Subj : Solar TV Battery Test To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Sun Apr 05 2020 10:04:00 Hi Nancy! BM>> OK - you can use the messaging as a mental coffee break! NB>> As long as the brain wasn't too frazzled... Taxes are finally NB>> all figured now, but not quite finished yet.... And I keep getting NB>> long phone calls from people (or calls that I initiate that end up NB>> being long calls, too), especially in this time of social NB>> distancing... :) BM> My Mother said she had called a few people earlier this week she BM> hadn't talked to in a while. Our people are either local, somewhat of BM> a distance but talk to regularly, or in my case on the other side of BM> The Pond and so e-mail or talk to every so often. NB> A number of the longer calls have been to local people I can't go NB> out to lunch with at the moment... And then there are the almost NB> daily long calls from one local gal I'm a counselor to.... NB> sometimes more than once in a day, too, depending on what she's NB> obsessively worrying about.... That makes sense: if can't talk in person the phone is one way to get around. And counselling ad alleviating concerns can take a while: need to break down what the other person built up. BM> Glad your taxes almost done -- hopefully a bit of a refund after all BM> that work! NB> The state will be a decent refund, as it always is now, since we NB> are having a chunk withheld from Richard's pension, but then we NB> found out that our state doesn't tax Soc.Sec. at all, and allows NB> 20,000 of each person's pension(s) to stay tax-free.... so we can NB> cover what's left of taxable income with either the standard NB> deduction or the itemized one, and owe no tax at all, getting NB> everything back that was withheld... Federal, on the other hand NB> isn't nearly so generous, and taxes part of the Social Security NB> based on whatever other income (including tax-free) one might NB> have.... so we've ended up owing quite a bit more than was NB> withheld from his pension... Iowa taxes so I've have my IRA distribution taxed and then so far 100% refunded. With the new distribution going into effect in a few months (old one expires) I'm going to ask about having that changed. I'm thinking because of the eventual upcoming inheritance just half the amount withheld (and refunded), just to balance things out. BM> ...There's talk of a $1,200 stimulus check because of the COVID-19 -- BM> will be nice for the now but I'm thinking will be counted as an income BM> next tax season (so don't spend all of it!). Maybe was a good thing I BM> ended up postponing donating my books until this year: can counter-act BM> the stimulus check tax! NB> From what I've seen, it shouldn't be considered income to be NB> taxed, and as long as your income is less than $75000 ($150000 NB> joint) you'd be getting $1200 each... Maybe it counts more like a NB> tax refund, or is like a household credit.... I hope they phrase it as a gift as Iowa taxes the federal refund! (It's not like the taxes are horrible here, they just like to get money to run the state properly.) BM>> As for the woods catching on fire, always a good thing for people to BM>> be a little nosy and at least glance out the windows to check. Or at BM>> least admire Mother Nature for a couple of seconds! NB>> That's for sure... :) And as well, not to be too sure that one has NB>> totally extinguished a fire too quickly.... I've seen fires that just NB>> were tamped down and burst into flame again later, despite a night of NB>> heavy rain on it..... BM> Which I guess is one reason why firefighters stay on the scene even BM> though it appears the fire is out. NB> Indeed. And is part of why they tear apart things so much... NB> when we had our attic fire many years ago in a January, the NB> contractors came in early March to repair the roof and all.... NB> and when they tore off shingles from the roof, some of them burst NB> into flame as they got oxygen.... was really a scary thought to NB> know that that had been sitting there over our heads for a couple NB> of months and we never knew that the fire could have NB> restarted.... fortunately, it hadn't, and the rebuild went NB> fine.... But we got an enhanced respect for the power of fire... Whoa!!! I reread that to make sure I read correctly! Two months is a long time to be smoldering! Not doubting you, but is scary to thing a fire could be hiding that long! BM>>>> Do need to find a permanent home for the TV and associated parts; BM>>>> batteries and charger.... NB>>>> A place to tuck it all away when not needed to be in use...? BM>>> Right. Right now thinking ideally in the basement where I'd like to BM>>> have the solar charger (in the window) - also store the battery- BM>>> operated lanterns in same area (those batteries need charging also!). NB>>> That seems reasonable... :) BM>> Now to do it! NB>> Yup. ;) BM> Side-tracked myself while I was waiting for a part; ordered a few as BM> inexpensive for some other potential projects. "Buck-boost" regulator BM> which cuts (so 'bucks') a high input voltage and boosts a low input BM> voltage. (Cheaper to buy than build!) Will be set so the output BM> voltage (powering the TV or other project) will be 12.0 volts BM> regardless of if the input voltage is 15 volts or 5. NB> Those do sound helpful... Did you get them yet....? (So now can NB> you get back to figuring out where to store the stuff...?) ;) Got the buck-boost device -- seems to work as advertised. Not that I doubted as is a commercial device (used in cars, etc.), but I have a variable power supply downstairs and so played: down to around 5v, up to 20v - output stays at 12v! As for storing, thinking I might 'store out in the open': dawned on me to use the TV as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi weather station. Of course have a But First but that was expected! BM> One thing I didn't like was a freshly-charged 12-volt battery could BM> put out 14 volts which is waaaaay over the usual 10% tolerance -- don't BM> want to fry the TV! Relatively easy way to correct the overage. Then BM> we have the problem of if not paying attention and allow the battery to BM> discharge too much - TV would probably work until it fried itself the BM> other way. (I'm trying to avoid being too technical,) NB> And the buck-boost would protect the TV either direction.... Right: the buck-boost device will decrease the too-high input and increase a too-low input. I don't intend to run the battery to exhaustion but at least if accidentally done I'm genrally covered and won't damage the TV. BM> Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project: BM> overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could BM> produce too much voltage, NB> I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work NB> with the solar cell setup, too, then....? It can, and read where it has been used with solar cells. Now to get my Round TuIt on that project... Overcast today, plus Autumn, plus a But First. I'm going to split here, ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... I had my patience tested; I'm negative. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .