Why do circuit breakers go up for on and down for off?...

[rbowman]

On Tue, 21 Feb 2023 22:46:21 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:

just touch the other end of the battery with your wet finger. The tongue
test works fine.

Sort of, I guess. I stick with my meter for diagnosing AA batteries. The
JND* between the wet finger circuit and just licking the positive terminal
is minute.

* https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-just-noticeable-
difference-2795306

 

[Martin Brown]

On 14/02/2023 21:55, Don Y wrote:

A colleague sent along a copy of an article espousing a 2KW/hr/person
energy consumption rate as if it was a practical goal.

2kW/hr per person should be trivial to meet in any sort of decently
insulated house.

Our base load is about 120W with one of my computers on and all the
hitech electronic gadgets in standby. Peak load is only when either the
electric cooker, kettle or immersion heater is on ~3kW each. Most of the
time our electricity consumption is under 500W even if my computers are
running flat out. The remaining big power hog is the garage lights.

An average energy budget per week would be a more sensible target say
100kWhr per household as a rough starting guess (~500W average load).

Admittedly heating is oil and solid fuel which is different.

Yes, I\'m sure in some parts of the world, folks get by with
considerably *less*.

But, given that our cooling season will be starting RSN (despite
the fact that we\'re expecting ~20F overnight, this week) and
that guzzles power at an alarming rate.

Passive cooling for buildings using old style technologies like self
shaded verandas on the exterior, double skins on the sun facing sides
with an air gap and mirror finish in the gap. You can learn a lot from
how desert plants are shaped about how to keep cool in the sun.

Or designer metamaterials that become colder than the ambient air
temperature in direct sunlight may be the way forward for cooling. The
latter are nearing production capability - I\'m interested to see how
well such meta materials function in the real world with dust one them.

--
Martin Brown

 

[M Kfivethousand]

On Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 11:14:00 PM UTC-6, Don Y wrote:

On 2/18/2023 8:37 PM, M Kfivethousand wrote:
On Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 1:42:20 PM UTC-6, Don Y wrote:
On 2/16/2023 9:46 AM, Don Y wrote:
[At the other end (fully lit), places like the kitchen and bathrooms are
overly bright (the kitchen has a 75W equivalent light for every 10 sq ft
of floor space -- plus \"task lighting\"
No, that can\'t be right. I\'m probably using the floor (tile) area and not
the room dimensions (counters, appliances, etc.). So, maybe every *20* sq
ft?

[Kitchen has a problem with lots of glare from large picture window into
the yard so interior lighting has to compete and has lots of dark features
-- counters, appliances -- that make it feel less well lit than it really
is]

I’ve seen the inside of a house like that, which is identical design to a
house for sale I recently saw. It’s a twin. It’s small. The yard is a
“patch” of grass. No garage. Unless they did a major overhaul inside, with
everything brand new… not worth 285K in today’s market. I’d expect it to
fetch max 250K, maybe
So, how is it \"like that\"? :

We opted for \"black stainless\" appliances as they are much richer looking
than stainless (or black or white or...). But, they definitely have a
\"presence\" in the room. Especially as they are largely featureless.

Our countertops are dark -- almost black (but *not* black!) -- so
they similarly \"claim their space\".

Cabinetry and flooring are light. But, your eyes always \"find\" the darks.

The picture window there gives you a lot of glare from the
sunlight reflecting in from outdoors -- along with the 100+ sq ft
of glass in the room onto which the kitchen opens (no grass;
decomposed granite as a ground cover) And, as we have ~285
days of sunshine (~50 days of precipitation), the sun is
always something to contend with. It would be great if overhead
(e.g., a skylight) but coming in laterally it\'s a nuisance.

And, why would you want to close the blinds to block your view
of the out-of-doors? :> Watching the hummingbirds is a delight!

In general, you want to have constant light intensity between your
environs and task surfaces -- just like you want the room lighting
to be comparable to the light level from your monitor. Otherwise,
your eyes keep having to adjust to different light levels as you look
at monitor, then at worksurface (e.g., any paperwork you are consulting).

So, when you\'ve got a picture-window-sized source of intense light
to contend with, you need to up the lumens to counteract it. Also,
when coming in from outdoors; \"snow-blind\" (without the snow)!

