Search found 243 matches

by ThePinkOne
10 Jun 2023, 8:16pm
Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
Topic: Charging fire safety e bikes
Replies: 181
Views: 16551

Re: Increasing risk of fire and danger to lives

Therealgoodguy wrote: 4 Jun 2023, 10:52am Hi I'm new to the forum and have an ebike on the way.

The battery is supposed to be from one of the more trusted brand names but I'm not taking any chances.

The Barbi died so it can charge out there. A lot could go wrong from putting your battery to charge in such a place unless your Barbi is dead and you have no gas bottle there. One could trip on the extension cord I suppose. This is obviously not advice for others just what I'm doing until I think of a better way.

Cheers
If you're really concerned you could get a "Bat Safe" box.

Available from places that sell parts for model aircraft/other powered models. For example: https://wheelspinmodels.co.uk/m/622/

I have a couple of medium ones because I have quite an inventory of basic non-intelligent Lipo cells (the model type that need a proper charger and balance boards) for models. It's not unusual to crash models, and they use multi-cell packs that need balanced cell charging, so I treat the model packs with a bit more TLC than the usual consumer gadgets with Lipos in.

TPO
by ThePinkOne
27 May 2023, 4:03pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Ely riot, 2023
Replies: 158
Views: 8134

Re: Ely riot, 2023

Two lads riding a bike.

Yeah he was giving a bakkie to his mate and yeah he's not supposed to...... but back in the day when the thing a kid wanted most for their birthday was a bike, these things happened.

Stuff like this stopped because the kids didn't want bikes any more, they wanted cars. However, whether we like lekky bikes or not, they are now an "I want" thing and surely it's better the lads grow up riding a bike (which may technically have more power than legal- although so do many of the "compliant" conversions.....) than illegally using a car.

This was a 16th birthday present not stolen, no doubt the parents worked hard and saved up. Yes, Ely is a working class area- note the "working" bit. The lads were whizzing about and yes it was not technically legal to be two up, but the video clip shows them riding on the ROAD- not pavement. (Could have just as easily been doing that on a Raleigh Chopper back in the day).

And as Ian pointed out up-thread, an e-bike could be going faster than 15mph perfectly legitimately.

Perhaps it's time we had a proper conversation about e-bikes and about loosening the regulations. Fact is, we're far better off in the long term persuading folks to swap their cars for e-bikes than for electrically driven cars, and if making e-bikes "desirable" through being low-cost and a decent speed for in-town commuting (e.g. 20mph, to go with all these 20mph zones about to spring up in Wales), then we've got a better chance.

The COVID malarkey got the polis far too accustomed to having power without proper accountability. Some of those cases are still wending their way through court (and will never be heard due to lack of court time, an informed source tells me). I know the job of the polis is difficult, but making it easier by picking on the easy targets whilst ignoring the more difficult stuff isn't going to end well.

TPO
by ThePinkOne
26 May 2023, 8:15pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Illegal to carry a bike lock & arrestable offence if locking your bike up impedes others
Replies: 141
Views: 12535

Re: Illegal to carry a bike lock & arrestable offence if locking your bike up impedes others

Biospace wrote: 12 May 2023, 1:35pm
mjr wrote: 12 May 2023, 12:05pm
It's a bad law. Repeal and try again.
Yes, it is a bad law.

Monbiot says this, "These are the state-of-emergency laws you would expect in the aftermath of a coup .... We are being compelled by law to accept the destruction of the living world."

I agree with both his points, although I'd suggest the destruction of the living world could yet be as much that of the steady removals of the right to free expression and free speech as AGW.
Perhaps if Monbiot and his ilk had stood up to support the rights of those who didn't want to take an experimental vaccine, and perhaps if the Guardian et al had not been so unquestioningly (indeed enthusiastically) pro-lockdown, we wouldn't be in this situation of bad laws getting through so easily. The govt tried some stuff out in 2020 and found out that the general public will in fact tolerate a lot of repression if it's packaged in a palatable way- especially if they can "other" the dissenter. Not really a surprise to anyone who studies the work of Milgram (Stanford experiment) and other work by Zimbardo looking at societal dynamics.

