Ask a Shiter

[DSdriver]

Off topic - sorry about that but how do I buy an MP3 download?

I tried Amazon but it started on about keeping my album in the cloud which I don't understand. I just want to buy the album, download it to my computer and put it onto SD cards that fit in car radios.

I was going to start with Air Conditioning by Curved Air

No iffy illegal stuff, the band deserve their royalties.

Yeh, I know I'm getting too old and should be put in a home.

[Cavcraft]

If you have to leave a (car) stereo on for two hours to recode it, does that mean two constant hours or a total of two hours, i.e leave ignition on permanently for that period, or several bursts of say fifteen minutes a time?

[garbaldy]

If you have to leave a (car) stereo on for two hours to recode it, does that mean two constant hours or a total of two hours, i.e leave ignition on permanently for that period, or several bursts of say fifteen minutes a time?

 

 

 

In that cheep cherokee I had it stated on the sterio 4 hrs before it would accept the code, I drove it about for weeks and still it said 4hrs, I left ignition on but forgot about it until the next morning and killed the battery

On a good note the radio took the code

[Bobthebeard]

Does anyone have any experience of the aftermarket battery isolator units that have a screw on/off knurled wheel? Fits onto the negative terminal of the battery. My 944 has a slow parasitic drain that will flatten the battery over a couple of weeks non use, so thought about fitting one of these things for the times the car is not in regular use. The battery is in the rear, the hatch lock is electrically operated, so if I remove the battery leads to disconnect it I have to crawl in from behind the front passenger seat to re fit the leads. Would still have to crawl in to turn the little wheel etc, but that would be far easier than re fitting the leads every time.

Are these isolators ok? Can they handle the current when using the starter motor or are they more likely to melt/fail/be a PITA etc?

Ta!

[MrDuke]

Does anyone have any experience of the aftermarket battery isolator units that have a screw on/off knurled wheel? Fits onto the negative terminal of the battery. My 944 has a slow parasitic drain that will flatten the battery over a couple of weeks non use, so thought about fitting one of these things for the times the car is not in regular use. The battery is in the rear, the hatch lock is electrically operated, so if I remove the battery leads to disconnect it I have to crawl in from behind the front passenger seat to re fit the leads. Would still have to crawl in to turn the little wheel etc, but that would be far easier than re fitting the leads every time.

Are these isolators ok? Can they handle the current when using the starter motor or are they more likely to melt/fail/be a PITA etc?

Ta!

 

As the battery leads (presumably) run the length of the car, would it not be easier to just have a really chunky isolator switch/connector somewhere more accessible, part-way along?

[DSdriver]

Does anyone have any experience of the aftermarket battery isolator units that have a screw on/off knurled wheel? Fits onto the negative terminal of the battery. My 944 has a slow parasitic drain that will flatten the battery over a couple of weeks non use, so thought about fitting one of these things for the times the car is not in regular use. The battery is in the rear, the hatch lock is electrically operated, so if I remove the battery leads to disconnect it I have to crawl in from behind the front passenger seat to re fit the leads. Would still have to crawl in to turn the little wheel etc, but that would be far easier than re fitting the leads every time.

Are these isolators ok? Can they handle the current when using the starter motor or are they more likely to melt/fail/be a PITA etc?

Ta!

 

Yep, I use one on the DS saloon as it spends a bit of time in the barn between outings. A worthwhile purchase. The only arseache on the DS is that the clock should only be wound forwards so can be quite a bit of knob twirling to put it right.

[Bobthebeard]

Does anyone have any experience of the aftermarket battery isolator units that have a screw on/off knurled wheel? Fits onto the negative terminal of the battery. My 944 has a slow parasitic drain that will flatten the battery over a couple of weeks non use, so thought about fitting one of these things for the times the car is not in regular use. The battery is in the rear, the hatch lock is electrically operated, so if I remove the battery leads to disconnect it I have to crawl in from behind the front passenger seat to re fit the leads. Would still have to crawl in to turn the little wheel etc, but that would be far easier than re fitting the leads every time.

Are these isolators ok? Can they handle the current when using the starter motor or are they more likely to melt/fail/be a PITA etc?

Ta!

 

As the battery leads (presumably) run the length of the car, would it not be easier to just have a really chunky isolator switch/connector somewhere more accessible, part-way along?

 

Probably would be easier, but the received wisdom is that the isolator should be fitted to the negative side of the battery to avoid shorting out issues etc. (It's a big lump of metal). Fitting it into the positive lead in an easier to access place would be more difficult as the lead seems to run through the near side sill. Am happy to crawl into the back providing the isolator is a safe option.

[MrDuke]

Probably would be easier, but the received wisdom is that the isolator should be fitted to the negative side of the battery to avoid shorting out issues etc. Fitting it into the positive lead in an easier to access place would be more difficult as the lead seems to run through the near side sill. Am happy to crawl into the back providing the isolator is a safe option.