Dimmers are a real win as you don\'t want to have that same level
of task lighting at night -- when the picture window is no longer
a source of competing light levels. Ditto for \"morning coffee\".

[Once I can find an \"automatable\" lighting solution, I\'ll ensure
the light intensity defaults to lower settings in these cases.
Right now, we have to manually adjust to suit our needs -- or,
go blind when surprised by the lights coming on at full intensity!]

Well then it sounds like you have a delightful Vista.

I miss that and hope to finally buy a place like that

Ima gonna keep shopping

 

[Commander Kinsey]

On Tue, 14 Feb 2023 17:04:07 -0000, Vir Campestris <vir.campestris@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 14/02/2023 12:31, Max Demian wrote:
On 13/02/2023 19:57, Commander Kinsey wrote:


WTF is a house fan? Kitchen extractor? Ceiling fan?

There is no reason, unless you think the blades must rotate in a
particular direction for some reason.

They do if you want them to blow rather than suck.

I have Kinsey plonked.

Clearly not, as you\'re reading my posts. Don\'t lie, it makes you look like a fool.

But blades do of course have a proper direction
of rotation, the curve is wrong when spinning backwards, which means
they are less efficient one way.

Then curve them the other way you idiot. I can\'t believe how stupid you are. There\'s nothing magical about one direction, perhaps you beleive it\'s something to do with the earth\'s rotation? If so, maybe they work the other way in Australia?

 

[Dan Purgert]

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On 2023-02-14, Carlos E.R. wrote:

[...]
For instance, the book I started learning English taught the expression
\"it is raining cats and dogs\". Most of the times I tried to use it,
nobody understood it and I had to explain :-D

That\'s a very common idiom in American English (uh, well, at least
around here anyway). Where were you trying to use the phrase?


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|_|_|O| Github: https://github.com/dpurgert
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[Ian Jackson]

In message <n5sIL.643002$gGD7.496073@fx11.iad>, Scott Lurndal
<scott@slp53.sl.home> writes

micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> writes:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:30:30 -0000, \"Commander
Kinsey\" <CK1@nospam.com> wrote:

On Wed, 15 Feb 2023 07:01:02 -0000, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 15 Feb 2023 01:57:40 -0500, Clare Snyder
clare@snyder.on.ca> wrote:


Mine has no output jacks or cords. Just a small nice wooden cabinet
with no holes, no jacks, maybe one 12\" wire as a transmitting antenna (I
have to go look again. Not sure if there\'s a wire.)

Ok, that\'s way more sophisticated, and more modern.
I\'ve never seen one like that.


Maybe 14 or 16\" square and 5\" high.

It might be from the 30\'s after my mother got married in 1929.

input of the radio, which was actually the audio amplifier section.

The radio could have a switch to disable the radio section or not, in
which case you would have to \"tune out\" the stations.

I have been lucky enough that there was no strong station at the
frequency. I left a note inside so I or the next owner doesn\'t have to
hunt for it.

The transmitter should be tunable.

...
Many were not, short of trimming the length of the antenna!!

Would that change the frequency?!

I didn\'t read carefully. I thought he said trimming the capacitor
that\'s in one of the tuned circuits.

No, trimming the length of the antenna would likely just decrease
transmission range.

That depends on the transmission frequency wavelength; e.g. if
the antenna was shorted from 1/2 wave to 1/4 wave, it will likely
not substantially change the transmission range (depending on
the frequency).

In the 1930s, any record player with a built-in transmitter would
certainly be illegal in the UK. [USA rules might well have allowed it,
as (I believe) they still do.] The transmitter would almost certainly be
on the medium wave, and would be intended for short-range reception
around the house. The aerial, and best, would probably only have been a
couple of feet of wire, and there would have been no question of it
being anything like a quarterwave or halfwave long!
--
Ian

 

[Commander Kinsey]

On Wed, 15 Feb 2023 16:48:22 -0000, Vir Campestris <vir.campestris@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 14/02/2023 20:03, NY wrote:
Is it like Dutch windmills were all designed to rotate (I think)
anti-clockwise, and this means that most modern wind turbines rotate
that way?

Huh? The ones over the hill from use are clockwise.... Oh. Do you mean
as seen from the front, or the back?

Every video I can finds has them rotating clockwise. Obviously from the front, why would you look at it from the back when the blades are at the front? You wouldn\'t say a clock goes anticlockwise because you view it from the back.

