Oooh, the Wonders of Winter Stepping on our Solar Panel and more

Well, yet another snowfall has come and gone, with another within a few days coming again to drop more snow in our area! 

We still have a non-weatherproof folding portable solar panel of 220watts upon our roof. It's been there since late July 2022, so it's been there through many thunderstorms, high winds, and pouring buckets of rain, and still functioning! Now in its first Winter, it's withstood the blizzard of December 2022 in western New York, and many other snowfalls of more than two inches to a max of over a foot, and after the snow is either blown off by high winds, bumped off with a broomstick (as I've been doing for the past weeks), or just melted in the few rare warm sunny day[s], but it's basically been freezing in the 32° freezing temps for several months now with the exception of a few sunny days (thank you very much Mr Sun!), BUT no matter the climate, temperatures or snow, it's given us enough sun power to charge our three solar battery units within a few days each, at the very least. For the past few days, the solar panel had four inches of snow covering it, and was still giving us some wattage!!

Our batteries are from Enginstar [two batteries at 300watts each] and our newest one is the Amproad Epic 300watt battery, which at times, has exceeded the in-wattage amount of our older batteries, from our Dokio 220W solar panel Kit which they call lightweight at 9lbs, but you try putting that up alone on a roof awning! I am contemplating buying a larger capacity battery of at least 1000watts to test powering our refrigerator or other high-wattage appliances. In my few years of being in western New York, we have been extremely fortunate to not have experienced any long-lasting power outages too many times during these snow, rain or windstorms that the area seems to experience a few times each year. Typically there are thousands without power for days or more, while we - knock on wood/toca madera - still have electricity. We won't always be so fortunate, so having a battery on standby to power things is always a good thing!

Right now the exterior awning the solar panel sits on is not angled properly to get enough effective sunpower, though in bright sunny days, we only get an input of upwards of 90watts to the newest battery, and only an average of 60watts for the two older batteries. In a few more weeks when we have a very sunny warm day, I'll get back up to the awning, remove the panel and install a mount so the solar panel will be angled more effectively toward the sun. Having this mount will also keep the panel cooler with an empty space below it, which isn't the case currently. I am hoping the angled mount and air space under the solar panel will both help push the input wattage higher than it currently is!

Otherwise, we really can't complain. For the two older Enginstar 300w batteries, they each have always charged up in hours on a bright summer day, of course longer on overcast days. It's the same with the much newer and very capable Amproad Epic 300watt battery, charging up faster and often at a higher wattage rate than the other two batteries! No matter the weather, we always get some wattage coming in, and as tiny as under ten watts sounds, even that low amount will charge our batteries within 2-3 days! That's still free electricity from the sun!

We are still thinking about buying an electric vehicle (EV) but now it seems current technology will delay our purchase for a number of years, and maybe a decade. It seems there are on-going technology updates that could enable charging an electric vehicle in the same time it would take to charge today's gas cars! That would be incredible of course, as we cannot see ourselves stopping multiple times in a single day of any trip, just to wait for our car to charge in four but likely much more hours while on the road. The technology however will not be available anytime soon, along with a battery solution in the investigative process now, that could possibly power an EV for up to 1000 miles! Imagine having a car battery with enough power to do that! 

Okay, we are waiting, but we aren't young chickens anymore, and we just want our EV before we pass from this world! Maybe in this period of waiting, the technology for an affordable EV would be cost-effective and lower than what the average american EV costs today?

While we are all an "open" society and supporting the car industry of the United States for decades, the car industry is still pricing their cars for million and billionaires! If they want the support of the general public in this race to support the american building and marketing of the electric vehicle of the future in this country, they really need to talk to US: the real true Americans! We - the common people - who work for a living, and still need to have cars of any type at an affordable cost. The car companies need to price cars to sell to us the common folk, not the rich, or you might as well go take your over-priced EVs and try selling them on the Moon, because WE will not buy it. WE supported your industry in the past and you became successful and rich. It's time YOU and your company supported the American people - not the rich only. Give us an electric vehicle we can buy, enjoy, and cherish as we have of all the cars we grew up with, enjoyed, and purchased ourselves.

Price your cars for the working people, the real people of the United States, or YOU will force us to buy from your competing overseas companies producing electric vehicle, that we will purchase....  not because we really want to BUT because you forced us to look at their vehicles instead of American vehicles simply because again, you have priced it out of our budgets, and out of our price range. 

WE never turned our back on you, BUT you are again turning your back on the American people. Now, is that fair? Support us, and the people will support you. Screw us as you have for decades now, and you leave us no choice......  Of course, this is just one person's opinion and words, but don't believe us? Try it, and when your car prices are sky-high, let's see how many you sell in America and see how many WE buy of those brands from outside the USA!

Now, when will my solar battery finish charging on this overcast day?

