Re: Suspension losses

On 1/12/2025 3:33 PM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:

Am Sat, 11 Jan 2025 19:46:50 -0500 schrieb Frank Krygowski
<frkrygow@sbcglobal.net>:
 

To me, a big advantage is the ability to _look_ at a mechanical device
and _see_ what's wrong....

 

That, and the fact I can often affect a repair.

 I prefer devices that don't need repair over their lifetime.

The weakness I see with that is the assumption that "lifetime" is defined as "the amount of time it works." if something stops working, its lifetime is over! Throw it out!
As I said, I hate the Kleenex ethic - "It's no good any more, just throw it away."

Don't know.  We use devices like the blue one in the following picture.
<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/W%C3%A4rmflasche1.jpg>
and better isolating blankets. No electricity necessary. :-)

>
:-) But you imply that _I'm_ the one insufficiently modern?

 No. I doubt that "being modern" is a reasonable benchmark or measure.
This cuts both ways. :-)
 

A few lights in our house are switched by set of 2 x 3 inexpensive
wireless sockets including two remote controls, that I bought eleven
years ago. I've still to replace the batteries. Two of the sockets are
still spares, I have a replacement cell for the remote controls stored
which might live even longer. Standard type, used in garage openers and
burglar alarms, too. Selecting a channel and paring one of the four
buttons of a remote control with one or more of the sockets is as easy
as pie, using a line of dip switches inside those devices.  Quite
similar to pairing switches and derailleur on our bicyles.
>
While I avoid having essential functionality in my house depend on
wireless connections, I enjoy having the option, for certain use cases,
though.

>
Yuck.

 You don't have a single remote control in your house? Not even for the
TV? That's rare.

I've got more remotes than I want. The TV's power button and channel changing buttons are not even visible. They're hidden and practically un-labeled on the back edge of the device, so a remote is necessary to even turn it on. I pump the TV sound through our stereo amplifier, which has its own remote (whose volume control seems to have stopped working), the CD/DVD player has a separate remote, etc. etc. If we had a friend house sit for us, I'd have to write a manual on how to run the system.
A couple years ago we were given a Christmas gift of battery powered LED "candles." The could change colors - by use of a remote! Why should a candle need a remote?
Same for a ceiling fan. Ours change speed by use of a pull chain. I'll never lose the pull chain. I would certainly misplace a remote.

I still have a box of old, but still working IR remote controls,
from devices that broke many years ago.  I collected these to control
gadgets like this one
<https://www.mystrobl.de/Plone/basteleien/microcontroller/ws2812/DSC_3564-DSC_3566_fused.JPG>
Can you guess what this blinkenlight does?

Nope.

Parts a an IR receiver, a PIC 12F1840 microcontroller, a stripe of eight
RGB LED, and a remote control from a CD Player that broke long before
2014, when I built that gadget.  The aforementioned $1.50 controller
(single quantity, digikey) does everything from IR decoding to
controlling the LED stripe.
 Somewhat later, I built something larger using a different part (an
ESP8266) for illuminating the house bar of one of our kids, using about
one meter of densely placed RGB LED, controlled via WIFI, doing a whole
series of different colorful light effects. Extendable with new effects
by uploading short LUA snippets, of course. :-) I was told that it was
used again at a New Year's celebration, so obviously it is still
working.

There's a part of me that wishes I had your skills and knowledge. I occasionally dream up little electronic projects that I lack the knowledge to design or build. I've thought about educating myself, but soon realized there are many other things I'd prefer to learn.

My wife still uses an almost as old bicycle for everyday rides around
the corner.  Didn't have to strip and power coat it, because it came
that way, when she bought it.
 But like me, she is glad that I build two road bikes in 2023, using
wireless electronic shifting that you dislike so much. Without, she
wouldn't have been able to do some of those very enjoyable tours
throughout the region that we did in 2023 and in 2024.

Can you explain? It's hard for me to visualize a tour that would _require_ electronic shifting. The vast majority of my touring and riding miles have been done without even index shifting.
--
- Frank Krygowski