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Re: dymt reloaded

Fri Jul 03, 2015 9:00 pm

Sounds like the APC has got a really crappy switchmode power supply in it to power the internal electronics. Or the Lepai is really sensitive to EMI. Or both.
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localhostrulez
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Re: dymt reloaded

Fri Jul 03, 2015 9:16 pm

Probably both - the Lepai is picky about power, with its' switching T-amp chip. Needs to be grounded unless you want a hum, for one. (Likely since my source is grounded, which is non-negotiable - my PC and the monitors connected to it.) And the APC likes to make hums and whines even by itself, with nothing plugged into it. Basically the cheapest barely-functional UPS they could make. Not worth it, if you ask me.
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Fri Jul 03, 2015 10:08 pm

Our phone switches got fried yesterday at work when lightening hit the building overnight. I've never seen a building that got struck by lightening before; thankfully no real fires started. Blew the UPS, blew the switch, just blew it all the hell. Impressive mess to find first thing in the AM
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Re: dymt reloaded

Fri Jul 03, 2015 10:10 pm

localhostrulez wrote:
Well, I finally tried my APC Backups 550 thing again.
I have 2 APC 550s and 2 750s. Only my 'fridge is not on a UPS. A fully charged 750 can definitely run my coffee pot for 4 cups of coffee.

A few years back, there was a run of about 3 weeks where most mornings between 5 and 6am, the power would wink out just long enough to kill a PC and my alarm clock. Most days it would be back in a second or so, some days it would be out for a few minutes at a time. On the days when the power winked out in the morning, it would wink out again around lunch time or early evening. Apparently, the neighborhood was being rewired.

I'm at the point now, where if the power goes out, I can only tell if I see the ceiling fans spin down. With about 5x the 12V storage, I could (almost) go off the grid.
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Fri Jul 03, 2015 10:17 pm

When my latest APC UPS died several months ago, I decided to give CyberPower a try on my gaming PC. So far, so good. I have a smaller UPS for my cable modem, router, switch, Ooma and TiVo.
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Re: dymt reloaded

Fri Jul 03, 2015 10:50 pm

Just had a street vendor bacon-wrapped hotdog. It was delicious...
Last edited by DrDominodog51 on Sat Jul 04, 2015 11:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: dymt reloaded

Fri Jul 03, 2015 11:03 pm

paulWTAMU wrote:
I've never seen a building that got struck by lightening before; thankfully no real fires started.
7 or 8 years ago, a dual-socket SuperMicro motherboard in my office at work got killed by what I assume was lightening. At the very least, it died on a night when there were crazy big thunderstorms with an amazing amount of lightening. This motherboard has dual 8-pin CPU power connectors, one of which got thoroughly burnt. I scraped off the connector back to bare metal and swapped out the power supply. There was just enough plastic left to hold the 8pin CPU power connector in place. Other than the dead power supply, the only other fatality was the little fan on the chipset cooler, and occasional single-bit memory errors caught by ECC.
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Fri Jul 03, 2015 11:36 pm

MarkG509 wrote:
localhostrulez wrote:
Well, I finally tried my APC Backups 550 thing again.
I have 2 APC 550s and 2 750s. Only my 'fridge is not on a UPS. A fully charged 750 can definitely run my coffee pot for 4 cups of coffee.

A few years back, there was a run of about 3 weeks where most mornings between 5 and 6am, the power would wink out just long enough to kill a PC and my alarm clock. Most days it would be back in a second or so, some days it would be out for a few minutes at a time. On the days when the power winked out in the morning, it would wink out again around lunch time or early evening. Apparently, the neighborhood was being rewired.

I'm at the point now, where if the power goes out, I can only tell if I see the ceiling fans spin down. With about 5x the 12V storage, I could (almost) go off the grid.