 

Ah - thought it sounded a bit too obvious!

[Bobthebeard]

Does anyone have any experience of the aftermarket battery isolator units that have a screw on/off knurled wheel? Fits onto the negative terminal of the battery. My 944 has a slow parasitic drain that will flatten the battery over a couple of weeks non use, so thought about fitting one of these things for the times the car is not in regular use. The battery is in the rear, the hatch lock is electrically operated, so if I remove the battery leads to disconnect it I have to crawl in from behind the front passenger seat to re fit the leads. Would still have to crawl in to turn the little wheel etc, but that would be far easier than re fitting the leads every time.

Are these isolators ok? Can they handle the current when using the starter motor or are they more likely to melt/fail/be a PITA etc?

Ta!

 

Yep, I use one on the DS saloon as it spends a bit of time in the barn between outings. A worthwhile purchase. The only arseache on the DS is that the clock should only be wound forwards so can be quite a bit of knob twirling to put it right.

 

Happily* the clock on my 944 is digital, and doesn't work anyway!

Thanks for the reply. Will go ahead and fit one now as yours seems ok!

[willswitchengage]

Off topic - sorry about that but how do I buy an MP3 download?

I tried Amazon but it started on about keeping my album in the cloud which I don't understand. I just want to buy the album, download it to my computer and put it onto SD cards that fit in car radios.

I was going to start with Air Conditioning by Curved Air

No iffy illegal stuff, the band deserve their royalties.

Yeh, I know I'm getting too old and should be put in a home.

 

Walk to HMV, buy the CD, then rip it to your computer using windows media player. You'll then have the extracted files in your computer's folder structure, imho that's the easiest way.

 

Personally I use filestube or isohunt, illegal but avoids the idiosyncrasies of buying music online. Paying to go to gigs and festivals is my way of "putting something back" I believe.

[M'coli]

Off topic - sorry about that but how do I buy an MP3 download?

I tried Amazon but it started on about keeping my album in the cloud which I don't understand. I just want to buy the album, download it to my computer and put it onto SD cards that fit in car radios.

I was going to start with Air Conditioning by Curved Air

No iffy illegal stuff, the band deserve their royalties.

Yeh, I know I'm getting too old and should be put in a home.

Amazon should have an mp3 dowload section where you buy the music, a little helper application from Amazon is installed on your computer (talking from MS XP experience, other operating systems may differ) and the mp3 files will then download into a new "Amazon" folder in My Music. Keep ignoring it if they talk about the "cloud", try to get around it and click on something that says "No thanks, I'll have it as a download". Try a single file first to see how you go before committing to an album.

[Cavcraft]

If you have to leave a (car) stereo on for two hours to recode it, does that mean two constant hours or a total of two hours, i.e leave ignition on permanently for that period, or several bursts of say fifteen minutes a time?

 

 

 

In that cheep cherokee I had it stated on the sterio 4 hrs before it would accept the code, I drove it about for weeks and still it said 4hrs, I left ignition on but forgot about it until the next morning and killed the battery

On a good note the radio took the code

 

Cheers, looks like it'll be a leave it somewhere safe with ignition on job then.

[hairymel]

....aftermarket battery isolator units that have a screw on/off knurled wheel

 

many of these are 'anti-theft' devices and have a (low amp) fused connection, to allow radio, clock etc to still function, which blows when starting current is drawn.

 

no real problem for your purpose just remove the fuse.

 

quick and dirty solution to the boot crawling would be to loop some cable from the neg terminal of the battery, into the cabin somewhere (rear footwell?) fit a isolator switch either knobbed or race car style red key then back to the earthing point.

[cort16]

I've got to drop the tank out the smart to get rid of the mix of diesel, petrol, ribena and what else is in the tank. Does anyone have any ideas how I get rid of it? I'm no green peace but I don't want to pour it down the toilet.

[messerschmitt owner]

I've got to drop the tank out the smart to get rid of the mix of diesel, petrol, ribena and what else is in the tank. Does anyone have any ideas how I get rid of it? I'm no green peace but I don't want to pour it down the toilet.

find someone with a diesel car that will run on any old crap and give it to them! - or have a bonfire!

 

Insure it, dribble said contents over it, set fire to it, claim on insurance ...

[Bobthebeard]

I've got to drop the tank out the smart to get rid of the mix of diesel, petrol, ribena and what else is in the tank. Does anyone have any ideas how I get rid of it? I'm no green peace but I don't want to pour it down the toilet.

find someone with a diesel car that will run on any old crap and give it to them! - or have a bonfire!

 

Insure it, dribble said contents over it, set fire to it, claim on insurance ...

