Posts by Ed 13
44 posts • joined Monday 3rd August 2009 15:07 GMT
Re: Cold start time setting?
You have to set the time yourself through the modules serial interface (It's not RS232, it's TTL level serial </pedant>).
I would imagine that Hoptroff have designed some mechanism to do that with the classic winder that you have on pocket watches.
All you are getting with the Cs source is a very stable time reading, not an absolute measurement of time.
Good luck
I commend your resolve, but pity your family after you've been on a diet of chickpeas and rice for a week!
Interesting
but I'm still not clear what's novel. Why is comparing a Trent900 (10,000rpm and >70,000lb thrust) with a rope (0hp) useful?
Other flywheels I know of:
The JET project has two 9m dia. 775 tonne energy storage flywheels: www.jet.efda.org/wp-content/uploads/Focus_on.pdf
On a rather smaller scale, firms like Parry People Movers have been using them to even out load in a mass transit situation. http://www.parrypeoplemovers.com/
Re: Steamy.
Not only does it still work (201 years old now), they even kept the Kennet and Avon Canal's summit level topped up (the job they were installed there for) when the electric pumps failed the other summer. When they are steam at weekends, the electric pumps are turned off too.
Building Houses
So how much does the "printing" machine cost?
Quite how much 18mm ply would a three bed detached house use?
There will need to be a fair amount of foundations, insulation and roofing material that you won't make out of 18mm ply.
Also there are the complications that electricity and gas installations need to be signed off by a suitably qualified person.
Re: Seem to remember...
I thought someone would get there before me!
The Cray-2 used a 3M Fluorinert liquid for cooling. It's a fantastic liquid for the job, but being a CFC it's use was phased out. Although the 3M website doesn't seem to explicitly state it, it looks as if the Novec is a replacement. Look up "3M Novec Engineering Fluids".
The biggest issue is that you have to make the server cases liquid tight, and all the associated plumbing. A leak means the liquid gets out, the air gets in and your servers fry.
Also these liquids are not at all cheap, which is why people still work with water/glycerol (anti-freeze)
Publicity
I do wonder how much would this many column inches would cost if you had to pay for the publicity? Quite a lot in the NYT I would imagine, never mind all the other places this slanging match has been reported.
There's no such thing as bad publicity. Having a shouty CEO is part of the publicity machine.
Keeping it in the public eye
"There's no such thing as bad publicity"
This "argument" (a full five days, not the original 5mins) has significantly raised the profile of the car. Having a shouty CEO is part of that process.
Posted in El Reg contemplates the ultimate cuppa
Why do marxists drink only herbal tea?
Because property is theft! :-)
Posted in Shiny, shiny! The window's behind me...
Spectacles
You probably do have an anti-reflection coating on the lenses of your specs. It's a requirement on most lens types, except the lowest refractive index type.
If all the fish caught in one year...
... were laid end to end across the dessert, the smell would be appalling!
Re: Not on BT Yahoo accounts
I'm glad I was being blind. I couldn't see it either.
Looked in Classic and New modes too...
Re: Solar Water Heating
My dishwasher worked just fine off the hot water supply for a number of years.
Solar Water Heating
I'm impressed by your resourcefulness.
Solar Heated hot water can work quite well, and cheap versions can be knocked up with domestic radiators. Then a washing machine that has a hot fill could be used in the evenings (they may be more readily available in E. than they are now in the UK, where heating with 'lecy is seen as more efficient).
Whilst it is amusing, I am left wondering that if only the Civil Service applied a proportional amount of effort to processing the original WCML bids we might not be in this SNAFU.
Re: What do you do with it afterward?
You're assuming it'll all go for incineration?
Terry was worrying about the effects of dumping it in land fill.
Re: What do you do with it afterward?
That would be inert in the same way that asbestos is inert?
It's not a poison (unlike GaAs), but it's the really fine particles that are carcinogenic.
Leap Seconds
I'm all for keeping leap seconds, and doing so until a significant fraction of the population aren't living on this planet. No matter how you define time, most people prefer to synchronise their day by the rising and setting of the sun.
Re: Toot Toot!
More likely an electrical sparkle, as they had electrified a large part their railways by the middle of the 20th century.
Bizarrely (due to coal shortages whilst the rest of Europe was in the midst of WWII) they even put electrical elements in some of their old steam engines! See the splendid Douglas Self:
http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/swisselec/swisselc.htm
Schematic review
R5 to R9 are 10k, and so the LED current with a 12V source will be about 1mA and you probably won't be able to see them in the sunshine. I suggest a magnitude less.
I would be concerned that the frequency of the fail-safe timer is rather temperature dependant. I would recommend a crystal oscillator (32kHz with +/-20ppm spec over -40 to +85 are tens of pence).
There seems to be a lack of local decoupling on the micro or any of the other ICs/Modules.
Fuse, or otherwise protect, the incoming supplies, otherwise a loose ground wire accidentally touching of the through hole components will take tracks off you circuit board.
IC5 will dissipate significant power. Make sure it has a decent heatsink (useful to keep the electronics warm) or use a switch mode module (about a fiver in small volume) that are nominally drop in replacements for the old 7805 devices.
Keep up the good work!
Causes need figure heads
So Ada Lovelace may not have quite been the genius she is alluded to have been, but causes need figure heads and she fills that role nicely. So concentrate on the cause, not on the quibbling about who would be the best icon.
