Received the reminder of tax due on the Panda. £145.

portland_bill said:

Received the reminder of tax due on the Panda. £145.

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The wife got hers for the 500 too, £0

Eklipze3k said:

The wife got hers for the 500 too, £0

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Thank you, I feel much better now.

The Alessi is based on the Eleganza. At the time, the 1.2 base and mid-range models had the £30 rate, but the Eleganza missed this probably having alloy wheels and climate, which has the aircon running all the time as standard. Despite the Alessi using the narrower steel wheels, there was of course no attempt to rate it differently. So that's the cost of it being 'special'.

Just to rub it in, the 2015 Fabia 1.2 TSi cost £30 to tax, and is more economical.

If it makes you feel better, my 2002 660cc Mitsubishi has no EU emissions data (being a JDM import), and so falls under the pre-2001 rates, so what probably ought to be £0-£30 ends up being £145.

StevenRB45 said:

This isn't a universal benefit though..the Citroen has a pound shop USB port so barely provides enough power to maintain battery charge in the same circumstance.

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I have one of those.

Complete rubbish. Reminder to me - fit that voltmeter with USB that you rave about.

iOS stuff tends to have a longer useful life. Mrs has an ancient iPad that's only just hit the buffers. It must be at least 6 years old but will no longer support Netflix so she's not happy.

DaveMcT said:

I have one of those.

Complete rubbish. Reminder to me - fit that voltmeter with USB that you rave about.

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You'd probably find you have a USB 2.0 port capable of delivering 0.5 of an amp. USB 3.0 is better, 3.1 is better again, USB C better again.

When manufacturers spec cars they'll be the cheapest in bulk unfortunately!

StevenRB45 said:

You'd probably find you have a USB 2.0 port capable of delivering 0.5 of an amp. USB 3.0 is better, 3.1 is better again, USB C better again.

When manufacturers spec cars they'll be the cheapest in bulk unfortunately!

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I had this one in mind claimed 5V - 4.2A output. Now just need to find somewhere neat to locate it.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-Motorcycle-Car-Dual-USB-Led-Charger-Volt-Amp-Test-Meters-Voltmeter/401757861821?hash=item5d8aa277bd:m:mMXAbPj55-KlOHy9oA9nZzg

StevenRB45 said:

You'd probably find you have a USB 2.0 port capable of delivering 0.5 of an amp. USB 3.0 is better, 3.1 is better again, USB C better again.

When manufacturers spec cars they'll be the cheapest in bulk unfortunately!

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The power supply of the socket is not dependent on the usb standard fitted, but the power delivery of whatever drive it. We have an older imac usb2 ports but all capable of delivering an amp 2.1a to charge things like iPads*

*except the ones hidden in the bottom of the keyboard

One of the most infuriating things about my BMW - the USB which interfaces with the iDrive is only 1 amp. Which means I can drain my iPhone if I plug it in and run Waze on it. (I like to run more than one Sat Nav when I'm working, 2 sets, or even 3 sets of data are preferable when you cover lots of miles between meetings!).

No such worries in the Seicento... I have a cigarette lighter adaptor that has Bluetooth and an FM transmitter with 2x 2 amp sockets on it.

Schumi2001 said:

Thing is, though, that Android in particular goes out of date quicker than your car... most Android phone manufacturers don't support vanilla Android updates, so you're reliant on the manufacturer support, which very often is cut within a couple of years.



iOS is better, but I had to grab an old iPhone 5 from my office drawer after dropping my business iPhone 7 this week. That is now on an ancient OS which can't be updated, too.



No system is perfect.

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iPhone 5 came out in 2012 and only lost support not long ago

Schumi2001 said:

One of the most infuriating things about my BMW - the USB which interfaces with the iDrive is only 1 amp. Which means I can drain my iPhone.

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Citroen one can supply a small surplus so it will over say 30 mins charge by about 3% so it's never gonna go flat on you.

I think a lot of this sort of thing is done on purpose, you're supplying a car with CarPlay it doesn't take mensa level I.Q. to figure out you might need it to charge an iPhone with the connected USB port.

I think it's done in a lot if cases to keep the manufacturer system and its associated revenue stream relevant. Mazda had a cracker with the Last 3, it's got a unix based operating system so about 6 months after it was released in 2014 some bright spark got it to run both CarPlay and Android Auto as unofficial download. Both fully supported touchscreen and worked as they should.

Now Mazda has a revenue stream where the range is split into normal and Nav variants and they charge 600 quid for 3 years of maps..and the system is known for picking odd routes and generally being a bit crap. To the point it's not unknown for owners of Nav cars to just run a phone in a cradle instead.

So did they jump on the opportunity to bring their range up to date with a small firmware update?? No. They dragged their feet for 4 years and now offer smartphone support as a 300 quid option..and say it's because it needs a hardware update..when it clearly didn't for the unofficial version. Also they apparently could not get touch screen for AA to work..when it did on the unofficial version..so taking away functionality and adding expense to make their system seem better.

That and if you do update to the latest firmware to try and get the system to work as advertised, the latest version removes the ability to use the unofficial versions of CarPlay and Android Auto. So if you wanted them in future..you need to pay.

The new(er) iPhones with single lightning port for everything are a bit annoying but its a serial bus and you can get a splitter dongle that allows charging while taking data or headphones from the second outlet.

