What Are You Buying Right Now? (non-OT version)

SamIAm2

Lithium battery Jump Starter - battery in our van would not start yesterday after wife's Dr's appointment. Got a jump from the receptionist so the battery charge must have been a bit low. Not driving either of our cars a much as we used to as we are both retired, so this should do for either of our vans. I have an outlet with a USB charger in the master bed/bath area and it only took 3 hours to fully charge this. Will carry it when we go out from now on. The whole package weighs 2 lbs, 4 oz. Amazing. 

nolaegghead

SamIAm2 said:

Lithium battery Jump Starter - battery in our van would not start yesterday after wife's Dr's appointment. Got a jump from the receptionist so the battery charge must have been a bit low. Not driving either of our cars a much as we used to as we are both retired, so this should do for either of our vans. I have an outlet with a USB charger in the master bed/bath area and it only took 3 hours to fully charge this. Will carry it when we go out from now on. The whole package weighs 2 lbs, 4 oz. Amazing. 

Those gizmos are amazing.  Saved my butt a couple of times from being stuck in the marsh overnight (in my boat).  The inherent discharge rates are so low you really only need to charge them up very infrequently.

Botch

SamIAm2 said:

Lithium battery Jump Starter - battery in our van would not start yesterday after wife's Dr's appointment. Got a jump from the receptionist so the battery charge must have been a bit low. Not driving either of our cars a much as we used to as we are both retired, so this should do for either of our vans. I have an outlet with a USB charger in the master bed/bath area and it only took 3 hours to fully charge this. Will carry it when we go out from now on. The whole package weighs 2 lbs, 4 oz. Amazing. 

Agree with NOLA.  I showed mine to one of my coworkers, she bought one (different brand) and within two weeks she used it to start her F-250 after a cold day of ice fishing.  
I haven't used mine yet for a vehicle jump, but did use it last September to charge my phone during my 3.5-day power outage, and to help along my battery-powered Smobot on a long cook.  Great little item.  

alaskanassasin

Botch said:

SamIAm2 said:

Lithium battery Jump Starter - battery in our van would not start yesterday after wife's Dr's appointment. Got a jump from the receptionist so the battery charge must have been a bit low. Not driving either of our cars a much as we used to as we are both retired, so this should do for either of our vans. I have an outlet with a USB charger in the master bed/bath area and it only took 3 hours to fully charge this. Will carry it when we go out from now on. The whole package weighs 2 lbs, 4 oz. Amazing. 

Agree with NOLA.  I showed mine to one of my coworkers, she bought one (different brand) and within two weeks she used it to start her F-250 after a cold day of ice fishing.  
I haven't used mine yet for a vehicle jump, but did use it last September to charge my phone during my 3.5-day power outage, and to help along my battery-powered Smobot on a long cook.  Great little item.  

 My Dad had one of those and was bragging it up, so I said ok lets go start the tractor with it.  The tractor had been sitting in the barn all winter and has two big batteries,  as soon as I hit the start button the jumper pack went up in smoke and quit.

 It had melted something that we were able to solder back together, and it worked fine after that.

alaskanassasin

TideEggHead said:

alaskanassasin said:

@shtgunal3 I have been looking their line up pretty hard. I might just get my feet wet with the smaller dewalt version, I have plenty of batteries and if I need the extra power I am flush with gas saws.

I have the 60 flex volt Dewalt and I really like it. I wanted the smaller version but ended up with the 60volt. I do like the extra bar length. It has good features and all of the maintenance parts are easy to access (oil, chain tension, etc...).

Only factor is it only works with the flex batteries, I have quite a few 20 volt lithium batteries (non flex version) around that are not usable with the chainsaw. I need to pick up a few more flex batteries.

 That is what I was thinking, If I bought the 60v with a dedicated battery I may as well look into other brands.   I bought my mom the smaller dewalt version for Christmas two years ago, we had plans to visit but with covid they were scrapped. When we do get down to her place I will try the saw out. 

frazzdaddy

Ozzie_Isaac said:

fishlessman said:

nolaegghead said:

ColbyLang said:

fishlessman said:

SGH said:

Bought a little Henry garden gun. 

needed one of these last night, racoon on the porch railing looking into the house, angry dog looking out. 2am

Just need a .22 pistol with a suppressor on it. Think James Bond quiet

...and a scope...

in reality i have just two options, the air rifle or the cannon loaded with nails. if i use the cannon ill need a new window screen. air rifle scares the dog, cannon does not, go figure. so there it is, cannon,nails,red dot scope, racoon two feet away, how could i miss. just need to borrow a red dot laser scope

If you run out naked swinging a sword chasing the raccoon you will solve 2 problems.  The raccoon will leave and the last neighbor will too.

If you dip the sword in kerosene and light it, you could get your own reality show.

Mark_B_Good

Built an ice rink over my pool this weekend. I know ... I left it late, but I got sticker shock when I saw the cost of lumber, especially the need for TGI beams across the pool. COVID has driving lumber prices through the roof. But I was bored a couple of Sundays ago, and figured out how to use more standard 2x10s. After the structural engineer ok'd it ... I got cracking, and built it this past weekend. Now we having a week of record warm weather lol.

Oh well, at least it will be ready to go next winter. Just hoping it will get cold enough to try it at least once this season.

TideEggHead

alaskanassasin said:

 That is what I was thinking, If I bought the 60v with a dedicated battery I may as well look into other brands.   I bought my mom the smaller dewalt version for Christmas two years ago, we had plans to visit but with covid they were scrapped. When we do get down to her place I will try the saw out. 

