Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[FairfaxStu]

Peter:

I was snooping around and ran into this

I am guessing you plan to or already have cleaned this up and this was taken just after you got everything hooked up for the first time, or at least I hope so.

Back when I was actively into high-end car audio, I learned to grab all of the necessary components, hook them up in a "throw it together" fashion with longer wires than were necessary, and test. Once I was satisfied that it sounded good and there was no noise, I would go back and mount everything, run the wires to the equipment of proper length and make them look perfect, and finally test again.

Speaking of wiring, did you have a whole house surge protector installed at the service panel? I don't recall seeing one, but I know lightning in your area can be wicked as you have experienced several times.
-Stu

 

[Gator6x4]

Peter:

I was snooping around and ran into this

I am guessing you plan to or already have cleaned this up and this was taken just after you got everything hooked up for the first time, or at least I hope so.

Back when I was actively into high-end car audio, I learned to grab all of the necessary components, hook them up in a "throw it together" fashion with longer wires than were necessary, and test. Once I was satisfied that it sounded good and there was no noise, I would go back and mount everything, run the wires to the equipment of proper length and make them look perfect, and finally test again.

Speaking of wiring, did you have a whole house surge protector installed at the service panel? I don't recall seeing one, but I know lightning in your area can be wicked as you have experienced several times.
-Stu

Brings back some memories. Before I retired I was setting in the office one morning happily typing away on my computer keyboard. A gentleman walked in and introduced himself as the "Fire Marshal". One hour later when he left I was holding a pink slip of paper with all kinds of "Fire Hazard" violations because of the extension cords and plug in boards with a notation to correct within thirty days or pay x dollars in fines and close the office down until the wiring was corrected.

 

[FairfaxStu]

Peter:

You could potentially use something like I use on my 8U portable PA rack. It is a Furman 1U power conditioner with six outlets in the back and one in front. It features some of the best power protection that you can buy, plus it has dual pull out LED lights for lighting the equipment which are my favorite part. The pic is attached below.
-Stu

 

[pclausen]

Lol, I don't post for a few days and look what happens.

Yeah, I'll clean up the wiring back there. Just placed an order with Monoprice today for the correct length Ethernet cables. Can't believe that Best Buy charges between $12 and $30 for plain old Cat5E Ethernet cables when they can be had for about $1 each online. Wow, talk about crazy markup. HDMI cables are even worse! $100+ for a 16 footer at a big box store vs. $15 online.

Anyway, got the needed cables on order. Got the Satellite Internet service installed Saturday. Works pretty well for what it is. Ping times of 650ms is nothing to write home about for sure, but 4.5Mbs down and 1.5Mbs up is not terrible I suppose, although well under the advertised 10Mbs. I had to cut down 5 more poplars to get a decent signal.

Speaking of trees, I have been busy pulling out the rest of the pine trees, cutting up logs, hauling them to the dump (I load the trailer each evening, and then haul a load to the mill each morning at 7am before work). I have also been burning 4 brush piles around the house to get ready for putting up the deer fence, hopefully by this coming weekend.

Here are some pics of me being a logger yet again. Unfortunately the tractor did suffer some minor cosmetic damage (minor crack in rear fender and front grille pushed in), but that is par for the course when logging I suppose.

I have gotten pretty good at loading the trailer and am now averaging just under 9 tons (18,000 lbs) of logs per morning run. I kind of stand out in the lumber yard in my business casual attire.

 

[FairfaxStu]

Lol, I don't post for a few days and look what happens.

I kind of stand out in the lumber yard in my business casual attire.

Yes, when left to our own devices, we are an unruly bunch. Somehow, the business attire is not surprising since I suppose you load after work, then take to the lumber yard the following morning and on to work. I suppose you drop the truck and trailer back off each day and grab your BMW to jet to work in. I can't imagine that you drive the truck and trailer over the mountain to work because it would be very tough to park it there.
-Stu

 

[pclausen]

Yeah, that rig would be a little hard to park downtown in the employee lot, especially by 8:30 am. :laughing:

 

[pclausen]

Peter:

You could potentially use something like I use on my 8U portable PA rack. It is a Furman 1U power conditioner with six outlets in the back and one in front. It features some of the best power protection that you can buy, plus it has dual pull out LED lights for lighting the equipment which are my favorite part. The pic is attached below.
-Stu

That's pretty cool. Might just be the ticket to get everything off the floor.

 

[FairfaxStu]

Peter:

I was wrong, turns out it has 8 outlets on the back plus the one in front. Here is a link:
FurmanSound.com - Pro A/V Product - PL-PLUS C

It is not cheap but it is awesome. I highly recommend it. Those 2 pullout LED lights are absolutely the bomb for rack mount stuff and it appears that you have enough room to fit one in at the top of the rack. Your mom can then decide on how much lighting she wants from it and then power everything down/up with the flip of a single switch.

I do not recommend that, however. [Jay, am I making you happy with paragraph spacing here?] The main reason is that the turn off/on thump can be awful. It can range from a cricket in the grass to a nuclear bomb going off. Instead I recommend that the Furman be powered up all of the time and the power sequencing to other components be controlled by either manual sequencing or remote control, if possible.
-Stu

 

[jdonovan]

Ping times of 650ms is nothing to write home about for sure,

Ground station => geosynchronous sat => ground station is about 600ms. Speed of light says RF won't go any faster, Its the law.... =)

but 4.5Mbs down and 1.5Mbs up is not terrible I suppose, although well under the advertised 10Mbs

.

Beats the tar out of dialup. Should be fine for the kind of use-cases we expect your mom to be doing.

 

[pacerron]

Ground station => geosynchronous sat => ground station is about 600ms. Speed of light says RF won't go any faster, Its the law.... =)

Which speed test do you recommend?

The one from HN uses Java which I removed from my computers a long time ago.
Ron