electric motorcycle battery pack dissection

Posted on 2016/02/06 by gaspo

48V at 40Ah, this is quite the LiPo battery pack. well, it was, before it self-discharged. looks like about $1K to replace all those magic baggies, last picture can see the magic smoke has leaked out and left an aromatic grunge behind. at least the BMS has a clever tab attachment setup. searching for LiFe replacement options. anyone recommend source for 20-40Ah that would fit roughly 210x210x150mm form factor? only one cell has 2V on it, the others 0.2V at most, so no youtube pack puncture fun here.

Almost Summer

Posted on 2016/02/03 by gaspo

it is said that plants know the weather long before it happens. now we have science, so to see what it is they know. here is 2016 air temps so far, and last year 2015. notice the white (colder than 2015) upper air is warming up fast (er than 2015). my prediction, summer will be here by march. there may be another burst of upper cold or two before then, weather is never predictable, only observable.

Solar Sail probe steers like a hangglider.

Posted on 2016/02/03 by gaspo

a hangglider steers by weight shift. to over-simplify, the pilot moves the body weight in relation to the balance point of the wing, inducing a lateral force, that turns the craft. this soon to be launched NASA NEA Scout probe is powered by a solar sail that catches the sun’s photons. in order to steer a course other than away from the sun, the craft will move its center of gravity in relation to the sail very similar to hangglider weight shift. because, physics.

Named Hurricane in Janurary

Posted on 2016/01/14 by gaspo

never seen this in my lifetime, a named atlantic hurricane in January.

totally fits with my theory, this is actually a spring storm, and since spring comes right after winter, but winter was only 2 weeks long, Alex is first spring ‘cane in my book.

from http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/TC.html

spring is here

Posted on 2016/01/12 by gaspo

spring is here. marigolds and daffodils are already at it.

so who is good at plant identification?

is this milk thistle?

and what’s this one?

Clear Signal, Cold Tops

Posted on 2016/01/12 by gaspo

my satellite reception is plagued by noisy power lines nearby. but every so often, the pass times when the grow-lights up the road are not on, and the cloud tops are cold enough, that the color enhancement mode works. expect tornadoes when this upper level cold trough makes it over the ridges.

notice how the signal was clear enough only for 20-45 latitude. also of note, the system cloud line extends from well south into Baja, all the way north to Alaska.

working fifo Lemmy ghost

Posted on 2015/12/29 by gaspo

so here’s what a working high-speed fifo looks like. is it just me or is Lemmy ghosting my machine???

i’ll take a shot on NYE for you Lemmy knowing you are in the hypknowtron bringing the real party to light.

and when it’s not syncing right just for comparison…

m-class flare

Posted on 2015/12/28 by gaspo

just to summarize, it’s when the sun does farts in our direction, like this M-class,

there is some sort of “ringing” that can put the odds even for tectonic bumps. here’s south pacific island seismo starts to get “choppy” (i know, scientific terms) that my theory says precedes earthquakes. not all farts make eq. not all eq are fart triggered. but the BIG ones (2004 xmas and 2009 fukushima specifically) tend to have large solar components.

now im not saying there is going to be a big (7+) quake soon, but the odds are getting even.

for a dollar i’ll tell you where and when i think the trigger happens.

hint, this page is where i pull the seismo’s from,

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/monitoring/operations/heliplots_gsn.php

snow at night

Posted on 2015/12/26 by gaspo

perfectly clear night last night, made for brrrrr and easy view of new snow on the IR channel. all the white you see on west coast and over to the rockies is snow on mountains, not clouds. (well, some clouds of course, but mostly snow). something haven’t seen in a long time, and hopefully more coming with the front off to the west..

NOAA 18 southbound 70E at 26 Dec 2015 13:57:08 GMT on 137.9125MHz, contrast enhancement, Normal projection, Channel A: 3/3B (mid infrared), Channel B: 4 (thermal infrared)

old art new trix

Posted on 2015/12/26 by gaspo

rescued the DC3 this summer, and finally got around to teachin this old dog new tricks. here’s the frame with the lenses removed, and about 1/2 the guts cut loose.

the cork for the glass is molded and rotted, hey, she’s 13 years old or so…

here’s the new brain on the bench. 11 channel touch sensor, at90usb1287, and level shifter set to drive 4 led strip channels (clocked simultaneously), looking like 8 led on an edge, so that’s 80 strip led’s going in to replace the 6 handmade ones.

gotta put a shout out to saleae for their logic8 bit analyzer, pulling SPI data live off the bus is a big win talking to “smart” slaves…..

and here’s the long look with strip on the bench and bc7#10 getting his firmware firmed up.

this is what she used to look like, soon to be 10x brighter and 100x smarter!!!

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