test please delete

[SueEllen]

In horticultural news, the rose I bought from the discount aisle of a nursery in a tiny pot in August for £1 has half a dozen flowers on it. All it needed was a bit of TLC, feed and repotting.

Is often the way....

[eek]

And the pile of code I wrote yesterday works against real life data - I knew it did but there is always that slight element of doubt.

Just need to create a Flow now to generate a word document - yippee.....

[NickFitz]

Popped down to check the post (it's Private Eye week!) and popped out the back to check the car's tyre pressures while I was there. The key wouldn't open it

So I came back in and dropped off the post and went out with the other key… that didn't work either. Long story short, the battery was flat. Again. Didn't even attempt to turn over

This time, I remembered that I've got one of those USB battery pack things, about the size of two fag packets or a bit smaller, that I keep in the glove compartment. Since buying it I've seen lots of "experts" on forums claiming that they're rubbish and a waste of money; but I opened the bonnet and hooked it up to the battery and the car started straight off

However, the ABS and brake warning lights stayed on. I know from past experience that, on this model, these often stay on after a flat battery, and go off again the next time the car is restarted; it's just a quirk. But even though going backwards and forwards a foot or so seemed to indicate the brakes were OK, I still didn't really want to take it out on the road with them lit, in case they weren't a false alarm this time. So I sat in the car for about twenty minutes letting it charge, while looking up "corolla abs light" on Google

Once I was bored with sitting there, I stopped it, and it started again straight away under its own power, this time without any warning lights staying on.

So then I took it for a run out to the outer ring road, so it could have a bit of a 50mph blast to help get the battery charged again. I'm hoping that will keep it going for now, i.e. until whenever I might decide to go shopping over the next couple of days

And at least I now know that the USB power pack, which cost me the princely sum of £35.99 on Amazon about four-and-a-half years ago, actually does what it's supposed to

[ladymuck]

Don't forget to recharge the battery pack!

[DoctorStrangelove]

The Strangelove Corolla benefits from two solar chargers: a 2W one and a 5W(?) one (it being twice the size of the 2W)) purchased from Maplin many moons ago & pressed into service when the Corolla didn't get enough use for the battery to stay charged for a couple of weeks.

Of course this presupposes that there's enough sun to do the business, but it's worked well all summer.

December, however, may well be Another Matter in this regard.

Inspected the shed roof next door, looks like the intemperate sunshine earlier on melted whatever I'd used to fix the felt down and the wind had lifted it up later on.

Bit of a bugger but there you go.

In other other shed/garage related news, discovered that the rodent had been chewing away rather happily on some ancient Railway Modeler magazines that used to inhabit the loft next door, so they've been moved a bit and rewrapped in fresh binbags.

Said rodents seem to have had a good old poke around in there, but I've not found one yet.

Cue a search for the rat traps that cleared the infestation from the salting house.

[WTFH]

Popped down to check the post (it's Private Eye week!) and popped out the back to check the car's tyre pressures while I was there. The key wouldn't open it

So I came back in and dropped off the post and went out with the other key… that didn't work either. Long story short, the battery was flat. Again. Didn't even attempt to turn over

This time, I remembered that I've got one of those USB battery pack things, about the size of two fag packets or a bit smaller, that I keep in the glove compartment. Since buying it I've seen lots of "experts" on forums claiming that they're rubbish and a waste of money; but I opened the bonnet and hooked it up to the battery and the car started straight off

However, the ABS and brake warning lights stayed on. I know from past experience that, on this model, these often stay on after a flat battery, and go off again the next time the car is restarted; it's just a quirk. But even though going backwards and forwards a foot or so seemed to indicate the brakes were OK, I still didn't really want to take it out on the road with them lit, in case they weren't a false alarm this time. So I sat in the car for about twenty minutes letting it charge, while looking up "corolla abs light" on Google

Once I was bored with sitting there, I stopped it, and it started again straight away under its own power, this time without any warning lights staying on.

So then I took it for a run out to the outer ring road, so it could have a bit of a 50mph blast to help get the battery charged again. I'm hoping that will keep it going for now, i.e. until whenever I might decide to go shopping over the next couple of days

And at least I now know that the USB power pack, which cost me the princely sum of £35.99 on Amazon about four-and-a-half years ago, actually does what it's supposed to

AA 12V Car Solar Battery Charger 4.8W AA1432 - For Vehicles And Caravans - Battery Connectors Included: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

[NickFitz]

Exercise bicycling done, green ring closed

I got off lightly today as the walk to the doctor's, ditzing around with the car, running up and down stairs, and so on had clocked up a few minutes of background exercise

Don't forget to recharge the battery pack!

Yes, I remembered to bring that in

Though it's still showing four out of four lights when one presses the power check button

The Strangelove Corolla benefits from two solar chargers: a 2W one and a 5W(?) one (it being twice the size of the 2W)) purchased from Maplin many moons ago & pressed into service when the Corolla didn't get enough use for the battery to stay charged for a couple of weeks.

Of course this presupposes that there's enough sun to do the business, but it's worked well all summer.

December, however, may well be Another Matter in this regard.

I really should get around to getting one of those, though it'll have to be the sort that works entirely from within the car as I don't trust either the neighbourhood cats or the neighbourhood junkies with a wire trailing around outside the vehicle

The fag lighter socket doesn't provide any power unless the key is turned two or three clicks, so if that applies both ways, one that goes through there wouldn't work

[NickFitz]

AA 12V Car Solar Battery Charger 4.8W AA1432 - For Vehicles And Caravans - Battery Connectors Included: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

Yep, something like that which works through the EOBD port is what's required

[WTFH]

AA 12V Car Solar Battery Charger 4.8W AA1432 - For Vehicles And Caravans - Battery Connectors Included: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

I'm sure I've mentioned it before...

https://www.contractoruk.com/forums/...ar#post2481973
https://www.contractoruk.com/forums/...ar#post2715771
https://www.contractoruk.com/forums/...ar#post2692110
https://www.contractoruk.com/forums/...ar#post2521184

[DoctorStrangelove]

Goodness me, some of those chargers seem quite expensive.

In some ways I rather miss Maplin.

Despite their crap Ever Ready 100W lightbulbs with a 5 second lifetime that I never had a refund for.