One AA Plus One AA Doesn't Equal Two AA, Or Does It?

Before we get started with today's lesson in electricity, I have to tell you this bit.

The day started off as usual with a walk with the girls. That went as you would expect. After a shower and breakfast, I made a quick trip into town to get some groceries. Nothing unusual there.

Dianna beat me to the pool this morning, so I made it to the pool about 10:30 AM. Roughly about 11:15, Cecil showed up with my ShopVac motor. Cecil had taken it the day before to see if he could get it working. I plugged it in at the gate to test it.

Oh yeah, it worked! Damn near took my finger off when it fired up. Two things - 1) I forgot to check the on-off button of the motor, and 2) I was holding the part of the motor that would rotate at about a bazillion RPM.

So, I plugged it in and promptly dropped it after it savagely mauled my finger. Dropping it didn't do much other than cause the motor to separate into two parts - both trying to go faster than the other, and with a great deal of sparking and noise. The two parts were still connected by wires. After a mili-second or three (it seemed much longer, believe me), I reached up and yanked the power cord out of the outlet.

After picking up the pieces, I returned to Cecil at the gate, and told him the motor worked fine, but would he mind trying to fix it again? I know he thought something  like Geez, what a loose cannon here. But he was too polite to say anything other than "I'll try and bring it back tomorrow."

I then returned to the pool, stopping first to clean up and bandage my finger. As I returned to the pool, I was telling Dianna what had happened at the gate, and suddenly felt a sharp stinging in my left forearm. I saw some little black bug on my arm, which I promptly whacked, and fished it out of the water. It was one of those microscopic wasps. Stung pretty good for such a small critter too.

As I finished telling Dianna about the episode at the gate, and telling her about the wasp, I got bit on the right thumb by a doctor fly. So, what else could happen now? By the time I was finished telling Dianna of my travails, she reminded me that it was a little past noon, and if I was going to catch any of the game (USA v. Germany in the World Cup) I better get a move on.

Thank God for the break. The way I was being attacked left, right, and center, it was not looking good for me to survive the rest of the pool session, much less the afternoon. So, I went back up to the house and turned on the tube to watch USA lose to Germany, but that was OK, as both sides were advanced to the next phase of the Cup.

Now, what I was really going to write about. If you follow the blog, you know I've been having problems with the weather station. After some time, I finally narrowed the problem cause to one of possible electrical error, which I wrote about several times. Billy had read some of those postings and sent along some amplifying information that I'll pass on to you.

All this technical stuff reminds me of when I was in Radar 'A' School, in the Navy, at Treasure Island. Treasure Island was a cold, bleak, wind, rain, and snow swept lump of rock in the middle of San Francisco Bay - within easy view of Alcatraz, the infamous Federal prison. There were some similarities beyond just being co-located. But, that's another story.

What Billy's bit reminds me about, is one of the instructors at the 'A' School. Of course, they were all Navy Radarmen from the fleet, serving a tour ashore. This particular instructor, Radarman First Class, Petty Officer Fogbound (No lie. That was his actual name.) was usually assigned to us for the afternoon lecture - right after lunch. Anyone who's been in the military knows it's a cardinal sin to doze off during a lecture.

Petty Officer Fogbound's favorite topic was advancing our knowledge of electricity and electronics beyond the basics (which we had just spent 8 weeks in San Diego learning about). his favorite tool or example was a character he called Joe Electron, and every time he mentioned Joe Electron, he would give a thunderous clap to the blackboard, guaranteeing that even the sleepiest of us young sailors in the class would snap to and be alert for the next little while.

You know how names sometimes fit the action. Well Petty Officer Fogbound's lectures were just that - fogbound and as obtuse as could be. Thankfully little Joe Electron (BANG!) frequently came along and jarred us awake.

So, here's Billy's piece on AA batteries. Watch out for Joe Electron...