TPO
by ThePinkOne
26 May 2023, 8:06pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Les couteaux... to carry, or not?
Replies: 68
Views: 8497

Re: Les couteaux... to carry, or not?

thirdcrank wrote: 19 Aug 2015, 8:39pm It would only be possible to measure the success of the law by identifying what it was trying to achieve. Let's go for "social control." Within a society still divided along class lines, the law is part of the portrayal of British = Best which seems to succeed pretty well in keeping the lid on.

Looking at whether it actually "works" at a more individual level is somewhat different. People who come into contact with the criminal law whether as defendants or complainants are often dissatisfied. It's my impression, and no more than that, that the people who live in places - mainly European countries - where they ditched the adversarial system are happier with the way things work.

One of the problems I was trying to explain further up is that the more the individual suspect is protected from the power of the law and ultimately the state, the more restrictions tend to be placed on everybody. Knives are IMO a pretty good example of this. Few of us want violent people being able to increase their potential to cause injury by arming themselves with knives etc but that's not so easy to deliver, so we end up with blanket bans on some of the most useful implements devised by mankind.
============================================================================
PS I forgot to add this before in connection with the USA and guns How about:

A boy scout movement being necessary to the health of horses' hooves, the right of little boys to own penknives shall not be infringed. :wink:
Agree.

Knives (big, sharp ones) are so easy to get- every kitchen store (and most domestic kitchens contain several). And humans are inventive; simple, useful things have always been made into weapons (slingshots, bolas- just strings and rocks).

I learned to use a decent sized knife, a bow-saw, 2-person saw, handaxe and felling axe in the Venture Scouts. Couldn't do that now I guess.

It's a "social control" thing and the passive acceptance of extremely over-draconian laws during COVID made the Powers That Be bold. As they admitted, they never thought they could get away with that here...... Trust in the governing class and those who enforce their laws is at rock bottom; the recent riot in Ely in Cardiff shows what a tinder keg we have in some places.

TPO
by ThePinkOne
26 May 2023, 7:37pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Trikes blocked by barriers on permitted routes
Replies: 66
Views: 7746

Re: Trikes blocked by barriers on permitted routes

pete75 wrote: 6 Apr 2023, 8:29pm
mjr wrote: 6 Apr 2023, 8:19pm
pwa wrote: 5 Apr 2023, 6:20pmIt is the daft suggestion of using an angle grider that is funny.

Are you recommending the OP to go out with an angle grinder? Please say so if you really are recommending that. My own advice would be to not do that because if they got caught they could be in trouble. Yes, they could engage a smart lawyer and fight it in the courts, but I doubt most of us would want to go down that path.
I wouldn't recommend it unless the OP is confident that they can do a tidy job, safely, and not get caught. But cycle campaigners have definitely been doing it for years. I know two barriers that I believe were removed by mystery men (for it is usually men) with angle grinders and hi-viz in King's Lynn, hastening their removal by years. I also know of one where money was wasted putting the barrier back, with minor modifications which still don't make it legal but do make it more difficult to remove (whether legally or not). And I seem to recall John Grimshaw likes direct action. So it's a proud tradition. I expect CTCers used to be a bit more direct-action-y before it became known as Cycling To Cake.

Compare that with the glacial pace of council work. Back in November, ours announced the removal of five barriers. They actually only removed four and forgot one. They said then that the remaining one (about four-fifths of the way along the route) would be removed imminently. It was still there last week.
I'd wager lots of money the early Clarion clubmen would have ripped them all down.
Indeed.

My suggestion of issuing a battery powered angle grinder was tongue-in-cheek (hence the emoticon) however there is a more serious point that you can campaign all you want but it will be a long wait for action. Perhaps the Kinder Scout ramblers should have been good citizens and not broken the law to obtain the access to the hills that we all enjoy?

