the a/c, if properly configured with a beefy bms. Number 2 doesn't have a beefy bms. Not only am I greedy, but I am cheap. Beefy bms's aren't.

A bigger solar power system may be feasible, but I'm not anxious to do that just yet. Yeah, it costs too much moola...

By the way, there's probably not enough power to run the dehumidifier for long. It doesn't produce enough water to run the swamper for long anyway. But the water is good enough quality to be put to use. But not to drink, for goodness sake.

I COULD run the dehumidifier in the early morning when humidity is the highest. It could collect maybe a pint or two before it would have to be shut down.

That's it for now.

Some Links for your Buns, 6-17-22

 

A smattering of news for those who may be inclined to follow it. God help you.



Covid News:

Covid News? Isn't that over and done with by now? Not in the Senate...

Senator Rand Paul v Fauci Subj- efficacy of boosters



Gun Grabbers, Incorporated

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Not to mention, everybody's time and energy.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas gets cold feet on gun-grabbing negotiations



Biden his time, which is limited in any case

When the commies lose, then they get even meaner...

Biden threatens to use emergency powers against oil companies

Biden also wants to use emergency powers to get around abortion bans if Roe v. Wade bites the dust.



In the "not everything is bad" category of non-news links. Don't jump off a high place yet... There may be hope after all...

CEO bans use of the word 'racist' at workplace

Fusion is always around the corner, but most of the time, it isn't...

1st light fusion concept

An oldie but goodie... If you like those kinds of things...

I knew you when 1965 song

Off-grid post, 6-15-22

It's been more than a week since I've gotten the "beast". That's what it was called when it was sold. For purposes here, I'll rename it power-module-2. The first one is also being renamed to power-module-1. Or better yet, let's shorten them to pwm1 and pwm2. Whew! Anything to lighten my load. Been busy lately.

Both modules are configured and installed where I want them. As I write this, pwm1 is powering my swamper. Pwm2 is receiving a charge. Between the two of these, I can do a number of things. Supposedly, they have nearly 2 kwh of electricity storage potential. I'd say it is a bit less. Maybe not so beastly after all.

The system produces upwards of 2 kwh of electricity from the solar panels. That is on a good day. Today was a bit cloudy. I'm looking forward to cooking some more meatballs. Lol.

The goal is to run the swamper and the necessary ventilation to make it work efficiently. This is achievable. But success cannot be claimed just yet. If this latest adjustment works, there won't be any more shutdowns. Even if that does happen, I can switch to the other. However, if it does happen, it will befuddle me. I think the problems were with the bms. It shut down the inverter for no apparent reason. There's got to be a reason, but there's not enough information to figure it out. So I disconnected that part of the bms which protects the battery from over-discharge. Given the fact that the inverter will shut down automatically before an over-discharge condition can occur, this bit of redundancy is expendable.

With a little luck, all will be well. I can then move on to other projects.

That's all for now.

Trump heading for re-election?(updated)

Update:

This post was penned after the primaries, and before the conventions. If memory serves, Trump passed the poll that would have been a dead ringer for a loser. That poll was the in which they asked if you were better off than you were four years ago. More people said that they were, than otherwise. Every President, until Trump, would win if that was a good number. He had a good number, but he "lost".

There was talk about a steal long before the election. The question is not about the steal, but why wasn't it stopped beforehand? Even further, why hasn't it been stopped afterwards? Everybody knows the answer to that one. It's the Establishment that didn't want Trump. The Establishment faked an election so that it looks like Trump was bounced from office by the vote of the people. This was not the case.

Biden didn't win it. Who could believe that a guy who can barely talk could win an election over an incumbent, whose polls were favorable on the electability metric?

The election was rigged. Propaganda to the otherwise would make Goebbels blush. Biden was installed by the Establishment. Now they are doing what people said that they would do-- run him off after a sufficient time. Nobody in DC is willing to do the right thing. What they may end up doing is anyone's guess. But it can't be good.

The original post follows. It seems to have aged well. Not much has changed. If anything, things are getting worse. We're getting the worse of both worlds. Bad government and no accountability for the same.

The GOP is said to be on the way to a big win. But for what? More of this?

Originally posted on May 28, 2020

There's plenty of reason for caution on the optimism. In fact, there is a lot of reasons for concern.

Let's start off with the Wuhoo Cuckoo Flu. If mask-wearing is any indicator, then the Donald is in Deep-Doo-Doo. At least it would appear so in my neck of the woods in the Hill Country of Texas. It is here that Trump should do the best, but there are a lot of folks around here wearing masks. Texas has a good record with the virus, compared to NY. But the people here are really scared of this virus if the masks are any indication. In my county, the masks are mostly off, but next door Burnet County--woof. You'd think it was in New York City.

