time
Storage? I am Storage!
Sounds quite excruciating, to be honest. Shouldn't you be planning your next child first?
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- Thread starter ddrueding
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Sounds quite excruciating, to be honest. Shouldn't you be planning your next child first?
time
Storage? I am Storage!
I have a problem with this. While I'm sure his Porsche is easier to drive and has more cachet, shouldn't he be prosecuted for misleading advertising?
Sounds like it could be a great time for those into craft beers. I have several friends who might enjoy an event like that. We even have a craft beer club at work and the discussions are seemingly endless about the different brews available all throughout the country.
When I was out your way in 2009 I stopped in Drummonville on my way to the place I was staying at in Beaupre, QC with friends. We spent a week touring around the Québec City area.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
An off-beat blog by Soylent founder Rob Rhinehart about giving up alternating current.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
I thought Tulsa and Westinghouse proved the advantages of AC long ago.
Stereodude
Not really a
Now they're even spying on the aliens!!!
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
His premise is that coal is being burned to produce AC, instead we should switch to DC generated by solar panels.
OK, I read it. Some people like to live like that, but I don't want to live as in a space capsule or a habitat on Mars. I want A/C and power for my computers, etc.
Has anyone done studies on the long term use of only that drink he espouses? It seems vile.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I've heard that it's vile, but you get used to it. It's nutritionally complete and you CAN flavor it if you'd like, so I'm mildly tempted to try it out. I eat a lot of protein bars now because I'm too lazy to actually prepare food for myself.
sedrosken
Florida Man
So I think I've resurrected another Pentium 4 machine...
In the back room of the house I'm currently staying in, my aunt had an old HP Pavillion A705W. I've been acquainted with the A700 series before... but this was a socket 478 Pentium 4-based machine, not a Socket 462 Athlon XP. It has a Northwood Pentium 4 at 2.2GHz, with a half gigabyte of DDR-400 RAM. It probably runs the RAM at 266 MHz if I actually had it running and checked, but I need a heatsink for it. Not sure where the original one ran off to. What is it with me and losing socket 478 heatsinks? Anyway, I'm ordering one and I'm going to use it as a Windows 98SE legacy games machine as I have found that the workarounds to get my older games working on Windows 10 aren't worth the effort. I do have a ton of DDR memory available to me but I'm only going with 512 MB instead of 2 GB because that's the most I can ever see myself using even with integrated video on Windows 98SE. I could use more if I installed an unofficial hotfix, but I don't think I'm going to bother. Threw a 160GB hard drive in there because I had it handy and the motherboard is capable of 48-bit LBA.
The pins of the processor were bent on this one, too. This time I managed to straighten them out without too much hassle or breakage of the pins. I figure 13 dollars for the heatsink is worth potentially having a legacy machine, and not too much of a loss if it doesn't work.
In the back room of the house I'm currently staying in, my aunt had an old HP Pavillion A705W. I've been acquainted with the A700 series before... but this was a socket 478 Pentium 4-based machine, not a Socket 462 Athlon XP. It has a Northwood Pentium 4 at 2.2GHz, with a half gigabyte of DDR-400 RAM. It probably runs the RAM at 266 MHz if I actually had it running and checked, but I need a heatsink for it. Not sure where the original one ran off to. What is it with me and losing socket 478 heatsinks? Anyway, I'm ordering one and I'm going to use it as a Windows 98SE legacy games machine as I have found that the workarounds to get my older games working on Windows 10 aren't worth the effort. I do have a ton of DDR memory available to me but I'm only going with 512 MB instead of 2 GB because that's the most I can ever see myself using even with integrated video on Windows 98SE. I could use more if I installed an unofficial hotfix, but I don't think I'm going to bother. Threw a 160GB hard drive in there because I had it handy and the motherboard is capable of 48-bit LBA.
The pins of the processor were bent on this one, too. This time I managed to straighten them out without too much hassle or breakage of the pins. I figure 13 dollars for the heatsink is worth potentially having a legacy machine, and not too much of a loss if it doesn't work.
sdbardwick
Storage is cool
Re: Soylent
I don't think it is vile, just exceptionally meh. I add a packet of sugar-free hot chocolate mix and it becomes tolerable. I don't think I'll reorder.
I don't think it is vile, just exceptionally meh. I add a packet of sugar-free hot chocolate mix and it becomes tolerable. I don't think I'll reorder.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
He never heard of an inverter?
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
I tried Soylent once, it tasted like chalk. It's gotta be more healthy than what a lot of people eat (including me).
ddrueding
Fixture
OK, I read it. Some people like to live like that, but I don't want to live as in a space capsule or a habitat on Mars. I want A/C and power for my computers, etc.
Has anyone done studies on the long term use of only that drink he espouses? It seems vile.
I have some here. It is vile, but it isn't the lack of taste, it is the texture. No idea how you would hide that grainyness. Also, it needs to sit in the fridge for hours, but can't stay for weeks. Too much effort.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
I have a lingering fear of ending up in Soylent version 8.0 when I'm no longer of any use to society. Remember world hunger problems caused by overpopulation will only make things worse by mid century. Who knows if the creator of Soylent will start altering the formula to include people by then? You'll see buses of old people unknowingly going on a one way trip to the Soylent factory.
One of my favorite movie scenes.
One of my favorite movie scenes.
I remember the reaction in the theatre. It's hard to believe the film was 42 years ago already.
Did you see it then? I'm surprised the drink maker is allowed to use the name.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
I vaguely recall that I did but I'm not 100% sure. I do remember seeing Silent Running in the theater but I'm just not sure if I saw Soylent Green also.I remember the reaction in the theatre. It's hard to believe the film was 42 years ago already.
I'm surprised the drink maker is allowed to use the name.
The odd thing is some of this dystopian science fiction is becoming fact, such as the global warming in Soylent Green.
It may be that any legal protection not to use the name expired long ago but you bring up a good point.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
The Republican debate was on at the gym. From the way the crowd sounded, the party establishment is going to have a hell of a time changing the rules to make sure Trump can't get the nomination. From the way the rest of the debate sounded, I think it's safe to say that the republican party as a whole has learned nothing in the last eight years. Or maybe the last 40.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
The Republican debate was on at the gym. From the way the crowd sounded, the party establishment is going to have a hell of a time changing the rules to make sure Trump can't get the nomination. From the way the rest of the debate sounded, I think it's safe to say that the republican party as a whole has learned nothing in the last eight years. Or maybe the last 40.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Inefficient to convert DC to AC and vice-versa; he's on a quest for efficiency. He invented Soylent because: a) he wanted to eat healthy and b) he didn't want to waste time cooking
Soylent *may* be a good alternative when you travel and are not sure of availability of food; like hiking, for example.
That bottle is too large to fit on a commercial aircraft.
The amount of time spent working on that soylent crap is probably more than all the time he would save preparing food for a hundred years, not to mention that food can taste good.
What exactly is he saving time for and why is efficiency to the extreme so important? Maybe he has a mental condition like ODC. Whatever, it does not sound like enjoyment of life is a priority.
It seems to me that time could be better spent working a real job to have money and pay the electric bill. He was electrocuted as a child so maybe that is part of the aversion to AC. (Ironically, I was electrocuted more times with DC than AC, but I don't want to avoid DC in the home.)
Stereodude
Not really a
DC power is okay as long as you don't have to move it long distances. So if you're generating electricity locally at your house with solar panels DC's not really a problem. The sort of power grid the US has wouldn't work with DC power. Sure we can do things with high efficiency DC/DC converters that weren't remotely possible 100 years ago, but I'm pretty sure those don't scale to substation size power distribution so high voltage DC could be moved around on transmission lines instead of high voltage AC.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
If you read about that guy, he has some pretty extreme philosophies in a lot of other respects. He strikes me as having a lot of similarly polarized viewpoints.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
I'm sure he's making more money from starting Soylent than just about anything else he could have done. http://www.inc.com/will-yakowicz/2015-30-under-30-soylent.html
So the rest is mainly to promote the funky lifestyle. Now I get it.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Amen. A bit of a weirdo, probably would have fit in better in the hippie era.
Sigh, I'm not endorsing or justifying his views, only posted about it to illustrate that there are guys with such radical views. While I don;t agree with him, I respect him for pursuing his vision, however warped it may be.
Much has been talked about de-centralizing the power grid; local generation and local consumption, etc. This model can work both in the DC and AC worlds. In this particular instance, it's DC. His point is that AC gets converted to DC for powering your PC, charging your phone, etc, and it's more efficient to do it directly from DC generated by the solar panels. If de-centralization does take off in a big way, we might end up with DC to DC power supplies (modifying only the voltage) for all DC-driven devices in the home - PC, mobile, TV, etc.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
Mubs:
My central air unit uses more power than all of our TVs, phones, and computers combined. Converting it to DC would cost a fortune.
Distribution of DC is a nightmare. Thomas Edison tried it in NYC. He had to put a generating plant about every 5 blocks. His system failed.
There was a trolley system here many years ago that only went about 15 miles. There was a generating plant about every 4-5 miles.