 

[Don Y]

On 2/15/2023 3:01 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

On 15/02/2023 01:15, Don Y wrote:
On 2/14/2023 5:56 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:

A more irksome problem is lack of knowledge. People do not always act in
their own best financial interests, and do not necessarily trust correct
advice that seems counter-intuitive, especially if it comes from politicians.

Here, the problem is the (relatively low) cost of energy.  Folks
cringe at $4 gas.  What\'s a liter cost in the EU?

It is coming down a bit now but has been as high as £2 ~ $3 (although former PM
Liz Truss made that down to almost $2 by crashing the pound).

They have had to increase the limits on pay at pump transactions because £100
was no longer sufficient to fill a nearly empty fuel tank.

Some of the \"pigs\", here, take more than $100 to fill. (I\'ve got a friend
with a 160G tank on his pickup truck!) We can gas up for ~$40 if we let the
tank run down to fumes (a normal \"half tank\" is about $20).

> Right now it is about £1.60 ~ $2/L so about $8 /US gallon in the UK.

Yeah, folks would give serious consideration to the type of vehicle
that they drove if faced with those energy costs for more than a
transient event.

I think there are folks who drive \"a lot\" who cringe even at $3/G.
(I\'ve a neighbor who makes a 110 mi -- each way -- commute, three
times weekly. Yet, does so in a gas-guzzling pickup truck!)

And, there are so many things that don\'t identify their energy costs
in a meaningful way.  There\'s no \"fuel gauge\" on most devices
that alerts you (indirectly) to how often you have to \"fill up\"
and no way of gauging how long that \"tank\" will last you...

I take it you mean lawn mowers and chain saws?

No, I mean all the other things that use energy without giving you
any sort of feedback as to how much you are using or how quickly.

E.g., what rate am I consuming energy when I wash clothes? (with
hot wash vs. cold, \"delicates\" cycle vs. heavy soil, etc.) Or,
taking a shower (what temperature? how long?) vs. bath. Or,
watching TV. etc.

How much power does the freezer use when it is \"lightly loaded\"?
What about when full (more thermal mass)? How does that vary
with the ambient temperature (summer vs. winter)?

[Folks think nothing of putting their \"old/previous\" refrigerator
out in the garage for \"extra capacity\". What does that cost?]

A vehicle gives you some idea as to how costly it is to operate
because you have to refill the tank frequently. And, can see the fuel
gauge moving, over time (newer vehicles effectively tell you how much
fuel you have used \"per trip\" -- ignition on to ignition off).

What is the cost of watching a movie on DVD vs. DVR vs. broadcast vs.
media tank?

They may not have a fuel gauge but you can just look in the tank and see how
much fuel. Mine is just big enough to cut all the grass on a tank. The amount
used this way in a season is less then a 10L jerry can.

No grass, here. :> The \"appliances\" that we have that consume \"petrol\"
have tanks sized small enough that, with care, you can ensure you only
put enough fuel into it to address the task at hand (we don\'t let fuel
sit in idle engines as it gums up carburetors, etc.).

I also make a point of buying fuel that I can always \"dispose of\" in
a vehicle (though without ethanol) so I don\'t let fuel go bad in a
\"gas can\".

 

[Commander Kinsey]

On Mon, 13 Feb 2023 23:30:34 -0000, John Larkin <jlarkin@highlandsnipmetechnology.com> wrote:

On Mon, 13 Feb 2023 20:41:21 -0000, \"Commander Kinsey\"
CK1@nospam.com> wrote:

On Sat, 11 Feb 2023 15:59:40 -0000, John Larkin <jlarkin@highlandsnipmetechnology.com> wrote:

On Sat, 11 Feb 2023 10:45:18 +0000, SteveW <steve@walker-family.me.uk
wrote:

On 11/02/2023 09:34, Brian Gaff wrote:
I\'m sure the modern ones will work any way around you wanted. If you don\'t
like it simply do a head stand before you change them.

My main question, however is why are some breakers so sensitive they trip
more often than others?
I think they are way too complex now with earth leakage as well as just
looking for overloads.

I used to have a problem with random tripping of the whole house RCD.
Removing that and replacing all the previously RCD protected MCBs with
RCBOs, split any base leakage (mainly filters on power supplies of a lot
of electronic items) across separate circuits and we have not had a
single false trip since.

