Greetings Me Droogs and Droogettes!
So we got the Red Headed Nukular Firecracker here for the weekend. We spent the day running her as ragged as I/She could possibly do. Being a couple years past the Big “50” certainly doesn’t help.
And to all who say “Ahhhh BC, yer a spring chikin compared to me!” Well, granted, I’m not that old leastways by the Stubfarts would say (per Filthie) but as DeadDad used to say “It ain’t the years boy, it’s the fucking mileage!“
And to quote Captain Willard from ‘Apocalypse Now’:
“Absolutely Goddamned Right.”
To be completely honest, my fucking odometer has turned over the 100k marker at least 3 or 4 fucking times already…
Mileage INDEED
Jes’ Sayin’
But yeah.. the realization, that despite the “things still seeming the same ole’ same ole’ ” In Reality? Notsomucho. Case in Point:
That’s the Nukular Gran #1 at about 5.5 months…
Which has now turned into this:
Speaking as one of the Grandads…
I need more weapons…
Preferably Belt-Fed…
Or a RPG…
Either way, I’m easy.
Donations welcome. Mexican Cartels, Krainian or Russians, I’m an equal opportunity weapons donation kind of dude…
I already hooked up OtherGranDad with a 12 Gauge Combat Pump and a Brick of Black Aces Tactical Double Aught Buck…
If That doesn’t work, well… we’ll have to break out the ‘bigger stuff’
So… that being said…
Tonight is now the quarterly battery check:
I keep a pretty good assortment of rechargeable batteries… A VERY big pile of CR123As and Double A’s as well… As well IMO you should too.
Now, the nice thing about all of mine is that I can recharge them via a solar panel set. I have two mini-backpack panels for emergencies:
One First Generation GoalZero, and then a second panel I got back a while ago. Think it’s 3rd Gen. The first panel is like 10 years old (the Logo is the giveaway) The second is about 5 years old. They can also be daisy-chained to double the output. Each panel is Problem is the batteries (the original ones) are toast, leastways as of tonight’s quarterly recharge mission. 30 minutes in a fast charger and zero change? Yep. They’re done.
Gotta say, ten years of use, and they had quite a few charges/recharges… guess this was the last roundup. Definitely paid for themselves over time.
So, it’s a “must do” sort of thing. I mean the very last thing I want IF shit goes ‘pear-shaped’ is to bust out some gear, and find out “I gots no juice” so to speak. Sort of those nightmare scenarios that the ‘hunted’ person finds a gun as the ‘mystery killer’ is closing in, only to find out, the weapon hasn’t got any ammo…
I mean I have a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) Battery Backup that keeps the ‘net and my PC for work operational during the rather frequent summer-storm blackouts we have here in Flor-reee!-duh! I got it from Spawn before he cut ties… It was pretty much almost D.O.A. but I watched a YouTube vid, and found out replacing the Li-ion battery was FAR cheaper and EASIER than buying a whole new UPS. Ordered me the two needed battery cells, and I now have about 30 minutes (on both PCs running, one tower, three monitors plus the router and hub for the router, as well as the I.P. phone and some other sundries…yeah, it’s a lot) worth of time. Thing is, because of the redundancy at the main Internet Hub, the local area network will still be up.
My understanding is the majority of internet infrastructure has about 12/24 hours worth of battery power. The exception being major hubs like NYFC and the business districts that have generators specifically designated to keep the net up. Locally? We got about 12 hours I figure. Last power outage, I was able to keep online until the UPS died. I might look to get another one on eBay thats close to death too, and do the same thing…
It’s cheaper and more effective that way IMO.
But yeah, prep checks…
VERY IMPORTANT
What have you done lately to stave off stupidity?
I’d recommend y’all do what I do, and make a spreadsheet that lets you know when to rotate/charge/replace/update your gear.
Dead Gear = Dead You and Family
Not so good IMO.
So, More Later
Big Country
If I’m not mistaken, our first hurricane prep tax holiday here in Florida is June 1st and the second around August 24th I think.
Good time to load up on batteries and lantern fuel.
Well, with me, Prep Check is every 3-4 months… I should have done this in April, but ‘reasons’ and sheee-it
Got a battery recharger at Christmas, Not Sure if it is only for rechargeable batteries only, bout to find out.
Got multiple flashlights and lantern looking battery powered scattered around and those Elon power saver boxes plugged into wall outlets.
They say G Dub (George Washington) had a vision from God that USA would prevail over the horned one in the end and this was 1777 vintage.
We owe the youngsters to put a stop to the frankenmeat bug pod gulag.
There is a reason to go to the Kraine, to stock up on gear.
Stupid stop by downloading PDF and samizdat such as Commander William Guy Carr regarding the Satanic pervert globalists and the 1773 RedShield (banksters) WAR manual.
Morale with various music and Mr. Bean, vintage movies that couldn’t be made in the WOKE Leap Forward times.
I was a LAN party enthusiast in the early 2000s, and one of the hard and bitter lessons I learned when Windows 98SE was the current operating system is that LAN organizers were not often electricians, so popped circuit breakers were quite common in those days. 98SE disliked sudden power loss, so it only took one instance of having to re-install Windows and then all my games at a LAN when my friends, who all had UPS, were still up and running, for me to buy APC Smart UPS for my desktops.