A New Year, A New Toy

After many months of complaining about my old s5 that gives me so errors in a minute that I feel often it's more useful as a frisbee than a dumbphone, I've finally updated to a new phone.
I confess: it's a samsung again  :( 

Good news though, it's sleek and functional, unlike my s5 which has been sent to standby mode should anything happen to my newer phone. What made me go for yet another phone by samsung after so many bad news from me about this company? In the last few days of my s5, already knowing that my new phone would (hopefully) arrive soon (long story you don't want to hear), I began to take an active role in troubleshooting the s5, still in android OS 5.0 but as stated many times previously, popping up with error messages, having apps refuse to open, or open but not functioning, or giving a blank white app page, then closing within a few minutes. In some cases, it would go on for so many minutes I lost count, like when opening gallery to see images, and having to reopen and open yet again about ten times within a minute (sadly true), and still not being able to see any gallery images simply because it doesn't open correctly, and closes all by itself. A restart and/or a cache cleaning doesn't always work as advertised, even when both are done at least 20 times in a single hour!!
So, I began researching the error messages that would pop up in a single minute, and working on clearing that error. Not always would it function correctly right away. Other times it would give me a great samsung experience again, then after a few minutes, it'd just return to errors and malfunctioning......  it wasn't a great experience. So I decided to begin searching for others who would have the same troubles, who took the time and trouble to write online about their experience, and how they solved their problems (if that happened at all).

In the process, I ran across a forum where samsung owners, in particular, owners of a s5 like myself, who solved their errors by deleting the Android Webview app. It seeme many were unhappy with their samsung experience since it self-installed itself during an update, and had fewer problems after it was removed. So, I took a chance and removed it.

That was the best thing I could've done to resolve the majority of my samsung problems!

After two days of error-free use, it seemed my s5 was back to normal. Sure, after three days the s5 started to show a bit of its former self in some errors, but nothing as it really was before! Still, I was happy to see it was working as it should have been. I only wish I could have started an in-depth search of WHY my s5 was so impossible to use earlier...  MUCH earlier, as to avoid the nightmare experience I suffered through for so many months.

So, does anyone want to know what I replaced my s5 with?  :D

those amazing toys

... it took me quite a few years while I lived in Spain before I finally purchased a cell phone. I withstood the urge thinking that tiny bit of progress would infringe on my sanity and privacy. After hearing the same statement from many friends "How can I contact you for fotos if you're never home?" which of course, after I got a cell phone the calls never came....

Of course!

Sometimes it's really amazing the toys and things people can create when time and creativity is not a problem.

Take a look at these two pictures... incidentally not created by me but by my brother. Guess how these were created? It was taken using the first version of a very small and simple "camera"; the circular effect a result of a fish-eye lens "adapted" to fit over this camera's lens.

Isn't this amazing?

When one has the moment to stop, sit and take a deep breath and look around them... they will see a lot of things that are so amazing... just think that in a normal household, more than half the things found today inside a living room and kitchen did not even exist during the previous 40 to 50 years!

Most of the things we take for granted now were described in science fiction novels or movies as things of the 23rd century.... who would ever think these gadgets would actually exist and be even "affordable" in our lifetime?

Even the car that I drive now, with its electric door locks, electric windows and air conditioning.... I've never had a car like this in my life! I'm used to driving a manual shift transmission, manual roll-down windows power by hand and elbow motion, and a door that locks when you remember to push the little thingy down, or by using your key in the lock!

I agree that modern progress and technology has a lot in making our lives more comfortable, but at what cost? I miss the days when I could control completely and exactly the amount of window I wanted open or closed by turning the lever by hand, and it didn't need any electricity.

I remember that in my short and few teen years, the greatest joys then and which still apply now, were those toys or things that required no batteries, and made me think by using my brain... our personal and amazing incredible built-in computer that comes with each of us with no warrantry but is the simpliest and most advanced computer ever created in this world.

Will this technology be the downfall of this generation and of generations to come, by creating a race of people too lazy to go out to play when one can play on a handheld game console? Will we grow wide and bigger because the only exercise is between the car, the elevator or the desk and our homes? With so much porn online, will the act of "love" become a virtual sensation through online sites? Already people are starting to date through online sites, and it won't be too long before people begin marrying and conducting relationships virtually.

At what price technology? I can't wait to return to my empty apartment in southern Spain where my car - when I have another car there again - stays parked 90% of the month and I walk sometimes up to 10 to 15 kilometers a day, eating less... much less than I do here!

This was created by attaching a fish-eye lens accessory to the "lens" of the camera of a first-generation IPhone!! What one can create through ingenuity and materials at hand!


this is a 1st generation IPhone (left) outfitted with a fish-eye lens!!!
on the right is the lens alone with a juryrigged adapter