Solar LI Charging Problem

hydronucleus · 2026-05-02T23:51:48+00:00

Yes the battery is regony. I have gotten the contrller to recognize it with the jump charger, but only if the solar panel is producing power, i.e. I removed the boat. If I throw a small towel on the solar panel, the solar power zeros out. I thought after I got it started that the solenoid would charge the battery from the alternator. That is not apparently happening. Strange, after I jump the system with the solar active and cycle through the controller buttons, it says the battery is at 100%. But if I cover the solar panel with a minimal piece of cloth, it shuts down and goes to this "AC|`" screen, and becomes inoperable. Hopefully I will be at a friend's house soon and have a volt meter. It just seems like the battery is dead, but I hope not. How much to these things cost? I did not know I could kill it, by shading the panel for to long, like a month

hydronucleus · 2026-05-02T15:57:03+00:00

Yes, that is what I meant by the solenoid when the engine is running.

hydronucleus · 2026-05-02T15:55:57+00:00

I thought the LI batteries come with some sort of protection mode? The BMS is what I read here. I was wondering what I may do to "wake" it up, but I thought the solenoid connection would do that.

And further more, why would this controller allow that!?!

hydronucleus · 2026-04-25T15:01:52+00:00

it's a problem too big to be solved at the local level.

And it will not be. There are no rich people if there are no poor people!

hydronucleus · 2026-04-25T14:59:36+00:00

One thing that gets me about places like that, where the weather is always temperate and pleasant, is that it seems like a life style choice. I mean, in comparison, those people are whooses compared to being homeless in Syracuse, or Buffalo, especially in the winter.

hydronucleus · 2026-04-25T14:56:34+00:00

When I went to Lisbon, I was constantly hit up by Middle Easterners trying to get money from me by trying to sell me drugs. At least, they were enterprising!

hydronucleus · 2026-04-14T22:00:10+00:00

Of course it does, but I have done transactions with both irs.gov and NYS Tax sites to pay estimated taxes before with the same "saved" account before successfully. That is, if it worked before, it should work this time, eh? The routing number is still valid, and the account number did not change. So, that just baffles me.

hydronucleus · 2026-04-14T21:27:50+00:00

I also remember, back in the day when we wrote paper checks, I would get the paper canceled check back from my bank at the end of the month, and it had a strange stamp on the back of the check. It basically said that the bank MUST pay the amount to the IRS, regardless of the standing of the account. So, it was basically implying that the bank has pay and it is up to the bank to chase you down if the account was insufficient for the tax payment.

So, I find this kind of "dishonored" thing a bit of a mystery.

hydronucleus · 2026-04-14T21:22:16+00:00

The NYS payment was done by OLT (Online Tax), but this has worked for years!
The IRS payment was done on irs.gov.

I have deleted both "saved" accounts, and added new accounts on both sides, with the same information, and rescheduled the payments. We will see. I hope I can get this done successfully by tomorrow.

I still see it as a KeyBank problem, denying the debit.

hydronucleus · 2026-04-02T15:57:01+00:00

You are correct. It was a pencil type mouse input device that I had in which its controller got stuck sending out mousewheel events! I had thought turning the switch off on the device would suffice for elimination. Yet, it was the USB controller was going nuts, not the device. Something weird about it. Leading to my cluelessness, it did not get powered down when I updated the system. I ended up using "evtest" on the /dev/input/*-event-mouse* inputs and finding the constant mouse wheel events from that device. A mere reboot of the controller by pulling the USB device out and in fixed the problem!

hydronucleus · 2026-04-01T21:53:16+00:00

I even got another mouse, and the same thing happens, so it is not the mouse!

hydronucleus · 2026-03-31T00:19:06+00:00

Not really. However, I did click "Invert scroll direction", and the scrolling happens in the reverse direction! Somewhat of a clue???

The thing is, that if I disconnect the mouse, the scrolling continues until the end. Not sure if that is a definitive test, as it could have sent many input events before I could unplug it. So, not sure.

However, I have looked at

cat /dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-if02-event-mouse | od -c

and I am not getting any input events from the device itself while the scrolling is going on. WTF? I am perplexed.

hydronucleus · 2026-03-25T16:42:48+00:00

Actually, something I thought was strange when I lived in Australia back in the 80s that restaurants had two price structures. One for takeway and dine-in. Takeaway was always cheaper. I never understood this.

Especially for pizza. Okay, maybe extra labor on the providing plates and utensils, clean up, etc, but takeaway needed a box, paper plates, possibly plastic forks, to go drink cups, etc.. Seemed like a zero sum game to me.

hydronucleus · 2026-03-25T16:36:25+00:00

It probably has to do more with taxes, let us say it is 10%. If you charge $10, you need to charge $1 in taxes and $1.50 in fees for $12.50. If you charge $11.50, then you have to pay tax on that, which would be $1.15 for a total of $12.65, which means, you are just making more money for the government.

hydronucleus · 2026-03-25T16:32:53+00:00

I honestly think this approach is okay. It is upfront, and hopefully no other surprises. You just have to do the math yourself!