Anyway, if you think that adding earth leakage detection to overcurrent
protection is too much, wait for the AFDDs (Arc Fault Detection
Devices), which are RCBOs, plus a microprocessor that monitors the
circuit and analyses the waveform for changes that indicate arcing in a
loose terminal, but *shouldn\'t* trip on the arcing of a motor\'s brushes!

Public policy should quantify what a life is worth. I\'ve seen cases
that mathed out

Saying math without an s is bad enough, but \"mathed out\"? Come on.

I guess you speak differently in some tiny places with ancient
dielects.

Actually Americans use older English, like sulfur.

Here\'s a really good book about the history and decline of the British
empire.

We only declined because we got politically correct and gave back countries we\'d quite rightfully stolen.

https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Britain-Made-Modern-World/dp/014198791X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1GANVR4FKRJG7&keywords=Empire%3A+How+Britain+Made+the+Modern+World&qid=1676330804&sprefix=empire+how+britain+made+the+modern+world%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-1

Just their electrical outlets were enough to doom the Empire.

Our electrical outlets (argh! sockets) are superior to American ones in so many ways.
1) There is only one type in the house, serves any appliance up to 3.2kW.
2) They all have sleeves on the pins, no shocks if your fingers wrap round the end.
3) They\'re made robustly, unlike the flimsy shit in the USA which is two thin shards of metal shoved into a couple of holes in the vague hope of contact. This means they don\'t fall out or wear out.
4) All sockets have switches, you don\'t arc the contacts when you plug or unplug, and you don\'t have live prongs to touch.
5) No dual voltage shit, no extra wires and complications in the fusebox, no trying to find the right voltage of socket to plug something into.

to $3000, and some in the many billions.

I\'ve never heard of either of those extremes. I doubt anyone would spend billions to save one life.

$3000 was estimated relative to a guard rail on a road in Louisiana.

That is too low. I\'d put the price more like $500K to $2M per person. Less for retards.

One chemical was banned in the US, at a cost of about a billion
dollars, the ban expected to save about 0.001 lives.

Which chemical? Those numbers are ridiculous.

 

[Carlos E.R.]

On 2023-02-19 18:40, Dan Purgert wrote:

On 2023-02-18, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2023-02-18 14:09, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Steam locos were not rated in horsepower, but \'tractive effort\' . How
many tons of pull they could generate before the wheels slipped.

That\'s why they had a lot of driving wheels - at least four, generally 6
and up to 8.

I suppose this assumes that the tracks do not bend, vertically or
horizontally, or some of the wheels could loose pressure, as there are
no springs on the loco wheels (but the wagons do have them, so there
must be imperfections on the tracks).

Steam locomotive drivers are sprung. It\'s just that the suspension is
inboard of the wheels (as opposed to freight cars and diesel locomotives
where the suspension is on the outside).

Ok, my mistake.

But can the wheels adjust independently? Or all of them in a block?

I have difficulties imagining they move independently, because there is
a long beam (I don\'t know the correct English term, sorry) connecting
all those wheels to the steam cylinder. Also there are a lot of metal
tubings.


--
Cheers, Carlos.

 

[Commander Kinsey]

On Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:42:13 -0000, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

On Mon, 13 Feb 2023 20:37:43 -0000, Commander Kinsey wrote:

Rotary took fucking ages to dial long distance. And a very long time to
dial the UK emergency 999. Should have been 111.

That was designed to prevent cats from dialing the emergency services. At
least the US went for 911.

It would be very unlikely for a cat to happen to dial 1 repeatedly.

 

[Mike Monett VE3BTI]

Martin Brown <\'\'\'newspam\'\'\'@nonad.co.uk> wrote:

> The remaining big power hog is the garage lights.

Your fridge is a big power hog. Set the refrigerator temperature to the
highest setting, usually around 45 degrees F or 7 degrees C. This is an
excellent temperature for keeping vegetables, especially potatoes.

Set the freezer to -14 F or -10 C. Once the temerature is below freezing, it
doesn\'t matter how cold it is.

Replace filament bulbs with LEDs. The power savings is amazing. For example,
a 100 W LED bulb only draws 12 watts. A 60 W LED bulb only draws 9 watts.
This is low enough that I keep the one in the bathroom turned on all the
time. The main switch is in an awkward location, and I hate having to search
for it in the dark.