Billy is a friend of ours, who, with his wife Pam, have lived here in Belize, and in Oregon, for several years now. Billy worked in the battery business for around thirty years, so you might say he has some experience in the field. Billy sent me this information about the various AA battery types after reading my posting of the problems I had been having with my weather station and my amazement at finding out that all AA batteries are not necessarily created equal.

Billy said; "A little insight into rechargeable AA batteries. [First, their voltages]: Alkaline - 1.5V; NiCd - 1.2V; NiMH - 1.2V; and Li-ion - 3.6V."

"When multiple batteries are used, you must know the voltage of the device to know whether the batteries are series or parallel. For instance, three Alkaline AA batteries in series are 4.5 volts; and in parallel they are 1.5 volts."

"You can replace Alkaline batteries with NiCd or NiMH batteries in most devices. Due to different charging characteristics you must use the proper charger for each rechargeable [battery] chemistry. Just remember, in batteries, the amount of voltage you get from a cell depends on the chemistry."

"An easy example is lead acid. A lead acid cell is 2.1 volts. A 12-Volt car battery is actually six - 2.1-Volt cells hooked together in series, in a container or case. A 6-Volt Alkaline battery is actually four - 1.5 Alkaline cells in series. A common 6-volt Alkaline lantern battery is really four - D-cell batteries in series, in a case."

"Replacing two NiCd or NiMH batteries with two Li-ion batteries would not be possible. In fact you could ruin the device. Also NiCd and NiMH batteries must be cycled down [discharged] completely before recharging for the longest total life. Li-ion batteries will last longer if they are not totally discharged before recharging."

"Most chargers operate on a timer principle, but some actually measure the charging current and shut off when the battery is charged, thus preventing overcharge or undercharge."

"Some other useful information: you will only get the capacity (amount of energy) of the weakest cell in a series. Kind of like links in a chain. That's why you should always replace all the batteries in a device at the same time."

"And one last thing comes to mind. Sometimes the current draw on a device is so low or the circumstance of its use is such it doesn't make sense to use a rechargeable battery. In fact sometimes it makes more sense to use the cheapest battery you can get. A good example is a smoke detector. They have a very low current draw, but also they should be replaced every year, no matter what battery you use, so why get an expensive battery? I gained a lot of happy customers when they came in expecting to spend $10.00 and left spending $1.99. Also when a battery says Super Heavy Duty don't think it has more capacity than Alkaline. It doesn't , but that is the battery I would use in my smoke detector if I was prudent and changed them every year, if I didn't change them. than I would use alkaline as super heavy duty are more prone to corrosion with age. That's the lesson for the day." 

Thanks Billy. That helps me to understand why my weather station has been kaput for a while now. Hopefully as soon as I get some Li-ion rechargeable AA batteries, I'll be back in business.

I don't think Joe Electron surprised us once, did he?

A Little Help Around the House

Boy, it sure would be nice to have someone to help keep things neat and tidy around the house. Something that would be consistent, manage it's own time and not bother us too much. Lord knows, we're busy enough as it is. Something that could...

Robby Helping Around the House

Well, maybe Robby might be stretching things a bit much. Maybe something a bit more domestic is what we have in mind. How about something that was just focused on keeping the place clean. That's good enough for starters...

Rosie, Perhaps?

Probably not quite that advanced, but Rosie's a step in the right direction. Maybe something that's not going to stretch the technological bounds quite so much. Something, oh I dunno, maybe a little smaller than a breadbox, that will do one thing, and do it well...

Something like a Roomba. Why that's it. We just happened to have friends who have a Roomba, and they've been kind enough to loan us the use of theirs for the weekend. Just to try it out and see if something like this is for us.

This is Colleen's little pet, iRobot Roomba, Spot. He or She, is all charged up and ready to go for it's second day of cleaning.

Spot, Charged and Ready to Go

Right about at the stroke of noon, Spot sang a little tune (I guess to let us and all the animals nearby know that she/he is about ready to begin the workday). Right away, Spot took off and began industriously cleaning the bedroom - especially under the bed.

Of course, this new activity requires supervision. Nelson figured he was the one who most frequently goes under the bed, the couch, and just about anything else, so he nominated himself to supervise Spot. Here he is, doing a magnificent job of it too.

