This is an heirloom pepper.  They are sweet, similar to a bell pepper.  I bought the plants online.  Read on for the source and for a video.

VIDEO

Source of plants:

SeedSavers.org – They shipped the plants in a box to my house.  As you can see, the plants survived and thrived in the garden.  No chemicals needed.  These plants were grown organically.  I have not had any problems with disease or pests.  I’m seeing an average pepper weight of 0.7 ounces each.

Seed savers says about this pepper:  “The seeds for this variety were given to SSE by Jimmy Nardello who lived in Naugatuck, Connecticut until his death in 1983. His family had been growing these peppers in that region ever since coming to the U.S. Mr. Nardello’s mother originally brought the seeds with her when she immigrated to the U.S. in 1887 with her husband Guiseppe. One of the very best for frying. Productive 24” plants are loaded with 10-12” long peppers. 80-90 days from transplant.  Heat •0•”

The peppers were originally grown in the Basilicata region of Italy.  I chose this pepper because of that reason, thinking that if the plant adapted to the climate of Italy, it might be well-suited for my climate in Arkansas, since we are at about the same latitude on Earth.  However, this plant must also grow well in cooler areas if the immigrants took it to Connecticut, so this plant will probably grow well in cooler climates, too.

I am happy with Seed Savers and am a repeat customer.  I especially enjoy growing and eating heirloom foods, which are not readily available in stores.  It feels like a treat to get something out of the garden that I can’t buy at the store.  These peppers are good raw or in a stir fry.

How to change the batteries on Spykee, the robot.

Spykee came back to life when attached to a 12V portable battery.

In the video below, we hack into Spykee to attach new leads which will later allow for the connection of an external battery pack.  We also connect a multimeter to monitor the battery volage.  We connect a 12V battery, charged with a solar panel, for testing.  Yes, Spykee works on 12V and could be off-the-grid!

VIDEO

-

Next, we connected a new external battery pack that uses standard AA rechargeable batteries.  Nothing proprietary here.  We made the new battery pack and now Spykee is better than new. His new external AA battery pack has a higher charge capacity than the original pack that came from the manufacturer.  The original pack was rated at 1,800 mAh while my new home-made replacement battery is rated at 2,400 mAh.  The batteries I chose are Imedion Low-Discharge AA batteries made by Powerex.  See how it works in the video below.

VIDEO

Testing the Original Battery Pack

I tried freezing the original batteries that came with Spykee.  That improved the battery voltage, but was not enough of an improvement to get Spykee moving.

Spykee's original 9.6V NiMH battery

The video below shows the freezing process and how freezing increased the voltage of the batteries.

VIDEO

Disassembly of the original Spykee battery pack

When I took the pack apart, I found 2 bad cells and 6 good cells.  The good cells could be used for another project.

VIDEO

I put the two bad cells into my battery charger.  One of them charged up.  That leaves me with one cell at 0 Volts.  I plan to surge it with my solar panel.  Spykee’s original batteries will live on in another application.

This user has subscribed to over 9,000 other channels... most likely a subscription spammer.

Why would someone subscribe to thousands of other channels?  I can barely keep up with under 200 subscriptions, so how could someone else keep up with thousands of subscriptions?  If they actually watched the videos from thousands of subscriptions, there would be no time left to do anything else.

Patterns

One or all of these patterns are attributed to subscription spammers:

• User does NOT show how many subscriptions they have.

• User does NOT show the channels to which they subscribed.  Why hide this?  Maybe they are ashamed of some nasty channels to which they subscribed?  Or maybe they are selfish and don’t want to share good channels they found with others… Or, they are actually subscribing to thousands of other channels and don’t want people to notice their spamming pattern.

• Their Recent Activity does not show any video likes, favorites, or  comments made on other users’ videos.  Or, they have NO recent activity.  They obviously are not keeping up with their subscriptions.  They simply want to be noticed as a subscriber on other channels.  It’s a free advertisement for their own channel.  It’s selfish behavior.

• Comments on their page are dominated by people thanking the user for their sub.  This shows that the user’s main activity on Youtube is subscribing to channels, not actually watching videos or commenting on others’ videos.

• User subscribes to lots of channels that have no video uploads.  Silly.

This mass subscription behavior is spam.  Why does Youtube tolerate this?

Since they won’t show us their subscriptions on their channel, how can we know if they are subscription spammers?  Perform a search.

Perform a Search to Identify Spammers

Example…

site:youtube.com subscribers vorojtsov

About 5,920 results!  Not all, but many of these pages lead to channels that vorojtsov subscribed to.  This is not a perfect search, but it will reveal the pattern.

How does vorojtsov keep up with all his subscriptions, find time to eat and sleep, plus make his own videos?  Yeah, the answer is he is most likely NOT monitoring the content from his subscriptions.  If this guy is subscribing to you, he’s probably using your channel to gain more viewers for his own videos.