I’ve had my IT infrastructure on UPS ever since. All of it, including the fiber modem for internet and the 24 port house network switch.
I have a mess of Surefire CR123s, too, in those nifty surefire battery carriers.
Thinkin I ought to pick up some rechargeable AA and AAA. Why I had not thought of that until reading this post, I don’t know but it was a good thing to read about.
Quick dumb question, can you plug in your battery charger to this little solar panel you’ve got?
Yep… the Nomad (no longer sold unfortunately) came with a lil 4 AA charger/battery pack w/ a AAA adapter
I’m no longer in FL, but 20+ years there taught me: 1) Put everything important on a UPS; 2) a REALLY GOOD whole house surge suppressor is a must (the I-4 Corridor is the lightning capital of the western hemisphere). FPL offers a meter-base surge suppressor for ~$6.50/month, I bought a Siemens 140 (~$240) and put it in the meter box so it’s the first thing an incoming surge sees. Not that I didn’t trust FPL, but I didn’t trust FPL.
Computer, TV, Stereo, etc. all on 1500VA UPSes. Plus….one “light on timer” – a 1500 VA UPS with a timer plugged into it, a single lamp plugged into the timer, timer set to turn light on 1 hour before sunset on the shortest day and 1 hour after sunrise on the longest day. Lamp has a 5W LED – 40 watt incandescent equivalent – so it doesn’t draw much power, but it’s always on During Dark (the Home Invasion gangs learned that the new building codes for modern construction have the main breaker in the outside meter box so they kill the power, 5 seconds later kick in the door, 5 seconds after that turn the lights back on. Having a Light Always On provides both discouragement and target identification capability. Put a cheap luggage lock on the meter box – firefighters and power company workers can break it easily but it prevents Random Personnel from just opening the box without making noise.
Having computer, TV, stereo, lights, etc. on UPSes means power will go out / be turned off and you won’t know it so plug a Failed Circuit Alarm into an outlet – if that outlet loses power the FCA screeches like a smoke detector, providing a cue to chamber a round.
Surge suppressors should not be in the meter box, but downstream from your main circuit breaker unless they specifically state that they are internally fused. They often fail in a short circuit from a direct lightning hit. You need that main breaker to disconnect the house from the utility if the suppressor shorts, otherwise the continuous short circuit current will wind up burning your house down.
Lithium-ion and Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries should be stored long term at a state of 50% charge. You should have a charger that can charge eight or more at a time, that tells you the state of charge for each cell in the charger, and can be powered from the AC line, a car lighter jack, or from solar panels. Long term storage in a fully charged state will very seriously reduce the number of charge-discharge cycles. Keep a few in a fully charged state so that you have some ready when needed. Nickel Cadmium (particularly) and Nickel Metal Hydride cells should be stored long term at a fully discharged state.
I used to be an electrician, and am now an electronics engineering technician and have built systems aboard the Curiosity Rover on Mars. I know what I’m talking about.
Thanks. Can you recommend a good charger, especially for AA rechargeables? I have tried several brands that were supposed to be for NiMH, but they either overcharged or undercharged or didn’t work at all.
I have two favorites:
La Crosse BC-900 Does AA/AAA in NiCd and NiMH. It has a mode that will take cells that don’t hold a charge and refurbishes them. It can take several days, but they will hold a charge again when its done. It has both an AC adapter and a 12V cigarette adapter. They don’t make this one anymore, but you can often find them on eBay.
I also like my Miboxer C4-12. It does Li-ion (in about 40 sizes), AAAA/AAA/AA/A/SC/C/D. It has a 12V input and comes with an AC adapter. It also has a USB output to charge a cell phone and can charge the phone in a power outage by using cells in the charger.
Mine handles 4 cells at a time (except for 2 D’s) and is several years old, but they now have an 8 cell. They’re reasonably priced on the Zon. Check to see which model fits your needs:
https://miboxercharger.com/en/
Yo BC
You may find getting a solar generator with pass thru charging a better option than a UPS.
Has many uses beyond as a UPS and likely less costly.
I did exactly that to use as a UPS back up for a pellet stove. $250 solar gen vs 1K plus UPS and I use it to run a mini fridge, in the non winter months, in my work van. Works great YMMV.
JT
You can tell your Grand daughter is going to be a pretty woman when she grows up and if she has her Grandma Gretch’s figure, you better stock up on ammo because in a few years you are going to have a line of teenage boys at your door wanting to date her.
B.L.O.A.T. Buy Lots Of Ammunition Today I believe is the acronym LOL
Your Gran daughter is very pretty already…but red hair always means active trouble!
Planted 3 apple trees in the old orchard and spaced 3 more to start another. Tested old 22 rf a neighbor gave me. K Mart 100 golden Remington @ $4.12. 10 rounds stayed on a 1.25 spinner at 50 yds. Better than good enough. Assembled a seed planter. At 72 years old stooping to plant is no fun. Lots of work in the coming week.
I used to use a lot of UPSs when I worked in IT. The local battery shop had ‘replacements’ for about 1/3rd what APC wanted for new.
Unrelated, but since you might have known dood? He was the commander in charge of the medical unit at Gitmo…
https://sonar21.com/now-for-something-different-navy-captain-killed-while-trying-to-meet-underage-girl-for-sex/
I left before he took over… like a month before no less!
Thank GOD too… I have enough issues with just my having worked there…