Talking with a friend about it, he said "It's the sound of freedom." I reminded him that all the fireworks sold at stands for the general public to buy had been made in China. Sound of freedom made by the Chinese, how American.

The only thing I miss about living in an area with tight fireworks restrictions (read that to mean no fireworks allowed, and penalties were pretty harsh) is that folks tended to wait until it was actually July 4th to start lighting the damned things. As I laid my cherubic cheek upon my soft pillow, ...

That sounds like a great idea. Sunshine is free!

GumbyCT wrote:

Dan Jacobs wrote:but if I buy one online, I have to pay haz-mat shipping fee and also have to ship it back for warranty if necessary.

I thought you could bring it to any distributor for warranty?

Haven't tried/had to, so I don't know how that would work.

Dan, I expect you already know that's what a UPS is really for. Protecting computers against poor unfiltered power, power spikes, brownouts and power interruptions. Outside of feeding your machine DC from a battery, the power from a UPS is about as clean as it's going to get. I have to pay for ever...

Look for a "SLA" battery (sealed lead acid). They should have them. They're unfillable and unspillable. NAPA did, and they were marine starting/deep cycle, not a true deep cycle battery. The optima blue top was over $200, but if I buy one online, I have to pay haz-mat shipping fee and also have to ...

I read elsewhere that a yellow or blue-topped Optima deep cycle battery will tolerate deep discharge without harming its life expectancy. So, I can go from the little red-tipped circular plug from the back of my PR machine straight into the 12 volt deep cycle battery...eliminating the power pack th...

In an emergency, any battery will do. If this is all you have and/or all you can afford, than it's what you have, and you have to make the best of it. The battery you are using is designed to start a car. It is designed to give a large current load for a short amount of time. It will run your machin...

My biggest concern is protecting the expensive CPAP from power surges and other mains problems. The battery is just the icing on that cake. I have old UPS's laying aournd that I had been thinking about getting replacement batteries for, but my wife replaces them with all new units. Now I have a very...

The OP did say earlier that when camping weight was not a factor, but you are right about the weight going up to unmanageable levels for some, until you reach unmanageable for many, all the way up to no longer portable without the right equipment. It is easier (lighter) to carry 100Ah of energy in 4...

Radio Shack says all I need is a 60 watt or bigger inverter. Hard-wired to my battery, plug it in, and you're good to go. Any thoughts? If the inverter is hard wired to your engine starting battery, you are not so "good to go", as this battery should really only be used for one thing, starting the ...

Once a week.

Glad to share it. Here is some more info from another topic thread: I am not sure about power consumption without the humidifier. My manual only says 5 amps DC. I suspect that has to be with humidifier. Guess 4 nights 8 hours a night. Can I recharge a deep cell off my car battery? OK, lets look at t...

I am not sure about power consumption without the humidifier. My manual only says 5 amps DC. I suspect that has to be with humidifier. Guess 4 nights 8 hours a night. Can I recharge a deep cell off my car battery? OK, lets look at the details. Amp-hour means a constant load of "X" amps over an hour...

And to keep that battery happy, you might want to look at the highlighted parts of this .pdf about batteries and emergency power:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1347382/Emerge ... 0Power.pdf