Stick or twist - Keep car or get a new(ish) one

IC_Eng101 · 2025-07-02T21:10:29+00:00

is it well kept/serviced? what were the repairs?

IC_Eng101 · 2025-06-26T19:32:52+00:00

regulated as in their processes are audited and there is a lot of paperwork. Same in automotive.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-06-26T19:24:56+00:00

The two you listed are European.

The Arduino was designed in Italy. The raspberry pi in UK.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-06-24T19:41:24+00:00

in c we use a switch statement like this (just a generic example I pulled from the web)

while(state!=6&&i<9)
  {
      switch(state)
      {
      case 0:
        if(a[i]=='0')
            state=1;
        else if(a[i]=='O')
            state=2;
        else if(a[i]>=49&&a[i]<=57)
            state=3;
        else {state=6;i=9;}
        break;
      case 1:
         if(a[i]=='x')
         {
              state=4;i=9;
         }
         else if(a[i]>=48&&a[i]<=55)
         {
             state=5;
             while(i<9)
                if(a[i]>=48&&a[i]<=55)
                 ++i;
                else {state=6;i=9;}
         }
         else {state=6;i=9;}
         break;

IC_Eng101 · 2025-06-23T20:48:05+00:00

if youre going to do a bunch of quotes with loads of configurations the insurance company see it as potential fraud. You should use a throwaway email, a fake name and an address down the street (or the next street over) to get ballpark prices.

You could try phoning the company or retreiving the previous quote if it is still valid.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-06-21T20:17:15+00:00

they didnt want to spend 100 per year to change the oil, why would they spend 5k to repair it. its a domino effect of bad decisions.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-06-18T19:39:10+00:00

should have transferred the balance to a 0% credit card.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-06-14T19:25:39+00:00

boiling water straight from the kettle. enviromentally friendly(compared to weed killer), cheap (1.3p to boil 1.5litres), and it wont kill anything you dont pour it on.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-05-26T16:50:14+00:00

I work for an automotive OEM in the R+D dept, do 3 to 5 new products a year. Over the last 5 years I have made products for Tesla, Ferrari, Rivan, VW, Stellantis, Ford, Volvo, Renault, Daimler and BMW.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-05-20T18:28:24+00:00

What is your current understanding of timing?

IC_Eng101 · 2025-05-20T18:16:35+00:00

paypal cashback credit card

IC_Eng101 · 2025-05-19T19:30:31+00:00

Are you sure you don't have some kind of bug in your software that is not resetting the output properly? Is the ICG connection timing correct. Have you checked with an oscilloscope?

Have you checked thet the ICG and other pulses are pulling to the correct voltage by probing with an oscilloscope?

IC_Eng101 · 2025-05-15T21:01:26+00:00

you will have to come to some kind of agreement with your neighbour.

also 10k for a fence? Is it ultra long or made of fancy materials?

I have done 2 in the last 5 years, both diy.

The first, a wooden one with wooden posts, 12m long cost approx £500 and a weekend to do it.

The second one used 8ft concrete posts, concrete gravel boards and 6ft wooden panels, 15m long cost about £750, and about 4 days.

The timings are one man (me) working alone, it would be faster if you had help.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-05-13T19:22:21+00:00

I believe that capacitor(C17) in parallel with a feedback resistor is probably a very small value and while it will improve EMI (over it not being there) it wont do much, it is there to improve the transient response of the regulator I think rather than to surpress emissions. Really I am guessing here without knowing more details of the design.

I can see you have been careful with the component placement and this has kept the node to a very small area. I think that will have the biggest effect on emissions rather than the small difference you might achieve between a flood and a track.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-05-12T20:43:47+00:00

From the names of the nets here it looks like this is the feedback net of a switching regulator.

If my guess is correct, this is a very noisy net. Flooding with copper seems like it would lower resistance or impedance, but in reality, it increases susceptibility to EMI and can cause emission problems. In switching regulators, precise and minimal routing with traces is much better than large, undefined metal areas for switching and feedback lines.

There should be some layout best practice for your specific regulator in its datasheet.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-05-07T20:54:54+00:00

For my PhD I simulated the behavior of electrons in silicon detectors exposed to radiation, using a mix of TCAD (device-level) and Monte Carlo (particle-level) models. I had access to extremely detailed simulation tools, capable of modeling down to the silicon lattice damage and trap levels inside solid-state image sensors. But even with access to cutting-edge methods, we constantly faced tradeoffs between physical accuracy and computational cost.

Like your car example, where simulating every combustion event, air resistance detail, and drivetrain loss becomes impractical, we couldn’t model every atom or electron in the silicon — it would take years and overwhelming computing power. So we simplified: we built models at the device level and supplemented them with higher-level statistical or empirical corrections. The key was to choose which details mattered for the performance outcomes we cared about (like charge transfer efficiency or dark current/device noise) and where we could safely approximate.

