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IanD

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Posts posted by IanD

  1. 1 hour ago, magnetman said:

    Its a generator. 

     

    what you do is you put one of these under a tree and wire it to the batteries. Very efficient and great for when the pv is shaded. 

     

    The technical term is an App Controlled Arborical Energy Retrieval Device. ACAERD. 

     

    They tried to get it on kickstarter and gobuymebeer.com but nobody believed it would work. 

     

     

    But presumably it only connects to three-phase trees, not single-phase ones like we usually have in the UK? 😉 

  2. 11 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

    We were led to believe (by the salesman and manufacturers blurb) that the solar panel installed on the van was a 150w panel.

     

    However today while it's been out having its spring clean, parked in full March sun it has been outputting a pretty much constant 7 amps as measured by the Victron solar controller and the Sterling Amps battery which seems to be too much for a 150w panel in March sun.

     

    There are no markings or makers marks we can see on the panel (although we assume it is CBE as everything else is/was) so they must be on the underside which we can't get at without unbonding it from the roof.

     

    Any other ways we can guesstimate it's size?

     

    It's a fairly big panel, the van is 2.3m wide (mirrors folded) and it spans most of the roof.

     

    FB_IMG_1711298698233.jpg.fc0b5c8eb5584492f7ab6d433d22cdfc.jpg

     

    Don't really fancy pulling it off the roof to find out! 

     

    If you measure the panel size, you can then compare it to panels here to see what the likely output (in full summer sun at midday) is:

     

    https://www.bimblesolar.com/panelcompare?sort=price_per_watt

  3. 14 minutes ago, MtB said:

     

    I suspect it all gets quite expensive compared to a stern tube and a propeller and you know what cheapskates most boaters are.

     

    I also have my doubts about how it copes with ingestion of a duvet or a sari or the chunks of rotting tree trunk that lurk in the mud.

     

    The same could well apply to the Sharrow prop -- great for an open water boat, but get something wrapped round those looped blades and it would be well-nigh impossible to remove...

     

    sharrow.jpg

  4. 3 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

     

    Good call!

     

    You can see small loops both at the top and at the bottom of each upright, so looks very much like it is to hang three pennants from.

     

    Just one thing though - Why on earth would you?

    Because it goes with your captain's hat? 😉

    • Haha 1
  5. 2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

    Flourescein. A standard way of tracing water flow underground. Cavers use it a lot. There are detectors that will work on concentrations too low to see, if you are concerned about turning large volumes green. Innocuous stuff, but some people get upset!

    Saw it some years back being used in the Macclesfield Canal, actually in Macc beside a building site.

    Shows up particularly well under flourescent lights... 😉

  6. 1 hour ago, David Mack said:

    But simple paddle wheels of constant diameter operating in a cylindrical casing, entirely above the bottom of the boat, would just churn up a lot of water but not produce much propulsive force. The key to the Hotchkiss cone must be that water is drawn in at the small end, and the paddle wheel (which I see has slightly curved blades) accelerates the water both along the cone towards the biģ end and out to the larger diameter. Thus water is drawn in at the small end and out at the large end, but using a single hull opening rather than separate intake and outlet openings, as with other water jet propulsion systems. I guess they were normally installed as handed pairs to cancel out any lateral forces.

    Simple devices and suitable for shallow water, but I wonder how the overall efficiency compares with a screw propeller outside the hull.

    I bet they're less efficient than a screw propeller. There is a new more efficient Sharrow screw propeller available (no tip vortex) but they're horrendously expensive (thousands of pounds?) so I doubt anyone on the canals will use one, even if a suitable one could be obtained in the UK...

  7. 3 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

    Last year a columnist in "Modern Railways"  mentioned how, in times gone by,  emergency maintenance at an inaccessible spot would mean a gang walking there, carrying their tools, lunch, water, a Primus stove for heating their kettle, and a pack of toilet paper. Nowadays H&S means they have to construct a temporary access road leading to a wheelchair-accessible amenity block, all of which results in delays and a vast increase in costs. 

