Solar Eclipse – 20 March 2015

Well, the cloud cover stayed away until nearly maximum eclipse.

Dsc_0103

Dsc_0105

Dsc_0107

Dsc_0110

Dsc_0112

Dsc_0115

Dsc_0117

Shopping Around

I’m normally quite lazy when it comes to renewing house and car insurance by taking “advantage” of the helpful “You need not do anything” option.

This year, I decided to see what I could save by shopping around:

Estimated gas and electricity saving by switching supplier and moving to dual fuel: £271.

Car insurance saved for identical cover by switching insurer: £90.

That’s £361 saved already this year and it isn’t even March yet!

Simple Micro-SD Card MP3 Player

Although I’ve got a fancy little MP3 Player, it’s sometimes more trouble than it’s worth. For one thing, it’s a radio, photo viewer and MP3 player rolled into one. It’s also tiny. By the time I’ve worked through the menu system and remembered which button does what, I’ve lost interest!

Of course the smart phone will play MP3 files as well – with really good quality – but it’s a bit expensive to lose or drop if I’m working in the garden (or even walking!), as well as being a bit heavy on the battery.

So, I made this simple, basic, MP3 player which just plays files one after the other when I press the Start button until I tell it to stop. Simples.

Details on my site here.

mp3-player1

Telephone Preference Service

Like most people, I registered with the Telephone Preference Service and, also like most people, I found it a complete waste of time. Here’s yesterday’s call list dutifully blocked by my phone:

pest-calls

On the occasions that I receive a call that isn’t blocked, they all have one of two things in common. They’re either from UK companies using an International phone number or they’re UK companies using a pre-recorded preamble.

Checking on the TPS website, it appears that these types of callers are exempt from the TPS regulations and it begs the question: Why leave such an obvious gaping loophole to enable these companies to exploit and annoy us?

When you read the TPS website, you find:

“Who pays for TPS?
No money is received from the Government to run the Service, the direct marketing industry pays for it.”

So, that explains it. Well you’d never shoot the goose that lays the golden eggs would you!

Pre-recorded and international nuisance calls are supposed to be dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office. I’ve tried them – another complete waste of space. A taxpayer-funded gravy train if ever there was!

That Time Of Year!

It’s that time of year! It hasn’t let me down yet but I thought better safe than sorry. May as well give the ol’ battery a boost while the car’s sat there doing nowt.

battery

Automatic Voltage Sensing Car Auxiliary Socket

battery-monitor

There are many devices which are designed to plug into a car’s auxiliary socket (formerly known as the cigarette lighter socket) which, ideally, depend upon the voltage turning off with the ignition. One such device, which I’ve recently fitted to my own car, is a dashcam. Luckily, the power to my car’s auxiliary socket is switched with the ignition but there are a lot of cars in which the power isn’t switched with the ignition.

I’ve spotted one or two dashcams which can automatically sense if the engine is running but they tend to be very top of the range devices costing £150++. For the rest of us, it’s inconvenient to keep plugging in and un-plugging the dashcam’s power lead at the start and end of each journey (or fitting some sort of switch) and, in any event, is likely to be forgotten just when it’s needed!

This project is designed to monitor the battery’s voltage to determine whether the engine is running or not. It plugs into the auxiliary socket at the “front end” and has it’s own switched auxiliary socket at the “rear end”. I’ve only been able to find one commercially-available product which does the same and, in my opinion, it seems a bit expensive. Depending on what you already have in your spares box, this project should cost about a third of its commercial counterpart.

Details on my main site:
http://vwlowen.co.uk/arduino/car-battery-monitor/car-battery-monitor.htm

Another HVDC Cable boat shot.

HVDC10

and a photo sent by my bro…

HVDC9

Takes all sorts.

What with speed humps, potholes, dog walkers, pedestrians, cyclists and the fact there’s no pavements, I would have thought that 20mph was plenty down this narrow lane. But, hey, what do I know….

Rechargeable Lithium Battery Capacity Tester

Finally written up the details of my rechargeable lithium battery tester and put the info on my main site for anyone interested.

vwlowen.co.uk/arduino/battery-tester/battery-tester.htm

tester

Some more HVDC photos.

Lovely day and evening. Finally tempted me out at night!

(As always, click a photo for a larger version – and click again for even larger!)

300mm lens. Night shots: 1/2 second f16

HVDC4

HVDC5

HVDC6

HVDC7