What's with the GREEN LEDs under the glass vacuum tubes in the latest generation of McIntosh amplifiers? When I first saw it, was like "Oh, please..."
I'll echo the OH PLEASE thing!
One thing that really turns my stomach is some fake illumination garbage in home entertainment products.
It's all nothing more than the eye candy dazzle that I mentioned before.
Like those multi-color LED's hidden under translucent turntable platters to wow and impress people.
Superficial crap, has nothing to do with improving performance.
Some people I guess, stare at their dazzling components, I don't.
You'll find me reclining on the sofa with a beverage and a cigarette, while I enjoy the music from across the room.
Just replaced all of the control lines on my 1992 Melges MC scow. Total PITA, since most of it is behind the board boxes on boats from that era.
Those with older boats probably know what I'm talking about. Mine was a bit of a barn find, and the boat probably has about five seasons of racing on it (if that), but all of the line is from, well, 1992. I replaced pretty much every other line on the boat when I got it, but these were hard to get at so I put off dealing with it. This season I got pretty sick of having to use all my strength just to get any appreciable amount of vang on.
I can't be the only person on this forum who races sailboats, right?
Those with older boats probably know what I'm talking about. Mine was a bit of a barn find, and the boat probably has about five seasons of racing on it (if that), but all of the line is from, well, 1992. I replaced pretty much every other line on the boat when I got it, but these were hard to get at so I put off dealing with it. This season I got pretty sick of having to use all my strength just to get any appreciable amount of vang on.
I can't be the only person on this forum who races sailboats, right?
You may be in a minority of one with an interest in racing sailboats, my friend.
Just like I am the only person here interested in horseracing! Ah well.
As the guys are mentioning, the colours of our gadgets is increasingly moving to the blue end of the spectrum. I hate it too. My computer goes into sleep mode at night, but persists with an irritating blue LED light which keeps me awake! Do these designers know nothing about the effect of light on our psyche?
Yesterday's fix was a rare failure. I found what was obviously a bathroom weighing scale in the street. Displayed "LO" when I stepped on it. Battery, right?
Took a button battery which I guessed was a CR2032. Alas even a new battery didn't fix it. Managed to disassemble it, but it pretty much fell apart at that point. It refused to weigh me. No obvious loose wires so I gave up. Who cares? I have a trusty weighing machine that doesn't even need a battery.
Will have a rant about the price of branded regular and rechargeable batteries at a future point. Not that I get caught out. I know what a mAh is.
Just like I am the only person here interested in horseracing! Ah well.
As the guys are mentioning, the colours of our gadgets is increasingly moving to the blue end of the spectrum. I hate it too. My computer goes into sleep mode at night, but persists with an irritating blue LED light which keeps me awake! Do these designers know nothing about the effect of light on our psyche?
Yesterday's fix was a rare failure. I found what was obviously a bathroom weighing scale in the street. Displayed "LO" when I stepped on it. Battery, right?
Took a button battery which I guessed was a CR2032. Alas even a new battery didn't fix it. Managed to disassemble it, but it pretty much fell apart at that point. It refused to weigh me. No obvious loose wires so I gave up. Who cares? I have a trusty weighing machine that doesn't even need a battery.
Will have a rant about the price of branded regular and rechargeable batteries at a future point. Not that I get caught out. I know what a mAh is.
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I find it rather shocking just how inaccurate and unreliable bathroom scales can be. Seriously, this is something that really should be quite easy to make reasonably accurate, and should really last at least 20 years.
One, for example, reads my weight correctly (about 120 lb). When I put the Border Collie on it, becuase he was looking kind of round, the thing reads 60 pounds. Woah, hang on, he doesn't look that round. Check with the shipping scale and sure enough, dog weighs 38 - perfectly normal, just the humidity making him poofy.
Mind you, this is America, so it's completely possible they just assume it will never be used to weigh anything that small.
One, for example, reads my weight correctly (about 120 lb). When I put the Border Collie on it, becuase he was looking kind of round, the thing reads 60 pounds. Woah, hang on, he doesn't look that round. Check with the shipping scale and sure enough, dog weighs 38 - perfectly normal, just the humidity making him poofy.
Mind you, this is America, so it's completely possible they just assume it will never be used to weigh anything that small.
Does a 14 foot Hobie Cat or a 15 foot AMF Venture count? I got the Hobie used and cheap when my brother repossessed the Venture he left me when he moved to Atlanta to work for the CDC.
I asked the girls that sold it to me why it was for sale. They said that they were tired of losing to Prindles, so they bought one. I zipped up and down the east coast of Florida on that Hobie for 15 years, and only replaced one line, then sold it for the same price that I originally paid for it.
The small catamaran fad has pretty much died now. Today's youth want wind surfers, jet skis, or kite boards to play in the ocean.
I learned on bigger boats (34 foot), but neither were race worthy. The old Islander shouldn't have been in the water at all, but that didn't stop a bunch of us 20 somethings from sailing it from Miami to the Bahamas and all over the Florida keys.
Bathroom scales do tend to be rather wrong in the lower end of the spectrum. To weigh small things, I weigh myself, then pick up the small thing and weigh myself again, then subtract. Better, but still a guesstimate.
Reflow the wires from the cell holder and the load cell / sensor.
Check how many volts at cell and on the circuit.
They were gifted to doctors here by medical companies, when the cells died the doctors gave them away, and got new ones from the drug companies.
They are too cheap to buy cell for these and clocks.
