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RD1

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Everything posted by RD1

  1. If you want to test if your light on the fridge really goes out when you close the door, then place your mobile phone on record, place it in the fridge, then open and close the door, then observe the footage after. So at last a good use for a mobile phone, another is to view your remote control, aim it at the camera lens, then press the remote keys and you should see the image of the transmitter flash white as the camera is sensitive to infra red light, but your eyes are not. Admit it.... who is trying it out now in front of the TV lol.... ? Good tip !
  2. In the days before aircon, Land Rover had a white safari roof on their vehicles for warmer climates. Basically it was a white aluminium roof that sat with an air gap on spacers an inch or so above the original. A white tight tarp placed over the canal boat roof could have a similar effect. When we used to camp, we had fresh milk, so a bowl with an inch of water in, and a "T" towel draped over the milk bottles, meant the towel was always wet, and when placed in the windiest place, in the shade, say under the car or caravan, dropped the milk temperature a fair few degrees. Basic Physics, more efficient with more airflow though. In the 60's there was also a water evaporative fridge you could buy, pour a pint of water into a hollow on the top and a cool fridge ... sorted. Last week, when the heat was too hot to stand... we came home lol. Drove home in an air-conned car, switched on the portable aircon unit in the bedroom... bliss.
  3. Software bombs were common in industrial equipment, if a supplier has progress payments that are not paid on time, then a bug creates a fault. Damn criminal. Sometimes the "bugs" just required a few key presses, to save the cost of an engineer going out, once the "random" is paid. It is a ransom too. Now I have a printer that can use third party cartridges, but the printer company had no contingency to prevent this, so after a time they develop a "fix" so they encourage the owner /user to upgrade the firmware to give better ink usage or better quality, but what they are doing is, installing a "fix" to stop the use of particular cartridges. Guess what... ? after the "fix", the third party cartridges no longer work. Then we have VW group and their emission "fix" No one seems to go to prison? It is all fraud how ever it is wrapped up.
  4. With the propane "pol" brass fitting, we had a bad seal, I always use the gas leak spray, and it bubbled away quite happily. It was a new cylinder, and the regulator sealed ok on the spare cylinder. It was suggested on a canal forum that I just used a bigger spanner, and a bigger and bigger hammer to solve the problem, I thought with advice like this... best find another forum. What I did find was a propane regulator with a rubber type seal, that only uses a finger wheel to tighten the regulator. This sealed first time, and on subsequent changes, I always use the gas leak spray, and the gas locker no longer smells of gas, and the gas bottle lasts considerably longer. However, I have still not had confirmation as to whether this type of regulator is BSS approved or not, but I sleep better at night knowing that there is no gas escaping into my self draining gas locker. Still better than waiting for an overtightened brass gas fitting to fracture. We also have a paloma, the pilot is shut off after each use, as said it probably consumes the same amount of gas as the gas fridge, We also have a propex warm air heating system, but it is autoignition, so uses no gas on standby.
  5. Surely a minimum of a fly tipping offence, and all the charges that go with it. It's not as if there is no DNA evidence to prove it... Report it, the evidence stands alone.
  6. I totally agree too, but to help clarify, the current load in amps, is actually measured from the return, ie 0 volt line. (It's the same current flowing in the circuit where ever you measure it). Some people might think that the current should be measured from the positive supply going to the load, and I think this is where a few people are getting lost. Hope it helps.
  7. On the Broads there is a lot of friction between moorers wanting to double moor. The Broads Authority have said that permission must be sought prior to coming along side, and permssion can be refused. There were simple rules, the boat attempting to double moor could not be longer than the one already on the bank. Suits me Sir... not many boats less than our 23' length struggle to find a mooring. However, our boat is very unstable with a 100 kg crossing the foredeck, if someone stepped aboard without knowledge, then kettles and boiling pans could spill, causing injury, wine and beer, lost, serious stuff. If I stood up from the dinette just as a moorer walked across the deck, he might trip, crack a window, etc who is responsible for damage and personal injury? You also have antisocial running of engines or generators and central heating exhausts, do you check which side these exit before double mooring? Water pumps, electric macerators, loud tvs and stereos, rattling of calor gas bottles, and slamming of locker lids... Why would anyone want to encourage double mooring? I came to the boat to get away from it all. It hasn't affected us, for the length reason mentioned, but I can see it causing friction. Oh... I'm thinking of getting a sign made... "If you are thinking of double mooring... Warning... I SNORE ! " Richard
  8. But had he used an "O" ring in the first place, then a simple box spanner would have worked, without removing any pipework, and the job complete in half an hour, and the post would never had been raised. You start off simple, then sometimes you need to step back and review the next step. Is this the right way to go? I was amazed at how much punishment that flange could take, I was certain it would either collapse or shear off. I have done a couple and I was advised a shock load rather than increasing torque. Keeping it full of water was a good tip though.
