40+ and My Error

Today the mercury has exceeded 40C.   When we woke at 6:30 Jan immediately closed all the window covers and turned on two air conditioners .  The house is cool, but it’s a scorcher outside.

I checked the output from the solar array on the roof.  We are producing more solar than we consume.

 

Dark green is solar production and light green consumption

I made a couple of brief trips outside to work on projects.   Every day I managed to calculate the capacity of one cell from the salvaged e-scooter battery.   Using the battery conditioner I fully charge the cell.  Then it’s fully discharged to calculate its capacity.  I write this on the cell before fully charging it again.  The process is repeated with a new cell every day.

Waiting for processing

 

Processed

A new 18650 lithium cell should have a capacity of 2400mA.   Thus far mine range between 2247 and 1067mA. 

Earlier this year my brother gave us a sucker from his passionfruit vine.   I built a trellis and planted the vine.  It’s gone berserk and is producing fruit.   Jan is so impressed she bought a second vine.  A different variety.  The free vine is supposed to produce a yellow fruit  whilst her new vine is named Black Nugget.  No prize for correctly guessing it’s colour.  Of course that meant I needed to make a second trellis.

 

Black Nugget

Whilst buying the vine Jan decided to buy a Loquat tree.  We decide the only suitable location was the front lawn.  I didn’t want to damaged the buried water reticulation pipes and carefully examined the lawn before deciding on a suitable spot.   Yes…my first spade blow cut a pipe!

The last outdoor project was to work on a camera mounting system for the bike.

After looking at the 360 video recordings from my Europe cycling holiday several things are apparent.   I didn’t take enough footage.   There are probably two reasons for this.  First, I was too focussed on riding and physically seeing everything (ie; I forgot to record).  Second, it was too much effort to stop and move the camera around on the bike along with turning it on and off.  I need to learn how to secure the camera in multiple positions before my next cycling trip.  Remote control of the camera would be a major advantage.

Another issue is the quality of the recordings.  Whilst I managed to polish out the scratch on the camera lens this must have resulted in it being slightly distorted.  At certain angles in bright sunlight there is a halo in the recorded image.

On a more positive note I’m slowly learning how to edit 360 video recordings. 

We are three days from Christmas 2024.  It will be another quiet day for us.  I suggested to Jan we go for a drive and find a quiet shady spot where we can eat marmalade sandwiches for lunch.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you.  Stay safe over the festive holiday season!