Recent content by y_p_w

I’m just hinting that MEMS gyros are ubiquitous and relatively cheap. And likely to replace some more expensive technologies. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rogerhall-lxm_new-mems-gyros-drive-aviation-innovation-activity-7182572139420508160-JR4B

Don’t know the details, but I was thinking more like micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) gyros. These are found in most smartphones and tablets these days where they can be used for gaming and possibly navigation. But of course they might also know position using GPS and Wi-Fi positioning...

That’s typically where the neutral wire is hooked up to the ground terminal? This house is almost all 2-prong outlets, but I haven’t tested any of the few 3-prong outlets. It already has GFCI outlets in the kitchen and bathrooms, but I suppose I can physically inspect those to see if they’re...

So I picked up the 12-pack of GFCI outlets ordered from Amazon and delivered to a locker (darn you to heck porch pirates). They’re a bit different. I suppose they already thought of protecting the side terminals, where each one comes with two plastic clips that snap in and cover the screw...

Didn’t have to go to work today so I’m day drinking at Almanac Brewing in Alameda, California. Interesting spot here at the former NAS Alameda, now known as Alameda Point. There are a whole bunch of repurposed aircraft hangers, although it looks like the building that Almanac uses was built...

I’ve sort of had it. It was at the Kempinski Xiamen in China where we were staying. It was made at the onsite brewpub, so it wasn’t imported. We got a coupon for a free beer with our stay. https://www.paulaner-brauhaus-xiamen.com/en/

GPS reprogramming was the plot of a Bond movie. Stealing a GPS encoder was part of the plot, but I don't understand why it would be so recognizable. I work in the electronics industry, and the box that electronics come in can be very different. If I were asking someone to do that kind of...

I believe most navigation systems still have inertial navigation using gyroscopes. My wife was insistent that spoofing, jamming, or destroying GPS would mean that most air/surface to surface guided weapons systems would be useless, but I tried explaining that inertial navigation was common...

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...