Posts by ITMA 1039 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Aug 2019
One of three possibilities for "not had anyone asking for a power adaptor":
1. They have (fictional) fusion batteries which last forever and never need charging.
2. Unlike some, they actually keep the power adaptor WITH the laptop instead of losing them.
3. The never need charging because they are sitting in corners never being used.
"Nobody likes to think of themselves as run of the mill employees, we're all special..."
As Elastigirl (and Dash) in The Incredibles so succinctly put it (paraphrasing a little):
Elastigirl: "Everyone is special Dash."
Dash: "Which is another way of saying no-one is".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gXCCBmTvBI
Cell internal resitence certainly is important.
The significantly lower internal resistence of NiMH and NiCD cells is what causes they relatively high "self discharge" rate compard to alkalines.
In other words, if fully charged and left doing nothing, they go dead in a comparatively short time. This is also a limiting factor in their use in applications where long battery life is needed for devices that spend a lot of time doing nothing - such as remotes and things like wireless mice.
It also allows rechargeables to give much great current output - their main advantage over alkalines for battery powered equipment.
Lithium coin cells have very low current capability. So a lot applications they are not suitable for, particularly devices where they spend much of their time "idle" in a very low power mode. But when used, have an appreciable current drain.
Litium Ion cells come with a whole raft of issues of their own. Not least of which is their tendency to spontaneously combust if their charging "rules" are not quite strictly followed - whch requires non-trivial battery charging management circuitry matched to the cells - or get damaged or go faulty.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1jd2g4637no
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-leeds-64877955
When designing electronics which often requires 3V, 5V or more and has to work with only one or two AA/AAA size cells, yet give long life, you have think very carefully about how to design the power side and choice of cells.
A book which covers a lot of this is "Power Electronics Design Handbook Low Power Components and Applications" by Nihal Kularatna. ISBN 978-0750670739.
If you are having to triple or more the battery voltage to get a working voltage for your circuitry, that 0.3V difference in cell output is major as that ALSO gets multiplied.
The Trust wireless mouse I'm using right now uses a single AA cell (1.5V nominal). Yet that has to produce the forward voltage to drive the RED illumination LED (1.8V-2.2V typical), plus the imaging and processing ciruitry, plus the wireless interface. That 1.5V has to be significantly boosted to do anything - probably at least x 4.
Factor that in and you get figures like
New AA alkaline 1.55V x 4 = 6.2V
Almost exhausted AA alkaline (say) 1.3V x 4 = 5.2V
Fully charged AA NiMH 1.2V x 4 = 4.8V
If you need 5V to work... well you begin to see the problem.
That is probably due to the very flat discharge curve NiMH and NiCD cells have compared to alakaline non-rechargeables.
With alakaline non-rechargeables it is very much a curve starting at a peak of between 1.55V and 1.65V dropping away with use until the reach 1.0V to 1.2V when they are usually considered "exhuasted".
NiMH and NiCD start at about 1.2V per cell when fully charged and stay at 1.2V until almost exhuasted, then it rapidly drops off.
So if your flash requires a particular voltage input to charge up, as the voltage drops with use (alkaline) it will take longer to recharge the capacitors to discharge the flash. NiMH and NiCD will maintain the same charge time since the cell voltage remains the same until almost dead. Then they die very suddenly.
https://www.powerstream.com/AA-tests.htm
In 40+ years of using them, I still encounter devices which don't work properly with rechargeables.
Particulart wireless devices which are designed to work on 1, 2 or 3 AA or AAA batteries. Most of which are supplied with alkaline batteries.
I've seen quite a few where users have experienced erratic device behaviour typical of exhuasted batteries, replaced them with fully charged AA/AAA rechargeables only for the same symptoms to return just 2 or 3 days later. Replace them with alakaline battereis and the problem goes away and they work normally for weeks/months.
https://www.tycorun.com/blogs/news/all-about-1-5v-battery#:~:text=v%20battery%20dead%3F-,How%20to%20test%3F,cutoff%20point%20for%20practical%20purposes.
The 1.2V cell voltage of NiMH (and older NiCD) batteries is within the 1.0V to 1.2V zone at which alkaline batteries are considered "exhuasted". That creates issues. Especially with devices which use buck/boost circuitry to generate higher voltages (then regulated down) to drive electronics.
That difference seems small but is in fact substantial.
"From my experience, the only good application for rechargeable AAA cells "
Now you are wandering into more confusing waters since your standard "dry" (i.e. normally alkaline) non rechargeable cells have a different cell voltage to rechargeables
There are a lot of devices designed for AA or AAA alakaline "dry" cells which just do not work with AA or AAA NiMH (or older NiCd) rechargeables because the rechargeables have a nominal cell voltage of 1.2V. The dry cells have somewhat higher nominal 1.5V cell voltage. The two (alkaline vs rechargeable) also have very different discharge curves. Rechargeables tend to much "flatter".
