I have plenty of “well cured” chicken guano I can add. :-)
(You once castigated me for adding too much of the above around my tomato plants, but, you were right.)
I’m just a little uncertain how this light will work out for lettuce: My LED grow light tubes (the ones made to be actual grow lights) have all crapped out, or partially so, so, using this new light - basically a very high output shop light with hopefully enough output in the right wavelengths, is a bit of a “guess”. I suppose if the lettuce looks spindly and weak, I’ll know it needs either more blue (or red?) light.
How many ways can the Chinese screw up so simple a thing as jumper cables? (The kind used for cars.) More ways than even I would have guessed.
I’ve decided to post this as general information, as it applies to many things electrical, and hopefully it will help someone, or keep them out of trouble in the future.
I recently added a 3rd (car) jumper cable to my box of “bad wires” in the corner of my shop. All had exhibited poor carrying of electricity from one vehicle to another, or worse, at some point. This left me without a cable to stash in our ‘09 Outback. Most undesirable.
So, earlier this evening I undertook an investigation with intent to repair or modify at least one cable, as practical. All cables were examined to make sure they had not been cut into. The jaws’ contact area (”teeth”) was checked to be sure it was not corroded, and the jaws’ springs could provide forceful contact to battery terminals. All passed this external inspection easily (but see #1 below).
Cable #1 clearly had an “interesting” problem: The insulation on one “positive” end of the wires was melted just past where the wires exited the insulation on the handle(s) (grips) of the clips. Pulling the grips back revealed that these wires had never been firmly crimped to the jaws in the first place. (I have run into this sort of problem with Chinese-made cables and electrical gear, from test leads, to AC power plugs, to audio and computer gear. It is so common that “it ain’t funny”.) The connection had started arcing, which exacerbates the contact problem, and enough heat had built up to melt the wire’s insulation. In other circumstances, this could cause a fire. It certainly is not conducive to jump starting a car!
Other connections showed less severe evidence of arcing. :-(
The only thing to do here was to uncrimp / remove the clips, cut off the wires’ damaged ends, strip the new ends (past the scorched areas, the conductors looked fairly good and “bright”), clean the copper at the connection (crimp) areas of the clips, re-crimp, and solder with a good (for electronics) flux. Voila! “There and back” resistance measured about 0.02 ohm, making end-to-end resistance of the positive or negative side of the cable about 0.01 ohm (the lowest I can easily read without going to some trouble or borrowing better gear.) My jumper cable lost about 6” length, but is still useable in most circumstances.
I am a huge believer in, wherever practical, making a firm, secure mechanical connection and then soldering it. Call it a “belt AND suspenders” approach, but poor electrical connections have been a “devil” I’ve fought all my life, particularly in cases where vibration or mechanical stress can loosen a connection.
Cable #2 seemed more firmly crimped, but read “open” on both the “hot” and “ground” sides. The stranded copper conductors of the wire itself, though this was the newest jumper cable and most pampered (had not been kept in a car), showed blackish-green oxidation. This could be due to the mfgr. using old wire, or, more likely, the wire manufacturer used poor quality copper. The solution here was only slightly varied from “1”: Uncrimp / remove the clips, clean the exposed conductors, clean the copper at the connection (crimp) areas of the clips, re-crimp, and solder with a good (for electronics) flux. Measure resistance - yep, down around 0.01 ohms, end to end, again. Two down, no length lost on this one. :-)
Cable 3 is more problematic. First off, the “crimps” were of the style I’ve seen way too much of, where the stripped end of the wire is pulled down alongside the insulated end, then crimped. I suppose this is slightly harder to pull out if you have a poor crimp, but, the problem is that the insulation is, basically, PLASTIC, and a problem with plastics is that under sufficient load (pressure) they will deform until the pressure is relieved. PVC wire insulation is generally really plastic, so, this crimp style means you eventually end up with the wire conductors essentially just laying against the clips’ crimp area. Hey, there’s a way to get a great connection!
Worse, when I pulled the wires out of the crimps, several individual strands fell off each end, and when I tried to brighten the rest (clean the copper) more broke, and the rest didn’t just get shiny, they got “silvery”. Uh-oh... This manufacturer took the cheapskate route of using copper clad aluminum wire. Now, there are a very few instances where “CCAL” wire is useful, but, generally I’ve come to loath it. The process of making it makes the composite conductors more subject to work hardening and breakage, than even Aluminum wire, and, for a given gauge, it’s resistance is higher than copper wire. CCAL is most often a dishonest way to get the gauge rating up, er, I mean down, and performance be damned.
I think my best bet here is to salvage the clips and save the wire for... well, I don’t know. But, I do have aluminum flux. (Wish I had more, but that doesn’t relate to wire.) Something non-critical where it won’t get flexed. Label it well, “Paul”!
And to think I’ve not even gotten “in” to issues with poor insulative materials quality, corrosion of non-copper clips, etc. Yeesh!
Two final points in all this: If you want a QUICK jump start, use the heaviest cable possible. 2 gauge is a good choice, though a pain to haul around. And use caution: Arcing while connecting a jumper cable can kill a car’s computer.
And... While there are some good Chinese manufacturers, there sure are an awful lot of poor ones taking short cuts. Buyer beware!
“You once castigated me for adding too much [composted chicken manure] around my tomato plants, but, you were right.”
I Live To Serve! ;)
(Also, I’m showing this to Beau - I got the be RIGHT about something for a change, LOL!)