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Madness <policedept@thedonutshop.com>: Jan 06 11:22AM -0500 Have this Sony ICF-36 four-band (TV/WX/FM/AM) portable from the Goodwill. It works, but the band switch seems to be dodgy. It's a slide switch, which works fine for AM, but for all the other bands, it needs to be jiggled in order to receive the desired band. Otherwise, all I get is static. Also, I took the radio part to spray some contact cleaner into the switch, but it didn't help.   Another thing, the radio receives part of the FM band on the TV VHF-Low band. Doesn't seem right, but that band is useless anyhow. The high-band setting is still needed since WX shares its beginning.

N_Cook <diverse@tcp.co.uk>: Jan 06 09:23AM Near me an ocean going car transporter ship is grounded on the Brambles Sandbank. Were they lucky, with 1500 vehicles with buckled and sheared chassis, that it did not catch fire? Or for such shipments is it routine to physically disconnect the battery in each vehicle. Unless they can take advantge of whatever "Scottish" meteorologically initiated "tidal" surge this coming weekend, it will be stuck there for another 2 weeks before descent spring tides return

mroberds@att.net: Jan 06 02:45PM > Were they lucky, with 1500 vehicles with buckled and sheared chassis, > that it did not catch fire?   Despite what you see in movies, it's pretty hard to create a fireball by crashing cars into each other. Car designers have had 130 years or so to work on this and they've gotten fairly good at it. :)   One piece of this is that since maybe the 1990s, just about every circuit on most cars is fused. About the only thing that usually isn't fused is the cable from the battery positive to the starter motor; sometimes there is no fuse on the main alternator/generator output wire.   > Or for such shipments is it routine to physically disconnect the > battery in each vehicle.   I know that a lot of new cars are shipped with the engine computer backup/radio backup/clock fuse removed, but that's just to keep the battery from going dead. I've seen a dealer pre-delivery checklist that mentions reinstalling this fuse, but doesn't say anything about reconnecting the main cables to the battery. On the other hand, maybe someone at the port hooks up the battery when the cars come off the boat. *   I don't think any car gets a full tank of gas at the factory, unless the new owner is picking it up there. I suspect that cars destined for a boat ride may get even less fuel than ones that are going to go by truck or rail.   I read a magazine article a few years ago about a ship, bringing new Mazdas from Japan to the US, that rolled on its side in the ocean. This is it: http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-03/ff_seacowboys?currentPage=all   The article focused on the efforts to right the ship; it mentioned that when the recovery workers went through the hold, it was slippery, due to leaks of transmission fluid, etc. I think it said most of the cars were still tied down in their places, but a few had broken loose and shifted around.   The job was basically to get accurate blueprints of the ship, and then use modeling software that the recovery company had developed to figure out where to add ballast or flood compartments, where to pump compartments out, and so on, to bring the ship upright in a controlled way. Then the divers and welders got busy setting it up, they switched on the pumps, and watched to see if they did it right. It turned out that they did; they righted the ship and either sailed it or towed it into port in the US.   The cars went to a storage lot while lawyers and insurance companies did their thing. The lawyers were worried about liability if the cars were rebuilt, or if parts from them were sold as spares, so about 4,700 brand new cars went into a shredder.   Matt Roberds   * Foreign car companies that sell into the US are good at doing things at the port. Since the 1960s, there has been a 25% import tax on light trucks. At least one of the Japanese companies got around this by sending over two boats at a time of "truck parts", which were taxed less. One boat was full of cab+chassis and the other boat was full of truck beds. There was a shack at the port with a couple of guys, a crane, an air ratchet, and a big bucket of bolts. More recently, Ford builds the Transit Connect in Europe, installs windows and rear seats in it, and imports it to the US as a passenger car. In the US, the windows get replaced by steel panels, the seats get shredded, and it becomes a panel van.

N_Cook <diverse@tcp.co.uk>: Jan 06 02:58PM > in it, and imports it to the US as a passenger car. In the US, the > windows get replaced by steel panels, the seats get shredded, and it > becomes a panel van.   That Cougar case was referred to in a local news report today, as an example of the same sort of design that is right on the edge of stability, shallow draft, high sided. Little latitude available for when things go wrong even assuming correct computer assisted ballasting before sailing. Perhaps a bit like fly-by-wire aircraft that are inherently unstable and need computer control of control surfaces to make them stay in the air.

dave <ricketzz@earthlink.net>: Jan 06 06:50AM -0800 On 01/05/2015 06:17 PM, Phil Allison wrote: > transformer secondary injects straight into the oscillator and causes > major amplitude modulation.   > .... Phil   Yes. I misread my memory. Thanks. I have an early prototype HP200AB with a big knob, which is great for sweeping arrays for resonances but too fuzzy for absolute distortion testing. I am using my Sound Technology generator because it's 10 times quieter than the Heath. I have a crappy little Tek function generator which is great for scifi sound effects. My iPod Touch v3 has a sine wave generator.

