The Tech Random Crap Thread
- Thread starter DarkAudit
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GasBandit
Staff member
Just signed the papers on friday to get a 14.4 kw solar array put on my roof, and a 13.5 kwh battery. In 4-6 weeks, the problems of the Texas power grid will largely be somebody else's problem.
Did end up spending way more than I thought I would on it, but at least I got 2.99% on the loan, so the payments will still be less than electricity costs.
Did end up spending way more than I thought I would on it, but at least I got 2.99% on the loan, so the payments will still be less than electricity costs.
I'm seriously considering cutting down the big oak in the front yard so solar can become a viable option for me.
Shouldn't need to, depending on how much other house/yard you have. Don't forget you can make up the difference with wind.
--Patrick
The oak covers much of the sun-ward facing roof. There's no suitable yard for wind.
according to every online calculator, and the guys who've done the door-to-door sales pitches, this is really the only place for me to put panels without cutting the tree down:
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Could you...relocate the tree instead of just cutting it down? I'm a big proponent of not killing trees (as much as I am a proponent of solar power).
The tree is infected with some variety of shelf fungus. All of the oaks in the yard are. I've lost big portions of them every year when the fungus eats away enough of a limb for it to fall under its own weight, and I had to completely remove a dead oak from the back yard. While I'd prefer to keep the tree, I imagine it's only a matter of time before the whole big bastard comes down on the house, so I'd rather be proactive about it. But this big tree probably has at least year or two left in it before I have to give that serious consideration.
This pic is my girlfriend getting lucky that a big limb missed her car by inches last year
Might look to see if vertical panels are available. And make a fence out of them.
I figure the oak is coming down in a year or two anyway. Might as well just revisit the roof solar idea at that time
figmentPez
Staff member
Reddit showed me a hell of a headline from CNN "Inflight ‘raw dogging’: The bizarre new travel trend that’s creating a buzz"
I'll save you the link, and the click. It's just going a whole airplane flight without entertainment. No movies, books, phone, etc. Just looking out the window, mindfulness and meditation, but it gets an edgy name because of toxic masculinity.
I'll save you the link, and the click. It's just going a whole airplane flight without entertainment. No movies, books, phone, etc. Just looking out the window, mindfulness and meditation, but it gets an edgy name because of toxic masculinity.
I think it got the name more because of this particuar tweet that went viral a while back:
--Patrick
While raw dogging is obviously a crude term for having sex without protection, I've heard it used for like a decade to describe doing anything without help in a comedic way. Like if you learn someone doesn't do drugs, you'd say "you're really just out here raw dogging reality?"
Same, but this tweet was the first online reference I remember that used it specifically to describe the behavior during airplane flights, and I'm assuming the association, er, took off.
--Patrick
What a foul thought.
GasBandit
Staff member
Internet speed record of 402,000,000 Mbps achieved using standard optic fibre cabling, fast enough to download Baldur's Gate 3 in less than four milliseconds
A gaming PC with the fastest CPU, DDR5 RAM, and Gen5 SSD would be a massive bottleneck though, so there's no chance you could use this at home.
www.pcgamer.com
figmentPez
Staff member
Is the RTX 3700 still viable in 2024? I dont plan on playing more then 1440p and a friend is selling his for a 100€. He isnt a gamer and his card was inside a prebuild pc. He since switched to a laptop.
Want to replace my 5700xt which is nonstop overheating and crashing my pc. I could replace the thermal pads, but to be honest i am done with AMD Cards. The ADM Adrenaline Software is one of the worst programs i ever had the displeasure of working with, since it refuses to save presets, and every couple of months, it will just suddenly stop working and i have to reinstall the program.
Want to replace my 5700xt which is nonstop overheating and crashing my pc. I could replace the thermal pads, but to be honest i am done with AMD Cards. The ADM Adrenaline Software is one of the worst programs i ever had the displeasure of working with, since it refuses to save presets, and every couple of months, it will just suddenly stop working and i have to reinstall the program.
A 3070 should have no problem running most games at 1440p and 60+ fps so long as you're not using ray tracing.
So i swapped my AMD card with the 3070. Its pretty great. Once Human now runs on the highest setting, without stuttering.
Tried Cyberpunk and it looks great.
Tried Cyberpunk and it looks great.
GasBandit
Staff member
So this is about what my solar setup seems to be typically doing:
This is with 36 400w enphase panels and a 13.5 kwh franklin LiFePo battery. Theoretical maximum power generation of 14.4kw but I peak around 10 (because to get the max every single panel would have to be dead on pointed at the sun with no obstruction whatsoever, which is a practical impossibility).
I had hoped to be a little more independent of the grid, but I guess cutting my power bill by ~$250/mo (66kwh x $0.125 per x 30 days) will still more than pay for the installation. The next step is shoring up the house's insulation so I'm not bleeding as much heat in from the Texas August weather and can run the AC less. I've pretty much maxed out the useful area of my roof, at least with the current generation of solar panels.
Heh, that cyan spike is where I plugged in the EV after a trip to the store.
This is with 36 400w enphase panels and a 13.5 kwh franklin LiFePo battery. Theoretical maximum power generation of 14.4kw but I peak around 10 (because to get the max every single panel would have to be dead on pointed at the sun with no obstruction whatsoever, which is a practical impossibility).
I had hoped to be a little more independent of the grid, but I guess cutting my power bill by ~$250/mo (66kwh x $0.125 per x 30 days) will still more than pay for the installation. The next step is shoring up the house's insulation so I'm not bleeding as much heat in from the Texas August weather and can run the AC less. I've pretty much maxed out the useful area of my roof, at least with the current generation of solar panels.
Heh, that cyan spike is where I plugged in the EV after a trip to the store.
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You could also brag about producing 3.5 billion Joules.
But can you produce 1.21 jiggawatts?
How about, "...enough energy to power my media server for 100 days." (Assuming it pulls 400W).
--Patrick
figmentPez
Staff member
TIL that there are wired headphones that send the audio over Bluetooth.
TL;DR Apple requires that headphones using the lightning port for audio be MFi certified, but that's expensive, so some cheap earbuds use the lightning connector for power, but then send the audio over Bluetooth, so they don't have to pay Apple's fees.
TL;DR Apple requires that headphones using the lightning port for audio be MFi certified, but that's expensive, so some cheap earbuds use the lightning connector for power, but then send the audio over Bluetooth, so they don't have to pay Apple's fees.
Wild thinking, I know, but maybe a headphone jack could solve that.