Batteries are all over my place

Since 4 months ago when I started using solar panels as source of my electricity, I have bought a lot of batteries of different sizes and capacities. Batteries are very important because when you are not home during the day, you will need to store the energy captured by the solar panels so that you can watch tv and use your electric fan not to mention the power needed for your ligting needs. I also encountered several problems with these batteries because of their difference in s izes and capacities.

I noticed that when the 17ah battery is fully charged, I can use it to power my 29" Changhong LED tv for more than 2 hours but when I combine the larger batteries(26ah and 40ah) I still get 2 hours so I thought this is totally wrong. With 83ah, I should be able to use my tv 24hrs but I am not getting it. But that is what is happening and I think the basic explanation to this is that there are power losses maybe huge power losses when I connect the 3 batteries. The small ones acts as loads of the bigger ones and so while energy is consumed, the little ones competes with the actual loads(I am referring to the tv).

So to at least solve this problem and at least minimize the energy loss, I bought a 3amps ac-dc converter plus a mechanical timer to isolate my 28ah battery from the other 2 batteries so that when I come home at night, I can watch tv for at least 4 hours continiously and at the same time I can use my electric fan and lights without draining the batteries when I wake up in the morning and my theory has worked so far.

Utilizing the Power of the Sun

For 4 months now, I have been utilizing the energy coming from the sun to energize my gadgets. And within that 4 months, I have been doing several experiments and trying to solve everyday problems I encountered. Although it is quite expensive, I have enjoyed tingling with technology. It is as if I don't care about the money much as long as I really enjoy what I do and I really do enjoyed it.

First problem I encountered is I really can't leave my solar panels because in the place where I stay, a lot of strangers pass by and who knows, they may pick up some of my solar panels and easily run away. Second, I will have to check starting at 3 pm whether the solar panels still receive sunlight which they often do so I have to re-arrange them accordingly.

So I really need  to construct a small metal structure about 8ft high just to be able to use my solar panels 7 days a week because right now, I am only able to charge my battery bank twice a week and use this stored energy the whole week for my usb electric fans and led lights plus the Christmas lights.

So off I went to the hardware store and bought several flat angular bars and screws which cost over 2500 pesos and without much planning, I was able to finish the job in just 1 day.

So now, I will be able to use my solar panels 7 days a week and I just wonder how it would affect my energy needs. Currently, It could not adequately power my CHangHong 29" Led Tv and charge my 2 laptops.

The Peso in gaining temporary strength

When something keeps climbing and reaches the top, it will not go anywhere but down. This is mostly true in gold, currencies and stocks. Traders usually concentrates in determining the highest possible value and when this value is reached, that's the time that they start either selling or buying. This is another good way to earn money to buy new gadgets.

Lately, the peso is appreciating but this will be temporary and once it reaches its inflection point(a point where it starts to collapse), that is the best time to buy dollars. Just imagine if you have 1million dollars, and you bought this dollars at $1: Php35, and suddenly the peso loses its strength and value and reaches $1:Php50, then you will earn around Php15 million  with no sweat. And with Php15million, you can already buy a big house, a nice car, lots of expensive gadgets, etc, etc.

ChangHong 29" LED TV is really one of the best!

I just bought ChangHong 29" LED TV and watching movies with it is so much better than ordinary LCD TV. Although it is only 29", I could hardly notice how small it is as compared to my previous 32" LG LCD Tv this is because the ChangHong LED Full HD Tv almost occupies the whole plastic casing.

What I like about it even more is that it can directly play movies and music from any USB thumb drive which enables me to use my laptop without ever connecting to the tv just to watch my favorite music videos or listen to my favorite music although the sound quality is not that good, it is enough just to make noise in the house.

Overall, I am very satisfied with this tv considering that its price has become so affordable and is just like buying a boob-tube tv 6 years ago.

What can you do with an Android Phone?

