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Re: home improvement turns into science fair projects?

Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:21 pm
by JR.
mediatechnology wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 12:01 pm I think its Potterchitto Creek at 310 ft MSL about 1-1/2 miles due south.
I'll take your word for that...
https://proaudiodesignforum.com/images/ ... 00_geo.pdf (Due to the size of the pdf it takes awhile to render at any zoom level.)

Your water goes out onto the Hwy 80 drainage system?
I am not aware of any such dedicated drainage system, but old hwy 80 is elevated relative to swampy low ground on either side of the roadway.

There is a huge culvert going under old hwy 80 a few hundred yards west of me that handles the flow from my "good" draining front ditch system. There are smaller culverts east of me under old hwy 80 and less effective rain ditch systems south of old 80.

Driving several miles east or west on old hwy 80 from hwy 503 intersection ( road I live on), after large rain events reveals massive bodies of standing flood water often on both sides of the roadway.
It looks like if it weren't for Hwy 80 your water would have no place to go.
My perspective from decades driving on old hwy 80, It appears more like a dam separating two swamps. The natural water runoff appears north to south, the road runs east/west.

Your topo shows meandering creeks south of me moving east/west sort of, but my sense is that water escapes South, especially from my immediate yard.

A topo showing several miles east or west of me should reveal a lot of low ground on either side of old 80. My speculation is that these swampy low ground areas serve as reservoirs to prevent more severe flooding downstream after major rain events.

JR

[update... there are serious flood warning for a few counties south of me, and 50-60 miles west of me Jackson/Pearl river. I'm OK /update]

Re: home improvement turns into science fair projects?

Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:38 pm
by mediatechnology
Traveling back in time in this thread....
mediatechnology wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 2:19 pm We've started installing USB wall outlets here.
The Levitons have two USB ports and two NEMA outlets.
The USB is 15W.

I would love to have a bunch of adapters that would take 5V USB from the outlets and give me switchable 6, 9 and 12V to replace conventional magnetic wall warts.
Found it: https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Voltage-Con ... 670&sr=8-1

Re: home improvement turns into science fair projects?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 11:33 am
by JR.
mediatechnology wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:38 pm Traveling back in time in this thread....
mediatechnology wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 2:19 pm We've started installing USB wall outlets here.
The Levitons have two USB ports and two NEMA outlets.
The USB is 15W.

I would love to have a bunch of adapters that would take 5V USB from the outlets and give me switchable 6, 9 and 12V to replace conventional magnetic wall warts.
Found it: https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Voltage-Con ... 670&sr=8-1
I did not see any agency approval marks or mention in all the answered questions. Is this double insulated?

Perhaps the outlet 5V source is double insulated? I think there was a transformer inside the faulty 5V supply/charger I dissected several months ago. The outlets probably use same/similar chip set.

JR

Re: home improvement turns into science fair projects?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 11:53 am
by mediatechnology
I don't know if the switcher blob is galvanically-isolated or not.
I doubt it.

The audio "silent switcher" has a ground connection from USB input to bipolar output.

Does the USB 5V outlet on the wall plate have a connection to safety ground?
I don't know but it would be easy to check.

Re: home improvement turns into science fair projects?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:01 pm
by JR.
mediatechnology wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2020 11:53 am I don't know if the switcher blob is galvanically-isolated or not.
I doubt it.

The audio "silent switcher" has a ground connection from USB input to bipolar output.

Does the USB 5V outlet on the wall plate have a connection to safety ground?
I don't know but it would be easy to check.
UL woud probably like a safety ground bond, my experience with random house/outlet wiring suggests double insulated could be safer in practice.

JR

Re: home improvement turns into science fair projects?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:14 pm
by mediatechnology
I just sent Leviton an email asking. Let's see if the front-line CSRs know...

Re: home improvement turns into science fair projects?

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 2:10 pm
by JR.
The new improved 1/2 hp sump pump arrived... I decided to test it in a small garbage can filled with water the float switch hangs up pretty easily... I got it working inside a larger garbage can, so I am definitely going to need to dig a bigger well (hole) down in my crawl space.

The tethered float switch is probably a steel ball (cheaper than mercury) tilt switch. It floats on rising water and the tether causes it to angle up, or down. I had to jiggle it to get it to turn on the first time.

There are more expensive level switches that look more reliable (I like the look of the floats inside a cage) but let me see how this works.

JR

Image

[edit another $36 so pricey when entire pump only cost $42..., we'll see... /edit]

Re: home improvement turns into science fair projects?

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 4:27 pm
by JR.
as I suspected the float level switch is not compatible with my situation... at least it is stuck on so I can operate the pump manually for now... It is larger but I wedged the pump inside the old plastic bait bucket (?) the old one was in. It doesn't go down neatly back into the original hole, I really need to wait until it dries out. I can't really see what is going on down there...

The new pump with 2x HP and 2x diameter discharge hose moves a lot of water fast. At least that is progress...but not much.

JR

Re: home improvement turns into science fair projects?

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 1:47 pm
by JR.
As usual life gives us the lesson(s) after the test.

The float switch is a failure... So I have just added another $36 to my $42 pump.
Image

I suspect I can just wire this in place of the non-functional float switch, but will need to look at suitably waterproofed wiring, or a weather proof box outside the crawl space, but I still need to hardwire the old float switch on.

The 25' 1-1/4" discharge hose is clearly too short... I cannot find an obvious solution to extending that with more rigid hose, the popular solution appears to be soft collapsable tubing/hoses (50' on order).

The larger pump clears out standing water in minutes instead of previous tens of minutes to hours. It does not fit inside the old hole, but I suspect my messing around may have dragged some loose mud down into the well hole. I am tempted to drop the powerful sump pump alone into the muddy hole to see how much mud it can lift out. They claim "Great to Drain the Dirty Water from the Pond, Garden Pond, or Water Tanks. Great to move water for garden irrigation or cleaning your yard or road." so we'll see.... Now it is in the old plastic (bait) bucket the last sump pump was in, so not down all the way to the bottom of the old hole.

My original idea to sense line cord current sounds less crazy now. :lol:

The new pump also claims auto cut off "Cut off immediately when pump fails to pump water to prevent the coil from getting burned."... I didn't test this but should.

JR

Re: home improvement turns into science fair projects?

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 1:17 pm
by JR.
New high flow sump pump ran two hours this morning before pulling air...

but we got 2 1/2" new rain over night onto already saturated yard.

Now a hard freeze before next rain storms next monday...

JR