Driver to drive?

Anyway, whatever you do make sure the connections are safe. The voltage
of the batteries is safe but the short-circuit current isn't!

Right, the two issues are proper fusing and balancing 2 batteries in series.

Put an appropriate fuse in the connection between the batteries might be a good idea.

Re ballance....Maybe some mA worth of ballast resistors across the 2 batteries or else you need to manually monitor the voltage with a DVM.

M
 
On Monday, January 18, 2016 at 9:36:44 PM UTC-5, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

They're called "deep cycle". The problem is that the original
batteries are probably AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) batteries, which are
charged to some specified maximum voltage at a given temperature. If
you replace these with a different chemistry battery, such as
lead-acid flooded cells commonly found in automotive and marine
batteries, the charging characteristics and maximum charge voltage
will be different. I'm too lazy to dig out a table for you, but I
think you'll find that they're different. Also, removing the
batteries from the case also removes them from being thermally
connected to whatever temperature sensor is built into the UPS.
Fortunately, you can extend the leads on those and attach them to the
battery box. That's the sensor on the right:
http://www.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/repair/APC%20XS-1300/slides/XS-1300-05.html

To make matters worse, the various UPS manufacturers compete with each
other for the longest runtimes. To achieve high numbers, they charge
the batteries with an EOC (end of charge) voltage to be as close to
maximum as possible. This is not good for the life of the battery,
especially when changing battery chemistry. They also charge as
quickly as possible, which is yet another reason for relatively short
(5-8 year) battery life in a UPS. Fortunately, when going from the
stock battery, to a much larger battery, the lower relative charge
rate will help extend the battery life.

All the APC use what they call "SLA suspended electrolyte leakproof" batteries, which I take to mean Gel Cell. The Gel Cell is the only technology to use for a "deep discharge" application, AGM is not, suffering significant lifetime degradation at discharges greater than 60%. AGM is for peak power applications, not deep discharge. Gel Cell is also the type most sensitive to the charging profile, AGM is more forgiving. AGM is good for things like inverters for motor drives or incandescent loads with high start up surge requirements, but, like you say, 45% THD is garbage in that kind of application.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
 
Phil Hobbs wrote:
> SmartUPSes, my bad.

Some of their models can regulate a high voltage without going to
battery, and some can also boost a low voltage without going to battery,
but it takes a long phone call to find the guy who can tell you which
models do it because they don't seem to print specs like that anywhere.

--
 
On 01/19/2016 08:56 AM, Tom Del Rosso wrote:
Phil Hobbs wrote:
SmartUPSes, my bad.

Some of their models can regulate a high voltage without going to
battery, and some can also boost a low voltage without going to battery,
but it takes a long phone call to find the guy who can tell you which
models do it because they don't seem to print specs like that anywhere.

The ones that have the tap switching have LEDs on the front to tell you
about it, and a decal on the bottom telling you what the LEDs mean.

IBM eServer 750T and 1000T models do, and they're nearly free on eBay
because nobody knows they're re rebadged SmartUPSes.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net
 
On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 06:38:31 -0800 (PST),
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com wrote:

All the APC use what they call "SLA suspended electrolyte
leakproof" batteries, which I take to mean Gel Cell.

About 2 years ago, when I couldn't get a straight answer from APC
support, I had to tear apart an old 12v 7A-hr APC battery to determine
the battery type. It was Gel. However, that's not definitive. The
MSDS says both Gel and AGM:
<http://www.apc.com/site/support/us/en/faq/?page=content&country=ITB&lang=en&locale=en_IN&id=FA158828&redirect=true>
<http://www2.schneider-electric.com/resources/sites/SCHNEIDER_ELECTRIC/content/live/FAQS/158000/FA158828/en_US/APC%20RBC%20MSDSv1-7%20.pdf>
APC also refers to both types VRLA (valve regulated lead acid)
batteries, which I guess is correct:
<http://www.apcdistributors.com/white-papers/Power/WP-39%20Battery%20Technologies%20for%20Data%20Centers%20and%20Network%20Rooms%20-%20VRLA%20Reliability%20and%20Safety.pdf>
Note that APC recommends AGM for data centers and "controlled
environment" applications.
"AGM is by far the more common and will be the focus of
this paper. AGM is preferred for most controlled environment
applications such as data centers and network rooms."
Which type APC actually delivers seems to vary by model, series, and
application.

