Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[Michel]

I always buy batteries from IKEA now, their own-brand yellow AA ones seem to last aeons! Cheap too.

[Zelandeth]

Only thing I've had fail was an ergonomic keyboard where the wireless receiver died.

One at work became unusable when we moved buildings (into a brand new one) as the overhead lights in the new place (which switched on and off every ten minutes because of the "daylight matching" system) used to throw out so much rf noise for about five minutes when they started that anything wireless stopped working within about 20 feet.

Trying to respond to an urgent email when every third keypress disappears is really annoying...should have grabbed that when I left really, bet it's still buried in the back of my drawer!

One of the same lights decided to pop a lamp one day and shower me any my assistant with bits of hot quartz...

Had to laugh at the general build quality and materials choice in that place...had been there nearly two years when I left and the HVAC system still required you to have a T-shirt and pair of warm gloves on hand for use during any given day...apparently it still doesn't work any better three years on...

Got an email yesterday from one of the most knowledgeable folks in the country regarding the Lada TBi injection system, who has given me some pointers on my current problem. First advice is to make absolutely sure there are no vacuum leaks, as even the tiniest one can cause issues like this. Given the tendency for modern hoses to perish in five seconds flat that does sound worth checking - even though most were changed only a month or so back...

Feels like a step forward though actually being in touch with someone who knows the system inside out and back-to-front though as I have some guidance now!

[CitroJim]

Had forgotten IKEA. Got some of their alkaline cells in use in a few places round the house (room thermostats for one), and so far they've been lasting okay. Wonder who the OEM are.

Likewise, I've always found their plain yellow alkaline cells to be good...

Ditto their CFL and LED lightbulbs.... Generally I find IKEA stuff very hard to fault... Even down to the IKEA toy rat ('Ratta') that sits on Gabriel's parcel shelf...

That rat has sat in all my 'Rattiva' Xantias since the original Rattiva.... Not saying Gabriel is a rat by any means but her paint does lend her a bit of a rat-look and as all knows, I love rat-look cars... Those that are in exemplary condition mechanically and bodily but have a patina to suggest otherwise to the casual observer...

I prefer those to any over-restored concours car you'd be scared to use in case it gets a bit dusty...

[myglaren]

Just spent four hours cleaning the C5.

I should go to IKEA and get a rat to finish it off!

[van ordinaire]

If these Energisers are so expensive, are they value for money?

However I'll keep an eye out for Surefire when I'm over there in the Fall - I can smuggle them home in my torch (but remember not to pack it near a book - tip from airport security!). Coincidentally, the batteries in one of my American LED torches, i.e. one bought there, were failing rapidly last night (after 14 months non-use) were "H Cell" - made by Ninghai Hengjiu Battery Co. Ltd. By an even more extaordinary coincidence, having decided to take my own advice, I picked up some ,as I thought, budget AAA'Ss (8 for £2.49) in a discount outlet in Newton Abbot: they were GP – not rechargeable though.
Seems to me that when the old established brands, which were household names for decades (of which Rayovac may have been one), disappeared & were replaced by, in the main, it seems, Japanese camera/film manufacurers the quality has plummetted. In truth we have no idea who makes them – I mean does anyone really believe that JCB, e.g. really make batteries? That left Varta as the only battery manufacturer – but are they really that make? More likely, either they thought they should have a presence in the dry cell market so bought them in, branded & packaged OR some manufacturer thought sales would be improved by association with a big name in batteries & struck up a marketting deal with Varta. That brings me to Duracell, seemed to come from nowhere, built up an enviable reputation – then sat on it! Still much more expensive but no longer worth buying (I now see Jim concurs – sorry but I wrote the first paragraph of this last night). Now I thought rechargeable Duracells were quite new – apparently not, but I wouldn't buy them, they can't even make decent ordinary batteries now & something that I have noticed is that rechargables are not made by/branded as the same names as ordinary batteries. Back to my old hobbyhorse of not buying things from established makes of something else. I used to get my rechargeables from Maplin's – or Lidl's, if they were on offfer – but my problem is, I can't keep chargers! Invariably, by the time I get another one (or find the one that I'd bought the last one to replace), the batteries have been flat for so long, they won't charge.
I know I have a reputation on the Cadillac forum as something of a heretic because I keep preaching that things like central locking are just a gimmick with a finite life, so when it fails you replace that huge, ugly, cumbersome fob with a nice leather or ali one - & use the key: that's what it's for! (& never, ever buy a car with keyless entry more than 12 years old). Anyway, at the risk of being shot down in flames here as well: remote fobs generally work very well for, probably 12, 15 years. The replacement batteries will, if you're lucky last 3 months, if you then replace them again – they won't work at all. I used to have an XJR with “total closure” (now banned as dangerous) & I derived much childish pleasure from nonchalently pressing the fob button as I walked away, glancing over my shoulder & seeing the sunroof & all the windows closing. That is my point, it was fun, a toy, a gimmick – lovely to play with, 'til the novelty wears off BUT no real use whatever. So when it fails, as surely it must, it really doesn't matter!

I thought that wireless mice had a vracious appetite for batteries, or so I was told, mine certainly did – but then it was only $5 in the wonderfully named “Dirt Cheap” store in some roadside shopping centre in Obscuresville, USA.