Transformers don't work on DC. To boost the voltage for long range distribution would be very expensive and complicated. Easy way would be with motor-generators. Again very expensive and very high maintenance. And then you have to lower the voltage for consumer use
Cars had DC generators in them until the mid 1960s. They were replaced by AC alternators. Some of the alternators are now rated at 90 amps. A 90 amp generator would be the size of a small 4 cylinder motor.
DC is fine for a few things, but not for mass distribution.
My central air unit uses more power than all of our TVs, phones, and computers combined. Converting it to DC would cost a fortune.
Distribution of DC is a nightmare. Thomas Edison tried it in NYC. He had to put a generating plant about every 5 blocks. His system failed.
There was a trolley system here many years ago that only went about 15 miles. There was a generating plant about every 4-5 miles.
Transformers don't work on DC. To boost the voltage for long range distribution would be very expensive and complicated. Easy way would be with motor-generators. Again very expensive and very high maintenance. And then you have to lower the voltage for consumer use
Cars had DC generators in them until the mid 1960s. They were replaced by AC alternators. Some of the alternators are now rated at 90 amps. A 90 amp generator would be the size of a small 4 cylinder motor.
DC is fine for a few things, but not for mass distribution.
sdbardwick
Storage is cool
High voltage DC is used for some transmission lines.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Given the prevalence of electronics in homes these days it may well make sense to have a low voltage DC distribution system inside buildings. I'm thinking something like 48VDC. This avoids the need to rectify and filter 120VAC before stepping it down to voltages electronics can use. The switch to LED lighting makes yet another good case for low-voltage DC distribution to augment the 120/240VAC (which needs to remain in place for high-power appliances.
Electronics are slowly getting there as far as converting very high-voltage DC to lower voltages. It may turn out in time that our grid ends up mostly DC based if the conversion electronics end up smaller than conventional transformers. That's actually already happened on the low end. You can buy kilowatt switching power supplies for PCs and other things which are a fraction of the size/weight of something based on a transformer. I have a 540 watt hobby supply for example which weighs less than 3 pounds and is maybe 8"x6"x3". I recall needing an old AT computer case to house a transformer-based supply I built in the 1990s with a similar output. The thing weighs something like 30 pounds. I feel it's only a matter of time before we can downsize grid-scale transformers using switching power supplies. At that point the need to use AC transmission vanishes. In fact, it makes more sense to use DC just to avoid the rectification process (high-voltage rectifiers are HUGE).
Electronics are slowly getting there as far as converting very high-voltage DC to lower voltages. It may turn out in time that our grid ends up mostly DC based if the conversion electronics end up smaller than conventional transformers. That's actually already happened on the low end. You can buy kilowatt switching power supplies for PCs and other things which are a fraction of the size/weight of something based on a transformer. I have a 540 watt hobby supply for example which weighs less than 3 pounds and is maybe 8"x6"x3". I recall needing an old AT computer case to house a transformer-based supply I built in the 1990s with a similar output. The thing weighs something like 30 pounds. I feel it's only a matter of time before we can downsize grid-scale transformers using switching power supplies. At that point the need to use AC transmission vanishes. In fact, it makes more sense to use DC just to avoid the rectification process (high-voltage rectifiers are HUGE).
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Electronics will be able to do the boosting and lowering in the not too distant future.
This has more to do with the fact that those old DC generators used permanent magnets which weren't all that powerful (hence the much larger sizes). Alternators use field windings instead. Much of the advantage has vanished with rare earth magnets. Look to the RC world for how powerful tiny DC motors can be. Obviously those same motors can in theory be run as generators.
Actually the majority of things these days ultimately need DC. That's even becoming true of some heavy appliances like washers, dryers, and refrigerators, even in some cases air conditioners. The old induction motors run directly from 120VAC are being ditched in favor of 3 phase motors. The 120VAC is rectified and chopped up by electronics in variable voltage, variable frequency inverters. You end up with much more flexibility, including the ability to throttle AC and refrigerator compressors to match the load and keep constant temperature, rather than cycling them on and off.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
jtr1962
"This has more to do with the fact that those old DC generators used permanent magnets which weren't all that powerful (hence the much larger sizes). Alternators use field windings instead. Much of the advantage has vanished with rare earth magnets. Look to the RC world for how powerful tiny DC motors can be. Obviously those same motors can in theory be run as generators."
The generators were self exciting. They did not have permanent magnets. The residual magnetism in the fields is enough to start the generator output. Then the output was fed back into the field windings. When a generator was replaced, you had to 'flash the fields'. You did this by touching the field wire from the regulator to the positive battery terminal, just for an instant. This magnetizes the fields enough that the generator will operate. Besides, if it has permanent magnets, you wouldn't be able to pull the armature out for maintenance or reconditioning.
