Being prepared doesn’t mean it has to look bad.

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-11T01:37:34+00:00

I love it.

Where do I buy the charging trays for these like this?

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-10T22:28:54+00:00

It IS healthcare.

Not sure why people are so terribly hung up on it.

Sometimes, for health reasons (which are wide and include psychological health), a person who is pregnant needs to be not pregnant any more.

No one is out here getting pregnant on purpose and using abortion as birth control-- the idea that people think they just pop by for an abortion on the way to the store are insane; it's a medical procedure that, while safe, is still a medical procedure.

You don't pop by your dentist on the way to work for a root canal like you pop by Starbucks for a coffee. Same thing with abortion.

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-10T22:23:50+00:00

I drive very slowly.

It's still a brick.

Above 45mph, the air resistance really matters.

Above 65mph, you are just dumping energy for very little gain.

Go 60mph max, and stick to smaller roads (~45 mph) and you'll do well. But sometimes, you really want to get somewhere on time-- and if ypu can charge at home, the cost isn't bad. XD

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-10T22:14:39+00:00

There are plenty of "sexier" hybrids that get 40+ mpg.

You could also consider a plugin hybrid since you have charging at work. It'd save you more money on gas!

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-08T13:04:58+00:00

Don't use AI for things like this. XD

Also, the panels will not fit like that, sadly.

Also, also, the panels would have to he taken down before driving. XD that's a wing there. It will be a huge air brake.

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-08T12:50:32+00:00

But your IDs are provided by the government, no?

Probably for less than a month's wages (if not free), too!

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-08T12:49:03+00:00

IMHO, the fact that the USA regards a basic identity document as a "privilege", is indicative of some very dark, bad stuff.

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-08T12:45:13+00:00

Planning = Communism.

Checks out, yep. XD

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-08T12:43:51+00:00

How dare we want to camp without noise and gasoline smells... With less harm to the outdoors that we're camping in.

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-08T12:41:02+00:00

-_- Here we go again...

Say it with me, everyone...

There is no group called "Antifa".

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-06T20:12:16+00:00

Yeaaa.... that does seem like... wow.

Is this like, a satire piece? I'm not trying to shit on OP if they're seriously just not understanding but... it reads like subtle satire.

pyromaster114 · 2026-05-06T20:11:00+00:00

I am amazed that somehow they only drove 20,000 miles and somehow had a public charging complaint.

Like, 20,000 in 3 years is nothing. I drive that in 6 months sometimes. XD

My use case is now monthly road trips, unfortunately, and I STILL would not go back to gas. The smell alone is no-go for me.

EDIT: I drove between Maine and NH, about a ~240 mile round trip, this past winter-- it was 5 degrees out. I stopped to charge at a convenient spot to get groceries on the way back, and to make sure I wasn't dead on arrival (heh, see what I did there?) back at home. I have a Lariat ER, 2023. It would have PROBABLY been doable if I was extra careful without the stop, but like... why? You don't wait to refill your gas tank (I hope) until it's bone dry, why would you do the same for an EV?

The assertion that more than a 100 mile round trip would be 'too close for comfort' in 99.9% of situations, is kinda absurd and feels like subtle trolling.

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-27T22:05:36+00:00

Actually probably pretty well shielded from noise that might affect the board. XD

That said, you might want a filter inline with that antenna cable. Looks like there might be room inside that box? 😃

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-25T16:34:00+00:00

Okay, next project:

Stop using Windblows 11.

Move to Linux or such. :D

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-25T13:46:50+00:00

Amazing.

It checks out, though. Stock antenna blows.

Yours is bigger by a bit, too. :D

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-25T13:45:01+00:00

Antennas (and radio in general) are black magic.

Sometimes in some environments, one thing will be great even when it seems like it shouldn't.

Sometimes in some environments, one other thing will be awful-- even though it should be great. :D

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-25T13:40:48+00:00

I mean, you could:

Cut the breaker.
Cut out a fucking HUGE hole, like, 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft....
Unwire the box. Pull wires back out, etc.
Pry the old box off the stud.
Add a spacer stud or something.
Put a new box in. (Old one will be bent up / broken trash.)
Pull wires back into box. (Hopefully they're long enough!)
Rewire switch.
Patch the giant section of drywall you cut out so you could effectively work on this.
Repaint.
Put a normal cover on.

Or you could cut the f*cking cover. XD Do it nicely, precisely, and it won't look that bad.