--
MRM

 

[Commander Kinsey]

On Tue, 14 Feb 2023 17:41:36 -0000, John Larkin <jlarkin@highlandsnipmetechnology.com> wrote:

On Tue, 14 Feb 2023 09:14:30 +0000, The Natural Philosopher
tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 13/02/2023 23:30, John Larkin wrote:
One chemical was banned in the US, at a cost of about a billion
dollars, the ban expected to save about 0.001 lives.

I am not sure if this trumps that.

http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/chapter12.html

\"In 1978, the DOE set about deciding what to do about this waste tank..
The simplest solution would be to pour cement mix into the tank to
convert its contents into a large block of cement. This would eliminate
any danger of leakage. The principal danger would then be that
groundwater could somehow penetrate successively through the clay
barrier, the concrete vault, and the stainless steel tank wall to
dissolve away some of this cement. Each of these steps would require a
very long time period. For example, although the sides of swimming pools
and dams are cement, we note that they aren\'t noticeably leached away in
many years even by the soaking in water to which they are exposed;
moreover, groundwater contact is more like a dampness than a soaking. If
the material did become dissolved in groundwater, all the barriers to
getting into Lake Erie outlined above would still be in place and would
have to be surmounted before any harm could be done. Even this remote
danger could be removed by maintaining surveillance — periodically
checking for water in the concrete vault and pumping it out if any
should accumulate. The cost of converting to cement would be about $20
million, and a $15 million trust fund could easily provide all the
surveillance one might desire for as long as anyone would want to
maintain it.

If this were done, what would the expected health consequences be? I
have tried to do risk analyses by assigning probabilities, and I find it
difficult to obtain a credible estimate higher than 0.01 eventual
deaths. It would be very easy to support numbers hundreds or thousands
of times smaller.

However, this management option is not being taken. Instead the DOE has
decided to remove the waste from the tank, convert it to glass, and bury
it deep underground in accordance with plans for future commercial
high-level waste. This program will cost about $1 billion. Spending $1
billion to avert 0.01 deaths corresponds to $100 billion per life saved!
This is going on at a time when the same government is turning down
projects that would save a life for every $100,000 spent! That is our
real waste problem.

One last item deserves mention here — the radiation exposure to workers
in executing the plans described above. It turns out that exposure is
greater in the billion-dollar plan that was adopted than in the plan for
conversion to cement, by an amount that would cause 0.02 deaths (i.e., a
2% chance of a single death) among the workers. Since this is more than
0.01 deaths to the public from the conversion to cement, the
billion-dollar plan is actually more dangerous.

I have met the government officials who chose the billion-dollar plan,
and have discussed these questions with them. They are intelligent
people trying to do their jobs well. But they don\'t view saving lives as
the relevant question. In their view, their jobs are to respond to
public concern and political pressures. A few irrational zealots in the
Buffalo area stirred up the public there with the cry \"We want that
dangerous waste out of our area.\" Why should any local people oppose
them? Their congressional representatives took that message to
Washington — what would they have to gain by doing otherwise? The DOE
officials responded to that pressure by asking for the billion-dollar
program. It wasn\'t hurting them; in fact, having a new billion-dollar
program to administer is a feather in their caps. Congress was told that
a billion dollars was needed to discharge the government\'s
responsibility in protecting the public from this dangerous waste — how
could it fail to respond?

That is how a few people with little knowledge or understanding of the
problem induced the United States Government to pour a billion dollars
\"down a rathole.\" I watched every step of the process as it went off as
smooth as glass. And the perpetrators of this mess have become local
heroes to boot.\"

I rest your case for you.

If we don\'t assume that an American life is somehow more valuable than
an African or Asian one, we can save lives for a few dollars each.

We can fund a cataract surgery in Africa for about $20, or a fistula
repair for about $400. I\'ve funded over 100 fistula fixes so far.

https://fistulafoundation.org/

Send them something.

What I want to know is how they can do that so cheap, but not over here. Why don\'t we get the African doctors to come fix Americans/Europeans for that price?

