Any question answered...

I need an extension cable for my Optimate vehicle battery charger as it, and my previous optimate got lost by a mate.

I found a 4.6m one for £18, but the most cursory of Googles says 18 gauge wire is £1p/m, and actually it would be handy to have it much longer.

*"But the connectors will probably cost more than the extention", *I hear you say. Well it turns out that I have a load of spare ones from my old one.

The cable helpfully has this printed on it.

VW-1
105°C
300V
NANSI
C(UL)
SPT-2W
2X0.824mm² (18AWG)
FT2

2X0.824mm² (18AWG) I can work out. The rest is jibberish to me.

questions

1. Is it just a case of me snipping the ends off my spare and soldering / plugging them at either end of my new cable?
   
2. The Optimate extension cable is advertised as having "Thick copper 16 SWG cable" - is there a reason its not the same thickness as the dongle bits? And I assume using 18AWG is the right choice if I'm snipping off connectors attached to 18AWG?
   
3. Anything else I should consider
   
4. [Bonus] is there a smart/neat way of coiling up 10m of cable?
   
   

Cheers.

The rest is jibberish to me.

There's an insulation voltage rating (300V) and a maximum temperature (105°C conductor temp, although you don't want to run anywhere near that on a device you're going to handle). ANSI is a trade body certification, UL is underwriters' laboratory certification to satisfy your insurer. If you make a longer extension, you want thicker wire to keep the voltage drop constant, in theory doubling the length requires doubling the cross section but you'll want to do maths based on the actual charging current and permissible voltage drop to make sure you have the right wire.

Why is there such a prevalence of synth harmonica solos in 80s pop?

Guessing it's a DX7 preset. The DX7 used a new type of synthesis (for the time) called FM, or Frequency Modulation (which is arguably Phase Modulation, but that's for another thread) that allowed much more complex sounds to be created. Was (and still is to be fair), an absolute mindfuck to program, especially with the incredibly basic UI on offer at the time. So most artists stuck with the presets (and additional preset tones offered by expansion cards).

Harmonica bits around 19:20 or so

Apologies that most of that response is in brackets...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaP_3fwTSQI

As ever, thanks for the detailed response.

To the second part of my pt 2. Is there an issue with the plug + 5cm of 18AWG connected with spade connectors / soldered to a bigger gauge of wire?

Key:
Red = cut
Purple = joint
Green = extension cable

1 Attachment

Is there an issue with the plug + 5cm of 18AWG connected with spade connectors / soldered to a bigger gauge of wire?

Only aesthetically.

Thanks, Anker it is!

👍

I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time chopping up cardboard boxes for recycling and doing this just kills stanley knife blades.

Is there something else I should be using or just buy more blades and change them more regularly?

Grease of the elbow.

Jokes aside, I ended up folding boxes over cutting. Saved time and blades. But this was for large industrial bins, not sure it'll be an option for domestic ones

Most of the boxes at the shop folds flat.

The bigger ones are usually reinforced with glue, tape or staples. Undo this and it's all flat.

In these instances, a ruler under a weak point and lifting it up usually separate them without the need of a box cutter.

I use a bread knife but only when my partner isn't looking

Any recommendations for a video player to play 3D SBS videos on a regular 2D monitor? Ideally on OSX

VLC can crop one half which isn't too bad, but does require reconfiguring and restarting for any videos with different settings (3D vs 2D, aspect ratio, video width etc.) which is a faff.

Bino3D is decent enough though still just uses one half of the video, so the aspect ratio is close to 1:1

I was hoping for something similar to YouTube's player which seems to be able to play SBS videos 2D, with a normal looking aspect ratio, allowing you to drag/zoom etc. (Though looking over there, I can't seem to find any actual examples. Either they've changed something or my memory is playing tricks on me...)

How hard is it to learn the piano? Am imagining an electronic keyboard with headphones so I don't annoy the neighbours. I had lessons when I was 8 but didn't get far because I disliked the teacher and never did any of the practice sessions I was meant to. I would like to play classical stuff, not just the plinky plunk things you have to do when you're learning.

Is there something else I should be using

1 Attachment

use a bread knife but only when my partner isn't looking

haha me too

It's a bit pricey (though much cheaper than a teacher, not sure on the relative effectiveness though), but I found Melodics to be super useful in terms of getting the actual mechanics of independently coordinating your fingers to play what you see on screen. Then moved over to FlowKey which is more focussed on teaching actual music and has quite a bunch of classical to get you going. I imagine once you're relatively proficient with that you should be in a position to just grab sheet music and work away. Naturally you'll need to get up to scratch on your sight reading too, but I've found this just to come naturally with no real explicit practice.

The main thing I've found is to do it as often as possible, even if it's just 5-10 mins a day. It makes such a difference vs 1 hour once per week or something like that.

Granted, I'm not really coming at it from a playing classical piano stuff, and more from a music production point of view. If you're looking to use either Flowkey or Melodics (or any of the other host of similar services), you'll need a MIDI keyboard. Whether just a standalone MIDI controller or a MIDI-capable electronic keyboard.

Could Jesus make a taco so hot that he couldn't eat it?

Is there something else I should be using or just buy more blades and change them more regularly?

Apols for bezos link, but I use one of these ceramic cutters, which has lasted a lot longer than any metal blade has: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07KYWLVCQ/

It's got a magnet in so I can stick it to the fridge, and it's fairly difficult to injure yourself with it, which from personal experience has not applied to standard stanley blades or breadknives 😅

There are other variations for different uses, apparently the mini one i have isnt recommended for cutting up cardboard, but the cardboard police haven't been around to arrest me yet for using it on cardboard

use one of these ceramic cutters

The Slice ceramics are good (I use one in my Gerber EAB) in terms of staying sharp, but they're brittle so it's easier to break one, compared with steel, when chopping up heavy corrugated boxes. I use the breadknife, and answer to nobody for it 😊

I'm sure Anker have an official refurbishment shop that is meant to sell stuff as new with big discounts, however I might have dreamt it....

How hard is it to learn the piano?

One of my mates learnt as an adult. Their two points were; 1/ you just need to practise, 2/ you need to be OK with being shit for a while.

Now if they play everyone is really impressed and when they fine out they learnt as an aduld people say they must have a natural talent, etc. But really it's just putting the hours in regularly.

Cardboard boxes - I kind of enjoy ripping them apart with my bare hands. Mind the staples though.

Piano - I used to play to an ok standard as a child but it's lapsed over the decades to pretty much nothing. This gives me hope I might be able to pick it up again as an adult.

That reminds me, I have the World's Sharpest Knife^TM in the kitchen somewhere. It's useless for everything else so maybe I should try it on cardboard boxes.

Might pick up one of the Slice things anyway, they look interesting.

Does a chalk pen exist that keeps working if you use it on vertical surfaces (chalk wall) only?