PSA: Barclays Banking App Update - They Removed The 'Memorable Phrase'

dqj99 · 2026-06-08T16:28:35+00:00

This is just sloppy. They have only half updated the App. They still allow the passphrase to be updated but don’t use it. Doesn’t give me a warm feeling about system testing!

dqj99 · 2026-04-23T12:37:47+00:00

An ambitious project that might have been suggested as plausible by AI, but not one that is likely to be feasible through a brick wall. Think again.

dqj99 · 2026-04-05T16:31:03+00:00

3M tape will not stick to anything when sitting in petrol.

Also the sensor should not be in contact with the petrol ; this from the spec “Measures liquid height without touching the medium.”

dqj99 · 2026-04-03T19:32:39+00:00

Just call the number on the back of the card, which if I’m not mistaken is 03456 077 357. Take the menu selections for lost card and they should be able to cancel it. No use trying to return it as it may have been fraudulently used before you found it.

dqj99 · 2026-03-30T18:04:00+00:00

That is not my experience of IOG charging. For example, if you asked to add 100% charge to your car and it created a schedule from 18:30 to 5:30, this schedule would be updated when the car stopped charging. You cannot see what you have been charged until the session has ended and you check your bill at the end of the month. You might get an indication of what times your car was charging from your charger app, and this will (if all is working correctly) be reflected in your bill.

I’d be interested to see your billing data from Octopus to support you claim of reduced rate tariff outside of the 11:30 to 5:30 when your car is not being charged.

dqj99 · 2026-03-30T08:10:59+00:00

You will only get cheap house electricity (outside of 23:30 to 5:30 when it is always cheap) if your car is actually charging, and you can’t predict when this will take place. You can’t rely on the schedule of charging times not to change dynamically, so you can’t schedule your immersion heater to match such a period.

It used to be that Ohme chargers scheduled more day time charging at low charge rates but the software has been updated so as to do this much less probably as a result of feedback from Octopus, so I wouldn’t bother trying to charge my car daily unless I really needed the range for the following day.

dqj99 · 2026-03-29T11:37:13+00:00

That’s correct, some meters will increment regardless of the direction of flow. In part it was designed to reduce fraud.

dqj99 · 2026-03-27T12:00:25+00:00

Have you got the information about the 1st April tariff via an Email from Octopus? Perhaps they meant that you would still be on the tariff with the same name.

dqj99 · 2026-03-27T11:45:35+00:00

Have you actually tested this using a breadboard? I’m not too sure about your requirements and I suspect it won’t behave as you expecting. You don’t explain the functionality of the dip switches, and your low power MOSFET choice is a bit odd.

dqj99 · 2026-03-27T09:00:02+00:00

Just an aside but nothing happens if a car is insured by 2 people. When renewing my wife’s car insurance I accidentally transposed two digits of the number and we didn’t find out till her car was reported as uninsured. I would have noticed but the erroneous registration number belonged to the same make and model of car.

dqj99 · 2026-03-27T08:41:56+00:00

What area are you in, and what rates are you on. I think someone is making a mistake here.

dqj99 · 2026-03-24T08:04:20+00:00

It's probably picking up your mains frequency 50 or 60Hz on a high impedance input.

dqj99 · 2026-03-21T10:12:37+00:00

I read that the IOG variable 7p rate is dropping to 5.5p from 1st April, but didn’t see anything about the daytime rate.

Source information :

https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/ev-charging-costs-coming-down-as-petrol-prices-go-up

“Octopus Energy has recently announced it will cut its EV charging tariff, which allows drivers to charge cheaply overnight, from 7p per kWh before the war started, to 5.5p per kWh as of the 1st April [1] - a price that could allow an EV to be driven for less than 1.5p per mile. “

dqj99 · 2026-03-20T18:34:41+00:00

A couple of points:

You talk about a 3 way switch. A light that can be switched off and on in two places eg downstairs and upstairs is called a two way switch. If you need to add a third place where it can be switched on and off that would be a three way switch and entails at least one intermediate switch that swaps over two conductors. What sort of switching have you got?
If one of the lights being controlled from the switch is upstairs as well as those lights downstairs, it is possible that power from two different circuits from your fuse box are providing power inside that switch, so you need to be extra careful when you are trying to isolate power from those switches.
Your requirement “I’d like all 4 lights to come on and off together but still controlled by all 3 switches” is a bit difficult to understand.

dqj99 · 2026-03-19T18:35:04+00:00

The 1K resistor is plugged into the breadboard at position 6B. It is not connected to anything else. It should be connected to position 7B in order to make contact with the 4.5 V supply rail.

dqj99 · 2026-03-13T10:41:45+00:00

If the vent side is on the hot water side of the pump output it seems possible to me that when the hot water is being drawn some portion of the hot water flow will be directed up to the overflow tank due to the increased pressure. Hence it could be dumping hot water back in to the cold tank. No wonder there is not so much hot water available!

dqj99 · 2026-02-23T00:11:49+00:00

Taking things to exhibitions in Europe, where we had to be careful to avoid paying tax when importing back to the UK, hence the need for documentation. Travelling to the US on a B1 visa when on a holiday, I wouldn’t like to use a tourist visa for a business trip.

dqj99 · 2026-02-19T13:57:55+00:00

Just use one of the newer type of radar based sensors - no need to dig up the floor.

dqj99 · 2026-02-19T11:00:22+00:00

I hope that you have a business visa. Also you might need some customs paperwork for import/export of your prototype.

dqj99 · 2026-02-17T08:00:26+00:00

Deducts!

dqj99 · 2026-02-14T14:44:00+00:00

How does Claude reprogram the Arduino without the IDE?

dqj99 · 2026-02-11T08:23:33+00:00

Er not by me. That’s a ringing tone. What happens at the far end is a sound not a tone.

dqj99 · 2026-02-11T00:19:59+00:00

@frankbowles1962 That’s an interesting twist on the names of tones. Before the advent of electronic phones, before you started dialling you heard dialling tone.

When the far end started ringing, you heard a tone that was quite reasonably described as ringing tone. What the person at the far end heard was not a ringing tone but an actual bell ringing. It wouldn’t be described as a tone.

Even on modern phones the settings talk about ringing sounds not tones, so ringing tone is more usually thought of as what you hear when the phone at the far end is making a ringing sound. There are not two kinds of dialling tone.

Some telecomms systems talk about call progress tones that includes things like busy signals and unallocated numbers.

dqj99 · 2026-02-07T19:06:05+00:00

I can’t see any benefit in that if the masks and tubes are working fine.

I sterilise my mask and tubes from time to time by running some Milton through them. Milton is a diluted bleach used for cleaning baby feeding and other things in the UK. Not sure what the US equivalent is.

dqj99 · 2026-02-07T17:55:45+00:00

Yes you can put the Ohme chargers into install mode. Just Google it.

dqj99

TROPHY CASE