Dave

Testing Lead Acid’s

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I have four old lead acid batteries stored in the garage.
All of these batteries have been retired for some time but I keep them in the garage and charge them up every 3-6 months.
This is the technique I used to measure the capacity of these batteries:-
Charge the battery fully on my Ctek charger
Connect a load across the battery designed to take around 25% of the battery over 4-5 hours (based on the C20 capacity of the battery)
Disconnect the load and leave the battery overnight.
Measure the open circuit voltage and use this to deduce the state of charge.
From the state of charge and the known drain, calculate the capacity of the battery.
To be honest, I don’t know if this is a sound method, but it seems logical to me. Read more

AA Battery testing

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This is simply about how I tested a bunch of old AA rechargeables.
As it is quite possible we may get some power cuts this winter I decided I may want to make use of some old batteries we have. It actually adds up to quite a bit of energy storage.
Before retirement I was a professional photographer, and I did a lot of weddings and events.  I used a Nikon SB800 flash units which take either 4 or 5 AA batteries.  After some trial and error I settled on Panasonic Eneloop batteries.  These hold their charge for a really long time in between charges, so after a shoot, I could recharge the batteries, and they were ready for the next time.  Read more

Lights for power cuts

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Power cuts are quite possible this winter. Whatever the cause, we will have to deal with it. We are not badly placed. Our gas heating won’t work as the pump is electric, but we have a multifuel burner in the living room which should keep the chill off. We have stocked up with fuel just in case. Our cooker works from gas and all we need is a box of matches as the igniters won’t work.
Rather than being completely reliant on candles and torches on phones I thought it may be a good idea to have a couple of battery powered lights. But I wanted bright ones powered from 12V batteries. Read more

Finally – battery charging

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When I replaced the PDU with my version I did not bother with a battery charger.  As we never had a hook up, there was no point But last week we spent a few days on a campsite – with a hook up!!! Maybe we are getting old. 

We didn’t really need it, but I reckoned on a campsite nowadays you have to pay for a hook up whether you use it or not, and so it’s best to use the site’s electricity rather than my gas for heating.  We also found out, after nine years ownership, that the hook up also heats the water. This is good but there does not seem to be any control of the water temperature and its gets very hot.
The little solar panel kept the battery charged, but I thought it would be good to be able to charge the battery conveniently from the mains. Read more

Song Lyrics on an iphone

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I have used LyricPad 2.52 full version for many years and it worked really well for me, and I thoroughly recommend it to android users.  It still works very well on my £30 10 year old Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet (with a new battery) running Android version 4.1.2.
I find it’s best to use Script Automation. I could never get the scrolling speed consistent in the other modes. I set the scroll speed to 3, Font size to 30.  I use the sidebar for chords sometimes, especially if the Mandolin and Guitar have different capo positions. Read more

Appled

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I changed to a MacBook. (19/6/21) I’ve had it for quite a few months now and the change has been mostly good, especially since I bought an iPhone 12 (18/8/21) and it links seamlessly with the MacBook.
Some things are much better.
The integration of the iPhone and the MacBook makes it very easy to manage photos and music. I can drag tracks or Albums into Music on the MacBook and they end up on the phone too.
I’ve started using Siri.  It’s very good.  Maybe Alexa is just as good, I never got around to using it. I use Siri to select radio stations on BBC Sounds, as the BBC app is so rubbish.
“Books” on the MacBook and the iPhone is excellent.  I tend to read books on the iPhone now instead of my Nook. I can drag a book from the Calibre Library (or anywhere else) into Books on the MacBook and a few second later it’s available for download on the iPhone.
Some things I have had to change  Read more

Camping clubs

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We have been camping in our motorhome for a few years.  We have hardly ever stayed on sites, but the huge increase in motorhome numbers, and the animosity of the locals caused by inconsiderate owners is driving us to look at staying on recognized sites.
There are two big clubs we could have joined.  Here is my attempt to check them out… Read more

One more battery for the road

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The Varta was 4 years old.  I had got the feeling it was a bit down on capacity, but it’s a bit immaterial. I managed to flatten it by leaving it for a few weeks with a light switched on.  I must have inadvertently left it on when we unpacked the van from a previous trip. Unfortunately the weather has not been good, and the solar panel with a few hours daylight per day could not compensate for the light on 24 hours per day. Read more

A good time to buy a Motorhome?

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We have had our van for nine years now and it has been wonderful. We have not used it a lot since the start of the pandemic, but we are out and about in it as I write this. We are seeing hundreds of motorhomes on the road. Many more than we used to see.

We hardly ever stay on campsites, but this trip we got caught short for water, so we tried to book on a Caravan and Motorhome Certified Location. It was not easy – most were booked up – sometimes for weeks. We finally got on one with no loos and minimal services (we did not need the hook up) for £20 per night. All we wanted was to fill up with water. The site owner wanted payment in cash, and I’m pretty sure the club, and the taxman will know nothing about it… Read more

R65LS-Not so easy rider

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took the old girl out for a little half hour ride today after filling her up with petrol.  I zero’d the odometer so I can check the mpg.
She felt strange after riding almost nothing but the little Address for two years, but I soon got used to it.  The bit I kept forgetting was to change down gears as I approached a junction or roundabout.  
She has a little peculiar quirk which may help the mpg… Read more