New vaccine

[Eddie99]

This is turning into a good news thread!

 

Mrs & Mr Queen have had theirs today, too.  Good to see they didn’t jump the queue

[kalos]

11 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

This is turning into a good news thread!

 

Mrs & Mr Queen have had theirs today, too.  Good to see they didn’t jump the queue

 

I knew it was going to be a good day when you said you were cleaning your keyboard today !

[Snow Hill]

3 hours ago, batholiver said:

Left a wet car in the garage once for a few days with the handbrake on (not a good idea) many years ago. Locked solid when I came to use it, and it had to be taken to a garage to fix. Never done that since - handbrake always off.

 

There's a serious issue around leaving cars for too long though.  I keep the batteries topped up with a smart charger, so that's not a problem, but I've been taking ours out for a 10 mile run every couple of weeks for the sake of the tyres and everything else. A 2 mile run isn't much good, because the oil doesn't get the chance to heat up properly, and that's not good at all.

 

The petrol or diesel deteriorates over time too.

 

Doing a 10 mile trip just for the sake of the car will almost certainly be illegal unless there's an essential purchase involved - probably not too difficult to achieve perfectly legitimately and safely, without even stretching the law for many of us.

Will make a trip to local recycling centre, which is open, I have a number of cardboard boxes, a bag of those polyurethane bits used in packing, bits of bubble wrap all pilling up in garage, this online shopping lark generates such a lot of stuff. A round trip will be about 20 miles or so the route I will follow, so should give the battery a bit a charge. Although a few years ago when I was off work for 3 months due to a shoulder injury, I didn’t use car in all that time, it started first time, it is kept in the garage which I think helps. 

[yorkshirephil]

6 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Will make a trip to local recycling centre, which is open, I have a number of cardboard boxes, a bag of those polyurethane bits used in packing, bits of bubble wrap all pilling up in garage, this online shopping lark generates such a lot of stuff. A round trip will be about 20 miles or so the route I will follow, so should give the battery a bit a charge. Although a few years ago when I was off work for 3 months due to a shoulder injury, I didn’t use car in all that time, it started first time, it is kept in the garage which I think helps. 

Modern cars are pretty good at holding their charge, not like days of yore when you charged the battery every night in winter, or parked on a hill to bump start. We have had a 5 week cruise each winter for 4 years and the car has always started OK on return. You can usually tell if the battery is run down a bit as the stop start doesn't work for a while. It is prudent to give any car a run periodically just to make sure everything is working. I don't think you are adding to the covid burden by going out in the car, what is wrong with parking up at a favourite place and having a brew, plus breaking the monotony of being stuck at home must be a bonus.

[Snow Hill]

55 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

Modern cars are pretty good at holding their charge, not like days of yore when you charged the battery every night in winter, or parked on a hill to bump start. We have had a 5 week cruise each winter for 4 years and the car has always started OK on return. You can usually tell if the battery is run down a bit as the stop start doesn't work for a while. It is prudent to give any car a run periodically just to make sure everything is working. I don't think you are adding to the covid burden by going out in the car, what is wrong with parking up at a favourite place and having a brew, plus breaking the monotony of being stuck at home must be a bonus.

My car is just over 14 months old so I am not expecting any battery issues after all only managed 2400 miles in it since I got it! 

[bee-ess]

4 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

Not here I'm afraid. Both my grandsons work at B&Q and all the store is open and working as normal. During the first lockdown only certain areas were allowed to open. Not good.

Avril

My wife works at a large Garden Centre and they are fully open in all departments except the Cafe, they sell a huge variety of items but not much Garden related stuff at this time of the year. My wife says that they are getting many customers coming in for a 'look around' and not buying anything, all increasing the risk of infection for both staff and other customers. We are worried about the risks and there is no option for the staff to opt out of working.

You have to question them being allowed to open IMHO, they cannot be classed as 'essential'.

[majortom10]

You can have issues with modern cars and there batteries if not used on a regular basis. Mine is less than 2 yrs old and recently tried to open the tailgate by remote and it wouldnt work and thought it was defective. When I got in the car it started OK but said "low battery" and once it had been used for a while and charged the tailgate remote worked fine. We had planned to go for a walk up Cannock Chase a local AONB that we go to regular but as it is about 10 miles from us and what happened to the two women in Derbyshire we changed our minds and walked locally without using the car.

[ann141]

7 minutes ago, bee-ess said:

My wife works at a large Garden Centre and they are fully open in all departments except the Cafe, they sell a huge variety of items but not much Garden related stuff at this time of the year. My wife says that they are getting many customers coming in for a 'look around' and not buying anything, all increasing the risk of infection for both staff and other customers. We are worried about the risks and there is no option for the staff to opt out of working.

You have to question them being allowed to open IMHO, they cannot be classed as 'essential'.