According to the local battery dealer, he sells far more AGM batteries
than Gel batteries, which he now claim requires special ordering. Also
note that you can replace a Gel battery with an AGM battery, but you
cannot replace the battery in a UPS designed for an AGM battery, with
a replacement Gel battery due to the differences in the charge
profile. This might explain why AGM batteries are far more common
than Gel.

I have some APC batteries that are headed for recycling. Methinks I
can possibly tear one apart again to double check the type.

The Gel Cell is the only technology to use for a "deep discharge"
application, AGM is not, suffering significant lifetime degradation
at discharges greater than 60%. AGM is for peak power applications,
not deep discharge. Gel Cell is also the type most sensitive to the
charging profile, AGM is more forgiving. AGM is good for things
like inverters for motor drives or incandescent loads with high
start up surge requirements, but, like you say, 45% THD is garbage
in that kind of application.

Yep, that's about it:
<http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles/battery-articles/gel-vs-agm.html>
<http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/frequently-asked-questions/powersports-batteries-faq/need-a-gel-cell-battery.html>
Basically, AGM can use a less expensive battery charger and survive.

I have not been able to make a side by side comparison test of the two
types. I also don't keep good records on UPS battery life. Offhand,
I think that AGM seems to last longer and survive more power cycles
than Gel. However, since APC doesn't clearly indicated the battery
chemistry on their batteries, I'm not even sure what I'm testing. For
what it's worth, AGM is slightly more expensive, far more common,
seems to last longer, and is less likely to get trashed by a badly
designed charger.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
 
On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 08:56:51 -0500, "Tom Del Rosso"
<fizzbintuesday@that-google-mail-domain.com> wrote:

Phil Hobbs wrote:
SmartUPSes, my bad.

Some of their models can regulate a high voltage without going to
battery, and some can also boost a low voltage without going to battery,
but it takes a long phone call to find the guy who can tell you which
models do it because they don't seem to print specs like that anywhere.

You can get a clue about the capabilities by downloading and reading
the instructions. Features like "Boost Mode" (AVR) can sometimes be
enabled/disabled from either switches or front panel buttons. Some
units have an AVR indicator light or show something on an LCD display.
For example, the APC Back-UPS XS-1300/1500 models:
<http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/ASTE-6Z7VAU/ASTE-6Z7VAU_R0_EN.pdf>
"When AVR is illuminated on the LCD, it indicates
that the automatic voltage regulation (AVR) circuitry
is in Boost mode. AVR compensates for excessively
low voltage conditions without going on battery. In
this example, 90 V is displayed."

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
 
Phil Hobbs wrote:
On 01/19/2016 08:56 AM, Tom Del Rosso wrote:
Phil Hobbs wrote:
SmartUPSes, my bad.

Some of their models can regulate a high voltage without going to
battery, and some can also boost a low voltage without going to
battery, but it takes a long phone call to find the guy who can tell
you which models do it because they don't seem to print specs like
that anywhere.

The ones that have the tap switching have LEDs on the front to tell
you about it, and a decal on the bottom telling you what the LEDs
mean.
IBM eServer 750T and 1000T models do, and they're nearly free on eBay
because nobody knows they're re rebadged SmartUPSes.

According to the guy I found at APC (4 years ago) some of the plain
models with no LED's can do it, but there's no indication except the
unusual suffix in the model name which I've forgotten. Actually I wrote
down the details somewhere but can't find it.

--
 
Tom Del Rosso <fizzbintuesday@that-google-mail-domain.com> wrote:
Phil Hobbs wrote:
On 01/19/2016 08:56 AM, Tom Del Rosso wrote:
Phil Hobbs wrote:
SmartUPSes, my bad.

Some of their models can regulate a high voltage without going to
battery, and some can also boost a low voltage without going to
battery, but it takes a long phone call to find the guy who can tell
you which models do it because they don't seem to print specs like
that anywhere.

The ones that have the tap switching have LEDs on the front to tell
you about it, and a decal on the bottom telling you what the LEDs
mean.
IBM eServer 750T and 1000T models do, and they're nearly free on eBay
because nobody knows they're re rebadged SmartUPSes.

