The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Category: Recumbent Bicycling

Cruisin’ the streets

NP-BX1 Lithium Batteries: 6 Month Status

The battery capacities after six months are, of course, lower:

Sony NP-BX1 – OEM Wasabi – 2014-08-17

I didn’t bring the HDR-AS30V camera along on the Hudson River ride, simply because each battery lasts about 1.5 hr in 1920×1080 @ 60 fps mode and I wasn’t up to replacing batteries during the ride, then charging all three every evening. Obviously, the camera wasn’t intended for that use case.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Wasabi batteries deliver the same continuous run time as the Sony battery: 1:30 vs 1:33. I used 250 mA for those discharge curves, but I think something around 500 mA would better match the camera load.

I’m sorely tempted to drill a hole in the camera’s case and wire in a honkin’ big prismatic lithium cell.

2014-08-25
Trimming Ironman Sunglasses

These sunglasses fit Mary’s face and do a good job of keeping road grit out of her eyes, but she doesn’t like the extended earpieces. So I cut ’em off:

Ironman sunglasses – trimmed earpieces

The trick is to shape the ends with an ordinary diagonal cutter, then round the edges with sandpaper.

The lower pair has seen a few years of use, during which the bright yellow plastic faded quite a bit.

Nothing profound, other than that you need not put up with nuisances.

2014-08-24
Another Bike Ride, With Gratuitous Smog

Large Pickup – Small Brain

He could claim to be accelerating after a stop signal and that’s just how those big Chevy “clean diesel” engines work, even with DEF and DPF in full effect.

In point of fact, this was deliberate:

Large Pickup – Small Brain – Penumbra

I wish no ill on any man, but, should the Fates decree that a big pickup must be found wrapped around a tree, I have a recommendation.

We were northbound on 9W, returning home after an end-of-summer party.

2014-08-20
Cycling the Hudson Valley: 2014

Seven days and 300 miles of pedal pushing:

KE4ZNU route – 2014-07-28 through 2014-08-04

We rode north to the start of the Cycling the Hudson Valley ride in (wait for it) Hudson, rode south while crossing the Hudson six times, then I rode north from Da Bronx while the other 100 riders proceeded south to the tip of Manhattan and the finish line in Brooklyn. Mary, alas, drove the last few days to avoid aggravating a tender tendon.

While everybody else had a touristing day in Hyde Park, we slept in our own beds for two nights.

Everything you need to know about modern bicycle touring:

Cycling the Hudson Valley – Charging Station

The straight line along the right side of the map, from just below the New Croton Reservoir to Hopewell Junction, represents data loss from riding in a valley, plus knocking the coaxial power plug out of the battery pack where the South County Trail becomes one with Rt 100 / Saw Mill River Road for a few miles.

That last day had plenty of hillclimbing, even on the rail trail, but with a rewarding section of Rt 52 that drops 500 feet in a mile; I hit 41 mph while passing under I-84.

A good time was had by all!

2014-08-19
Bike Helmet Earbud Iteration

Based on having to seal the rear vent hole of the previous earbud, I did the same for the new one:

Earbud – blocked vent

The audio quality was terrible, so I tried another bud with a foam windscreen over the hole and a hole punched in the middle of the double-sided white foam tape:

Earbud – foam over vent

The audio remained unintelligible, so I tried an upscale (but still cheap, because surplus) Koss earbud, first without blocking the vents and then with snippets of Kapton tape:

Koss earbud – tape over vent

The earphone has three slits on each side, but only the middle slit has a hole penetrating the case; it must be a stylin’ thing.

That sounded better, so I’ll roll with it. There’s supposed to be a foam cover over the housing, but those things always get grody and fall off; there’s not much point.

As nearly as I can tell, contemporary earbud designs optimize for volume (dBm/mV) and thumpin’ bass, all to the detriment of actual audio quality. Based on numerous samples over the years, there is zero correlation between price (admittedly, on the low end) and audio quality (admittedly, with my crappy hearing).

I own a pair of very nice (and thoroughly obsolete) Shure E2c sound-isolating ear beetles that sound great (even with my crappy hearing), but I’m unwilling to chop them up for the bike headset …

2014-08-18
Bike Helmet Boom Mic: Assembly

After building the mic mount, another dab of epoxy mounted the length of AWG 10 wire I said I wouldn’t use:

Bike Helmet Mic Boom – rod epoxy

The whole point of the complex mount is to expose the two noise cancelling holes on the back of the electret element:

Bike Helmet Mic – electret element rear

Add heatstink tubing over the entire length of the boom wire, use more black cable ties, shape another foam ball:

Bike Helmet Mic Boom – installed

And it worked on the first try, not that there’s much to it.

Yeah, that’s the HDR-AS30V camera mount up top: dork mode in full effect.

2014-08-13
Left Turn on Red

Coming out of Adams, we’re ready to make a left turn onto Rt 44:

Left turn on red – 2014-07-24

He was one car back in the left-turn storage lane when his light went yellow-to-red, crossed the stop line on the red, and was one car length over the stop line and accelerating when our light changed to green.

We’re ready to start rolling on green, but we’ve learned to wait a few heartbeats for just such occasions; what counts as a fender-bender for you would be a fatality for us.

Y’know how motorists get very, very angry at cyclists? I’ve always wondered why they don’t get that angry when motorists do those same stupid things, at higher speeds with much more energy.

We ride as though we’re thin cars, which is how it’s supposed to be done, and generally don’t get too much hassle.

One thing that is annoying, though: short-stroke yellow cycles that last maybe two seconds. We can cross the stop line on green, accelerating firmly through the intersection, and still get caught in the middle as the signal changes to green-to-yellow-to-red behind us and red-to-green for opposing traffic. No, we didn’t run the yellow, but that’s what it looks like.

2014-08-09