Category: Jon Smith

Ryobi RYi2200 Invertor Generator

Planning on doing a little camping, running power tools away from the house, and  during a power outage to get some lights and comfort items like TV. My main reasons for the inverter generator were quieter running and less fuel use. I can’t run my well pump or furnace off this but for my uses it should work.
This unit started after a half dozen pulls and ran fine (part of the handle on the starter cord flew off  while tugging on the cord). I tested it with a 3/8th inch drill attached and it worked well enough for that. We used it to run the pump on the air mattress no problems, I want to try charging a battery with it and see how that works. It started on the second pull and ran well.
Moving a few things around in the garage I found the piece that flew off and popped it back onto the starter cord. This does weigh a few pounds more than a comparable Honda or Yamaha and at 63 db compared to 53 db for the Honda it is louder. It is a tough lift over the top of the tailgate at 57 lbs but with the gate down not so bad.
I put this inside an insulted plywood box with a sheet of tin for a cover. I’m hoping this helps to keep the noise down a bit, not that it is that loud running at idle but I’m hoping to be able to listen to the birds and critters running around.
My number one reason for picking this generator was the price at $549 from Home Depot it was among the cheapest inverter generators I could find locally. It also has a three year warranty that I hope I’ll never have to test.

  • 2200 Starting / 1800 Running Watts
  • 8.75 hours run time at 400 watts and 5 hours at 900 watts
  • 106cc OHC, 4 Cycle Engine
  • Outlets: 120-volt AC (2), 12-volt DC (1) Parallel kit Capable
  • Quieter than a conversation 63 db(A) a conversation is 65 db(A)
  • 51 lbs.
  • 3 Year warranty
  • MFG Model # : RYI2200
  • MFG Part # : RYI2200

I used a chart from Don Rowe to guesstimate average usage of the things I would connect.

I liked the option to hook up 12 volts directly from the generator to a battery, and the possibility to get a second unit and their connector to run them in tandem.


I first went to the local Home Depot as they had the best price I could find at $549 and they are local to me. The box looked like it had been run over and a sales associate offered to have their rental center start it to make sure it worked before I bought it.
Over in rental they laid it on it’s side and dumped the included twelve ounces of oil in, then stood it back up and added gasoline. A half dozen pulls and it started up but as soon as they turned on the auto idle it puffed some smoke and quit. The guy there thought it was out of gas and added more gas. It wouldn’t restart again, even after changing the spark plug and giving it another try. After about a half hour of fiddling I left and went over to another Home Depot nearby and got one there, that didn’t look like it had been run over.

For a comparison of the Yamaha and Honda generators have a look here.
One thing I would like to add is a larger fuel tank.
Generator attached to BERG System

A link here for the B.E.R.G. system for extended run time up to 72 hours.

Trip to Florida

So I’m thinking while I am doing recovery from my first heart surgery (haven’t gotten to this point yet), I’ll have Kirsten find a cheap used RV and for the last month or so of recovery, travel down to Florida. I’m figuring to replace the hoses and belts as a precautionary measure before leaving.
Mom said she will travel with us so we can have three drivers and take shifts. First shift driving, second shift as copilot, and third shift sleeping in the back while someone else is driving down the highway.
A little Class B camper should do it for us I see a few Falcon’s on Craigslist for 5 to 10k.
00202_cM3gLwaKlgU_600x450

Darkest Days

My Mother considers these days a failure, I think they are a triumph for her and my Father. I might have killed myself after a year like this for them they both survived and were still together when it was over.
We lived in an old farmhouse in the town of Root. It was cold and drafty. We had no phone because it was disconnected. My Father was between jobs. We eventually were asked to leave because the rent wasn’t paid for months. Things happen, yes they do. My parents church stepped in and cleaned up the rent payments at that house.
It wasn’t all bad, I remember a lot of kids in this house including the five of us and friends coming over. We made root beer and a few of the jars exploded from the pressure, what a mess all over the ceiling and walls. It was the 1980’s and I listened to John Cougar Mellencamp singing Jack & Diane.
One night after dark we saw a State Police cruiser going up and down the road shining a spotlight on the houses looking for house numbers. He was looking for our house, Dad was out working or looking for work or something. It turned out the hospital sent the trooper because we had no phone. My sister had been in for some tests related to why she wasn’t feeling well and her epilepsy medication didn’t seem to be working. The trooper didn’t say what was going on but the hospital wanted my sister in Cooperstown immediately. My mom was home with us four kids, no car, and no phone.  I think she went to the neighbors and borrowed the phone reached my father and somehow made arrangements with a family friend to get a ride.
My sister was diagnosed with Leukemia, and along with my parents she went off to Syracuse for treatment. Mom and Dad stayed in the Ronald McDonald House there while she spent some time in the hospital. Eventually my parents had care transferred to Albany Medical Center and Dr Aronson.
There were more stays at the Ronald McDonald house in NYC and Albany, while she underwent more treatments. Things didn’t go well and the doctors were talking about doing a bone marrow transplant.
We all went in and had blood tests done to find the closest match for a donor. My youngest brother Andrew fainted from the sight of blood and my middle brother Chris turned out to be the closest match.
For a while everything spiraled out of control we moved twice more, once to Richmondville and then back to the house trailer on Mineral Springs Rd. There was a half step in between with a move over to 145 next to the Catafalmo’s, but when they found out about the rent not being paid at the last place they wouldn’t rent to us.
My Grandfather died in the spring and my Uncle on his way up from Florida to collect a few things from my Grandfather was killed in a traffic accident in August. September 10th 1984 my sister died from the Leukemia.

Weather Station Updates

I upgraded my NSLU2 from Lenny to Squeeze the other day and WVIEW stopped updating the html pages after the reboot.

Feb  8 20:57:55 link htmlgend[2456]: : generating to /usr/local/var/wview/img
Feb  8 20:57:55 link htmlgend[2456]: : templates at /usr/local/etc/wview/html
Feb  8 20:57:56 link htmlgend[2456]: : received station info from wviewd: 20130208 20:45:00

Everything seemed to work but the files were not written to the directory /usr/local/etc/wview/html.

I fiddled with it a little bit but then just re installed WVIEW using APT. I used the information here to add repositories and then just a simple apt-get install wview.

My Great Grandfather Smith

He sat down when he was in his sixties, he lived on till he was in his ninety’s. I can remember a phone call that he had run over his neighbors trash cans, he lost his license after that. Somehow not having that and his failing eye sight made him sit down for the rest of his life.
I don’t think I ever saw him after he sat down, but I do recall hearing him holler “Do I like this?” from the other room.
My Great Grandmother waited on him hand and foot. He died by pieces, slowly one leg went and then the other was amputated from lack of circulation, while he lay in a hospital bed at the house.
Me I think I’d like to go all at once one big bang and done, no long lingering goodbye’s. I kid with my sister and brothers now asking them “Do I like this?” My sister mumbles back under her breath “He does now.”