Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 27/12/20 in all areas

  1. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  2. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  3. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  4. Got my 4 layer boards back from China just before Christmas, pretty quick really considering it was the cheapest postage. Also done a bit of work on the software and sleep modes to minimise power consumption so now, once the display times out, it uses just under 2mA. And if it has to do emergency disconnect of the Tyco relay due to cell under-voltage it goes to sleep and only uses 0.2mA. Eat your heart out Raspberry Pi users! You wake it by pressing the button, which also makes it reconnect the relay (hopefully after you’ve put a bit of charge in). Here’s a pretty pic to pass the time, also showing in the base of the plastic box it’s going to be installed in. Yes I know I haven’t finished soldering in a couple of chips, they are just the CANBUS, RS232 and battery temperature probe interfaces and I know that all works. And the buzzer, that works too. Yes that will increase the power consumption, but only by a few 10s of micro amps when they are sleeping. I managed to unsolder many of the components including the AD7280 (the tiny square chip) from an earlier prototype and resolder it onto the new board. Which was fun (not!). It must be quite resilient because it still works! yellow wires go to the Tyco relay, other connector is to the cells (via the little fuse board) and the other 2 small connectors (not yet installed) are for the cell balancing and interface to the BMV712. Cant remember if I mentioned it but it now looks like it might be possible to write a new value of SoC to the BMV using the VE.Direct Hex protocol, which would be good because it would allow a hybridised SoC based on Ah counting and cell voltages to be displayed on the BMV. I need to investigate that one further.
    4 points
  5. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  6. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  7. Rubbish. Even when correctly adjusted, the bluish light destroys peoples night vision and the power saving is irrelevant because the engine is running when the tunnel light is on and thus powered by the alternator.
    4 points
  8. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  9. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  10. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  11. If the paint on approaching boats is blistered and smoking, or if oncoming plastic and wooden boats catch fire, or if your forward vision is being restricted by steam boiling off the water, or if the tunnel brickwork behind your boat is still glowing red and making plinking noises as it cools, then your tunnel light is too bright.
    3 points
  12. I scream, you scream, we all scream, widebeam!
    3 points
  13. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  14. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  15. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  16. Haha yes. But just for clarity, this is the BMS not the alternator controller. I decided early on in the project that they would be separate entities, not quite sure if that was the right decision as they share a lot of data, but it now is what it is!
    2 points
  17. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  18. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  19. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  20. or someone who it seem has not yet realised manufacturers and marketeers spend a lot of time getting as close to lying as they can in their own rather than a customer's best interest.
    2 points
  21. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  22. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  23. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  24. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  25. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  26. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  27. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  28. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  29. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  30. Your understanding is wrong -- OEM LED (and HID, and laser...) headlights fitted to new cars do have a maximum light output specified, but it is higher than halogen headlights. This is why they have to have a very tight beam pattern, self-levelling fitted and also headlight washers, all to prevent excessive glare to oncoming traffic. Properly fitted lights like this are usually OK, though the plague of tall SUVs with the lights much higher off the ground makes glare worse. Done properly (my car has the active beam pattern/matrix type referred to) LED headlights are fantastic -- on a dark road they stay on "main beam" but steer dark areas over oncoming cars and also cars in front of you, it's fascinating to watch the dark patches follow other vehicles, and I've never once been flashed at night. Unfortunately a lot of the aftermarket add-on lights -- especially the "light bar" types without a proper reflector -- seem to ignore all the rules, which is why they're so horribly dazzling. Also a lot of people fit HID/LED headlight conversion kits to older cars which is a disaster, the beam pattern is usually wrong and they don't have self-levelling or cleaning -- result, loads of glare. These lights are what will usually be fitted to boats since they're cheap and widely available, but the fault is really the cheap nasty badly-designed lights which happen to be LEDs. If you use lights like this then the post quoted is correct, they'll cause dazzle no matter which way they're pointed because they don't have any proper beam control. However trying to find proper foglights which don't have this problem is well-nigh impossible nowadays, most "foglights" in modern cars are really built-in styling accessories for morons to keep on all the time, and very few (none?) of the LED lights available online are designed for the job either -- which is why a proper old-fashioned halogen foglamp like you used to see grille-mounted more than twenty years ago (but turned upside down) is often the best option.