On a pragmatic level, a barrier that is removed by direct action will probably stay removed (costly to replace) and by the same token, one that is not removed will probably stay there for a long time (costly to take out). As for community service- well the polis have to catch the remover first, and given how good the polis are at catching bike thieves and the miscreants who ride motorcycles through the anti-motorcycle barriers, I cannot see much chance of that.

I'm not normally one to contemplate breaking the law but sometimes the total ignoring of a community who only wants fair access is justified, so I'm not going to criticise those persons who have removed the barriers. I WILL strongly criticise anyone involved with Sustrans and any council cycle officers who condone these barriers, given that they present a significant barrier to any type of cycling except that done by fit persons (normally males) on standard DF bikes- so no tandems, cargo bikes, trailers, cargo trikes, hand cycles etc- in fact any form of cycle that makes the cycle a car replacement in fact.

Incidentally, I ride a trike by preference and am no longer strong enough to lift it over all types of barriers. However, for the record, I don't possess a battery powered angle grinder nor do I have access to one.

TPO
by ThePinkOne
26 May 2023, 1:00pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Drivers silly season?
Replies: 34
Views: 2647

Re: Drivers silly season?

People is the common denominator.

There seems to be a reduction in socialization as a whole. "I'm going to do what I want and don't care if it is bad for you" type of thing. Seems worse following COVID and across all generations. Lack of awareness of impact of one's actions on others and even where there is awareness, not caring. Polarised opinions too- anyone who doesn't see things their way is bad and can be ignored or even harmed.

I wonder if "Social" Media (where folks can sit behind a keyboard) and the lack of consequences for behaviour are causing it at least in part?

The way cars are driven, plus the increase in persons living in a bubble of noise of their own generation whether electronically (I won't call it "music") or by their own voices (shoutiness in person and on media), plus aggressive responses to challenge seem to be key symptoms- but it's not just car drivers, it's across society.

TPO
by ThePinkOne
12 Mar 2023, 4:57pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Trikes blocked by barriers on permitted routes
Replies: 66
Views: 7746

Re: Trikes blocked by barriers on permitted routes

pwa wrote: 12 Mar 2023, 3:49pm
Slackhouse wrote: 12 Mar 2023, 12:58pm
pwa wrote: 11 Mar 2023, 10:01am The simple, practical solution is to get the tape measure out, survey the routes you envisage wanting to use most, then get a bicycle or whatever that fits. Or start a local campaign to have path infrastructure changed. Only one of those two solutions is likely to benefit you in a practical way in time for next summer. That's just how it is. We have debated the rights and wrongs of this before, at great length, but for the individual, wanting a practical solution PDQ, getting a machine that works on the routes as they are is the only way to ensure trouble-free cycling in the short to medium term.
Some people cannot ride on two wheels due to disability - which is the point of this post! :roll:
You can do the rolling eyes thing, but tell me your solution that gets the OP able to use the preferred routes in a few weeks, rather than months and years. Or rather, tell the OP. If knowing the widths of barriers locally means you get a trike that fits, rather than one that is 2cm too wide, it is a worthwhile exercise.
Battery powered angle grinder issued free with each trike...? :lol:

TPO
by ThePinkOne
29 Dec 2022, 4:48pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: miniature Sellafields - one near you?
Replies: 141
Views: 5334

Re: miniature Sellafields - one near you?

ThePinkOne wrote: 29 Dec 2022, 4:47pm
simonineaston wrote: 29 Dec 2022, 4:03pm I got to the bottom of your post above, pink one, and thought OMG - there's even more over the the page.. !! :wink:
Apologies SS, I just get a bit passionate about lots of talking about "going green" without a structure to face up to the realities which starts with owning our own mess and consumption levels. Yes, mea culpa...... we all are...... but let's not close our eyes to the elephant in the room and make the least worst off globally suffer for it. And to streeetch the elephant metaphor further, we need to start eating that elephant one bite at a time in a logical way.

