Off The Grid

Meshcore news Tonight we limited the number of hops that about a dozen local repeaters will repeat. Traffic comes in heavier and heavier each night. We’ve started seeing stations from Louisiana and Texas here in SC. So…. If someone in Ohio sends a packet without a region scope and its already been repeated 10 times it will not be repeated by the Florence sc repeaters. If you specify a region such as us, us-sc, or us-southeast it will go up to 64 hops. Translation: if you want to communicate with someone far away you should specify a region in your packets.

Amazing stuff.... a 32kwh battery drawn down at 200amps for an hour. And to think it has 628ah, so It could do this for another 2 hours. https://youtu.be/ekql33bxwkU

Yesterday we got a pallet of 70 sheets of "master rib" siding, the same stuff as on my workshop. We are replacing the vynil siding on the house as it has become brittle and has cracked in a few places. When we originally installed the vynil we put a J channel at the bottom and caulked it down to the concrete porch surface. Although it is holding the j channel very nicely, it is not a 100% continuous bead of caulk. When we get a blowing rain it hits the siding and runs down and into the basement every once in a while. I've decided to use a diamond saw to cut a 1/8" wide groove about 1/2" deep about 1inch from the wall into the concrete. We'll shoot a bead of caulk in there and set some Z flashing down into the groove. Once the caulk sets up, I'll finally have a continuous water repelling wall around the house. We will then set the corrugated metal panel on top of the Z fashing and affix to the wall. Water hitting the panel will run down and around that z flashing. I did a small section today as a test and a 4" diamond wheel on my battery grinder cuts like butter. I'll post pictures tomorrow. I've got to make a guide for the grinder. Looks like the hardest part is going to be cleaning up all the old caulk.

This repeater is up 400ft and covers a radius of about 14 miles (ignoring the outliers).

This repeater is up 65ft and is 6 miles south of I-20. It covers about 15 miles of I-20.

Moar brain dump. When you connect PV panels in parallel you can get away without fusing two strings. because even if one string of panels shorts out, they are engineered to accept twice as much current as they produce. Check the label on any panel and you'll find numbers like Isc 13amps , fuse at 30amps. However when you combine 3 or more strings of panels now you have a situation where one string could malfunction and the two neighbors could dump amps into it. So when you parallel 3 or more sets of panels you must fuse each individual string at the manufacturers spec (ie probably around 30amps). There are inline fuse holders that have the MC4 connectors or you can use a combiner box with fuses or breakers.

Brain dump.... when connecting power sources in parallel you should fuse each power source individually. That way if something goes horribly wrong the malfunctioning unit can pop it's own fuse. Telsa car batteries consist of 7700 individual 18650 or 2170 cells. Each one is connected to it's peers with a 5 amp fuse. If one cell malfunctions it will pop it's own fuse and the rest of the pack continues to operate. None of the chinese manufacturers are fusing individual LFP 280 or 314 cells. They just strap them together and hope for the best.

To follow up from my previous post... here is a picture of a 48kwh Panda battery. it has 3 314ah cells in parallel with no fusing between cells. If one cell were to short out, the other 2 peers would dump amps into it and likely make a lot of heat. This is poor engineering practice. For comparison here's a picture of a yixaing 32kwh battery with individual MB56 cells. Much better, much safer.

Neighbor found on his property. Shot in the ass and ran away. Could not clear the fence because of his wound. There’s a hot line on top of that too. So poor guy flailed around getting shocked and gouged until he couldn’t do it any more. Guys ethical kills please!

If you are going to order a 32kwh battery, be aware of three things: 1)It MUST use MB56 cells. Several manufacturers are placing two 314ah cells in parallel to make the capacity. This is NOT good engineering practice. 2)You might calculate that you need 32kwh and think you can buy one battery but that battery may be limited to 200amps. If you need 12kw out of your inverter, you will need 250amps and will fall short. In order to get 12kw you will likely need two of any battery. 3)There are many good deals on batteries that do not use JK BMS. If you get one of these you may have vendor lockin when it is time to add more. JK BMS is the universal standard. Vendor A battery will communicate with Vendor B as long as they use JKBMS.

This is the motherlode of ICF training. Watch the first, skip the next two and it gets detailed quickly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYktAiOSF0&list=PLMFDU7ZHdfWpq4Nul1yohz3koxVQwKui8

Solar patio light used to make mesh repeaters is $5 https://www.lowes.com/pd/Harbor-Breeze-60-Lumens-1-Watt-Black-Warm-White-Solar-LED-Spot-light/5018244381

kinda neat... I'm sending messages to another mesher in Florence. Meshcore sent it the first time as a flood packet (ping pong off anything and every thing). Once I got an ACK from him, we had a path discovered. I got ACKs that say each message was delivered.

If any one wants to know what I need for Christmas.... https://mechmaxx.com/products/round-hay-baler-silage-machine-30-inch-width-20-inch-diameter

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