    2 points
  31. This is at Bascote looking along the old narrow chamber with new wide locks alongside; it looks like a derelict / restoration-project canal.
    2 points
  32. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  33. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  34. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  35. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  36. I believe Tim and Jonathan were related through marriage and brother in laws. Mike Christian Jonathan’s brother and Mike Haywood their uncle.
    2 points
  37. I met Mike Heywood back in 1994 at an IWA national when I had only had the boat a couple of years. He was walking along the moorings and stopped by my boat...I hadn’t a clue it was him that built it!! We had a most enjoyable chat and he told me much of its “history”. Apparently Jonathan Wilson was an apprentice on my shell back in 1982/3...mine was also possibly the first Heywood with flared bow guards...was one of the great random meetings and chats that mean I still love living on the cut 28 years later....still with the same boat too!! I think Johnathan was a nephew...but I’m not great on families in general. I also think that they were all followers of Jehovah’s Witnesses at some point..hence a being a large extended “family” of sorts but that might just be cut rumour.
    2 points
  38. We have a 1920s Fowler traction engine light. Unfortunately it no longer has the paraffin lamp inside. I have modified it to have an LED lamp. the bulls eye lens does diffuse the light well but as I don't want to blind oncoming boats it is angled to the right and upwards onto the roof of the tunnel. It is mounted on a CCTV bracket which has good adjustment - it is similar to this. We remove the light when not required as it is very collectable.
    2 points
  39. 1. mounted like this, causes the beam to be reflected from the water surface, causing blindness for on-coming steerers. 2. is the better way for all concerned. The light mounting can be either way up, but the beam is aimed above horizontal, and to the right. As a fairly regular user of the Crick tunnel, I've suffered from all types of miss alignment, and had to have strong words in passing to the worst offenders. Bod
    2 points
  40. I suspect that one major problem for identifying possible leaks is the current way people want to preserve the natural environment. Historically, one of the main jobs for a bankranger, to use the L&LC term, was to keep down vegetation, making it much easier to identify sites where there was a problem. The two photos are of Bingley 5-rise in 1881 and 2012, and shows the increase in tree growth, let alone other vegetation. Environmentalists do tend to forget that canals are man-made structures, and need to be looked after as such, rather than as purely natural.
    2 points
  41. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  42. Thanks all for the speedy answers. Helps put my mind at ease. I'll get down there on Weds and winterise properly. That's incredibly kind. Thank you. I'll hang on till Weds.
    1 point
  43. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  44. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  45. 1 point
  46. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  47. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  48. Not allowed to run wild, much of it was planted by a company called "The Economic Forestry Group" (IIRC). The verges have done a lot to maintain and preserve the country's biodiversity. Particularly the pollinators without which most of our food would not grow. Bumblebees are 20 times better pollinators than honey bees and virtually every tomato you have bought since the mid 80s has been pollinated by Bumblebees. The councils have also saved a fortune in labour and fuel not to mention the cutting of pollution. Having rogued my share of ragwort by hand there is no need to draw my attention to the law. I admit it is an unfortunate side effect but it isn't just motorways where the Ragwort runs riot many other roads and many tracts of private land. Take it up with the council who is responsible for the road.
    1 point
  49. In the case of the Middlewich breach, locals had informed C&RT for more than 2-years that there was a steady trickle-leak and it was 'poo-pood' as not being significant, but as everyone (except C&RT) seem to appreciate is that a drop becomes a dribble, becomes a 'stream' becomes a flood and that washes out the banks. Little Dutch boy and 'finger in the Dyke' springs to mind.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.