Another reason for concern is that the Democrats are going to steal the election. Not maybe, but absolutely. I'm guessing that they aren't going to take any chances in the blue states that went for Trump last time. Mail-in ballots are on the way to Pennsylvania. Wisconsin is a likely bet as well. Michigan would probably be a hard one to win again in any event, but I figure they'll steal that one too. If he loses all three, he's in trouble. I'd say his chance for winning all three is a long shot at best. If it was a fair election, maybe. But this won't be a fair election.

There are those who keep touting polls. But I've been watching Rasmussen all along. He's in the lower end of his usual range. Even in the best of times, his range in Rasmussen is in the low fifties. With all the scandalous behavior the Democrats have thrown at him, and the fact that none of it has proven to be truthful, his numbers should be a lot higher. I'd say if the truth mattered to people, his numbers would be in the high fifties. At least. Chalk this one up to the Democrat propaganda machine. The lack of support from his own party is also scandalous. Supposedly, he has a lot of support from the GOP, but that is only on paper. If they were honest, they wouldn't be faking their support. Some, like Ann Coulter, are showing their true colors. Too many fakes out there, and that includes the GOP.

In 2016, I figured Trump had a chance. I didn't think he was a shoo-in, but he had a chance. In this election, unless things break for him in a big, big way, he might well lose.

This all may seem like Democrat propaganda. But I'm trying to be a realist. It all boils down to the fact that people are too trusting of the Democrats, and the Democrats are going to take every possible advantage of that.

The Democrats should have no credibility at all. Why should they? They have a running feud with the truth. The truth to the Democrats is like the crucifix is to Dracula. It like holy water to the Devil.

If the GOP was serious about winning, we'd see an avalanche of tough talk. But it ain't likely, so get ready for some very hard times ahead. The Democrats seem to be playing for keeps, and the GOP is the Stupid Party, as usual.

Whither the GOP? Here's the answer

Update:

Why there are no more conservatives, especially in Congress

This blog post is seditious to so-called conservatives.

The committee itself is the sedition. It doesn't follow the Congress's own rules. The prosecutions are violations of the Constitution. There was no insurrection. The protestors were allowed in by the police. There's video of this.

The video is about the current reaction of certain politicians in DC. Among these are "conservatives" who cannot brook any notion that the government can be this evil.

If the government cannot be this evil, then why do you need checks and balances? Why do you need separation of powers? Why have a Bill of Rights? Why have freedom of speech? Why have the right to keep and bear arms? Do you not notice that all of these once taken-for-granted features of our government, are being stripped away relentlessly?

Why not turn over ALL power to the state, like they do in totalitarian regimes? If the current regime cannot brook any dissent whatsoever, then it is no longer a Free Republic. Have people lost sight of this?

The committee has nothing to do with the Constitution or the law. It is itself a violation of it. We are in the midst of the overthrow of the legal government in favor of a totalitarian state. Just thought you might be interested in that. Evidently the idea that this is still a free country is taken so much for granted that nobody bothers to question anything. Especially this J6 committee. Then why have an opposition party at all? What good is the GOP anymore? Will nobody rise to defend our freedoms while they are being taken away?

This just proves my point about the so-called left v. right paradigm. The conventional "wisdom" suggests that they must be "opposites" because they fight with each other. The fight is a phony one. There is no fight. Too many agree to strip all of our rights away under the notion that to keep "our democracy", the other side must be suppressed. That's what happens in fascist/communist countries. It's about freedom v. slavery, not right vs left. The country was founded by free men according to free principles. This is being taken away from us ALL. Those who can do THIS are NOT CONSERVATIVE. They are fascist or communist. We are headed to a totalitarian state, where the people are no longer free. Slavery is being re-instituted under the approval of pretended conservatives.

Original post of Jan 12, 2021....

Moderate Democrats should bolt to GOP? The link is to a post on Instapundit, in which quoted from an article linked to in the post. The article linked to isn't linked on this post, so I hope that is all clear.

Just commenting about somebody's comment. The article that Instanpundit links to and commented upon is called "Republicans have to fight".

The article claims that the GOP doesn't know how to win. I disagree. They win all the time. It's who they are fighting against that loses. We are the ones they are fighting against.

But who are "we"?

The GOP claims to be for a lot of things, but they don't fight for those things. They just talk and talk and talk. When it comes time to do something, they fail us every friggin' time.

If you voted for Trump, then there is where the center of gravity is. It should be telling that Trump's critics want to discredit and destroy him. They fear his ability to draw people towards him.

Trump's critics have been making false accusations against him the entire time. This latest thing was organized against Trump, and it posed as being for Trump. This was done in order to discredit Trump and his followers.

The problem for Trump's critics is that they aren't on the side of truth. Nothing that they have said about the man is true.

His approval numbers haven't budged since I looked the last time. That was fairly recent. It was AFTER this Capitol false-flag "riot".

Trump's people were with Trump, and Trump was still talking when the "riot" started. He DID NOT INSTIGATE ANYTHING. It is just another one of their lies.

Trump has tried to reshape the GOP, but the GOP refused. Okay, then screw the GOP. We need a new party. The GOP needs to go away.