Like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Music-Control-Double-Lightning-Audio-Charge-Adapter-Cable-For-iPhone7-Converter/202292820512?hash=item2f19977a20:m:mL_OvlzBSvgZ5Be6BCn_sBQ

Or this for standard headphones and lightning.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/For-iPhone-X-7-8-Plus-Double-Jack-Headphone-Charging-Audio-AUX-Splitter-Adapter/183567310687?hash=item2abd76df5f:m:mbKs0vaGYgEeaHhj4qPSsuw

That way you can use a high power USB connector to keep it charged while taking a second line to your audio system.

People moan about iPhones and built in obsolescence but the lightning ports are tough. The micro USB ports used on so many things are unbelievably weak. We've had two Amazon Fire tablets returned under warranty because the ports fell apart and we have a clip-on desk lamp that's USB powered and that's going the same way. The ports just cant handle the leverage forces the plugs can deliver.

A friend of mine recently traded in a 2011 Seat Ibiza due to it being riddled with electrical faults. Out of curiosity, I kept an eye out for it on autotrader, and I found it this morning: the dealer who took it in part exchange gave him £2k for it, then sent it to auction. A used car dealer has now bought it, and stuck it up for £3295: talk about poor value for money!!

puntofan01 said:

A friend of mine recently traded in a 2011 Seat Ibiza due to it being riddled with electrical faults. Out of curiosity, I kept an eye out for it on autotrader, and I found it this morning: the dealer who took it in part exchange gave him £2k for it, then sent it to auction. A used car dealer has now bought it, and stuck it up for £3295: talk about poor value for money!!

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Standard practice that, my 06 Suzuki went for 2k in 2014 and was up at a local used dealer for 3500 within a few weeks. That car had none functional A.C. and the previous owner was a nut case who had thrashed the hell out of it so the suspension basically needed an entire overhaul to put it back to any semblance of right.

But the dealer is taking on an unknown quantity and has to warranty it, and pay overheads hence the mark up. He either knows it has an electrical fault so has had to spend money fixing it or is on the hook to fix it when it makes itself known to the next owner.

There is that I guess. I did a quick search for others the same spec, and they really hold their money, especially given what cheap, nasty vehicles they are!

The house next door (we're a semi) is owned by a housing association. Despite this, each tenant seems to carry out lots of DIY work, so we get frequent building noise. More work gets done each year than we've done since 1995.

Last week, a day of hammering to lift the wood floor in a bedroom, followed by the hammering of the gripper bars as carpet was laid.

Yesterday, vans arrived, and lots of hammering.
Today it became clear, as a new bathroom suite was delivered. (The previous tenant put a new bathroom in about two years ago)
I'm amazed at the amount of noise created in removing a bath.
At one point today, there were 5 vans, one of which came with an apprentice, so at least 6 people. Their bathroom is the same as ours, three people would be crowded, only two could work in there at the same time. So where are the rest of these guys, and what are they doing? The expense and inefficiency.
The loo is a separate room, but that's not been attacked yet, as the new one is sat on the drive. Hopefully it will still be there in the morning!

On the up-side, the noisy woman has been much quieter, as it is not good to keep screaming and swearing at husband and children with all those workers around.

Never get stuck behind one of those housing association vans at 3:30pm. It will be heading back to the yard at walking speed because they knocked off early.

portland_bill said:

The house next door (we're a semi) is owned by a housing association. Despite this, each tenant seems to carry out lots of DIY work, so we get frequent building noise. More work gets done each year than we've done since 1995.

Last week, a day of hammering to lift the wood floor in a bedroom, followed by the hammering of the gripper bars as carpet was laid.

Yesterday, vans arrived, and lots of hammering.
Today it became clear, as a new bathroom suite was delivered. (The previous tenant put a new bathroom in about two years ago)
I'm amazed at the amount of noise created in removing a bath.
At one point today, there were 5 vans, one of which came with an apprentice, so at least 6 people. Their bathroom is the same as ours, three people would be crowded, only two could work in there at the same time. So where are the rest of these guys, and what are they doing? The expense and inefficiency.
The loo is a separate room, but that's not been attacked yet, as the new one is sat on the drive. Hopefully it will still be there in the morning!

On the up-side, the noisy woman has been much quieter, as it is not good to keep screaming and swearing at husband and children with all those workers around.

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The following morning, strangely the pan was still there, but the cistern was gone. Perhaps whoever took it was disturbed or couldn't get back for the pan, but as a low-level toilet, they are a matched pair. Caused a bit of grief when the vans all turned up, much discussion and arguments. Presumably they had to go fetch another.

We're now on our fifth day and one guy remained quite late, doing finishing stuff as lots of sawing outside. Cars now covered in dust.

5 days to replace a bathroom and toilet, with at one time 6 people. I'm stunned. Many years ago we had ours replaced over a weekend, while we went away, just one guy on his own, all finished for our return.

What's baffled me today?

Someone disliking a post I made 11 years ago...

I assume they've dropped into on search rather than they've spent 11 years on the fence and finally decided they didn't like it.

StevenRB45 said:

What's baffled me today?

Someone disliking a post I made 11 years ago...

I assume they've dropped into on search rather than they've spent 11 years on the fence and finally decided they didn't like it.

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Maybe they’ve been thinking about it for a long time, woke up this morning and said “No I Really Just Don’t Like It!!”