OT Philco 41-285

On 01/02/2012 06:54 PM, Lostgallifreyan wrote:
wrote in :

I don't know what they use now, but when I was there they used "flooded"
batteries (that's simply liquid h2so4)

There were two backup control systems and each one had two sets of
backup batteries and we were installing a backup for the backup!
(and they still had more)
Yes, I felt they put a real good emphasis on safety!


Impressive. And risky as well. A nuclear power plant with flooded cells
that need a watch on outgassing, and plenty of acid... The AGM's basically
use a 'starved' electrolyte in a mat of glass fibres, a highly efficient
recombination of gasses with seals that only open if things go wrong, can
operate in any orientation, etc, so I guess they'd use those now. But it's
still lead acid, and it's a great technology. Until Li-ion came, I think it
had no challengers.

I'm waiting for sodium batteries. I think those might be like the (in)famous
Terminator 3 power cell that got thrown out of that moving car in the
movie... Even if nowhere near that bad, I think it might be a long wait while
safety is developed for them.



That was quite a long time ago and the trend now days is to used
"sealed" batteries..(the non-leaking type). I am converting over my last
"flooded" stationary battery installation this year...

philo wrote in :

That was quite a long time ago and the trend now days is to used
"sealed" batteries..(the non-leaking type). I am converting over my last
"flooded" stationary battery installation this year...


That might mean more common sealed types. Hopefully they will be cheaper and
easier to get next time I need some. Enersys SBS170A is what I have now.

philo wrote in :

Since Iran was able to "capture" a drone...
then it's got technology we no longer want


Well this is what happens when we let genies out of bottles... But Iran is
smart. They're in the genie-bottling business too. In the long run I doubt
they'll be a threat. They just want to make themselves indispensible.



BTW: here is the bottom side of the radio

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...a.162937037067
007.41454.100000521360508&type=1&ref=nf

and here is the topside


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...a.162937037067
007.41454.100000521360508&type=1&ref=nf



Those are the canned coils I meant. Exactly like those. I last saw them
like that in the mid 70's and I'n sure they were old then too. Interesting
dial, over here the names were like Hilversum, Luxembourg, Prague and such.
Yours seem to deal with even greater distances.

philo wrote in :

All I can say is that the day I caused the battery to blow up I was
wearing the proper safety equipment or things might have been a lot worse


This is why I will only use the AGM types here. If I had to sit here wearing
kevlar and a steel helmet, I can think of more likely occupations for it.
One upside of being so close to them is that in the unlikely event somethign
went wrong, I'd hear it before it got bad. I heard the occasional crackign of
the old ones I got rid of. At the time I never realised what the source of
the sound was (I put it down to slow drying and cracking of plaster on
plasterboard walls until I saw the damage a month later), but if I heard it
now I know exactly where I'd look first.

When I first put these new ones in, I deliberately tried to catch hydrogen in
upturned tins on the edge of the table covering them, when the sun was
strongest on the panels, just to see if any was produced. I'd take them out
into the yard, after capping them, and try to ignite the gas. I never found
anything that would ignite.

"Lostgallifreyan" wrote in message
. ..
philo wrote in :

Since Iran was able to "capture" a drone...
then it's got technology we no longer want



Those are the canned coils I meant. Exactly like those. I last saw them
like that in the mid 70's and I'n sure they were old then too. Interesting
dial, over here the names were like Hilversum, Luxembourg, Prague and
such.
Yours seem to deal with even greater distances.


I'll have to connect a good antenna and see what I can get!

"Lostgallifreyan" wrote in message
.. .
philo wrote in :

That was quite a long time ago and the trend now days is to used
"sealed" batteries..(the non-leaking type). I am converting over my last
"flooded" stationary battery installation this year...


That might mean more common sealed types. Hopefully they will be cheaper
and
easier to get next time I need some. Enersys SBS170A is what I have now.


If you are using Enersys batteries then you are the one who signs my
paycheck


SIR!

"philo" wrote in :

If you are using Enersys batteries then you are the one who signs my
paycheck


SIR!




Awesome. But it works the other way round. If people didn't make these
amazing batteries, where would I be?

"philo" wrote in :


"Lostgallifreyan" wrote in message
. ..
philo wrote in :

Since Iran was able to "capture" a drone...
then it's got technology we no longer want



Those are the canned coils I meant. Exactly like those. I last saw them
like that in the mid 70's and I'n sure they were old then too. Interesting
dial, over here the names were like Hilversum, Luxembourg, Prague and
such.
Yours seem to deal with even greater distances.


I'll have to connect a good antenna and see what I can get!




Go for long and low if you can. I have to do with 9 metres straight upwards
surrounded by 4 floor buildings. But it's better than nothing. I swear that
20 years ago I could listen to a few SW stations on a small consumer-type
radio with a 3 foot telescpic whip while inside in the basement, but not now.
Way too much noise to hear anything but mush that way now.

Got to sleep or my brains will be mush. And I'm expecting delivery of a few
10K log pots I have to sign for..

"Lostgallifreyan" wrote in message
. ..
"philo" wrote in :

If you are using Enersys batteries then you are the one who signs my
paycheck


SIR!




Awesome. But it works the other way round. If people didn't make these
amazing batteries, where would I be?


LOL


cu later I'm pulling the big switch!