Good morning!!!!

[Buppies]

35 high of 61 today another unusually warm day Cleaned up around storage building yesterday very wet

Prayers for all in need

 

[ronjhall]

Need to pour first cup of coffee. 20° with cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 41° with cloudy skies. Yesterday's Dr visit for wife went well. Got 3 Dr's all talking together about her care. Tuesday's Dr visit got it started. Today I may make it into shop to work on projects. No other plans. I am still doing my 15 exercises twice a day for arm. I am surprised at how much energy it takes. Keeps me from doing as much as I want to get done some days. But I am staying well exercised for this time of year.

Everyone have a Happy Valentines Day.

Jay, around here tree removal/care can be expensive. Last trees I had removed made a deal with local contractor. The job was not a full day job. Why not use my job as a filler on a short day. Got the job done for 1/3 of the quoted price. I did have wait 3 weeks to get job done. Sounds like your job is more than just a short day.

Rick, my replacement LEDs are over a year old. Have not replaced a single one yet. The Fluorescent tubes would lose 2 or 3 every year during the winter. They did not like being turned on in cold weather.

Prayers for all.

Good Morning All.

 

[daugen]

Buppies, hope you are feeling better, on the mend.
I'm afraid it's mud time coming up.

always a silver lining, veggies planted are just loving it.
Lettuce, onions, kale, spinach, cabbages and a half acre of collards now planted.
Glad I took the chance and got them in early. But then local ag agent said do it.
Some days you are the windshield and not the bug.

 

[Rich B1]

Good morning, 21 going to 45 or so later. Dry day at last. Everything is soggy after all of the rain/snow/temperature fluctuations this week. Not only is it Valentines Day, it is the first day this year the sunset is 6:00 PM locally! Yea!

Had one cup of coffee.... now the &@$# coffee maker won稚 pump water. I despise those machines.....wife likes them.....gas station coffee for cup 2.

No work today.....round 2 of fixing the root canal. Hopefully things are ok and this is last trip.

Everyone has a safe and good day.

 

[toppop52]

I see lots of questions in that response. More helpful would be links that explained how the magic LED tubes can work without disconnecting the ballasts, and whether or not the ballast still consumes energy.

I'm sorry I'm too busy chasing electrical gremlins that seem to be coming out of the woodwork, probably due to the rains, to be much help flushing out the answers to these burning questions. I'm just happy that my garage lights still come on, but then I've probably just jinxed myself, and tomorrow morning I'll get to find out why they no longer work...:confused2:

How does ballast factor affect energy savings calculations in lighting?

 

[toppop52]

Went to dinner with friends last night, we went back to their place and shot pool for a couple of hours, just call me “ Rusty “! We had fun though.
Valentine dinner later and maybe dessert! LOL

Picked up the Monte Carlo yesterday, drives like its on rails with the 1.5 “ lowering springs, gas shocks and fat sway bars.

Have a great day, prayers.

 

[toppop52]

26, head to 54, lots of frost. 64 tomorrow they say.

 

[ronjhall]

How does ballast factor affect energy savings calculations in lighting?

Still confusing. A LED fixture that replaces a 2 tube T-8 fixture uses 36 to 42 watts. Using the info on linked site is showing that I would be better off just changing tubes for wattage usage. :confused3: Other than the chance of ballast going bad. Cost wise it's better to just change tubes.

 

[toppop52]

I didn’t have a choice, one garage door opener shorted and caught fire and blew out all the ballasts except one. So I went to Sam’s and got them on sale that was October 2017, so far they’re great. Mine are like the ones Rick bought.

 

[ronjhall]

I didn’t have a choice, one garage door opener shorted and caught fire and blew out all the ballasts except one. So I went to Sam’s and got them on sale that was October 2017, so far they’re great. Mine are like the ones Rick bought.

I have 10 of the Honeywell fixtures in barn from Sams Club. They work well.
There are 10 old florescent fixtures in shop. All with LED replacement tubes.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Still confusing. A LED fixture that replaces a 2 tube T-8 fixture uses 36 to 42 watts. Using the info on linked site is showing that I would be better off just changing tubes for wattage usage. :confused3: Other than the chance of ballast going bad. Cost wise it's better to just change tubes.

Link from Randy's article.

Plug-and-play vs. ballast-bypass and other linear LED solutions

 

[lostcreekranch]

I didn’t have a choice, one garage door opener shorted and caught fire and blew out all the ballasts except one. So I went to Sam’s and got them on sale that was October 2017, so far they’re great. Mine are like the ones Rick bought.

These are the 8' lights I installed.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/EnviroL...-with-T8-LED-5000K-Tubes-ST704T1850/300380331

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 52F @ 5:15AM. Windy. Thunderstorms likely, accompanied by heavy rainfall at times. High near 55F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.

I had to look at the calendar this morning to make sure it was Valentine's Day instead of Groundhog day. First thing I noticed is that there was no water pressure, just like yesterday morning. Well actually, the first thing I noticed was the rain hammering on the roof and the wind shaking the windows. Just like yesterday, another Pacific storm moved in overnight, and it's bringing big winds and rain with it. We did hit the 3" mark for rainfall yesterday, and so far there's just shy of another inch in the gauge, with no sign of any let up anytime soon. There is a difference this time around: David has turned on the faucet for the Pineapple Express, and the temperatures are much warmer as a result. So from that aspect at least, life is good! That and the rainfall is enough to interrupt the satellite internet signal, so I read when it's coming down hard and hit the send key when a lull comes along.

