The Brain Dump

  Used Battery description My first eBike battery pack used brand new cells that I purchased for $2.75 each (EVE 25P). They were marked as 2500 mAh batteries and tested at 2200mAh. I thought it was a pretty good deal until I came across bulk modem batteries that are being sold for about 75 cents per cell (Samsung 26F) and the cells I have measured so far are showing capacity ratings between 2200 and 2500mAh.  They appear to be a far better deal than my brand new batteries.  I purchased 40 packs to get 80 cells and so far only 2 were not useable and 3 with capacity below 2000mAh.  I liked the value so much that I bought an additional 20 packs before they sold out. Used Modem batteries delivered I figure the additional cells will allow me to build longer range batteries or higher voltage batteries. The 2 upcoming retrofits that I will be working on will be for my son who needs a higher voltage bike to get him up the steep hills where he lives but not necessarily longer riding distances a

I picked up a battery meter to test some batteries I purchased as well as some that I'm planning to repurpose. My initial reason for purchasing was to determine if the capacity of the batteries that I'm purchasing and shipping on a slow boat from China (3 months!!!) to know if the capacity of the batteries match the labeled capacity. This is important in order to understand what the battery pack will be rated in terms of amp hours. Update: Looks like that battery shipment disappeared and I will have to dispute the charges on that purchase. My 2nd shipping problem from AliExpress will more than likely make me avoid using them forever. The issue I have is not the frequency of failures (already high at 25%) but the length of time I need to wait before the shipment failure is confirmed (up to 3 months) My type c battery meter with 3d printed cover The other thing my attention deficit addled mind decided would be a great idea is to reclaim old laptop batteries to make flashlight upg

I purchased a decent inexpensive "Nashbar Flat Bar Road Bike" ~$230 from Bike Nashbar back in April 2017 and rode it twice over the next 2 or 3 years. Life got in the way, I became even more sedentary.  With just a few months to go before I retire, I decided it was time to get back on the bike and spend my days being active walking and biking. Thinking that an eBike could help me up the hills, I figured I could probably get some more seat time for more exercise.  I found this reasonably priced kit on Walmart.com to convert my regular hybrid bike to an ebike for as little money as possible.  A new project with new stuff to learn will be a good time.   After looking at tons of options on Amazon and Walmart and trying to figure out if I should purchase a 48v or 36v motor, I decided to go small for my first project because lower voltage would mean fewer batteries, lighter weight and lower overall cost. I didn't want a front wheel drive bike though it might be slightly easier

It might be misleading to hold a stock for a long time and then check the stock profile to see the current dividend yield to get an idea of what a current holding is paying out.  The power of compounded interest has been hashed and re-hashed over the years but it's worth looking at compounded interest on dividend reinvestment  in terms of the growth of effective dividend yield. Let's take for example one of the stocks in my dividend portfolio. Universal Health Realty Income Trust (UHT).  I've held this stock since 2015 in my retirement account when I purchased 700 shares for about $49 per share. At the time, they paid a fairly juicy 5+% dividend yield but as the stock price has risen over the last 4 years the dividend yield has fallen to about 2.69% (still nothing to sneeze at with the rates banks are paying these days). Just for clarity, dividend reinvestment (DRIP) is when you own shares in a company that pays a dividend and when the dividends are paid out, the mo

My daughter recently graduated and started her first job out of school and I thought some of the things we helped her figure out during her first week of work would be helpful for other young professionals who are venturing out into their first step into adulting. Most kids coming out of college have grown used to living on the bare minimum and should leverage that minimalist life style to great advantage.  My daughter once mused to herself that if she could live on less than $500 per month while going to school, what was she going to do with $2,500 a month? Save! was my simple answer.  Your future self will thank your younger self, even if you don't see or understand why today. Life Rule #1: The earlier you start saving and investing, the more money you'll have when you are ready to retire. If you started saving your summer job money and didn't use any of it for college, it's a great head start, but you're not done yet! It's important to get enrol

I've had my lawn mower for roughly 5 years. It's a front wheel drive push mower and I never imagined that wheels could wear out just from mowing a lawn but I have 2 bald tires. This current adventure started when I went online shopping for replacement wheels. I found a part that looked like it would fit but after paying $25 to get it delivered, I discovered that the part was only for 1 wheel. I'm not paying $50 for 2 wheels so I went looking for alternatives to get some traction.  I just replaced the tires on a bicycle with smooth city tires and thought these knobby tires would be great on the lawn mower and they're replaceable when I have 2 bald tires in another 5 years. So here we go Need a heavy duty cable cutter to cut the bead on the tires, but a sharp knife can be used to cut just the tread for our project. Trimming the side walls because we only need the tread area Measure, cut and line it up.  A couple of self tapping screws to