 

[micky]

In alt.home.repair, on Mon, 13 Feb 2023 16:02:34 +0100, \"Carlos E. R.\"
<robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

On 2023-02-13 14:32, NY wrote:
\"Carlos E.R.\" <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote in message
news:kufpbjxm4u.ln2@Telcontar.valinor...
Essentially a stalled motor is a damn great inductor.

One of these...

https://www.meccanospares.com/E15R-BK-O.html


Found mine.

https://images.app.goo.gl/F9SPtFogTbukss1L8


When I was little I used to play with my dad\'s Meccano from when he was
a boy.

Me too

I never heard of a Meccano until today. I\'m 76 and live in the USA.

I was given by a friend an Erector Set motor that he had burned out
iirc.

110v AC. I took it apart and the windings were wound around a square so
they had 4 corners for each loop and every corner was broken. I spent
hour scraping the enamel, the paint from the end of each segment and
twisting them together, trying to use as little as possible that way
because I didnt\' want to shorten the total length. I thought that would
lower the resistance, increase the amperage and it woldn\'t work right.

When it was all done, it actually worked, but instead of wrapping it in
cotton cloth, i\'d used friction tape, cloth tape with adhesive, the
precursor to vinyl electric tape. and after 30 seconds the adhesive got
hot and started to smoke iirc. I knew it would just get worse so I
unplugged it. And I didn\'t try to recover it because I figured the
adhesive had melted and was now stuck to the windings.

The thought of buying new wire in the first place never entered my mind.
We had a nice house on an enormous yard, but no spare money for things
like that. I got presents once a year and that was enough. No money for
projects.

I also had no real use for the motor.

 

[Jasen Betts]

On 2023-02-21, Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

On 2/20/2023 11:45 PM, Tabby wrote:
On Monday, 20 February 2023 at 10:17:35 UTC, Don Y wrote:
On 2/20/2023 2:22 AM, James wrote:
On 19/02/2023 12:30, Don Y wrote:

No but your answers here should understand the problems others are
facing. Quote: \'My comment (above) was with regard to the
*increase* in cost (from \"rate hikes\") as being relatively modest.\'
They are not.

How much should I alter my behavior to reflect the conditions in
Ukraine, today?

Your behaviour should not be dismissive of others that may have
experienced tripled energy costs.
Why should your problems be mine? Are you going to do anything to refill
Lakes Meade & Powell? Or, address gun violence, here? Shouldn\'t you feel
morally obligated to do so? (as you seem to think USAins have to behave as
brits in our values and approaches to problems)

Drive smaller cars.

we do. They\'re over twice as safe as American cars, under half the cost and
about twice as fuel efficient.

If fuel was twice what it costs here, what have you saved?

The planet? If you have good politicans taxes aren\'t wasted.

How do you cart lumber home for a project? Or, purchase
oversized items? Rent a vehicle for the task?

Free or paid delivery service. some places lend or rent trailers to
customers.

--
Jasen.
pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ sʇɥƃᴉɹ ll∀

 

[Don Y]

On 2/15/2023 3:01 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

On 14/02/2023 21:55, Don Y wrote:
A colleague sent along a copy of an article espousing a 2KW/hr/person
energy consumption rate as if it was a practical goal.

2kW/hr per person should be trivial to meet in any sort of decently insulated
house.

When the temperature gradient (indoor to outdoor) is 30+ degrees F, we require
refrigeration to cool the house (evap cooler will handle that sort of delta T
but only when it is bone dry outside). OTOH, the cooler uses almost the
same amount of energy -- because it essentially has to run continuously -- as
well as using a LOT of water (which it promptly blows out the windows).

Our base load is about 120W with one of my computers on and all the hitech
electronic gadgets in standby. Peak load is only when either the electric
cooker, kettle or immersion heater is on ~3kW each. Most of the time our
electricity consumption is under 500W even if my computers are running flat
out. The remaining big power hog is the garage lights.

This computer is on 24/7 (not hibernating) as someone is always awake
(SWMBO and I have different sleep-wake cycles). UPS claims it only draws
30W (I don\'t have much faith in the UPS\'s notion of \"load\").

There\'s another USFF headless box hiding under one of my dressers
that provides \"key services\" (DNS, TFTP, NTP, xfs, lpd, etc.) for the
machines in the office. IIRC, it only draws about 10W (I rescued a
nice tiny little machine that I was going to use to replace it but
the tiny machine claims to draw ~15W... going up in power for down in
physical size is silly)

There are 13 monitors in the office that are all \"sleeping\", presently.
They *may* use less power if I press the \"off\" button... or, they may be
operating at the same power level and just illuminating a power indicator
LED (there is no way to turn them off completely unless I unplug all
13 power cords).

