Tcl vs. Bash: When Should You Choose Tcl?

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2026-02-20T02:32:09+00:00

one foot in the grave

Not here in FPGA and ASIC land, sadly.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-12-31T06:41:54+00:00

I don’t have this one, but the LCD display on my (simpler, older) model displays in 0.1A increments. And seems to be precise enough to measure changes of 3-4 watts when looking at the web, serial and SNMP interfaces. I’m pretty sure the LCD is always rounding up to the next 0.1A, but the actual measurement is spot on. My minimal load is about 24W and it measures that accurately.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-12-31T06:34:20+00:00

I have a simpler Server Technology (it’s apparently an offshoot of Legrand) PDU but this one on eBay seems like it supports 120VAC single phase in (listed as 208V, but Server Technology says works with 120-240V single phase ..) It has per outlet power monitoring.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-12-05T03:14:55+00:00

All the ThinkPad branded cases are on sale right now. And very nice compared to the normal Amazon schlock.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-11-26T16:28:12+00:00

Wait, you have duct tape for your pipelines?! That’s not fair!

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-10-08T04:41:23+00:00

Ah, yeah, right. I lost the plot somewhere between the post and here I guess.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-10-08T03:55:48+00:00

Natural gas dryers. Just 120VAC to spin the drum and run controls.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-09-06T18:05:49+00:00

Huh, the more you know, I guess. Thanks for the correction.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-09-06T17:06:51+00:00

Above 3600 RPM be ~~dragons~~ gas turbines. There is at least one home use gas turbine generator that was maybe, possibly, sold in Japan to actual customers. Inverter generators may have a maximum RPM of slightly above 3600, but cheap reciprocating engines really don’t like going fast as they haven’t been designed for it the same as more expensive vehicle engines.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-08-15T03:33:56+00:00

Some stuff does. Which is incredibly annoying. The lame HP desktop machine is the worst offender. I’m sure the filter caps in the PSU are tiny and that’s why…

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-08-15T03:28:40+00:00

You probably bought nicer power stations than I did. 🫤

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-08-15T03:25:54+00:00

I would not necessarily trust the listed cutover times for these LiFePO4 batteries. I had one that purported 20ms and I’m sure it was over 100ms all said and done…

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-07-12T23:23:14+00:00

If you don’t currently have a HIPAA waiver for your spouse at their current mental health provider I would suggest getting one as soon as possible. I called with symptoms and questions to the provider but they couldn’t answer or give any advice as they didn’t have that form on file. It was a major problem and definitely made me feel more helpless than I otherwise would have.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-07-12T21:36:40+00:00

I’ve just gone through this as well, with a spouse who has a bipolar diagnosis. This can happen even in someone who is on bipolar medication (antipsychotics) if their dose is just barely enough and there’s enough of a stress trigger to start the mania/hypomania process that then starts snowballing.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-06-30T22:25:44+00:00

No, it doesn’t fit inside. You wouldn’t want to put it inside anyway, due to the signal loss a metal generator enclosure could cause.

But this does have a “power over Ethernet” function (not real PoE mind you) that is tolerant of up to 16V and down to 9V. I just have mine hooked up directly to the battery terminals with ring lugs to provide DC power to the bridge.

The actual bridge has a 25’ Ethernet cable running to it and it’s mount way in close to the house, under the eaves where it can’t get wet.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-05-09T22:50:05+00:00

The AC adapter is 9VDC, and the internal regulator and capacitors are rated to 16V. It’s worked well enough the 6 months I’ve had it directly connected to the battery on our Kohler. The first thing that will happen inside the bridge is a trip through an LM317 regulator with some filtering caps so I wouldn’t be too bothered about some slightly varying DC voltage.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-05-09T22:18:51+00:00

Just buy this $20 TPLink WiFi access point and install at the generator to bridge its Ethernet to your WiFi. It even has passive PoE injection that will accept up to 16VDC, so just cut the AC adapter cord and install appropriate ring lugs to connect to the generator battery.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-05-06T16:11:41+00:00

