How I tested the various over clock settings on the Raspberry Pi model B+. For a baseline test, I let the system idle at 700MHz for 30-60 minutes and it settled on a reported 90*F (32*C) temperature and USB current consumption was about 240mA. At the same speed with a 1080i live TV program playing, the temperature climbed to 99*F (37*C) and current up to about 280mA. Working up through each faster over clock setting in OpenELEC I reached the Turbo setting at 1000MHz. Under 100% CPU load, again with a 1080i live TV program playing, temperatures rose to 118*F (48*C) and current consumption rose to 380mA. Ambient air temperature was approx. 65*F (18*C) for most of the testing. Allowing for a hot summer evening with 85*F (29*C) temperatures inside the house, my peak temperature should rise to 138*F (59*C) which is well under the 158*F (70*C) maximum rated temperature, so I should be good to go at the fastest listed over clock setting. Now the live TV signal plays just fine even at the 700MHz setting, it seems that is handled mostly by the MPEG decoder hardware. But the user interface gets more sluggish at 700MHz, updating at about 20FPS vs. about 48FPS at 1000MHz, again while playing a live TV program int he background. I also find the EPG downloading and add-on updates happen quicker at the faster CPU speed, as expected. The dynamic overclocking feature seems to work well and transparently boosts the CPU speed from 700 to 1000 once the CPU load gets above the 40-50% range. The Flirc metal RPi case that I am using, with the decorative plastic top removed, seems to be working well as a heat sink. It will feel slightly warm to the touch. The area around the CPU contact point is of course the warmest. With an infrared thermometer, I get readings of perhaps 85-90*F (29-32*C). I've been running the 1000MHz/Turbo setting now for about 2 weeks and it seems to be stable. My TV set USB connector can supply the required power at that speed with no issues. I only have a wireless keyboard dongle plugged in to the RPi. I did notice the WiFi dongle added a decent amount of power consumption to the device, but I have a GBE switch right next to the TV, so wired Ethernet is a no-brainer. I may be setting up a second RPi and on that one, I'll likely be using the WiFi dongle. Questions welcome in the comment section below. As always, thanks for watching! ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqJQs7EWOVw

Do you have a plan for how to keep your fresh food cold in the event of a power outage? Here's an Amazon link for a similar unit: http://amzn.to/2gKrPew and the insulated Transit Bag (highly recommended): http://amzn.to/2gJVzbj Part of my plan is to use this 12v fridge/freezer that I purchased 13 years ago for camping and off-roading. It's an ARB 40 liter model, but similar units are available in the Engel and other brands, they're all very similar. They can run off either 12v DC or 120v AC power. More information below on current models: - http://arb.com.au/products/arb-freezer-fridges/ I wanted to determine how much current and power this fridge requires to stay cold for 24 hours. For the test, I pre-cooled the unit with 2 gallons of liquid inside for ~5 hours. Then I reset the power meter and recorded the amp- and watt-hours for 24 hours of operation. The fridge was outside in 55-75 degree temperatures for that period. I found the overnight (16 hour) consumption was 12 amp-hours for 24 hours, it was 18.35 amp-hours and 218 watt-hours. For comparison, my Energy Star refrigerator uses about 1400 watt-hours in 24 hours. And I looked up what an Energy Star mini-fridge uses and that is about 600 watt-hours per day. Now this 40L (1.4 cu.ft.) fridge is at the low end of mini-fridge size, but at 1/3 the energy consumption, it makes an attractive off-grid solution. I was able to run mine continuously on about 90 watts of solar panels and a couple of 35AH batteries. One other reason for doing this test is that I wanted to see how much capacity I would need if I wanted to set up a portable solar system for use in my truck. That way I could set up some folding panels and charge a battery during the day to run the fridge at night for extended camping. A 100W folding solar panel runs about $200, add in a small charge controller and battery and a decent portable system would cost under $300. I would not classify myself as a "prepper", but if I can do some basic preparation to be a little more comfortable in a power outage situation, by all means I'll do them. I now know I can plug in the fridge into my solar power system and just leave it on if I need it. That makes it just like my house refrigerator, I never think about it, it is just there and works all by itself, same with this 12V fridge. That is one less thing to worry about in case the power is out for an extended time. Anyone looking for an off-grid refrigeration system might consider something like this. There are also the 3-way powered RV refrigerator/freezes, that run off 12V, 120V and propane/LPG. I don't have LPG at home, so that was not an option for me. One advantage of these 12V fridges is that they tolerate running at extreme angles, unlike the propane models that ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xevi10W_uCo

Looking at the original LCD behavior and also how I built the Marlin firmware for these displays. I found my 2 full graphic controllers worked a bit different in original form (w/o flipped connectors). This one did nothing, but the LCD activity LED flashed with encoder operation. The other one did that plus the back light would flash and the beeper would beep from time to time while clicking the encoder button. Both controllers worked fine after flipping the connector shells as shown in the previous video. For the Marlin firmware build, I set up 5 #define statements and then grouped my selection options into those to allow me to build support in for various combinations of features easily. I'm sure I've missed some things, so if you have any suggestions on things to add, post up in the comment section below. Unless you have a Type A Machines Series 1 Pro 3D printer, you won't want to use this file to build your Marlin firmware: configuration.h file: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B89_DmuFw50kUjVfNTZ2VVgwemc I've noticed that there's a compilation error if you enable the _RB_LCD and _RB_SD options at the same time. Sommehow the ultralcd.cpp file doesn't seem to support the SD option in the ULTRALCD configuration. If anyone knows how to sort that out, pass along that in the comment section below. You can use this file as a template to add a custom boot screen on your 3D printer, just replace the Bxxxxxx strings with your own bitmap image: _bootscreen.h file: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B89_DmuFw50kYXJjRS1STi1TYzA Note that this file normally doesn't exist in the Marlin project folder. You need to create it. There's a program called LCDassistant, but I could not find a copy that my anti-virus deemed safe. So I found this on-line tool instead: Byte Array Maker: http://makertum.com/en/bytearray-maker/ Just upload a 128x64 pixel B/W bitmap (BMP seems to work well) and copy/paste the binary strings into the _bootscreen.h file and compile. More to come, looking at the u8glib settings for the RUMBA board and full graphic controller. Be sure to rate, comment and share And as always, thanks for watching Intro: Louisiana Fairytale by Austin Rogers http://drfiddle.com/show_tune.php?id=94 ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1P6enF_5dk

Connecting a 4S - 16V/33AH LIthium Ion battery to the Tracer MPPT charge controller, working on the charge parameters. Instead of waiting to complete my final battery bank wiring, I decided to just connect up my 1st 4S/16V battery to the charge controller to see how it will work. There are 14 user specified charging parameters in this controller and they can be set anywhere between 9V and 17V. So this would be ideal for a 3S or 4S battery. They provide a profile for a 3S Li-Ion and a 4S LiFEO3. I'm trying to work off those to come up with a 4S profile for a 16V pack. I have a 270W/60 cell panel in parallel with a series pair of 60W/30 cell panels hooked to the EPSolar Tracer 4215BN controller. There is also a ~10A DC load consisting of a DC-DC boost converter feeding a grid tie inverter that I control to pull the battery down at the beginning and end of the day. More to come... Be sure to rate, comment and share And as always, thanks for watching Intro: Louisiana Fairytale by Austin Rogers http://drfiddle.com/show_tune.php?id=94 ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUQOF7qrKLE