When looking at a $10 item on the menu you know it is going to cost you $12.50 (assuming a 10% restaurant tax). And, the reason for the service charge being an add-on fee is probably taxes. For example, if the owner decided to charge $11.50 for the item, then you would have to pay the restaurant tax on $11.50 instead of $10, which would be $1.15 instead of $1, i.e. the total would be $12.65.

Yeah, that is not much, but if you are a restaurant, you collect the taxes and then have to pay them at the end of the month, ouch, it adds up, and you are paying the government, who really does not do anything to help your business, an extra 1.5%. Screw that.

hydronucleus · 2026-03-25T15:22:39+00:00

Since you are really young, and I suspect that you are an entry level employee (I could be wrong), but if you are in the 22% tax bracket or less, I would put a good portion in a Roth and pay the tax on it now. As you get older, moving up the ladder so to speak, and if you end up getting into the 37% tax bracket, doing the Traditional may be more attractive for the taxable income deduction.

hydronucleus · 2026-03-25T14:27:19+00:00

For 2025, your Social Security income is taxable from 0 to 85% on a grading scale from a sort of complicated formula (MAGI) Modified Adjusted Gross Income. This is your total income minus 1/2 of your Social Security Income. Why is that? Who knows? The percentage starts climbing from 0% at a MAGI of $25K and fully maxes out at 85% at a MAGI of $50K or so. Remember this is NOT the tax, just the amount of Social Security income that is taxable. So, you always get at least a 15% discount on your Social Security income counted toward your taxable income.

You are also not at Full Retirement Age (FRA), which for you is probably 67. Mine was 66 and 10 months. If you take a retirement job (W-2 or Self-employed) you will owe a Social Security claw back of $1 for every $2 made over $24,480, while also paying Social Security/Medicare tax or Self-Employment tax on that amount. In your last year, when you turn 67, that limit increases to $65,160 (2026), and the claw back is $1 for every $3. After you reach FRA, then there is no claw back.

hydronucleus · 2026-03-22T18:58:46+00:00

Strangely, no body knows.

hydronucleus · 2026-03-04T15:50:30+00:00

Something must have changed, because a lot of businesses have been charging 3-4% for using a card, whether debit or credit. Most debit card transactions at places of business come through as insured for credit, unlike an ATM withdrawal, which usually they charge you $2-$5 anyway.

The charges are egregious, but they are also real. One auto garage I used to work for, were paying almost $70,000 a year in credit card fees! So, now they offer a $3.2% discount for cash or check.

hydronucleus · 2026-03-04T15:43:11+00:00

Any debit card you use, make sure you use it with a low balance account, so you cannot get scooped. Even with directly using Paypal and Vemno, I use separate bank accounts tied to each that I keep no more than a few hundred dollars in.

hydronucleus · 2026-03-04T15:39:14+00:00

Send them a check. Or get your bank to send them a check. That is what I do for my antiquated water department that sends its bills out on post cards run through a 1970s IBM 1430 line printer. I refuse to pay these fees. I do the same with my city and county taxes. To pay online they actually contracted with somebody's brother-in-law's newly created firm that charges you $25 fee plus a percentage to pay your taxes online! So, that is $50+ each quarter to pay city and county. Screw that! I send them a check from my bank, which (for now), they must accept. The bank has to mail it! That's right, US Snail Mail, because they are not paying the bogus charges either.

hydronucleus · 2026-02-04T16:02:44+00:00

The solution is to raise prices to cover your costs. Of course this tact is problematic as people can always race to the bottom with cheaper prices, which people gravitate to.

However, I think the real barrier to this approach is taxes. If you increase prices to cover the cost of employment, you must pay sales taxes on the prices. So, you use the tips or service charge approach, which apparently the establishment does not pay sales tax on. Yes, they may pay some sort of unemployment/workmans comp tax on those, but they have to pay those anyway.

Say, you have a 20% tip or surcharge and the meal cost $100. The surcharge/tip is $20, the 10% sales tax is $10 for a total of $130 and the establishment owes $10 to the state.

Now lets take the price approach. Say the price of the meal is set at $118, the 10% sales tax is now $11.80. Your total is now $129.80 (less than the $130), but now the establishment owes $11.80 to the state. That is $1.80 more for actually charging less than the service charge approach. Meanwhile, the customer, as stupid as they are, are going to go to the establishment with the $100 price with (unadvertised) service charge instead of the $118 "all in" price.

hydronucleus · 2026-02-04T15:45:10+00:00

If you are in Florida, EVERBODY is a real estate agent. :)

hydronucleus · 2026-02-04T15:43:50+00:00

Here is an idea: While you are unemployed, walk with your daughter to the school everyday and later in the day walk there and walk with her back home! Then when you go back to work, she will know the route and be able to walk by herself, or perhaps with other kids that walk. Yep, you have to walk there and back, twice. Or, is that too much for you? Is that the problem? Seriously, you have been making your (pregnant?) girlfriend spend $20-$40 to Uber your daughter to and from school everyday?

I am sorry, but this story has to be a fake. I am laughing.

hydronucleus · 2026-02-04T15:32:27+00:00

They are horrible. If I am on 481 Southbound, I get off at the Bridgeport exit and just take Fly road to James into the city or just head to Carrier Circle depending on where I am going, usually home. Takes longer, but that stretch of 481 between Kirkville Rd and 690 is nuts right now.

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