No, this Blog is not dead. I am still here, it is just that with the Winter there has not been too much to do on the DC generator. But I do have some additional changes to make in the Firmware. I am going to add in a switch for the improved INA-226 Voltage sampling chip, leveraging work off of the stand alone alternator regulator. And this winter I found myself needing to rebuild the Kubota EA-300 engine, its blow-by increased greatly over last summer. A tear down revealed a need for a complete overhaul (head and resleeving). Machinists figures the engine sat for several years w/o use, and w/o being prepared for such storage. Given it was an Army Surplus / EBay engine, who knows. But in any case, for well under $400 I have a new head / cylinder and almost a know engine!
What this means is I will be adding an engine profile called 'break in', need to research the appropriate loading regiment for engines and will add a switch to the source to all for this. While I am at it, I will be adding two pressure monitors to the water-maker: Prefilter - looking for vacuum, and HP side - looking for overpressure. These will be traps to stop things if a fault occurs, as opposed to active monitoring and control. (That might be down the road). But I want to add these safety features at least.
Still have a couple of PCBS left, if anyone is interested. Do ask you pay for shipping of one, and if you are willing also pick up the shared cost of their fab ($40).
Stay tune for a revision to the source, I figure I will be able to get the INA-226 out some time before April, with the break-in profiling after that. And will also spend some time running through the whole blog - cleaning it up some as well as filling in some of the stubs.
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