I think Garden Centres should not be classed as essential.It was one thing last summer when things were starting to improve and a lot of plants would have been wasted  You would have to drive over 5 miles to get to our nearest garden centre and I don't think that would be classed as local.Personally i think takeaways should be closed as well to protect staff

[jeanlyon]

19 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

My car is just over 14 months old so I am not expecting any battery issues after all only managed 2400 miles in it since I got it! 

Don't bank on that!  My one year old car with about 5k mileage had a problem with the stop/start.  After a couple of trips to the dealer, they decided it was on of their bad bunch of batteries and put a new one in. 

[yorkshirephil]

1 minute ago, ann141 said:

I think Garden Centres should not be classed as essential.It was one thing last summer when things were starting to improve and a lot of plants would have been wasted  You would have to drive over 5 miles to get to our nearest garden centre and I don't think that would be classed as local.Personally i think takeaways should be closed as well to protect staff

It is a difficult one, our garden centre sells more food than plants for most of the year, they have a big kitchen and make a good selection of food. We can sometimes do a full shop there and pick up the treats that they sell. Albeit we only usually go every 6-8 weeks it is never as busy as our supermarket, so the risks are probably less. We don't use takeaways very often but trying to be devils advocate is it safer to have something delivered from a takeaway or go to the supermarket/shop to buy something?

[yorkshirephil]

3 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Don't bank on that!  My one year old car with about 5k mileage had a problem with the stop/start.  After a couple of trips to the dealer, they decided it was on of their bad bunch of batteries and put a new one in. 

The biggest problem with stop start is the level of charge in the battery before the stop start will work, my stop start has worked perfectly well on the last 4 cars, but during lockdown where the car has sat in the garage a lot more it only works intermittently, usually during the supermarket run, which is the longest journey we do.

[ann141]

43 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

It is a difficult one, our garden centre sells more food than plants for most of the year, they have a big kitchen and make a good selection of food. We can sometimes do a full shop there and pick up the treats that they sell. Albeit we only usually go every 6-8 weeks it is never as busy as our supermarket, so the risks are probably less. We don't use takeaways very often but trying to be devils advocate is it safer to have something delivered from a takeaway or go to the supermarket/shop to buy something?

I agree with you that I think takeaways should be ok to open as long as it is delivery only.I have seen queues outside cafes and restaurants where social distancing (outside) is virtually non exsistent.

[jeanlyon]

44 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

The biggest problem with stop start is the level of charge in the battery before the stop start will work, my stop start has worked perfectly well on the last 4 cars, but during lockdown where the car has sat in the garage a lot more it only works intermittently, usually during the supermarket run, which is the longest journey we do.

Yes similar here.  I do about 24 miles a day when I am at work.  12 out and 12 back.  It's probably not enough to give a full charge.

[yorkshirephil]

What Boris should really have said

‘So, here we go again. I’m on your tv telling you things are going to be ***** for a while. And yes that’s what I’m doing. I’m stopping you from going out, from seeing your friends and loved ones. You think that makes me a bad person. But you know what; this job isn’t easy. All I’m doing it trying to please you lot and stop you all dying at the same time. I give you rules, you break them. I ease things a bit, you take the piss. You are all a bunch of ungrateful selfish human beings and I’m now at the point where I’m only inflicting more rules because you idiots are putting ridiculous pressure on the NHS, by ignoring the things I have asked you nicely to do. You all think you are a scientist, doctors, experts. You aren’t. Neither am I. But I am taking advice from the best in this country and doing my best to please you all. So stop being so selfish.. yes it’s boring, it’s getting old, but it won’t go away if you all continue to throw your toys out of your pram. Grow up. Take some responsibility for yourself and your so called loved ones and do as you are asked!!

[Selbourne]

Reference car batteries, two things that I learned recently from friendly AA chap when one of my daughters cars hadn’t been used for a while and the battery had gone flat. Firstly, I was always under the impression that to charge a battery you had to drive the car and that starting the car and leaving it running for a while put more drain on the battery than it provided a charge. Apparently that’s not so nowadays with modern cars. Obviously it’s best to drive them for many reasons, other than just the battery, but in between drives starting the car and leaving it running for 20 minutes or so will give it a bit of a charge and hopefully enough to ensure that it starts when you need it to. Secondly, if you get to the stage that you need a new battery, the batteries that you need for cars with start-stop technology are very expensive. In fact well over double the cost of new batteries for cars that don’t have that technology. Bit of a pain when you don’t even use the start-stop feature! By taking the car for a run every couple of weeks and then just starting it in between I have managed to avoid any other starting problems. 

[Son of Anarchy]

On some cars that have stop/start technology the engine will stay on if the outside air temperature falls below a certain level.  Which for cars that have that system fitted means the stop/start won't kick in at this time of year.

