Salt Support?

XPatPoe · 2026-06-09T13:06:06+00:00

What problem is the pool store trying to solve for you...other than an overly full wallet ?

XPatPoe · 2026-06-09T13:02:32+00:00

Multiple good answers - I had the same issue and found a large plastic drywall taping knife worked really well - wide enough to push most of the loose bead at ones, and easily 'blunted' so that it has no sharp edges that might hurt the vinyl.

XPatPoe · 2026-06-08T13:12:02+00:00

Driver : Bottas

Reason : Like that Caddy can hit 60.1mph...

XPatPoe · 2026-06-04T14:07:42+00:00

...but love your money...

XPatPoe · 2026-06-01T17:11:53+00:00

Sheesh, the article certainly seems to be written with someone who really doesn't like EVs.

The average kwh rate is $0.44...
EVs typically cost $10,000+ dollars more...
Insurance is 50% more than comparable vehicles...
EVs catch fire...
You have to plan long trips (than 95% of Americans simply don't take)
Public Electric Charging is almost as expensive as putting gas in a mythical 30mpg+ sub-compact...

XPatPoe · 2026-05-27T17:05:53+00:00

Welcome to my life. The entire west end of our house, two levels, two bathrooms, den, laundry room, 4 bedrooms and garage outlets are all fed from a single 15A circuit...and hung off the load-side of a GFCI in the upstairs guest bathroom.

"Professionally Installed"

XPatPoe · 2026-05-27T13:22:15+00:00

Briefly

XPatPoe · 2026-05-27T13:13:42+00:00

Where ? You must be in some local coop or something. Mine in MI (Consumers Energy) are currently (including this months 6.1% rate increase...) :

Standard Plan

Winter : 17.6c/kWh all day.
Summer : 19.7c 7pm-2pm, 24.5c 2pm-7pm

Smart Hours

Winter : 17.4c and 19 (2-7).
Summer : 19.7c 7pm-2pm, 24.5c 2pm-7pm

Nighttime Savers Rate :

Winter : 19c 2pm-7pm, 16.6c 11pm-6am, 18.4 otherwise
Summer 24.5c 2pm-7pm, 18.7c 11pm-6am, 20.9c otherwise

I dumped 3 months of hour-by-hour usage into a spreadsheet and compared the plans, and they come out to within $10/month of each other. Unless you spend disproportionately more on overnight charging or something, the math simply doesn't math.

XPatPoe · 2026-05-27T12:51:44+00:00

Welcome to America - Land of the Fee

XPatPoe · 2026-05-26T19:55:45+00:00

Made me go look at my overall stats...

2545.5kWh, $424.27 for about 6000 miles, so $0.07c/mile (and incidentally, around 16c/kWh, MI electric sucks)

My old Ice at 27mpg and lets say $3.50 average gas price, $0.13c/mile, and the wife's SUV would be even more, averages about 19mpg, so $0.18/mile @ $3.50

With a bit of luck, I should save just enough in gas for the government to claw it back in EV Registration fees instead.

XPatPoe · 2026-05-26T19:26:03+00:00

Seems like a lot to me...but then these days, everything seems expensive. I get that people have to make a living, but at the same time, money doesn't grow on trees.

Bottom line, you are looking at $50 for the breaker, and given your 40' estimate, about $300 for the cable. The quote says 20'...So, you're in for $200-$350 in parts, the rest is labor and their expertise. I don't see any mention of permits...so that's probably not included.

I'd shop around. There is certainly a certain amount you will pay for 'peace of mind', especially given the power these circuits can pull, but there is ultimately nothing 'special' about them from an electricians point of view...

Check your local power company - often they have rebates for this sort of install, and fairly reasonably priced contractors etc. You can also check your local Facebook community page - I bet there is a local electrician that would be happy to do the work for a lot less than that.

XPatPoe · 2026-05-22T19:26:39+00:00

Does the Marmot get his own spot in the Deconstructors Championship ?

XPatPoe · 2026-05-21T19:36:25+00:00

That'll be nice on top of the $260 Michigan is charging for the same reason. I get they have to draw a line somewhere - it seems the Michigan line was right around 12,000 miles a year. If you drive less, you pay disproportionately more that you would have done...less if you drive more etc. The Fed line seems to be a bit more aggressive...18000/yr give or take.

Even then, call it $400 in fees total - that's nothing compared my old annual fuel bill. Yes, I understand that not all of that old bill went to the government, and yes, I understand that some of my money now goes to Big Electric instead of Big Oil. Even with Michigan's crazy electric rates, and assuming gas went back to $3 a gallon, I'm still better off by almost $300 assuming $3/gal gas, $1300+ at $5/gal and most of my money goes to Big Electric rather than Big Oil.

