MattyB

I never like those self tapper secured tail surfaces. As long as it doesn't cause you any storage issues from not being able to pack it down, I'd just glue it on and be done with it.

Examples of a few automation I have running around the EV charger and GivEnergy battery and inverter system. I am on Octopus Flux for solar and battery owners, as I only need a short off peak period from my PHEV and home battery and it has bettter export rates (that means the off-peak period is between 0200 and 0500). Example one - automated off peak charging if the EV is plugged in at 0200... In summary... When it hits 0200, HA will... Check the EV is connected. If it is... My home battery will be paused for discharging (preventing it discharging into the car), then delay for 10 seconds, then the EV charger is set to charge at max rate, and finally my phone is sent a notification that charging has commenced (so I know it triggered when I wake up in the morning). ...and at the end of the off peak period... If the charge charge power drops below 1kw (whcih actually means it drops to 0W, as these chargers don't actually charge thte EV at less than 1.4ks) OR the vehicle status goes to "Waiting" which it does if the charge is terminated early for any reason Check whether the home battery is paused - if it is... Unpause the home battery, then set the EV charger to "Off" mode, then send a notification to my phone saying charging completed. As you can see this could easily be adjsuted to be compatible with IO, as the home battery pause would just be triggered from the charge status of the charger (as controlled by IO) rather than a specific time. Not too complicated to do once you have the hang of HA, but I accept this level of control would be beyond the majority of consumers who prefer "plug and play, do it all in the app" functionality. Going on a.n.other device to a Pi (like the green) is I think the right option. Pi's are very clever little things, but if you start running a lot on one they can start to get hot and unreliable apparently. It was cheaper and simpler for me to just buy a secondhand mini PC for ~£70 off ebay - it was very slightly more involved to setup, but has lots more power and storage and should run HA reliably (and silently) for many years to come.

This is a feature of IO as far as I am aware. Whislt the guaranteed low rate period is 2330-0530, if they have an excess of electricity available they can offer it to you at the same off-peak rate outside of those hours, helping them to balance the grid: 2.4.1.4 If we schedule your electric vehicle to charge outside of the off-peak hours, we will apply the night rate for your EV charging and any underlying household usage will be charged in the relevant half hour billing periods. https://octopus.energy/policies/smart-tariffs-terms-and-condition/#intelligentoctopus

One word of caution to that approach... It would be easy for your son to use HA to do all sorts of cool things around the home, but remember that is a slightly fragile tool - it changes very quickly, and it's pretty complex. As a result I would not let him go too far and automate things in logn cascades or in ways you don't understand them. Make these things too complex and no-one but him will understand how to put them right. I was chastened by a story of someone who was admitted to hospital, and whilst they were there there was a power cut, and when the power came back on, nothing in the smart home (including lights and heating!) worked. The family concerned therefore had to live by candlight for 2 weeks until he got out of hospital! I am therefore only automating stuff in ways that makes no difference if it were to go wrong. It will be a while before I am brave enough to start installing smart light switches, and I am definitely not opening Home Assistant up for remote access via Nabu Casa (but then I am in the InfoSec profession, so that probably won't surprise you!).

Building on Gary's response, using the myenergi API I can see all kinds of things that my Zappi is doing in Home Assistant (current, charge mode, boost status etc). I use that infor to trigger automations to (say) pause discharge of my home battery so it doesn't all end up being discharged to the EV via the GivTCP integration. Home Assistant is very cool, but it's not that easy to user for a newcomer if you haven't done any coding before. As a result I am only taking baby steps and (I suspect) doing things very, very inefficiently. It's a bit like taking your fist steps with an open source TC firmware - super powerful, but it does require you to think a bit differently.

Erf nerver posts any sources; it's far easier to just recount the FUD from a half remembered article that may or may not have any actual research or validated data behind it, then say "see, this or that has not been considered / has been overlooked".

I'm flattered, but not sure everyone on this forum will agree! 😉

...or just read the manual as I suggested above... 🤨

Different transmitters do this in different ways, but most follow the model you describe. Google for the manual on the two TXs in question and read them to confirm.

Yes, accurate (and rapid) centring is the main advantage of digitals for me. This is particularly important on a slope plank (unswept) flying wing where the model has elevons, and need large aileron throws but very small (2-3mm in total) amounts of elevator travel. In that situation a good digital makes a massive difference, helping to avoiding the model "hunting" in pitch and allowing the pilot to nail the CG at a more rearward position, unlocking more performance.