Nelson Closely Supervising Spot

Apparently, we have become infected with hitekitis. I think it all started because Huey, our pool-cleaning cabana-boy robot just was so cute, and did such a good job, that the closer we looked at Bruce and Colleen's iRobot Roomba, named Spot, the more we could see similarities between the two.

Huey cleans the pool in a random pattern, if you can call it that. And that's pretty much how the Roomba works as well. So, like I said, the more we looked at the Roomba, the more sense it made for us. Then, Colleen loaned their Roomba to David and Elizabeth to try out. This led directly to their ordering a Roomba of their own. All this suggested that we should try out Spot and see if we needed such a selfless household servant as well.

The end result is, we have Spot for the weekend, and we're giving him/her a good tryout. I think it's a done deal. I guess I had better begin perusing Ebay and Amazon for a reasonably-priced refurbished version of Spot for our very own.

I've got to get out of the way. Spot is trying to clean the office as I type and he/she doesn't take kindly to anyone getting in his/her way.

Do You Know Where Your Generator Is?

It's that time of year again. Blow the dust off the old Hurricane Preparedness Plan, Upset all the snakes, spiders, Scorpions, Cucaraches, Geckos, Mice, and whatever else that has been making the hidey-hole under the stairs where the generator has been lurking, their home for the past year or so. Drag the generator out to the light of day and see if it will start.

That'd be a big no. So, I called Terrence Leslie to come give it a swift kick and see if he could get the thing to turn over.

Of course. With one pull by Terrence, the generator fired right up. We shut it down and he departed to help someone who couldn't get their outboard motor to start.

After I re-stowed the generator, I decided to fire it up once again. This time intending to put it under load by hooking up a floor fan and the chest freezer while it ran. Guess what? It wouldn't power either thing. In fact, it wouldn't power anything. It wasn't producing juice, current, or anything resembling electricity. The engine ran like a top though.

As luck would have it, I called Terrence and managed to catch him before he returned to town, so he was able to stop by that same morning and look at the thing. He couldn't make it produce current either, so it was going to require a trip to his shop and a visit with an electrician who specialized in these things.

It was a couple days later, when Terrence brought the generator back. This after a few phone calls to let me know that a capacitor (I hate capacitors) had blown and the electrician was trying to locate a replacement.

For those of you who have been regular readers of this blog, you've seen pictures of the smallish, rectangular capacitors as used in ceiling fans. Well, this capacitor is nothing like that. It's huge. Kind of banana-shaped and prongs and no wires at only one end.

Generator Capacitor - Blown

Anyhoo, it took the electician a day or so to locate a suitable (not exact) replacement. And, so, as I said before, it's back, working, and properly stowed in its cage.

I used to think that it was a huge generator and that it could power the whole house. Well, it probably could, back in the day. Back when we had one fridge, a couple of fans, a few light bulbs, and a well pump. Not now with us using two fridges, a freezer, the well pump, a swimming pool pump, lots more lighting, lots more fans, and a whole assortment of electrical and electronic gadgetry.

If I tried to fire up the generator under a load involving the whole house, why, it would probably blow a capacitor... Oops. I wonder. Could that have been why it blew before?

So, I conducted what is called an energy audit of everything we had. Number of fridges and their power requirements, the power requirements of pumps, etc, even down to the number of lightbulbs used. Not that you would normally turn all the bulbs on at the same time, but you never know. This was all to get some sort of idea of what our electrical load throughout the place is. And it's a lot more of a load than the generator can handle all at once.

Winjama Electrical Load Calculation

So, I've been modifying my 'Switch-On Sheet.' This is the sheet that I keep up next to the circuit breaker panel that tells me what order to bring electrical things back up while under generator power, but what circuit specific items (each fridge, the freezer, fans, etc., are located on, so I can bring critical things back up under generator power and not blow the generator. It also helps me to be able to switch between the various circuits, do do just that.

