Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Attwood Battery Tray, 27 series

Attwood Battery Tray, 27 seriesnice compact design made of nylon and plasic. bonded tray to boat deck with pl premium construction adhesive. lenght of hold down rods are barely long enough for a walmart deep cycle battery, but for other brands of battery hold down fits fine.

Good plastic tray that provides the security for my bank of batteries. The simple plastic secure down plastic pieces work well and when turned and tightened properly, are less likely to snag any wires. With plastic, I won't have to remove the trays due to corrosion from salt water. Lastly, shipping was QUICK. Ordered two trays and had both delivered in 4 days at the same time. This was great.

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Solid tray (thick sidewalls), and came with all stainless screws needed. Top is easy to remove for battery removal. Much better than my original battery tray with the nylon quick-snap.

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Bought this larger tray for an upgraded battery. Previous tray was the smaller Attwood. New larger tray installed in same mounting holes, old tray still in excellent shape after 12 years.

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It works great. I think I read a review that said they stripped the threads on the top hold downs and I have to say that's a monkey with a hammer. You can feel confident once you tighten them down and the base has plenty of holes to screw to wherever your mounting it. I used it on a series 27 marine battery from Advanced. No problems with this one!

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Duracell 813-1000-07 1,000 Watt DC to AC Power Inverter

Duracell 813-1000-07 1,000 Watt DC to AC Power InverterI've used this about 3 times now and have NO complaints with one caveat. The Inverter does not come with a power cord. Luckily I had one left over from my previous inverter. With out it you'll have to buy/make one.

I originally bought this to power a 1000 W immersion heater, but the heater apparently pulls more like 1200 W. This inverter would trip almost immediately upon turning on the immersion heater. I exchanged this for a Cobra 1500 W inverter, and have never had a problem. So, don't get a 1000 W inverter if you have a 1000 W load.

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This DC/AC inverter is extremely well built and very quiet, even when the thermal-control fan is running. The terminals on the back are heavy-duty and come with washers and nuts.

I was planning to power my computer and satellite modem on my farm by connecting my existing APC UPS to this inverter, but for some reason the fault LED lights up and the inverter shuts down. Another reviewer mentioned this problem already, explaining it was because of the modified sine-wave technology. Refer to the following article to determine whether you need a true-sine wave inverter: http://www.roadtripamerica.com/dashboarding/Power-Inverters.htm

Anyway, when you connect an inverter like this to a battery, you are actually replicating a UPS, with two major advantages when living in remote locations:

-The first is that you can choose the battery capacity you want, and therefore the amount of time you can run your AC-powered devices in-between charges;

-The second is that you have a wide choice of options when it comes to recharging your battery (solar, wind, alternator etc.).

There are smaller and bigger versions of this inverter on Amazon (mostly under the Xantrex brand, which manufactures it for Duracell), so it is easy to choose according to one's needs (in my case, 1000W is a huge overkill for the computer gear only, but I may be able to power a large LCD monitor or a TV in the future).

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My family and I, ( all 12 of us ) camped at Badin Lake for a week and this Inverter died after a short time of working great, and it was working great. But after turning it off and on 3 or 4 times, She died and I could not bring her back. Thank God for my Genny, ( Read other review ). I sent the item back for a replacement, and Amazon sent me another at no charge. I haven't taken it out of the box yet so I can't tell you about that one. These inverters don't come with cables to hook it up. Thanks and God Bless, Rob.

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So I purchased this inverter so I could run my computer off of solar power. Thinking I could plug my UPS (uninterpretable power supply) into it. You CANT! If you plan on plugging a UPS into this, don't, they require a Pure Sine wave. Other than that this unit works great! I am currently charging my laptop and cell phone from it.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Pyramid RPB425 4 Gauge Ground Wire 25 feet OFC (Black)

Pyramid RPB425 4 Gauge Ground Wire 25 feet OFC
  • 4 Gauge Black Ground Wire 25 ft. OFC
  • 61/0.25 x 7C,D. 9.0mm

This is the WORST power wire ever purchased. They claim it is 4 gauge, but in reality it is 8 gauge! it is all shielding and hardly any copper wiring. It is made from such thinly stranded wire that cutting the cable shield will surely cause you to cut into the wire, reducing the gauge even more. I have performed trunk battery installations in 8 other vehicles, all using 4 gauge wire. Using this wire the car will NOT START. For comparison, Stinger brand 4au wire is 3.0mm, Phoenix Gold's 4au wire is 2.5mm, this brand is 2.0mm. AGAIN THIS IS NOT 4au WIRE!!!! Don't be ripped off.

