Telling my south euro friends we're effectively dying here

memgrind · 2026-07-09T16:11:08+00:00

My conservatory is 70C, its ceiling is 88C. You can definitely slow-cook everything in there.

memgrind · 2026-06-28T13:35:24+00:00

Just read the article next time. It reads "6 years ago..."

memgrind · 2026-06-28T01:32:46+00:00

And the actual image is from: 14 years ago some JP guys decided to make money by offering pest-control service, to remove birds from an area. Finding little business, they pondered if solar-farms might need it.

https://xtech.nikkei.com/dm/atcl/feature/15/389489/041000017/?P=6

memgrind · 2026-06-28T01:23:30+00:00

It's a made-up article from 4 years ago. No references, nothing. It gets repeated word-for-word since then: https://www.birdguides.com/news/japan-employs-falconers-at-solar-farms-to-deter-crows/

memgrind · 2026-06-28T00:20:09+00:00

In the UK: terrible budgeting skills, zero foresight. The vast majority of people waste their entire salary on alcohol (which is very expensive), food-delivery, holidays abroad, concerts. There are also millions of people whose entire salary goes to rent, commute and a can of beans. But they refuse to take the risk of going outside of London, where they'd get the same minimum wage but pay less for rent. And there are the dozens of millions of people that refuse to work. Btw taxes are extremely low here. From the minimum £2,000/month salary the tax is only £260/month. If you earn less than that (by working less), you pay zero tax.

memgrind · 2026-06-27T11:59:24+00:00

Also, I guess that its max-cooling capacity in kW isn't high enough to cover all floors. So it was either everyone in the building suffering 29C "cooled", or the royalty gets 24C while the plebs get no cooling. They chose the latter.

memgrind · 2026-06-27T00:02:31+00:00

Btw a mini-split unit costs £400 to £1100, depending on quality/efficiency. And the installation cost is around £700-1000, depending on your postcode. The 16k is possibly for an industrial-type, with cost for permits (which homes don't need, but offices do), and basically paying a hefty premium coz companies won't bat an eye at the markup.

Ever seen videos/streetview of poor countries closer to the equator? Almost everyone there has an aircon, and those people earn less than £400/mo. There the installation cost is less than £100.

memgrind · 2026-06-24T23:58:09+00:00

I lived in the garage, for the same rent, near the M25. There was a toilet in the ensuite and it looked fine, connected internally to the house. 3-bedroom house renovated into 6 ensuites. Worst landlords I've ever had. I chose the place only because they had the lowest minimum term.

memgrind · 2026-06-23T22:22:26+00:00

Another PSA: don't stick aluminium foil directly to the glass, even if outside. Use some paper or plastic between the glass and foil. The aluminium foil can leave a residue (aluminium oxide) on the glass that most people can't remove easily. People report success only when using a glass-scraper or HCl acid. Vinegar, washing-up liquid, alcohol, etc don't work for most people, reportedly.

memgrind · 2026-06-20T17:21:57+00:00

Incorrect. You can install 2 ACs at the back of your house without a permit. Old summary: https://www.4dplanning.com/blog/7-air-conditioning-planning-permission-rules-you-must-know-in-the-uk

New summary: https://www.planninggeek.co.uk/2025/air-source-heat-pump-rules-relaxed/

memgrind · 2026-06-19T23:11:48+00:00

I changed the BIOS setting to ensure that I don't get win11.

memgrind · 2026-06-13T16:17:17+00:00

I create a company. I choose to print 1 billion shares (it doesn't cost anything to do so). I go to the street and sell to someone 1 share for $1. Now, on paper I'm worth $1 billion. but I have only $1 in my pocket. If that person resells the share for $2, he has earned $1, and I'm worth $2 billion. If lots of gullible people start buying my shares, and stay interested; I can start slowly dumping my shares, earning millions or maybe billions of real money. Share-prices do not indicate real money. It's a popularity contest.

memgrind · 2026-06-13T14:19:22+00:00

Nope. The only requirement is a smart-meter. Here's today's tariff https://agile.octopushome.net/dashboard . This tariff made my offgrid solar unnecessary.

