Bargain Basement Electric

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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by white exec »

bobins wrote: 20 Dec 2019, 23:08 Does that mean it was hurriedly converted into a teacher training college as they were short of suitable buildings, or does that mean they were teaching teachers in how to deal with emergencies ? :-D
:offtopic: Alert...

In Britain, there were several milestone Education Acts.

The 1870 Act made the provision of "elementary" education compulsory and fee-free. Where voluntary bodies (which usually meant churches and charities) were not forthcoming, the local town/village councils were expected to build schools and make provision (from the rates). Thus many "Board Schools" were erected for young children.

This situation continued for some time, and although elementary education was free, schooling for older children (above 12) was not compulsory, and schools could charge fees.

The 1902 'Balfour' Act changed this, and made it a requirement for local authorities to provide "post-elementary" education - what we would now call secondary education. School-leaving age was 14-15. Voluntary bodies could still participate, and draw on public funds, depending on how they were constituted and governed. Fees could still be charged by these schools.

The 1944 'Butler' Act was conceived during wartime, and intended to set a blueprint for postwar education in England & Wales. It finally abolished fees in the voluntary and state schools, and made post-elementary (secondary) education compulsory up to an age of 15. (At the same time, and under the now questionable influence of psychologist Cyril Burt, children were to be selected at age 11+ by a Test, which would allocate them to a school suitable to their "age, ability and aptitude". Thus the Eleven Plus and selective education was born.)

Post-war, there was a chronic shortage of suitably trained and qualified school teachers; many still working in schools were advanced in age, and classes were over-large. Just at a time when numbers were needed, to facilitate the new education plans, emergency training plans had to be launched.

There were now many surplus wartime camps and facilities across the country, and many of these were re-purposed as Teacher Training establishments. My own college, Padgate (outside Warrington) was one of these, having previously been a centre for troop training, and also for the entertainment of the huge numbers of munitions workers based in and around Risley.
RAF Padgate.jpg
Padgate College campus, 1960
Many of the old RAF buildings can still be seen, along with the wartime Theatre building - later the Drama Studio theatre, and today the North West Media Centre of the University of Chester, fully equipped for radio, tv and media production.
Warrington-Campus-1960.jpg
And in 2015
Warrington-Campus-Aerial-shot.jpg
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Mandrake »

Modern SIM cards come with snap off lines so you can take a full size sim and snap off some of the outer plastic frame to make it into either a mini sim or micro sim.

Mini sims were only used for a few years and quickly got replaced by the slightly smaller micro sims however a new sim can be snapped off to either size.
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by xantia_v6 »

It is often possible to cut down an old SIM to the newer formats, but some network operators (e.g. Vodafone) were very slow to roll out 3g compatible SIMs (confusingly only needed for 4g and 5g), so the usefulness of cutting down a SIM depends on the target phone, the operator who issued the SIM and the age of the SIM.
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Mandrake »

Any new SIM you obtain today (still within its original "credit card" holder) from the major UK networks will work in any phone, 4G, 3G or even 2G, and comes with the cutouts to snap it down to original SIM size, mini SIM size and the current in vogue micro SIM size.

I remember with iPhone's that there was only one (or maybe two) generations of iPhone that used the intermediate mini SIM size and all the ones since (including my 2014 iPhone 6) use the micro SIM size. It looks like the industry has settled on micro SIM as there haven't been any further size reductions in the last 5 years. Good thing too, they are tiny and fiddly to fit and oh so easy to lose...
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Mandrake »

bobins wrote: 05 Jan 2020, 13:43 Do the various Apps let you know the state of charging whilst you're out and about wandering around the shops ? Do the apps make a 'ping' noise to let you know it's finished charging - not unlike a microwave when it's finished cooking :) .... a missed opportunity if they don't :-D
Depends whether you're referring to an app for the charging network or an app for the car itself.

Some charging networks which use apps let you monitor the progress of a charge and alert you when finished - for example I think Ecotricity does this, and I know from experience that you can use the Chargepoint app with Instavolt chargers and monitor the charging progress remotely, be alerted when it finishes and even terminate the charge remotely. (Although I'm not sure how that last is useful!)

