Found again

I moved this blog several times, and then I kind of lost track of it. Now that I have found it again and it is working I am going to start using it more.
Lately I have been doing most of my posting at this forum.

Post from email

This is a test post from my email to see where it goes.

Buying a Video Camera

I started looking at getting a better camera that would make some decent videos,
after some research I found some of the independent film makers use the Nikon D90,

Nikon D90 - I found a used one on craigslist with a tripod and some other accessories for $450

Three other lower priced high quality cameras that are used for movies:

Pentax K series

Canon T2i or T3i

Canon 60D

The problem with these cameras is that they are big and heavy to carry around, they require set up to really use properly like  lighting and a tripod. So it would have to be something where I was planning on using the camera and brought a large camera bag and a tripod.

After thinking about it I am just not sure how often that would happen, it's much more likely that I would think hey I could take a picture of that, and if I had the camera in my shirt pocket or in my glove box then I might be able to use it. That would happen much more frequently.

That knocks me down to the point and shoot cameras.

I was looking at the cameras with more pixels, but I read one review that said that when you get over around 12 Megapixels that a lot of cameras just crammed more pixels on the same photo cell which gives you a lower quality picture. So who needs that.

The point and shoot cameras I am looking at are these:

Canon - PowerShot A2500 16.0-Megapixel Digital Camera

Best Buy  Sale: $85.99
with free SanDisk - 4GB Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Class 4 Memory Card
(but they were out of stock when I tried to pay for my order)
odd, but no tax when deliver to the store.

Walmart
Canon Black PowerShot A2500 Digital Camera with 16 Megapixels
$84.99
Tax  $6.80
Order Total  $91.79

and no memory card.

http://www.cameralabs.com/buyers_guide/compacts/best_compact_digital_camera.shtml - this guy likes the Canon better than the Nikons for the point and shoot cameras.

The more I think about it the more I think I need to buy a $100 camera and see how much I use it, if I set it up with a tripod and start shooting a lot of video then I can look into buying a more expensive camera.

The PowerShot A2500 can shoot HD movies at 720p resolution at 25 frames per second. Movies are encoded at an average bit rate of 18Mbits/s encoded in the H.264 format and saved as Quicktime.mov files.

I would like something that does 1080p but I am not sure I want to pay a whole lot more for it right now.

Level 2 Charger DIY vs Online

I have been driving my new Nissan Leaf for about a month, when I bought the car the 100 mile range seemed like it would be plenty for the way I drive.

But what happened was that as soon as I got the car I started driving more because I can now driver places for under a dollar that would cost me $40 if I used my gas car.

So I found out that I limited my driving before because of the expense involved, now that limit has pretty much been removed and I found out how much I would drive if there was no cost involved with driving.

This means that I now drive more than 100 miles on some days, which I never did before, and the days I drive a lot also cuts into the charging time I have since I am driving.

So looking at my charging options it appears that I want something that will charge at the 6.6kw rate which is around 220 volts and 30 amps.

Looking at some of the charger options out there it seems like you have 2 choices. 1. really really expensive, or 2. chargers that break or don't work.

I am not too excited out either of those options, and looking at building a charger myself is a real pain in the butt, however it does give me one thing and that is control over the part and the ability to replace broken parts without buying a new charger. The cost is almost the same but I may be able to build a 30 amp charger for around $500 and if I buy a charger I am only likely to get a 12 or 15 amp charger for that price.

I can also get a J1772 connection rated at 70 amps so I would be able to keep this part and upgrade it in the future where a 15amp charge would just need to be replaced in the future.

Install it Yourself

A 70 amp J1772 plug is going to cost $120 on ebay.

This is the ebay seller I bought it from.

Then I need some cord and I found some

• 3 Conductors (including gnd) - 6 AWG
• 2 Control conductors - 18 AWG

it is on ebay for $9 a foot, but I am already running into my first problem which is the plug can accept wire that is 3/4 diameter and the wire I am buying is 1 inch in diameter, not sure how that is going to work out.

also before I start down this road I need to call my electrical wizard and run everything by him since I will be needing his advice when I run into trouble on this project, which will probably be sooner than later.

Option 1: 70 amp

plug $120 + 15 feet of #6 wire $135 = total $255

Option 2: 30 amp

plug plus 13 feet of 10 gage wire attached on ebay $140

How The Electronics Work

I need to figure out what kind of signals are sent back and forth between the EVSE and the electric vehicle.

Google Doc EVSE page - this page has some information on testing the EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) (most people incorrectly call this a charger)

This is another DIY charger project.

Nissan Leaf Battery Capacity Loss

A method of estimating the likelihood of your Leaf experiencing temperature related accelerated battery capacity loss:

• If you almost always see five bars or less on the battery temperature gauge, and it only gets up to six bars a handful of times each summer... Don't worry about it.
• If you see five bars or less during the winter half of the year, and fairly often see six bars during the summer half... You probably are going to see the loss claimed by Nissan (20% loss at 5 years and 30% loss at 10 years).
• If seeing six bars is common for a large part of the year, and a seventh bar pops up occasionally during the summer months... Consider leasing instead of buying the Leaf
• If you spend a large part of the summer with seven temperature bars or more showing... It's probably best to avoid the Leaf completely. Consider an EV with an active thermal management system or the Chevy Volt.
  

For those that already own a Leaf, there are a few things you can do to minimize battery capacity loss:

• Keep the state of charge in the 30-40% range (on the Gid meter) as much of the time as reasonably possible. This roughly corresponds to 3-4 fuel bars for a new Leaf. Charge to 80% or 100% right before you need to make a longer drive.
• Shallower cycling (DOD) of the battery pack when possible. For example, two cycles of 60% to 30% SOC rather than one cycle of 90% to 30% should be better for the battery pack.
• Avoid parking in the sun when possible. Solar loading may increase the yearly average battery temperature by 1.3-3.1 degrees Celsius for a vehicle always parked in the sun.
• Drive and accelerate more slowly and more efficiently. This will have two effects:
• Minimizing waste heat (estimated to be 1% at 10 KW power draw, 3% at 30 KW power draw)