PS - Here is the definitive RCGroups thread on how to make your own 450W discharger based on the AOkoda units above (they used to be available from a website called RCMart, but that now seems to be defunct)... https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2406395-An-effective-variable-load-automatic-LiPo-discharger

Why do they often put the wheels so far forward on vintage designs? It must give some “interesting” ground handling characteristics. Is it to give a degree of protection to the prop on landing when they are flown as free flight models?

Wow. I definitely won’t be parking at Luton next time I fly from there!

Back to the original question re: dischargers, for those that do woant to do this there are much more economical solutions than the one purchased by the OP - I have three of these wired up to a parallel baord give me 450W of discharging power at very low cost: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002701340137.html You can see more details and links on how to do this in these posts...

Sorry for the impact this has had on you @malmaz, very unfortunate. This news that all cars inside are going to be unsavageable is going to make things interesting in terms of making the site safe. Those that are burnt out at this point are not too much of a problem, but what about those cars (EVs and ICE) that are still intact? Bulldosing the site with them inside would appear to be a very dangerous undertaking, as there could be a secondary fire at that point. Perhaps they will have to siphon all the fuel out of the ICE cars and discharge the EVs to zero somehow before they destroy the car park? They are going to need a lot of these to achieve the latter... 😉

I imagine it is the laminating film driving most of that weight gain, but on a model of this size on the slope 460g should be absolutely fine.

Thanks - footage found... Plate is E10 EFL according to the taker of the video, which makes it a V6 diesel....

There are plenty of videos online that appear to show the first vehicle to go up as a Range Rover Evoque. That means that it conclusively isn't a pure BEV, but there are some mild diesel hybrid versions that feature a small 200WH battery. Consensus seems to be that this is unlikely to have been the case given it looks like it was a car that predates the MHEV version, but the footage is pretty grainy. However it should be easy for the authorities to confirm for sure given the footage shows the location which will mean the owner can be identified.

Yes, this is a well known on the Acrowot, and has affected full sized aircraft too. We have discussed it before a number of times: Possible explanation from the (now defunct) RCMF forum... "The fishtailing is the result of having a flat-plate fin, which has a low lift-slope (and a bit of hysteresis) at low angles of attack. The yaw-pitch coupling is the result of unequal keel areas above an below the tailplane, so that when it's yawed there is a "pressure trap" under the out-slip side (right-hand-side if yawed left) underneath the tailplane but not above it. It's a well-documented phenomenon and was potentially lethal on certain full-size aircraft. The Miles Magister couldn't be side-slipped at low levels because large law angles produced a nose-down pitch that was so powerful a 150lb pull on the stick wouldn't correct it. The primary function of the large fin-strakes you see on a lot of full-size aircraft is to correct a problem of this nature which wasn't discovered until flight testing. As to why it occurs to one side but not the other it's probably something to do with the fin blanking some spiral propeller slipstream effects. To prove this see if it behaves the differently power-off to power on, but at similar airspeeds." I have flown 5-6 Acrowots of different types, and they all exhibited this characteristic to a greater or lesser degree. It is consistent and demonstrable, and definitley a characteristic of the design, not a building error.

Don't worry, the Geoff by cars Youtube channel will be there within 15 mins to offer a high quality "analysis" of the fire that "proves" EVs were 907% to blame for this incident... 🧐 Yepp, ding ding, my money was safe! To be fair it is a bit more balanced than his normal content. he is right in that, whether or not an EV started this, I this will be a major moment for the adoption EVs in the UK. Whislt I don't agree that the risk of fire is increased by driving an EV, the consequences of one clearly are higher, especially if there are multiple cars in close proximity such as in a car park. On that basis the public (and onward government) reaction to this will be important. Will our lords and masters carry on with the current trajectory, or are they going to see going anti-EV as more of a vote winner than loser, and decide to very publically "protect" us from incidents like this by about turning for fire safety reasons? I'm sure Rishi's minions are running the numbers right now, they'll get back to you in 3 months time...

Technically viable? Maybe, but with no other company doing it and Nio have crippling year on year losses, overall long term viability is a long way off being proved IMO… https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/08/29/nio-earnings-q2-2023.html

These fly very nicely, though they can be significantly improved in terms of practicality in assembly/disassembly by modding the wing to feature a servo on each side.

Good stuff - it looks like it floats quite nicely at that wait, though it's difficult to tell when it was just gliding vs. power on. It also appears to be a time machine, as it was flying way back in 2008! 😉

@Bonzo Moon, rather than creating a new thread every time you post a video to your channel, why not post to a dedicated bobflyman video thread a bit like Essential RC does? This would keep all your content in one place and make it easier for those of us who use the "Latest posts" view as our default. Just a thought.

Looks like this should sort you out based on the video description... Yep - start at 3m30: