u/jrewillis

Upgraded our campervan electrics: 105Ah → 473Ah lithium and 1000W → 3000W inverter after a year of use previously.

One of the best upgrades we've made to the van has been massively increasing the battery and inverter capacity.

We went from a Fogstar 105Ah lithium battery to a Fogstar Drift 460Ah, which actually tested at 473.3Ah, and swapped our 1000W inverter for a 3000W Renogy.

It's completely changed how we use the van. We've pretty much stopped thinking about conserving electricity. It is so much less stressful!

We cook for three people using a dual induction hob, boil the kettle multiple times a day for tea and coffee, charge phones and tablets, and run the MaxxAir fan, lights, fridge and all the usual 12V stuff.

Even doing all of that, we've never managed to drop the battery below 60% in a day this summer.

We've also got 350W of solar, which on a decent summer day puts a lot of what we've used straight back in. Most days we're back up to, or very close to, 100% without needing EHU. We also have 50A B2B so our alternator runs whilst we drive and tops up. Although it really isn't needed that much.

Obviously winter will be a different test, but for summer touring it's basically made our electrical system feel unlimited.

The 105Ah battery was perfectly usable, but having nearly 6kWh of battery capacity and a 3kW inverter means we can now use the van much more like we would at home without constantly watching the battery percentage.

Anyone else gone massively oversized on their battery bank and found there's no going back?

Anyone else having Octopus Home Mini issues this week?

My Home Mini has suddenly stopped providing live electricity data after being rock solid previously (for over 2 years).

It’s still connected to Wi-Fi and visible on my router, but the Octopus app isn’t showing the live data properly. My half-hourly smart meter data has also been delayed/intermittent.

I’ve noticed a few other people mentioning similar problems over the last couple of days, so I’m wondering whether there’s a wider Octopus/Kraken issue rather than individual Home Minis suddenly failing.

Poll: Is your Home Mini working normally?

UPDATE: Interesting results so far. Of the 105 people who've voted and actually have a Home Mini, 30 (29%) are reporting problems this week, with 23 (22%) saying theirs has completely stopped.

Mine has now started working again after a power cycle. It stayed connected to Wi-Fi throughout, but wasn't providing live data properly. Since rebooting, live data is back and today's usage is being populated, although yesterday's data is still missing.

Obviously there's some selection bias in a Reddit poll, but nearly 1 in 3 respondents with a Home Mini reporting issues at the same time does make a wider Octopus/Kraken issue seem more likely than lots of Minis independently failing.

View Poll

Edit: sorted now. Thank you 😊 👍🏼

Hi, I know it's a long shot - but does anyone happen to have a national trust voucher from octopus that they won't be using?

Trying to keep the cost of summer holiday trips down! if you do and are happy to pass it on please DM me.

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help!

​

Saw this today and thought it was worth sharing here.

54-year-old Graham Nash was cycling on the A65 Settle bypass at around 4:50am when he was hit from behind and killed by a van driver. (I have actually cycled that road last week!)

He had two rear lights, one on the bike and another on his helmet. Other motorists told police they had seen him. The judge said the driver had around eight or nine seconds to see him, but failed to do so.

The driver pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving. He received:

- 10 months imprisonment, suspended for two years

- 3-year driving ban

- 200 hours unpaid work

He'd also received points for using a mobile phone while driving just six months before the collision, although there was no suggestion he was using one when this happened.

The bit that gets me is the visibility. We constantly hear about hi-vis, lights, reflectors and making ourselves visible. This bloke had two rear lights, other drivers could see him, and apparently there were eight or nine seconds in which he could have been spotted.

Yet someone is dead and the person who failed to see him doesn't spend a day in prison.

I know sentencing has to take account of culpability rather than simply the consequences, and the judge was also constrained by the sentencing guidelines, but it's difficult to read this and feel that the system adequately reflects what has happened.

What do people think? Is a suspended sentence appropriate for a momentary but fatal lapse of attention, or are we still far too lenient when careless driving kills someone?