How's the quality of them? My APC 550 does work when I pull the plug - it's just the EMI that gets me. I'm picky about high pitched noises from equipment. And don't even think about interfering with my speakers. :wink:

Unrelated note: Toyota uses timing chains (yes!), but Honda uses belts for the cars I'm looking at. On the other hand, it's harder to get a 3.5mm jack in the Toyotas. There's that period of new enough to not have a tape deck, old enough to not have analog input. And Toyota didn't seem to like compact little boxy stereos at the time (unlike Honda), making replacements harder. Well, assuming I care about the look anyway. :lol: Though there are apparently 3.5mm adapters that plug into the back where a 6-CD changer would probably go. Decisions, decisions...
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Sat Jul 04, 2015 1:27 am

localhostrulez wrote:
How's the quality of them?
Never noticed a problem, machines etc. just keep running. When on battery they emit a bit of a buzz, but no other issues/noises. I use APC's PowerChute to turn off the smoke-alarm sound when the power's out. To be honest, I actually opened up the first of the 550s and clipped off the buzzer before I found out that PowerChute could permanently disable the alarm. :oops:

I eventually had to replace the batteries on the 550's. Interestingly, both 550's batteries died on the same day, though there were no power outages around that time. The 2 750s are at least 6 years old and still on the original batteries.

localhostrulez wrote:
Unrelated note: Toyota uses timing chains (yes!)
Strongly agree! I once changed a timing belt myself. Took me a whole weekend. Never again. Chilton's repair manuals tell you almost everything you need to know.
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Sat Jul 04, 2015 5:28 am

The problem is when chains or their guides wear out. A timing belt job can be OK (some cars it's incredibly easy), or it can be a real pain.

A timing chain job on an overhead cam engine will be a colossal pain, to the point that it may be easier and (due to labor costs) cheaper to replace the engine in some cases.

That said, if the chain system has been designed correctly (double-row, avoiding plastic guides, and a durable tensioner), they're fine. But, a lot of timing chain systems take shortcuts to save money.

And, Chilton and Haynes suck. Manufacturer-approved repair manuals tend to be better, especially in combination with forums that have good how-tos for specific jobs posted..
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Re: dymt reloaded

Sun Jul 05, 2015 12:10 am

bhtooefr wrote:
A timing chain job on an overhead cam engine will be a colossal pain.
1980 Fiat Spyder 2000, double-overhead-CAM. Garage queen for 'her' first year until I needed to commute[1] from Long Island to NYC. By '82, needed new clutch and timing belt...just wasn't designed for that. My parents wouldn't let me do the work at their house, but my Aunt didn't quite know to object, until she saw my transmission on her kitchen table.

[1] There's just nothing quite like[3] sitting in bridge tolls traffic on a 90deg Friday afternoon, popping 2 clips, ripping the top down, reaching back to secure the top with at least 1 of the 2 rubber tie-down straps, and continuing about my business of getting home to study.
[2] Once (very late for an Orgo Final) made it in 36 minutes[4], usually allocated 1.5hrs, or 2hrs for the 8:30am class.
[3] There definitely better, and definitely worse, but that's another thread.
[4] The Statue of Limitations has surely run out, but I'm not admitting anything.
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Sun Jul 05, 2015 12:42 am

Toyota's timing chains sound fine though, from what I've read.

Come to think of it - the only thing is it seems like Toyotas (ex. mid 2000's Camry's and a lot of others) seem to have valve steam seal issues, and they tend to leak/burn off a little oil as a result (blue smoke on startup). Which, by the way, is exactly what happened to my mom's 02 Highlander. Seems like six of one, half a dozen of the other.

I'm also wondering if manual will be noticeably more reliable (and I kinda like the idea of shifting myself anyway). Then again, traffic and possibly trading off driving at times...

Edit: Blabbing to myself here: from home to uni is ~550mi. I've never actually timed it, but at 70mph (I usually do a little more on flat parts, maybe less in the mountains) that's 8 hours of actual driving. Might be more doable by myself than I initially thought (no trading off drivers).
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:15 am

Truer words have never been spoken, FTR, this is from my daily newsrag and refers to a dispute over a tree rooted on one lot but annoying the other lot.

“It’s sort of like a divorce, It gets settled when both parties feel like they’ve been screwed equally.”

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/stor ... /29719293/
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Re: dymt reloaded

Sun Jul 05, 2015 6:03 pm

notfred wrote:
Wireless is a mess. The certification authority Wi-Fi Alliance is more of a marketing thing than a technical thing. I have to deal with wifi stuff at $dayjob and try to dodge it and send it to colleague as much as possible as it drives me insane.