PP9's seem to be an exception to the rule, at least those in my smoke alarms & multimeter are, doesn't matter whose/what they are, they last for ever!

Whatever made somebody think IKEA batteries would be any good? Still I'm not going to find one, negotiate its carpark AND find my way out - just to get some batteries!

EverReady? Really? Either somebody has the right to the name – or, after so ling, the copyright's expired.

Yellow AA batteries? As in THE AA? Seen those somewhere, just laughed: another cheap marketing ploy! May have to reconsider -but I'm NOT going to Ikea for them!

Sorry about the length, & rambling nature, of this post but this will, I think, be the 4th attempt to submit it.

[CitroJim]

A good read Van, pleased you persisted and got it posted I enjoyed it...

[Zelandeth]

Guess I'm lucky in that our IKEA is easy to get to, into and out of - unless it's a match day at the football stadium just round the corner anyway.

Their little USB chargers are really well made as well - especially obviously is that they remain barely lukewarm even after supplying their rated load for hours.

Not sure if it's still the case, but before the LED explosion happened, their CFLs were made by Megaman, one of the actually decent Chinese companies. Been a while since I checked though.

Today's activities were limited to investigation of why the brakes in the C5 had decided to start dragging a bit - then snatching uncontrollably on the way home if you so much as breathed on the brakes. Reckon I must have scrubbed a couple of hundred miles of wear off the offside rear tyre...

Turned out that the main reason for this was symptomatic of the condition of the redways (and often getting hurtled along them at high speed by a crazy husky). Virtually every nut and bolt involved in holding the brake assembly (and motor for that matter) to the chassis had worked loose.

Sorting that out and adjusting it restored a working but not binding rear brake.

[CitroJim]

Turned out that the main reason for this was symptomatic of the condition of the redways

Some of them are getting really rough now Zel.. I was riding a sportive this morning that started and ended at the Xscape...

https://www.strava.com/activities/1053105848

It meant I had to take my best bike on the Redways and that, in places, was a bit painful...

Not as painful as riding over a cattle grid in Woburn Safari Park though

Or cycling up the hill out of Lidlington!!!

It was a cracker of a ride and very enjoyed...

[Zelandeth]

The one that's really annoying for me is the one skirting the eastern edge of Linford Wood, as I tend to be out that way a lot. On a bike you can at least pick yourself up a bit for the rough bits, not really an option on the C5 - plus what you manage to dodge with the front wheel you tend to get with one of the rear ones!

Poor thing does get a proper battering on some areas when out with the dog!

[Zelandeth]

Quick look this evening showed one of the new vacuum hoses split at the end. Annoyingly it's cut just in the wrong place for me to be able to tell whether it's an older stock Halfords one, or a more recent acquisition from after I discovered Motorserv.

Think for all the number of hoses there are, I'll just pop round there and buy all new - I know that's a possibility eliminated then at least and I can move on to the next step rather than potentially missing something and going around in endless circles.

[van ordinaire]

A good read Van, pleased you persisted and got it posted I enjoyed it...

A good book'd be wasted on you then, Jim - if you enjoy ramblings about batteries!

OR, perhaps I should give up the day job & become a columnist, as I have discovered the ability to write entertaining drivel about anything - or, in truth, nothing!

b-t-w; 14 Kodak AAA's - a £! Energisers are £2 each - do/can they really last 14 times a long?

p.s. the fun bit about that particular post was that it was quite an active thread, so between attempts, there was at least one new post.

[CitroJim]

A good read Van, pleased you persisted and got it posted I enjoyed it...

A good book'd be wasted on you then, Jim - if you enjoy ramblings about batteries!

I read a lot Van, but only factual stuff... I just cannot read fiction at all... You'd be amazed at what I read for my own entertainment...

The one that's really annoying for me is the one skirting the eastern edge of Linford Wood, as I tend to be out that way a lot.

I know that one very well - I'm there every Saturday morning as that's on our parkrun course... Even running on it is uncomfortable....

Those hoses of yours do seem to like splitting Zel

[van ordinaire]

Once I'd got through the children's classics I switched to an exclusive diet of non-fiction: wildlife, travelogues, biographies (particularly of motoring pioneers & captains of industry) & histories of motor manufacturers. I had a special dispensation at the local library to have books from the main section on my children's tickets! At secondary school I was criticised for my narrow taste in books - still passed my English Lit. O-level when my peers were still doing Language, though.

But, no need to leap to your own defence, I'm sure you knew very well the point I was making AND certain you can rise above a cheap laugh being had at your expense.

[CitroJim]

But, no need to leap to your own defence, I'm sure you knew very well the point I was making AND certain you can rise above a cheap laugh being had at your expense.

I did! Hence the response

[ekjdm14]

b-t-w; 14 Kodak AAA's - a £! Energisers are £2 each - do/can they really last 14 times a long?

p.s. the fun bit about that particular post was that it was quite an active thread, so between attempts, there was at least one new post.

Kodak are pretty good for the money, although I've recently discovered a potential better buy for stuff that sups a little bit more juice. Sony's "New Ultra" have given a good showing in our youngest's Xbox remote. Early days yet as he's only on the second pair of them but I estimate they lasted 3 times as long as Kodak's offering.