TPO

PS I like elephants, I have an Elephant bike :mrgreen:
by ThePinkOne
29 Dec 2022, 4:47pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: miniature Sellafields - one near you?
Replies: 141
Views: 5334

Re: miniature Sellafields - one near you?

duplicate post, sorry
by ThePinkOne
29 Dec 2022, 4:43pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Blueberries and Marmite Crisps
Replies: 20
Views: 989

Re: Blueberries and Marmite Crisps

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was about one of those "odd" sandwiches.....

....... maybe MickF will volunteer to try some of Mrs MickF's blueberry preserve spread on Marmite-flavoured crisps and tell us how it tasted... ? :lol:

TPO
by ThePinkOne
29 Dec 2022, 3:52pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: miniature Sellafields - one near you?
Replies: 141
Views: 5334

Re: miniature Sellafields - one near you?

Cugel wrote: 29 Dec 2022, 12:57pm
Carlton green wrote: 29 Dec 2022, 10:26am ....... IMHO it is thread drift. IIRC would I rather have renewables that Nuclear wasn’t the original post. If that had been the question then the answer is fraught with practicalities and will remain so until we can store electricity - or even just some form of potential energy - in much much greater quantities.

For the moment Nuclear is needed and rather than deny that the question really is of the evils that you will have to pick which of them is the most tolerable. Do you want fossil fuels, do you want nuclear, can you accept a mix of power sources, do you want the adverse - as well as positive - consequences of being reliant on intermittent sources of renewable power?
Part of any answer to the OP's question (would we be content to have a mini nuclear power production plant in our backyard) must contain alternatives solutions to power production if we answer the OP's question with a "no". The obvious current competitor to nuclear and most other fuel-using power production technologies is: renewables (meaning those technologies that use already extant power that constantly renews as a natural process, such as sun, wind, flowing water).

So, my answer to the OP's post-title question is, "No, because such small & local nuclear is too dangerous, expensive and unavailable". Followed by, "There's a better alternative which is renewables".

You seem to be assuming that renewables technologies have a problem with power availability (when there's little or no wind, sun or water flow) so large storage capacity is needed. This is the case - although it's not so easy to predict the likely quiescent periods when sun, wind and water flow are not likely to be available in enough quantities, in face of an ever-accelerating climate change.

You also assume that storage capacity of sufficient size will be problematic of itself. This might be true if the supply model is based on the current model of a few very large centralised production facilities sending its product over an extensive national grid. But that model is dated and, I would say, defunct.

A solar, wind & water flow model of generation will be far more efficient if its highly distributed, to the degree that every household, factory, office, palace and other building has an array of solar panels, small-scale wind turbines and even small scale hydro-electric plant where possible. This has several advantages over centralised supply, including a far greater resilience and far less power loss because of very long power transmission paths between producer and consumer.

As with the production technology, storage technology can also be highly distributed. Every household could easily have battery storage of an amount that meets their highest demand periods plus a bit. Excess power can be exported via a local grid to a next-size-up communal battery facility that can be accessed by those who've used up all their own household stored power.

Even if the local power production and storage facilities don't meet the total demand over a nation, they will vasty reduce the requirements of a centralised power production and storage facility. The centralised model of power production and transmission has largely been wrought out of a now defunct need for "efficiency". Some of that efficiency was in having very large production facilities that, for X amount of materiel resource could produce more than a multiplicity of similar but much smaller facilities built with the same materiel. But most of the "efficiency" was to do with the financial "efficiency" of servicing large business organisations who wish to have something approaching a monopoly on power production and sale.

As ever, we need to separate out different aspects of what we have now by differentiating what of a service functions well to provide that service from what functions well to provide some very few people with a large amount of profit-money. Put another way, we need to ask, "What are the vested interests" or "Qui bono"?

