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My wife has bought two vacuum cleaners in the last few months, one is battery about as good as a chocolate fire guard, the other is 3kW and is far too high powered to use indoors, mainly used to blow leaves away. Since only just bought it seems we are allowed 3 kW how big do you want? Seem to remember one at work was 40 hp so around 50 kW and that one would suck up a house brick and you could drive it at 10 MPH while sweeping.
Advances in battery technology have certainly made some big differences, but from my personal point-of-view there remain too major issues with most 'cordless' things.... battery power can be really good. ... Several weeks ago, we bought a new Dyson V11 ....very powerful indeed and, I believe, compares favourably with many mains-powered upright models. ... The point is that battery power, at least in a domestic setting, can be not only acceptable but a distinct improvement.
For example, in my cellar I have a great stash of power tools which would work fine if only I could find (at all, or cost-effectively) batteries for them.
Well, f it were smaller, I would probably have had to chuck them out - but it seems crazy to have to throw out perfectly good items just because their batteries have died.Your cellar is too big.
Yes, that's one way one can partially salvage the situation, but it's of limited applicability. I have leads connected to a couple of my 'dead battery' ones, but very rarely use them, because of matters of convenience/practicality.I give my old cordless to my BiL, he has a couple of boats and uses them on a wander-lead or sockets, off the battery. He has 12v and 24v circuits and says things can cope with "wrong" voltages. .... One of the boats he fitted out had huge batts as used in forklift trucks.
Advances in battery technology have certainly made some big differences, but from my personal point-of-view there remain too major issues with most 'cordless' things.
Firstly, although this is improving all the time, run-time is limited, which is a particular problem for those like me with a very large house and very large garden. That can be partially addressed by having multiple batteries (maybe even multiple chargers), but that can be a very expensive approach.
Secondly, and worse, the batteries have limited life, and when they come to need replacements, they can be difficult/impossible to find and/or prohibitively expensive. For example, in my cellar I have a great stash of power tools which would work fine if only I could find (at all, or cost-effectively) batteries for them. That includes a couple of old B&D 'Dustbusters' - for which replacement batteries are still available (at least, when I last looked!), but at a price appreciably greater than that of a brand new product (with battery and charger).
Kind Regards, John
Yes, run times have definitely been improving.Yes, run time is limited of course. However, I have found that even using the motorised brush head on a carpet (the most power-hungry arrangement) I get about 25 minutes use time. Changing the setting to 'Eco' can extend this to well over 35 minutes, and using a non-motorised head extends it much longer still.
Maybe in the case of the 'very expensive' ones (Dyson, DeWalt etc.) but I would not usually expect the battery of a cheap cordless power tool to last more than about 2 years.Our particular model has a two-year warranty, including battery replacement if necessary. Beyond that period it is possible to have the battery replaced at a service centre, though I am confident that they will last far longer than the two-year warranty period.
The problem with 'the palace' is that it is the consequence of history and, particularly as I get older and older, is far more of a problem/liability than something to boast about! In theory, we should have 'downsized' donkey's years ago, but the extent of ouyr 'accumulated possessions' (including stashes of dead cordless tools!) makes that almost unthinkable - although the day may well come when I have no choice!If, like you, you live in a palace and the battery runs out, you could always do some vacuuming until the battery is low, then have a break while it recharges and then do the rest. Of course, I don't bother to vacuum the garden!
My personal experienced of 'cheap equivalents' are rather mixed and, of course, they are often not even available for the cheaper items.Regarding battery replacement in general, I have an old DeWalt cordless drill of which both batteries have become unusable. Not wishing to shell out for the manufacturer's originals, a few months ago I bought replacements on Amazon Marketplace from a third-party seller (Chinese!) at a much cheaper price, which are still going strong and showing no signs of failing.
It does seem a bit ridiculous, particularly in the case of expensive itemsYes, it is annoying when manufacturers charge so much for replacement batteries which is more than you'd pay for a completely new model.
Yes, I have considered doing that - but it doesn't make me any happier that there is a 'need'!If I were you, I'd put my stash (of tools in your cellar) on Ebay!
I'm the same, to be honest. I refuse to throw things away, despite Marge regularly nagging me to do so.The problem with 'the palace' is that it is the consequence of history and, particularly as I get older and older, is far more of a problem/liability than something to boast about! In theory, we should have 'downsized' donkey's years ago, but the extent of ouyr 'accumulated possessions' (including stashes of dead cordless tools!) makes that almost unthinkable - although the day may well come when I have no choice!
As for toilet cisterns, although not particularly wishing to discuss personal matters unnecessarily, I usually need to flush twice or even three times. That's hardly saving water, is it?
How does that work in terms of their regulated and contracted obligations? Does that perhaps mean that they would have to modify their distribution network so that no consumers were normally receiving anything like as low as 216.2V (so that they could, if/when they wished, temporarily reduce supply voltage without some consumers going below the 'minimum permitted'?... ENW have been doing trials on reducing the voltage - including round here. At the time it was being touted as a means of offering short term demand reduction when needed to balance the system or cope with faults - as an alternative to disconnections. ...
As I think is probably the implication of all that you go on to say, I've not convinced that it would have any appreciable beneficial effects (and, as you point out, it could actually have detrimental ones), even in the relatively short-term. The 'compensatory' effect of SMPSUs and thermostatic etc. control would be essentially immediate.As pointed out in various threads, anything with SM PSU will still pull the same power, and anything with a thermostat (or any form of regulated output demand) will simply alter it's duty cycle. But in the short term, lowering the voltage will lower power demand.
Not sure on that, old system if ball cock leaked the water would dribble outside and one would be aware of the fault, so quickly corrected, now over flows down the bowl so easy to miss, also if the syphon failed it would not flush, so you got it fixed, now if seal fails again water goes down the bowl often unnoticed, basic old style failed safe, new style can waste water for months before you even know anything is wrong.Yes, it saves water as every time you visit a WC and flush it, generally NOT to flush a brown 2 is it.. most regularly to flush a yellow 1. So the less regular occasions you have to flush more than once, no problem! Overall, water is saved.
Nozzle
AIUI they normally try to supply 240V, but they've been having to turn it down in some places to avoid over-voltage on sunny days. A reasonable margin there for dropping the voltage.How does that work in terms of their regulated and contracted obligations? Does that perhaps mean that they would have to modify their distribution network so that no consumers were normally receiving anything like as low as 216.2V (so that they could, if/when they wished, temporarily reduce supply voltage without some consumers going below the 'minimum permitted'?
SMPSUs yes, thermostatic control no. Think about things like immersion heaters - the stats on those work on periods of minutes or tens of minutes. Similarly room stats. Dropping the voltage on these loads will probably give you a few minutes before the loads start recovering to normal (combined effects of many stat controlled loads).As I think is probably the implication of all that you go on to say, I've not convinced that it would have any appreciable beneficial effects (and, as you point out, it could actually have detrimental ones), even in the relatively short-term. The 'compensatory' effect of SMPSUs and thermostatic etc. control would be essentially immediate.
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