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I bought this along with some 4ga ring termials. Just be aware that the wire is smaller than regular 4ga, the wire with insulation fit inside the crimp on termials. Compared this to a piece of 4ga I had from an old system and it seems like this stuff is 8ga. Maybe it was labeled wrong or something.

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I bought this wire expecting 4guage wire. I have alot of 4 guage in my car right now and it is alot bigger than this new stuff. Although the shipping was pretty good, when i opened the package it was dissapointing to see this instead of 4guage. But none the less, it is a great price and i wish i would have read up on some reviews. i would say this is closer to 6 or 8 guage.

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Truly this is about a 6 gauge wire, so don't buy this expecting a true 4 gauge wire. I knew this beforehand and still purchased because it it's a really good price per foot of wire, even if it is 6 gauge.

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This is a good quality wire.

The image shows a deep black insulator which is not exactly what I received.

On the other hand, the electrons that flow through the cable, I am sure, won't mind the slight color issue.

As a 4 Gauge wire it is quite flexible and easy to handle. The bend radius, as one would expect is limited.

If you intent to use it in small spaces with tight bends, it is probably better to use some higher gauge wire.

I use it to connect a battery bank with wires of equal length together and don't want too much of a voltage drop between the individual batteries.

Garmin aera 500 Color Touchscreen Aviation GPS (Americas)

Garmin aera 500 Color Touchscreen Aviation GPSThe adjustable back lighting is great. One of the brightest displays seen in full sun. Found it to be very easy and intuitive to use. Although there were some changes buried deep withing that were a surprise. Love the yoke mount and car mounts. Both worked great for me. Love the single power cord. Very clean setuup. The unit is packed with features and can manupulate many of the fuctions to your liking. The size is just about right for the way it will be used. Has a good decent manual. Super easy to unclip from the mounts so you can prevent theft. Bluetooth available for vehicle use (but not why flying).

This device uses the inferior resistive touchscreen technology with a too-large bezel that makes it impossible to touch anything near the sides of the screen. The effect is that the touchable area of the buttons that hug the right side of the screen in map view are significantly reduced. Even after a calibration, I would regularly miss these buttons. The cursor simply wouldn't go as far to the right as my finger asked it to. Another problem related to the touch screen is with dragging the map in any direction. It was a frustrating experience, as the device would detect my finger at times and ignore it at other times. The touchscreen's lack of sensitivity is frustrating when entering numbers, letters etc. I wish they would using capacitive touchscreen (like the iPhone). Using the flight planner for me was cumbersome. And it is difficult to enter your own waypoints accurately due to the small screen size and lack of terrian detail. But the task can be accomplished. Battery life is an issue, but that was known before hand. I always use the plug-in power. I think this product should come with a means to plug it into 110v for charging purposes. It is an after purchase option. The vehicle mode was a little disappointing. I really liked the idea to have dual GPS capabilities, flying and vehicle travel. But the sophistication level for driving just isn't any better than whats been out there for years now. Two features I immediately found lacking were a nearest airport function in case of engine loss, and the ability to navigate to a point I touched on the map screen. To perform either function, you must exit the moving map and enter the Direct to menu.

Overall other than the unresponsive touchscreen, I am very pleased with what I mainly purchased this unit for: Flying. Haven't had it long enough to comment on durability, but so far (Knock on wood), I haven't had any issues with it at all after about 30 hours of flying with this unit.

I've had this for over 6 months and still find it difficult to use. It's not intuitive and seems designed by someone with little aviation background ie, must exit the map screen and press several buttons to make a waypoint and then fly to it. Garmin makes better GPS's that are installed in the helicopters I fly than this one. In the Auto mode if you enter some place to go then discover you have to change a setting in tools DON'T hold down the BACK key too long as the Stop navigation button is right under the BACK key and you will have to reenter your destination if the BACK key is held down too long.