**************
This month we have at last got installed a second 4K solar array on our house (we already have another 4K array dedicated to a Feed in Tariff - FiT - arrangement) along with a 30KwH battery storage facility. The FiT solar panels typically generate around 3000 - 3500 Kw-hours per year. The second aray will likely generate the same amount. 6000 - 7000 KwH per year in total.

The winter months see insufficient generated from this solar to fully charge the battery and/or service the house demand. In summer, it's likely that most days will see the new 4K array generating enough to service the house with some excess going into the battery array and perhaps even into the grid (for no return). In winter, the batteries charge to full overnight at Economy7 rate from the grid then discharge gradually to service the house demand over the dark winter days.

If we could add small wind power turbines that will operate at low wind speeds (and overnight) we could likely generate enough from them in winter to not need the grid at all. Such small scale wind generators are on the way and will cost far, far, far less than a nuclear power station per-consumer KwH produced, no matter what the size of the nuclear build.

***********
In short, a supply architecture based wholly on renewables is possible, including the storage. It just needs to be localised down to a per-household or per-business premises level. It costs at those levels too. (We paid £28,000 for our new 4K solar panel array, 30KwH battery array and the inverter, wiring, scaffold to put it up etc.). Consumer buying and owning of such localised power production and storage facility is possible, then, especially if subsidised by government to, say, the levels they now subsidise oil & gas production. (Ours wasn't subsidised).

So, new car or a local power production and storage facility? Some folk spend £28,000 per year just going on holiday!

Cugel
Might I suggest you not skip so blithely over the refining process for Rare Earth elements and the mining of cobalt. Rare Earth elements are not actually that rare- BUT they are present in tiny amounts in even the best ores and extracting them is a dirty and energy using process due to the Laws of Chemistry. That's why they are mainly produced in China. Due to the regime control in China, journalists who report on the toxic waste tips (which are also radioactive as Thorium is a byproduct) are extremely rare.

Then there's Cobalt. Mainly mined by children in an "artisan" (hand tools, no safety) approach in the Democratic Republic of Congo. God luck changing that- you need to either find another deposit of the ore and/or control the production (these days that's regarded as colonialism unless done by the country it's happening in, and there's no sign of that so far). Lithium has not quite so bad a profile but it's still not good. Solar panels are mainly made in China. The silicon required needs quite a lot of energy to produce- mainly provided using coal-fired (or gas-fired power generation. China doesn't have the same environmental laws we do, and their coal is more often lignite rather than good quality coal).

The laws of physics and chemistry are such that modern wind turbines, batteries and solar installations require these materials, producing these materials requires cheap labour and power, and so we've outsourced the mess to the other side of the planet.

I suppose in the UK we could close our eyes to the consequences of all this but make no mistake- "green energy" isn't really that green for the people at the bottom end of the supply chain producing all the raw materials. I'm also very opposed to outsourcing our responsibility for stuff like this to others.

On the wider subject of "we could." Aye well we could do a lot of things if the govt and media wasn't filled with people who confuse magical thinking with doing. There's a bunch of very challenging engineering problems plus major infrastructure investment plus social change needed unless you're happy to have major power cuts in winter in future years.

Look up the Energy Triads https://www.edfenergy.com/large-busines ... -confirmed This is already effecting business in UK. For example, small foundries making items for repair of passenger trains, local companies in their community in UK with highly efficient production, decent jobs, good standards of health and environmental compliance and highly efficient operations. If they fail, that work will be outsourced (prob China) again and still be made using much poorer controls and then shipped around the world. Or the train will be scrapped (perhaps replaced with something even more energy intense to make).

On the Saturday at the start of the recent cold snap, at around 15:00 (not peak) Gridwatch showed 18% electricity coming from "sustainable sources" (14% nuclear, 4% wood pellet shipped from Canada), 2.5% from all renewables (wind, solar and UK hydro), 3% from coal and the rest from gas. Today, on a very windy day (albeit much warmer day with corresponding lower demand) renewables are up to 57%.

