Buck converter – Wikipedia
If you are reading this, chances are good you are using at least one buck converter. Buck converters, which step down DC voltage are an essential part of modern life but many people don't know much about this technology.
A Third Battery for Big Red?
I’ve been thinking a bit about adding a second accessory battery, in the bed of my truck to double the battery reserve while camping. This would provide additional power for camping, especially camping multiple days during the winter when there is little solar radiation, or even camping at campsites with a lot of shade. I want to be able to camp multiple days with ample power.
I would probably get another matching Group 24 battery, stick it in the bed of my truck in a marine battery box, and just tap it into the system via the bus bar I have mounted in the shelf on my truck cap.
I could probably do it for around $120, as I have the wire and fuse, but would need the battery, a marine battery box, and a fuse holder.
A few things that give me pause …
- A Group 24 battery weights 45 lb. While that’s not a lot of weight for a 7,000 lb pickup truck, it does add some weight, and could make things a bit further out of balance and require moving around the weight in the bed.
- The third battery would be mounted in the bed and take up space. While I have a fair of space, and things could put on top the battery box, it still more space taken up by the battery, plus additional wires, fuses, etc.
- Different age batteries could fight. I don’t really want to replace the other accessory battery, so fighting batteries could reduce the charge that they both would take. But I tend to think the advantage of the additional battery would be greater then losses from fighting.
- Batteries produces hydrogen when the they charge. I don’t want to be smelling hydrogen sulfide when I sleep, or have it be burning me. While I think the bed is fairly well ventilated, I don’t want hydrogen to build up in the cap and go bang like the Hindenburg blimp.
- The second accessory battery would be beyond the low voltage shut-off, as it would be connected directly to bus bar that powers the accessories in the truck cap. That means I wouldn’t have under-voltage protection for that battery, but with the two batteries for reserve, my very modest load, and the solar, I doubt I would have too many under-voltage conditions.
- It’s additional load on alternator and solar panel, which means it will take longer to charge two batteries even if it takes longer to discharge, and discharge cycles will be less deep.
- Plus it’s $120 bucks that wouldn’t be in my wallet anymore. While I would get a lot of use out of it, and I could use the battery box for other projects, batteries don’t last forever.
I want to give this a bit more thought, but if I do set this up, I’d like to have it all working and fully tested before my Independence Weekend trip up to Moose River Plains.
The Forgotten Tale of How a Black Psychiatrist Helped Make ‘Sesame Street’
Each show opened with scenes of children of different races playing together. Episodes featured a strong black male role model (Gordon, a school teacher), his supportive wife, Susan (who later is offered the opportunity to develop a profession of her own), a good- hearted white storekeeper (Mr. Hooper) and more. Within a few years, Hispanic characters moved into the neighborhood as well.
As Loretta Moore Long (who played Susan) later reflected: ‘“Sesame Street’ has incorporated a hidden curriculum … that seeks to bolster the Black and minority child’s self-respect and to portray the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural world into which both majority and minority child are growing.” The radical nature of this “hidden curriculum” did not go unnoticed.
In May 1970, a state commission in Mississippi voted to not air the show on the state’s newly launched public TV network: the people of Mississippi, said some legislators, were not yet “ready” to see a show with such an interracial cast. The state commission reversed its decision after the originally secret vote made national news — though it took 22 days to decide to do so. FELT Inside Bert and Ernie’s Brief Moment of Gay Liberation Tim Teeman “Sesame Street” would go on to become the most successful children’s show of all time.
Over time, though, the radical mental health agenda fueling its creation was largely forgotten. Later critics would instead increasingly suggest that the show, as a straightforward experiment in early education, benefited white middle-income children more than its primary target audience of disadvantaged minorities, and in that sense had arguably partly misfired.
Glassgow Mill Ruins
May 23, 2019 Morning
Good morning! Happy Thursday. Four weeks to Summer ️⛱️. Partly sunny and 58 degrees at the bus stop down by Delaware Plaza. There is a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 49 degrees. Talk about a pleasant morning for a change.
I dropped off my dry cleaning and hopefully they’ll get my jackets looking spiffy.👔One of the jackets is one of my old ones that I just wear on the bus or to legislative receptions where I’m likely to spill food on 😮 as I’m overserved good food and drink. 🐷 Yeah, I’m a good ol boy pig. I can complain a lot about Albany but I do like the free food and drink. 🍻 Only 13 session days left – 48 have come and gone.
Today will have a chance of showers before 2pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 2pm and 5pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 5pm. Increasing clouds 🌞, with a high of 75 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around June 3rd. Maximum dew point of 57 at 4pm. South wind 8 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 81 degrees. The record high of 93 was set in 1964.
I am pretty much packed for my Memorial Day Weekend trip to somewhere undetermined. ⛺ Maybe traffic conditions will ultimately decide where I go. I mean it’s been a year since I’ve been to Vermont and it’s the only time this year I’m thinking about going there. That said exploring more of the Simease Pond wilderness interests me too. I’ll have to study the weather more.
I’m working on finalizing my meal plan 🍴 for camp 👍and will head out shopping after work at Hannaford before heading over to the Save the Pine Bush meeting this evening. 👪 It would be a nice night to hike in the Pine Bush but I don’t think I will have time as I finalize my packing for the long weekend and get to bed by ten. 🕙
The sun will set at 8:18 pm with dusk around 8:52 pm, which is 57 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 68 degrees. The dew point will be 58 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 15 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 53 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 44 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have showers and thunderstorms likely before midnight, then a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 56 degrees at 5am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around June 12th. Maximum dew point of 58 at 7pm. South wind 13 to 15 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 52 degrees. The record low of 29 occurred back in 1963.
Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Summer ️⛱️ when the sun will be setting at 8:36 pm with dusk at 9:11 pm. Beach, baby beach I believe is the song. So many swimming holes to explore so little time. On that day in 2018, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 76 and 56 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 79 degrees. We hit a record high of 97 back in 1953.
