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271

General Car Chat / Re: The RAC

« on: 27 August 2022, 08:25:42 »

A mate of mine broke down in his kit car somewhere around Glencoe a few years back now.
He called one of the national breakdown companies, who sent out a local garage.
They loaded up the car and proceeded to drive him straight home to Egham in one hit. He got home before we did!
Driver had a cup of tea then turned round and set off back to Scotland.

272

General Car Chat / Re: Straight pass & no advisories.

« on: 17 August 2022, 17:09:42 »

Range Rover in for service & MOT today just looked on the website straight pass & no advisories..😁

Always good news.

My classic  is in for it's yearly ticket this time next week.

Last year she cost me £500. Four new tyres plus new front disc and pads.

Those were the days. Just spent over £600 on just a set of 4 tyres for the Jag. :'(

273

General Discussion Area / Re: Mobile WiFi

« on: 17 August 2022, 11:00:37 »

I can see 2G outlasting 3G by quite a margin in the UK. It's not a big overhead to slot a 200 KHz GERAN carier on the edge of a 4G cell for backward compatibility, and spin up a couple more when required. Much less so UMTS, so that will die soon. Cell sites are all massive SDRs these days anyway, so they can dynamically share spectrum between 2/3/4/5G according to demand, hence the attraction of NSA. 2G will probably last until most of the IoT traffic has migrated to CAT-M or NBIoT.

Marketing bull aside, the march of cellular technology is all about getting greater capacity for the netwok operators anyway. The amount of bandwidth they choose, or are able, to give to you at any given time is pretty much unrelated to the tchnology, although by having a 5G device you obviously stand a better chance. You'll still get next to nothing out in the sticks, as that doesn't pay.    

274

General Discussion Area / Re: Loft Insulation

« on: 08 August 2022, 23:34:12 »

Same here. 

And me. Old scopes and radios are probably not that effective  as insulation  though.

275

General Car Chat / Re: AGM v not AGM

« on: 08 August 2022, 07:36:09 »

Thanks both. I'd seen that mod but held back because I wondered what else would be affected by disconnecting the VCM. I'll give it a go.

276

General Car Chat / Re: AGM v not AGM

« on: 06 August 2022, 09:44:16 »

Stop-start gives the battery a work out - potentially causing a reduction in battery life

That piece of shit will be disabled whatever

It's particularly dumb on the XE. Always stops the engine just as I'm about to pull away.

Do you know if it can be permanently disabled? I'd be up for that.

You might find it does some "mild hybrid" deeper cycling of the battery than is normal for a wet cell battery. That might involve charging it more aggressively than would be normal for a wet battery. Only one way to find out, though. The world isn't going to end, at any rate.

Her battery sounds like its struggling, and I have a reasonable battery from my XJ in the garage, so its a no cost option to do something until batteries become more sensibly priced...   ...or I have to bite the bullet and splash down the wrong side of £150 for an AGM one

I can't imagine it'll do any harm, as long as it doesn't vent in the spare wheel well, of course.

The one thing you don't want in an XE is an unreliable battery, as it does a bloody good job of immobilising itself when it goes flat.

277

General Car Chat / Re: AGM v not AGM

« on: 06 August 2022, 00:00:27 »

You might find it does some "mild hybrid" deeper cycling of the battery than is normal for a wet cell battery. That might involve charging it more aggressively than would be normal for a wet battery. Only one way to find out, though. The world isn't going to end, at any rate.

278

General Car Chat / Re: In the name of all that is holy. How hard can rear shocks be?

« on: 04 August 2022, 16:02:33 »

.. and I now know whose expertise to call on when I cba to investigate the rattle under my parcel shelf.

279

General Car Chat / Re: In the name of all that is holy. How hard can rear shocks be?

« on: 04 August 2022, 16:00:53 »

That looks like an XE to me.

You'd be correct.

My mate at school had a Puch Maxi. Our maths teacher's wife knocked him off it in her Morris Ital outside the school one evening and he was so embarrassed he rode off home without the exhaust, which I picked up and returned to him later.

