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JuncTek Battery Monitor MQTT Controller

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 I recently installed some 48 volt Lithium Iron Phosphate battery packs at the Ranch to replace the 9 year old Lead-Acid batteries that had started to fail.   eg4-lifepower4-battery-48v-100ah   These are rack-mount battery packs that are intended for powering computer servers.  They are reported to work very well in an off-grid power system.  The Problem I had a problem to solve before the upgrade, in that the old 48 volt inverter I had been using in our solar power system required a programming interface to change its operating parameters to match the new battery specifications.  Unfortunately, the manufacturer wants over $400 for the required interface to make these changes.  I am unwilling to pay this extortion money for a simple device that should cost less than $100. The communications protocol and interface is proprietary, so it would take a considerable effort to hack the interface. There are two sets of parameters in dealing with the inverter/battery connections: 1. The chargin
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Kenpro KR-5400 Repair

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We did a balloon launch at the Maricopa Hamfest just before Halloween this year. My job, as usual, was to ready the video payload, and track the balloon in order to get a live feed of the video from the balloon. I always pull out my tracking system and assemble it in the days before an event, to make sure that I have everything I need, and it is all working.  When I set everything up and did a full test run on Monday, everything worked fine. On the day of the flight, we set up the system as normal, and initial tests of moving the antennas up and down, and through their full range of motion indicated that we were ready to go. But when the balloon went up, Murphy hit.  My elevation rotor was not getting a good indication on either the meter of the control box, nor my tracking software.  This was intermittent, as sometimes toggling the controls seemed to make it work for a while.   I muddled through by manually controlling the antenna, sometimes needing to search for the balloon video dow
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APRS I-Gate

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  APRS I-Gate Filed in Microcontrollers on Jan.05, 2022 Introduction In early 2021, I was approached to build a small, easy to use version of an APRS I-Gate. This device listens for APRS packets from your radio receiver, and forwards them to the internet to be displayed at the aprs.fi website. In this post I will detail the steps used to build and program this APRS IGate that runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero-W. The goal is to have a headless device (when desired) which automatically boots up the necessary programs and runs them when powered up. It will connect to a preferred network to forward the packets to the internet. Also included is a simple one-button shutdown routine, so there is no need for a keyboard in day-to-day operation. This process is documented on a Linux Mint machine. Utilities and details may differ for other architectures Here are links to PDF documents with build/configuration instructions… RaspberryPi_Zero_W_OS_Setup Rasp
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IC-2720 Installation in 2012 Ram-1500

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  IC-2720 Installation in 2012 Ram-1500 Filed in IC-2720 on Jan.02, 2022 I was reviewing my photos folder today, and ran across this project from 2016 that I never made a blog post on. Here is a brief overview of that installation. I’m not providing many details, as this was done several years ago, and I can’t remember many of them. Maybe it will be useful for others with this vintage of Dodge Ram pickups. I had been using magnetic mount antennas on my 2012 Dodge Ram pickup since the time I had bought it new. I was concerned with running RF coax near any airbags that might be in the side panels of the truck. It had some badges on the side panels indicating there might be some. After owning the truck for four years, I decided to take a chance on making my antenna connections more permanent. I started by removing the dome light from the roof. I don’t remember now if I had to remove screws or not to do this.   Remove Dome Light I used a Unibit to dril
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ERC-4 Interface & My HyGain Ham-IV Rotator Controller – Part 4

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  ERC-4 Interface & My HyGain Ham-IV Rotator Controller – Part 4 Filed in Antennas on Jul.29, 2021 Calibration Now it is time to calibrate your ERC. Start by checking the calibration of your HyGain Ham-IV controller. [ ] Press and hold the Brake lever on your controller. [ ] Press and hold the CCW lever to move the rotator to the stop at the end of the left scale. [ ] Release the Brake and CCW levers. [ ] Check that the meter reads exactly 180 on the left hand side.   Full CCW [ ] Adjust the mechanical screw under the meter to show exactly 180. [ ] Similarly, use the Brake and CW levers to move to the right hand side of the scale, until it stops. [ ] Check that the meter reads exactly 180 on the right hand side. [ ] Adjust the “Calibrate” knob to read exactly 180.   Full CW [ ] Run the ERC Calibration routine by pressing the “Calibrate 1” Button on the Service Tool.   Calibrate [ ] Sele
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