This GPS is better used by a passenger who has the time during a flight to use it rather than a pilot who has to fly the aircraft (the warning on the automotive side against use while driving should be on the aviation side as well). Battery life is poor. I agree with Timothy Lam on touchscreen problems but i also have problems dragging the map around in the auto mode when i lift my finger the map scrolls some distance away on it's own. The Bluetooth on my old ear piece from Motorola is better and easier to use (but not setup) than this Bluetooth. I'm disappointed and expected a lot better from Garmin. I would NOT recommend this GPS.

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I have two of these units.

They are the best you can get at the 700 usd price range but they are not perfect.

I've had one of my units going off during the flight a couple of times so If you can afford, get two as they can become inoperative during flight.

I don't like the touchscreen very much. It doesn't have great resolution and it is hard touch exactly where you want and with turbulence you may have a hard time typing a waypoint or airport name.

A good thing is that it can be attached to a Zaon XRX and provide traffic information.

It gets 3 stars on my review for the bad resolution touchscreen and the eventual freeze or black screen that requires a hard reset.

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Overall, I'm very impressed with this unit. It is exactly what I expected it to be. The Garmin Aera is great unit. The touch screen works great, just a matter of acostumbrace. Pros Highly interactive, Pretty easy to navigate through screens It's everything I ever wanted in an inexpensive GPS. MP3 player. Cons: The main criticism is the length of the battery Lack of carrying case Lack of external battery charger.

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great G P S totally r e c c o m m e n d to a l l b u y e r s

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OutBack Power GTFX3048 Sealed Grid Tie Inverter 3000W 48VDC

OutBack Power GTFX3048 Sealed Grid Tie Inverter 3000W 48VDC
  • Nominal DC Input Voltage: 48V
  • Continuous Power Rating at 25° C: 3000VA
  • AC Voltage/Frequency: 120V AC 60 Hz
  • AC Input Current Max: 60A AC
  • OutBack Power GTFX3048 Inverter - Sealed

I've had the product for several months ... with only a single problem. One day the inverter stopped selling excess power back to the grid even though all the settings appeared correct. The solution? Reboot the inverter. Yup, it's a computer and apparently it needs to be rebooted every so often. That is definitely a serious mark against it. I used another brand, a TRACE 4024 inverter for 18 years and never had to 'reboot' it. So, in all honesty, I'm a little disappointed. Also, the user-interface to this Outback product leaves a lot to be desired.

Custom Accessories 23516 Digital Clock Clear

Custom Accessories 23516 Digital Clock ClearIt's a nice little clock, but with some serious shortcomings. First, it uses a suction cup to attach, it would have really been nice if this was included in the description since for my purpose it will not work. Also and much more important is the fact that it is clear with black letters. If you are attaching it to anything with a black background it is absolutely impossible to see. Was really disappointed since in principle it is a nice little clock.

My husband needed a clock in the bathroom so he can know when he's taking too long to shave before work. It sticks to the mirror just fine and is small enough it doesnt get in the way at all. Exactly what we needed.

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We put them on our bus windshields so the drivers don't have to take their eyes off the road while driving. Keeps them on time and safe. Works great.

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I love this clock. It's great for the winshield because it's see-through. However, you can't see it at night. Still, I like it so much I'm getting another one for my brother's truck.

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I wanted a little clock for my bathroom that wouldn't take up counter space and did not require putting a screw in my wall. This looked like a great option but it wasn't. The suction cup was malformed and would not stick to anything fell within 10 seconds of being put in place (even if I held it in place for 60 seconds, which has always solved my prior issues with suction cups). Also, the fourth time it fell (about 12 inches) the numbers stopped showing up on the readout, even though I went in and made sure the battery was still in place. I should have known better than to expect quality merchandise for $10.

As a side note, this clock is not ideal for sticking to a mirror the screen is entirely clear so you see the reflection of the numbers in the mirror as clearly as the numbers displayed on the readout. This would probably work better (if it would stick to something) on a wall.

Overall, there are better options. Don't waste your money.