Sums don't add up for renewables on calm day (often associated with coldest weather and so highest demand in (winter) and storage technology is limited and still in infancy.

So what can be done? Well, we need a "bridging strategy" which will mean a few things. I'd start by putting everyone who claims they are fine as on "100% green" tariff onto a true 100% green (i.e. interruptible) tariff- minimum 12 months. Then when they realise the reality of our energy rich demands for living (and the low energy intensity of "green" energy) we could have a sensible conversation about where we go from here. Reality is that to avoid bad consequences, we need to do make this a major priority and use ALL things we can.

Here's a few suggestions of stuff that ALL should go into the basket of "what we must do":
- simple boxes that can be installed cheaply so you can feed in "extra" sources of power without endangering Grid workers when power goes off
- taper help for fuel bills- you get help for the first XX units then is tapes off quickly
- If you've got a little stream on your property/land and want to make a micro/nano hydro plant- no licence required from EA/NRW
- ditto if you really want to put a little windmill on your chimney stack or in your yard. Might not generate much but it would be highly educational about energy generation constraints
- push on SMRs (I'd happily have one in my yard). Those who object no longer allowed to have radiotherapy or x-rays. Ever (most radioactive waste being from medical sources).
- Introducing Cugel's radical approach to property renting so that folk come to own their homes and hence desire to invest in making it an efficient home (add in a Landlord duty to make the property energy efficient)
- Investment in the Grid (take it back into public ownership) to make it resilient and able to cope with lots of localized supplies. And mandate minimum "connection" times for significant power generation
- Severn Barrage/tidal lagoons
- big programme of tidal lagoon building around our coast
- small-scale hydro on all our upland streams. That might also mitigate against flood and encourage more preservation of blanket bog (penalize shooting moors, incentivize hydro but in an unobtrusive way via lost of small-scale).
- lots of small-scale storage using cheap, safe and fully recyclable technology such as lead-acid deep-cycle leisure batteries- aimed at easing the pain by providing lighting and possibly the power needed for a gas boiler during the inevitable power cuts as the energy system transitions
- all owners of EVs must have a system where the Grid can use their battery for load balancing. Otherwise they are restricted to public chargers which will only work at off peak times.
- Where we need coal for necessary activity (such as making iron and for steel production- e.g. Scunthorpe works which makes steel for all railway lines in UK) we mine it ourselves and take responsibility for making it as clean and targetted as possible, rather than outsourcing messy energy intensive processes to where we cannot see them. We should be taking responsibility for our own energy needs. This also applies to fracking for gas- why is it not OK to extract gas in UK, but it is OK to have a warm house heated by gas sourced from Qatar and subsidized by public funds? And without gas, for at least the next few years a lot of folk WILL be cold in winter.
- Encouraging build of non-conventional homes- straw bale, cob, earth-sheltered- which are also energy efficient. Goes with the redistribution of land/property and making homes a place to live not a financial investment
- Along with that, encouraging gardening for food production.
- Making a "right to broadband" a thing- to encourage remote working and lessen need for transport

And last but by no means the least...... changing social norms. My family were always skint when I grew up, in all my childhood we only ever had one holiday- a week in a chalet in the Lake District (from north east England). We don't NEED to fly abroad every year- if at all. As for family- well, when I was 12, my grandparents emigrated to Australia. I never saw them again, and my mother in the 25 years they lived only saw them twice (one of those times for the funeral of one of them). In those days, phone calls were costly and we used airmail paper to write letters that were expensive to send. These days even without flying, we are much better off with Zoom/Teams and cheap international calls.

Part of that is also about social norms for acquiring "stuff" and conflating "success" with "the ability to buy more stuff." Another aspect of that is conflating "enjoyment" with "the ability to make a lot of noise and consume food/alcohol/trimmings to excess" and "owning branded new SUVs using finance packages." It's about wearing (and making) clothes and shoes that last, and lots of other things.

