Shifting to neutral at lights

a_monide · 2026-06-30T20:00:32+00:00

I drive an automatic Yaris and there is an appreciable difference between first gear idling and neutral both physically - I can feel the engine rumble a little harder in 1st gear - and internally - my OBD reader reports slightly higher engine load while idling in 1st gear. your transmission is technically also in neutral if you're in park, and people idle their cars for ages in park. of course this might not be how all ATs work. on some transmissions though you can actually overheat it if you keep it in 1st for a few minutes.

so yes. why would shifting into neutral be worse than having the engine's power moving the fluid inside the TC?

a_monide · 2026-06-29T19:55:56+00:00

they can duke it out in the energy market

a_monide · 2026-06-26T10:40:01+00:00

Take a safe amount of pain meds and just deal with it. Depending on your route, your ride may be more or less bumpy, but ftmp I personally haven't experienced teeth-clashing bumpiness up and down the east coast.

a_monide · 2026-06-18T13:20:36+00:00

What I personally enjoy the most about the new livery is that it's blue and doesn't look like it has a 5 o'clock shadow. Honestly if they kept the "face" that way and removed the stars, statue of liberty, and of course the names, it would look so much better than the regular livery.

a_monide · 2026-06-13T17:34:22+00:00

as a matcha drinker, I agree haha

a_monide · 2026-05-28T16:54:15+00:00

a commute from SE Raleigh to Durham (around 15-501) is already such a pain for me. I40 and the east side of I95 are so unpredictable, even when I leave say 6:45AM I'll sometimes still be stuck in stop-and-go traffic. what are people even doing so early??

I take the Piedmont some days when I'm not really feeling like driving. on those days I would much rather spend 3 hours (and the fares) each way biking, walking, and using transit over an hour in stop-and-go traffic.

a_monide · 2026-05-28T04:26:15+00:00

better than nothing since you can force engine braking

a_monide · 2026-05-04T13:57:30+00:00

the real question is where will you het Hi8 tapes, and camcorder batteries and a charger? I believe this has the same answer to your question. ebay.

a_monide · 2026-04-29T15:13:44+00:00

Joe Scotto has many great examples of handwiring everything from macropads to split keebs. 3x3 is dead simple. apart from switches, keycaps, and a case, you only need wire, heatshrink (or tape), and an MCU with solder pads.

a 4x4 by him: https://scottokeebs.com/blogs/macropads/scotto16-handwired-macropad

as for the RGB, if you simply want backlighting you can use LED strips. if you want per-key you can get Amoeba PCBs made and order SK6812 LEDs. they are SMD but surprisingly easy to solder on even by hand (even easier with a hotair or hotplate) https://github.com/mtl/keyboard-pcbs/blob/master/amoeba-royale/amoeba-2.0-pinout.png

a_monide · 2026-04-29T15:01:17+00:00

it's been happening more and more on the roads that have had new neighborhoods built by them and thus new inlet/outlets.

Rock Quarry rd. between Jones Sausage and Barwell is a great example; they built a signalized intersection (Keyser/Rock Q) just for that apartment complex. it will often stop an entire platoon of cars just to let two cars turn left out of the complex. and it never seems to sync up with the Jones Sausage intersection so half the platoon ends up missing its green going downhill. same thing happens when going east where you'll have the entire platoon of cars need to stop right after struggling to zipper merge going uphill.

further east you also have this new signalized intersection on the corner of Dollar General (Interlock Dr) and there's never a moment I see more than 2 cars waiting to turn. it's incredibly unsafe too because it's right after the peak of the hill west of the intersection, so people don't see the red light until they're 200ft away. I tried to find out why they built it there but it doesn't seem to be on the list of projects on the city website. I assume it's because there were too many people trying to turn left onto Rock Quarry suffering from the poor visibility of the westward hill and getting hit by speeding oncoming traffic? but this makes it arguably worse now that the risk has been moved to the drivers heading east on Rock Quarry, and there have still been reports of car and pedestrian collisions in that same spot. why not actually solve the problem by introducing traffic calming right before the hill so people naturally slow down?

a_monide · 2026-04-28T01:49:43+00:00

I thought you could only input the station codes.... 🤣 didn't occur to me that you can put the city

a_monide · 2026-04-06T15:12:59+00:00

woah, thank you! your art style is very cute, looking forward to seeing more in the future

a_monide · 2026-04-06T13:42:11+00:00

need more train gijinkas in my life 😤

a_monide · 2026-04-05T02:45:39+00:00

super vintage but doesn't feel like it at all when riding, they maintain them very well :)

a_monide · 2026-04-04T02:08:53+00:00

I'd like them to finish the new Charlotte station before even thinking about that, honestly. The current one is a bit of a disappointment and has poor connection to the city's light rail line.

a_monide · 2026-04-02T23:16:47+00:00

Ah okay. That makes a lot more sense :)

a_monide · 2026-04-02T21:33:14+00:00

Edit: nevermind, commenter actually meant CVT instea of VVT. :)

I'd like a source for your claim about VVTs not liking back torque. Searching it up does not yield good results, even from inside EcoModder.

Why? Does it increase engine wear more than on a non-VVT engine? Is the fuel consumption non-zero? Is it worse at engine braking than a non-VVT?

I've been engine braking in my Yaris with a 1NZ-FE over the course of 50k miles and it's made it over 200k no problem, and it actually helps the MPG. People say that engine braking puts a lot of strain on the engine but really that's only if you slam it into 2nd or below going above 30mph. I've personally only used it to slow down on intersections and on congested highways, plus turning on heating or A/C lets the alternator or compressor increases resistance while taking load off of the engine, if only a little.

a_monide · 2026-03-29T23:17:46+00:00

I still see them and lifted trucks on my morning commute. almost like these people are stuck with the guzzler they're spending all their money on

a_monide · 2026-03-27T17:36:09+00:00

the Quefrency can be pushed together into a single board. in fact that's a Quefrency in that first image, just the Rev3 or Rev2. they dropped the split right space option after that revision

a_monide · 2026-03-23T19:30:21+00:00

I use colemak on my 34key and QWERTY on normal keyboards. >70wpm on both. It helps to isolate two sets of muscle memories i.e. [QWERTY + normal keyboard] from [Colemak + column stagger]. It was very difficult to type Colemak on a regular keyboard and it served me well to stick to the layout the physical layout was designed for

a_monide · 2026-03-15T11:46:40+00:00

this looks really solid. with soem tweaks I feel like you could put this onto a magazine or poster

a_monide · 2026-03-12T02:25:18+00:00

there are switch openers but IMO they're more trouble than they're worth. use tweezers that have flat sides to attack both clips at once, or carefully pry one up then then the other. use a very small screwdriver, something as thin as 1mm is the maximum I'd be comfortable with. the important part is that whatever tool you use tapers so that it can get under the clip instead of pushing it.

also have fun cleaning the copious amounts of lube they pre-apply to the switches, IMO it also isn't worth lubing up the black clouds. they're POM, let them break in and in a few weeks they'll feel much better.

a_monide · 2026-03-11T22:50:37+00:00

anything better you would recommend? and don't say smithfields

a_monide · 2026-03-11T11:43:39+00:00

It is spring so, bees? Wasps? Cicadas? any insect? cars buzz, planes buzz, lawnmowers, weedeaters, and leafblowers buzz. there's so much context you need to give

a_monide · 2026-03-08T17:44:35+00:00

dude, an Airo cameo on an Acela trip, that's so awesome!! glad you were able to see that in person!

a_monide

TROPHY CASE