Another Example

site:youtube.com subscribers happyfatties5000

About 11,700 results!  happyfatties5000 is a subscription whore!

Block Spam Subscriptions

Well, I’m not tolerating it.  I have blocked those users that I believe are subscription spammers.  Their behavior is selfish and self-centered and I don’t want them using us.  These spammers could have good videos, but I don’t like them using insincere subscriptions as a way to advertise their own videos.

I value every one of my legitimate subscribers and feel honored each time someone subscribes to my channel.  I have also subscribed back to many of my subscribers but only if I actually watch their videos.  So, if I’m subscribed to you, it’s because I’m actually watching your videos.

If you keep your subscriber list free of spam, then you make it easier for your viewers to find content that they will probably like.  If someone views your channel and likes what they see, they have a high probability of also liking what you like.  So, keep your subscription lists free of spam and perhaps your viewers will value your channel.

My Criteria to Block a User

User has more than 1,000 subscriptions OR if subscriptions are hidden, a web search shows more than 1,000 results

AND…

The user never shows activity on other channels

grambangla08 has 7,504 subscriptions. I bet grambangla08 doesn't monitor those subscriptions!

If there is doubt about a user, whether they are spamming or actually intend to watch the videos on your channel, you could send them a message and ask them.  If they don’t reply, then they are most likely spammers.  You can base your decision to block based on their response.  For me, so far it’s been too obvious who the spammers are and I have not yet felt the need to clarify with a message to the user.

Conclusion

The subscription spammers might have good content on their pages and might be good at what they do (or they may stink) but I don’t like insincere subscriptions so the above steps help identify and block them.  By cleaning up your subscriber list and removing the spammers, you are also making your channel more valuable to your viewers.

I downloaded and installed RSSOwl as a “Portableapp” (a portable application) on my thumb drive.  And I am really happy I did.  It works great and has more functionality than Microsoft’s Live product.  It’s free and available at AfterDawn.

As long as I have my thumb drive with me, I’ve got my RSS reader with me, which I can access from any Windows machine connected to the internet.

12V adapter-splitter review

This adapter plugs into a single 12V battery outlet and splits it into three outlets.  Could be used to power three gadgets from your car or from wherever else you have a 12V outlet.  I have one in my house for off-the-grid backup power.

Video review…

This adapter allows you to power up three items from a single 12V source. In the video above, I powered up a cell phone, a bluetooth transmitter, and an Arduino circuit board.

Powering an Arduino board with a 12V battery

I bought this item from MPJA Online. I have ordered a few things from them now and am impressed with their fast shipping and cheap prices. Their price for this item is $6 plus shipping. (I am not being compensated in any way for this review. This post is just for information sharing.)

Related Posts:

How to Assemble Anderson Powerpole Connectors

Charging a Media Player with Solar

Hampton Bay Solar Light Reviews

The solar lanterns are made by Hampton Bay.  I see online there are many negative reviews for these lights.  Some of the complaints I also have:

• LED is too dim
• LED won’t turn on
• Not enough illumination
• Battery contacts corrode
• Solar panels darken and become cloudy over time
• Batteries included don’t last long (I replaced mine with batteries having more mA hours)

Here are some excerpts from other reviews on the web:

“I will never by anything with the Hampton Bay name again.”  complaintsboard.com

“Very dim, barely lights. Hard to see at night. Purchased at Home Depot…” complaintsboard.com

“Most lights quit between 10-18 months so if your looking for long term lighting solution, plan on continually buying replacements…”  homedepot.com

“I always get battery contact failure and end up soldering my batteries in.”  thestuccocompany.com

“I purchased a hampton bay solar walk light several weeks ago and it just stopped working.”  askmehelpdesk.com

Cleaning the Panels

The solar panels become cloudy and weathered in the sun.  The panels can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol.

The photoresistor works better if it is clean, so that the circuit knows when the sun is up.  There is no need for the light to be on during the day.  A clean photoresistor makes sure the LED is off during the day, saving the battery power until it is needed at dark.

How to fix solar light

A few things that can be done to improve the solar light:

1. Clean solar panel with rubbing alcohol
2. Clean battery terminals
3. Press on capacitors
4. Replace batteries

If your rechargeable batteries are old or not holding a charge, you should change them with new rechargeable batteries.

Electrolysis

To measure the power output of the small solar panel built onto these lights, I used electrolysis.  I had a few questions:

How much power in Watts do these panels produce?

Answer:  84 mW in winter

Can low power be used in electrolysis?  How many volts and amps does electrolysis require?

As shown in the video above, electrolysis can be achieved with low power.  With only 3.8V and 22 mA, we are splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen!  It doesn’t take much power to make hydrogen.  Looks like anyone can make hydrogen fairly easily.