Using AA or AAA rechargeables in devices not designed for rechargeables can lead to them malfunctioning, constantly saying "low battery" or just not working at all.
It all comes down the fundemental difference in cell chemistry and not the physical form factor (i.e. AA or AAA size).
I don't know if they still do, but they used to use an outfit called "Barefruit":
https://www.barefruit.com/
https://uk.linkedin.com/company/barefruit
The reason I don't know is that it has been years since I've used my ISP's DNS.
They obviously think of ISPs' customers as "bare fruiit" waiting to be picked and sold.
Another of the many things "Fast startup" breaks is Wake On Lan - at least on machines with particular Intel LAN adaptors.
Took me bloody ages to find that f***er....
The power state "Fast startup" puts the machine into kills power to the NIC totally. No power, no Wake On Lan,. Which when managing remote estates of machines is a royal f***ing pain.,
A good point since one of the less understood things about patents is this:
The "protection" being granted a patent provides is only as strong as your ability to defend it. Ultimately that comes down to "how deep are your pockets".
Generally, particularly in the US, the one with the most money (deepest pockets) usually wins.
Amen to that!
It's been bad enough with Tensator's "holographic assistants" (not holograms or holographic):
https://www.tensator.com/solutions/tensator-holographic-virtual-assistant/
Not to mention all that "appearing by hologram" crap using the same Pepper's Ghost derivative as used for the infamous "Tupac" thing.
Personally I think Nadella is trying to ape Elliot Carver, the Bond villian from Tomorrow Never Dies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm4Rll9axkQ
A challenge for the Registeriate - produce an A.I. video of Satya Nadella sitting in a big leather chair, stroking a white Persian cat saying "No Mr Bond, I expect you to DIE!!!!"
It may do if you have crappy a crappy "smart kettle" or "smart toaster" that is always consuming some power to be "smart".
Not mine. My kettle and toaster have physical swithes with physical contacts which consume zero power when off despite being left plugged in and switched "on" at the wall.
They do use them on interstellar spacecraft...And in 20 mile cubed alien machines... Apparently....
Chief Quinn: [Examining the broken klystron frequency modulator] Now with every facility of the ship I think I might be able to rebuild it. But frankly, the book says no. It came packed in liquid Boron in a suspended gravity.
Commander Adams: Alright so it's impossible, how long will it take?
Chief Quinn: Well, if I don't stop for breakfast...
------
Commander Adams: Monsters from the subconscious. Of course. That's what Doc meant. Morbius. The big machine, 8,000 miles of klystron relays, enough power for a whole population of creative geniuses, operated by remote control. Morbius, operated by the electromagnetic impulses of individual Krell brains.
Dr. Morbius: To what purpose?
Commander Adams: In return, that ultimate machine would instantaneously project solid matter to any point on the planet, In any shape or color they might imagine. For *any* purpose, Morbius! Creation by mere thought.
-----
From: Forbidden Planet.
"ICO will step in if they're ignoring your marketing wishes"
Actually, they won't.
I had the same issue and went down the same route all the way to ICO and OFGem.
I was told that because it is government policy to roll out smart meters that overrides your "marketing preferences". So they may stop calling for a while, but OFGem require they keep at it so, as Arnie says "They'll be back".
Too many drivers can't even recognise road signs let alone roadside advertising.
Such as the round blue signs which indicate permitted traffic (e.g. bus, taxi, motorbike) and therefore anything else (cars, vans etc which are not taxis) are prohibited. Plus "enforcement camera" signs and "BUS GATE".
Getting a lift from a colleague to the station for a train home yesterday (UK), we were behind a driver who was weaving all over the road, going almost fully over the centre line at times. Not paying attention at lights, having to swerve sometimes to avoid vehicles coming in the OTHER direction.
The driver (a woman of a certain age) was too busy faffing about reading something from a piece of paper in her hand, brushing her hair and faffing about with something on the passenger seat.
What we absolutely do NOT need are additional pointless distractions in cars. It is BLOODY DANGEROUS!
That reminds me of a real-time printer fix on a customer's dot matrix printer which kept stopping mid-print saying "Paper out".
I think I was working for NEC (UK) Peripherals at the time on the help desk.
Knowing the likely culprit, I asked the customer the model of printer.
I then said "This is going to sound strange...." then proceeded along the lines of "carefully lift the left hand side of the printer 3-4 inches of the desk. Then let go so it drops on the desk". <BANG>
The printer burst into life and kept printing.
A known issue where paper dust caused the plastic mechanical flag used to sense the presence of paper to stick in the wrong position. Giving it a jolt freed it.
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