According to the guy I found at APC (4 years ago) some of the plain
models with no LED's can do it, but there's no indication except the
unusual suffix in the model name which I've forgotten. Actually I wrote
down the details somewhere but can't find it.

This is sometimes referred to as "brownout protection".
However, there also exist "online" types of UPS where the AC is always
transformed down and rectified to battery voltage then converted back
to AC at the proper output voltage. Those types of UPS have the same
function. No idea if APC has many models like that, but e.g. Powerware
and MGE UPSes often are "online".
 
On 19 Jan 2016 20:58:33 GMT, Rob <nomail@example.com> wrote:

This is sometimes referred to as "brownout protection".
However, there also exist "online" types of UPS where the AC is always
transformed down and rectified to battery voltage then converted back
to AC at the proper output voltage. Those types of UPS have the same
function. No idea if APC has many models like that, but e.g. Powerware
and MGE UPSes often are "online".

APC calls that a "Double Conversion On-Line UPS":
<http://www.apc.com/site/support/us/en/faq/?page=content&country=ITB&lang=en&locale=en_US&id=FA157448&redirect=true>
APC has some of those but I don't recall the model numbers.
A variation on the same theme is their "Delta Conversion On-Line UPS".
I locked horns with an early version in the APC SmartUPS 1400RH. I
don't recall which of these two systems was used in the 1400 RH but I
think it was the "Delta Conversion On-Line UPS":
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/apc1400.html>
Here's another 8 waiting for me to throw them off the deck and haul
off to the recyclist:
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-house3.html>
It's claim to fame was the ability to destroy four 12v 7A-hr
series-parallel batteries in an amazingly short amount of time, with
the added bonus of having the sides of the batteries bulge to the
point where they cannot be removed from the housing. As a side
benefit, operating like this usually caused some circuitry to blow up
resulting in low output and the fan permanently running. My rants on
the topic from 2003:
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sci.electronics.repair/z16h4_OgHU8/cK4cEsTsVAcJ>
Short summary: This particular model doth suck.

However, that's not why I mentioned it. The way it works is to run
the switcher continuously and in phase with the AC input power. The
voltage from the AC line is always slightly higher than that from the
battery powered switcher section. This way, the AC line is providing
almost all the power to the load, with the battery powered section
just idling along. When the AC disappears, the battery powered
section is already switched on, is running in phase, and is active
with zero transfer time. When it worked, it was fairly good, if you
didn't mind the steel case buzzing at 60 Hz or the heating and loss of
efficiency running the UPS full time.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
 
Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
However, that's not why I mentioned it. The way it works is to run
the switcher continuously and in phase with the AC input power. The
voltage from the AC line is always slightly higher than that from the
battery powered switcher section. This way, the AC line is providing
almost all the power to the load, with the battery powered section
just idling along. When the AC disappears, the battery powered
section is already switched on, is running in phase, and is active
with zero transfer time. When it worked, it was fairly good, if you
didn't mind the steel case buzzing at 60 Hz or the heating and loss of
efficiency running the UPS full time.

When I wired up the APC 1000 my plan was to put it on the line only for
part of the time (manually or using a clock) just to keep the big
batteries topped up, and to connect it only in the case of a prolonged
power outage. Over here, energy is expensive and the line is very
reliable, it actually is hard to maintain a UPS with an MTBF higher than
that of the line so systems behind a UPS often experience more power
failures due to UPS defects or maintenance than due to a power break.

However, once it fails it can remain off for hours, and I thought it
might be a good idea to have some backup power on standby.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the APC SmartUPS 1000 (and some other
APC models as well) CANNOT be switched ON when the mains has failed!!
It has to be running all the time and then it will take over when the
mains fails, you cannot use it as a portable power source that can be
switched on when it is already charged... bummer.
 
On 01/20/2016 04:23 AM, Rob wrote:
Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
However, that's not why I mentioned it. The way it works is to run
the switcher continuously and in phase with the AC input power. The
voltage from the AC line is always slightly higher than that from the
battery powered switcher section. This way, the AC line is providing
almost all the power to the load, with the battery powered section
just idling along. When the AC disappears, the battery powered
section is already switched on, is running in phase, and is active
with zero transfer time. When it worked, it was fairly good, if you
didn't mind the steel case buzzing at 60 Hz or the heating and loss of
efficiency running the UPS full time.