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2.5-inch HD Car LED IR Vehicle DVR Road Dash Video Camera Recorder Traffic Dashboard Camcorder - LC

2.5-inch HD Car LED IR Vehicle DVR Road Dash Video Camera Recorder Traffic Dashboard Camcorder - LCD 270 degrees whirl
  • 2.5 inch TFT LCD: 270° whirl, Recording resolution:1280x960 / 720x480 / 640x480 pixels
  • 120 deg View Angle Day Night Video Camera with 6 IR Leds
  • Microphone: can record sound
  • Interface: USB2.0
  • Support SD/MMC Card: up to 32GB (not included)

For less than $25.00 it does a nice job. I don't need a camera that costs so much that I fear that it will be stolen or broken. Has a semi wide fish-eye lens. I'm not looking for wedding photo quality, come on its only 25 bucks. Comes with car charger and suction cup mount, not mentioned in the description. Also comes with a cellphone type rechargeable battery. Plugged into the charger, I get over 9 hours of video (with audio) on a 16GB card. VGA quality is 640x480, so stay with that mode, because the other larger sizes that it records (D1, and SVGA) are actually not different at all. The SVGA 1280x720 is the same as the VGA and D1 680x480, but with thick black edges on the sides, video is not sharper. You may want to buy a different smaller sized window mount that has a "ball hinge". The mount that comes with it is somewhat large, but still fine to use. The charger wire is long enough to tuck under window trim and dashboard trim and reach the car's power socket. Not too bad at night time, so see the attached video sample that I made. The camera comes with infrared lights, but I see no use for them unless you are video recording your hood ornament, or if you use this device as a home security monitor inside of your house. Not a bad idea, just buy one of those 120volt wall adapters to plug your charger into, then attach the camera to a window or wall. If you are not sure you need a DashCam, but still want to give it a try before you go all out and buy a 200 dollar HD broadcast quality one, then this one is just for you. I like the home security idea myself.

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I am a truck driver and recently a man accused me of running over his dog,I did not however it did convince me of trying a dash cam.I bought this one because of price to try as a trial.To my surprise it does a lot more than I imagined.I stuck it on my windshield up in the high middle and plugged it in to the cig lighter.2 weeks went by and a window tinting car cut me off in traffic.If you go to my youtube you can see how awesome this cam is....PLUS the vid on youtube is my phone recording off my laptop...I'm not smart enough and have not the software to edit videos.The programming is a little funky on the cam,like setting the time and date,but if you play with it for awhile you will figure it out.The micro speaker play back is scratchy until you play back on your computer and as you can hear it is very adequate.I put a 2 g mem. card in and carry a spare now in case I need to save something...it's worth it! This cam far and above does what I need.I already have saved vids of 2 more close calls,just in case.Go to youtube and look me up unitruth ,the vid is "cut off by window tinting car 40 mph evansville IN." see for yourself.The audio is crappy on the cam but once plugged in or memory card inserted in laptop you can hear the audio great!

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Excellent place to start with a dashboard (or maybe home security) video camera and DVR. Cheap and reasonably good. Just to be clear, the 270 degrees refers to turning the camera around by hand in the mount; the field of view is 120 degrees. The instructions were so bad that I have regenerated them below.

UPDATE: In response to readers, I'm using the default settings, And am getting about 80 1-minute videos with audio, about 50MB each and they are automatically overwriting the oldest on a 4GB chip. I have not yet filled a 32GB chip (24 hrs)!

Dowson Dashboard Video/DVR Operating Instructions

These instructions are based on the actual menu settings of a device delivered in mid-February, 2013. The included instructions did not match.

Switching Modes

1) Press ON/OFF: (on the back of the DVR this is the international O+I superposed).

2) Default mode is Video Recording; press "OK" (which is a round spot on the back of the DVR which lights up) to begin recording. Press it again to stop recording and save file.

3) Press MODE to switch successively between: Video recording (red cam icon), Audio Recording (blue A), Playback (left arrow icon), in circular fashion.

