This months downtime brought to you by….

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Review of the Xantrex XPower PowerPack 400 Plus / Motomaster Eliminator 600 PowerBox

So I promised a review of this little bad boy, and here it is! Essentially the two products are the same, minus the labelling as Canadian Tire has a deal to rebrand a few Xantrex products including smaller and larger power packs.

In a nutshell, its main features are:

1. 12V, 20Ah sealed lead acid battery
2. 400W AC inverter (square wave)
3. Air compressor with short hose and fittings
4. Separate jumper cable for boosting low car batteries

Zombie Outbreak! Matlab code included!

So this somewhat amused me today, I came across this paper by 4 students from the University of Ottawa and Carleton modelling zombie outbreaks from a math perspective.

What amused me more is that the matlab code is included. But most of all, section 6 – impulsive eradication made me smile. Being a fan of zombie films, I’m going to save this PDF for the inevitable zombie outbreak.

Solar Charge Controller

So recently I put together a small 3W solar array of cheap amorphous solar panels, and I have since given the small charge controller to my parents who have 3x 15W solar panels (also amorphous). Currently I’m running a test, but from the looks of it there was a modest amount of unharnessed energy (ie: the panels are there, but they weren’t being used to their full potential without a proper charge controller for automation.

Apologies for lack of posts

Hi all, sorry for the recent lack of posts but a series of events has prevented me from doing stuff and writing articles. Some things I do have planned in the works are:

• A solar shunt controller for float charging batteries
• Another battery revival revisit
• Possibly reviews of the Motomaster Powerbox equivalents of the Xantrex Powerpack 400 plus, and the Powerpack 1500. (Note that due to clumsy charging by a family member, the Powerpack 1500 review may be only partial due to battery issues).

PS: Wisdom tooth extractions, no matter how straightforward are still a pain. (Yeseterday I underwent a wisdom tooth extraction that was simple compared to almost all other stories I’ve heard, but it still hurts!)