When I wired up the APC 1000 my plan was to put it on the line only for
part of the time (manually or using a clock) just to keep the big
batteries topped up, and to connect it only in the case of a prolonged
power outage. Over here, energy is expensive and the line is very
reliable, it actually is hard to maintain a UPS with an MTBF higher than
that of the line so systems behind a UPS often experience more power
failures due to UPS defects or maintenance than due to a power break.

However, once it fails it can remain off for hours, and I thought it
might be a good idea to have some backup power on standby.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the APC SmartUPS 1000 (and some other
APC models as well) CANNOT be switched ON when the mains has failed!!
It has to be running all the time and then it will take over when the
mains fails, you cannot use it as a portable power source that can be
switched on when it is already charged... bummer.

Wouldn't help for that anyway--even unloaded, it'll only run half an
hour or so.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net
 
Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:
On 01/20/2016 04:23 AM, Rob wrote:
Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
However, that's not why I mentioned it. The way it works is to run
the switcher continuously and in phase with the AC input power. The
voltage from the AC line is always slightly higher than that from the
battery powered switcher section. This way, the AC line is providing
almost all the power to the load, with the battery powered section
just idling along. When the AC disappears, the battery powered
section is already switched on, is running in phase, and is active
with zero transfer time. When it worked, it was fairly good, if you
didn't mind the steel case buzzing at 60 Hz or the heating and loss of
efficiency running the UPS full time.

When I wired up the APC 1000 my plan was to put it on the line only for
part of the time (manually or using a clock) just to keep the big
batteries topped up, and to connect it only in the case of a prolonged
power outage. Over here, energy is expensive and the line is very
reliable, it actually is hard to maintain a UPS with an MTBF higher than
that of the line so systems behind a UPS often experience more power
failures due to UPS defects or maintenance than due to a power break.

However, once it fails it can remain off for hours, and I thought it
might be a good idea to have some backup power on standby.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the APC SmartUPS 1000 (and some other
APC models as well) CANNOT be switched ON when the mains has failed!!
It has to be running all the time and then it will take over when the
mains fails, you cannot use it as a portable power source that can be
switched on when it is already charged... bummer.


Wouldn't help for that anyway--even unloaded, it'll only run half an
hour or so.

With the big batteries it (initially) worked much longer than on the
standard batteries, as is to be expected. But indeed its usefulness
is quite limited. I was thinking along the lines of keeping the gas
central heating or the fridge working, but each of those requires
intermittent power at 100..200 watts, and of course 2 60Ah 12v batteries
store only about 1400 watt-hours, with the losses included the whole
thing will probably not work for 5 hours.
When kept closed all the time, the fridge can overcome a 5 hours outage
and being 5 hours without heating is also not really much of a problem
here.
 
On 20 Jan 2016 09:23:07 GMT, Rob <nomail@example.com> wrote:

When I wired up the APC 1000 my plan was to put it on the line only for
part of the time (manually or using a clock) just to keep the big
batteries topped up, and to connect it only in the case of a prolonged
power outage. Over here, energy is expensive and the line is very
reliable, it actually is hard to maintain a UPS with an MTBF higher than
that of the line so systems behind a UPS often experience more power
failures due to UPS defects or maintenance than due to a power break.

However, once it fails it can remain off for hours, and I thought it
might be a good idea to have some backup power on standby.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the APC SmartUPS 1000 (and some other
APC models as well) CANNOT be switched ON when the mains has failed!!
It has to be running all the time and then it will take over when the
mains fails, you cannot use it as a portable power source that can be
switched on when it is already charged... bummer.

Looks like the APC SmartUPS 1000 is one of those that is synchronized
to the line frequency and running full time on battery. Unfortunately,
there are about four APC UPS's that are called 1000 so I can't make
the determination:
<https://www.google.com/search?q=apc+smart+ups+1000&tbm=isch>

What you're experiencing is what most grid tied solar power system
owners run into. The inverter is synchronized to the power line. If
the power line goes away, there's nothing to synchronize with, so
there's no output. That makes grid tied solar not very useful for
emergency backup power. There are some workarounds, such as running a
gasoline generator in place of the utility power to provide the
necessary 60 Hz, which won't work for you because you don't have an
array of solar panels. Might as well run everything off the
generator.