[grapau27]

3 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

My car is just over 14 months old so I am not expecting any battery issues after all only managed 2400 miles in it since I got it! 

Mine is 15 months old with 8,000 miles on clock.

I did 22,000 miles the 15 months previous so you can see how lockdown has affected work.

Paulines car is over 17 years old with 54,000 miles on the clock.

Graham.

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by grapau27

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Don't bank on that!  My one year old car with about 5k mileage had a problem with the stop/start.  After a couple of trips to the dealer, they decided it was on of their bad bunch of batteries and put a new one in. 

I always turn the stop/start off on my car.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

1 hour ago, ann141 said:

I agree with you that I think takeaways should be ok to open as long as it is delivery only.I have seen queues outside cafes and restaurants where social distancing (outside) is virtually non exsistent.

My wife works in a food shop and has done all through the year..still full of idiots who just buy a news paper and come in everyday. Then on other hand people trying to panic buy. I have worked all through as well in the miltary, working at my base unit and on standby to help the NHS and now working on deployment since Oct in cyprus. Key workers need to work and those who are not a key worker need to help them by staying home. Its only a few weeks!!! 

But thanks to those who follow the rules. 

[jeanlyon]

27 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I always turn the stop/start off on my car.

I like the stop/start.  Saves fuel.  It's just sometimes it won't work.  For instance, if the fan is running it won't work, nor if the car temp inside is too cold.  I can live with that.

[yorkshirephil]

3 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I like the stop/start.  Saves fuel.  It's just sometimes it won't work.  For instance, if the fan is running it won't work, nor if the car temp inside is too cold.  I can live with that.

It may be worth asking your garage/dealer next time you go in if they will take a look. On some cars they can set the voltage of the battery lower so that the stop start works more often. I have a Citroen C3 Aircross and these are the parameters at which stop start won't operate:

 

Coolant Temperature: Temperature below 10 °C; Temperature above 100 degrees C (When the air temperature is higher than 0°C).

Temperature of the air and of the engine coolant: Air temperature lower than 0°C; Engine coolant temperature less than 60 °C.

Diesel temperature (*): Temperature above 60 degrees C

Particle emission filter regeneration status (*): During Regeneration

Automatic gearbox oil temperature (*): Temperature below 0 °C; Temperature above 118 degrees C

Internal temperature of the ancillaries battery: Temperature below 0 °C; Temperature above 60 degrees C

Number of restarts per minute: Number greater than 6

Activation of the semi-automatic parking assistance (*): When Active

Dynamic stability control regulation in progress: When Active

Duration of the last dynamic stability control regulation: Timing period less than 2 seconds

Request from the electric power steering: When Active

Adapted cruise control until the vehicle stops (*): When Active

Adaptive cruise control until the vehicle stops with automatic restarting (*): During the braking phase or if engine torque is needed

External temperature (in °C): Temperature below 0 °C; Temperature above +35 degrees C

Ancillaries battery state of charge: No automatic stopping if the charge level of the ancillaries battery is too low

Stop and Start function status information: Function deactivated

Driver’s seat belt: Seat belt not fastened

Drivers door: Door is Open

Boot open (*): When Open

Trailer detected (*): Speed greater than 0 km/h

State of the accelerator pedal: Accelerator pedal pressed

Vacuum reserve in relation to the vehicle speed: If the vacuum reserve is not sufficient for the braking assistance

Fan assembly at fast or slow speed: When Radiator Fan Active

High altitude: Yes

[Ardennais]

What’s a stop/start? You lot are very techy. My van is like my washine machine. Buttons galore but I only use two programmes - drive and stop.

[Selbourne]

10 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

What’s a stop/start? You lot are very techy. My van is like my washine machine. Buttons galore but I only use two programmes - drive and stop.

It’s a system that switches the engine off when you come to a halt and starts it automatically when you put your foot on the accelerator to go again. Saves fuel. Works very well on automatic cars but less useful in manual cars IMO, as with most manual cars I have driven with stop-start the engine only switches off when you stop and put the car in neutral. I tend to stop and put the gear lever into first, with the clutch depressed so that I am ready to go as soon as the lights change. In that scenario it doesn’t work, whereas on autos it works every time you stop, unless it’s very cold when the engine remains on to provide power for heating etc 

Edited January 9, 2021 by Selbourne

[Ardennais]

Thanks. I’ve asked my husband whether it’s in the van (Discovery) and he says yes, and worse still, that it’s on! I honestly hadn’t noticed because we’ve only had the van since September and I can’t have driven more than 100 miles in total since then. And I suppose we don’t really do a lot of stop/start driving around here either! 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

I always turn the stop/start off on my car.

If you use your car locally with a lot of traffic lights and idling in busy traffic, then the stop start will be very effective in reducing air pollution, and most cars fitted with this feature have high capacity batteries, so not usually a problem.