Obviously this would only work if you were charging from a network that offered these app features and it's a different app for each network.

The other option is that many EV's support monitoring and control of the car itself remotely with an app for the car. These apps typically let you start "preheating" (run the heater to remotely defrost the car) and let you see the state of charge of the battery etc... If you have a car that supports this then you can monitor the charging progress remotely no matter where you're charging - even at home. As long as the car has mobile coverage for the telematics system of course, and your phone has internet access.

The top spec (Tekna) Leaf has this remote app and I think the middle spec (Acenta) has it as well. So Neil may be able to make use of this remote charge monitoring and preheating once he gets his phone up and running...
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Mandrake wrote: 06 Jan 2020, 09:58 The top spec (Tekna) Leaf has this remote app and I think the middle spec (Acenta) has it as well. So Neil may be able to make use of this remote charge monitoring and preheating once he gets his phone up and running...
We have only got as far as being able to put the cabin heater on while we are charging up at the chademo's, but I can see once I get the hang of the new fangled smartphone thing, and how to link it in with the car, could be useful.

This bloke does it on his phone, not a helpful how to video there are probably better.....he seems to be using it when it is unplugged, if its plugged at the time there would be no loss of range in exchange for pre-heating it up I would have thought.



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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Ev rookies still, but learning bit by bit.

So with the Nissan Leaf you have some settings for what Nissan regard as the most efficient/economic driving.

So with the "gearstick" on mine you have D (lets say normal Drive) or B (which maximises regenerative braking).......and you can switch them whenever you want.

The other thing is the "Eco" mode button, which is Nissans computer settings, for their vision of ecomonic driving re acceleration etc.

So....to be most efficient bang it in B and activate the "eco" button

Well not so according to drivers using their "real world" experience. Actual efficient driving can outperform the NIssan "Eco" button straightjacket. Indeed even the "B" max regen braking can be a millstone to efficient driving. Lift off the accelerator and the car virtually comes to a stop except down fairly decent gradients.

Lots of variables of course but the first comment on the video was

"Aerodynamic drag is the most influential factor regarding power consumption. The drag coefficient of the vehicle plays a part, however the most influential factor is velocity. Aerodynamic drag increases with the square of velocity, not good news for those of you who like to drive fast. For a given vehicle, drag is twice as much at 71 MPH as it is at 50 MPH. Power consumption increases exponentially with increasing speed. If you want the best range, drive as slowly as you can bear."



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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

I probably should have looked at the Nissan Connect App thing when I was buying the car. All very usable but there is the little matter of Nissan reseting the "telematics unit" to connect it to your account, and it could well cost to do that. Saying that the Garage I bought it from was a well established Nissan Dealer and should have asked the question as part of the sale. I need to find out what needs to be done and how much they want to charge me. I can manage quite easily without it so won't be volunteering to pay much for the privilege.

Useful little runthrough here on used Nissan Leafs, diffs between gen 1 and gen 2, and more through good luck than good management I ended up with a Acenta trim gen 2, which does have the heat pump and the 6.6kW charger, and the two cables.



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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Mandrake »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 06 Jan 2020, 10:31 This bloke does it on his phone, not a helpful how to video there are probably better.....he seems to be using it when it is unplugged, if its plugged at the time there would be no loss of range in exchange for pre-heating it up I would have thought.
If a Leaf is not plugged in the remote preheat will only go for 15 minutes before it automatically shuts off again, (although I suspect you could restart it again later) and naturally that comes out of the battery, although as that video shows a full 15 minutes that is enough to de-ice all the windows and get the cabin up to 21C only used 3% of the battery..