I tend to only have two workstations \"sleeping\" (I cut power to them
by turning the respective UPSs \"off\" -- which puts the UPS to sleep
so *it* is still drawing power, waiting to be turned on, displaying
power consumed by load, etc.).

But, there are NASs, scanners, USB disks, 4 switches, 2 printers, etc.
that are all sucking down watts even while \"idle\".

[I *do* power down the SANs and disk shelfs, though -- mainly because
they are so seldom used and relatively easy to spin up]

Plus, three TVs, microwave, oven, refrigerator, washer, dryer, furnace,
dishwasher, toaster, thermostat, garage door opener, freezer, hifis, etc.
all with little controllers running (even if the appliances aren\'t actively
heating/cooling/toasting/etc.) waiting for a button press or Ir signal
to turn fully on. And, all sorts of devices on chargers (4 cell phones,
3 cordless phones, wireless earbuds/headphones, etc.)

We have two neighbors with \"all electric\" homes. I cringe to think what
their consumption is (their AVERAGE bills are higher than our *summer*
bills)! One is having PV solar installed RSN. It will *never* pay for
itself in his (remaining) lifetime. And, may end up increasing his
overall costs if he ever needs any work done on his roof (the only place
solar is readily approved) as it must be removed and reinstalled in
such cases.

[Plus, the electric utility is aggressively trying to make solar less
competitive and will likely continue to get favorable tariffs to continue
this trend.]

An average energy budget per week would be a more sensible target say 100kWhr
per household as a rough starting guess (~500W average load).

We\'d still have a tough time hitting that. I think we used ~800KWHr in January
(no cooling load; modest *gas* heating load; ~20G of petrol).
> Admittedly heating is oil and solid fuel which is different.

Our heating load is relatively light. The *cooling* load is the pisser!

Yes, I\'m sure in some parts of the world, folks get by with
considerably *less*.

But, given that our cooling season will be starting RSN (despite
the fact that we\'re expecting ~20F overnight, this week) and
that guzzles power at an alarming rate.

Passive cooling for buildings using old style technologies like self shaded
verandas on the exterior, double skins on the sun facing sides with an air gap
and mirror finish in the gap. You can learn a lot from how desert plants are
shaped about how to keep cool in the sun.

When ambient is 110+, \"shade\" doesn\'t do much. (we have, on average, ~60
days above 100F annually -- as many as 100 days in some years!) And, an
outdoor temperature of 90F AT MIDNIGHT doesn\'t benefit from \"shade\" :>

\"Water features\" were traditionally used (with enclosed courtyards) before
refrigeration. Outdoor areas (e.g., outdoor seating for restaurants) are
often cooled evaporatively.

Or designer metamaterials that become colder than the ambient air temperature
in direct sunlight may be the way forward for cooling. The latter are nearing
production capability - I\'m interested to see how well such meta materials
function in the real world with dust one them.

Won;t be of much use unless it is durable and inexpensive. They have
been experimenting with some coatings to help reflect more sunlight
away. And, encouraging green spaces.

But, the coatings are expensive and the green spaces (to produce
effective shade) use plants that consume more water (than desert
hardened species).

We also tend to have more overhead sunlight (lower latitudes) so
\"long shadows\" are only present in the early morning and late
afternoon -- and only on the E/W facing walls.

 

[Commander Kinsey]

On Mon, 13 Feb 2023 20:54:58 -0000, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

On 2023-02-13 21:09, Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Sat, 11 Feb 2023 15:47:50 -0000, John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandsnipmetechnology.com> wrote:

On Sat, 11 Feb 2023 07:32:07 -0000, \"Commander Kinsey\"
CK1@nospam.com> wrote:

Why don\'t car batteries have a better state of charge indicator (the
little green float)?
It could be on the side and go a few inches along a sloping tube,
telling you the precise battery charge state.

Most car batteries are sealed now, not refillable, and don\'t have a
float indicator. Mine is under the trunk in the back and is not even
visible.