Sometimes you have to take two steps back to restart forward. What needs to happen is that the phonies and the fakes need to go. The GOP is the party of fakes. It cannot be reformed. They resist it and destroy it eventually. Anything done within this party will also get destroyed.

If Democrats want to walk away, then consider a move towards a party that is pro- American. Neither the GOP nor the Democrats are like that anymore.

Off-grid post, 6-12-22

 

The beast awakens

This latest purchase from Battery Hookup is called the "Super Beast". I like it because it is powerful, and it has a lot of extra features. For example, it has a 100 amp fuse, and a relay system. The relay allows a small 12 vcurrent to switch on/off this beastie. That's nice, because I may want to switch it off if I need to. Maybe in a hurry, too.

It's all wired up now. However, it is not installed in the place I want to put it. I want to do some tests and observations before I put it there. Where I have in mind is not easy to get to if I need to. There's little room inside of this travel trailer. Hopefully it will stay trouble-free for a long time. As for the tests...

For short periods, I had it hooked up to all 4 solar panels. It's all good so far. The inverter is running a small fan. Whatever it was causing the shutdowns with the other battery, isn't happening so far with this one. No, the battery on the other one was not low. But it did seem to shut down after running awhile. It would start right back up the next morning. Never did figure it out. Now that I have this other beastie. I can take the first baby beast to the workbench and check it out.

There may be some more hardware to get. A switch for the solar panels. You see, I have it set up to run as 2 plus 2, or 4 by itself. If I were to switch off the 2 panels to the big beast, the little beast gets all 4 panel's output. The little beast may get too much juice to handle, so that one needs to shut down too. Actually, shut it down first, which gives all the power to the biggie, and then shut that one down too. That's if it is needed.

I looked at some switches before. Don't have any handy around here, unless I tear something up and take the switch off that. I got one of my switches that way. But I may have to buy one this time.

By the way, power generation is no simple chore. You have to pay attention to it. It isn't as easy as turning it on, and forgetting about it. Living the sweet life has everybody spoiled. Power generation is a serious thing. These things can cause fires, and if you aren't careful, you can get electrocuted. It doesn't take all that much to kill a person.

That is why I am playing small-ball, and using low voltages. Gives me a better chance to stay out of a hospital or worse. Know what I mean, Vern?

Times like these makes me wonder if I would have done all this if I knew what a pain in the butt it can be. However, if I can get it to work properly, all this will be forgotten. I'd be fixed for power for awhile. But that is getting ahead of myself. A 400-watt system isn't enough to do much. If were to set up a second power bank just like this one, it still wouldn't do much. But it would get close to running a household without losing too many creature comforts. To bring it up to something THAT good would take a whole lot more. No money and no patience for that idea. Maybe another 400 watts, and that would be enough.

That's all for now.

A couple music links

 

Crystal Blue Persuasion

This song gets a post because it was mentioned in a conversation recently. The way it got into the conversation is what's meaningful in a way. Here's how it happened: A fellow in the area brought in a early sixties model Ford Falcon. It seemed to be in pretty good shape, and that got my attention. The reason for my attention was that the family car was one a lot like this one. ( Not to be confused with the '65 Falcon Ranchero blogged about before. This one is a different body style altogether.) So I talked about the car to the owner, and he mentioned the orginal color was called Crystal Blue. This jogged my memory, and I mentioned this song's name. The guy said that he loved that song back when it came out. ( He's about my age.) His Dad was based in San Diego at the time. He was a Navy man. Ah, memories.

It's funny the things you remember. I remembered this song. My reaction wasn't quite like his. The song is rather dreamy in an utopian fashion. The author of the song said it was based upon Scriptures. Yeah, sure it was. Those people in the sixties never really grew up. Rush Limbaugh would say that about the generation that the Clintons brought into the White House back in the time. How does that utopian vision match the modern condition? Maybe the order is a bit off. The utopian vision didn't have the tribulation first. We could be heading towards the big Trib. For awhile, there won't be "peace and good and brotherhood" like the song says. It will be quite different, and in a not so good way.

So much for that...

Led Zepellin greatest blues song

The next song is said to have been a great blues song. I forgot what I wanted to write about this one. (I saved these links for awhile. Getting rid of them, so I can make space. A kind of housekeeping thing.)

This song was on one of Led Zepellin's early albums. I forget which one. There was a video which talks up this song like it is the greatest blues song in rock history or something.

It definitely has a haunting feel to it. You can feel the pain in the performance. It is kind of a "drag" after all when your old lady leaves for another guy. Bummer.

There was a black dude back in the day, who told me about a blues concert he went to. Those kind of blues, as he described at the time, also had a kind of lightness about it. But this song is just about pain, pain, pain. The impact is more serious. Are the "blues" really this "bluesy"?

Anyway, that is all for now. Cleared some space on my device, and now I can link to other things in the future. It's ideas I had for posts, but somehow didn't get around to posting.

If I can remember, I may do this more often.