]]> http://www.elperfecto.com/2010/01/01/solar-light-maintenance/feed/ 0 http://www.elperfecto.com/2009/10/01/how-to-assemble-anderson-powerpole-connectors/ http://www.elperfecto.com/2009/10/01/how-to-assemble-anderson-powerpole-connectors/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:32:45 +0000 Earl http://www.elperfecto.com/?p=421

Two powerpole plugs connected together

How to put together Anderson Powerpole connectors without proprietary tools?   See video…

Some of the advantages of Powerpole connectors:

• Quick connect, quick disconnect.
• No soldering required.  Crimping takes the place of soldering.
• Connector installation is fast.
• No heat shrink required.
• No exposed contacts.  All metal conductors are insulated

These connectors are made and sold by Anderson Power Products.

I liked the small amp size connector so I ordered some of the bigger 45 amp variety.  Wow, those are so much more difficult to use.  I’ll never buy the 45-Amp connectors again.  The darn terminals are too big to fit into the plastic housing!  I pushed so hard and could not get the terminals to fit.  It was very frustrating and made me feel like I wasted my money and time on the 45-Amp connectors.

The lower amp versions, the 15-Amp connectors, were easy to assemble as I show in the video above.  I will continue to use those as needed but will not buy the 45-Amp variety again.  To be fair to them, the terminals might have an easier time of fitting inside the connectors if I bought their $40 “PWRCrimp” crimping tool.  ($50.20 with shipping.  Why is it so expensive?)

I bought mine through eBay for $159.00.

Here is my unbiased, review based on 4 months of ownership.  Video is below.

More points not mentioned in video…

It seems to work better when the weather is cooler. Maybe the heat makes it produce bad wind speed data. I wonder if it will resume working better again when summer is over.

Other reviews are at Costco.  Most of the reviews agree with my experience.  Here’s a sample:

“was fabulous while it lasted, but started to have too many problems after 6 weeks. wireless sensors did not connect anymore. replaced batteries, tried the adapter, moved everything around to less than 15 feet distance, nothing worked. got tired wasting my time on this unit and returned it for refund.”

“I’ve purchased 2 of these units over the past 3 years. The first time, it was the outdoor components that failed, primarily the wind gauge. The bearings seized and the company was not at all helpful in providing a solution to repair or replace them. In the unit I own now, the indoor wireless receiver failed, and looking back it was never right from the beginning…beeping randomly in the middle of the night, flashing display in the middle of the night, followed by complete blank screen and eventual total failure. Expect to use your unit for 6 months, then expect it to fail. I will not waste my time contacting LaCrosse, I will just purchase another brand next time.”

“the La Crosse failed after a few weeks, I returned and exchanged it at costco. The replacement also failed after approx 6 months, I could have returned it again but, I decided to simply toss it and not buy this brand in the future.”

Conclusion

I do not recommend this unit, mostly because it failed after just three weeks of use.  Other people have had the same trouble, so there must be a design and/or quality issue with these La Crosse weather stations.  I am looking at other brands now.

Velleman sells a kit that you can build, advertised to be a sound indicator.  “…simple sound-to-light unit for music, the hard of hearing:  can be used to indicate the telephone, doorbell, barking dog.  Adjustable sensitivity with potentiometer…“  We built the MK103 kit and made a video showing a product test and review.

The construction took an hour with the only tool being a soldering iron.  An additional half hour was required to trouble-shoot the board since it didn’t work the first time.

I found a couple components were shorted together on the bottom side due to poor soldering by me.  Another tool that would be helpful for this project is a pair of diagonal cutters, but I don’t have any, so I couldn’t cut the wires to the proper length on the bottom of the board.  I also couldn’t mount the unit to the battery pack since the wires stick out too far.  Some day I’ll buy some diagonal cutters and trim the wires down.

Once the unit was finished, it worked.

Click image above for video.

Jan-17-2008 Update

A family member gave me some diagonal cutters at Christmas so I came back to this circuit board, trimmed the wires off the back, and was able to mount the circuit board to the battery pack.  Here is the final, completed circuit:

A few observations:

A fresh battery made the circuit more sensitive and responsive than an older battery.  When I put a fresh battery in the unit, the LEDs lit up more at lower volume sounds.

The microphone was not very sensitive, even with a fresh battery.  (Turning the potentiometer all the way to one side basically turned it off.  Turning the potentiometer all the way to the opposite side led to the results shown in the video above.)  After making this video, I gently tapped on the mic with my finger and then the LED’s lit up for even soft sounds.  Some how, tapping on the mic made the circuit more responsive.  But that only lasted a minute and then the circuit went back to behaving as before, requiring loud sounds to light up the LEDs.

When I put the circuit next to our phone and made the phone ring, the LEDs did not turn on.  Our phone was not loud enough to trigger the LEDs.  However, my kids enjoyed yelling at the circuit and watching the lights turn on.

The kit was rated “beginner” level.  Since this kit requires a soldering iron, the beginner should be old enough to respect the heat of an iron so as to not get burned.  My son enjoyed watching the entire build process, helped place the components into the board, and learned about electronics along the way.