Subj : Re: Solar TV Battery Test To : Barry Martin From : Nancy Backus Date : Sat Apr 04 2020 18:27:34 -=> Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 27-Mar-2020 11:39 <=- 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. A number of the longer calls have been to local people I can't go out to lunch with at the moment... And then there are the almost daily long calls from one local gal I'm a counselor to.... sometimes more than once in a day, too, depending on what she's obsessively worrying about.... BM> Glad your taxes almost done -- hopefully a bit of a refund after all BM> that work! The state will be a decent refund, as it always is now, since we are having a chunk withheld from Richard's pension, but then we found out that our state doesn't tax Soc.Sec. at all, and allows 20,000 of each person's pension(s) to stay tax-free.... so we can cover what's left of taxable income with either the standard deduction or the itemized one, and owe no tax at all, getting everything back that was withheld... Federal, on the other hand isn't nearly so generous, and taxes part of the Social Security based on whatever other income (including tax-free) one might have.... so we've ended up owing quite a bit more than was withheld from his pension... 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! From what I've seen, it shouldn't be considered income to be taxed, and as long as your income is less than $75000 ($150000 joint) you'd be getting $1200 each... Maybe it counts more like a tax refund, or is like a household credit.... [snip] BM>> I didn't know about the extra oxygen. It would make a little more BM>> sense if the trees were starting to releave (photosynthesis). Know BM>> wind will fan a fire, effectively giving it more oxygen. NB>> Possibly there's more ozone production from the sun, too... I hadn't NB>> known about it before either (that I remember, anyway)... one can NB>> keep learning new and useful things... ;) BM> Learning and experiencing new things is good! :) Even a 'variation BM> on a theme' ==> new way to do an old thing is good. That, too... :) 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. Indeed. And is part of why they tear apart things so much... when we had our attic fire many years ago in a January, the contractors came in early March to repair the roof and all.... and when they tore off shingles from the roof, some of them burst into flame as they got oxygen.... was really a scary thought to know that that had been sitting there over our heads for a couple of months and we never knew that the fire could have restarted.... fortunately, it hadn't, and the rebuild went fine.... But we got an enhanced respect for the power of fire... 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. Those do sound helpful... Did you get them yet....? (So now can you get back to figuring out where to store the stuff...?) ;) 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,) And the buck-boost would protect the TV either direction.... 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, I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work with the solar cell setup, too, then....? NB>>>> But you can keep it in your pocket if you aren't swayed by their NB>>>> rhetoric... ;) BM>>> And I have! Also have been swayed but on checking out reviews is BM>>> barely useful. NB>>> I tend to be mostly impervious to advertising.... unless I'm already NB>>> considering something, and have been already checking it out, their NB>>> rhetoric doesn't get to me... :) BM>> But-but-but: it's New _and_ Improved!! NB>> And.........??? BM> And?! But it's 'New' and 'Improved'!!' What more could one want?!! Working, and doing what I need it to do....? Oh, and not costing excessively, or actually not being any different from the previous item.... ;) BM>> I'll tend to glance at the electronics (more computer) advertising, BM>> sort of to see what's out there, sort of for planning future computer BM>> builds/expansions. NB>> That somewhat makes sense... not so much planning on buying as NB>> keeping abreast on what might be happening... BM> The 'buck/boost' device idea derived from a 'technical advertisement'. BM> Will admit it took a few postings of the ad to finally catch. It finally dawned on you what good it might do YOU... ;) BM>> As for the insurance ads - some are entertaining! More what perks up BM>> my ears is the "you could save up to", which did get me to consider BM>> and eventually change my insurance -- ten years ago?! Right now BM>> still at a reasonable rate, no dissatisfaction, so no need to BM>> consider switching. Will probably do a review again in a year or two. NB>> I look at the print ads sometimes, but not been inclined to check NB>> anything out yet.... I've noticed that the company we're with tends NB>> to have the least savings by switching, which tends to reinforce my NB>> idea that we're probably best off where we are... :) BM> That would seem logical. Not a bad idea to have a review every five BM> or ten years: things change. You might have purchased a ...ummm... BM> (y'know being relatively easily satisfied has drawbacks when trying to BM> come up with examples!).... Aw, jacuzzi! Maybe you thought was covered BM> under homeowners but isn't, or barely is and for a few dollars can get BM> a decent rider. Yeah, right.... not too many things we'd even consider as a possible thing.... Besides, our agent does have us come in every so often to check our coverage and make sure that we have what we need.... :) BM>>> As for clothing, food, ...furniture.... Don't really need anything. BM>>> Well, food on a regular basis but satisfied with Hy-Vee; do check BM>>> their ads for sale items. NB>> Likewise... :) Wegmans doesn't have food ads anymore, as such... but NB>> I do keep an eye out in the store at things we buy regularly to see if NB>> they go on sale, and if so, if one should get it a little early to NB>> take advantage of the sale.... and I regularly check out the digital NB>> coupons for anything I might be getting.... :) BM> Hy-Vee announced last week they were temporarily discontinuing their BM> print ad because they couldn't guarantee sufficient stock due to BM> COVID-19 issues. Did have the on-line ad, at least for this week BM> (effective date March 25), though IMO wasn't much in it; I probably BM> would have skipped if it wasn't for me being across the street for the BM> cards, etc., at Dollar General and needing a few things which rarely BM> go on sale. Wegmans had discontinued theirs a couple of years ago... long before anything like this was happening.... We just do our weekly shopping... I have noticed, though, that some of the sales (noted from the shelf tags) have quietly ended early.... I guess there's no need to stimulate sales when one at the same time has to limit how much shoppers can buy at a time, with stocks diminishing too quickly.... ;0 There haven't been any new digital coupons either... BM> Will be interesting to see what next week's electronic ad offers. Indeed. :) ttyl neb .... Windows without dos is only Winw. --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452) .