That's good to know I guess. Totally frustrating. I don't even need Wi-Fi in my PC other than if I want to try something, out like this, so that was like $10 out the window.
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Re: dymt reloaded

Sun Jul 05, 2015 9:37 pm

JustAnEngineer wrote:
When my latest APC UPS died several months ago, I decided to give CyberPower a try on my gaming PC. So far, so good. I have a smaller UPS for my cable modem, router, switch, Ooma and TiVo.

I've been using the 1350 version of that Cyberpower for about 3 1/2 years now. Everything has been peachy so far, though a recent self-test had the battery capacity drop down to 38% almost instantly with 178w of load. Another 6 months and it might be time to replace the batteries ($67 for genuine on Amazon). 4 years is pretty mediocre. The batteries in the 1500 look substantially larger, so hopefully you'll get you 5 years or more.
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:06 pm

The Egg wrote:
I've been using the 1350 version of that Cyberpower for about 3 1/2 years now. Everything has been peachy so far, though a recent self-test had the battery capacity drop down to 38% almost instantly with 178w of load. Another 6 months and it might be time to replace the batteries ($67 for genuine on Amazon). 4 years is pretty mediocre. The batteries in the 1500 look substantially larger, so hopefully you'll get you 5 years or more.

Larger batteries doesn't equate to longer life. I suppose if you're not using the UPS at anywhere near full capacity you might still get acceptable runtime even with batteries that are past their EOL. IMO 5 years is pushing it; 3-4 is more typical.
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Re: dymt reloaded

Mon Jul 06, 2015 8:04 am

Yup, the lead acid batteries in a UPS die from age after being kept warm. Cold (without freezing the electrolyte) is the best thing for lead acid life, but the worst thing for getting power out of them. JBI's estimates are bang on what I expect of UPS battery life.
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Mon Jul 06, 2015 8:07 am

I'm not looking forward to when I have to replace my UPS's batteries.

It's a APC 2U 1500VA UPS, with a tray of four packs glued down.

Oh well, probably got another year or two before I have to do that, and I keep the thing very lightly loaded (around 15-20%). And, I can't complain too much - I've had the thing for about 3-3.5 years now, and got it for $150 brand new (but missing the rails) from Goodwill.
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Re: dymt reloaded

Mon Jul 06, 2015 9:42 am

just brew it! wrote:
Larger batteries doesn't equate to longer life. I suppose if you're not using the UPS at anywhere near full capacity you might still get acceptable runtime even with batteries that are past their EOL. IMO 5 years is pushing it; 3-4 is more typical.
Even if the load is the same? Given the same load, I would've expected more battery material to equal more stored charge. Either way, my assumption was based more on very poor experiences with nearly all smaller UPS's. Maybe I should revise that to non-tower style units; we have a few BR700 tower units at work which have been decent.
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Mon Jul 06, 2015 10:15 am

I've got an MGE Pulsar ESV 22+ rackmount UPS running my server / modem / switch etc in the basement. I got it free out of an ewaste bin with dead batteries in it. When I need new batteries I get the replacements from Digikey and just move the connector wiring across and tape the batteries together. All UPS batteries are standard Sealed Lead Acid batteries just taped together and some wiring, I refuse to pay $100+ for tape and connectors. You may have to dismantle your current (haha) pack to find the markings on them and work out what the replacements should be.
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Mon Jul 06, 2015 10:39 am

The Egg wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
Larger batteries doesn't equate to longer life. I suppose if you're not using the UPS at anywhere near full capacity you might still get acceptable runtime even with batteries that are past their EOL. IMO 5 years is pushing it; 3-4 is more typical.

Even if the load is the same? Given the same load, I would've expected more battery material to equal more stored charge. Either way, my assumption was based more on very poor experiences with nearly all smaller UPS's. Maybe I should revise that to non-tower style units; we have a few BR700 tower units at work which have been decent.

In my experience, the issue is that once the batteries go bad, you typically get only a few seconds of runtime, pretty much irrespective of load.
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Re: dymt reloaded

Mon Jul 06, 2015 12:18 pm

The batteries in a UPS are constantly being charged and drained similar to how a car battery would be. Usage might have some impact on lifetime, but the chemical reaction has a shelf life, and you can probably count on a battery failure once you hit that rated usage period. Even if your batteries have (had) a larger charge capacity, everything is tied to the chemistry. No chemistry = no charging = no stored charge.