They got newer items for free, why would they bother?
Check how many volts at cell and on the circuit.
They were gifted to doctors here by medical companies, when the cells died the doctors gave them away, and got new ones from the drug companies.
They are too cheap to buy cell for these and clocks.
They got newer items for free, why would they bother?
After going through a couple of temperamental units over the years, I finally found a bathroom scale that'a reliably accurate. Only trouble has been the battery, which wasn't that hard to replace, but get this - the owner's manual recommended simply throwing the whole thing away when it starts acting strangely! Come on, people!
Edit: Speaking of which, I'm down a coupla pounds this morning! Woot woot!
Edit: Speaking of which, I'm down a coupla pounds this morning! Woot woot!
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Ah, the silly things mentioned in Owners Manuals......
Back in the 1980's I had one of those hand-held hair dryers, the instruction manual strictly stated: "Do NOT use while sleeping"
Now someone tell me, HOW can I blowdry my hair while I'm unconcious, in bed?
I fixed my wifi by replacing the router. What a dummy I was for putting up with the old TPlink POS for so long. Has a nice color touch LCD screen based GUI too - it now sits in the garbage can, ready to be collected today. Suppose I should recycle it, but if I drop to Goodwill, someone else will suffer -
I wouldnt even sell such trouble to another unsuspecting human being, though I probably could based on just that one feature. Web interface was pretty good too - just the actual routing functionality worked like ----... Actually coming to a complete halt periodically.
I wouldnt even sell such trouble to another unsuspecting human being, though I probably could based on just that one feature. Web interface was pretty good too - just the actual routing functionality worked like ----... Actually coming to a complete halt periodically.
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Routers and PC Wifi cards are forever improving with faster more modern standards. I guess new ones make sense at some point.
Here's my promised rant about batteries. We know that Alkaline throwaways are 1.5V and NiMH are 1.2V, with occasional predictable issues.
Decided I needed more rechargeable batteries due to increasing number of gadgets.
Argos/Sainsburys Duracell prices:
4X AA 2500 mAh NiMH: £14
4X AA 1300 mAh NiMH: £10
4X AAA 900 mAh NiMH: £14
4X CR2032 Li Button: £7
I wasn't having THAT!
Morrisons own brand:
4X AA 2500 mAh NiMH: £7.50
4X AAA 900 mAh NiMH: £7.50
Poundland Kodak Button Cells:
4X CR2032 + 2X CR2025 + 2X CR2016: £1
Happy with that. All made in Japan anyway, doubtless by the same factory. And yes the complete toothbrush cost £5. Replacement 4X Oral B brushes £12. Another racket!
Here's my promised rant about batteries. We know that Alkaline throwaways are 1.5V and NiMH are 1.2V, with occasional predictable issues.
Decided I needed more rechargeable batteries due to increasing number of gadgets.
Argos/Sainsburys Duracell prices:
4X AA 2500 mAh NiMH: £14
4X AA 1300 mAh NiMH: £10
4X AAA 900 mAh NiMH: £14
4X CR2032 Li Button: £7
I wasn't having THAT!
Morrisons own brand:
4X AA 2500 mAh NiMH: £7.50
4X AAA 900 mAh NiMH: £7.50
Poundland Kodak Button Cells:
4X CR2032 + 2X CR2025 + 2X CR2016: £1
Happy with that. All made in Japan anyway, doubtless by the same factory. And yes the complete toothbrush cost £5. Replacement 4X Oral B brushes £12. Another racket!
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I use these in my remote control... https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B000H6X9NW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The Ni-MH cells were dead every month. These last 6.
The Ni-MH cells were dead every month. These last 6.
Had another one of those LED common "lightbulbs" burn out in the hallway.
Anyone bothered to open them up & fix them? The "American" first-world solution is just to buy a new one...how wasteful.. I'm on about half-dozen now in a repaired state. By carefully breaking open the white plastic globe you'll invariably find a 45mm or so circular aluminium structure with a matching sized circuit-board bonded to the aluminium. Arrayed on the lit side we have eight to a dozen LEDs...The burn't out ones usually you can see the torched LED elements...just scraped away the burnt semiconductor exposing the LED "pads" underneath, a dollop of solder & your on your way...
Since one usually breaks up the plastic casing & screw conductor, you have to be creative how your going to apply power again to the unit.
Since the aluminium structure is suppose to be the heatsink for the LEDs, encasing the whole thing in white plastic is stupid, no direct airflow...technically, it should run cooler without all the plastic holding the heat in...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick....
Anyone bothered to open them up & fix them? The "American" first-world solution is just to buy a new one...how wasteful.. I'm on about half-dozen now in a repaired state. By carefully breaking open the white plastic globe you'll invariably find a 45mm or so circular aluminium structure with a matching sized circuit-board bonded to the aluminium. Arrayed on the lit side we have eight to a dozen LEDs...The burn't out ones usually you can see the torched LED elements...just scraped away the burnt semiconductor exposing the LED "pads" underneath, a dollop of solder & your on your way...
Since one usually breaks up the plastic casing & screw conductor, you have to be creative how your going to apply power again to the unit.
Since the aluminium structure is suppose to be the heatsink for the LEDs, encasing the whole thing in white plastic is stupid, no direct airflow...technically, it should run cooler without all the plastic holding the heat in...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick....
I learned through experience what brand of LED bulbs to buy.
Philips!
They LAST....
I have some going strong for over a decade now, one being on constantly for 10 years.
