I am often discouraged by modern products that promise more than they deliver...
My fancy outdoor thermometer (with barometric sensor) claims to predict weather. It has been wrong far more often than correct despite a very forgiving 12-24 hour forecast window. I would much prefer a digital barometer readout so I can use my own judgement.
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My current trigger disappointment is a very "cheap" set of grow lights I recently purchased to stick inside my cheap plastic green house I just moved into my laundry room to extend the growing season and get a head start next spring growing my hot peppers from seed.
But back to those grow lights. They were cheap because they left no corner uncut... 2x 10W LED strips powered from one 5V @ 2A USB power module (I can do that math in my head. ) )
But current consumption does not appear to be the problem. The Achille's heel (look it up) for this USB PS seems to be low temperature. It works as expected at warm temperatures, but during cold overnight dips (30's a few days ago), it got stupid. The LEDs blinked at a modest rep rate.
When I brought the PS inside and made measurements with my VOM on my test bench (apparently after it warmed up), it read a solid 5.2V. The next morning (cold) when it was blinking again, I confirmed that the 5V supply was not solid 5V but pulsing.
I have a simple thermostat regulating a 60W light bulb in the bottom of the green house for heat (set for 50'). I used an extension cord to move the USB PS inside the heated area of the greenhouse. So far it has been working perfectly for over 24Hours. The controller dongle is pretty simple, 3 intensity settings and 3 on time duration settings. After you set it, it just repeats every 24 hours, and that part is working now inside the heated area.
Weather report is forecasting a freeze warning tomorrow night so we'll see.
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To determine if this is an isolated failure I ordered another 5V USB supply. These are really cheap and I suspect they all use the same chip inside (just like all driveway solar lamps use the same chip). BUT that could explain my drama... these USB PS are basically intended as phone chargers and have "smart" protections built in to prevent phone batteries from causing house fires if oversharged.
One theory of mine is that the low temperature is shifting an internal junction based voltage reference (high) making the PS think it is operating over voltage. Or not, if the replacement USB PS works with no temperature sensitivity then I am clearly over thinking this (extremely possible). 8)
JR
My fancy outdoor thermometer (with barometric sensor) claims to predict weather. It has been wrong far more often than correct despite a very forgiving 12-24 hour forecast window. I would much prefer a digital barometer readout so I can use my own judgement.
===
My current trigger disappointment is a very "cheap" set of grow lights I recently purchased to stick inside my cheap plastic green house I just moved into my laundry room to extend the growing season and get a head start next spring growing my hot peppers from seed.
But back to those grow lights. They were cheap because they left no corner uncut... 2x 10W LED strips powered from one 5V @ 2A USB power module (I can do that math in my head. ) )
But current consumption does not appear to be the problem. The Achille's heel (look it up) for this USB PS seems to be low temperature. It works as expected at warm temperatures, but during cold overnight dips (30's a few days ago), it got stupid. The LEDs blinked at a modest rep rate.
When I brought the PS inside and made measurements with my VOM on my test bench (apparently after it warmed up), it read a solid 5.2V. The next morning (cold) when it was blinking again, I confirmed that the 5V supply was not solid 5V but pulsing.
I have a simple thermostat regulating a 60W light bulb in the bottom of the green house for heat (set for 50'). I used an extension cord to move the USB PS inside the heated area of the greenhouse. So far it has been working perfectly for over 24Hours. The controller dongle is pretty simple, 3 intensity settings and 3 on time duration settings. After you set it, it just repeats every 24 hours, and that part is working now inside the heated area.
Weather report is forecasting a freeze warning tomorrow night so we'll see.
===
To determine if this is an isolated failure I ordered another 5V USB supply. These are really cheap and I suspect they all use the same chip inside (just like all driveway solar lamps use the same chip). BUT that could explain my drama... these USB PS are basically intended as phone chargers and have "smart" protections built in to prevent phone batteries from causing house fires if oversharged.
One theory of mine is that the low temperature is shifting an internal junction based voltage reference (high) making the PS think it is operating over voltage. Or not, if the replacement USB PS works with no temperature sensitivity then I am clearly over thinking this (extremely possible). 8)
JR