Jonathan Kay

Quoting keybaud: Having not seen the Which report, I can't comment on the tests they use. What is a 'High Drain' that they use to test lifetime? Were the batteries allowed to cool prior to being recharged, etc.The Which? page describing the tests is here, but I can't tell which pages are open and which are only viewable by subscribers.. The paragraph on "High-drain lifetime" reads:To find out how long each rechargeable battery is likely to last in real-life situations, our lab experts charge eight batteries of each brand/model using a smart charger on the soft-charge setting, then test to see how long each battery lasts under high-drain conditions. Many rechargeable batteries come with their own-brand charger, but to keep things fair we use the same smart charger for all the batteries in our tests. Smart chargers are the best choice for keeping batteries in good shape – they monitor charge levels in each battery and stop just before it's full to avoid overcharging, which can reduce performance. Find out which smart chargers scored highest in our separate test of chargers in our battery chargers review. They tested 16 types, and at least 8 batteries of each type. Jonathan

Quoting keybaud: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-rechargeable-batteries-id-buy/Thanks for the link. The quoted tests are in this paragraph:And here's how they perform: In 2010, Engadget found that the Eneloop, Energizer and PowerGenix AA rechargeable all offered roughly the same amount of staying power when used in a camera flash, but chose the Eneloop as the winner as they were good for twice as many charging cycles as the second place Energizers. Apartment Therapy favored the Eneloop batteries over PowerGenix, too. In their testing, the PowerGenix batteries failed to outlast the Eneloop. They couldn’t perform a second test because the battery charger that shipped with PowerGenix stopped working. Justin Thomas of MetaEfficient declared the Eneloop Pro as his choice for the best battery of 2012, saying “In informal tests, Eneloop Pro retained 2,035 mAh of capacity after 7 weeks of storage, which was higher than any other NiMH battery (both regular or low-self discharge), making it the longest lasting rechargeable AA battery. The only other battery to come close was the Energizer Recharge, which retained 1,859 mAh after seven weeks of storage.” The most thorough head-to-head testing of low self-discharge batteries I was able to find online was conducted by Stefan Vorkoetter, a Canadian software developer, pilot and electronics enthusiast. Through the course of his gloriously exhaustive testing of a wide range of low self-discharge batteries, he finally decided that the Eneloops were the best batteries to buy.Let's take those one at a time. Quotes from here on are from the cited articles. Engadget: In reality, any of these three will serve you well, and if you're a heavy battery user, these kits will pay for themselves in just a month or two. We'd give Sanyo's alternatives the edge due to having twice the recharge longevity (reported, anyway) than the closest rival, but if you spot a deal on any of the three, click the buy button and never look back.They tested three types (Energizer, PowerGenix and Sanyo Eneloop) and rated them as pretty level:Lo and behold, the options from both Sanyo and Energizer lined up almost exactly, with no significant delta to report between any of them. Boring, we know, but it's true.Their final choice was the Sanyo was on the recharge longevity, but they didn't actually test that which is why they wrote reported anyway. Apartment Therapy: Only tested two types, Eneloops and PowerGenix. And they suspected the PowerGenix were from a bad batch. MetaEfficient: I can't find any test data, except for that contained in an Amazon customer review! Eneloops my be great batteries and they may be the best, but it's disappointing that I can't find the test data to show this. This should be a comparatively easy area to test products. Jonathan Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 2 Jan 2013 18:57:13 Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 2 Jan 2013 18:57:29

Quoting keybaud: Sanyo invented this technology and the new 3rd generation Eneloops are the best rechargeable you can get. They hold more of their charge longer and they can be recharged more times than other batteries.Please can you point to the tests that show this? The Which? comparison used the Sanyo Eneloop HR-3UTGA-4BP: they did well on "charge time" and "charge retention", but not on "high-drain lifetime". Overall they were 5th overall in the "Hybrid" category. Jonathan

AA Guidance, includes: British standard BS AU159 sets out the rules for repairs to car tyres. It defines the type of damage that can be repaired and the way that repairs should be carried out. One of the most important requirements is that the car tyre has to be removed from the wheel to check for internal damage. If not spotted this could later result in sudden failure of the tyre. Because of this, externally applied plugs and liquid sealants injected through the tyre valve can not be thought of as permanent repairs. British Tyre Manufacturers' Association statement, includes:The following ‘repair’ methods are not recognised as acceptable:- * Liquid sealants. * Plugs applied externally to fitted tyres. * Inner tubes fitted to tubeless tyres. * Inner tubes fitted to ‘tube type’ tyres which have sustained penetrations and which have not been repaired in accordance with BS AU 159. * Temporary repairs. My reading of those is that the perceived risk isn't related to ineffectiveness of the plug but to not inspecting the wheel and tyre with the tyre removed. Jonathan Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 2 Jan 2013 09:49:28

*arrowup* *arrowup*You can't charge an iPod or iPhone through its audio socket. You can charge one from a USB port on a cigar lighter etc to the dock or Lightning connector, and you can run the audio out into a car's sound system through the audio socket. Where would you like to control it from? Jonathan Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 31 Dec 2012 16:46:04

Sounds like a controller or controller switch (as you suggest) or a bad contact that has gone good with a bit of warmth or vibration. I'd have a fiddle with the controller, and clean and reconnect any contacts to the controller, the battery and the motor that are easy to get at and do. Jonathan