This all will probably not be popular; but I'm pragmatic and prefer honesty. All "magical thinking" will do is bring on power cuts and mass unrest. All of our political class seems to think that the road to "net zero" (whatever that really means) is paved with Unicorn tears and all they need to do is keep repeating the mantra and it will happen by magic.

Well, it won't, and even to maintain a cut-down version of our current lifestyle (which has resulted in great benefits) we'll need to accept some difficult things. SMRs are, IMO, one of the least problematic of those things. But as ever.... YMMV.......

TPO
by ThePinkOne
20 Nov 2022, 3:09pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: E-bike battery fires
Replies: 38
Views: 3103

Re: E-bike battery fires

Cugel wrote: 15 Nov 2022, 9:57am
Nigel wrote: 15 Nov 2022, 9:31am
Reading the piece, it seems the problem is with _some_ batteries. But people don't know which ones. So, testing and certification (costs money) is part of the answer.
Quite so - as with so many other manufactured goods, allowing a drop in standards in favour of a "free market" of any old battery maker means some dangerous stuff result. Ah red tape - where are you when we need you? Burnt on the bonfire of neolib dogma (along with various houses and humans).

Cugel
You're correct about the red tape but there's also a couple of other issues which make a big difference.

(1) Standards are lagging far behind the technology. To the point where in some cases, it's the USA (with their highly litigious culture) who is ahead of the game(!!!).

(2) The buyer wants a bargain. (Don't underestimate this factor).

Couple these 2 things together, add in a large on-line marketplace (where brands may not be genuine) and you will end up with dodgy batteries.

LiPos in particular need proper charging and storage. However decent chargers cost money and a storage regime on a dumb battery needs effort so often is the first place that corners are cut.

It's a big deal in the drone world. I have a number of DJI drones, and DJI both make their kit idiot-proof and control the distribution tightly. Their batteries have built-in charging circuitry and are smart, so if not used for a few days self-discharge to a storage charge. You will not find a genuine DJI part at much of a reduced price as they control the retail chain tightly, same price whether on a well-known on-line retailer, chains like Argos or specialist authorised dealers. Their kit is pricey but it works out of the box and their Lipo batteries are very reliable/stable even though they are very high-powered for the weight (drones need good power-weight ratio even more than cyclists do :lol: ).

By contrast, I have some more "home-brew" type drones for which I have "standard" Lipo hobbyist batteries. I also have an expensive specialist charger with balance boards and a "battery doctor" cell balance tool. Those batteries have to be charged and balanced before use, then discharged for storage (and periodically brought out and checked).

It's the difference between cheap dumb and expensive smart batteries. If you have a genuine branded product (established brand) from a reputable retailer and look after it according to the manual (and only use genuine replacement parts) chances of you having a battery fire are small. However, if you use non-branded non-genuine replacement batteries you are taking a chance. Maybe they are good, maybe not.

Overall, it's not so much about standards as about the widespread on-line market and a bunch of people who don't understand/care about battery risk and want very cheap prices. Standards are basically irrelevant when there are so many knock-offs available on-line, what we lack is Trading Standards checks and/or other controls.

TPO

P.S. Lipo batteries don't like being drained below 20% or so and fast chargers will hurt them quicker, charge rate is important and even if a battery will "take" a faster rate, a slower charge rate prolongs battery life. And they like to be stored around 50% charge. Doesn't really work too well with a user who wants their battery always ready at 100%, drains it to get most miles out of it then fast-charges it. Old-fashioned pedal bikes have a lot to recommend them!
by ThePinkOne
27 Jun 2022, 7:04pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Shingles - How Long?
Replies: 41
Views: 5707

Re: Shingles - How Long?

