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34876

General Discussion Area / Re: Must Have's from ALDI

« on: 26 February 2007, 21:16:29 »

Can't argue with the physics. Something doesn't add up. 1.5kw will be the motor input power as well, so it will have under 2HP output due to inefficiencies in the motor.

Kevin

34877

General Discussion Area / Re: Is there an electrician in the house?

« on: 02 March 2007, 17:20:40 »

As others have said, I'd suspect an old fuse that was a bit weak anyway. Fuses will normally tolerate a massive overload for a short period of time as the fuse wire has to get hot enough to burn out before the current is interrupted. A big motor will take a large amount of current (way more than the 13 amp plug rating) for a very short period of time during startup.

It's usually circuit breakers that trip on high inrush currents as they are quicker acting in general.

Freezers and the like will only take a few hundred watts whilst running so the loading from these is not significant, but again they take large surges when first starting. On the whole you'd be unlucky if the freezer chose to start at exactly the same time as the compressor so I don't see sharing the circuit with a few freezers as being a problem.

It's got to be worth re-wiring the fuse and trying again. Try not to clamp the fuse wire too tightly in the holder as this could weaken it around the screws.

I wouldn't upgrade the fuse rating. It will be a 15 amp for a reason, probably to protect the cable between house and garage so unless you can confirm this is rated for more, leave the fuse as is.

You can get slow acting circuit breakers which are designed to withstand high inrush currents and you should be able to get one that plugs into your consumer unit in place of the fuse. I'd expect a fuse in good condition to cope, however.

If you still have problems, try running the compressor through a long extension lead (unwind it from the reel if it gets hot in use). This will give a little resistance and may reduce the inrush current sufficiently.

Kevin

34878

General Discussion Area / Re: I want a cheap laptop

« on: 28 February 2007, 15:28:27 »

Out of interest, what appear to be the minimum CPU requirements for a Cheapo Tech2?

Kevin

34879

General Discussion Area / Re: Everyones nightmare....

« on: 28 February 2007, 14:16:47 »

Last time I bought Waxoyl you could get either the thin clear stuff for interior areas and the black thicker stuff for underneath.

Kevin

34880

General Discussion Area / Re: Everyones nightmare....

« on: 28 February 2007, 11:36:48 »

A colleague of mine used to have a Fiat Strada 130TC. Every time it had been a hot day you'd see 4 big puddles of waxoyl under it in the car park where it had dripped out of the sill drain holes. Don't blame him, I suppose.

I have the waxoyl pump / sprayer complete with pipe with nail in if anyone fancies a go. Best to wait until summer IMO.

Kevin

34881

General Discussion Area / Re: A tale of caution in the digital age

« on: 27 February 2007, 22:22:52 »

An ex-colleague of mine used to live directly under the Hannington TV transmitter. About 6 months after he moved in he decided to find out why his video hadn't worked since. He found neither the TV nor the video had been connected to an aerial or each other. The tv was working quite happily with no aerial whatsoever.

I'm not sure if he successfully procreated after living in that sort of field strength but it puts the hysteria about mobile phone masts into perspective!

Kevin

34882

General Discussion Area / Re: A tale of caution in the digital age

« on: 27 February 2007, 20:57:36 »

An Engineer is someone who takes the wild flights of fancy of the theoretical research scientist, and then actually makes it work, and , with any luck, do something useful.

Couldn't agree more. More and more stuff that was done by electron herding is going into software now too, and the principles are largely the same. Subsitiute breadboard for keyboard.

It does get on my goat when people phone "engineers" to fix their washing machine though.

Kevin

34883

General Discussion Area / Re: A tale of caution in the digital age

« on: 27 February 2007, 16:07:42 »

You mean a TV repair man/technician..

At least they could fault find down to component level. Valves were expensive enough that you didn't just replace all the electronics in the box and hope for the best.

Same with cars. How many "mechanics" know how to change the seals on a brake caliper these days?