Welcome Useful sources are: * The Assembly Guide (have you got the right one for your 7 already?) * The Club FAQs and this specific one * The maintenance guides from Alcester Racing 7s But there are differences of opinion about the advisability of taking the weight of the car (jacking or stands) on the cruciform member at the front. It was recently discussed here. I don't, and, much more importantly, Johnty Lyons recommends not to. Jonathan Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 31 Dec 2012 12:58:51 Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 31 Dec 2012 13:01:49

Motorbike style lollipop using a windscreen stanchion bolt. But the faceplate of mine unscrews easily each year. Jonathan

Just completed fitting my half-hood. Used the special poppers supplied with it that prevent the strap pulling off the popper above the wheel arch when you apply tension. On my car that stud was held by a screw rather than a rivet. I presume that's because there's a frame tube there. Jonathan

Did your half-hood come with replacement studs etc for those two? Mine did. The FAQs have a diagram of the new fitting and a video. Of course you still have to get the old stud off, as above. Jonathan

Which? current best buys are: High capacity: Ansmann Digital 2,850mAh Hybrid: Uniross 2400 Series Premium Hybrio Jonathan

How close is SpeedPORT to what you want? I think someone here once discussed writing something for Android but I can't find it. Can anyone tell me about software for programming ECUs? Is it different for every make or is there something like a standard/ language/ framework/ API whatever? Jonathan Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 28 Dec 2012 22:23:46

Quoting NoLimits: Within an engine cooling system the hottest surfaces are those adjacent to the combustion chamber, specifically the cylinder liners and cylinder head. Evans have proven that in these areas EG-Water mixtures regularly cross the thermal boundary that separates efficient Nucleate Boiling (B in Fig.1) from inefficient Critical Heat Flux (CHF). CHF is synonymous with the condition Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB). When DNB occurs in an engine cooling system a film of steam bubbles form adjacent to the engine hot-spots (A in Fig.1). Because steam dissipates less than 1/30th of the heat that water does, local metal temperatures over-heat rapidly. This leads to a viscous cycle of over-heating. I know this can happen in theory. It is relevant in nuclear power plants. Here's the Wikipedia page. Do you have any access to studies that show that it matters in car engines? Jonathan

I've just sent payment details by personal email to those who asked for one before 9 August 2012 and have contacted me. If you asked before then and haven't emailed me or haven't just heard from me please BlatMail me. Jonathan

I think the two options are ethylene glycol and propylene glycol, with a drizzle of other additives lovingly added with the intention of reducing corrosion. Evans Waterless Coolant I haven't seen any evidence supporting its use in production car engines or historic car engines. (But it worked in the other sort of Spitfire.) Jonathan

Which browser and which OS? Happy Christmas Jonathan

1 Order a conditioning charger (see previous discussions). 2 Buy a cigar lighter plug with lead attached from Halfords. Try to ignore the current sale on tools and storage as you approach the till. 3 Connect your existing trickle charger to the cigar lighter plug. If you don't want to cut the clips off then jury-rig the connection with a wood spacer, some screws and insulating tape. 4 Leave it plugged in but only switch it on for 1h each day until the conditioning charger arrives. Jonathan

If the moving bit were a permanent magnet then reversing the current would reverse the throw. But it isn't, it's a bit of iron which the current makes magnetic. When you reverse the current the force is reversed, but so is the polarity of the magnet produced by the current. Jonathan

Aha... I don't think Safari comes into it. The app you need to use is Photos. If that doesn't work can you open the SD card on another computer and see where the video files are? Jonathan PS: I don't have any of the three relevant bits of kit. Is there anyone out there who has this working already?

Quoting MickP: I tried reversing the current, but the plunger moved in the same direction wrt the coil whichever side i applied the +ve voltage to. Is this what would be expected?Yes Jonathan

Here's the Apple technical info for the Camera Connection Kit. Any overlap between that and what the DogCam can output? Is this bit relevant: If your camera supports both PTP and Mass Storage Device modes, it may be necessary to use both modes to import all media content. If some files do not import as expected using one mode, try switching to the other mode and importing again. Note: Some cameras may refer to PTP as Pictbridge or PTP/Pictbridge. Which iPad do you have? Jonathan Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 21 Dec 2012 17:22:29

I don't think there's any solid evidence to say that x is better than y for modern conditioning chargers. People seem happy with what they've got. You need to get one that has enough oomph for the highest capacity battery with which you'll ever use it. Jonathan

The Apple Camera Connection kit has restricted functionality: it's not a full-function SD card reader. But sometimes it can be persuaded to do a bit more than it says on the packet. There is some previous discussion in the archives. I don't know anything about DogCams: are you trying to move the video in real-time or to put in on an SD card and then move the card to the iPad? Are there any options on the file format used? Jonathan

AFAICR from previous BC discussions: * People like PIAA Sport horns * There are various options of pitch and whether they are monotonic or not * There's a website in the USA that lets you listen to them online Jonathan Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 20 Dec 2012 20:05:29

Don't worry: you will soon. The Club is very helpful. As well as BlatChat there are generous people who will come and help. And sometimes there are "Get to know your 7" sessions. And FAQs. And the Alcester Racing 7s pages: great advice on maintenance. Just ask. Jonathan