Jdsk wrote: 27 Jun 2022, 11:12am
a.twiddler wrote: 27 Jun 2022, 1:04amAs far as complementary medicine/herbal creams are concerned, for the average person it would be better to take advice from a pharmacist as to what properly regulated preparations might be effective. The one recommended by The Pink One using St Johns Wort may well be effective, but it may also have interactions with a lot of medications which your pharmacist would know about. The strengths in different herbal brands may also be very variable. Although applied to the skin, it can still be absorbed into the system.
And as well as those interactions it has its own side-effects:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypericum ... de_effects

Jonathan
A lot of "conventional" medications also have side effects (and often have different impacts on women to men), but the studies don't always cover that........ Ben Goldacre has some good books.

The "standard" treatments recommended by "proper" medical people for my eczema over the years made it worse. I have permanently damaged skin from steroid creams (and damaged teeth from the tetracycline antibiotics fed to me as toddler). I also recognise that plants are nature's chemical warfare experts- I am no "everything natural is good" person- just as well as I am allergic to falcarinol (in the sap of ivy, fatsia japonica and a few other things) and I know what tomatine can do on skin in the sun (itch like ****).

St Johns Wort does indeed interact with medicines if taken internally (which I am not suggesting); but then so does grapefruit juice https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questi ... -medicine/........

Equally, some plant-based balms can be very soothing when used externally.

I wonder if you can still get Calamine Lotion? That was what the chickenpox sores were liberally dabbed with when I was a bairn. I suppose that now chickenpox is no longer a common childhood illness, Calamine lotion is not so easily available.


TPO
by ThePinkOne
26 Jun 2022, 7:28pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Shingles - How Long?
Replies: 41
Views: 5707

Re: Shingles - How Long?

Something that may help topically is an ointment containing St Johns Wort (Hypericum perforatum). I use the Weleda "Hypercal" wound salve on cold sores (currently got a nasty batch from working out in a field in the sun for a couple of days last week). I find it helps with the pain and the sores seem to heal more quickly. As shingles is a similar virus maybe it will help? (St Johns Wort is reputed to help with nerve pain, be antiviral/antibacterial and to promote healing).

I obtain the salve online: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weleda-Hyperca ... C90&sr=8-1

not sure where else one might get it.

TPO
by ThePinkOne
26 Jun 2022, 5:30pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Driver fined £1,100 for passing Bridgend cyclist too closely
Replies: 126
Views: 6317

Re: Driver fined £1,100 for passing Bridgend cyclist too closely

pete75 wrote: 22 Jun 2022, 7:41pm
cycle tramp wrote: 22 Jun 2022, 6:41pm
pete75 wrote: 22 Jun 2022, 5:40pm
What I'm saying is that close passes will always happen regardless of the law and cyclists will always have to deal with them.
I believe that close passes currently happen mostly out of habit and ignorance more than anything else - but thanks to the highway code changes and police enforcement, in my area, at least they are happening less and drivers on the whole seem to be more cyclist aware :-D
Police enforcement - where and how?. Rode 85 miles on Monday on a variety of roads. Several close passes and almost all under 1.5 metres apart from HGV drivers. Didn't see a single rozzer anywhere. If anything hatred of cyclists is on the increase.
Not just hatred of cyclists, but aggression in general seems to be on the increase. Or maybe it's entitlement- "I've been shut away for a couple of years so now I am let out I will do what I blinking well want and I don't care what anyone else thinks" sort of thing. De-socialised.

My work is "essential" so I worked throughout COVID including traveling and staying away from home at times. Compared with pre-COVID, the roads have become grim and the standard of much car-driving dropped dramatically IME. Nor does setting a good example help; just last Friday, I was coming home in the work van from a week away (working), overtook a cyclist with my van wholly over the white line to give plenty space. But the car which had been tailgating me for the past couple of miles (as I had the nerve to do no more than 50mph- i.e. the speed limit on a single carriageway road for a big van) passed very close to the cyclist, then dangerously overtook me. MGIF on steroids. I also still see a lot of folks on the phone or (worse) texting in their cars- you see a lot from a higher up vehicle.

I admit that I no longer ride on the road. I had an ankle injury a while back which reduced my ability to walk and cycle, and I didn't really get the nerve back. Too many SUVs full of angry people about.

TPO