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Comment Re: We have been doing this all along... (Score 1) 80

Indeed, but I was answering the question: "It seems like there is an obvious business opportunity for a domestic tractor manufacturer here. Anyone care to explain why nobody has moved into this market?"
European tractors would not be a domestic manufacturer. A domestic company moving into the market would be a "new manufacturer" and would have to invest quite a bit into development - design, manufacturing, etc...
It's easier for other companies, whether Chinese, Japanese, or European to move in instead with their own superior offerings.

Comment Re:We have been doing this all along... (Score 1) 80

That would be that labor costs are too high, they wouldn't be able to compete with the established players as a new manufacturer that would have a bunch of development costs for what would, at least at the start, be more primitive offerings.
Of course, primitive is what some people are after.
Meanwhile, the Chinese have taken over on much of the innovation, or at least development. The USA and Europe have too much invested in the status quo these days.

Comment Re:This is the problem with automation from AI. (Score 1) 21

There was actually an incident of this some years ago. A pensioner (not the USA, UK, or similar) was declared dead by mistake. So they stopped his payments, went to take his housing away, etc...
He ended up being the most polite thief, just for life necessities.
They eventually tried to arrest him. Except the computer wouldn't accept the entry because dead. Fingerprints were for a dead man.
Couldn't hold a normal court case because dead.
It took like a year to fix, and they decided to drop the charges and stuff because he paid the businesses back when they finally gave him the back money owed.

Autocorrupt: some to somehow

Comment Re:Full Circle (Score 3) 108

With lead-acid and extended run times, volume starts mattering again. Especially if one is trying to retrofit cell towers that might not have had significant UPS capability before.

In addition, the lead-acid batteries in this use can last for a long time, and perhaps more importantly, the UPS equipment is set up for lead-acid. It's cheaper to replace the lead-acid batteries than it is to switch to a newer chemistry, even if LFP is getting down to lead-acid prices per kWh.

For a NEW install, I'd very much look at newer chemistries. Though NMC would be low on the consideration list. As you said, need durability not low mass/volume, and lower cost is always good.

Comment Starter vs key locks. (Score 1) 204

If I had the points, I'm not sure whether I'd mod you insightful or funny. I certainly laughed at it.
I also just replaced the starter in mom's 2005 Saturn Vue due to the relay going bad.
I'm not sure how that thing would start a fire, there's only 2 wires to it, unless the starter itself was bad.

Aftermarket power steering, that's a *shudder* from me.

I'm also very curious as to how one ends up with a separate fob for the starter, even in an ICE vehicle. Maybe fluffer is talking about a different part than what I'm thinking about?

Fluffer - to most of us, the starter is the electric motor that turns the engine in order to start the engine. It generally has a relay to signal time to start, and a wire directly from the battery to provide the amperage necessary to turn everything. Were you thinking of something different? I'm not aware of any starters that have anything really remote.

Unless the thinking is having a different fob for the car doors and operating the vehicle, like how early cars would have different keys for the doors and the starter, because they hadn't thought to match the two up yet, or that was considered too expensive.

Comment Re: solid state (Score 1) 294

If there's cellphone signal enough for voice, there's enough to run an app that is designed to handle the low bandwidth.

But now you're shifting from Colorado to Canada. See what I mean by constant retreat?

Besides, like I said, I drove through the mountains of western Canada and always had enough cell signal. And caching is still a thing. GPS still works as long as one can see 3 satellites, and some can use the EU and RU versions to improve accuracy even more.

Worst case, Starlink is deploying cellphone technology, so we'll have signal from satellites soonish.

Comment Re: solid state (Score 1) 294

Man, it's just constant retreat with you, isn't it?
You're seriously saying Alma doesn't have cellphone signal? I've lived in a smaller town and still had signal.

Generally speaking, those installing EV charging stations want to be able to bill for it. Which means that the station itself needs connectivity, even if it doesn't need to be much. They need a big fat pipe of electricity as well.
Sounds like an excellent spot for a cell phone tower, if one isn't already in range.

Besides that, I managed to drive from Alaska to Florida, through Canada, without ever being out of cellphone signal.

Worst case, the app developers are aware that you might be out of signal occasionally. Therefore they cache information.

Comment Re: solid state (Score 1) 294

If you have a cell phone, you have mobile internet. Even if you're just using it as a hotspot for a laptop or tablet.

In any case, those purchasing EVs are overwhelmingly fine with using an app. Or the in-dash infotainment system that can do the same thing. Plug in where you want to go, it finds a route including chargers. Question: Do you use google maps?

Most people don't need to find EV charging stations, only those with EVs need to be able to, and they all generally have cellphones.

And why would they need an attendant? They're fine with being open at night. Gas stations only need attendants because of the large quantities of flammable liquids stored on location. Even with that, I've seen the occasional gas station that, late at night, doesn't have anybody and it is pay at pump only. But they get most of their profit from the attached convenience store, so they need an employee for that, to make money.

Now, there have been some problems with people stealing the charge cables for the copper in them, because current doesn't flow until the car and charger have verified the connection and negotiated charging stuff, so they're safe enough for unattended use.

But said people have also discovered that said lots tend to have very good cameras and end up being caught.

Comment flow over time (Score 1) 294

It isn't so much that it "flowed", it is that aluminum has a greater coefficient of thermal expansion than copper. So it would expand more when it heated up. This was exasperated by the greater gauge of sufficiently rated cable or the installation of the same gauge as copper, insufficient due to it's slightly lower conductivity, causing it to heat up even more.
Over time, this could allow the connection to work its way loose, at some point leading to higher resistance at that point and thus more heat, and even sparking, leading to fires.
Modern connectors address this a number of ways, but the primary way I've seen is to make the connection a little springlike, it doesn't even have to look like a spring at first glance - the expansion isn't that much, after all. Some are even "self tightening", in that they'll tend to pull the wire in rather than let it loosen. Very clever designs that generally don't take anything more than the old connectors. In addition, in wire gauges large enough to be stranded, the very stranding helps with handling the expansion.
As I understand it, when installed to code, the aluminum wiring was safe, the problem was that the code was too stringent for the electricians used to working with copper, and they'd use stuff rated for copper and not aluminum all over.

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