That is a good strategy, I had purchased mine thinking I could use all of the other batteries I had laying around. Not the case. Unless you have some other flex batteries or plan to purchase some, the Stihl or other brands are worth a look like you said.

Canugghead

Went through several booster batteries of previous generations old technology and gave up. 

Both retired and one of our vehicles is used infrequently even pre COVID. Hooked it up to this this winter and solved drained battery problem. Smart plug turns it on few times a week for couple of hours at 2 amp trickle charge. Cheaper and figure prevention is better than cure; also, is it true or rumour that each time the battery is depleted its life expectancy is shortened? I dunno.  Of course it won’t help if we’re out camping or ice fishing but we don’t 

nolaegghead

whenever your 12 lead acid battery (incl gel and AGM) drops below 11 volts with no load, it looses some capacity.  When it drops below 9 volts, it looses significant capacity.  Any lower and it's basically trashed.

Also over charging degrades life....for this reason many trickle charges only charge up to 80% to increase the odds one cell isn't being over-charged.

You want to charge a depleted lead acid battery at a lower rate.  For other chemistries usually you can hammer it when it's depleted.

Gulfcoastguy

Waiting for my 12 o’clock appointment with HR Block. The 2020 taxes aren’t complicated but I need to ask some questions about 2021.

Canugghead

nolaegghead said:

whenever your 12 lead acid battery (incl gel and AGM) drops below 11 volts with no load, it looses some capacity.  When it drops below 9 volts, it looses significant capacity.  Any lower and it's basically trashed.

Also over charging degrades life....for this reason many trickle charges only charge up to 80% to increase the odds one cell isn't being over-charged.

You want to charge a depleted lead acid battery at a lower rate.  For other chemistries usually you can hammer it when it's depleted.

Great info. I think this charger also has a desulphate mode, whatever that means.

nolaegghead

Not sure if anyone remembers the hydrometers of yore that measured the electrolyte density in lead-acid batteries.

A charged battery (after compensating for temp) has a higher electrolyte density.  This is because more high-density sulfuric acid is in solution rather than depleted and clinging to the plates as lead sulfate. 

As the freezing point of water drops as more "stuff" is dissolved in it, a charged battery has a lower freezing point than a depleted battery.   Needless to say, that chemistry freezing can (and will) trash the battery. 

So, especially in winter, take off any parasitic loads like ODSII readers, phone chargers, etc.  and keep your battery charged to it is more likely to survive the cold temps.

Ozzie_Isaac

Wrong thread.

rcone

An old school Continental Cuisine cookbook illustrated by Dali. 

Acn

rcone said:

An old school Continental Cuisine cookbook illustrated by Dali. 

Fun read.  Don’t think we’ve ever cooked anything out it, but it does look great on the shelf.

nolaegghead

SonVolt

Just pulled the trigger on a Bluestar Platinum 30" in the color/trim below and a GE Cafe  fridge. 7-8 weeks lead time. 

Lit

Got a Bella copper 10” diffuser for the stove. Never had bacon cook so evenly. 

HeavyG

nolaegghead said:

Always have Kewpie on hand. Always!

Also - Kewpie is also now being made in the US. It tastes just a little different than the made in Japan stuff.

Also, also - Kewpie sells a roasted sesame dressing that is killer.

Ozzie_Isaac

nolaegghead said:

Ha!  Me too.

ColtsFan

I think my wife has a cookie problem. 

SonVolt

Lit said:

Got a Bella copper 10” diffuser for the stove. Never had bacon cook so evenly. 

I've had one for years and love it. My current GE Profile won't maintain a low simmer, so the copper diffuser helps tremendously. If I still need lower heat I'll put a wok ring under it to raise the diffuser up a few inches as seen below. I can clarify a full pound of butter without constant attention now w/makeshift splatter guard. 

That said, bacon cooks most evenly in the oven.  

nolaegghead

I never thought about using a diffuser to temper the "low" heat on the range.  I'm having that same problem with our new range.  The low is way too hot for what I want.  I suppose any "baking steel" will suffice.

SonVolt

Baking steels also work great to turn one side of your range into a French top.  

HeavyG

nolaegghead said:

I never thought about using a diffuser to temper the "low" heat on the range.  I'm having that same problem with our new range.  The low is way too hot for what I want.  I suppose any "baking steel" will suffice.

Even tho I don't have a gas stove (coil electric) I've used one of these for years to even out the heat for use with some of my pans. My tamagoyaki pan in particular doesn't like a coil burner at the temps I use it. It would leave browning marks in the shape of the coil. The use of that burner plate eliminates the browning marks with my thin metal tamago pan.

https://smile.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Tamer-Burner-Plate/dp/B00004W4UJ/ref=sr_1_12?dchild=1&keywords=flame+tamer&qid=1614217962&sr=8-12.

Or you could just use your plasma torch to cut out a plate from scrap steel.

SonVolt

I still have nightmares about the coil burners I grew up with in the '80s.

lousubcap

@ColtsFan - what's your favorite Girl Scout cookie??  Or is that like asking your favorite child?    BTW- mine is Trefoils...

nolaegghead

Well, a western take on tamagoyaki (since SWMBO doesn't like bonito).  Used a crepe maker 

rcone

Acn said:

rcone said:

An old school Continental Cuisine cookbook illustrated by Dali. 

Fun read.  Don’t think we’ve ever cooked anything out it, but it does look great on the shelf.

Many of the ingredients are not attainable, and the suggested wine list is a little hard to come by.