Solar charging of electric bike

ok now that the electric bike is functioning with feedback on speed and battery status what's next?
Walmart had these solar chargers on sale
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rayovac-High-Performance-6V-Solar-Battery-Charger/37424618

for $10!!!

We got two of them because only two were available :(
Now two of these in series can charge the 12V batteries...

May have to put in some safeties so that we dont fry the batteries (the bike is 24V with two 12V in series and would have to charge them in parallel)

Electric Bike enhancements

The first thing Rithvik wanted was to know was how fast he was going!! what is it with boys and speed and fast cars and trucks? Adwait suggested we add a battery status as he was thinking how far can I go and return without the battery running out. Recall the battery was sized for 30 min but we dont keep track of long it was run before fully charged.

1. Speed: A simple hall effect sensor on the spokes and a magnetic pick up to time between pulses and with diameter of the cycle known we know the speed. Thankfully someone has already built this device with additional info such as time, distance.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0792YQ65C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2. Battery status: From almost 20 years ago battery modelled as a huge capacitor and internal resistance and SoC (State of Charge) can be determined from voltage and current.  A lot of info can be estimated purely from battery voltage and such a device exists for 24V.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E0SDTBO/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Now we know how fast we are going and how much energy we have left Yay.

The electric Bike

All this started 15 years ago when I first saw the prius. I believed that electric vehicles were going to be the future (aka jetsons). I had bought a 4 wheel drive truck which I wanted to convert to a electric drive vehicle with the option of using gas. Unfortunately it needed a timing belt change which would have cost more than what I paid for the truck. After Changing the timing belt the truck ran for a month and had to be sent to the cemetery. (BTW toyota makes vehicles that run forever truck had almost 200k miles). Rithvik had been talking about how we have spoiled the earth and need to have clean mode of transport which triggered the old  idea and we bought a kit from amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/electric-Bicycle-Conversion-HOMEMADE-Modified/dp/B01DBK1UJ0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1529903616&sr=8-6&keywords=250w+electric+bike+kit&dpID=51kAPLOcbUL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Now I did not realize that it did not come with a battery and it was meant for a bike with a rear axle which would accomodate a sprocket on the other side to allow for pedaling and electric drive.

Being the cheapskate (cost efficient) I figured it can be modified to accomplish the electric bike.

Rithvik had the awesome idea to hold the batteries in a basket on the handle. We found a office CD box in walmart that would do the trick. We went to several battery places to find a right battery (24V) and finally had to settle for two 12V deep cycle battery with 7AH so that we can have atleast 30 minutes run time.

The kit was mad for a 26" bike, and it wouldnt fit our mountain bike so we adapted Rithvik's bike.

The maiden run by be went ok, but when Rithvik's rode it, his enthusiasm the motor torque twisted the bracket and broke five spokes.

Another run to homedepot and with fender washers installed the bracket held and Rithvik had a blast riding it after I test rode it. 

The batteries are deep cycle gel lead acid batteries to stick to our budget (Li-ion batteries would be better but 4 x the cost but are lighter). Lead acid have more history of data and I have a state of charge circuit from 16 years ago that will allow us to estimate the health of battery unlike the iphone.

To do:
- add a speedometer, maybe even a gps receiver to show where this bike has been.
- add a cool oled display to show state of charge and speed and time left
- modify or add freewheel to be able to pedal if out of charge.

A SLR adventure

After a long time I dusted off the SLR camera from the bag and marched to R's soccer game. Curious friends saw the big lens and after me taking their picture wanted to see the result. I had to tell them to wait for a week. They were shocked that ASLR short for Analog SLR still exists!!

R didnt understand why he couldnt see his picture right away. here's the picture of the camera

The camera was my dads splurging in 1988 summer in Madras. I nationalized it during their trip to P town.

This is the first I was using 400 ASA film and underexposed a lot of pictures. I also need to work on focusing on the subject.
Overall the camera is calling my name to take more pictures. Smile FLash

Gulti's guide to slimmer you

- plan to eat and stick to it. no ifs buts

- dance your weight away pick a song and dance away . change song every month

- maintain a positive attitude. not what cannot be done do what needs to be done

- make life simpler food cleanup etc

behind the scene

we watch all the music videos..

scratch that i was watching top 50 songs and wondering about
- music
- dance sequences
- lyrics
- background and props
- background dancers

so many things that go to make an awesome vid and the lead actors get the credit.
perhaps they do bring the act together and also choose the songs.

just food for thought

corporate web security

so you have email and password
you have computer log in and password
hours entry system and password
banks and password
credit cards and password
personal emails and password
in all these to increase security there are more and more stuff to remember
so i have used a base password and variation of that
then there are systems that require one capital and lower case with numerals and special characters

does this increase security or most likely people like me are going to use same password and srore it in a file conveniently called pass words

numba

94010007 iitb roll number
19 - high school roll number
1812 - jee rank in 1993
477 - jee rank in 1994
77 - orissa state rank 1993
387420489 - 9^9
180094635296999121-9^18

celebreties

i was watching jjws yeah jo jeeta wohi sikandar... oldie that reminded me when i met mamik at iitb as a freshie.... and he wanted gold flake longs.. he was reall charming.

this let me think about all the celebrities i have met
ruby bhatia
robert page and plant
godsmack sully
brahmanandam
bob cringely
hariprasad chaurasia
zakir hussain (several times)
parikrama- before they went pro

celebreties seen from a distance
metallica
pantera
kareena kapoor
karishma kapoor

movie update

i was watching akele hum akele tum song and it brought back memories when i had written a script with aamir khan in mind.

that script was lost during my move from florida to peoria.

i wonder how aamir would react when i present a script to him?

i also wonder what happened to that missing box with pictures and stories from my 10 grade onwards. if they are read with laughs and introspection as intended or just gathering dust in a random warehouse.

no capitals

every one has a friend who is all knowing.

just for a minute if you stop and want to give fundas think about this

list down the top three things that you love and would prefer not to live without
it could be people material things thoughts

live your life without them for three years.... yes live without your most favorites for a fairly long duration

what could those favorite things be?
coffee, sweets, morning jog, beer, 8 hr uninterrupted sleep, sitcoms, internet, beloved, music, instruments, gadgets

i strongly believe living without them for a substantial time will alter the hold they have on you and change your perspective.


the morning joe after 36 months will loose its charm

it's just my 2 cents of imagination

The Wall Project

It takes 10 hours for one man to build a wall.

