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No, I'm talking about the point of entry here. I've already tested this somewhat feeding high-voltage DC to LED tubes which supposedly need AC. As I said, in most cases the only place you have 120VAC in the circuit is before it's fed into a rectifier and filtered to DC. A full-wave rectifier...

I can't answer specifically about the hardware in question but the way integrated graphics are trending the population for whom a discrete graphics card makes sense gets smaller every year. My guess is those who need one already know it. Those who have to ask probably don't. I'm personally...

Other than being in a place where you're car dependent, what you're aiming for isn't that far from what I'm aiming for. Probably no sense digging a well here or using a septic tank given that the city water and sewer system is still reasonably cost effective but I'd like to be independent of the...

That would be more a case where they would rigorously enforce existing laws rather than pass new ones. Plenty of people do their own wiring or plumbing, even in places which tell you this work must be done by a licensed person. If you're competent it's generally not a problem. I suspect most...

This is based on my knowledge of electronics but I googled it, and it turns out I'm not the first one to think of this. Basically, if it doesn't have an induction motor or a 60Hz transformer it'll probably work just as well on 120VDC as on 120VAC. I was concerned about my fluorescent lights, but...

It sounds like you have more restrictions than we do. For what it's worth, NYC is also a free-for-all. I have little doubt as the economics make it viable we'll have all sorts of DIY systems here which they'll be powerless to do anything about. It's worth noting the grid here is actually...

It seems the regulations in NYC aren't that onerous. For example, here's the part on selling power back to the power company. Power generated directly offsets the power you're billed for on a 1 to 1 ratio. Yes, you'll still have administrative charges on your bill if you generate more than you...

My opinion as well, which is one of the reasons I'm planning on installing solar power. With a system roughly the size you plan to install, I could run heating or cooling while the sun is out, and have enough battery capacity to at least run lights and some electronics at night. The problem is...

Actually we still have oil heat but the same idea would apply. We would need to run the blower and the water pumps for the hot water heating. Probably a few hundred watts give or take. I'm thinking of that if it turns out power outages become a lot more frequent. I did the math for running a...

At least they seem to have some decent skills. Still a stupid thing to do, but it would be even more stupid if a novice did it.

Actually since we already have a gas line going into the kitchen for the gas stove I would imagine that heater could run on natural gas. Thankfully we don't lose power often enough for it to be a huge deal. Last time we had an extended power outage was when Sandy hit. Last year one of the power...

A few more pictures after shoveling: I measured the accumulation at 13" to 14" before shoveling. About an inch came down while I was shoveling. I was overly optimistic sanitation would pick up the garbage. I put the pails out at 7 last night, long before any snow came. Sometimes they pick...

At least this is the first accumulation this year. Last year we were having snow like this seemingly every few days. I snuck the camera out the front door to take a few pictures: I'm more concerned about the 50 mph wind gusts than the snow. It's going into the teens tonight. If we lose power...

Yep. And my father was just as excessive with his other hobbies. We estimate he spent about $200K altogether. And that would have been fine if he made good money but he worked for the city his entire life. The sad part is very little of anything he bought is now worth anything. We realized after...

It's still the case if I have time to go through my father's stamp collection instead of paying at the Post Office. He left us upwards of $50K in stamps, most of them sadly worth no more than postage. Basically, that's just about anything from the 1950s on, which is most of what he had.

I'd probably say somewhere in the ball park of $125 to $150 per emitter for parts and labor. Shipping to AZ shouldn't be more than $20 or $25 going UPS ground or USPS Priority.

Even worse, my first attempt at pointing out the errors in the efficiency numbers was removed from the comments. I tried again, this time with a link to a source. Hopefully that will remain. Misinformation is bad enough, but failing to correct it when someone points out the mistakes is...

I have all the parts on hand, other than the heat sinks for Dave's light. I just haven't had time to do anything with them yet. I'm going to cobble together a three emitter light for myself using one of my heat sinks and post pictures. Hopefully that'll happen in the next few days. A car...

They're using incorrect figures in that article: Compact LEDs' energy efficiency ranges between 5 to 15 percent. Fluorescent lights range between 7 to 15 percent while the top-notch incandescent bulbs vary between 2 to 3 percent. CFLs are about 20% efficient, linear fluorescents up to 30%. The...

By most metrics 2015 was better for me than 2014, which in turn was better than 2013. That kind of reverses the long-standing trend where each year was worse than the last. Hopefully 2016 will be looking up for all of us.

Merry Christmas to all! :reindeer:

Same here, the reason being I don't have the room for a large monitor, nor the eyesight to sit far enough away from it so it doesn't exceed my field of view. At the distances I view my monitors, which is about 16", 24" to 27" is just about perfect. 4K or 5K resolution means I probably won't see...