 

Don't the local council tips/household recycling places usually have a big tank for disposing of old engine oil and fluids? You could empty it into an old oil tin or two and get rid of it there maybe? Although I could be talking bollocks, having never done it.

[cort16]

I think they have an oil disposal thing but I don't want to blow it up by adding my mix of diesel and petrol. I could always ask the man at the recycling centre I suppose.

[Bobthebeard]

I think they have an oil disposal thing but I don't want to blow it up by adding my mix of diesel and petrol. I could always ask the man at the recycling centre I suppose.

 

Just done a quick check on't t'internet. Seems it depends where you live. Some councils will accept ' reasonable amounts ' of old diesel, some wont. Though what is reasonable is not mentioned!

[cort16]

Do you think 2 gallons poured into 36 packed lunch sized Panda cola bottles is reasonable?

I think I might give the council a buzz as I'm pretty much stuck until I can get rid of it.

[messerschmitt owner]

Do you think 2 gallons poured into 36 packed lunch sized Panda cola bottles is reasonable?

I think I might give the council a buzz as I'm pretty much stuck until I can get rid of it.

remember the torn up sheet for the top of each bottle, and sell to a poll tax rioter as a 'smart' petrol bomb!

 

seriously, check with the council - or ask your local small garage! They'll know how to get rid!

[Bobthebeard]

Do you think 2 gallons poured into 36 packed lunch sized Panda cola bottles is reasonable?

I think I might give the council a buzz as I'm pretty much stuck until I can get rid of it.

remember the torn up sheet for the top of each bottle, and sell to a poll tax rioter as a 'smart' petrol bomb!

 

seriously, check with the council - or ask your local small garage! They'll know how to get rid!

 

Probably easier to dispose of than Panda cola TBH. Although similar in many ways.

[Cavcraft]

Do you think 2 gallons poured into 36 packed lunch sized Panda cola bottles is reasonable?

I think I might give the council a buzz as I'm pretty much stuck until I can get rid of it.

 

Lob into old oil cans and take it to the tip. The worse it'll do is thin out the waste oil slightly, but the council won't be arsed as it'll end up being sold to whoever has the contract anyhow. Once in a tanker the amount will be negligible anyhow, plus there's always going to be a small amount of fuel in oil I'd have thought.

Or just come to Chumley, bring it in cans and I will happily lob it in the 306 fuel tank.

[KruJoe]

Panda Pop bottles will turn to jelly if you pour pez in them. Ask me how I know.

[rml2345]

Impossible to ignore this... How do you know, Joe?

[KruJoe]

Back in the 80's, I erm.. borrowed* some fuel from my dad's BSA for my C70 field bike by siphoning it into a pop bottle, which lasted about three minutes before it went all flaccid; seconds later as I was decanting, big holes opened up - pez all over.

[DSdriver]

Thank you willswitch and m'coli I will try both methods.

[Cavcraft]

If you get done for speeding and were ticketed by a copper in an unmarked car do they a) have to show you proof of speed and put this info on the ticket? My lad got done yesterday and said he knew he was speeding though it 'wasn't by much' but the copper didn't tell him how fast he was going, didn't show him evidence, no mention of calibrated speedo (though to be fair I'm sure he did have one) and when my son mentioned a speed awareness course the copper stated that's only if you were doing within 10% of the speed for that area.

 

That doesn't make much sense to me as I'd imagine that whilst they co 'do' you for doing 31mph in a 30 zone, I'd have thought the 'unofficial rule' of up to 10% over meant they'd just leave you alone.

I can't see why he can't do the speed awareness course, especially if the copper hasn't told him or marked on the ticket what speed he was actually doing. Any thoughts please?

 

 

*NB: This is NOT an anti-copper statement and I don't want any replies turning into one. Yes, my lad did speed and the daft sod deserves whatever fine/points/etc he gets. He's feeling sorry for himself and knows he shouldn't have done it and doesn't want sympathy and I'm not trying to get him off with the offence. I'd just like to know if he can do the speed awareness course instead.

[Richard]

All the required evidence will be produced in court, you can be sure of that.

[willswitchengage]

When I did the SAC I got an SP30 for 37 in a 30. Everybody else there was in the same ballpark, I think the lowest was 36. A M8 of mine got an SP30 for 39, but wasn't offered the course, so I think there's a quite narrow band for it being offered (but probably the most common band that people speed at). Obviously in your case, being caught speeding with no recorded speed throws in a bit of a curveball... ask a "pub lawyer"

[Cavcraft]

All the required evidence will be produced in court, you can be sure of that.

 

 

It'd never get that far as my son isn't denying the charge, we just hoped (forlornly I expect) he could do the SAC.

 

Cheers for the replies gents, off to the cop shop now with his 7 day wonder