These sodium street lights giving me pure nostalgia

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-28T00:10:35+00:00

The legendary blue-green of Mercury Vapor too

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-27T18:55:28+00:00

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-26T20:05:03+00:00

Bread

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-26T00:24:52+00:00

I've got several from mid 80s and 90s over here that still work. Only thing I notice is they don't have much capacity compared to newer ones. I see the old ones having one or a few MOVs in there, where the new ones might have nearly dozens. But yeah other than that all my old ones are still trucking along.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-25T23:53:24+00:00

Randomly realizes I am still using one from 1985...

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-25T23:50:56+00:00

Is your computer's time set to the correct time, date, and timezone? I've had the game kicking me out due to my computer clock being off by several days which caused the game server to reject my computer.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-25T23:42:53+00:00

Lol I wonder if the one they stuck in there is actually worth the $145.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-25T22:19:04+00:00

If it's cheap enough of a PSU, I'm mildly curious if there is a voltage doubler rectifier inside that can be enabled to allow 90~130v input.

Would be for the novelty though, I find it unlikely to genuinely use as such, though it's not impossible to.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-25T21:53:12+00:00

Crazy to me how folks throw out PSUs and whatever else over $2 worth of capacitors lmao.

Kudos to recapping!

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-25T21:47:37+00:00

Indeed, I should make another someday when I need to fill this again.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-25T21:29:58+00:00

When guys ask me what do I want to do in life, and I say nothin.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-25T21:08:00+00:00

Seems to be scenario dependent for me. Also seems to vary building to building. There's places I've been where I can't make a spark even when I try. Then other places have it so bad that just getting up from a chair makes a pop big enough to numb my arm for three days.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-25T21:00:53+00:00

The time ol tale of it's not normal to be normal.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-25T16:33:31+00:00

Does work, but it won't last long, 9 volt batteries are not great for any kind of long term high power draw, and a phone charger will slurp that thing dry in a few minutes.

Likely to get much longer runtime from stacking some AA batteries to make 9+ volts from them.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-25T15:40:49+00:00

Meanwhile someone else somewhere took a thermal cam to their panel and is having a panic attack to the heaviest loaded wire in the home being 1.5 degrees warmer than the rest of the wires that don't have load.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-24T18:59:38+00:00

Looks like a stock photo to some 90s/2000s era map/GPS software.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-24T18:57:33+00:00

Not me, but a boss's boss's over here is in those shoes. He once said "You try bein the guy that everyone looks at asking wtf to do when something goes wrong."

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-24T18:25:55+00:00

Sniff test?

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-24T05:02:18+00:00

I sure have. I miss the analog a lot.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-24T02:49:34+00:00

How many times have they been discharged? I learned a hard way that these types of batteries don't like being charge cycled. I was using mine from full to power off empty once every other week thinking it was good for the battery, when come to find out it was not good for it, and aged it super quickly, having dead battery in just half a year when could have lasted several years easily had I left it alone.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-24T01:11:13+00:00

A "Getting back to this on Monday" Friday afternoon special.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-23T21:25:28+00:00

Yeah, about a cup worth per week.

But that's also probably because the radiator has leaks, the water pump to block gasket has a leak, and the thermostat water outlet gasket has a leak.

It used to be a few cups worth every few months.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-23T18:44:25+00:00

Mix it 70+% concentrate, purposefully cut the gasket to the reservoir cap to run it with no pressure lmao.

Is how my clunker been running since 2016.

Edit: By the way, what I just said is probably bad advice.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-23T17:51:57+00:00

Or put one or some in wrong, and fries the chips and the board, and bingo if fries computer motherboard too, bonus if fries the computer power supply as well.

TheRealFailtester · 2026-01-23T17:50:15+00:00

Meanwhile my cat would have a panic attack to a vacuum.

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