I did about 9 years ago with a friend of mine. He was the one who talked directly to the lawyer although since it was primarily my idea I wrote some of the preliminary paperwork. I could email you the documents if you want to get an idea of what the patent filing should look like.

In other words, they engineer in planned obsolescence and/or assume price is the only thing important to people. I'd rather pay somewhat more for something I'll know will last a lifetime (or at least be easily repairable) than buy what is essentially a throw-away product. Unfortunately, it seems...

My friend set up my MS account using his cell phone. I'm good now. MS Office is installed and working.

When you type in all the info and click create account it takes you to another page where you hit send code. When I do that, I get the message We cannot send a text message to this number.

I'm not seeing any option for that on the setup page.

This kind of account Yes, I'm aware of Libre Office. My friend has been bugging me to get Office 365 since I started my newest consulting gig last year due to the fact the company deals with tons of Office documents.

I was given Office 365 as a birthday gift by a friend of mine. Unfortunately, when I tried to install it I only got as far as starting to set up a Microsoft account. Microsoft wanted a phone number so they could send a text message to verify my identity. I only have a voice-only VOIP phone...

Assuming you have some way to power this, it could of course be scaled up to 20 modules, 50 modules, etc. For the time being I'm ordering 16 emitters-12 for your light, 4 for mine. We won't hit the price break for 25 pieces this time, but who knows in the future?

Figure about 8 amps per module. In theory that battery might be able to power all 12 modules but you'll get 3 minutes run time if you're lucky. I'd probably recommend getting as many batteries as you can afford to maximize run time. I can connect as many or as few modules per battery as you...

I thought this might be of some general interest. We've all been buying USB drives for a long time. Usually their capacity seems to be exactly as advertised, or sometimes a slight amount less. For example, I have a pair of these I bought last year which are 127,968,411,648 bytes total capacity-a...

We got our first HDTV in 2004. It was a 720P 30" TV. My mom bought her 40" 1080P TV is 2007 I think. Once TWC had enough content available in HD I didn't even want to watch anything in SD any more. Despite their crappy HD encoding it's still a world of difference. At this point I'll venture to...

Quite a collection for 3 days of shopping. I like most of your choices, also.

Would I be able to download it also or just watch it? I definitely would want to see Avatar in real 1080p, as opposed to the compressed stuff TWC transmits.

I'm surprised Avatar isn't there. That might be at the top of my list for movies which would be worthwhile watching in 3D and/or 4K.

I think that's the case. I've seen product listings with far worse descriptions than that.

The adjustable voltage would be the maximum the output reaches under no load conditions, or when the current is less than the constant current setting. Since these emitters are ~35V @ 2.7A, maybe I would adjust the output under no load to slightly more, perhaps 36V. Unless the emitter fails, the...

Regulators and optics ordered, 20 pieces of each.

What about the problem with drives floating away? :D Did they add some ballast to prevent that?

I'm ordering the regulators today since they'll probably take ~10 days to get here from China. I'll order 20 for now. Later this week, or early next, I'll order the emitters and other parts. The number will depend upon how much interest there is in having me build these beyond what me and Dave...

Not sure much can go wrong here. I've already dealt with the power levels these things will use from years of playing with thermoelectrics. Heat output and heat sinking requirements are similar. As for the light output, it's certainly not intense enough to start fires, at least not unless I'm...

For anyone who might be on the fence about having me make one for them, remember the design is modular. We can have as few modules as you want and the cost and size will be proportionately less (maybe ~$100 per module plus batteries). For example, a 1 module light might comfortably fit on a...

I thought that might be in Russia. I don't think there's much snow where Dave lives, much less 34" in late November.

I have no plans to aim it at anything in the sky. In NYC especially that's likely to bring a SWAT team to my door in short order.

From my observation of the light this project was inspired by in this thread: In concept this reminds me of the former Soviet Union's Tsar Bomba. It worked, but in the end it was far too powerful to be of any practical use. Same thing here. As to the purpose, for me anyway it'll be if I need...

My guess is when the prices get close. The only reason CFL still exists at this point is because it costs less than LED. I'd say within 2 or 3 years that advantage will be lost. I've noted now when I buy emitters they're less costly than even 6 months ago. As efficiency continues to rise, the...

My bank gives out the Experian score each month. Mine was 824 last month. Highest I've had since they've been doing this has been 828.

I've always had a bit of trouble understanding people who like to sleep in a cold room. I like cold weather when I'm awake, especially when I'm active. When I sleep however, I like the immediate area around me to be warm. I've been known to keep windows open for fresh air, but at the same time...

Probably about 90%, or 90 watts. Here's a good read on the subject. They give numbers from 2% to 13% efficient, depending upon the type and wattage of the bulb. 100 watt bulbs are about 10% efficient, 40 and 60 watt bulbs closer to 7.5%. Of course, these numbers are miserable compared to any...