Michael Janke

Chasing Fresh Air and Sunshine

Tomb Tour

Prior to the Roman’s turning all warlike and conquering three-quarters of the Mediterranean, the Etruscans had an empire in central Italy in what is now parts Tuscany and Lazio. The Etruscan civilization started in roughly the eighth century BCE and lasted until the third century BCE, when they were one of Rome’s early conquests. But…

2022-10-28
Blooming Prairies

With a recent addition of a new lithium battery and miscellaneous rewiring, I thought it’d be a good idea to take the camper out for a couple of nights and seeing if all my mucking around actually works. The weather this week was perfect for camping and there are a few state parks in southern…

2022-07-31
Electrical Redesign – More Battery

As of the last revision of my camper’s electrical system, I had two battery banks with the ability to charge both and switch between them as needed. Under normal use, the AGM battery bank would barely last one night, and only if it were fully charged late in the afternoon. To balance the utilization between…

2022-07-23
The South Shore

Living in Minnesota, we travel up to the north shore of Lake Superior fairly often. We get our fill of waterfalls, rocky shorelines and dense woods from our trips up there. But for some reason, we never went to the south shore of the lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. An opportunity presented itself…

2022-06-15
Roadside History, The Iron Brigade

Roadside historical markers are often interesting. For example, while wandering around in North Dakota and Northwest Minnesota last fall, I found several rest area signs documenting the various trails and canoe routes used by 18th and 19th century fur trappers. Apparently it was desirable to trade your furs outside the territory controlled by the North…

2022-06-15
IoT – Dumb Camper gets Smart(er)

Edit: Up to date description of the technology stack. I’ve made progress on the information screen that I want to incorporate into the camper. As hinted at in the message bus post, I’m using a 7″ Nextion display and an ESP32 to create a touch screen interface into the temperature and electrical data that I’ve…

2022-04-05