Ryobi 18V Drill Current Draw Test Matthew Miller 2019-12-17 | First take at testing the current draw for a 18V cordless drill...came about from discussion about using a 120V switchmode power supply to run a power tool and much debate of what current may be required.I hope to design a superior plug n play test rig that I can put a more sophisticated inline data logger and test more of my 18V tools, as well as test them in more practical usecases (like actually driving a screw or bolt, sawing a board, etc)
Extension cord load test Matthew Miller 2022-11-26 | It's dangerous to use extension cords for large loads, but is there more energy lost in a coil or stretched out?NOTE: While the few minutes test didn't have time to build up unreasonable temperatures, there is also a concern that the densely wrapped cord will overheat more severely due to lack of air to keep it cool. This is not recommended or safe to do long term, but a separate issue from the hypothesis being tested.There was uncertainty about whether more power is lost in the cord if it's coiled up "inductive loss" or if it's in other non-inductive configurations. I tested with a 12.5A load on a 12AWG 100ft extension cord on a spool (coiled) and stretched out all the way thru the house and back, then compared the voltage drop between the input/output ends to see if more energy was lost in one configuration than the other.
Truck loses load on 2-lane Matthew Miller 2022-10-16 | Truck had an unsecured load on a 2-lane highway and it fell off landing in my lane as I was cruising at-speed. Not sure how I managed to dodge it.
Corndogs move while cooking Matthew Miller 2020-12-08 | Cooked lunch and found they slid off the plate and one totally out of the package...had to try again, I was so confused what happened! Never experienced this before...it says "open one end"...
Solar Power Digital Station - Amateur Radio Field Day 2020 Overview Matthew Miller 2020-08-26 | This is the technical presentation for the Rappahannock Valley Amateur Radio Club virtual meeting in August 2020. It will begin following the conclusion of the club's business meeting teleconference concludes.This will start with an overview of what components were used to build a digital station, followed by an overview of how to configure a computer/radio for digital modes and a brief demonstration.Corrections:FT4 is 7-8 second on/off transmit cycleFT8 is 15 seconds on/off transmit cycleJT65 is the 48 second on/off transmit cycle
Solar Power Digital Station - Amateur Radio Field Day 2019 Overview Matthew Miller 2020-04-29 | (presentation content starts at 2:15 when it looked like I had a reasonable audience)This is the technical presentation for the Rappahannock Valley Amateur Radio Club virtual meeting in April 2020. It will begin following the conclusion of the club's business meeting held on the club VHF repeater.This will start with an overview of what components were used to build a digital station, followed by an overview of the solar-battery power supply including analysis of graphs from the battery charge/discharge readings during the event.
Road Rage - Washington Square Plaza, Stafford VA Matthew Miller 2019-06-02 | Not sure what happened exactly but the lady in the blue pickup seemed to have a problem with the guy in the black jeep/suv...was concerned it was going to escalate but they went different directions when I stopped to call it in and observe.
Power Testing - Power Supplies and Cables 12V, USB, USB-C, USB-C PD Matthew Miller 2018-08-19 | Overview of how I test some of my power supplies and cables to see how they are for being in spec (or not).More information on my website: http://millerm.org/hobby_projects/load_test_rigSome of the products I mention...USB-C PD Buddy Sink: tindie.com/products/clayghobbs/pd-buddy-sinkUSB-C PD Buddy Wye: tindie.com/products/clayghobbs/pd-buddy-wyeUSB-C Power Meter: amazon.com/gp/product/B01MT8MC3NUSB-A Power Meter: amazon.com/gp/product/B019RHJRM8USB-A Power Meter with OLED: amazon.com/dp/B01D9Y6ZFWmicroUSB Female to USB-A Female: amazon.com/Electop-USB-2-0-Female-Micro/dp/B015PG6VU6miniUSB Female to USB-A Female: amazon.com/gp/product/B00474R7HOUSB-C to USB-A Female: amazon.com/gp/product/B01GGKYXVEUSB-C F/F coupler (note if it doesn't work, rotate one plug 180 degrees and reinsert): amazon.com/USB-Type-Adapter-Extension-Connector/dp/B071WW2K47USB-C 1-inch extension (to fit recessed case or PD Wye with meter): amazon.com/USB-Type-Adapter-Extension-Connector/dp/B071GBWWY6
Almost Heaven Water Deliver Truck - Runs stop sign King George, VA Matthew Miller 2018-03-28 | Pulling off Highway 301 into the King George WalMart shopping center I experienced a close call as a delivery truck ran the stop sign right in front of me...the highway ramp does not have a stop sign.
2012 Outback Changing Hood Support Gas Strut Matthew Miller 2018-02-10 | One of the hood support gas struts blew out and wouldn't hold the hood up anymore...replacing it was easier than I expected.
Raspberry Pi in Amateur Radio Part 2 Matthew Miller 2017-09-27 | Part 1: youtube.com/watch?v=3ICsZPOcD8gThis is a video recording of the technical presentation I put on for the Rappahannock Valley Amateur Radio Club in September 2017.This is "Part 2" with demos and Q&A that go with a presentation back in March 2017 where I ran out of time for all the material I wanted to present.
Raspberry Pi in Amateur Radio Part 1 Matthew Miller 2017-03-29 | Part 2: youtube.com/watch?v=n96c255UnQcThis is a video recording of the technical presentation I put on for the Rappahannock Valley Amateur Radio Club in March 2017.The slides are available on my website:http://millerm.org/hobby_projects/raspberry_pi_presentationDue to limited time this is a very fast-paced overview of some things that can be done, please see the other pages on my website for more details about specific projects I have played with.