Article: https://road.cc/news/van-driver-avoids-jail-after-killing-cyclist-riding-with-two-rear-lights

no prison time. despite hitting and killing a cyclist who has 2 rear lights on.

if ever there was an example of lack of consequences for killing people with cars...

https://road.cc/news/van-driver-avoids-jail-after-killing-cyclist-riding-with-two-rear-lights

Camping in the Lake District today and at about 4pm it was like someone flicked a switch.

Within minutes there were thousands of flying ants everywhere. Every camper, caravan and tent was covered. We were cooking outside because it was too warm in the van, and they were landing in the food, on us, on the table... absolutely relentless.

The weirdest part was that loads of birds suddenly appeared and were swooping all over the campsite eating them. It was like watching a nature documentary.

I've heard of flying ant day before, but I've never experienced it. Does it always happen this intensely, or did we just get really unlucky with the timing?

Thankfully it seems to be easing off now, but for a while it was one of the most annoying things I've experienced while camping! 😂

So I decided I need to get more active. I barely move! So just got up early and we have done W1R1 of C25K - managed all 8 mins of running - but the last one was a struggle. 😂

Pretty proud to have got to the end of the run tbh. Genuinely thought I'd barely make it half way through.

My 1st gen Echo Plus has suddenly developed a strange fault after working flawlessly for about 11 years.

It still hears the wake word every time. I say "Alexa", the blue light comes on and even shows the direction my voice is coming from, so it clearly knows I'm speaking.

The problem is that after waking, it completely ignores everything I say. I can give any command and it never responds. It doesn't say "Sorry, I didn't catch that" or complain about the internet. It just sits there listening for a few seconds before timing out.

I've already tried:

- Rebooting by unplugging it.

- Checking the Wi-Fi connection.

- Speaking from different distances and directions.

The odd part is that the directional blue light follows my voice after the wake word, so the microphones don't appear to have failed.

Has anyone seen this before? Is this likely to be a hardware failure, microphone array issue, or something else? It literally started doing this two days ago after years of flawless operation.

My 1st gen Echo Plus has suddenly developed a strange fault after working flawlessly for about 11 years.

It still hears the wake word every time. I say "Alexa", the blue light comes on and even shows the direction my voice is coming from, so it clearly knows I'm speaking.

The problem is that after waking, it completely ignores everything I say. I can give any command and it never responds. It doesn't say "Sorry, I didn't catch that" or complain about the internet. It just sits there listening for a few seconds before timing out.

I've already tried:

- Rebooting by unplugging it.

- Checking the Wi-Fi connection.

- Speaking from different distances and directions.

The odd part is that the directional blue light follows my voice after the wake word, so the microphones don't appear to have failed.

Has anyone seen this before? Is this likely to be a hardware failure, microphone array issue, or something else? It literally started doing this two days ago after years of flawless operation.

My X8 Pro Max did an update to hyper OS about 2 days ago. seemed fine. but randomly (no new apps or setting changed). it boot looped constantly. eventually booting into recovery mode

Had to wipe it entirely and reinstall all apps etc.

Seems fine now, but odd how it's been fine for the first month I have had it. first OS update to cause something like this in years of using Xiaomi based phones.

Has anyone else experienced issues on their X8 Pro max recently?

Just changed my gen 1 cabin filter.

Ignore the "official" way.

Use the little slot in the glovebox to remove the cover. Then reach under and up the back of glovebox (RHD cars) to slide it out.

Refit is 2 seconds job. No need to remove the glovebox.

Significantly easier than my focus MK3 which requires either a glove box removal or lying on your back headfirst in the footwell.

https://x.com/F1BigData/status/2047679968470024648?s=20

Jean Alesi crashes extremely expensive classic Ferrari F1 car in Monaco This weekend, the annual Historic Grand Prix is taking place in Monaco. For former Ferrari driver Jean Alesi, behind the wheel of a 1969 312, the event has proven a disaster with a highly expensive crash into a wall at the bottom of the hill out of the tunnel.

Edit: original source of news article for people thinking I'm overreacting😂

https://racingnews365.com/alesi-crashes-extremely-expensive-classic-ferrari-f1-car-in-monaco