4) Press to turn OFF

Function Keys

ON/OFF

OKconfirm mode selected

Keys below screen, in left to right order:

MENU choose a menu for settings, detailed below, and also leave a menu

DOWN go down a menu, or 4/3/2/1 x digital zoom while recording

UP go up a menu, or 1/2/3/4 x digital zoom while recording

MODE mode switching video record / audio record / playback

Menu Settings

Video / System Settings

Press ON, press OK, press MENU, press OK, then UP or Down as needed

Video................Output Settings

1. Size..............640x480, 720x980, 1280x720, 1280x960

2. EV................+1/3, +0.0, -1/3, -2/3, -1.0

3. White Bal.........Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent

4. Time Stamp........Off, Date Only, Date & Time

5. Video Time........3, 4, 5, 10, 15 minutes (per file)

6. Motion Det........Off, On (when On saves 2 min files during motion)

7. Record............Off, On

8. Night Mode........Off, On

After each selection press OK to confirm, and press MENU to leave one menu item for another and then again to exit

Video with Audio Settings

Press ON, press OK, press Mode, press MENU, press OK, then UP or Down as needed

Capture.................Setup

1. Size:................12, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1.3 M, or 640x480 (0.3 M)

2. Quality..............Fine / Standard / Economy

3. Scene Mode...........Auto, Sport, Night

4. EV...................+1/3, +0.0, -1/3, -2/3, -1.0 (Exposure luminance adjustment)

5. White Bal............Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent

6. ISO..................Auto, 100, 200

7. Color................Standard, Vivid, Sepia, Monochrome

8. Saturation...........High, Normal, Low

9. Sharpness............Hard, Normal, Soft

10. Time Stamp..........Off, Date Only, Date & Time

11. Burst...............On, Off

After each selection press OK to confirm, and press MENU to leave one menu item for another and then again to exit

Playback Settings

Press ON, press OK, press Mode, press Mode again, press MENU, press OK, then UP or Down as needed

Play....................Setup

1. Delete...............Single, All, Select (came up as Execute)

2. Volume...............1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Press MENU again to get the following:

1. Format...............Cancel, Execute (came up Next Menu)

2. Beep.................On, Off

3. Language.............English, Francais, Deutsch, Italiano, Espanol, +6 others

4. Auto Off.............1 min, 3 min, 5 min, Off

5. Sys Reset............Cancel, Reset (came up Next Menu)

6. Light Freq...........60 Hz, 50 Hz

7. TV Output............NTSC, PAL

8. Data Input...........Off, Set

9. USB..................PC Cam, Disk Drive

10. Screen Set..........Always On, 1 min, 3 min

After each selection press OK to confirm, and press MENU to leave one menu item for another and then again to exit

The rest of the operating instructions provided make some sense, except Loop and Slideshow commands, which may be on another hidden menu. If I find them, I will update.

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For starters you're going to need one of these: Transcend 16 GB SDHC Class 10 Flash Memory Card TS16GSDHC10E You can get the 32 GB size as well but I know the 16 GB one works.

I uploaded a somewhat lengthy video from the unit with a fairly detailed review. Please note I had to shrink the file so it would fit under amazon's 100MB limit. The actual file is almost 500MB for 5 minutes and is 640x480. But what I uploaded should give a decent idea of the video quality. For this item please remember price matters. It is a cheap piece of hardware and it shows. I mention in my video review that I could not even use the power adaptor that came with the DVR because it caused interference on my FM radio. I had to use the adaptor that I had from my Garmin Nuvi 350. But, that worked so I'm less irritated than i would otherwise be.

Despite the problems I gave it 5 stars because of how cheap it is. Frankly I wish they'd double the price and up the build quality. But if you just want to play with something like this I think this is a good way to start.

If you're looking for an inexpensive camera that works good, try this out. I haven't had one problem with this working incorrectly.

Issues I have with it (but for the price, is just fine...):

Picture isn't the greatest. It isn't real clear. If you're using this to read road signs or license plates, forget it. If you're using it to show that there are in fact other cars or large objects, it is just fine.

I've noticed that switching into the 720p mode, it does jump a little bit. It isn't bad though, just slightly noticeable.

The infrared for nighttime use isn't the greatest either. It shows picture great to the front of the hood and then it loses all IR because of the headlights.

It does feel a little cheap, but again, for the price, not bad.

I have used this for a couple of weeks now. If you'd like to watch a few videos of me responding to calls (I'm a volunteer firefighter), go here:

The oldest videos with me responding, are w/out 720p and the newer ones have 720p. I don't notice a huge difference, just the slight jumping of the picture...

Overall, not a bad product for the price.