Teardown & Testing of RED FUEL by SCHUMACHER SL161 Lithium Jump pack Matthew Miller 2017-01-18 | I got a couple of RED FUEL Lithium car jump-start packs at WalMart for $15 on sale...they were by Schumacher (which I've had good experiences with their 120V powered car battery charger/booster units) and at that price too hard to pass up.The 12V "engine start" connector is a "EC5 Male" and the "jumper clamps" have a EC5 Female plug. 3rd party adapters are available to turn it into a "lighter socket".Specs from the back of the unit:Lithium Ploymer 8000mAh | 29.6WhCranking Current: 400A peak, 200A crankingUSB: 5V DC, 2.1A | 5V, 1A Total 3.1A MaxI didn't get to put in the video but I did also do tests on the USB outputs and they performed up to spec (2.2A out the 2A port and 1.3A out the 1A port).The capacity is where there were issues - all the tests I can perform max out around 2500mAH capacity for the battery. My guess is since it's made of 3 cells they did some "marketing math" and multiplied the capacity by 3 to get 8000 but that isn't how it works when you have batteries in series.UPDATE:In connecting a 2.0A constant test load to the USB port it ran for 2 hours 35 minutes and measured a significantly higher apparent capacity of 5100mAh (25.5Wh) from a fully-charged to fully-drained battery
Installing Windows 7 x64 SP1 in VirtualBox Matthew Miller 2016-11-18 | How to install Win7 SP1 in VirtualBox...activation key NOT shown (for obvious reasons)
Amtrak Auto Train North thru Fredericksburg, VA Matthew Miller 2016-09-05 | The Northbound Amtrak Auto Train was running about 5 hours late today after a car stopped on the tracks resulting in a collision in Hanahan, SC late last night.Sorry for the video getting rough part way thru, I was locating my phone to call in the trail of smoke the last passenger car was leaving (Amtrak Police said they had other reports on it and the crew was aware)
70cm Yagi mod - cutting 3/8 Aluminum elements Matthew Miller 2016-08-19 | This is my first attempt at this sort of video tracking a hobby project, hopefully it's not too bad.I purchased a 70cm (400MHz) Yagi antenna cheap at a hamfest but it was tuned too low of a frequency for my needs. I came up with a simple and effective way to neatly trim the 3/8" aluminum rods down to the required length to re-tune it for 446MHz operation using a few simple tools I had around the house or could pick up inexpensively at the local hardware store.
US3 KingsHighway Westbound 07 JAN 2015 1925 EasternTime Matthew Miller 2016-07-16 | On my way home from work one evening, someone coming the opposite direction lost control and flipped. Yes, they were ok...but the 911 call was terrifying since they were arguing which county I was in (we were very close to the county line).
Anthrocon 2016 Saturday Night Dance 1080HD Matthew Miller 2016-07-05 | Not sure what any of the music is but here's a few minutes from the dance.
Anthrocon 2016 Saturday Night Dance 1080HD Matthew Miller 2016-07-03 | Not sure what any of the music is but here's a few minutes from the dance. Another longer video will come in the next few days when I'm back on decent internet.
N&W J 611 at Delaplane (Manassas, VA Excursion) Part 2 of 2 Matthew Miller 2016-06-16 | N&W J 611 Excursion out of Manassas, VA on Sunday Morning, June 5, 2015...dragging water hose tripped a defect detector forcing them to stop briefly in Delaplane to re-adjust it before continuing the trip.
N&W J 611 at Delaplane (Manassas, VA Excursion) - Part 1 of 2 Matthew Miller 2016-06-16 | N&W J 611 Excursion out of Manassas, VA on Sunday Morning, June 5, 2015...dragging water hose tripped a defect detector forcing them to stop briefly in Delaplane to re-adjust it before continuing the trip.
Biggest Little Fur Con 2016 Saturday Dance 2 of 3 Matthew Miller 2016-05-18 | BLFC Dance...don't know what any of the songs are so I can't tag them, it's whatever the DJ was playing.
Biggest Little Fur Con 2016 Saturday Dance 1 of 3 Matthew Miller 2016-05-18 | BLFC Dance...don't know what any of the songs are so I can't tag them, it's whatever the DJ was playing.
Biggest Little Fur Con 2016 Saturday Dance 3 of 3 Matthew Miller 2016-05-18 | BLFC Dance...don't know what any of the songs are so I can't tag them, it's whatever the DJ was playing.
N&W Class J 611 - Departing Roanoke May 7, 2016 Matthew Miller 2016-05-09 | N&W Class J 611 departing Ronaoke, Westbound to Radford.
Fur The More 2016 Dance Saturday Night Matthew Miller 2016-04-11 | Fur The More 2016 Dance Saturday NightI'm not sure what any of the songs were they played so I can't comment on that.See lots of photos (including the Fursuit Parade) from FurTheMore 2016 at http://millerm.org
Strange noise on HF Matthew Miller 2016-02-02 | Turned on my radio tonight and heard this weird popping noise across a couple bands...UPDATE: Finally found it a week or so later I came home and the internet was out...checked it and there was no power the UPS was stone dead. Turned out one of the old aluminum wires got a bit loose in the back-stab connector and arced until it burnt in half breaking the circuit. Apartment maintenance had to come and replace the outlet and clean the wire then it was back to the normal RFI hash no more snaps.
R/C Quadcopter Fredericksburg January 2016 snowstorm (warning - shakey video) Matthew Miller 2016-01-24 | First try at a flight in the January 2016 snow...went fairly good until suddenly the winds picked up about the time I was getting the hang of the controls again (haven't flown in months). Still managed to keep enough control to bring it down to a few feet and then cut off motors so it had a soft crash-landing in the snow.
Testing Yaesu-compatible ANT-HST043 throat mic from Amazon Matthew Miller 2015-11-06 | Comparison of throat mic audio vs standard built-in mic audio