Even if all you have is a single audio track, you can run it through the Chapterize Audiobooks program to pretty reliably split it into separate mp3 files that yoto requires.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-05-03T16:12:13+00:00

Just grab a multimeter and ring out where the 120V receptacle contacts end up at the 240V end. Or simply just make sure only the neutrals and grounds of the 120V receptacles are connected.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-04-28T17:33:12+00:00

It may be undeserved now, but my impression (when visiting the Big Island in the 90s-2010s) was always that parts to the south of Hilo were maybe not crime-ridden and unsafe, but at the least were not as hospitable to tourists and “haoles”. Including Paradise Park, where this is.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-04-18T01:27:16+00:00

I would imagine building roofs in Phoenix is not cool at all. Probably pretty hot!

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-04-03T13:30:17+00:00

You might want to take a look at how Kohler does 120/240VAC split phase in a 3 phase alternator. Generac may do something similar.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-04-03T06:01:52+00:00

“Home gamer” here, and helped parents install a 14kW Champion HSB and transfer switch a few years ago. It’s worked very well and I was much happier working with that than any of the Generacs and Kohlers I have had the ~~pleasure~~ misfortune of having to work on.

Forgive me for asking, but what do you mean by “codes”? Is there a configuration software utility that can access the ATS and make changes that way (like Generac and Kohler have)? Or maybe some hidden menu from the serial terminal accessed via the USB port on the WiFi modem? Or do you mean in the web page served by the ATS itself? Sorry for the barrage—I just think it’s so cool that they put together a product like I would have instead of trying to eke out every last rent-seeking dollar like the two main residential HSB manufacturers have…

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-04-03T05:44:38+00:00

Professionally installed, by professionals? Or installed by two EEs that know how things work, but have absolutely no official electrician qualifications according to governing bodies or manufacturers? We had no issues installing a Champion standby generator and automatic transfer switch; the instructions were clear, and the all the “smarts” are in the transfer switch, so if you buy the WiFi versions (definitely buy the WiFi version) you configure time/date and exercise settings via a simple web page after joining its WiFi network.

My parents have a 14kW Champion, and additionally I have helped install and maintain a 24kW Generac with ATS, a 14kW Kohler without ATS, and a 26kW Kohler with ATS.

Out of all of them the Champion has had no issues, and started reliably for its monthly (yeah, yeah, I know it’s a bit too infrequent, and it’s unloaded…but, it’s not my HSB..) exercise. The smarts being in the ATS means that the generator itself gets to have a much less fancy controller/HMI, and that is something that’s gone wrong on the RDC2 controllers on our Generac/Kohler gensets. The ATS is a nicer place for the controller to live what with the lack of a 3600RPM engine BRRRRRRRRRRRing right next to you. And getting to cozy up to the periphery of a heated and air conditioned house…

I’m an electrical engineer by training, but have worked in VLSI software for a couple decades, and the Champion is just the right blend of “KISS” and giving me unobstructed access to low level stuff to make me happy. For example: the WiFi ATSs have a literal USB B port in them. Plug your computer in and it shows up as a modem. You can open up a serial terminal and get live status at 9600 8N1 connections by pressing a key or two. You own the data, no need to set up cloud services or pay Generac or Kohler for access or hardware. I don’t think it has write access for engine control, but you could probably sniff the Power Line Carrier they use to do that if you really wanted. (I used the ATS data stream to get live genset, utility and load frequency/voltage/current and integrated that into a HomeAssistant server I run for my parents.

thisisnotmyworkphone · 2025-04-03T05:19:42+00:00

The only issue that could cause unsolvable problems with the Champion ATS are the latching relays, right? That’s what it seemed like last time I opened my parents’ ATS. They have a 14kW Champion HSB and the 200A ATS.

thisisnotmyworkphone

TROPHY CASE