If it's plugged in apparently the remote preheat can run for up to 45 minutes before automatically shutting off (or you can stop it manually before then) and that power will come from the AC mains without discharging the battery significantly.
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Mandrake »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 06 Jan 2020, 12:57 I probably should have looked at the Nissan Connect App thing when I was buying the car. All very usable but there is the little matter of Nissan reseting the "telematics unit" to connect it to your account, and it could well cost to do that. Saying that the Garage I bought it from was a well established Nissan Dealer and should have asked the question as part of the sale. I need to find out what needs to be done and how much they want to charge me. I can manage quite easily without it so won't be volunteering to pay much for the privilege.
From what I've heard, if the previous owner of the car connected the car to their Nissan Connect App, it must be "reset" by Nissan before you as the new owner could connect it to your app. Until that reset is done, technically the old owner could turn your heater on and off and track your location if they were malicious.... :lol: (Since the app also allows you to find the GPS location of the car)

Apparently it's standard practice for Nissan Dealers to do this reset as part of the trade in process of a 2nd hand car so that the next owner is able to connect it, so if you bought through a Nissan dealer chances are this has already been done and you could go ahead and link it to the App in your phone without them doing anything else. So just give it a try and see what happens!

If you didn't buy from a Nissan dealer or it was a private sale you'd need to take the car to Nissan for the telematics unit to be reset and I believe they would charge for this as you didn't buy the car from them. No idea what it might cost.
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Mandrake wrote: 06 Jan 2020, 13:03 From what I've heard, if the previous owner of the car connected the car to their Nissan Connect App, it must be "reset" by Nissan before you as the new owner could connect it to your app. Until that reset is done, technically the old owner could turn your heater on and off and track your location if they were malicious.... :lol: (Since the app also allows you to find the GPS location of the car)
I know who the previous owner is, its a surprisingly small world in England's last wilderness. Today I confirmed it but yesterday's serendipitous detective work by yours truly was out of my top drawer.

Yesterday I opened the Leaf's bonnet for the first time out of curiosity. Yes and in the nooks and crannies quite a stock of pine needles, Pinus Sylvestris to be precise. When I saw those I remembered this post
NewcastleFalcon wrote: 06 Sep 2017, 06:15 Another rural Nissan Leaf owner, i would say there's now 20-30 in this bit of England's last wilderness. This one is the most far flung so far though...literally 40 miles from civilisation.

As I surveyed the black sooty patch on the front exhaust pipe flexible bit on my own car, and detected the aroma of the "leak" yesterday, I thought next car I get I would like it to be electric.
regards Neil
..and yes confirmed today that is indeed the Leaf which I have purchased! :-D

What a prophetic post....although I did buy a Micra for £100 before the Leaf arrived. :-D

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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

At the moment I am a rather reluctant participant in the world of smartphones, and yesterday was the perfect evidence of why.

Quite easy to "register for the Nissan and You portal.......Nissan's way of enticing you and your data into its web and a pre-requisite of using the Nissan Connect App. Quite easy to download the Nissan Connect app from "playstore" on the phone. But thats it...........username/password incorrect even though it specifically asks for the nissan and you login.

Then I read around a bit and read the various slatings of both the content and updating of the app, and of its very leaky security and came to a realisation that for me I don't really need it and I can't be bothered with trying to make it work, or indeed paying for it.....can't even work out if you have to.....free with a new car for 2 years but not sure after that....(yes and can't be bothered to find out).

So looks like I will be stuck on icy days with popping out to the car and manually switching the heater on while it is plugged in rather than tapping away at a phone.

I will try to manage with the terrible inconvenience :-D

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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Bit congestion at the charging points today, 30kWh Leaf on at Northumberlandia at 50%, and a Zoe alongside.

Too long to wait, so off to another site about 3 miles away, and there's another Leaf in one of the bays.

Not too great an inconvenience at the moment in these days of not that many EV's. When EV's become the mainstream, the charging network has also got to be mainstream too.

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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

First item up on Autocar News this morning a have a little buying guide on Used Nissan Leafs.

Nearly-new buying guide: Nissan Leaf

Wonder if they have been reading the Bargain basement Electric thread :-D

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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

3,000 miles up driving an electric car. So whats the main difference....

1. I have never visited a petrol station.
2. I have paid around £20 for rapid chargers (all on one trip to West Yorkshire), in 3,000 miles of motoring, the rest have been free.
3 No idea what the price of unleaded petrol is these days but lets say £1.25/litre and 10 miles/litre (45ish MPG) the petrol equivalent of 3000 miles in the Micra would have been £375.

Conclusion to date.....I should have got the back of the tab packet out earlier.....see page 1 post 1

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