sanding off chip markings?

[Spehro Pefhany]

Sure does. But, I learned the hard way that the garage door opener
gears have to be lubed annually, otherwise the (plastic) gears will
grind themselves to dust...

Let others learn from my error!

Gear kit look something like this:
http://www.bizrate.com/oid18265308.html

Heh, I did the same thing early this year. ;-) But I sprung for the
kit with the assembled replacement sprocket for another $10 or so.
Well worth it. Got the parts from that same place in California too.
http://www.aaaremotes.com/gearsprocask.html


But to open our garage door without power you just pull a handle and
it disengages from the shuttle. When the power failed for that long
blackout a few years ago that hit the Northeast US and parts of
Canada, I was just leaving the garage. I pressed the remote button in
the car to close the door and nothing happened. Got out and started
troubleshooting. Hmmm no light on the opener. Fuse? Hmmm. no lights in
the garage at all. Go into the house. No lights. Check down the
street. No lights. The radio stations were still operating, and of
course so was the car radio.

What, the cell phone batteries were dead?

Cell phones were all working. But very little light once it got dark,
just a few people with generators and the (then fairly rare) LED solar
garden lights.

Natural gas pumping station was still working, so our BBQ was okay.

Alas, my brownout was during the night... but I'll keep this in mind
for the next daytime brownout.

Michael

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Pooh Bear]

What, the cell phone batteries were dead?

Cordless not cellphone. When the ac power dies the cordless phone's base dies too
and you can't call from it. It's essential to keep at least one wired phone.

Graham

 

[Joerg]

Hello Spehro,

Cell phones were all working. ...

For how long? The whole time? Did the towers have generators?

Natural gas pumping station was still working, so our BBQ was okay.

Ah, but a steak just ain't the same if it didn't come off the charcoal
barbie.

 

[Richard Henry]

Hello Spehro,






For how long? The whole time? Did the towers have generators?


Ah, but a steak just ain't the same if it didn't come off the charcoal
barbie.

"Taste the meat, not the heat." Hank Hill

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Cordless not cellphone. When the ac power dies the cordless phone's base dies too
and you can't call from it. It's essential to keep at least one wired phone.

Graham

My cordless phones are on the closest UPS, and there is at least one
regular phone in each building that has telephone service. Three at the
moment, soon to be five. ;-)


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Joerg]

Hello Graham,

Cordless not cellphone. When the ac power dies the cordless phone's base dies too
and you can't call from it. It's essential to keep at least one wired phone.

Our first one was the best, from Cincinnatti Microwave. Unfortunately
the stuff from smart companies often seems to vanish from the market. It
had a spare phone battery that was kept charged inside the base. When
the power went this battery took over as a UPS. Of course, that would
have only worked for a few hours I guess.

Wired phones: Ideally at least one should be a plain old phone with
hardly any electronics in there, even a rotary still works in many
places. Or keep a 2nd one in the garage that is connected after the
outage happened. Sometimes when lightning was the culprit for an outage
this might have taken out some of the connected electronics.

 

[[email protected]]

Hello Graham,


Our first one was the best, from Cincinnatti Microwave. Unfortunately
the stuff from smart companies often seems to vanish from the market. It
had a spare phone battery that was kept charged inside the base. When
the power went this battery took over as a UPS. Of course, that would
have only worked for a few hours I guess.

Wired phones: Ideally at least one should be a plain old phone with
hardly any electronics in there, even a rotary still works in many
places. Or keep a 2nd one in the garage that is connected after the
outage happened. Sometimes when lightning was the culprit for an outage
this might have taken out some of the connected electronics.

Wired phones are the way to go, when giving credit card and social
security #s over the phone... are the digital spread spectrum cordless
phones as secure? All my cordless phones are analog...

 

[Joerg]

Hello Michael,

Wired phones are the way to go, when giving credit card and social
security #s over the phone... are the digital spread spectrum cordless
phones as secure? All my cordless phones are analog...

Our very first one was true spread spectrum, the others still use
digital schemes that are hard to decode. But plain old analog ones can
be dangerous. I remember when a former neighbor (that was in Europe)
called her doctor, got a quick appointment at 9:00 am and right after
that the burglars began to loot their home. In broad daylight. We went
over there later because the police gave hints about securing homes
better. That's when I asked her whether she had used that phone. "Umm,
.... yeah ...... oh drat!"

So it's not just credit card info that's dangerous to communicate. Talks
about vacation plans can be especially damaging. But the eaverdroppers
would have to know where the talker is located and whether there'd be
enough to loot. Either talker, not just the one on the analog phone.

 

[Pooh Bear]

Hello Graham,


Our first one was the best, from Cincinnatti Microwave. Unfortunately
the stuff from smart companies often seems to vanish from the market. It
had a spare phone battery that was kept charged inside the base. When
the power went this battery took over as a UPS. Of course, that would
have only worked for a few hours I guess.

I've seen this too. In fact the first cordless phone I bought had this but it used
primary cells which wasn't the best idea.

Wired phones: Ideally at least one should be a plain old phone with
hardly any electronics in there, even a rotary still works in many
places.

I still have one rotary. Hasn't been used in years though. My first 'electronic' phone
gave out dial pulses rather than tones too.

Or keep a 2nd one in the garage that is connected after the
outage happened. Sometimes when lightning was the culprit for an outage
this might have taken out some of the connected electronics.

That's a very good point. It takes a lot to fry a rotary phone.

Graham

 

[Joerg]

Hello Graham,

That's a very good point. It takes a lot to fry a rotary phone.

We have one that's almost guaranteed to be fry-proof: Western Electric
from 1927, in the kitchen (works!). It has a separate ear piece and a
horn in front so you have to stand at attention while speaking. It's got
a crank so I guess it could be considered rotary

Of course I have disconnected the generator behind the crank.

 

[Zak]

I buy some of those $1 items for the batteries for our calipers and such,
MUCH cheaper than buying the batteries alone!

Now that cheap coin cells are available (1 euro per 24 - 6 types at 4 of
each) I'm not too worried about coin cell prices.

Lithiums are more expensive, but depending on the vendor go for a euro
each or a card of 5.


Thomas

 

[joseph2k]

Hello Michael,



When we needed a new stereo I bought a Rio, not the small player but a
larger stereo, before they went under. So it was deeply discounted. To
my surprise it could also play CD-RW and MP3. But I have never played any...

My guess is that the next step, if it is not already out, is that it can
play mp3 from dual layer DVD+/-rw. Probably go for a week (24/7 = 168
hours) without repeats.