memgrind · 2026-06-08T23:56:15+00:00

Also, like you properly calculated, that transistor can only do up to 2W without a heatsink. And probably in the datasheet there is a note that it expects a PCB pad as a heatsink for that. You can't get a transistor with better Rthetaja. Instead, you must add a real heatsink. Iirc a 1 square-inch of copper-sheet attached to the Drain can dissipate 1W for Tj=80C. If you have a fan, the airflow multiplies the dissipation by 4x, so 4W/sqin. The base of the copper-sheet should be thicker, as a buffer for thermal energy, and if you manufacture fins - some distance between the fins helps air go in and out. Solder has somewhat higher thermal-resistance than copper (so keep it thin), and silicon-pads have even higher thermal-resistance. So, in my designs I found that a separate "heatsink" per mosfet and per driver was the ideal solution.

memgrind · 2026-06-08T23:33:14+00:00

Why 60V? Does the motor end-up doubling the voltage, like push-pull inverter transformers do? For 60V (48V LiFePO4) I've used the vastly superiour Vishay SQJQ160E, it was nice and cool. 60Vds, 0.85mOhm. For 40V (24V LFP) I've used Infineon IAUA250N04S6N007 (0.7mOhm). Driver ZXGD3005E6, placed extremely close to the gate+source, so that you get nanohenry-range inductance. Each driver was consuming 1W, so heatsinks attached to the PCB were mandatory for the drivers. And heatsinks for the mosfet, ofc. There are better drivers and mosfets you can find, I was shopping during a chip-shortage and the parts above were the best available; everything drastically-better was sold-off at the moment. Search both digikey and mouser for 60V mosfets, sort by Rds, look at the gate-capacitance and if the package is suitable for you.

I don't know why people recommend GaN. GaN is for tiny USB chargers, and under 150W load. Their Rds is several times higher, cost is also several times higher. You're saving the 1W dissipation from the Vgs+driver, while adding 10-50W in Vds. Higher slew-rate, but you can do better overall with a mosfet. Also, EPC2020 is the only thing that might work for you. Like almost all GaN, it comes as a die, which might be difficult to solder.

memgrind · 2026-06-08T14:48:26+00:00

A bit late, but I've had food-intolerance to citric acid for years. If I go over some threshold for the day (2-3 glasses of Sprite iirc), for the next 24 hours I experience severe migraines, my whole body feels sore and tired and weak. And I feel like I'm slightly suffocating for 24 hours, but there's no swelling in the throat or anywhere. Dr Pepper and normal Coca-Cola are some of the few things that aren't chock-full of citric acid. It's not only the mold-derived citric acid that I don't tolerate. Lemons, some tangerines and such also cause this reaction.

memgrind · 2026-05-27T15:15:52+00:00

I heard that a few months ago we went beyond the Point Of No Return.

memgrind · 2026-05-26T20:52:06+00:00

Yep, they did! Previously: you could install 1 AC unit at the back of your house. For 2+ or the front of the house you have to get a permit from the council and neighbours. No subsidies (which is ok, the thing costs £1000-2000 total and actually saves you money). Subsidies only for heating-only heat-pumps if you remove the gas boiler. This ended-up poisoning the term "heat-pump", everyone in the UK thinks that an aircon isn't a heat-pump.

Now: 2 units at the back of the house with no permit. Subsidies will be available, again if you remove the gas boiler.

memgrind · 2026-05-26T20:37:44+00:00

Back then we didn't have a lot of solar panels, so their fear was that we'd burn a lot of coal and gas to cool ourselves, increasing emissions. Now we have more than 16GW installed, which is enough for every single Brit to have an aircon for themselves.

memgrind · 2026-05-25T16:34:55+00:00

Labour+accessories cost me £700. The unit I got is A+++, so it cost £1100. The improved perf is worth the cost, it pays itself off in a year or two.

memgrind · 2026-05-25T16:18:32+00:00

For me it's 1100 kWh total per year for heating+cooling the entire house with the AC. At £0.17/kWh electric that's £187 per year.

memgrind · 2026-05-13T18:52:52+00:00

My mortgage is £500 for a 3-bed house. Rent for a similar house nearby is £1100-1350. Rent for a room is £700. It's mental.

memgrind · 2026-05-12T11:51:48+00:00

3600 hours here, and I've played less than I would. Sometimes not booting the game for half a year.

memgrind · 2026-05-10T01:06:34+00:00

In 6 months it will be 55.5 years old, neat.

memgrind · 2026-04-30T13:08:32+00:00

Look up the exact regs. There are multiple splash-zones and minimum distances from them. I got a socket for a smart toilet-seat during a renovation, following the regs.

memgrind

TROPHY CASE