With car battieries, you really can guess when you'll need a jump based on when you last replaced yours (just add 60 months).
On second thought, let's not go to TechReport. It's infested by crypto bull****.
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Mon Jul 06, 2015 12:38 pm

superjawes wrote:
The batteries in a UPS are constantly being charged and drained similar to how a car battery would be. Usage might have some impact on lifetime, but the chemical reaction has a shelf life, and you can probably count on a battery failure once you hit that rated usage period. Even if your batteries have (had) a larger charge capacity, everything is tied to the chemistry. No chemistry = no charging = no stored charge.

Hmm.....I always thought it was only pulling through the battery when there's a power event. For instance, on my current model, the fan kicks on whenever the battery is used, but is otherwise off. I don't have much experience with enterprise-grade models though.
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Mon Jul 06, 2015 12:45 pm

localhostrulez wrote:
I'm also wondering if manual will be noticeably more reliable (and I kinda like the idea of shifting myself anyway).

Depends mainly on how you drive. Gently driven, especially with lots of highway miles, a manual on a compact/economy car can go 150k+ miles between services, even if you never change the gear oil. Drive like a hoon, and you'll blow out a synchro or shred a clutch within weeks or months. (Speaking as someone who recently spent nearly $2300 for a tranny rebuild and clutch replacement on a 2002 Celica GT-S.) A huge chunk of the labor is just getting a few hundred pounds of mechanical bits uninstalled from one of the most awkward locations on the vehicle, and then putting it back together again, regardless of whether it is manual or automatic.
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Re: dymt reloaded

Mon Jul 06, 2015 1:14 pm

The Egg wrote:
superjawes wrote:
The batteries in a UPS are constantly being charged and drained similar to how a car battery would be. Usage might have some impact on lifetime, but the chemical reaction has a shelf life, and you can probably count on a battery failure once you hit that rated usage period. Even if your batteries have (had) a larger charge capacity, everything is tied to the chemistry. No chemistry = no charging = no stored charge.

Hmm.....I always thought it was only pulling through the battery when there's a power event. For instance, on my current model, the fan kicks on whenever the battery is used, but is otherwise off. I don't have much experience with enterprise-grade models though.

I think it depends. I forget what it's called, but there are some that constantly pull power through the battery (basically isolating it from the grid), and others that normally run on AC power, but quickly switch to battery when AC power is lost. For example, my cheap APC backups 550. Plug a fan into it, and it runs perfectly on AC power, but slow (due to the stepped wave rather than sine wave output) the instant you switch to battery. If I plug a light in, I can see it flicker as it switches (though my PCs don't seem to notice).

ludi wrote:
localhostrulez wrote:
I'm also wondering if manual will be noticeably more reliable (and I kinda like the idea of shifting myself anyway).

Depends mainly on how you drive. Gently driven, especially with lots of highway miles, a manual on a compact/economy car can go 150k+ miles between services, even if you never change the gear oil. Drive like a hoon, and you'll blow out a synchro or shred a clutch within weeks or months. (Speaking as someone who recently spent nearly $2300 for a tranny rebuild and clutch replacement on a 2002 Celica GT-S.) A huge chunk of the labor is just getting a few hundred pounds of mechanical bits uninstalled from one of the most awkward locations on the vehicle, and then putting it back together again, regardless of whether it is manual or automatic.

What's the chance of needing a transmission rebuild though? I get that I may need to replace the clutch if I get a manual (particularly for higher mileage cars) since those are consumable parts, but what about on the auto side? And then there's the whole thing about mileage being unequal - something like city miles being twice as harsh or more as highway miles? (Most cars I've seen do rather like it when I cruise down I-5 at 70+ MPH with cruise control, all in 5th gear, constant RPMs. I even get better than rated highway mileage this way, despite the speed.)
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Mon Jul 06, 2015 6:36 pm

localhostrulez wrote:
What's the chance of needing a transmission rebuild though? I get that I may need to replace the clutch if I get a manual (particularly for higher mileage cars) since those are consumable parts, but what about on the auto side?

Here's a few things I've picked up as a lifetime manual driver:

Clutch:

1. Look at the firewall inside the passenger compartment around the master cylinder. If you see dust and oil accumulation on the cylinder body, the firewall behind it, or in the carpet below, the master cylinder is leaking and needs to be replaced. Typically the slave cylinder should be done at the same time.

