Recent content by y_p_w

A lot of electronics repair shops have a bucket of sand for lithium battery fires. It doesn’t necessarily smother and starve the battery of oxygen since there’s oxygen in the cell. But it is supposed to allow for a more controlled burn where it doesn’t just shoot flames everywhere.

Calling a rechargeable lithium ion battery a lithium battery isn’t technically wrong. There are lithium-manganese batteries, which are considered “lithium primary”. Those can be cylindrical or coin type, but there are also lithium ion equivalents that work in the same applications.

It happens. Can get really bad if it’s in a device where the battery is more or less sealed in. Had a Mac notebook computer where the battery sort of attached, but then swelled outward without really affecting the rest of the computer. Apple eventually offered a “service replacement” for less...

It’s mostly done commercially. The benefit would be the cost of the batteries. https://www.autoweek.com/news/technology/a43937159/b2u-company-reusing-ev-battery-packs-to-store-solar-energy/ But it has been done for home storage too...

For a while my dad was asking me if this was legit with all the various claims of discounts for “spinning a wheel” or something similar. But in order to get that “discount” requires an additional purchase and it’s not clear what’s eligible for the discount later as well as how much. But if you...

https://www.foodandwine.com/red-lobster-chapter-11-bankruptcy-8636369 There’s a lot of moving parts here. One is that the [correction] lead minority owner is a Thai seafood company that owns several companies around the world, including Chicken of the Sea and King Oscar. The other is that...

Secondary uses like home energy storage.

Any kind of software/hardware pairing is up to the manufacturer. It could be absolutely fixed to a specific configuration, but in my experience in electronics, a lot of systems are able to detect and/or reconfigure on the fly. One example would be memory configuration in a computer, where...

I understand it’s up to code to install a GFCI outlet in an ungrounded outlet, although it supposedly doesn’t allow a surge protector to work properly. But it will still help with shock protection, even without being grounded. But to be up to code it requires a sticker be placed on the wall...

I was looking at the bathrooms in my parents home, trying to see how the outlets were set up. Even in older parts of the home, the bathrooms have GFCI outlets that I recall were installed back when they had them remodeled. I tried a GFCI/grounding tester on them, which shows up normal...

I suppose United cares.

I’ve heard of people being allowed in a cockpit preflight, but apparently only crew members are allowed during an actual flight. The flight was chartered from United. https://apnews.com/article/united-airlines-rockies-coach-cockpit-25f5cb92f7178bc327f7feff04eb404c

They have a lot more aircraft than just 747s. I think they're still flying MD-11s.

Heading to court. https://www.sfcityattorney.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Dkt.-1-Complaint.pdf