I can't imagine having two separate power sources in a home. After working in the electrical field for over 40 years, you wouldn't believe some of the stupid shit people do with electrical devices and wiring. Now give them 2 sources??? The undertakers will love it.
"This has more to do with the fact that those old DC generators used permanent magnets which weren't all that powerful (hence the much larger sizes). Alternators use field windings instead. Much of the advantage has vanished with rare earth magnets. Look to the RC world for how powerful tiny DC motors can be. Obviously those same motors can in theory be run as generators."
The generators were self exciting. They did not have permanent magnets. The residual magnetism in the fields is enough to start the generator output. Then the output was fed back into the field windings. When a generator was replaced, you had to 'flash the fields'. You did this by touching the field wire from the regulator to the positive battery terminal, just for an instant. This magnetizes the fields enough that the generator will operate. Besides, if it has permanent magnets, you wouldn't be able to pull the armature out for maintenance or reconditioning.
I can't imagine having two separate power sources in a home. After working in the electrical field for over 40 years, you wouldn't believe some of the stupid shit people do with electrical devices and wiring. Now give them 2 sources??? The undertakers will love it.
I agree. There's no way the US infrastructure will change. It's not economical. There are literally billions of appliances and devices designed to run on single phase 120VAC.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
If that's the case then there's no real reason why alternators and generators wouldn't be similar in size for any given output. Alternators generally require lower maintenance which is why I suspect they replaced generators in motor vehicles. The "downsizing" was just a result of technological improvements through the years.
I suspect the first major use of DC in the grid will be for long and medium distance transmission. That's transparent to the end user. Down the road, we may well start designing things with connections for either and AC or DC power cord. By using different types of plugs on both the device and home outlet, it should be relatively failsafe against morons. Remember the same system is used now to differentiate between 120VAC and 240VAC appliances. In fact, given the fact most homes have 240VAC outlets there are already two separate power sources. It may well make sense to add a third one, starting with new construction. It may also make sense to start designing appliances to be able to use this new source. None of this would affect existing devices or infrastructure.
Another reason I think we'll see this sooner rather than later is the huge growth in home solar. When many of your devices run on DC, it makes just about zero sense to convert the DC from solar panels to AC then back to DC in the device. If we assume 90% efficiency for the inverter, and 75% efficiency for the AC-DC converter in the device, you're wasting over 30% of the precious power generating by the solar panels as heat. Even worse, in warm weather this 30% must be removed by the A/C. And if you have battery backed solar you obviously don't want to waste any battery power doing unnecessary conversions.
From an engineering standpoint it's easy to have a separate DC input on most devices. Remember typically the 120VAC is rectified and filtered to ~165VDC before being converted to lower voltage by switching regulators. The regulators would be more efficient if they had a 48 or 24 VDC source as a starting point. Easy enough to supply that with a separate line and different type of plug.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
The alternator produces 3 phase AC that is rectified to DC. Much more efficient and able to produce more power in a smaller package.
The alternators have fields that are in the rotor rather than part of the housing, the case does not have to be steel. Alternators have an aluminum case.
Generator must be current regulated. These regulators are large and heavy as the field current goes through them. They are a pain to setup.
Alternators are voltage regulated. These regulators are small. They are now about the size of two nickels and reside inside the alternator.
Generators need regular maintenance for cleaning (carbon dust from the brushes gets into everything) and brush replacement. In some cases the commutator must be turned down and undercut.
Alternators require almost no maintenance. Of the dozens of alternators I have repaired, 97% were for rotor bearings. The rest were for fried diodes.
Sometimes I think we overthink things. Need DC? Use a transformer to reduce 120V to whatever you need, then pass it through a bridge rectifier. Add a couple of capacitors to take out the lumps. Done.
The alternators have fields that are in the rotor rather than part of the housing, the case does not have to be steel. Alternators have an aluminum case.
Generator must be current regulated. These regulators are large and heavy as the field current goes through them. They are a pain to setup.
Alternators are voltage regulated. These regulators are small. They are now about the size of two nickels and reside inside the alternator.
Generators need regular maintenance for cleaning (carbon dust from the brushes gets into everything) and brush replacement. In some cases the commutator must be turned down and undercut.
Alternators require almost no maintenance. Of the dozens of alternators I have repaired, 97% were for rotor bearings. The rest were for fried diodes.
Sometimes I think we overthink things. Need DC? Use a transformer to reduce 120V to whatever you need, then pass it through a bridge rectifier. Add a couple of capacitors to take out the lumps. Done.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
I think we've found Bozo's field of expertise.