Perhaps it might be useful if I estimate how long a 700 watt load will
run from your proposed two marine deep cycle batteries. These
batteries are not really made for this type of operation, but I'll
assume that you'll eventually buy some decent batteries.
<http://www.interstatebatteries.com/m/category/marine/deepcycle>
Size 27A is quite common. CCA=Cold Cranking Amps, MCA=Marine Cranking
Amps, and RC=Reserve Capacity, which are 3 different ways to badly
specify a battery. Compared to a starting current, your 350 watts per
battery load is quite mild. I'll pull a number from my hat and call
it about 100 Amp-hrs.

So, you have two 12v 100A-hr batteries with a total capacity of:
24v * 100A-hr = 2400 Watt-hrs
Unfortunately, you can't just drain the battery to zero and expect it
to survive for long. At best, you can get about 60% of that out of
the battery. I'll call it 50% or 1200 Watt-hrs.

Assuming no losses and 100% inverter efficiency (fair enough
considering all the other bad guesses I've made here), your inverter
will run for:
1200Watt-hrs / 700 watts = 1.7 hrs
Of course, some of your loads are intermittent loads. The 1.7 hrs
would be how long your system would run if everything were turned on
full time, which is worst case. So, you get to make a list of all
your loads multiplied by their expected duty cycle. Add those up, and
you get a more realistic load estimate. Divide that figure into
1200watt-hrs and your system will probably run a bit longer.

For what it's worth, I had a system similar to yours for about 15
years. I live in the deep dark forest, where solar power isn't
possible. So, I would charge a random 12v battery from an AC powered
float charger, and use it to power my emergency toys (scanner, 2way
radio, ham radio, AM/FM radio, some lighting, cell phone charger, DSL
modem, router, etc) directly from the 12v. I also had a small
automotive AC inverter for the few loads that required AC (laptop). It
mostly worked, but required that I carefully manage my loads.

The fridge is where things get interesting. Before I pontificate on
the subject, I suggest that you insert a thermocouple probe into the
fridge, close the door, start some kind of data logger, kill the power
to the fridge, and record the temperature as it climbs. Also try this
with different types of refrigerators, presumably owned by friends and
neighbors. I think you'll find that insulation and thermal mass
varies radically between brands and age. Once you determine how long
your fridge needs to be running before the contents are no longer safe
to eat, you can then calculate how big a battery will be needed to run
it.

Suggested skimming:
<http://www.homepower.com>

Good luck.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
 
Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
> Good luck.

Ok I was not the original poster, just someone who has tried the same
thing in the past. But I see you have calculated the case of the original
poster an I'm sure he will read that.

Sure there is lots of variation with fridge isolation and power consumption.
It can often be wise to replace it while it still works, because the cost
will be recovered through less use of energy (especially here).

Unfortunately, the expected lifespan of household equipment decreases
so quickly over the years that it often happens that 20 year old stuff is
still working today, while new equipment bought 5-10 years ago is
already defective beyond repair. That means once you enter that cycle
you have to replace again and again...
 
On 20 Jan 2016 17:23:23 GMT, Rob <nomail@example.com> wrote:

Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
Good luck.

Ok I was not the original poster, just someone who has tried the same
thing in the past. But I see you have calculated the case of the original
poster an I'm sure he will read that.

Sorry, but your comments on the APC 1000 sounded very much like the
OP. I have to deal with considerable "nym shifting" in other
newsgroups. The result is that I try to use context instead of the
name in the header as an identification. Usually, that works for me,
but not always, as in this example.

>Sure there is lots of variation with fridge isolation and power consumption.

I did some testing of temperature drop and have some old data
somewhere. Also, a crude test of fridge insulation by measuring the
difference between inside and outside case temperature. I found
considerable variations including one fridge where I think the
manufacturer forgot to install styrofoam insulation in the walls.
These measurements are impossible to make in the appliance dealers
showroom and are not on Consumer Report's test list. There are also
installation problems, such as the common "alcove" install, that
blocks air flow past the top and rear of the fridge, which reduces
efficiency. This is probably sufficiently off topic to stop here.

It can often be wise to replace it while it still works, because the cost
will be recovered through less use of energy (especially here).

