The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.

[T42]

The govt. is showering us with reminders to turn our heating down to 19°, not leave our phones on charge permanently, switch off lights we're not using etc. etc. etc. and even so we're being threatened with 2-hour rolling blackouts in the New Year.  Yet every wretched tuppeny-ha'penny village (e.g. Strasbourg) is bedecked with Christmas lights and every church is blasted with kW of floodlighting and the useless things stay on all night. 

A real inspiration to save energy.

[robgul]

In my defence, I, and to be fair, I suspect a large number of the forum contributors, grew up in the heyday of the moped as a legal entity, whereby 16yo could only ride 50 cc mopeds and to qualify for the status, they had to have pedals that could also propel them. The current legal status is obviously a watered down version of that previous legal status.

My recollection was that if you had a car driving licence you could ride a sub-50cc "moped" as long as it had pedals (which enabled it be ridden until you started the motor) - I had a Puch in about 1975 for a couple of years until I loaned it to my brother who tried moto-cross on it.

[The Family Cyclist]

Sorry but having a full motorcycle licence the correct term for any 50 cc two wheeled vehicle is a putfart

[trundle]

Sorry but having a full motorcycle licence the correct term for any 50 cc two wheeled vehicle is a putfart

I'll just leave this here https://www.youtube.com/@2STROKESTUFFING/featured 

A drag racing 50cc engine... an excellent form of lunacy.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Just when did motor scooters become mopeds in common parlance? Mopeds have pedals, the clue’s in the name you numpties! 

A very, very long time ago. Decades.

The name gives a clue as to its etymology, not its meaning.

An example.

Some EVs have a message broadcast on the CANbus describing the power unit state, which has a value of "crank", after the start button is pressed, before it goes into a state where a "gear" can be selected.
That has come from using an electric motor to start an IC engine, in an action called "cranking".
That action is named after the shape of the starting handle used when electric starter motors weren't fitted or weren't considered sufficiently reliable, so it comes from the same source as bicycle pedal cranks.

The software state in an EV has absolutely nothing to do with a crank.

The "gear" that is selected has a similar convoluted etymology.

This information is displayed on the dashboard. Nothing to do with hurrying or hyphens. Horse-drawn coaches had a curved wooden board at the front to protect the coachman's leg from being dashed by pebbles and mud. The instruments on early motor cars were fixed on a similarly shaped and positioned panel, but serving a completely different function.

[Mr Larrington]

Sorry but having a full motorcycle licence the correct term for any 50 cc two wheeled vehicle is a putfart

I'll just leave this here https://www.youtube.com/@2STROKESTUFFING/featured 

A drag racing 50cc engine... an excellent form of lunacy.

There used to be a 50 (later 80) cc class in Grand Prix motorcycle racing.  They revved to about 20,000 rpm and had so little torque that gearboxes sprouted more and more ratios in an attempt to keep the things moving.  And remember that back in those days the TT was a World Championship event

[Jasmine]

20min on island roads (so presumably not v fast) long enough to charge it?

Seems not if lights and wipers are used.

The DRL failed a week ago, so I'm a bit concerned that there is an electrical fault.

snipped a bit

It is difficult to work out if the battery is being discharged when the car isn't in use or if the battery is discharging itself or has lost capacity. Measuring the current when the car shuts down is quite difficult. It is often easiest to replace the battery first and you don't get many hours from a competent mechanic for the cost of new battery.

I would guess that the DRL failure is conincidental.

I had something similar this time last year. Car would drive ok, but had tendency to discharge overnight. I live on a hill so could jump it if I'd parked facing outwards. It would then be ok during the day. I thought it might be an electrical short, or discharging via the lights (headlights come on when the door is opened). The mechanic at the garage suggested just changing the battery first. If that didn't fix it then they'd need to look a bit closer, but if it did, it's much cheaper than them poking about for a couple of hours. I was dubious because the car was doing a load of weird shite at the time, but it seems that the dodgy battery was playing havoc with the car brain.

[mrcharly-YHT]

20min on island roads (so presumably not v fast) long enough to charge it?

Seems not if lights and wipers are used.

The DRL failed a week ago, so I'm a bit concerned that there is an electrical fault.

20 mins should be enough to charge the battery, but it should be a longer time to be sure.

First assumption would be long-term degradation of the battery from being discharged too much or left discharged.

If you can get hold of a voltmeter, the voltage should be at least 13.5 V when the engine is started. Measure it soon after starting in case the car has some clever charging.

It is difficult to work out if the battery is being discharged when the car isn't in use or if the battery is discharging itself or has lost capacity. Measuring the current when the car shuts down is quite difficult. It is often easiest to replace the battery first and you don't get many hours from a competent mechanic for the cost of new battery.

I would guess that the DRL failure is conincidental.

Didn't have any problems on the trip, but then I'd expect 8 hours of driving to fully charge the battery.

Will check the running voltage today. The voltage with engine off (before I left), was 12.06, it will be interesting to compare that now after so much driving.

The battery is an AGM, which I'm not familiar with. Not sure of the behaviour differences from wet Lead acid.

[Beardy]

Sorry but having a full motorcycle licence the correct term for any 50 cc two wheeled vehicle is a putfart

I'll just leave this here https://www.youtube.com/@2STROKESTUFFING/featured 

A drag racing 50cc engine... an excellent form of lunacy.