That was a good article on the ballast factor, Top. Thanks for the link. I'm more than happy to give up 10% on efficiency for the convenience of the plug'n'play LED tubes. I also suspect the lower current draw of the LEDs will be easier on the ballasts, so maybe they'll last longer than they normally would?

In addition to all the other haywire stuff around here lately, yesterday afternoon the weather station feed to the Davis display in the office conked out. The display in the bedroom was working fine, so it wasn't the sensor array outside, and when I picked up the display in the office to check the connections, it revived itself. I don't like those kind of fixes, and I suspect I'll be revisiting that particular issue sometime in my near future.

Glad your plantings are getting along well with the weather back there, Drew. With your early start, do you have any plans for a second planting this year?

Trip to town for supplies today, but I need to pack the GPS first so I can mail it back to have the front panel buttons and dim display repaired. I was also going to drop off the new/old gate opener arm, but with the replacement arm still blowing fuses, I'm going to wait until the weather clears enough to work on it again.

Hang in there, gang, Friday's comin'!

 

[Bird]

I didn’t have a choice, one garage door opener shorted and caught fire and blew out all the ballasts except one. So I went to Sam’s and got them on sale that was October 2017, so far they’re great. Mine are like the ones Rick bought.

So did you learn what CAUSED it to short and catch fire? Or did I miss that somewhere. This reminds me of one of the dumber things I ever did in my younger days. A friend had a garage door opener given to him by a neighbor. So my friend asked it I might be able to install it, or help him install it. He said he had looked in the attic and there was an electric wire running right across the middle of the garage ceiling. So I told him we should be able to do that. Well, we got everything installed just fine and then it was time for me to tie into the power. We cut all the breakers off, since we weren't sure where that wire I was going to cut into went. So I cut the wire, wired up everything, including putting a junction box in to house the splice. Now I noticed that was a little heavier wire that I cut than what I expected, but knowing the other crazy things the builder of those homes did, I didn't think much about it. And when we turned the power on, we got one little puff of smoke from that door opener, and quickly shut off the breaker again. Yep, I'd wired into a 230v wire instead of 110. Fortunately, repairing the damage cost less than $20.

 

[txdon]

Good Morning! 56 ˚F head to 76 ˚F, partly cloudy with South wind at 7 MPH. Happy Valentines Day!

15 of the horticulture club's raised beds are volunteer beds that donate the veggies to 4 different shelters in the county. Today they will plant their potatoes that they cut up last week. I will be following their planting schedule in my bed. There is a Drew in the neighborhood that heads up the volunteers that tends the donation beds. They plant the potatoes 18" apart. They said they used to plant then 12" apart but the yield was the same.

Yesterday we pick up a craftsman mower that an elderly couple donated to the garden club. It works just fine but is one of those mowers that has no gas cut-off, no choke and no throttle, I still can't get used to them but it runs just fine. The elderly couple is going to let a lawn service do their yard. They also donated a weedeater to the hiking club.

Finished last pickle ball class and got my diploma and pick up tons of rock with the trail blazers. Here is a pic of our mulch shredding machine where all our cut branches and tress get processed.

 

[txdon]

 

[wngsprd]

30 when I went outside before sunrise...going to a nice 59.

Thanks for sharing all the info on T8s...I only have one fixture, in the laundry room, so haven't kept up on the LED technology.

Don, nice shredder. Do you have to get trained and certified to use it?

RNG, sorry you are having so many misfortunes.

Wife made valentine shaped fried eggs (using some kind of mold) and cut slices of blood oranges into valentine shapes. I made her a cup of pour-over coffee, served in a valentine shaped mug. I guess we launched the day off right.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of just 33, going up to 55, cloudy now, very good chance of rain tonight and tomorrow morning. Wind was howling again last night, still blowing now, but a little less. Today 20-30, gusts to 40. The news had a report of an 80 mph gust last night a few miles East of here. I believe it.

RNG, I hope you get those electrical gremlins evicted soon! Hopefully the rains won't cause any more flash flooding in the burn scar...maybe some ground cover will start growing.

I used the plug and play LED tubes in the shop. The lights are 2' x4' -- 3 tube fixtures. I did not want to rewire them. The LED's put out way more light, no flicker, no 'cold' problems. Got a box of 16 for around $50 at HD. They are 'daylight' color, not sure of the lumens. I basically just needed bulbs and went for the lowest cost. I'm happy with them.

Yesterday 's PT session resulted in no acupuncture. The therapist said the knee was still swelling ...(DUH)... and the acupuncture was not working, in actuality, making it worse. She has no clue as to why. The rest of the sessions are now cancelled....

Todays agenda is going to be cleaning out a closet... Lots of old records to shred, newer ones to get consolidated and better organized. Should consume most of the day.

Everyone have a great day, prayers sent.

 

[CWB Wyo]

It's 33° this morning and overcast. Yesterday was in the mid 30's, cloudy and windy all day. Looks likes a 60% chance of showers this afternoon with 15-20 mph winds.

Just looked at the road report for I 80 and it's closed all most all the way a cross Wyo because of winter conditions. They closed it yesterday at 4:30 and it might be closed for up to 18 hours.

I got the alternator replaced yesterday and it seem to be working all right.

Don't have any plans for today, yet.

Hope everyone has a nice day.
CWB.

 

[toppop52]

Rick, my lights are two tube version of the same light.

Bird, I know there was an issue with a relay or something in theopener, once I talked to Genie, they sent me a new unit and issued a pickup for the old one and promised to tell me what they found, that was a year ago, not a word.