Rick's b.log - entry 2024/10/24

Range Anxiety Panic

Setting off this morning.

However, the anxiety kicked in hard. Because, without using the heater and driving sort of normally, this is what happened after the 13km (8 mile) journey to work. It's not exactly 13km, but it's close enough. Actually, it's less, my speedo/odo reads about 10% over. But for the sake of argument let's just say 13 in metric and 8 in ye olde kinges meafurmente.

It used how much?!?

That was... Not Good™

If it was going to chew through a quarter of the battery to do such a short distance, would I be able to make it back home? If not, then what? I understand that the battery is non-linear (which is why it really pisses me off that it has a linear scale), which means down in that scary red part it's only going to fly by even faster. Like, Hey! Rick! You did nearly fifty five kilometres on the top half of the battery. Well, good luck getting more than a third of that from the rest.
<Nelson> Ha-Ha! </Nelson>

So I skipped eating at work and popped out to a nearby fast food place with a charger station. It had two petrol-filler style attachments, one of which was hooked to a Tesla, and something that said 'C'. So I opened the flap and... yeah... whatever the hell that is, it isn't something a regular plug is going to fit into. Plus, despite having two bays and potentially three ways to charge, I wasn't sure about how exactly I'd have charged myself with the Tesla there. The credit card reader appeared to be wanted paid €40.

I looked online and saw that the nearby supermarket had a charger, which appeared to support standard 230V plugs. Well, it would if it had worked. I don't know if the charger was 'down' or the website was just wrong when it said "Offline", but given as by now I was looking at the prospect of driving home and hoping, I wasn't going to go look when I didn't know where the charger actually was.

I went back to work and parked out front, by this time I was bang on a quarter.
Last ditch idea. Rang the doorbell, nothing. Waited a little and rang again. Eventually somebody answered, so I asked if I could speak to my boss or the big boss. No, we're all in a meeting, what do you want? So I explained, and very nicely she said to try plugging it in over there for a while, and she'd tell my boss/big boss what was happening and that she said I could.
So I took my break, and many cups of well-earned tea, in my car with it plugged in to a socket stuck on the wall. I managed to get about half an hour of charge into it, what with being about 2kW would have been... a unit. But, it dragged the needle to half way between quarter and half. I still had anxiety, but it was much less because: warmer (autumn afternoon), no need for headlights, and no need for heating. In fact, the only pitfalls are two hills to climb, but the second one is right next to my access lane so if the battery craps out there, I can let it coast down the hill and then once it's on my access lane, just get out and push.

After a little jolt from work.

And, now, this is where the story gets really weird. In the evening I set out to go home and as I drove across the car park I saw the gauge go up a step, then another. I took this photo just before turning onto the road.

As I was going home...?

It went up another couple of steps, but no photo because town driving. I want to emphasise the up part of this upness because I'm no electrical engineer nor have I been to Uni, and I'm just about smart enough to be dangerous... but I'm pretty certain that battery capacity plus load equals diminishing amounts of capacity, right? Or have I got reality wrong somehow?

This is what the power level was by the time I got home. So it used slightly less power to get home, but it still dropped rather rapidly. There's a pretty good chance that without the half hour at work, I'd not have made it back.

By the time I got home.

To put this into context, from a full charge, it uses less than a quarter (1 to ¾) to do the journey, and it used 1 to ½ to do it twice with intemittent use of the heater to keep the windscreen clear.

But, on the other hand, those other days it was foggy because it was damp and warm. Today it was colder.

It seems that my battery is happy when it is twenty-something. It's not so happy when it is ten-something. And god help us both when it's zero, because hey, winter is a thing in this country...

Clearly I must consider in the colder weather that the useful range is between 1 and ½. If it is about or less than half, charge. Sorry, I'm not going to run the battery down for a fuller charge like I have been doing, I'm not going through that again, and I certainly don't want to abuse my employer's generosity. Helping me out of an unexpected sticky situation is one thing, but making a habit of it would be unacceptable. Plus, as it would seem, there isn't any readily available public place to charge. It's either the wrong sort of connection or it doesn't work. Or in the case of Lidl, bays set aside for electric cars with a note that chargers will be installed, but no information on when that'll actually happen.
So, short of carrying a genny in the back, which would be a bit ridiculous, what to do?

Anaglyph

Here's an example that I knocked up in PhotoDesk:

This was a glitch in an older version of Tea (I've not fixed it as I've not seen it again) where it popped up a warning that the CBBC series Malory Towers was about to start, but it included the programme information for Assassination Nation, which was the next programme scheduled, so a simple off-by-one but clearly not something that was inclined to repeat (unless tweaking something fixed it and I wasn't aware?).
Whatever, I thought the juxaposition of the two was hilarious. It's what happens when Enid Blyton's cosy boarding school drama (with all its midnight feasts and impossibly goodie-two-shoes girls) goes all Lord Of The Flies, right?