    Seems unlikely, so is this actually true (on the canal) or an invention to stir up Daily Wail readers?

     

    Especially the wheelchair-accessible bit, since it seems unlikely there will be any onsite construction workers in wheelchairs going down the embankment... 😉

  8. 17 hours ago, noddyboater said:

    Hopefully it's better by now, but he didn't appear to be in a rush regarding the refurbishment. I'd guess the insurance hasn't paid up yet.

    I wouldn't let it put you off a trip though, the other excellent pubs more than make up for it.

    Re. moorings before Engine lock... I decided to brave a night in Hanley park a few years back, it was fine. Ok, my other half was convinced some local drug dealers were trying to steal our greyhound, but she does exaggerate sometimes.

    With the recent restoration work they've done recently it's a shame it's not a more popular spot.

    It won't put me off, it's just that last time we did the Caldon we were only intending to stay at the Black Lion overnight but for some reason our departure got delayed by a day... 😉 

  9. 1 minute ago, noddyboater said:

    It wasn't great last Autumn. 

    We made an effort to get there - in the dark, to be told they were now closed, despite the fact that the locals carried on being served in the marquee area for another hour. It was 8pm on a Saturday evening.

    There was no seating inside the pub, but apparently if you check on Facebook they do occasionally do basic food, burgers etc.

    It was closed the following Monday but we did find the landlord happily supporting the other "Lion" at Cheddleton!

    The pub at Froghall station had very recently reopened, the new owners were enthusiastic but we couldn't help wondering about the choice of decor, considering the customers they're likely to get from the station.

    That's a shame, it used to be great. Wonder if it'll ever get back to how it was? 😞

  10. 2 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

    As it is being used to transport staff associated with a hydroelectric power station, presumably no problem with availability or cost of electric power.

     

    The Green Maritime plan envisaged that ferrys were likely to be the only class of vessel for which pure electric power would be practical.

    .

    Also a hydrofoil ferry is one of the best possible shipping uses for electric power, because they're far more efficient than displacement vessels, in terms of total energy used for a trip and required battery size as well as being faster.

    • Greenie 1
  11. 2 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

     

    Local press, innit.  They're not even the tallest gates in the county, never mind the country!

     

    True, but there's probably still information around in lots of places -- especially newspaper back issues or articles, if they still exist, but also some web pages -- that predates Tuel Lane (and was never updated) which still says they're the tallest.

  12. 1 hour ago, robtheplod said:

    Its interesting as this shows how content is changing. Terrestrial TV is shallow taster sessions of lots of topics and those with specific interests now indulge themselves on YouTube where people with greater knowledge go into much more depth...

    'twas ever thus, except in the old days you had to go to a library and borrow a book on specialist subjects if you wanted more detail and accuracy than TV could offer -- always assuming the library had one (they often didn't) or could get one in on inter-library loan (they often couldn't)... 😞 

     

    If you can sort the gold from the dross, there's a *huge* amount of good material out there nowadays -- videos and reading -- on almost anything you can think of, no matter how obscure or specialised -- and it's much easier to access this material than it used to be, thanks to the internet.

     

    Unfortunately there's also a massive swamp of complete cr*p -- which often looks the slickest! -- posted by people who either don't understand what they're talking about or are being deliberately misleading to promote their own interests... 😞 

  13. 2 hours ago, JoeC said:

    I've been on the Caldon since Christmas. As already said, get past Stoke and from Milton onwards it is much better.

    Currently, Elsan not working at Endon (although it was reopened on 14th somebody blocked it a day or so ago) and canal is silted up at Consall Forge (CRT due to fix end of March) so you can't get to the services at Froghall even if you could fit through the very low tunnel.

    Some nice pubs along the way - the Hollybush at Denford and especially the Black Lion at Consall Forge.

    The Black Lion at Consall Forge used to be absolutely splended, chickens and all, but they had a bad fire a couple of years back and AFAIK have not completely reopened, at least for the excellent food they used to do as well -- I presume the beer is as good as ever, anyone been recently to confirm what it's like now?