2. With the engine off and the hood open, have someone else engage and disengage the clutch several times. You will hear mechanical noise from the bell housing but you should not hear any squeaking, clattering, or metalic scraping. If you do, the clutch pack could be breaking apart, and if it has gone off-balance then the transmission is potentially damaged as well.

3. With the engine running and the car in neutral, fully disengage the clutch and then gradually release it again. If you hear excessive whine or clatter at full release or at the point of engagement, but not when the clutch is fully engaged, then either the pilot bearing or the release bearing is probably failing.

4. Walk through the shift pattern with the car standing still and the clutch disengaged to get a feel for the linkage. Then, compare that to how the gear changes occur while driving. Transfers between adjacent gears at mid-RPM speeds should not be excessively difficult compared to standing still. If they are, then the clutch is not disengaging correctly.

Transmission:

1. Listen for any persistent hum or whine that varies with vehicle speed, only occurs while the clutch is engaged, and seems centered near the engine bay, which generally means it's occurring downstream of the flywheel but ahead of the outer axles. Typically indicates a failing bearing in the transmission.

2. Let the car coast down from a high speed and downshift through the whole range to force engine braking. There will be some resistance from the synchros, but if the transmission fights and makes a grinding noise going into a lower gear, particularly around 1st or 2nd, it probably has a bad synchro due to aggressive shifting.

3. Cruise at highway speeds (at least 45-50mph) and rest your hand against the shift lever in each of the top two gears. For each, accelerate and let off a few times. Each time you accelerate you may feel the shift lever push back slightly toward neutral, but it should not travel excessively or 'jump.' If it does, the unit probably has excessive wear from extended highway driving.

4. If you have enough time with the vehicle, drain the transmission gear oil and run it through a paint filter. If you get chunks, run. If you see any dust in the filter, try a magnet and a flashlight. If the magnet takes it, you've got steel from gear or bearing wear. If you get sparklies but the magnet won't pick it up, it's brass from the synchros. And if you get neither, then it's probably bits of plastic or fiber from a random washer or spacer. Any manual transmission will have a small amount of this stuff if the oil hasn't been changed in many miles, but it should be less than a fingerprint's worth.
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Re: dymt reloaded

Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:58 pm

Heading out bright and early tomorrow to judge at the Indiana Brewers' Cup. Gotta love government sanctioned drinking! :D
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Re: dymt reloaded

Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:31 pm

At work (school district), we were commenting on how slow all the teacher machines are. And I mentioned how my SSD-equipped machine is the fastest 8200 they'll ever see, unless the district phases out spinning drives. Waiting for things to load with the hard drive light lit solid after booting? What is this crap? Speaking of which - you can buy a 500GB WD for $41. Or a 128GB Sandisk for $53 - looks very decent actually. Not like most teachers will use the extra space anyway. Now when will companies start shipping the damn things in anything other than super expensive machines (or tiny drives for netbooks/tablets)...
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Sat Jul 11, 2015 7:08 pm

So, I might have a chance to get a Polk PSW10 (10") sub fairly cheaply. $50 perhaps. Think that's worth it, considering I'm still using the Lepai amp? Seems like the bookshelf speakers get most of it right, but headphones show a few missing lows in some songs. That, and supposedly a sub lets the main speakers concentrate more on other frequencies, and do them better. Hmm. I also found a Denon AVR-1709 for $50 - overkill for my needs (no way I'm ever going 7.1, and it's big), but the sound quality might be better than the Lepai. (And, ground issues with the Lepai...)
 
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Re: dymt reloaded

Sat Jul 11, 2015 7:41 pm

Sub only helps the bookshelf speakers if a high-pass crossover is built in to keep the lows from ever getting to the satellites. If the Polk has one, it'll be RCA line-level from source to sub, then RCA line-level from the high-pass filtered outputs on the sub to the Lepai.

I'd be shocked to find that the Denon doesn't have this built in, so it'd be RCA from the Denon's sub output to the Polk and speaker outputs to the satellites. Balancing will be the tricky part.

EDIT: After pulling up the pics, the PSW10 doesn't have line-level outputs, only speaker outputs. With the Lepai, this means speaker output to sub, then to speakers.

http://www.polkaudio.com/psw10/d/1007
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