I asked a woman for a jump start once, fancy BMW or Merc or something.
Took us 10 minutes to work out how to open the stupid battery cover.
Why cover a battery? Did they think someone might steal it?

Have you ever seen what happens when you drop a tool on top of the battery?

Are BMW owners inherently clumsy? I don\'t seem to have this problem with my car.

 

[micky]

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 16 Feb 2023 14:27:08 -0000, \"Commander
Kinsey\" <CK1@nospam.com> wrote:

On Mon, 13 Feb 2023 13:32:14 -0000, NY <me@privacy.invalid> wrote:

\"Carlos E.R.\" <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote in message
news:kufpbjxm4u.ln2@Telcontar.valinor...
Essentially a stalled motor is a damn great inductor.

One of these...

https://www.meccanospares.com/E15R-BK-O.html


Found mine.

https://images.app.goo.gl/F9SPtFogTbukss1L8

When I was little I used to play with my dad\'s Meccano from when he was a
boy. That had a single-speed motor. The frame of the motor used heavier-duty
versions of the flat plates with holes in that were used elsewhere in
Meccano. He kept all his parts in a big wooden box with wooden drawers with
compartments: probably made by my Grandpa.

Sadly my dad lent all the Meccano to a work colleague for his son to play
with, and when he came to ask for it back some year later the colleague said
\"Oh, I thought you\'d *given* it to me, not lent it to me. When [son] grew
too old for it, we took it to the tip.\" Grrrrrr. Old Meccano from the
1940s/50s would probably be worth a bit nowadays.

People who throw out usable stuff should be shot. Have they not heard of Gumtree, Ebay, Freecycle? The government could make it a law against the environment or something.

I thought about that too. Even if he had been *given* it, why not give
it to someone else when you\'re done with it, or offer it back.

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

When I bought my house I told the owner he didn\'t have to empty it. That
anything he left behind I would keep and use, give to Goodwill (a
thrift, second-hand shop, a charity, profit goes to training the
handicapped), or take to the dump if it truly couldn\'t be used.

He left lots of good stuff. It was great. Books on gardening, garden
tools, a sledge hammer (I never thought I\'d own a sledge hammer but I\'ve
used it for several things), other stuff. I wanted almost all of it,
and the rest I took to Goodwill. He didn\'t leave any trash behind.

 

[Commander Kinsey]

On Tue, 14 Feb 2023 12:40:17 -0000, Max Demian <max_demian@bigfoot.com> wrote:

On 14/02/2023 00:42, rbowman wrote:
On Mon, 13 Feb 2023 20:37:43 -0000, Commander Kinsey wrote:

Rotary took fucking ages to dial long distance. And a very long time to
dial the UK emergency 999. Should have been 111.

That was designed to prevent cats from dialing the emergency services. At
least the US went for 911.

Or a dodgy line that periodically disconnects.

I doubt there are many of them. The emergency services could then just phone the phone company to get it sorted.

> Unlikely **that**

Superfluous word.

the periods correspond to the minimum interval between pulses, so 112 should be OK.
(112 is supposed to work in the UK as well as 999, unless Brexit stops
us from using the EU number.)

We aren\'t as stupid as the EU, imposing laws for others to follow.

 

[Commander Kinsey]

On Mon, 13 Feb 2023 21:10:33 -0000, SteveW <steve@walker-family.me.uk> wrote:

On 13/02/2023 20:54, Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2023-02-13 21:09, Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Sat, 11 Feb 2023 15:47:50 -0000, John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandsnipmetechnology.com> wrote:

On Sat, 11 Feb 2023 07:32:07 -0000, \"Commander Kinsey\"
CK1@nospam.com> wrote:

Why don\'t car batteries have a better state of charge indicator (the
little green float)?
It could be on the side and go a few inches along a sloping tube,
telling you the precise battery charge state.

Most car batteries are sealed now, not refillable, and don\'t have a
float indicator. Mine is under the trunk in the back and is not even
visible.

I asked a woman for a jump start once, fancy BMW or Merc or something.
Took us 10 minutes to work out how to open the stupid battery cover.
Why cover a battery? Did they think someone might steal it?

Have you ever seen what happens when you drop a tool on top of the battery?

Other manufacturers seem to get away with a simple clip-on, clip-off
cover on the positive terminal.

I don\'t even have that, but why would I have spanners floating above the battery, which somehow land precisely across the terminals?