  14. 1 hour ago, Arthur Marshall said:

    You mean a programme about canals is aimed at everyone who isn't interested in canals? Odd. I may well not watch next week's one on railways, even though I must be the intended audience, as I'm not interested in them.

    It's lucky for David Attenborough that so few people are interested in animals, as obviously his programmes aren't aimed at anyone who is...

    Strawman argument again... 😉

     

    What I said was that the programme is aimed at the 50+million people in the UK who don't live on or holiday on the canals or know much about them, not the 50000 or so people who do, some of who post on CWDF. Just like CART funding and priorities.

     

    Is this really so hard to understand?

  15. 43 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

    And didn't want to spend any money on research, or the script, or the presenter, or the director... you really think easy watching has to be badly written, badly narrated tosh aimed at people you hope have switched their brains right off?

    It was Channel 5, I suppose, so maybe you're right. But I suspect no other channel would touch it with, well, a bargepole.

    I really don't see why you're getting your knickers in a twist about this -- and I don't think it was a sterrible as you're making out.

     

    You're not the intended audience, and neither am I, and neither is anyone else on CWDF -- and the same applies to pretty much every programme on the TV about canals, with the possible exception of Robbie's "Cruising the Cut" -- which people on here still nitpicked about... 😞 

     

    "It's almost as if the programme makers were trying to come up with easy-watching TV for watchers after undemanding entertainment requiring no familiarity with the subject. " is a good summary, and I think it was just that. If that's not what you're looking for, don't watch it 🙂 

    • Greenie 3
  16. 9 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

    mmm…so any old nonsense is ok because only .01% know it’s twaddle whilst the other 99.99% are taken in by it,

    that’s ok then 👍

     

     

    Welcome to the media world of today, especially broadcasting but also large parts of the press... 😞 

     

    However in fact the programme in question was (mostly) correct, not "twaddle" -- apart from the obvious (to CWDF posters) errors being nitpicked about -- and I would guess most non-canal people would have found it interesting and informative. Which is rather the point of making it, isn't it?

  17. 28 minutes ago, Tonka said:

    yes i know, but you shouldnt have to go through that process. Surely the estate agents details should have to show it like thay do the EPC. Just heard of a case where a person has got rid their gas boiler and got an air source heat pump. The house now has a worse EPC rating because it uses more electricity

    But it *shouldn't* do if it uses correspondingly less gas, especially since all the gas is fossil fuel and getting on for half UK electricity now comes from renewable sources.

     

    If the EPC doesn't take this into account, it's out-of-date and fundamentally flawed... 😞 

  18. 1 hour ago, Graham_Robinson said:

    What did you all expect?
    They make these programmes to attract viewers, seems like they attracted or should that be trapped a few from here. 😃
    If they started discussing the merits of the small Woolwichs' versus the large Northwichs' or even mentioned the word 'Josher' ( I would have turned off then ) your average channel hopper would have fallen asleep.😴

    Thought the filming / quality was good and would have liked to have seen drone footage going up the pillars and underneath the trough, up close and personal on 'that' aqueduct.
    I suppose we should be thankful someone has taken the time to make this programme.

     

    That was exactly my point -- people on here complaining about either detail errors or it being "dumbed-down" are entirely missing the point, which is that *nobody* on CWDF is the intended audience... 😉 

     

    The same is true for pretty much any documentary on TV, to anyone knowledgeable about the field (0.01% of the audience?) they almost always gloss over the detail (or get it wrong) and present an over-simplified picture -- and this is true regardless of the subject, because broadcasting is aimed at the wider audience, the fact that the name includes "broad" should be a clue... 🙂

     

    If you want something detailed and accurate, read a specialist book (or online articles) on the subject written by an expert in their field and targeted at a knowledgeable and interested (but small!) audience -- or discuss the subject on a forum fill of similarly interested people... 😉 

    • Greenie 1
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