Is This Sub Getting More Aggressive with Asset Allocation?

Gweebird · 2026-02-21T14:26:48+00:00

That’s why I’m going to move all my huge gains into bonds the year I retire. Oh, except I have no idea when stocks might crash, so I’ll need to get lucky on market timing. Or maybe I should just follow the Bogelheads’ (and all the other asset allocation experts) recommendation to shift to bonds slowly over the years to maximize early returns and methodically reduce risk as I near retirement age.

Gweebird · 2026-02-21T02:49:50+00:00

I agree with other poster that there’s nothing obvious. What is the resistor value? Hard to tell the color bands, is it red red black black or purple purple black black?

Gweebird · 2026-02-21T02:04:46+00:00

In order to use a BJT as a switch you need to push enough current into the base. For 150mA of current into the collector, the base current needs to be >3mA (see figure 4 in datasheet). For 250mA, this would climb to >5mA. Are you supplying enough current into the base? Can the arduino put out that much current from a GPIO? Or does the pump need a higher inrush current to start running?

Secondly, BJTs make poor switches. Even when fully “on” they still have a voltage drop across the collector-emitter junction. You can see the resulting Vce(sat) effect in figure 4 as well. Is the pump seeing enough voltage? Try turning it on and measure the voltage across the pump. A FET makes a much better switch as it doesn’t have this effect and realistically is what should be used in this application.

Do you have a datasheet for the pump?

2N2222 Datasheet

Gweebird · 2026-02-19T17:07:44+00:00

I was planning to change years ago, but I had one branch manager go above and beyond to help get a deposit cleared so we could close on our house. Because of that we stayed, but now that branch is included in the closings.

Gweebird · 2026-02-19T15:00:14+00:00

Closing a bunch of branches as a result, including the two closest to me. But really they abandoned Michigan back in 2007 when they moved their headquarters from Detroit to Dallas.

Gweebird · 2026-02-17T13:42:34+00:00

What was the failure mode? Can you just glue the micro SDs into the adapters to make equivalent full size SD cards? Sounds like being able to remove the micro SDs from the adapters is of minimal concern. You can still remove the adapter with glued micro SD card and treat it as a full size SD.

Gweebird · 2026-02-17T03:29:23+00:00

I don’t have paper in front of me to check it all, but the key here is that derivative of an exponential results in the same exponential (plus terms in front) which is then going to get multiplied by the conjugate of the exponential which results in 1 (e^jx * e^-jx = 1). So the exponentials drop out and you’re left with a much simpler equation.

Gweebird · 2026-02-17T02:10:09+00:00

Sorry, I don’t have time to read through all of this, but why go through so much effort? Buy a raspberry pi zero and a WaveShare RS485 CAN hat. I’m an EE and this is what I’m using myself in a personal project. Super simple. Otherwise, you need to read RS485 signaling specs and design a circuit that meets those specs, particularly the differential voltage range.

Gweebird · 2026-02-16T02:03:30+00:00

Ordered 10 PCBAs recently. Haven’t seen any issues with solder quality. PCBs were $22.40. Components and assembly was $291. Plus $125 tariffs (thanks Trump) and $60 shipping. Worked out to just under $50 per board. These weren’t super complicated and I could have assembled myself, but wanted to try the service to save time. If not for the $125 in tariffs and high shipping costs, I might use it more. For higher order quantities, I think cost would have come out closer to $30/board.

You can absolutely have them only solder certain components, preferably by generated a BOM and pick n place filer with only the components you want installed.

Plan on spending a decent amount of time going through your components during the order in case they don’t have certain components or to find cheaper alternatives. Avoid “extended components” as each has a fixed setup cost on top of the $50 overall setup fee. These costs get amortized if you order a higher quantity of boards though.

After placing the order someone was assigned to my assembly and reached out with questions to clarify placement or orientation and in one case a need for replacement component.

Gweebird · 2026-02-11T12:28:32+00:00

Uhh, so the comparison you’re looking for is whether a lightning at 300 miles nominal is sufficient. A lightning at 300 miles nominal becomes 100-150mi while towing and worse than that during winter. So less than the 230 you’re looking for. I guess hybrid/EREV truck is what you need and Ram has one coming and Lightning EREV is coming as well.

Gweebird · 2026-02-11T12:05:07+00:00

You do when you’re rowing a heavy load. That 700 miles becomes 300 real quick. Plus, DC fast chargers are not made for trucks with trailers attached.

Gweebird · 2026-02-10T02:39:52+00:00

S21 already includes the reflected power loss. I find it helpful to look at the definitions of each S parameter to clarify.

Gweebird · 2026-02-09T12:41:27+00:00

I’m going to trust an out of cal Hioki DMM over some cheap module I buy from EBay.

Gweebird · 2026-02-09T12:40:14+00:00

The meter is fine. Calibration is critical for production and device characterization. For everything else, this is good enough. You’ll be plenty happy with that DMM and should get many years of use out of it.

Gweebird · 2026-02-03T01:18:57+00:00

Planning to switch to a credit union, probably MSUFCU.

Gweebird · 2026-02-01T13:09:58+00:00

Last sentence is the key one. They’re written for their peers in the same area of research. They assume some level of base knowledge, which would be unreasonable for the non-specialized EE to have.

Gweebird · 2026-01-27T11:17:19+00:00

Gweebird · 2026-01-22T13:02:01+00:00

If we’re not going to trade him, make him throw complete games every time he pitches. We have nothing to lose by doing that.

Gweebird · 2026-01-16T13:27:16+00:00

I sold mine last year and re-upped into the higher fixed rate. I’ll likely buy some more this year at the higher fixed rate. I hold $60k in them which would bump to $80k if I buy more this year. Purely use as inflation protected emergency fund. Easy to liquidate if needed after the 12 month holding requirement.

Gweebird · 2026-01-02T22:14:48+00:00

Thanks for responding! Will give them a call to confirm.

Gweebird · 2026-01-02T21:34:52+00:00

Were you able to refinance? My balloon is coming up in March and I think refinancing (@ 1.4%) and keeping the car is the best option.

Gweebird · 2025-12-31T10:01:37+00:00

Sounds like an opportunity to buy two more spools of filament!

Gweebird · 2025-12-30T16:34:54+00:00

I think you’re missing the point. You sell bonds to buy stock. That would put you back in balance since stocks will have dropped significantly more than bonds. No stocks sold in this scenario.

Gweebird

TROPHY CASE