I need time and a lot of brain power to digest this!

I think he's saying that, despite what the muppet said, you've got bags of signal and don't need too high a gain antenna for want of overloading the input on your box!

I'd say still get something with plenty of gain but make it a Group A. With gain comes directivity, meaning it'll be less sensitive to reflections and signals arriving from other transmitters. As he says you can always add attenuation if you need to bring the level down.

Kevin

34884

General Discussion Area / Re: A tale of caution in the digital age

« on: 27 February 2007, 10:31:01 »

These companies don't employ proper professionals anymore, just a spotty youth

Don't get me started..

You need a "digital aerial, mate". What utter cobblers they come out with!

Bit like main dealers, really. Pay the earth to get the job done by a complete gibbon. At least the "advice" was free in this case.

Kevin

34885

General Discussion Area / Re: womens problems......

« on: 23 February 2007, 17:19:50 »

i thought the days of pulling out the choke to hang ones handbag on it had gone, heard any other hilarious stories?

Make something idiot proof....




Someone invents a better idiot  

Kevin

34886

General Discussion Area / Re: Saving for my new car

« on: 26 February 2007, 21:19:47 »

Works OK for me with Firefox....

'bout time I updated this machine by the sound of it...

Kevin

34887

General Discussion Area / Re: Saving for my new car

« on: 26 February 2007, 19:57:22 »

Given that they've failed to make the site render on either Firefox or Konqueror I guess it's for Micro$oft users only.
The bit of the @rse end that wasn't covered by the Mercedes add looked nice though

Kevin

34888

General Discussion Area / Re: A strange query....

« on: 21 February 2007, 09:36:44 »

What are BMW about ...
that look crap from every angle.

Not to mention that when you see one on the road you wonder what stupid piece of driving you are about to witness, and they rarely disappoint. So when I was after a nice rear-drive saloon BMW's were out.

solid, non-nonsense, down-to-earth, reasonably-priced, non-showoff, well-engineered machine

Yep. Emphasis on the non-showoff. I don't care what anyone thinks when they look at my car. As long as it's a good car from my POV that's fine. Others buy a car solely for what other people think when they see them driving it. Not for me.

I would love to see who are the members of the Prious Owners club…

Yeah, how up their own @rse do you reckon they'd be? Battery changing parties with carrot juice and nut roast laid on!

The other issue is that I can't name a (middle of the road) modern car I'd want, even if I were prepared to buy new and suffer the depreciation. They've all gone FWD, which isn't my cup of tea in a powerful car, they're all styled like a Ford Focus - again not my cup of tea, and there's very little to choose between them.

The Omega marks the end of an era of comfortable RWD saloons that aren't vulgar fashion accessories and that's why (remembering the 1992 Senator 24v my dad used to own) I wanted one before they're all gone.

leather frying pans,

(Casts mind back to yesterday's pancake making session) I think I'll "stick to" Teflon coated steel if it's all the same ;-)


Kevin

34889

General Discussion Area / Re: Tony Blair's reply to congestion charging peti

« on: 21 February 2007, 11:03:36 »

Sorry guys but this make perfect sense to me... no doubt congestion charge, road tax, toll roads, fuel duty, council parking permits, etc will kill the economic prosperity much before 2015, and so presto traffic problem solved. Where's the problem then?

On the other hand, if the government don't meddle with it, business will find its' own solutions to avoiding the cost of congestion before things get desperate by moving out of the congested areas, working more flexible hours, etc. etc.

Kevin

34890

General Discussion Area / Re: Tony Blair's reply to congestion charging peti

« on: 21 February 2007, 09:48:24 »

One sentence stood out for me (well, got bored and gave up half way through):

This is being driven by economic prosperity.

In other words, "You're all too rich and that's why you're clogging up the roads. So what you need is a good taxing, and it doesn't matter what I spend it on." .

Kevin