Mike <news@mjcoon.plus.com>: Jan 06 04:10AM -0600 On Mon, 05 Jan 2015 22:16:37 -0800, John Robertson wrote:   > cleverest aliens - the Puppeteers' - leader was called "The Hindmost" as > they lead for the rear, in other words they followed the crowd.   > John :-#)#   And, long before him, Gilbert & Sullivan's Duke of Plaza Toro had the same battle plan...   Mike.

amdx <nojunk@knology.net>: Jan 06 07:43AM -0600 On 1/6/2015 12:16 AM, John Robertson wrote: >> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. >> http://www.avast.com   > Nothing to do with Obama,   Ya, same here after 6 years, they still blame it on Bush :-)     > PM) or Trudeau (70s - 90s popular PM) or Mulroney (brought in Free Trade > with USA - Ha!). So, you can blame anyone you like.   > However politicians can only do what the people approve,   Not our king, Obama has a pen a phone and Harry Reed.     > be it Bush, > Harper, Obama, Mendela, Putin...otherwise we kick them out and get some new 'leader'   It turns out Gruber is correct, Obama got elected twice! Mikek

Tim Watts <tw_usenet@dionic.net>: Jan 06 08:04AM On 06/01/15 06:10, John Robertson wrote:   > consider as well. Some caps are much more tolerant of 50/60hz and others > are better at 20,000hz. Selecting those takes time and the cost > accountants slip in at some point...   That's very interesting.   Based on this random driver circuit:   http://www.ecnmag.com/sites/ecnmag.com/files/legacyimages/ECN/Articles/2010/12/Fig%206-web(1).jpg   and looking at RS for 680uF around 50V electrolytics:   the 105C are around 50-70 pence 125C are around 130 pence 150C are 252 pence   There seems to be 1 big cap in that circuit - I don't have time now to cost all of the electrolytics but this looks like a case of adding maybe 3 pounds would make the difference between a short life and a very long life.   I suspect Philips use the good components - their LED bulbs seem to last a long time (my tests are still pending) but they cost rather more than 3 pounds over the cheaper LEDs.

Tim Watts <tw_usenet@dionic.net>: Jan 06 08:07AM On 06/01/15 06:10, John Robertson wrote:   > consider as well. Some caps are much more tolerant of 50/60hz and others > are better at 20,000hz. Selecting those takes time and the cost > accountants slip in at some point...   Just out of interest, do any mains LEDs use simple reactive droppers, eg capacitor or inductor, then bridge rectifier and smoothing capacitor?   And do 12V LEDs have driver circuits which are less stressed than their mains equivalents? ie are 12V formats more likely to last longer?

Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com>: Jan 06 02:31AM -0800 Tim Watts wrote:       > Just out of interest, do any mains LEDs use simple reactive droppers, eg > capacitor or inductor, then bridge rectifier and smoothing capacitor?   ** Only possible with low power lamps - a few watts at most - beyond which the power factor gets very poor and switch-on surges unacceptable.     > And do 12V LEDs have driver circuits which are less stressed than their > mains equivalents? ie are 12V formats more likely to last longer?   ** Almost certainly.     .... Phil

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid>: Jan 06 10:32AM On 06/01/15 08:07, Tim Watts wrote: >> accountants slip in at some point...   > Just out of interest, do any mains LEDs use simple reactive droppers, eg > capacitor or inductor, then bridge rectifier and smoothing capacitor?   I suspect not at this point in time.   The problem is that an inductor is large and expensive at 50hz.   Consider 25W of LED. that represents 100mA of current, or an inductor impedance of around 2.4k ohms 7.6 henries.   That is a fairly large beast. Too large for a light bulb - and indeed its pretty similar to what's inside a fluorescent ballast of similar wattage.   Ergo these days we rectify, smooth and chop and transform at much higher freqs than 50hz to get power at different voltages or to achieve current limiting. And that gets rid of 100hz flicker too..or should,   And it gets rid of big iron cored chokes. smaller cheaper ferrites with less copper involved are far far cheaper.   BUT you have the switching transistors and the rectification and smoothing components operating at high power and mains voltage - bad reliability especially when HOT.   Actually what is needed is the electronics independent of the bulb. Maybe built into the light fitting, as it is with fluorescent. And independently replaceable.   > And do 12V LEDs have driver circuits which are less stressed than their > mains equivalents? ie are 12V formats more likely to last longer?   Probably. switching at 12V is not such a hard task for most electronics   The problems of LED bulbs are nothing to do with LEDS and a lot to do with miniaturisation and cost.   Personally I think that we should be looking at LED lights that are neither ES nor bayonet, but in fact sit on the end of a piece of wire, and are large enough and expensive enough to be considered fittings, not consumables, and simply get wired in when the house is built.   And last at least 15 years.   E.g. you replace a ceiling rose assembly with something remote from the 'bulb' that drives the 'bulb' over a piece of wire at LV. Or you have integrated lumieres that replace conventional ones.   And indeed in-wall power supplies for designer lighting etc.     -- Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for the rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge. – Erwin Knoll

"john james" <jj9801@nospam.com>: Jan 06 09:47PM +1100 "Tim Watts" <tw_usenet@dionic.net> wrote in message news:lmhsnb-4d8.ln1@squidward.dionic.net... > capacitor or inductor, then bridge rectifier and smoothing capacitor?   > And do 12V LEDs have driver circuits which are less stressed than their > mains equivalents? ie are 12V formats more likely to last longer?   Yes, you don't need to use caps at all with some configurations of those, most obviously with series leds.