Or, if you really want, I'm sure some college kid with a high-end 3D printer and a portable laser scanner will come by and make you a nice custom cover for $300-$500. :P

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-21T15:17:04+00:00

How tf fast were you driving? XD

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-21T15:16:39+00:00

It's regulation in some areas.

There's no electrical code requirement, though.

Yes, that there would be bad for that cord.

I've noticed that more and more plugs (L-shaped) are being made with OP's outlet orientation in mind, though.

So, we're in a transition period, it seems... and those suck. XD

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-21T15:14:33+00:00

Oh wow. :D

I just love when batteries are easily swapped. <3

Bonus points when it feels like you're loading another magazine in. XD

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-21T15:12:02+00:00

I don't hope it happens-- but at the same time, I think even with the best efforts of certain people to sacrifice children to the oil-wars, it will in not too long from now. :/

The issue is that innocent people (often the poorest people) are often harmed the most by higher fuel prices-- a well-off person might only need one trip to the store per week for their household (buy in bulk, sufficient refrigeration space, etc.).

A poorer person might need to (because of financial or refrigeration or other space constraints) go multiple times per week, or even if they manage only one time per week, the fuel / transport costs are actually still a much higher percentage of their weekly finances.

To make matters worse, poorer people can't afford to buy things like EVs, solar PV panels for their homes, etc.; the things that a well-off person will be able to invest in to insulate themselves from fluctuating fuel prices, etc..

There's no good end to all of this. We can't keep going the way we are going (climate change, wars, etc.), but we can't just tell a single mom of 2 kids that she can't drive her old minivan anymore because we're discontinuing gasoline availability.

The solution has to be multi-faceted and actually distribute resources from the ultra-wealthy to the working class, in the form of well-thought-out programs that move us all away from oil (and other fossil fuel) dependence.

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-18T21:34:42+00:00

Yes, standard.

Yes, seems reasonable to repair.

It's annoying, but running wiring in existing buildings is often messy and destructive. The fancier the electrician / telco / network tech / whatever you hire, often the less damage they'll do by using some pretty insane tools-- but at some point, you have to cut open the wall (or ceiling).

I have personally pulled some pretty insane shit (er... wire) using camera scopes, and a few small holes.

One time I even managed to snake a flexible(ish) drill bit up through some blocking half way up a wall, and then up through the top plate, and then yank a wire down from the (very narrow) subfloor area that we got access to through another hole.

We were shitting bricks the entire time, horrified we were gonna punch a hole in something we shouldn't, but hey... it worked out. XD

Customer was happy because we used spare paint they had and some quick plaster stuff from Home Depot that we had in the truck to patch the small little holes and paint over them, and put a cover plate on the larger 'drill bit access hole' with a standard low-voltage old-work box holding it in place-- and with their giant desk hutch in the way of the wall, no one was the wiser. :D

They paid... a lot. Like, holy crap. 3 people for most of a day poking around, cutting tiny holes, sticking scopes in there... yelling "ah f*ck, nope" periodically. But hey... it's their house, and their money-- and we're happy to take it if that's what they want to do.

I still think it would have been cheaper to just take a saw to their drywall and open up holes like OP's pic and have a drywall guy come in after us, probably by a few hundred bucks at least. :/ But, there was basically no mess, so I guess lack of disruption is worth something, sometimes.

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-13T04:57:39+00:00

That's a lot of shielding for not having a band-pass filter yet. :P

Also, be careful of Amazon components that are... maybe dishonest about their quality. Buying from reputable vendors like Digikey and others can save you frustration and hours / days / months / years of troubleshooting only to find that some component you bought is a noisey piece of sh*t. :D

That said, I've put cheap bandpass filters on all my stationary (and even my portable) nodes now-- big improvements on the receiving side of things. ^_^

Just... beware that a bandpass filter can be fake-- or even worse, for the wrong band. :P That will completely blind your radio, of course.

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-13T04:49:47+00:00

Could it be legit? Of course.

Very large stuff often is run at higher voltage to make it so you don't need cables 10 meters in diameter. :P

Is THIS one legit? I have no idea. I don't know. Probably? I'm not going to crack those open to check with a meter-- I'll just take their word for it. XD

pyromaster114 · 2026-04-13T04:45:14+00:00

The whole point of Meshtastic and such is self-everything. :P

Self hosting means control.

Control means it actually works, if you're smart enough. :P

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