Android Phones has been around for quite sometime now but I always do not look at them seriously since these smart phones can never meet my computing requirements(that's what I used to think) because I assume that they are just refurbished Microsoft OS powered PDA's that became so popular in the previous decade(2000-2009) but are not really that functional because there were no abundant free software to really make them functional. I know this because I also owned an HP Ipaq 2210(a PDA with a CF Card and an SDIO card reader) and bought a bunch of accessories like GPRS Modem that enabled me to surf the internet wirelessly, an FM tuner, a wifi receiver, among others. Well, these PDA's never reached the masses and caught the attention of the huge Developer community because it was powered by Microsoft and obtaining the software development kit(SDK) will be too expensive.

But as soon as got hold of a demo unit at a Samsung concept store in Cyber Zone at SM North EDSA Annex, I came to realize that I was wrong. And with the release of the cheapest Android powered smart phone(Samsung Galaxy Y), I figured I really got to have it and off I went to Mall got a new Android phone.

After 2 days with my Samsung Galaxy Y, I am still not done exploring the huge features that are available on the phone itself. It is so fast, just as fast as my Qube M1 Netbook, I can watch youtube, it has built-in GPS so I always check and explore the map, I always check my email with it most of the time, I play music and videos with it, there over 1 million apps available in the Android Market and most of them are free and my favorite apps to date are Chess, IPWebcam, Opera Mini Browser, FaceBook App for Android, Gold Price Widget, CHikka and Space Shooter. All of these apps are free. I could nng of ot imagine how cheap these smartphone is. It is 10x more powerfull than my HP Ipaq 2210 and the bunch of accessories I bought and yet I have spent over 2000 US Dollars for that gadget way too expensive than the 120 US Dollars I spent for the Samsung Galaxy Y.

Just take a look of the power of this Android Phone is. In the picture, I had a laptop bag that I would carry if I want to bring my laptop with me if I want to take pictures of places and upload the pictures immediately for my friends to view and appreciate on the internet, but after buying the Samsung Galaxy Y, all I need to carry is a tiny Camera bag.

  

By the way, my HP Ipaq 2210 did not survived the Ondoy flooding.

Another Good Suggestion to Save Money

For those people who earns so much but are not able to save their hard earned Pesos because they keep buying gadgets and always go out to spend, I have another very good suggestion on how you can save your money. Spending so much can be very addictive. Especially when you go out a lot and spend most of your time in a mall with all of your cash with you. This can be prevented by not sacrificing your bad habit of hanging out in the malls.

Money is a very liquid asset, you must therefore find a way to convert it into something else that will not reduce its value. I have discovered that with the current European crisis, a lot of foreign investors in the country are withdrawing their money, as a result, the Philippine Peso is weakening because of this huge outgoing migration of funds. So you must be aware of this, and because you frequently go out perhaps twice a day, then instead of spending your money for expensive food, gadgets and whatever that attracts you for no reason, why not buy USD? So each you go out, just to satisfy your urges, just buy USD100 each time you go out and you will see that your money does not disappears because you are buying money?

Just keep on doing that and in about 5 months, you will realize that you have been shopping a lot and your money is still there. LOL!

LITE-ON External DVD Burner

I thought I will be able to replace my Qube M1 Netbook 3 months ago so I have given my buffalo external dvd writer to a friend. Unfortunately, I decided not to replace my netbook until probably next year. It is still so much better than than the Lenovo Thinkpad T410 that my current employer gave as a service laptop. The Lenovo Thinkpad T410 does have a bright back led disdplay just like the Qube M1 netbook. But since I already know a burglar that does not steal but only looks around to sabotage my priced possessions, he recently hacked my netbook making it unable to boot because of the error 'Unmountable_Boot_Drive'. The only to reapir this error is to restore the netbook with the supplied restore dvd that the seller provided upon buying my Qube M1 netbook.

SO I desperately need an external dvd reader/writer again. So off I go to Cyberzone at SM Cubao and I found the LITE-ON External DVD burner. I wanted something small, bus powered, inexpensive, and the ability to burn a dual-layer DVD. This unit fit the bill so I pulled the trigger. It is absolute looks as good as my previous External Dvd reader.

 

One particularly nice touch: There is a slot on the underside of the unit which perfectly fits the USB cable when not in use, thus saving you some aggravation when storing the drive. No need to clumsily wrap the cable around the drive or look for it in your bag. This is great when you have to bring it you when you travel because it reduces clutter if you have several gadgets that you put in your bag. But not for me since I dont travel much at all.