Band Video: 9/19/2009
September 20th, 2009
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Truck Power + Servers = 16 Hour Runtime
September 16th, 2009
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I ran a test today to make sure that all of my servers could be run off of my truck’s electrical system without any downtime. I simply ran a long extension cord from an outlet in the truck to my server closet. I then unplugged the server closet UPS from the wall outlet and plugged it into the extension cord. The UPS in the closet beeped a few times, but kept on running. I then unplugged the shore power umbilical from the truck, the closet UPS beeped a few times, and then was running off of the truck’s UPS. Everything went off without a hitch. The trucks 6.6KWhr of usable battery life should give me about 16 hours of run-time, plus whatever the closet UPSs provide on their own. The closet draws around 415W of power. This includes all of my servers, switches, and routers, except for my surveillance system.
The only downside to this setup is that I have to manually unplug the closet UPS from the wall and then plug it into the truck. In order to get around this I may just run it from the truck system all the time (with the truck’s umbilical connected to shore power) and then switch the closet over to the local outlet whenever I drive the truck.
Electrical and Light Systems Working
September 16th, 2009
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I know it’s been a while since my last update, but we’ve been doing a lot with the Deuce. When we first started working on the truck I thought that all of the electrical wiring in the box was going to have to be redone. John did some testing with the existing cables and figured out that everything should actually work ok. The stock umbilical cable did not seem to join with the breaker box properly, so we decided not to use it. Instead, we disconnected the generator start/stop control buttons and ran a standard household electrical cable from the inverter to where the buttons used to be and then into the breaker box. We are using an APC 900W UPS connected to six Everstart marine batteries from Walmart. Each battery is 115Ahr at 12 Volts, which gives a total of around 8.2KWhrs if I drain the batteries down to the shutoff voltage. Granted, I have no intentions of taking the batteries down to the 10.5V cutoff, so an 80% depth of discharge leaves me with around 6.6KWhrs, which is still a good chunk of change. Running the inverter at the full 900W would give me about 7 Hours of run time.
New Project: The Deuce
August 5th, 2009
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I have a new project. I introduce to you my future mobile “command center”. I plan to rework the shop area of the truck to contain a modern computer network, perfect for use on a job site and LAN parties alike.
This beast of a truck is a military M185A3, similar to a M109A3. This type of truck was used to repair electronic equipment (such as RADAR systems) in the field. It weighs 17,300 lbs empty (17,800 on the last scale I took it over). Powered by a 130 HP multifuel Diesel engine, this truck will go just about anywhere using almost any flammable liquid. It has a top speed of 55 MPH and a cruising speed of 49 MPH. The fuel economy is, at 9MPG, surprisingly good for a vehicle of this size. It has a 50 gallon fuel tank, which gives it a range of between 400 and 500 miles. It also costs over $130 to fill up.
More after the jump.
Proper Toughbook Beach Procedures
July 11th, 2009
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Network Tour: Bedroom and Server Closet
July 9th, 2009
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Here are the two videos I made showing of my various computer systems. View them after the jump.
Read more…
Tor Up and Running
July 7th, 2009
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It turns out that the power supply itself on the old server was not defective. The power cord was the cause of the problem. I plugged it into the wall with a different cable just to be absolutely sure… and it fired right up. I lost my “reliable” status, but I should have that back again within a few days. I’ve also upped my alocated bandwidth to a full 5 mb/s, so I’ll be helping out even more.
Yet Another Server Failure
July 6th, 2009
My Tor server just went offline(power supply failure). So much for the free Tor t-shirt 
I could probably repair the system, but it was made around 10 years ago. It’s served me well enough, but I’m not going to resuscitate it. On the downside, I now am basically required to build/purchase a new computer. I’m planning on using a Fit2 PC as the new Tor server, since it has more than enough CPU power for the job. All of my other spare systems are out of commission. Oh well.
A Better LAN Party Page
June 27th, 2009
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I’ve set the LAN Party link at the top of the page to redirect to a subdomain I just setup: party.sudoseth.com From now on this is where I will update changes to the roster, what games we will play, when, and where. If I get bored I might even add some web forms so that people can RSVP via the site itself.
WiFi Map: Ocean City Hotel
June 25th, 2009
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I stayed at Castle In the Sand. Their WiFi network is more through than it was last year, but there are still some gaps in coverage. By sheer conicedence I stumbled across Ekahau Heatmaper. It’s a low tech solution to mapping out how much wifi signal there is in a given area and then project how much signal should be available in other locations nearby.
Shown above is the map of the hotel’s main WiFi SSID for the guests.