Tim Watts <tw_usenet@dionic.net>: Jan 06 11:17AM On 06/01/15 10:47, john james wrote: >> their mains equivalents? ie are 12V formats more likely to last longer?   > Yes, you don't need to use caps at all with some configurations of > those, most obviously with series leds.   So one thing is clear - if I decide to deploy high power LEDs I might be better offering a SELV supply to them and choosing fittings that can take 12V lamps.   As it happens, I will be using LEDs in a number of relatively open fittings (GU10s ion the end of stalks, plenty of air), 3 very low power GU10s in downlighters (2-3W range) as night lighting in the hall.   Other candidates are some 12V G4s in the bathroom, enclosed and some GX53s (open fitting). So on the whole I should be doing OK with LED retro fit as the price comes down.

adrian@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Adrian Tuddenham): Jan 06 11:22AM The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:   [...] > Ergo these days we rectify, smooth and chop and transform at much higher > freqs than 50hz to get power at different voltages or to achieve current > limiting. And that gets rid of 100hz flicker too..or should,   The flicker will only disappear if you use a large capacitor as a storage element; usually this is found on the HV side of the inverter. This brings back the reliability problem: it is asking a lot of a big capacitor to survive for many years when it is potentially exposed to occasional mains glitches from one side and continuously exposed to the switching current waveform on the other.   For a given energy storage capacity, capacitors are smaller, lighter and cheaper than metal-cored chokes, but it is a lot more difficult to make them as reliable in the long term.     -- ~ Adrian Tuddenham ~ (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply) www.poppyrecords.co.uk

Bob Eager <news0005@eager.cx>: Jan 06 11:31AM On Mon, 05 Jan 2015 21:31:00 -0500, Phil Hobbs wrote:   > Brr. Ledu is a crappy knockoff of Luxo. I got one by mistake, and it > rapidly went into the trash. Trust me, the $200 a real Luxo costs is a > bargain in the long run.   Indeed. I got a secondhand Luxo in 1974, and it finally packed up a couple of years ago. It was of course replaced by...a Luxo. We also have a couple of ten year old ones on our office desks at home, one right next to me here.   > Highly recommended, if you have a couple of hundred 100W incandescents > stashed in a cupboard like mine.   And mine.   -- My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub wish to copy them they can pay me £30a message. Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org *lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

Leif Neland <leif@neland.dk>: Jan 06 12:53PM +0100 Rod Speed sendte dette med sin computer: >> I exchanged two "spark plug caps" which is really the ignition coil and >> some electronics, one unit per cylinder.   > Very unusual way to do things.   Here is the product page:   http://www.thansen.dk/product.asp?pn=-831477966   Price is USD 160, I got an used one for 24USD.   Alas, now it needs a new back door, because wife didn't see I parked the Landcruiser outside the garage :-(   Leif   -- Husk kørelys bagpå, hvis din bilfabrikant har taget den idiotiske beslutning at undlade det.

Capitol <spam@wher.eva.co.uk>: Jan 06 12:21PM Tim Watts wrote:   > I suspect Philips use the good components - their LED bulbs seem to last > a long time (my tests are still pending) but they cost rather more than > 3 pounds over the cheaper LEDs.   The things that kill electrolytic capacitors are ripple current and ESR. If you double the capacitor size, the life dramatically increases as the running temperature decreases. I once had a very nice DOS program which forecast capacitor life extremely well based predominantly on ripple current.   I see that Ford have had to add cooling fans to their infinite life LED headlamps. I've never yet seen a fan with an infinite life!

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid>: Jan 06 12:27PM On 06/01/15 11:22, Adrian Tuddenham wrote: > For a given energy storage capacity, capacitors are smaller, lighter and > cheaper than metal-cored chokes, but it is a lot more difficult to make > them as reliable in the long term.   a very cogent and pertinent statement     -- Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for the rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge. – Erwin Knoll

tony sayer <tony@bancom.co.uk>: Jan 06 12:55PM In article <NHHqw.502114$tr6.474642@fx15.am4>, Arfa Daily <arfa.daily@ntlworld.com> scribeth thus >jail, with any luck ...   >Arfa   >- or Geoff, if you prefer   Don't know why you bother with him Arfa, just killfile the prat thats what I did ages ago!... -- Tony Sayer

Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid>: Jan 05 10:27PM >> very poor, and have switched back to incandescents in a few places (I >> imagine we're about 30% CFL, 30% halogen and 30% GLS (incandescent)) now.   > 10% sunlight?   *grin*     -- Today is Setting Orange, the 5th day of Chaos in the YOLD 3181 Celebrate Mungday I don't have an attitude problem. If you have a problem with my attitude, that's your problem.

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