You seemed to have had many encounters with Morris Itals in your past.  I wonder if that helps explain why you are like you are, they have scarred you for life.  I'm sure there are solicitors who advertise on the telly who can help you with compensation for the psychological marks left upon you

Nope. Those scars don't heal, as I'm sure you're aware.

280

General Discussion Area / Re: What happens to Lithium Fires on planes...

« on: 04 August 2022, 07:34:35 »

Yep, speed is pretty much a constant if you want a controlled "landing". You need enough to allow the wings to take the weight of the aircraft right up to the point that the water takes over that role, but no more, since that's just extra energy to take into the crash. This sort of fully held off landing is not the way you'd normally land an airliner, but exactly how you land a glider or any other light aircraft. In that respect, actually, the Hudson landing was probably worse off as I'm guessing the aircraft was heavy, having just taken off and not having jettisoned fuel, so it would have needed more speed.

Calm water was probably the biggest factor, as with even the normal swell of an ocean it would be a challenge to land an aircraft with absolute symmetry as Sully did.Hit one engine or wingtip even milliseconds before the other and you have the Ethiopian 767.

Also, the bigger the span, the more difficult it is to keep the thing level. Ask any glider pilot that! The 777 has a distinct disadvantage over the A320 there!

281

General Car Chat / Re: In the name of all that is holy. How hard can rear shocks be?

« on: 04 August 2022, 07:21:11 »

That looks like an XE to me.

My mate at school had a Puch Maxi. Our maths teacher's wife knocked him off it in her Morris Ital outside the school one evening and he was so embarrassed he rode off home without the exhaust, which I picked up and returned to him later.

I do remember he could show most of the 50cc "Pifco boys" a clean pair of heals due to not having to change up through any gears during the 0-30 sprint.

Another mate had a Raleigh Wisp, although I don't think he ever rode it on the road. We'd belt round his parents garden on it, until I lost it and went through his mum's prized bed of rose bushes. That was a proper "pedal and go" job.

282

General Discussion Area / Re: Capital Punishment

« on: 31 July 2022, 08:42:41 »

Unfortunately it is very doubtful if the death penalty will ever return, personally I believe it should but too many educated idiots think that they can work with & cure these evil bastards.

This is the problem. Too much emphasis on "rehabilitation" of the poor, misguided perpetrator and we forget that they're getting put away primarily to keep them off the streets and protect the public. We're forgetting who the victim is, as usual.

The problem with capital punishment is that, if you make one wrongful conviction, you have failed in a terrible way. I'm all for murderers never seeing the light of day again, though. With that understood, we can forget about rehabilitation and focus on making the rest of their days as miserable as possible.

283

General Car Chat / Re: Long live diesel

« on: 21 July 2022, 23:59:34 »

Average speed of 57.4  I'd have nodded off at the wheel.

284

General Discussion Area / Re: Fuel bill

« on: 21 July 2022, 22:04:17 »

My deal ends at the end of August , because I'm in credit my direct debit has reduced from £115 per month to £67 per month, I'm simply going to cancel my direct debit & pay the bill when it's due. If I lock into another deal with Scottish Power & then decide to opt out for a cheaper deal elsewhere there is a £150 exit fee , robbing bastards can poke their deals up their arse

Mine ends next May with Octopus, the one good thing about them is there are never any exit fees. I'm £489 in credit right now, paying £160 a month, and the balance will get higher during the summer months. When the £400 is added after October, that will give me a small cushion when my fix ends.

me too have octopus as a supplier & they put mine up from £85 to £156 50p & i too are £470 in credit.

Interesting.. They haven't moved mine and I'm about the same in debt to them.

285

General Discussion Area / Re: Tory Leader Contest (Poll)

« on: 19 July 2022, 22:58:48 »

I think we are going to have Truss as our next PM. Not something I have any enthusiasm for. Not that I would have any enthusiasm for any of them. 

I'd have more enthusiasm if I were convinced she were human instead of a bot that just spouts political soundbites at regular intervals. Maybe next time they upgrade her firmware they could add some facial expressions? That might help...