How many hours will it take for two people?

two very objective men would take < 5 hours (mathematical answer)

why did the wall need to be built?

let's have a mtg and draw up a project plan

let's talk about the wall and what benefits it brings

let's outsource the wall project

let us show a picture of the wall and pocket the budget

close your eyes and feel the wall

Communication

Me: Hey dude, movie x is playing at theatre y at 7, u up for it?

Dude: yes

Me: see ya at 7

hang up

wifey: hey did you know there is this movie
Dudette: yeah the heroine was wearing this shadey lipstick in that other movie

wifey: yeah she has no dress sense, matches purple with mango

D: did you see the other day....
.....
... two hours later Dude and I got out of the movie, and wifey was still on the phone completey mindless of the fact that the origin of the call was for the movie

Of money and life

Is it ironic that one fights hard to earn a living but is worth more dead than alive.

God and logic

I am not a religious person i.e. go to hanuman temple on tuesday kind (dunno if that is the right day).

But the thought that making an offering to the lord to appease him be it the orientation of stars or some other plausible reason..... it seems outrageous.

God is all knowing entity. If we try to appease him he knows it. How do you please someone who is all knowing, he is aware (God could be female but that is another discussion) of everything.

Here's my prayer:
It is not a coincidence or randomness that I was born , that I was born to certain parents. It was a privilege and has given me a head start. Oh lord give me the strength to achieve all that I can, help my fellow beings to achieve their potential. I am motivated help me be motivating.

Your truly.
You know who it is.

I am grateful for who I am and consider it blasphemy not to reach the true potential of my god given abilities. There seems to be a conflict of objectivity and a supreme being. If I set my ego aside I know I could have been somebody else but I also think (faith ) that it is not a chance/randomness of who I am.

Perspectives/interpretation

So three couples (X Y Z for convenience and mathematical habit)meet over for dinner on a saturday. Their age is past the phase where pubs don't hold any cool factor and drinking is limited due to doctors orders.

X asks Y - what was your most memorable moment when you were dating?

There was a significant pause, where Z was thinking - Man that took a while, that is sad if one does not have any incident on the tip of their tongue.

X smiled and said - Darn it Y pick one if you have so many to choose from.

mathematical relationships

A rel B
B rel C
then A rel C

rel could be equality or greater than or less than
The first two sentences are true then the third is true

However if rel = like or get along then third sentence is not true e.g.

A get along with B (great friends)
B gets along with C (BFF)

This does not mean A and C will be friends or will get along well.

So much for relational mechanics

I am going to library

My friend declared.

Now this was a little off, because for all the time he claimed to have spent in the library his grades did not somehow reflect it.

This was in my undergrad, the secret was out when we accedentally walked past the swimming pool when the library bound friend was walking in arms with a carbon based female life form. His sheepish grin and our dropped jaws and the shocking expression on the lady's face remained imprinted in my memory for a few turns of the calendar till now.

Fast forward half a decade or more during my masters, my neighbour claimed he was going to the library. Not paying much attention I just nodded and asked him if he could return a few books. His eyes grew about 200% which again went unnoticed because I was preoccupied with saving a trip and avoiding late fees.

A few days later I recieve an email asking me to return the books which should have raised a ochre flag, assuming the incompetence of the spectacled book wormy librarian I let it slide.

When my neighbour claimed to visit the abode of books I merely mentioned I was headed there as well adn he immediately changed his mind to catch a later bus. Hmmm went a light bulb in my head which was extinguished right away with some random thought of curry.

Later he was found in the arms of a giggly senior in the back of the international society of some sort. The same story repeated during my visit to a friend in Portland Oregon where my room mates friend was going to the library. The fact that he was dressed well with perfume and had no books or even a hint of a pencil went over our dim witted heads.

On our way to get some refreshments we met him on the sidewalk hand in hand with an asian woman in tow. Our eyes popped out like Jim carey in the mask specially when a usually dabur oiled hair now sports a slick gelled spikes.

There are quite a few other verifiable incidents along with the above which lead me to giving a curled eye look to any one claiming to go to the library.

Grand plans, planning and execution (or lack of)

Every now and then (almost weekly) grandiose plans are made, be it in form of post its or excel spreadsheets. Then the most important ones get taken care of i.e. food and clothing. More mundane not to necessary but still important tasks get handed make their way to the next weeks plan i.e. cleaning garage etc.

I think Pink Floyd captured it perfectly in their song time:

"Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the english way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought Id something more to say"

Aint that the whole truth.

Is it waiting for inspiration or laziness depends on whose side you are on.

There is magic remedy to laziness, problem is that it cannot be wrapped and sold in the store.
Discipline and get off your behind from the couch cream ought to do it.

Are there limitless thoughts or the same thoughts get reformulated i.e. "new and improved".

Constraints

As I walked into the little boys room a couple of days ago, I saw a co-worker of mine going about his business. I have seen him around on his wheelchair many a times never giving more than a ounce of thought. The struggle he put just to take a leak was phenomenal.

It has made me think of all the things that we take for granted i.e walking playing toodling around.
I really need a Jeeves to fill me in