There used to be a 50 (later 80) cc class in Grand Prix motorcycle racing.  They revved to about 20,000 rpm and had so little torque that gearboxes sprouted more and more ratios in an attempt to keep the things moving.  And remember that back in those days the TT was a World Championship event

I beleive that Honda built a six cylinder 50cc motorbike for this series, which boggles the mind somewhat.

[Mr Larrington]

Wikinaccurate only lists a maximum of two cylinders for the 50s, coupled to a 9-speed 'box.  They did build some straight-6 250s though.

Some of the 50s used caliper rim brakes

[Cudzoziemiec]

A Honda 125 twin I had many decades ago used a cable-operated front disc brake. It worked suprisingly well.

[rafletcher]

Wikinaccurate only lists a maximum of two cylinders for the 50s, coupled to a 9-speed 'box.  They did build some straight-6 250s though.

Some of the 50s used caliper rim brakes

Honda built a 125cc 5 cylinder. 10 speed gearbox, 20,500 red line.

[Tod28]

20min on island roads (so presumably not v fast) long enough to charge it?

Seems not if lights and wipers are used.

The DRL failed a week ago, so I'm a bit concerned that there is an electrical fault.

20 mins should be enough to charge the battery, but it should be a longer time to be sure.

First assumption would be long-term degradation of the battery from being discharged too much or left discharged.

If you can get hold of a voltmeter, the voltage should be at least 13.5 V when the engine is started. Measure it soon after starting in case the car has some clever charging.

It is difficult to work out if the battery is being discharged when the car isn't in use or if the battery is discharging itself or has lost capacity. Measuring the current when the car shuts down is quite difficult. It is often easiest to replace the battery first and you don't get many hours from a competent mechanic for the cost of new battery.

I would guess that the DRL failure is conincidental.

Didn't have any problems on the trip, but then I'd expect 8 hours of driving to fully charge the battery.

Will check the running voltage today. The voltage with engine off (before I left), was 12.06, it will be interesting to compare that now after so much driving.

The battery is an AGM, which I'm not familiar with. Not sure of the behaviour differences from wet Lead acid.

State of charge about 50% for an AGM

[phantasmagoriana]

Note to company web designers - if you want people to actually buy your products, this captcha isn't helpful.

[Kim]

Inverse Stroop effect.  Noice.

[Jurek]

What is the point, OK, what is the fucking point of washing machine programmes which require you to prod the machine a several of times in order for it to continue its cycle.
I mean, what happened to automation?

I hate this fucking machine. It requires my intervention every five fucking minutes.

[Mrs Pingu]

I was thinking the same other day and this morning when I had about 15 attempts to get mine to actually start.
I miss my old Miele.

[Mrs Pingu]

Jurek, has yours got stuck on some weird setting that can be reset by clever pushing of buttons in an special engineer black magik sort of fashion?

[Jurek]

Jurek, has yours got stuck on some weird setting that can be reset by clever pushing of buttons in an special engineer black magik sort of fashion?

I need to step away from the hammer.
It is a new machine.

[Mrs Pingu]

Faulty maybe? It shouldn't need constant supervision like a small child...

[cygnet]

Do new fangled machines come with an e.g. carbon cost to replacement sticker? It's all very well producing an A++ efficient in use appliance, but if it fails after X-n years the LT material use and/or cost/benefit (e.g. out of warranty) could both suffer. (Cost of constructing replacement machines for those that fail early should be included in the overall rating - but does that come into consumer efficiency or constructor efficiency?)

[mrcharly-YHT]

Jurek, has yours got stuck on some weird setting that can be reset by clever pushing of buttons in an special engineer black magik sort of fashion?

I need to step away from the hammer.
It is a new machine.

It is probably trying to send you updates via a web app.

Both our washing machine and tumble drier are 'wifi enabled' but we steadfastly refuse to connect them.

[Mr Larrington]

I ken not how your Algorithm decided I have shown an interest in fishing tackle, Mr Zuckerberg.  Taking the piss out of gam-gams – eighty per cent of whose profile pictures feature a dead fish – is not the same thing at all.  Just stop it.

[The Family Cyclist]

Jurek, has yours got stuck on some weird setting that can be reset by clever pushing of buttons in an special engineer black magik sort of fashion?

I need to step away from the hammer.
It is a new machine.

It is probably trying to send you updates via a web app.

Both our washing machine and tumble drier are 'wifi enabled' but we steadfastly refuse to connect them.

I'd make a joke about my washing machine being wife connected but a it's 2022 and b i do about 95% of the laundry

[Kim]

Washing machine on a smart plug seems to be a good compromise, as it allows you to:
a) Make it come on when the electricity is cheap
b) Measure how many electrons it uses
c) Generate notifications when it finishes
(ie. the sum total of 'smart' things you might reasonably want to do with a washing machine) without the machine itself getting Ideas above its station, risk becoming part of a Chinese botnet or being bricked remotely by the manufacturer.

I've never actually looked at how smart appliances work, but I'm assuming there's some godawful blingly bongly app that over-complicates the process of selecting  "40° synthetics wash.  Again." while trying to sell you overpriced consumables, extended warranties or (assuming Amazon don't hold the patent on this sort of thing) another washing machine.