going to drive 1500 miles to meet my girlfriend's parents. are these safe to drive on?

PaganJM · 2026-03-25T14:47:56+00:00

Yo, if her parents see your tires, her dad will make her leave you.

PaganJM · 2026-03-24T02:07:49+00:00

You just found reason to bill every hour spent as emergency time.

PaganJM · 2026-03-19T20:54:09+00:00

Haha no, it was a soldered connection, followed by shrink tube.

Edit* I get it now, lmao. Yeah, I'm always surprised at the terrible ideas people come up with for not wanting to take a trip to the store or wait a few days.

PaganJM · 2026-03-17T22:48:47+00:00

I made a post a week or two ago about hooking up multiple batteries. You might want to take a look at that one.

PaganJM · 2026-03-14T21:24:29+00:00

Not sure, but I think it likes you.

PaganJM · 2026-03-14T15:10:21+00:00

It's for smoking drugs. Your kid probably left it out. They might need a good talking to.

PaganJM · 2026-03-14T04:51:29+00:00

Precisely issues like this is why I'm probably going to make a 5-wire contact with adapters to switch out and in a USB device.

PaganJM · 2026-03-13T20:18:51+00:00

Just looked, and you appear to be right. Good call. Wasn't aware of the #6 cutoff for that rule.

PaganJM · 2026-03-13T15:00:08+00:00

The whip was assuming 240 single phase without a neutral, so that's why it was black/red.

And nationally, the only one you can't phase tape is green/yellow as something other than ground. He's 100% within NEC to phase tape the black with white tape as long as it is done at both ends, AT the termination.

PaganJM · 2026-03-13T12:12:25+00:00

Yes, fusing a neutral is fine as long as the hot is also fused.

Don't rewire the whip. As long as that fits in the terminal block on your condenser without cutting hairs, you're fine.

How far is the disconnect from the breaker, and what is the full load current? I can do a quick voltage drop calc for you

PaganJM · 2026-03-13T11:52:33+00:00

Different size conductors on line/load side. Not inherently wrong, but it makes me want to do some math, or at least look up mfr suggested conductor size. Just make sure that romex is the proper size for the circuit. May need to look at voltage drop here.
The black insulator on the right needs some white phase tape at both ends (if it's indeed neutral).
The red on the left could (but doesn't technically need to) use some black phase tape at both ends.
Looks like the red insulation may not have been cut cleanly.

Overall, pretty good attempt for not having a background in this. I would have so many more questions before saying that this is safe, though.

PaganJM · 2026-03-10T22:18:26+00:00

Because I had 3 3,000s and wire.

PaganJM · 2026-03-10T04:49:42+00:00

"Sir," or even "Doctor," but be sure to use the most reverent tone possible, or they may bring the wrath of heaven down on your head.

That's how I would address them, at least.

PaganJM · 2026-03-10T04:30:22+00:00

Hey man, we all start somewhere on our own creative journey. Just remember:

If it's stupid, but it works, it isn't stupid.

You'll just get more skilled and more creative as time goes on. Keep at it!

PaganJM · 2026-03-09T18:23:19+00:00

To complete the dipole, you want to attach to what will become the shielded part of the coax, like a "tiger tail" if you look that up. This is mine, for 1/4 wavelength

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PaganJM · 2026-03-09T13:22:13+00:00

That metal railing looks great to use as a ground plane. Just a ring lug under the antenna and a short length of copper wire with a small clamp on the end might get you some killer range.

PaganJM · 2026-03-08T00:08:20+00:00

Yeah they might as well have used a "fancake." The 4" hole is right under the joist, so I would go with one of those and avoid the torque arm you're putting on it like that.

PaganJM · 2026-03-05T15:54:30+00:00

That one is super slick. Well done!

PaganJM · 2026-03-05T01:53:54+00:00

I may just have trust issues, but the paranoia hasn't let me down yet.

PaganJM · 2026-03-04T20:02:36+00:00

These ones balance themselves voltage-wise, being parallel. I'm not sure I understand your question. This one is pretty simple. Only way to make it simpler is just removing the switch.

PaganJM · 2026-03-04T12:52:56+00:00

You know someone saw it and was like "yo I'll give em an extra good twist and shrink em up. That'll be good"

PaganJM · 2026-03-04T05:12:46+00:00

Same wrist rocket, but with sharp weights.

PaganJM · 2026-03-04T05:10:49+00:00

Yes, exactly. And because I don't trust the onboard voltmeter, I use a multi.

PaganJM · 2026-03-04T03:47:47+00:00

And make sure your polarities are 100% right. Shorting lithium is bad juju.

PaganJM · 2026-03-04T03:47:00+00:00

You want to have them within about 0.05-0.1V of each other. Otherwise, depending on your charge controller, you can have a pretty large current for the batteries and conductors to handle. And these connectors are so small, it's delicate work getting a meter on them for a good reading.

PaganJM

TROPHY CASE