What did you do to your home/shop today?

[Dozerboy]

looks good for now. probably should have used a urethane based product. I would have used polyurea. my experience will tell me even with a UV resistant top coat it will still noticably start to "yellow" (actually more green) within a few months if exposed to constant sun. we always had problems right at the doorways that lead to the outside. there was always a noticeable area a few feet in that turned greenish. one year was enough to make the epoxy change to the point that it made the color under hard to see. any area that was exposed we would normally use polyuria or polyaspartic.

if you have a Sherwin Williams near, I'd ask them for some GP4844A01 & GP4844B01. UV resistant, high and low temperature tolerance, good impact toughness and excellent chemical resistance. only issue is it cures really fast so if you are not experienced then it can be a mess to use. data sheet will tell you that you can't go more then 15 mills but we successfully used it at more then 100 mills with no issues. a few oz. of Sherwin Williams reducer 132 also helps the flow and extended the working time a little. but since you've already finished this is probably moot. but maybe for next time or if you get the itch to redo it

Thanks! I've been using Total Boat products. Halcyon was what I used for a top coat. It cures really fast too. I had to crank my AC all the way up and still had some brush marks in it. I'll see how healthy I'm does and if I start notice anything I'll probably go to the Sherwin Williams then. The epoxy world really has me sour after this project. It will probably be my last one until there are more advancments in the industry. Everybody claims how good their shit is and then I did test samples just to realize it didn't hold up, wasn't as clear, or the color wasn't quite right. I've had enough of this project taking up room in my shop and I still got benches to make.

I don't know what all you do for woodworking. But total boat has a wood paint penetrating epoxy that's awesome. That's what I used on my patio. I did finish it with Spar Urathane, but it looks terrific now after a year.

 

[2004LB7]

I went through that same experience too. after talking to a few manufacturers chemists they've basically stated that it doesn't matter what claims are being made by the sales and marketing team, the limits of the epoxy chemistry are what's holding it back. its basically at the end of its road and the technology has been pushed as far as it can go. so no traditional bisphenol A or F epoxy is UV resistant even if they claim it is or have blockers or pixy dust in it. Bisphenol F epoxy has better chemical resistance and higher psi rating and slightly higher heat tolerance but it's about the same cost as a novolac epoxy which is better still but all are rooted in the same chemistry so suffer from UV attack.

for that reason many manufacturers are pushing their urethane resins and also pushing the claims too inorder to get above the competition. the main issue with urethane is it's inability to properly cure if applied too thick as they incorporate an oxygen molecule from the environment to cure and if it's too thick the oxygen can't penetrate deep enough. therefore it maxes out at a few mills. they are also extremely difficult to bond too so recoating is not easy.

over the last 20 or so years more research has probably been put into polyuria and polyaspartic then any other formula. not too many years ago the patent for a formula that was cheaper to produce and still had excellent properties expired so many more jumped on board to try their hand at manufacturing their own version. these chemistries have perhaps the best compromise for properties with UV resistance, high heat and chemical tolerance. fast and slow curing verities. can be formulated to cure in below freezing weather. and toughness is awesome. same basic stuff as truck bed liners and anti frag coating on AR500. they still suffer from film thickness restrictions but can generally be put down much thicker then urethane and recoating is still difficult. very easy to make water clear but can become slightly hazy if too thick

 

[2004LB7]

Been helping my brother with his newly acquired camp trailer. Installing some solar, additional deep cycle batteries, 1k watt pure sine wave inverter and transfer switch. Got all the heavy wiring done. Batteries hooked up. Just need to button up a few items and do some testing. See how long it takes the solar to charge the batteries and how long the AC will run on the batteries. Stuff like that so he knows his limits

520 watts of solar. 2x 260 watt panels wired in series for about 60-70 volts in the sun


4x 225 ah 6 volt deep cycle batteries. Wired 2 series 2 parallel for 12 volts at 450 ah


1k watt PSW inverter that is hardwired to the transfer switch so you can choose the inverter or the cord to supply the power to the trailer circuit panel. 1 for the inverter, 0 for none or off, and 2 for the cord. Short test and it did run the AC on low. Pulled about 90 amps from the batteries. So a theoretical four hours of run time not counting the contribution of the solar or if anything else is running

 

[Chevy1925]

I’ve always heard that kind of amp draw will kill those lead acid batteries in a hurry. As in internal shorts or hurts cells. Supposably going lithium is the only way to get multiple cycles out of the batteries but I don’t know.

Very curious how it stands up, Jason and your thoughts on what I’ve heard

 

[2004LB7]

I’ve always heard that kind of amp draw will kill those lead acid batteries in a hurry. As in internal shorts or hurts cells. Supposably going lithium is the only way to get multiple cycles out of the batteries but I don’t know.

Very curious how it stands up, Jason and your thoughts on what I’ve heard

I've only heard this for old or neglected batteries. Basically sulfates and other corrosion builds up on the plates. When you charge or discharge it at a high rate they can flake off and jamp between the plates shorting them out. There is also the chance that with older batteries small flakes of lead or sulfate have accumulated at the bottom of the battery and by do a high charge/discharge you can introduce bubbling and stir up the electrolyte bringing the flakes up to the plates and shorting them out.

Regular use of equalization about once a month should keep the sulfates to a minimum and electrolyte stirred up so the lead can (hopefully) recombine with it plate.

These batteries are, supposedly, rated for 75 amps output. Or at least have a rating for it. Wether that is just a calculated rate ir it is actually capable of it is unknown. But, the fact that we have the batteries in pairs means when drawing the 90 amps, it's only actually drawing 45 amps from each battery. That is not that much from these cells.