Yep. That's the theory. However, I'm not so sure. Electricity is
still quite cheap. Paying more for a genuinely energy efficient
fridge will be balanced by the savings in electricity if fridge
remains efficient (no compressor leaks or friction) and lasts for a
long time. Again, this is sufficiently off topic that I don't want to
grind the numbers.

Unfortunately, the expected lifespan of household equipment decreases
so quickly over the years that it often happens that 20 year old stuff is
still working today, while new equipment bought 5-10 years ago is
already defective beyond repair. That means once you enter that cycle
you have to replace again and again...

Yep. It is now possible to computer design a product for a specific
lifetime. Simple component cost reduction does the most to reduce
product life. Lack of repair parts and facilities does the rest. The
idea is to design a product where everything fails simultaneously
somewhat after the warranty period. If some component just happens to
NOT fail at the prescribed time, a dash of cost reduction should bring
it in line with the other simultaneous failing parts. Should it fail
prematurely, it is often cheaper to replace a defective product than
to repair it. Of course, some enterprising manufactory could produce
a truly reliable fridge, designed to last, lifetime warranty, and easy
to service. For example:
<http://www.sunfrost.com>
Just one problem... they're really expensive.
<https://www.google.com/search?q=sunfrost&tbm=shop>


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
 
Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
It can often be wise to replace it while it still works, because the cost
will be recovered through less use of energy (especially here).

Yep. That's the theory. However, I'm not so sure. Electricity is
still quite cheap.

Here we pay the equivalent of about $0.25 per kWh...

Unfortunately, the expected lifespan of household equipment decreases
so quickly over the years that it often happens that 20 year old stuff is
still working today, while new equipment bought 5-10 years ago is
already defective beyond repair. That means once you enter that cycle
you have to replace again and again...

Yep. It is now possible to computer design a product for a specific
lifetime. Simple component cost reduction does the most to reduce
product life. Lack of repair parts and facilities does the rest.

Also the life is sometimes shortened by the mandatory use of
environmentally friendly procedures and parts, and coolant in the case
of fridges. That also reduces the functionality, e.g. it reduces the
allowed range of environment temperature.
 
On 21/01/2016 07:24, Jan Panteltje wrote:
Planet 9:
http://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523

Planet Nine, that's a great name!

But we all know it should be named 'Rupert' - of course we'd need to
re-instate Pluto to make Rupert the tenth....

http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Grebulons

Cheers
--
Syd
 
On a sunny day (Thu, 21 Jan 2016 08:09:19 +0000) it happened Syd Rumpo
<usenet@nononono.co.uk> wrote in <n7q3i9$tkn$1@dont-email.me>:

On 21/01/2016 07:24, Jan Panteltje wrote:
Planet 9:
http://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523

Planet Nine, that's a great name!

But we all know it should be named 'Rupert' - of course we'd need to
re-instate Pluto to make Rupert the tenth....

http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Grebulons

Cheers

https://www.google.nl/search?q=pluto+dog&biw=1670&bih=850&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiYnbz6wLrKAhWK2hoKHUYED9QQsAQIHg
 
On Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 2:24:28 AM UTC-5, Jan Panteltje wrote:
Planet 9:
http://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523

I had just been thinking about another planet orbiting the sun being the cause of that 'Dyson Sphere' around KIC 8462852. Maybe something like a binary planet or a bunch of moons and the occultations acting like a Foucault knife edge on the star. The planet's orbit around the sun would be really slow holding it's position but the moons' orbits would cause all the weird dimming periods. I wonder if the proposed orbit of this new planet and KIC 8462852 intersect.
 
Wanderer <wanderer@dialup4less.com> Wrote in message:
On Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 2:24:28 AM UTC-5, Jan Panteltje wrote:
Planet 9:
http://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523

I had just been thinking about another planet orbiting the sun being the cause of that 'Dyson Sphere' around KIC 8462852. Maybe something like a binary planet or a bunch of moons and the occultations acting like a Foucault knife edge on the star. The planet's orbit around the sun would be really slow holding it's position but the moons' orbits would cause all the weird dimming periods. I wonder if the proposed orbit of this new planet and KIC 8462852 intersect.

Still hoping it's a Dyson sphere or ring of some sort. Built by
intelligent robots that evolved on a planet high in naturally
occurring semiconductors, metallics, liquid hydrocarbons, and
silane, where replicators made from naturally occuring PN
junction devices slowly evolved...

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