Any "Smart" Things in Your Build?
Mary P
8 years ago
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joeltpro
8 years agoRelated Discussions
What is the nicest thing about your man (any man in your life)
Comments (19)DH-Worked hard to provide for us and appreciated the fact that I was a SAHM. He was very very involved in the kids activities and spent a lot of quality kid time with them as well as sharing care-giving duties from day one. He is generous to a fault. He can do laundry, clean the bathroom and repair or build just about anything. He cannot cook however so he is banned from the kitchen except to nuke stuff.LOL DS- #1 is he is extremely kind to women. Girls always flocked to him. For a long while he appeared to have his own harem. LOL He absolutely adores his SO and is extremely protective of her without being the least bit controlling. He is a true believer in equal rights but chivalry is his middle name. He has my back. A real tough guy with a gentle nature. D(quite likely)SIL to be- He loves my DD and shows it in every way both large and small. A hard worker who wants a family to provide for and who doesn't have the materialist expectations of his generation. He has solid values and isn't afraid to fight and work hard for what he wants. As my DD puts it... he's a combination of her brother and the best qualities of the two other main loves of her life before him without the negative ones....See MoreNew Smart Meter, now things are odd
Comments (18)Assuming you did your tests as described, it does appear reasonable to suspect that this could be related to the installation of the smart meter. Without getting into all the debate about smart meters, and only looking at the possible way the meter could affect something connected to your wiring, there are really just two possibilities. One, could be noise on the wiring caused by something like a poor connection in the meter base from oxidation on the socket contacts, which may just require it to be reseated. Do you have any flickering in your home lighting? Two, would be if, as weedmeister suggested, the power company is using PLC - power line carrier/communication - for the link. The are a number of communication options available that are being deployed often depending on geography, the number of meters, and the utility wiring infrastructure. The most common are RF wireless access point, RF relay network, RF mesh network. They all typically transmit in the 900-925MHz range and would not be a source of your problem. There is however PLC which is used in some areas. The data is modulated on an analog carrier between 10-500kHz over the power lines and could, although highly unusual, possibly be the cause of your problem. You said the problem does not occur on your UPS power but if is not an "always-on" UPS, the most it could be doing is using it's EMI filter to remove any interference. Your next step would probably be to call the utility company, but first you may wish to find out the type of communication method used by the smart meter to the utility in case it could be PLC related....See MoreDo you build things for your garden ?
Comments (6)I agree with nhbabs - have fun playing but do pay attention to safety. Even experienced woodworkers have accidents (there are a surprising number of professional carpenters missing a finger-joint or two!) But it's definitely fun to build things for the garden. I have both built things and done the drawings so someone else could build them for me when the construction/fabrication was beyond what I could do myself, even with help. Over the years I've posted here, I've posted lots of pictures of things built for the garden. They include: The first thing I built was a planter-bench and coffee table for the patio (the basic plan for the bench is in several places on the internet, but I modified it to make one side longer so it fit the space better - and that made it look less 'stubby' too. I 'cheated' a bit since a friend's boyfriend did some of the difficult cuts (i.e. 'ripping' wider boards into narrower pieces.) We haven't bothered putting the bench out (it goes into the shed for the winter) in the last couple of summers as we now mainly just use the back porch for sitting outside. The success of the bench project encouraged me to try something else - next up was a screen for the air conditioner: Closely followed by the copper fence and gate for the end of the north alley: (The original construction drawing for the fence was done with pencil and paper - the fancy version is one I later did with CAD software for a course I was taking....) A friend helped me build it and DH and a neighbour installed it. and on and on.... :-) Once you start doing things, you quickly get hooked on it! One handy thing I've learned is that it's easiest if you prime and paint the wood pieces before you assemble the structure. Touch-up painting (if necessary) is much easier than painting the whole thing when it's outdoors. A good quality primer and two coats of paint last a long time....See MoreAny smart ideas for electrical walk-through?
Comments (15)1) Recessed outlets behind furniture -- nightstands, wall-mounted TVs, fridge https://www.google.com/search?q=recessed+outlet&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAmoVChMIibiwo-H5xwIVlVqICh1vewte&biw=1333&bih=658 2) Adjustable depth outlets (the ones with a screw that you can tighten or unscrew to move the entire outlet box forward or back within the wall) in kitchen, bath, and anywhere else that would be relevant. After your walls/tile is finished, it is so easy to get the adjustable outlets to be flush with your tile/backsplash, but it so hard to get non-adjustable ones set to the right depth ahead of time (before any walls/tile are in place). 3) Two-way switches at the entrance and exit of every hallway, staircase (indoor and outdoor), and large room. 4) If you are getting dimmers, go handle some dimmers at a lighting store. Some of the controls are super annoying (the buttons, the slides controlled by a tiny nib) and some are a breeze (the slides with larger handles). Make sure you like what you're getting. You will handle these things every day. 5) Think about glare on the TV and try to provide for at least some lighting that avoids that. My husband hates the glare from our lighting on the TV so much that our entire living/dining/kitchen has to be dark when he is watching TV. I rarely am watching TV with him and do not want to do my activities in the dark. Many arguments have sprung from this. In some large rooms or rooms with several different types of lighting (like the kitchen), you might want to break up some of the lighting into different switches. Think that through. E.g., in the family room, maybe the table/floor lamps are on one switch and the overhead lighting is on a different switch. E.g. #2, we have seven can lights in our kitchen, and they are controlled by two switches -- the two cans over the sink on one switch, and the five others on the other switch. I don't ever really want dim light in the kitchen, but sometimes I am just getting a glass of water and all I really need is the sink illuminated, but I want that light to be bright. 7) If you do not already have your light fixtures chosen, quickly choose as many of them as possible. For example, one light over the bathroom mirror requires one box, but two lights over the bathroom mirror requires two separate boxes. You may think the former will be fine but then in practice down the road, you cannot find anything you like that is both pretty and bright enough in one fixture. Now you wish you could get two, and you're stuck. Place boxes with actual fixtures you already know of, like, and an can afford either purchased or in mind....See Morectsnicholas
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