Entropy

[Gold]

Now you know someone there! The Adirondacks has almost an opposite feel to the Rockies or the Sierras. It feels very closed in most of the time. Sometimes it feels like you are almost in an indoor space.

[JR.]

I had to look on a map to see where that is, looks like a long drive from anywhere (while 87 should be a decent road).

I've never even been close, I visited Burlington VT back in the 60's and my brother lived near Syracuse for several years when he was doing turbine design for GE...

Do you get lake effect snow from Lake Ontario or are you too far inland? I recall in Syracuse my brother got a lot of snow (He lives in So Cal now for some reason)..

Enjoy...

JR

[Gold]

I had to look on a map to see where that is, looks like a long drive from anywhere (while 87 should be a decent road).

I've never even been close, I visited Burlington VT back in the 60's and my brother lived near Syracuse for several years when he was doing turbine design for GE...

Do you get lake effect snow from Lake Ontario or are you too far inland? I recall in Syracuse my brother got a lot of snow (He lives in So Cal now for some reason)..

Enjoy...

JR

It's a long drive from anywhere. Albany NY is the closest city. It's about the same distance from Boston and NYC. It's about 2.5 hours from Burlington or Montreal. 87 is the NYS Thruway. It's the main route between NYC and Montreal. There are a lot of Quebecois around.

Schroon Lake is too far way from Lake Ontario for lake effect snow. About a four hour drive. I know Lake Erie snow from living in Buffalo. Old Forge is the big town in the western Adirondacks. They may get some lake effect snow. There is generally more snow near Old Forge than by Schroon Lake. The lake effect snow from Lake Ontario dumps around Syracuse. A lot of it is supposed to fall in the Tug Hill Plateau which is in the western Adirondack foothills. The Adirondack park is six million acres. The park is the size of Vermont. It's the largest state park in the country.

[Gold]

The movie "Marjorie Morningstar" starring Natalie Wood was shot in Schroon Lake. It is virtually unchanged from 1958. It's a good movie too. Gene Kelly is very good in it. You see him act.

[JR.]

I have a neighbor, the one with the broken 20V trimmer I am working on, and he holds electric trimmers in very low regard.

these are pretty simple.. connect a mass produced lion battery to an electric motor and presto.

I ran into a few weeds that did not yield to the 20V trimmer. But i really like the lighter weight than gas powered trimmers.

Looking at the top end 56V worx they mention a variable speed trigger... I worry a little about the extra complexity, the low voltage trimmers just use a on/off switch. The variable speed may use a PWM controller.

JR

OK, I just got in a replacement switch (snap action micro-switch). So my neighbor's 20V trimmer is now back in service. The old switch was stuck on? The solder joints on the bad switch looked really crappy, so maybe the switch was replaced once before? I used a 15A switch but don't know what the start current is. Battery is 6AH but surely more than 6A peak.

======

Coincidentally my 56V worx arrived today... battery is now charging, so I'll have a quick test drive soon.

JR

[update] battery wasn't even fully charged but I did a test cut on the weeds that resisted my neighbor's 20V trimmer... they got smoked. This sucker really cuts. Pretty long shaft which means I can cut the other side of the rain ditch from this side... a good thing. Looking forward to this weekend to give it a proper trial. [/update]

[JR.]

I decided to give my 56V trimmer a serious test and the 2AH battery is the weak link, I'd estimate working it hard it only lasted a half hour or less... In normal lawn trimming it won't have to work that hard. Yesterday I used it to trim areas that hadn't been trimmed since last year. The power is impressive, it was taking down small seedlings (here in MS we have trees that grow like weeds, and they grow all winter, so you need to really stay on top of them... )

I decided to spring for a bigger 2.5AH second battery, which means I can have one charging while I use the other one, but I don't expect to exceed one battery in normal use. The spare battery cost more than a new 20V trimmer, but power has a cost.

They say to wear safety glasses and I was covered with small grass bits, that this thing threw up into the air.

I was also impressed with the cutting line... I only has to advance it once after all that heavy cutting, pretty strong stuff... I wouldn't want to accidentally tangle with that.

JR

[JR.]

the 2AH battery crapped out again before I finished the trim, but still doing some heavy work. The 2.5AH battery should be in this week.

Another quirk of charging the 56V battery is that the charger detects the battery temp (probably imputed from resistance) and refuses to charge if battery is hot, like when freshly depleted, so you can't run it down, then quickly re-charge it. The second battery should resolve that problem. I tried to buy another 2AH battery to hopefully be a little cheaper but didn't find any.

I am not sure about the design calculus... all ealse equal the higher voltage battery provides more short term power, but since there is no free lunch a higher voltage battery of similar size/weight will deliver less AH. The 20V trimmer had a 6AH battery so nominally 120 WHours, while the 56V @ 2AH is 112WH. The 2.5AH will bump that up to 140WH so slightly better (probably heavier too.).

I showed it to my neighbor who originally scoffed at electric trimmers and he changed his mind, he may buy one too. My only reservation is the battery life which turns this $200 trimmer into a $300 trimmer. The battery has a 12 month warranty so probably count on replacing batteries every year or two.

The big trimmer lacks a feature they put on the small one, wheels on the back edge of the guard so you can trim grass at a fixed height... that's useful..

But I like the 56V power and wouldn't consider 20V trimmers (or 8 bit microprocessors).

JR

[Gold]

Here is a shot of the excavated road. It's taken from a similar place as the picture in the previous post with pictures looking up the road. The excavator did an amazing job. He's like an artist. He didn't cut straight lines or take down more trees than necessary.

The part of the road that needed to be built up the most is still too soft for a passenger car. It was very dry up there. There was very heavy rainfall on Sunday and that helped tighten the road up a lot. The drainage was excellent too. No water buildup in very heavy rain conditions.




I just learned Burlington is more like 1.5 hours than 2.5 hours.

[mediatechnology]

Those pics are beautiful Paul.
If I were there I'd have a very hard time ever going back to the city.

[Gold]

Thanks Wayne. I like both the city and the boonies. If I moved there I would probably loose half my business. And not the half I want to loose.

I can see doing a little property development there. The housing stock available there is terrible. The way most sites are excavated is ugly. Most clear three to five acres, put a big house in the middle surrounded by lawn. Grass is not native there and doesn't grow well. The native fauna is beautiful. Cutting it down for a lawn is strange to me.

We got really torn up by mosquitos and blackflies. The GF had to go to the doctor for cortizone shot because her ear is so swollen. Late May/June isn't our favorite time there.

I need to get back to the PTS and the Widener. This has been sapping all my energy.