In spite of being out later than usual last night Linda was up early and off to the bakery at 6:15 AM. I got up at the same time and made coffee so Linda could take some with her. Neither of us slept well as we had larger meals, with richer food, and later at night than usual. I wasn’t hungry but I like to start my day with coffee and it seems to help keep me regular. TMI, perhaps, but there it is. I had to get up anyway to prepare the garage so the electricians from Bratcher Electric could get to the areas they needed to work on. But first I put a load of laundry in the washing machine.
We had a light but steady rain last night starting around midnight. Phil was hoping for rain over the next few days as the sand base for the driveway will compact much better if the sand is moist. We have a 70% chance of more rain during the day today and into the evening but by tomorrow a cold front is supposed to push through with much cooler and drier conditions behind it. I hope the sand gets wet enough to stay moist until Saturday when Phil returns.
Jeremy and Pete from Bratcher Electric showed up at 9 AM. I walked them through the job and then left them alone to work except for the occasional photograph and questions. The questions were for my own understanding of the work.
I needed to mix the “GoLightly” prescription for Linda and get it in the refrigerator to chill. The instructions said to use lukewarm drinking water. I drew a large pot of our RO water, heated it on the stove, let it cool to what I judged to be lukewarm, added it to the jug, shook it well to mix, and put it in the fridge. It should be plenty cold by the time she gets home this afternoon.
I was not going to get involved in my own construction projects while Jeremy and Pete were here. At some point towards the end of their work they were going to have to turn off the whole house generator and disconnect the main service coming in from the utility pole so they could safely tie in the new disconnect that feeds the panel in the garage. I went ahead and turned off the HP Color LaserJet printer, the two NAS units, and all of the computers except one that was installing updates, and I shut it down when it was done.
While the electricians worked I did some more photo product research. Based on what I found on the Quantum Instruments, Inc. website they do not make anything that works with the Sony alpha camera bodies, including the SLT-a99v. Thus it appears that there is no point in repairing (replacing) one or both of my Quantum Turbo battery packs. I tested my Sunpak DX-8R ring flash the other day so I know I can trigger it but I do not know if I can control it. My Metz 45CT-4 can operate off of AA batteries but I have not had time to test it with the a99. Like the ring flash I expect that the a99 will be able to trigger it but I doubt it can control it through the lens (TTL). If it can then I would have a reason to repair/replace at least one of my Quantum Turbo battery packs.
What all of this means in the short term is that I am going to have to buy a Sony “on-camera flash” designed specifically to work in an integrated way with the a99 body. Further research revealed that there are only three choices: the HVL-60AM, the HVL-43M, and the HVL-20 (?) I downloaded the manuals for the 60 and the 43 models and glanced at them, but they are as long as the manual for the camera body. The 60 has an optional battery pack, but it just holds six AA batteries in addition to the four in the flash unit. I looked at reviews on the B&H website and they were mixed for both the 60 and the 43. The 60 is more powerful but is very large. The 43 is smaller but less powerful and lacks the connector for an auxiliary battery pack. The biggest knock on both were the mechanical attachment to the camera and an over temp feature that seems to erroneously shut the unit down after just a few quick flashes.
The small box upper left is the new 100 A main disconnect for the electrical panel in the garage. The large box upper right is the automatic transfer switch and the large box below it is the 200 A service entrance disconnect.
After the electricians were gone I heated up a can of Amy’s Red Lentil soup and had some hummus and pretzel nibblers. I put another load of laundry in the washer and then went in search of an RV outlet box.
Lowe’s had an Eaton box with either a 30 A or 50 Amp single plug and no disconnect or circuit breaker. The 50 A version is what I installed three years ago for the pull-through drive in front of the house. What I had forgotten, apparently, was that the largest opening on the bottom of this box was smaller than 2″ but I could not determine if it was 1-1/4″ or 1-1/2″. Lowe’s did not have the adapters I needed so I went to The Home Depot. They did not seem to have what I needed either so I went to City Electric Supply. CES had a better selection of adapters and also had RV panels with circuit breakers. The panels were much more expensive so I did not buy one but I had them set up the pieces to adapt from 2″ conduit to 1-1/2″ pipe thread. I then went back to Lowe’s and bought the 50 A outlet box.
Back at the house I spent some more time in the bus fiddling with the remote temperature sensors in the refrigerator but otherwise did not accomplish much. Linda got home late in the afternoon but was not able to eat anything because of her colonoscopy tomorrow morning. I was on my own for dinner but do not recall what I had as I am finishing this post a couple of days later. Linda had to consume half of the GoLightly (1/2 gallon!) between 6 and 8 PM. I worked in the garage for a while removing the knockouts from the bottom of the RV box. That was when I confirmed that the hole was sized for 1-1/4″ conduit, not 1-1/2″. I worked in my office at my computer for the rest of the evening. We both went to bed before 10 PM as Linda had to get up at 3 AM and drink the other half gallon of GoLightly between then and 5 AM and I had to be up at 5:45 AM so I could get her to HFHS Columbus Center in Novi by 7:15 AM. Sometimes the scheduling of medical procedures just leaves me shaking my head.