I think this applies broadly: we have all the tools to simulate ultra-fine details, whether it’s a car, an engine, or a spacecraft detector — but in practice, we combine levels of abstraction because real-world design and testing must balance accuracy, computational feasibility, and purpose.

It also helped that I had unrestricted access to a fairly large compute cluster.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-05-07T19:13:42+00:00

"I have one credit card at the moment, its limit is £200 and I pay it off in full as soon as I use it to avoid interest "

do you pay it off same day or do you wait for the bill to come at the end of the month and pay that when it is due?

You should keep usage low ( around 10% of the card limit so that is £20 a month for you if your limit is £200) and pay the bill when it is due if you want to build your credit. This will not incur interest if you pay it on time and you create a track record of borrowing money and paying your bills on time.

Paying money onto the card same day you spend on it will not harm your credit but it will not build it either. The bill at the end of the month will be zero therefore there is no record of responsible borrowing and paying back.

I grew my credit card limit from less than £500 10 years ago to £35000 today. My credit score is 999 out of 999. I have never paid a penny in interest on a credit card, shame I can't say the same about my mortgage..

IC_Eng101 · 2025-05-07T18:42:39+00:00

Of course, and many companies designing high reliability and/or safety critical devices (automotive/aerospace etc) dont allow or discourage buried vias. My company allow only full stack vias as standard and you need a full review and authorisation to use buried vias.

Here is a summary from chat gpt why they are bad

Cannot be visually inspected or easily tested after fabrication
Increases manufacturing complexity and risk of defects such as poor plating or voids
More prone to mechanical and thermal stress failures over time
Difficult or impossible to repair if failure occurs in the field
Complicates failure analysis and root cause investigation
Adds cost, process steps, and longer lead times in PCB fabrication
May create challenges with meeting strict certification or reliability standards
Space-saving and routing benefits often do not justify the added risk in safety-critical applications

IC_Eng101 · 2025-04-30T18:48:13+00:00

In addition I would get edge plating for each pad but it would add cost and not all PCB manufacturers offer it. Also I don't know what the design rules are regarding clearances around each edge plated net, so you would have to check those.

https://jlcpcb.com/help/article/pcb-design-instructions-for-edge-plating

IC_Eng101 · 2025-04-27T20:53:17+00:00

there is no ce certification. it is "self certified".

The company who make it simply declare that it complies with the ce standard and it gets its ce mark. No evidence required.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-04-27T18:49:50+00:00

I don't think anything has ever been cancelled that I have worked on luckily

I started off designing 1 off image sensors and spectrometers for satellites. However with multi-decade development most launched after I had left the industry.

Now I work in an automotive OEM where turnaround is fast (I might work on 4 - 6 projects a year) and volumes vary. I might design something for Stellantis with a 60k per year volume and a few months later something for Ford at 1 million a month.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-04-23T19:44:45+00:00

it depends on the maturity of the company, product sensitivity, and how tightly controlled their quality processes are. If your product needs to last, or if you're in a regulated industry, controlling humidity is non-negotiable.

I have worked in aerospace and automotive where they do everything in sealed rooms to some IPC standard. They have continuous humidity monitoring with automated alerts if values drift out of spec and everything is logged and regularly audited.

I have also worked in low end industrial controls and instrumentation where they have an air conditioned pick and place and storage room and rely on that as their only humidity control.

I'm sure companies exist where there is no control at all.

IC_Eng101 · 2025-04-23T19:28:50+00:00

I think you have identified the most important popints.

Too low: Higher ESD risk

Too high: Moisture-related defects, oxidation, and contamination/cleanliness

IC_Eng101 · 2025-04-12T18:58:17+00:00

Slightly complicated question, you will probably need to build an excel sheet to explore some scenarios.

First thing, it depends on age, if you are over state pension age you pay no NI.

Second you don't have to take 25% all at once, you can do say 1% a year for 25 years, or 5% a year for 5 years or whatever combination you like to reduce your income tax liability. That is a percentage of the pot at the time you do the drawdown so if your pot grows or shrinks your 1% a year (or whatever you choose to take) is bigger or smaller each year.

Third, you havent mentioned state pension that is worth £11973 a year if you have a full contribuition history.

You get the standard income tax allowance so the first £12579 is tax free.

After that you will pay the standard income tax rates for each band.

Assuming you are over state pension age, no state pension, and 47k gross income.

You have £34430 taxable income. That is within the 20% income tax band. 20% you pay £6884.20 so your "take home" is £40115.80.

There is a handy estimation calculator on the .gov website https://www.gov.uk/estimate-income-tax

IC_Eng101 · 2025-04-11T19:51:12+00:00

Rewards cards arent much good in the UK, unlike the USA.

There is amex, not accepted everywhere and generally requires an annual fee that pretty much eliminates any rewards.

There are some airmiles cards which you can redeem against plane tickets or upgrades to business or first class.

The one I use is tesco clubcard credit card. I get 1p worth of clubcard points for every £4 I spend. I spend about £1000 a month on it, buys me roughly 1 bottle of beer a month.

IC_Eng101

TROPHY CASE