  9. Ahh so is this where the term water hammer comes from too. You "hear" about these things lol... Pleased you got it out, I don't need to keep looking at the post now. Well done.
  10. I agree with the previous post, if the ignition light bulb has gone open circuit, and you can't get to it, you need a length of wire croc clip on one end, say a 12 volt 5 watt bulb( car side light bulb) in series, with insuluated terminals, with the remainder of the wire with a croc clip on that end. So one croc clip on a 12 volt live, say engine starter positive, then hunt out the alternator and place the croc clip on the thinner terminal, the exciter coil connection, on the alternator, make sure the wire cannot snag on the drive belt, then go through a start process, initially the bulb will light, then should go out when the engine runs and if this is the cause, then you should have power. It's amazing what you can fault find with a 12 volt bulb and a bit of wire, fuse checking, continuity. Good luck, Richard Edited to say , I think this trip you need to be organising a way to get those batteries charged, if at home you may need to take a trolley, or find electric shore power. The batteries if left will soon become unserviceable, and they may have lost some capacity already.
  11. Add antifreeze and radweld together, no one has suggested that. You don't mention where the leak is, if it's a cracked engine block, or heat exchanger? You might want to up the anti, and use "kseal" in place of rad weld. Whether you attempt a permanant repair or not depends if you can live without the generator from the day it becomes unservicable, and I hope you have some overheat device to shut it down in the event of a complete drain down. Richard
  12. If I formally asked the Environment Agency whether I needed an anchor on the non tidal Thames, then if they say, like a non professional might say, that in their experience you don't need one, on the basis that they haven't had a total loss or loss of life yet, then they would leave themselves wide open to being sued for loss of life, damage to property or stress. They would be very foolish to say that. They may of course say ( I do not know exactly what they would say, as I haven't contacted them, but reading other posts, it does look more likely) it is advisory, not compulsory in order to safely navigate the system in normal conditions. After all they advise not to cruise in strong streams, but you might find yourself in one. When we moved to the Thames, we placed on board a 7kg Danforth, with chain, looking at various websites it looks like it is adequate for a 23' grp cruiser, under normally expected conditions most of the time. It happened to be a spare one off my Father. I intend to treat the Danforth as a disposable safety device, a bit like an air bag on a car, if it does the job once and saves injuries or losses, then cheap at twice the price lol. I hope to be able to recover it, but safety of the crew and vessel take priority. So In my opinion, I would not venture on the Thames without a suitable main anchor, but then a secondary anchor may be advised too. For that we have a 4kg grapnel. Even a small anchor may drag enough to keep the bow to the current, and help reduce the chances of a "broadside approach to a weir, moored boats or other dangers, whereby the river water will build up along the entire length of the boat, rather than the width of the beam, which could cause a rapid increase in water level behind and under the hull, thus increasing the "roll over" moment of the hull. Also a boat dragging an anchor in a current will allow a boat to steer closer to the bank, and may even allow the crew to secure the boat. Taking longer to get to a danger, will give more time to review the situation, maybe get a vital phone call in, before the phones are swamped. Yes, (in my opinion) you need an anchor, like your airbags in your car, you hope not to use them, but unlike your airbags in the car, you can still move the anchor to another boat, if suitable, or sell it, and the cost of ownership is minimum, for great peace of mind. Richard
  13. Probably not an unreasonable theory test for series wound motors, where there it is a wired field coil in series with a wired armature, with carbon brushes, but would not work for induction motors where it uses a start up capacitor, examples of which can be found on some table mounted bench saws etc. Induction motors usually start off slowly with a big hum at the beginning lol I am not sure what these would do to an inverter though, as it is a very inductive load.
  14. D@mn auto spelling correct has a lot to answer for lol. Actually my wife does have a curly tongue, I wondered what caused that. Thanks for the heads up on that one lol...
  15. We had a small inverter, capable of running a laptop or my wife's curling tongues in the car, her gas ones were faulty. However, when we tried her other electric ones, it took out the inverter immediately, even though the power was less than 1/4 of the inverter's capability. The inverter did not recover. I stripped it down, I went straight for the large driver transistors, removed them from the circuit and tested them with the multimeter, and observed that the readings were different for both identical transistors, I took a chance, ordered a pair of transistors, 60p I think... and the inverter repaired and still working, but those curling tongues are banned. Caution, I am an electronic engineer, so I am aware of the risks, messing with high voltages that are generated by 12 volts can be fatal. There was no guarantee that this repair would work, or continue to work reliably, or that the output voltage of the inverter would be within the manufacturers tolerances. Richard
  16. We have an 800 watt modified sine wave inverter, I have an old variable speed 400 watt Black and Decker drill, and when cutting large holes is quite capable of tripping the inverter. If I take it easy, less force, it works fine. So my set up of 2:1 (800 W: 400 W ) just about works, I think you need a bigger inverter, or use a multitool, although my inverter didn't like that, tripped it straight away, so I found some shore power lol.
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  18. Most CE approved 230/240 volt to 110/115 volt isolation transformers should be isolated, in to out, in fact the output winding is centre tapped to the incomming earth, so the output is still say 110 volts, but +/- 55 volts to earth. So if you stood in a bucket of water, you are at risk from 55 volts ac not 110, and not 230 volts. Combining the outputs from two of these transformers might give you 230/240 volts but you will have to remove the centre tap of each transformer from earth, and thus affecting the insulation breakdown voltage across each output winding. Any of the output windings would normally only have to sustain 55 volts to earth, but now, one of the windings could see 230/240 volts on the output to the disconnected earth. You can virtually guarantee that these transformers have not been tested or even designed for that. You might want to do an insulation "flash test" on them, but all adds to the cost. So do not combine the outputs of two industrial isolation transformers. I hope I have made it clear. Richard
  19. If it's a citroen picasso, I know why, and how to cure it. The Little under floor boxes in the rear were part filled with water. Easy and cheap fix.
  20. I would suggest that each 10 amp socket has it's own fuse, 10 or even 15 amp, but with a master fuse of say 50 Amp.Cable on supply and return both of suitable current carrying capacity. The reason being, most cigar lighter plugs are not fused, so you would need to blow a 50 amp fuse with low amp cables. Look at extension leads, some with USB outlets, input wiring barely capable of carrying 5-10 amps let alone 50 amps. Also the connectors on cigar type sockets are not designed for two cables on each terminal, each carrying 50 amps. Also there is reliability, if one socket is taken out by a faulty appliance, it only takes out one 10 or 15 amp fuse, the other sockets should still remain intact. Hope it makes sense. Richard
  21. That works for us, we have an sms text controller that we can use to switch on a dehumidifier, set to a time via sms text. It also advises when power is lost and restored, and boat interior temperature. Over the last 2 months we have had two shore power failures, but were restored within a few minutes. Some dehumidifiers won't restart after a power drop out, and others, don't respond well to power outages when they are going through a drying cycle. Choose your equipment carefully, check them as to what they do after a power failure. A simple mains power fail detector could be... Take an old mobile phone with some credit, preferably with a very poor battery. ( don't know what would happen if you had no battery at all !) If you call it, and power is ok, it will ring out, free call if it doesn't go to voice mail. If you call it and you have lost mains power, then the battery will run down, and the phone will switch off, and if set right, the phone will not ring out, ie unobtainable or go to voice mail. Some experimentation required to check what happens to your old phone, during power failure and restore, but might give some of you peace of mind, as to the status of your shore power. Clearly regular checks are required, but if power is on, the calls are free. If your phone battery has a life of a week, then it could be over a week before you realise you have lost power. Not fool or idiot proof, but might be of some use. Richard
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  23. RD1

    Aldi Marmalade

    I agree with the quality of the Aldi brands, and the marmalade of course. In my opinion... well my wife's really, the fresh fruit and veg can be their let down. They do not have a sell by date or best before date, but have some various code numbers, but I think Aldi staff are not good at rotating stock, maybe they don't understand the codes either. Rotten oranges, three days after purchase is a classic example. We now don't bother with their fruit and veg anymore, problem solved. We have 6 Aldi stores within a 6 mile radius, but only one Lidl.
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