That was made in PhotoDesk by:

• Click on the scissors icon (third from the right).
• Click on Extend, and then add five pixels to the RIGHT. Click the tick button to do it.
• Call up the channels (second button from the left).
• Click on #1 Red to show only it. Click MENU -> Channel 'Red' -> Save, and drag to Paint.
• Click on the palette icon (third from the right), then click on the pencil (fifth from the right).
• In the Drawing Tools window, click on the filled rectangle.
• Click on the jam jar icon (fourth from the left). Choose white (255) in the colours that appear.
• Drag out a rectangle that covers the picture. This will make the contents of the red channel disappear.
• Now save the sprite from Paint into the PhotoDesk window.
• In the "Graphic Rendering" window that appears, set the X offset to 5. Click on Render.
• Now in the Channels window, choose #0 RGB to view the result.
• If it's not good, go back to the Red channel, clear it, save the sprite from Paint, try a different offset...

This makes the image seem to 'pop' a little, but it isn't proper 3D as for that to work, things would need to have different offsets to give the illusion of depth.

These are the glasses that I'm using. They came from Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/8f9aUt1

They are not proper glasses, it's just the regular red and cyan pieces of coloured plastic rather than proper lenses, but in a frame that more closely resembles proper glasses. This is because those crappy cardboard things hurt my ears. This lot was €7,99 from Amazon, so basically two euros each. I could get it cheaper from China if I didn't mind waiting for an eternity.
Oh, and that's literally how it arrived. They just stuck the shipping label onto the other side of the plastic wrapper and, well, now my postie knows I'm rocking 3D glasses like it's the eighties all over again.

And if you put them on, like Doctor Jacoby of Twin Peaks, you'll see...

Why? Because there's something coming for the RISC OS scene that makes use of 3D. No, I haven't made a 3D version of my girl-hunts-ghosts game, so don't waste your time asking. It's something else by somebody else. I shall say no more, other than if you happen to have a pair of these red/cyan glasses in a drawer or DVD box someplace, it might be worth your while checking they're still there. You know, just in case.

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David Pilling, 25th October 2024, 12:56

I guess the car experience will be the way of the future, including scavenging for power. Petrol gauges are not linear either.  I wonder if there is scope for a more accurate add on that looks at the current being used.  If your display is working off battery voltage, that might vary with temperature as well as how much energy is stored.  Used to be an old trick warming batteries up to squeeze out extra juice. Capacity may really be different at lower temps. Another reason to pre-heat on ground power before setting off.  All this stuff will become common wisdom.

Rick, 25th October 2024, 14:39

In the dystopian future, one should leave a socket dangling out of the letterbox in order to avoid being broken into by somebody who needs a charge right here right now.    I would hope, given the amount of smarts in the battery (it tracks maximum drive current and maximum charge current among other things) that it would be a little bit smarter than simply looking at the voltage.

C Ferris, 25th October 2024, 19:11

Your connector is Level 1 (Granny) there are adapters from common Level 2 to Level 1

David Pilling, 25th October 2024, 19:21

Always that thing, "how do you think it works", magic? Perhaps voltage is all they have.     Question is the battery capacity fixed or does it depend on temperature.    Seems it does depend on temp., to the point they actually sometimes heat the battery to keep it at the optimal temperature. Damage to the battery if discharged at low temps.    Optimal temp is 70-80F.    Market for emergency charge - pull out a solar panel, or bicycle generator. Or as they keep saying a petrol generator. Maybe a one use fuel cell. A bit like phones, but much bigger capacity.    Hints and tips: "How does cold weather affect EV battery capacity?" on octopus energy site.    Charge when warm, store in a garage.    Anyway if it warmed up the range could increase. People going to wait for sunshine to get home?

C Ferris, 25th October 2024, 19:58

Warm up battery by charging - while you have breakfast - take the cat for a walk :-)

C Ferris, 25th October 2024, 20:04

Does the place you bought the car from offer a Level 2 charging option?

Rick, 25th October 2024, 21:20

I have no idea what levels are.    Over here it seems to be:  Type 2 / C (AC)  Type L (DC)  Domestic socket (AC)    There may be others, but those are the two common, and the socket that most things can plug into for slow charging.

C Ferris, 25th October 2024, 21:30

Level = Type

C Ferris, 25th October 2024, 21:35

Level 1 = Domestic socket.    I think the other is Tesla.

C Ferris, 25th October 2024, 21:42

At the moment it seems - Level/Type 2 is the most common - there are Level 2 to Tesla converters.  Some sites have leads to the cars - some you have to carry your own cable.

C Ferris, 26th October 2024, 21:37

Which Level 1 car does Rick own?

David Pilling, 27th October 2024, 12:20

There is a photo of the connector here:  https://heyrick.eu/blog/index.php?diary=20240630  blog entry 2024/06/30  Seems to be just one phase.   "It is wired up with Earth being the centre pin. Neutral is the bottom pin (N). Live is the leftmost pin (R1).  The other two pins (S2 and T3) are not connected. Maybe these are for cars that charge off three phase, or something? The connector seems to be inspired by the Type 1 charger cable,"

A tree-dwelling mammal, 28th October 2024, 09:23

This is why I'm sticking with recycled dinosaur juice for the time being.

C Ferris, 28th October 2024, 23:25

You could use plant based Diesel:-)

A tree-dwelling mammal, 29th October 2024, 01:01

There's a big sticker on the inside of the filler flap saying "do not use biodiesel". Apparently the high sulphur content of plant-based biodiesel can wreck the seals in the engine.

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