Upstairs Breaker Switch Chart

I could solve the problem by getting a generator (preferably with auto start) that could take care of the whole place. But that might be something to think about down the road. Like when there's more money laying around not doing anything in particular.

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Now, for something entirely different.

Here's something I've been kind of casually pondering. Trojan - you know, the folks who make Condoms, Rubbers, Cock Socks, Condomus Maximus, French Letters, Gentleman's Jerkins, Raincoats, and at least a hundred other names for the same thing, have come out with a new condom.

Rubbers

I saw an advertisement for them on TV. They're advertised as a 'dual-lubricant' condom - on the outside for her, on the inside for him.

Now, unless Trojan has invented a new way of rolling rubbers, I've been wondering just exactly how they accomplish that feat - keeping the two different lubricants separate. Know what I mean? It just sounds like some sort of magic trick to me. Kind of a wallet-sized magician's kit.

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Here's something else.

I always thought AA batteries were AA batteries. That they all had the same voltages (well, except the cheap Chinese knockoffs), and pretty much operated the same. Not so.

I learned this thanks to my weather station that I've been fighting with for months now. It seems that AA batteries come in at least three or four or more different versions, configurations, or whatever. Alkaline, Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH), Nickel Cadmium (NiCd), and Lithium Ion (Li).

Even Wikipedia has some wrong or outdated material regarding AA batteries. They say that Li batteries are not rechargeable. There is a rechargeable version.

I'm going to concentrate on the Li and NiMH and Alkaline, because that's what I ran into trying to get correct power for my weather station. What I recommend is that you read the instructions (strange thing to say, I know) for your particular piece of equipment and do what it says. it's not that the manufacturer is in cahoots with one battery type or another, but that the piece of equiprment they have manufactured may actually have different power requirements and really needs to use different batteries.

Case in point. My weather station instructions, at the very tail-end of the manual, says to use rechargeable Li AA batteries in the transmitter and Alkaline standard batteries in the receiver. It did come with a couple rechargeable AA batteries, so i lucked out and used the correct batteries in the transmitter when I initially set the station up.

But when it came time to replace those same batteries, did I read the instructions? No. All I knew was that it took AA batteries. I stuffed NiMH ones into the transmitter and had nothing but frustration for months while I was trying to figure out why the damned thing just wouldn't work right. I also put NiMH batteries in the receiver. All contrary to the instructions.

Well, there's a reason they specify those different batteries. it seems they produce different voltages when they're being used. Why? Who knows. It is probably a conspiracy to complicate consumer's lives. I'm sure it is.

Anyway, it wasn't until I was at my wits-end and the virtual end of my rope that I sat down and really read the manual. And that was when I finally found out about the different voltages and such and why they specified the batteries they did.

Which brings us to now. I'm trying to find rechargeable Lithium Ion (Li) batteries here in Corozal. Hah! But wait. There's more. Not only am I trying to find rechargeable Li batteries, but they also take a different charger than the NiMH batteries - unless you happen to luck out and have a charger like Colleen has.

Her charger has a switch on it so you can change from Li to NiMH charging, but only if you charge two of either type at a time. You can't charge one Li and one NiMH. Time will stop and the world will end if you do that. You have to charge two Li or two NiMH. And remember to put the switch in the correct position for the batteries that you're going to charge.

I have access to Alkaline AA batteries with no problem. Those I'll use on the receiver. it's the transmitter that is the problem until I get the Li rechargeable batteries.

I have a whole slew of NiMH rechargeable batteries and a charger for them. The only problem with all that is that I have nothing that needs an NiMH battery - rechargeable or not.

Anonymous Insults Neither Needed Nor Accepted

Hi Anonymous Commenter.

I'm sorry, but if you don't have balls enough to sign your name when you insult someone, don't try to use my blog to do it. Why don't you start your own blog. Then you can say whatever you want to whoever wants to read your drivel - which, without your name accompanying your comment, is all that your comment is - drivel. As such, it's deleted.

Enjoy your day.

Cheers,
Dave Rider