Advice The Home Improvement/Automation Thread

Lifehack/toolhack - Ryobi lithiums, probably others.
Some rechargable lithium powered tools can, when stalled on a tough piece of work, pull the battery voltage too low and the smart chargers will read them as defective/unchargeable. Apparently there is a chip inside the battery that reports to the charger. You check these pricks and they read 4-6 volts.
The hack(as found on Internet). Take a fully charged battery, connect it's negative to negative of "Bad" battery, ditto with positive.
CAVEAT!!! Only make contact for 1 second max. Seriously - lithiums can dump their power really fast and this is a trifle hard on "bad" battery. Just one second will usually bring them up to reading 12-14v(I'm assuming amperage is low). They now will charge and work just fine.
 
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I need a new 5 gallon gas can that isn’t a piece of shit.
If you want plastic you have those fucking safety spouts to deal with. BUt they sell replacements sets that are old style. They come with a vent plug too - drill and install that first. OR just lightly sink a large headed phillips into it you can pull by hand before use. I found the replacement kits at "Rural King" - I generally think of it as a Walmart for the farming crowd. Lots of shit and idiots there.
 
If you want plastic you have those fucking safety spouts to deal with. BUt they sell replacements sets that are old style. They come with a vent plug too - drill and install that first. OR just lightly sink a large headed phillips into it you can pull by hand before use. I found the replacement kits at "Rural King" - I generally think of it as a Walmart for the farming crowd. Lots of shit and idiots there.

I need to find these here.
The actual cans seem to last fine for me, plastic ones. It's caps and spouts that suck and break.
Got a bunch that all need a piece of plastic bag or whatever under the broken cap to not leak, and a funnel to pour.
 
ElonCock permits approved for the solar and batteries. Just waiting on an install date. :happy:

Had to move an outlet out of the way, would've been left behind the batteries that will be stacked one in front of the other. Obviously can't have a hidden junction.
 
Got gutters installed on my barn last week. In time for a torrential downpour. They're working great. Now I need to bury some downspout piping to direct water away from buildings. Up next is to look into costs of getting the driveway paved to the entrance of my property, by the cul-de-sac; also want a two car parking spot by the garage for backing out the garage and turning around. I'm going to skip paving to the barn since I really don't use it. Leave it as gravel. Need to see if any paving companies are still accepting jobs and how much they would charge.
 
Got gutters installed on my barn last week. In time for a torrential downpour. They're working great. Now I need to bury some downspout piping to direct water away from buildings. Up next is to look into costs of getting the driveway paved to the entrance of my property, by the cul-de-sac; also want a two car parking spot by the garage for backing out the garage and turning around. I'm going to skip paving to the barn since I really don't use it. Leave it as gravel. Need to see if any paving companies are still accepting jobs and how much they would charge.

if paving turns out crazy expensive, check out asphalt millings. Materials are basically free, and it its a great pseudo-asphalt surface after a couple years. Spreading it is the biggest cost.
 
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if paving turns out crazy expensive, check out asphalt millings. Materials are basically free, and it its a great pseudo-asphalt surface after a couple years. Spreading it is the biggest cost.
Yeah that stuff is pretty popular around here. And I don't think it is free (excluding delivery and installation) which is kind of annoying. Another good one is crushed bedrock. All of the little pieces lock together and don't allow water to tear a deep groove in it. That's the problem I am having now with just regular gravel. Enough of a slope for water to catch speed and erode the driveway.