Re: HVDC - @imanidiot @proto-robbie @AC
"Icon for what happens if you don't sync the generators."
I've seen the the result of connecting a 1MW diesel gen set to the grid out of sync. The stator (the clue's in the name) rotates by the phase difference. Apparently the bang was quite loud!
Read the background material
All those who want to use an auto-car pissed , stoned or asleep, probably ought to read the second paragraph of the bill:
"This bill would authorize the operation of an autonomous vehicle, as defined, on public roads for testing purposes, by a driver who possesses the proper class of license for the type of vehicle being operated if specified requirements are met, including that the driver be seated in the driver’s seat, monitoring the safe operation of the autonomous vehicle, and capable of taking over immediate manual control of the autonomous vehicle in the event of an autonomous technology failure or other emergency."
Gggsnerk
He said "backside illumination" with a straight face?
Which bit of coastline?
Whilst the RAF bases are easily identifiable in the first photo, which bit of coast is it in the second one, from 114,000 ft?
My best guess is it's the North Norfolk Coast, with the "sandy beach" bit being Well-next-the-sea, and then Sheringham and Cromer would be the darker patches to the right of that.
What does anyone else think?
Not in IC Engines
If you have fuel-air explosions in you IC engine, then that's called "knocking" (from the sound it makes) and is liable to destroy you engine quite quickly.
Expression
Lucy's expression as she got to the "Bulgarian fun bag" sequence nearly cost you a keyboard!
P.S. I'd sign up for the New Boffin Magazine too!
Posted in Flame gets suicide command
Re: A tip for next time
What is this "smallpox" of which you speak?
Spring and Damper
My preferred solution would be to detect the loss of lift from the balloon.
If you place a piston in a cylinder, that is then held to one end by the lift of the balloon. A spring works in opposition, so when the balloon bursts the piston is pushed to the other end and then triggers the launch. You damp the system (so as you don't get false detection during accent from turbulence) by sealing the cylinder and making some little holes in the piston for the trapped air to flow slowly through (although just a sloppy piston fit might work just as well).
Re: The ubiquitous bricks
If they don't have "London Brick Co." stamped in them, then their not proper bricks!
Pressure Gauge
Instead of a Bourdon or Diaphragm gauge, perhaps you should be using a Thermocouple/Pirani/Thermistor gauge. These work by having a heater and temperature sensor (the same element in the case of the Pirani gauge) and the device gets hotter the less gas there is to cool it. Work well down to milliTorr (1 Torr = 1mmHg).
http://www.belljar.net/tcgauge.htm
Re: Can I just say that Pi day is..
355/113 is better yet, and manageable with 16bit integer arithmetic.
Units, please!
"1,125kg per square centimetre"
If you're going to insist on using non-register units, then please use ISO units of Pascals. At least you'll get a really big number! (I personally dislike the Pascal as a unit, as a Newton isn't much force, and a metre squared is a relatively large area, so you rapidly start having to use MegaPascals by the time you have significant pressures).
So what would the El Reg unit of pressure be, as there doesn't seem to be one in the list?
Quite the opposite
That's exactly what you don't want to do.
Herman Hauser said of the original ARM development: "I gave them the things that Intel and Motorola would never do: No money and no resource"
75 million miles
I rather suspect this is the total length of all the conductors they use, so one mile of ten pair cable will contain 20 miles of wire.
Assuming that it's all 24AWG (817.7 feet to the pound) cable, then it worth about £1bn.
PLoS ONE
In the defence of the PLoS ONE journal, it's not their place to determine how useful a piece of research is. They are there to ensure that the research is done to a decent quality and standard.
Enigma Machine
The Enigma Machine is the cryptography machine used by the Germans for encoding and decoding messages, not the machine used at Bletchley Park to break the cypher. These machines were called Bombes.
A few people might argue about the assertion that ENIAC was the first electronic computer too.
Wrong
A little plate pops up with the message "wrong" on it!
http://books.google.com/books?id=NZcBAAAAQAAJ&dq=inauthor%3Acharles%20inauthor%3Ababbage&lr&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is&as_brr=0&pg=PA187#v=onepage&q&f=false
Privacy
"Google’s strict internal privacy policies".
What colour irony?
Posted in Endeavour en route to ISS
Counting?
An obvious question, why is the last launch STS133, but STS134 before it?
CCITT CRC
It's a more memory efficient implementation of the CCITT CRC than a 256 element lookup table, but still not the most. A quick search will reveal a five line algorithm that requires no look up and no loop (finding it has been left as an exercise for the reader).
Posted in Honda designs mainstream e-bikes
Akira
I seem to recall that the motorcycle in the Akira comic book was two wheel drive electric.
Mind you, it was also supposed to be 200HP!
comparatively surgical and painless affair...
...unless you are on the receiving end.
Posted in Nissan turns over new Leaf
@Dani Eder - Electric Roads
It would be rather safer to mount the power lines over head (you'd need two BTW).
Why not reduce rolling resistance and remove the need for the second overhead wire by using steel wheels and a metal surface.
Then simplify the steering problems that may result by placing flanges on the wheels to guide the vehicle and voila you have...
... an electric train. A reliable proven technology that's a damn sight safer than the UK roads.
