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    Electrical misconceptions

    28) I've come across this one more times than I can possibly remember: "That 30 amp fuse must be big enough for the tiny current this thing needs."
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    mp3 player information

    I'm adding this in case anybody searching for information on MP3 players stumbles into this thread. My MPMAN did something it shouldn't have done; IT RAN THE BATTERY DOWN WHEN IT WAS SWITCHED OFF!!! A look around the internet revealed that this was a design fault. Batteries last about two...
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    PC to mobile phone connection

    No apology needed Igorian. I'm not blaming you in any way whatsoever and I did get the cables. The RS232 to MC60 cable was a really lucky find because I've not been able to find them anywhere else (except eBay). For anybody who wants to know, the new cable for this phone is USB but here's a...
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    PC to mobile phone connection

    Just in case anybody picks up this thread: When I ordered the two data cables from Activemobiles I was redirected to WorldPay to make the payment. So far so good but then things started to go wrong. The WorldPay website informed me that I'd just bought something from a company called...
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    gorilla glue

    I take it that Gorilla is a US brand name glue. What we really need to know is what type of glue it is: PVA, superglue, latex, etc. Whatever it is there may be another way. If the glue spots are small and resting at the top of the pile you can cut them out. I've done this lots of times...
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    PC to mobile phone connection

    Thanks lads. That's just what I was looking for. My local shop can go plug its £30 cable into an incompatible socket!
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    Descaling of boiling kettle

    Citric acid will do a better job than the acetic acid in vinegar. That's because calcium citrate dissolves in water whereas calcium acetate forms an insoluble layer between the scale and the vinegar. You can buy citric acid crystals from home brew shops. A teaspoon of acid in a kettle of...
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    PC to mobile phone connection

    Does anybody out there have any practical experience of connecting a mobile phone to a PC? I'm quite good at PCs but my knowledge of mobiles is limited to Switch on - Dial - Talk - Hang up - Switch off. That's all I ever wanted one for but kids are different. I'm now being pestered to print...
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    air power for motor vehicles the way forward

    Er, no they don't - unless you mean heavy water but that's a different kind of fuel cell and it's a long way off. Fuel cells typically run on hydrogen and the exhaust is water.
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    air power for motor vehicles the way forward

    That does make a difference. The next improvement is to harness all the waste heat from the compressor by tying it into your domestic heating/hot water system. Not nearly as much as the idea of untaxable fuel must be freaking out HMG!!! How will they get round this one I wonder? A...
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    Using a multimeter

    If you're really bored measure the resistance of a light bulb then use ohm's law to work out its power rating. Current = voltage / resistance Power = voltage x current You'll get quite a shock. You'll double check your maths then you'll check it again but the answer will still be...
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    One for the economists

    Petewood wrote That is indeed how banks were first conceived. You invest your spare money in a bank and they promptly lend it to somebody else - at a high rate than they're paying you! Building societies went one better and set themselves up as non-profit organizations specifically to help...
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    air power for motor vehicles the way forward

    Sorry Slogger but you've lost me there. I suppose you're going to use the hydrogen in fuel cells and you're going to make it at sea because there's lots of water handy. But how exactly do you propose to get the hydrogen out of the water???? I can see one way you might do it without using...
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    One for the economists

    Well I'm no economist either but here goes anyway. Money isn't actually worth anything. It's just a convenient way of swapping which is what trade is really about. You swap your time for something that somebody else made using their time. Now this direct swapping business is complicated...
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    air power for motor vehicles the way forward

    One should always keep the second law of thermodynamics in mind when talking about energy. In simple terms entropy (a fancy word for disorder) is always increasing. If you want to increase the order of a system you must bring energy in from outside - and create even more disorder somewhere...
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    hydrogen hot air?

    Quite right freddie. That's why it matters where you put the compressor. Oddly enough, the heat on the high pressure side can be used to run a heat engine and the waste from that will still warm your house (in Canada?). Sadly the heat engine will not yield enough power to run the compressor...
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    Communities

    I remember going to the cinema (or 'pictures' as we called it then) for 6d (sixpence). I don't know what the adult price was so lets assume 1s (a shilling). That means you would have paid 3s altogether or just over seven Mars bars at 5d each. My daughter informs me that a Mars bar now costs...
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    hydrogen hot air?

    This is true. Compressed air provides COOLING when it expands in the cylinders. This makes it a much better choice for Mexicans than for us. As usual you still need to put energy into the system somewhere. You have to compress the air at some kind of power station and this generates heat...
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    Communities

    Assuming that the first quote was correct (and I vaguely remember it), this bit says rather a lot! Do you think the bit about looking after the neighbours was an afterthought? On the other hand this bit is quite true but appears to contradict the first quote. After all, part of...
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    Is it possible to put a hot water tank in the loft?

    Having got the carpet up you might also find that (a) the floor is chipboard and (b) the joists run the wong way. S*d's Law doesn't do things by halfs! On the other hand --- Have you worked out which way the pipes go now? It would be really nice to find that they come up at the other end...
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