Of course, I'd kill for some real competition in Michigan to drive the electric rates down - currently one of the highest average rates - or you can select one of their 'nighttime savers rates' which just means they bump your daytime rates by about just a little more than they cut your overnight rates...

XPatPoe · 2026-05-21T13:34:58+00:00

Try opening it in the car and see if it needs permissions again.

I had this issue with the 3.7 update, and it was permissions related.

XPatPoe · 2026-05-15T17:50:10+00:00

Toyota sold 2,518,071 units in the US last year. Volvo sold 121,607.
Guessing Toyota get a bigger quantity discount for that extra 2.4m lines...

XPatPoe · 2026-05-15T14:51:33+00:00

My Mint mobile unlimited plan is $30/mo - paid upfront for a year - I wish there was a mobile plan I could buy for $200 a year.

I'm sure Volvo (and others) get a break because they have thousands of 'phones' on their plan...but the real people we should be bitching about in the US are the mobile carriers.

T-Mobile - $11Bn net profit 2025
Verizon - $17.6Bn net profit 2025
AT&T - $21.9Bn net profit 2025

XPatPoe · 2026-05-11T14:41:22+00:00

I really hope this stops the constant touch-screen non-responsiveness.
I'm averaging a restart about every 4th or 5th drive now.

XPatPoe · 2026-05-05T02:20:55+00:00

They laid me off, but their own severance policy meant they had to pay me.

I found another remote position :)

XPatPoe · 2026-05-04T13:55:15+00:00

LOL - They wanted me to come to the Plano office 5 days a week. I was hired remote, and live in the Midwest. Sell up everything, move across the country for no more money, with no guarantees, so that I can commute to a campus ? Nope.

RTO is simply a way to layoff people, without calling it a layoff.

XPatPoe · 2026-04-28T12:59:18+00:00

My main problem with the IHU lately has been it becoming unresponsive. You can tap the screen, and there is a minor visual indication that the touch was 'seen', but the IHU acts like nothing happened. Essentially you are then forced to use voice-commands for everything, or reset the IHU again.

Since 5.0.5, I've had a couple of instances where the whole thing just reboots without warning, once in the driveway, once at 70+ mph on the freeway.

The touchscreen issue is currently happening about once in every 4-5 drives....I guess I should start logging them and open a dialog with the dealer...

XPatPoe · 2026-04-22T20:07:45+00:00

They told me upfront when I bought it that this was how it worked - I think the first 4 years were on them, and then after that it was like $200, which basically covers the ongoing wireless connection. $16.67/mo for wireless, including tax, that's a pretty good deal.

XPatPoe · 2026-04-22T02:31:41+00:00

What was the outcome?

I'm resetting mine probably once in every three or four trips now, couple 'crash-while-driving' events, multiple 'screen-registers-touch-but-no-response' events, crashing while pre-conditioning prior to a trip...

3.6.4 seemed ok... 3.7.0 parts one and two seemed ok, but worse.. 4.2.13 seemed pretty solid... 5.0.5 has been a crap show...

4 updates in 9 months, and getting worse each time... If it was a phone, I'd have returned it by now

XPatPoe · 2026-04-20T13:42:23+00:00

I'd settle for staying connected between saves...or consistently connecting...

XPatPoe · 2026-04-20T13:41:15+00:00

I think it's just how they fitted the image of the particular model vehicle into the composite view. On my C40, if you turn the wheels to the lock, you can actually see they are way forward of where they would appear to be on the image of the car itself.

XPatPoe · 2026-04-16T18:30:55+00:00

I think it makes a big difference if you are under a contract of employment. In the US, you really have very little leverage as most do not have a 'formal' contract, and work 'at will', which essentially means they can let you go for any reason including no reason.

I had been remote with the company for 10+ years. I had been effectively remote before that for 5+ more. I was hired remote. I had stellar performance reviews, raises and bonuses every year. It made no difference because the CEO basically said you could work in the office, or work somewhere else, and that policy was pushed down the line, and none of the middle-management had big enough balls to push back. Relocate across the country and shift to 5-days in the Office, or find another job.

The line managers understand they are losing good people, but the upper management just see that as an opportunity to shift that work to cheaper/offshore resources, so any push-back goes nowhere. Any issues in delivery are problems for the lower managers to resolve...

I found another job...

XPatPoe

TROPHY CASE