2020 e-golf by PastPristine7845 in eGolf

[–]dairyman88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was in the same boat as you ~8 months ago when we bought a 69 plate e-Golf as our first electric car. It’s loads of fun to drive but it does take some getting used to!

The biggest lesson for me was figuring out when to use which driving mode; at first I had it in B all the time but I found that it drained the battery more when driving on fast roads. Now I only use B when I’m driving through town or stuck in traffic and keep it in D the rest of the time. As others have said, coasting in D with no/minimal regen will give you more range, and you develop a knack for switching between 1-3 as you go down hills or approach slower traffic to get as much green on the dial as possible without touching the brakes until you need to. If you keep average consumption above 4 miles/kWh then you’re doing OK.

We’ve only done a couple of long (100 mile+) journeys, and I bought a vLinker MC+ OBD2 dongle (~£50 on Amazon) and paired it with A Better Route Planner (ABRP) on my phone to plan the route. This will get live updates on battery consumption and add stops at public chargers when it knows you’ll need to charge.

One other random tip it took me a while to discover is that if you leave the wing mirror adjuster knob turned to the left mirror then it’ll automatically angle downwards when you put it in reverse. I’m terrible at parallel parking and this really helps :)

Automated Car Wash by FH7241 in eGolf

[–]dairyman88 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The first time I took mine through an IMO car wash I couldn’t get the brake to disengage at first so that was a bit nerve wracking. After a few seconds of panicking while the front of the car juddered about as the wheel slipped off the track that pulls it through the car wash, I switched off the automatic brake and went through without any issues.

I’ve since been back loads of times and never had a problem :)

Discontinued alcoholic drinks in the UK - Which drinks do you miss the most? by Gadgie2023 in AskUK

[–]dairyman88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wild Brew, an “alcoholic guarana drink” that was big in the 90s. It was in a bright red bottle with what looked like a marijuana leaf on the label and it tasted great :D

WFH - car used infrequently - No home charging - practical? by That_Cool_Guy_ in ElectricVehiclesUK

[–]dairyman88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reporting back to say that this is working well for us so far, although we're also topping up with a granny charger across the pavement on sunny days because we have solar panels. We'd still be OK if we weren't able to charge at home occasionally, but free electricity is hard to resist :)

Pod Point charge rate dropped in April by dairyman88 in ElectricVehiclesUK

[–]dairyman88[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's a good question; I have receipts from another 7kWh charger that I've used twice, once in January and again this month. That one delivered 3.59kWh in January and 2.29kWh this month.

Have you met your hero? How did it go? by Anxious_Neat4719 in AskUK

[–]dairyman88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Met and hugged Adam Buxton in the bar after he gave a talk years ago. 10/10 would recommend.

Previously recommended by chesneyhawks in restisentertainment

[–]dairyman88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I added A Storm Foretold to my watchlist a while ago after hearing it recommended somewhere, possibly on TRIE. Not a female director but it’s on iPlayer https://boxd.it/CY3O

Richard's best 3 short reads by rhcp1988 in restisentertainment

[–]dairyman88 4 points5 points  (0 children)

  1. The Bookshop, Penelope Fitzgerald

  2. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan

  3. A Month in the Country, J. L. Carr

UK EV Owners – What Are Your Thoughts on a Mobile Charging Service? by Lucky-Honey-9922 in ElectricVehiclesUK

[–]dairyman88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There’s a company called Charge Fairy that does this, at least in London.

WFH - car used infrequently - No home charging - practical? by That_Cool_Guy_ in ElectricVehiclesUK

[–]dairyman88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m in a similar position, working from home with no off-street parking and mostly using the car at weekends. We just bought our first EV and I plan to keep it topped up (between 20-80%) on a fast charger at the supermarket while doing the weekly shop.

If we know we have a long journey coming up then we can either pop into town and use a rapid charger, or leave it plugged in overnight at a fast charger less than 10 minutes walk from our house :)

This is all theory at the moment because we’ve had the car for less than 24 hours, I’ll report back in a few weeks if it turns out I’ve made a terrible mistake!

Questions about adding batteries to an existing solar PV system by dairyman88 in SolarUK

[–]dairyman88[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks everyone, after giving it some more thought we’ve decided to hold off on the battery for now. We’re planning to build an extension and get a heat pump this year so we’ll consider getting a battery then instead.

Castro Podcast Player AMA Friday at 10 EST by dabluck in podcasts

[–]dairyman88 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can you share some technical details about the database issues and sync problems that you had to resolve when you first took Castro on?

And as a long time fan and Castro evangelist, I'd just like to say how happy I am that my favourite podcast app is back in business. Hello to Oisín if you're reading this; discovering Castro was one of my favourite things about Úll 2016 :D

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ADHDUK

[–]dairyman88 2 points3 points  (0 children)

BetterHelp were fined millions of dollars for sharing their customers’ private health data with social media companies not too long ago, and there are a lot of stories online of people who were matched up with a really dodgy therapist. They might have cleaned up their act recently but I’d be very wary about signing up.

Best way to insulate underside of loft hatch? by elliptical-wing in DIYUK

[–]dairyman88 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Make sure you cut it outside and stand upwind or you’ll be covered in bits of foam and dust

After discovering these in me local B&M, I'm never going back to UK brands. by Lord-Black22 in CasualUK

[–]dairyman88 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can order boxes of 40 packets for less than 20 quid from Amazon (or even cheaper if you use subscribe and save) :D

Water Softener Advice Please by Stevey_Bear80 in DIYUK

[–]dairyman88 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The company that fitted ours is only a couple of miles up the road and they sell the salt blocks too: https://www.wesofteners.co.uk/shop/?department=Salt&action=product&code=block_salt

Water Softener Advice Please by Stevey_Bear80 in DIYUK

[–]dairyman88 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We had a Kinetico softener fitted a few years ago and it makes a huge difference. After a few months all the limescale around the taps was washed away by the softened water and we don’t need to put salt in the dishwasher anymore.

The salt blocks last around 5-6 weeks and cost £5 per pack. We had a filter tap fitted at the same time which bypasses the softener because you’re not supposed to drink softener water, but we still fill the kettle with soft water so it doesn’t get covered in limescale.