And since there is about 500 watts of solar that can help back up the current draw with it's own current of probably 25 amps average that should lessen the load on the batteries. Assuming the AC is only used on the hottest part of the day when the sun os directly above. More then likely it will be used for an hour at the end of the day too cool off the camper before turning in for the night.

 

[Chevy1925]

Ah interesting!

 

[jlawles2]

There are a couple of members of a camper forum I am on that use LA vs LI batteries for inverters. Keeping the amp draw in range is part of the equation, the other is maintaining voltage. Typically the capacity given for a battery is 2x what the safe discharge limit is. Keep battery voltage above 12.2 for a 12V battery and you should be good. For a 6V it would be 6.1V. Basically 50% of charge or better is the goal.

You might want to invest in a maintainer that has conditioning and once a month or so hit each battery for a day if possible. The conditioner pushes a small AC charge through the battery to help with sulfating problems.

 

[2004LB7]

There are a couple of members of a camper forum I am on that use LA vs LI batteries for inverters. Keeping the amp draw in range is part of the equation, the other is maintaining voltage. Typically the capacity given for a battery is 2x what the safe discharge limit is. Keep battery voltage above 12.2 for a 12V battery and you should be good. For a 6V it would be 6.1V. Basically 50% of charge or better is the goal.

You might want to invest in a maintainer that has conditioning and once a month or so hit each battery for a day if possible. The conditioner pushes a small AC charge through the battery to help with sulfating problems.

View attachment 116230

Yes, I'm well aware of the discharge limits of lead acid. 50% is pushing it though. Better to keep to at 80% and above if you want any life out of them. That's why we doubled up the batteries so they don't run down as far

The solar charger has an equalizer that comes on one every 30 days that works well to prevent sulfation. As for using AC to desulfating, that wouldn't work well at all. You want pulsed DC. And I have another thread about making one yourself here

 

[2004LB7]

Lost the little oil fill plug on my bottle jack and was tired of leaking oil so I soldered a nut on the hole and used a little screw with an O ring to seal it up

 

[shakenfake]

New polaris motor installed on my pool. Thank god because it was starting to look like shit

 

[jlawles2]

We had a natural gas line added a few years back and the plumbers use stainless flex line. Last year we had the AC replaced. Guess either the fitting on the gas line was over tightened or the line got jarred along the way cracking the nut that holds the end to the flex and we had a super slow leak (enough to smell, but not turn the meter in 5 minutes).

This morning, ripped out the flex line (could not find a new end fitting) and replaced with steel line (should have been done this way in the beginning) routing it UNDER the access path through the attic (another thing the plumber should have done in the beginning) to keep it out of harms way. No detectable leak, but I'll wait and recheck over the next week to ensure.

 

[2004LB7]

I've been redoing my "man cave". Expanding my electronics work bench. Rearranging furniture. Remounted the TV on a different wall and moving all the AV equipment out of the old cabinet into the one under the TV. Making the space a little more multi use friendly


Also trying to figure out why one of my bass speakers (amplifier) randomly starts outputting a low frequency buzzing or reverberation. Sounds like it could be an amplifier clock sync issue. Or perhaps a power supply pumping problem. Using some class D amps with the inputs tied together and using the same power supply. Sounds like on one amp does it. But maybe the other does too. Weird it doesn't do it on any of the other channels that use the same power supply

It's mostly at lower frequency signals and more often at higher volumes. That's why I'm thinking power supply pumping. But being, I think, it's only one amp doing it it might be clock sync harmonics or something

Two of these 14" sealed subs. One on each side of the couch to serve as side tables


And my electronics work bench. Not as messy as Ken's . But getting there. Added another table to stack boxes of components and other spare parts on and get them off my main work space

 

[2004LB7]

I think I got the amplifier buzzing/reverberation figured out. Inverted the PWM clock signal and the issue hasn't come back. So not power supply pumping. Was able to turn up the volume higher than before and with lower bass and it was all clear.

Also figured out the power supply in my DEQ830 equalizer has a bad leg on the power supply. So made a substitute for it. Now I need to put it all back together and reinstall it in my sound system

 

[1TRIKHD]

Well today, me and a couple concrete buddies poured a new patio on the backside of the house. Been a few week process to demo the existing concrete, install new subgrade, form it up and then finally pour it. It turned out damn good IMO.
Wife is happy so I guess that is all that matters right.

 

[malibu795]

Nice

 

[2004LB7]

Doing a little roof repair on my house. Some boards at the eve showed signs of dry rot so wanted to tackle it before it got out of hand. And if I didn't get it during the dry summer months I'd have to wait until next year. And it would probably be worse then

 

[Pure Diesel]

Well today, me and a couple concrete buddies poured a new patio on the backside of the house. Been a few week process to demo the existing concrete, install new subgrade, form it up and then finally pour it. It turned out damn good IMO.
Wife is happy so I guess that is all that matters right.

You guys don't use any wire or rebar in your concrete? I know you have the expansion joints but your not worried about it cracking.
Looks nice.

 

[TheBac]

Jason, dont you have to use the rubberized underlayment on the eaves and thru the valleys? We sure do in Michigan.

 

[2004LB7]

Jason, dont you have to use the rubberized underlayment on the eaves and thru the valleys? We sure do in Michigan.

Not here. Just felt paper on top and then shingles. Valleys and drip edge get metal flashing but no special coatings

Our climate is dry enough that we generally don't have to worry about it. We probably get more water from bird droppings then rain

 

[JoshH]

Jason, dont you have to use the rubberized underlayment on the eaves and thru the valleys? We sure do in Michigan.

We don't do that here either, and we get a decent amount of rain throughout the year. I bet it has more to do with snow/ice accumulation than rain.