Category: Technology

All things technical

Flexible Lithium Battery Charging with Orion XS and Balmar Regulator

Posted on by luken7

Done….got the Victron Orion XS 12/12 50A DC charger installed. The never-ending optimization for charging lithium batteries.

As I have a Balmar 6- Series 100amp alternator with the MC-614 external regulator, figured it would be a breeze. It’s too much of a breeze and I want some more customization. The default profile on the 614 shuts down the alternator way too soon. I want continuous duty from the alternator when motoring down the waterway, albeit with light duty. Might as well use the alternator for 12v power instead of batteries. Doing a custom config is too detailed for me.

So now using a 12/12 charger from the start battery to the house to get what I want. I like that the Orion XS is infinitely configurable. It has on-the-fly adjustments. It switches from charger mode to power supply mode to provide constant voltage for systems.

The MC-614 profile is set back to flooded. Based on the selector switches, I can still charge the lithium directly. I can also use the Orion XS for charging (yes, I have the alternator temp sensor installed too). I’m liking this setup so far. Seems to suit my needs and what I’ve been looking for. Simplicity yet flexible charging and usage options. I need to do a full diagram.

Researchers Created Tiny Camera Backpacks for Beetles

Posted on by luken7

Every year, companies like GoPro manage to pack more and more functionality into smaller and smaller action cameras that are less obtrusive to wear. But a team of researchers from the University of Washington has managed to build a live-streaming wireless camera that’s so small even an insect can wear it.


— Read on gizmodo.com/researchers-created-tiny-camera-backpacks-for-beetles-1844361973

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is 16 times larger than we thought, according to the journal Scientific Reports — Quartz

Posted on by luken7

This is really difficult to grasp, the magnitude of this and the silence that goes with it. A garbage patch twice the size of Texas now. Obviously, this requires an international effort, a global effort because in the end, it’s affects all seven billion of our family and friends.

It’s not the size of France—it’s the size of three Frances

Source: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is 16 times larger than we thought, according to the journal Scientific Reports — Quartz

Uber partner Fair gets $385M led by Softbank to grow its flexible car ownership model globally | TechCrunch

Posted on by luken7

Speaking of innovation, I can see this idea taking storm. As car ownership in metropolitan areas decreasing and the need to full ownership not in the needs for many people, fractional ownership, renting and leasing on demand is a good idea. I’d look into the feasibility of it when it hits my area.

Uber partner Fair gets $385M led by Softbank to grow its flexible car ownership model globally | TechCrunch
— Read on techcrunch.com/2018/12/20/fair-com-gets-385m-led-by-softbank-to-grow-its-flexible-car-ownership-model-globally/

Fiber is Up

Posted on by luken7

First off, I want to thank Time Warner Cable for pushing me to another provider. My plans were to wait for Google Fiber, wasn’t even considering AT&T even though they had just run fiber through the neighborhood. Last month, TWC raised our bill from $80 to $100 for 300Mb down/20Mb up. So based on recommendations of friends in ATL and Austin/SAN, we’re giving AT&T a chance.

I have to say, I was really impressed with the knowledge, experience and professionalism of the installation tech. Definitely not a TWC contractor, that’s for sure. Overall, it took about four hours with just a “minor” challenge of running the fiber through parts of the basement, snaked around some corners and into the IDF room. Yup, I said IDF room 😉 We had to do that because I, along with the builder of the home, didn’t take into consideration that I’d run fiber someday and the existing contuits and chases wasn’t going to work.

When the tech arrived and started to explain what he was going to do, I mentioned that I have a background in telco IT, and he immediately switched into our tech language. Nice little chat about wavelengths and just how much bandwidth I could really get with the right equipment, say a Broadcom ASICs powering a pair of 25Gb optics. Hmmm…

But anyway, the installation is done, it’s up and running and the bandwidth is great. 1Gb symmtrical. The real benefit here is the upload speed. Backups of datasets to Crashplan won’t take months now with a fraction of using a 20Mb upload. Also, connecting to my Plex media server and AirVideo instally connects over mobile and streams start instantly. I could get used to this. Next up is fulltime replication to the cloud.

Having flashbacks right now of downloading IBM fixpacks for OS/2, on 21 floppy disks over a 28.8k modem. Just go to bed and in the morning, hope the line didn’t disconnect. Now…? I’m thinking about throughing a TWC liberation party, inviting friends over with their laptops, open the guest network and have a download festival.

BTW, Amazon charges $59 a year for UNLIMITED storage on CloudDrive.

Challenge accepted……

 

Oh…and bye-bye TWC…

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