2013-08-27

We're all doomed

Langhe, land of wine, hills, small towns built on top of the hills.



Castles, narrow streets...



But wait... What's that yellow window on the right?


Aaaargh!
They're assimilating us... Destroying our world, one house a time...

2013-08-26

A little tour on the hills

Time for a little tourism near home: Langhe


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The trip was about 150 km with a consumption of 3.9 l/100km, with AC on.
By comparison, a similar trip with my Ford C-Max 1.6TD scored 4.8 l/100km.
Comfort is second to none: the CVT allows for a relaxed driving and the overall silence allows enjoying the view.

2013-08-19

Who's stealing my battery?

My Galaxy S2 Plus always had a problem with battery consumption.
This is a normal daytime battery usage:


Then, sometimes out of the blue, battery usage increases drastically:
I still haven't found out the root cause.

I even upgraded to Android 4.2.2, with no luck: the issue still persists.
Here is the usage breakdown: what's causing Android to use more juice than the phone and the screen, usually the most power hungry subsystems?


I used CPU Spy, but it doesn't seem to be an issue of deep sleep.

2013-08-14

Nissan Leaf

The Nissan Leaf is quite an interesting car.
Here is a blog with some experiences about it.

2013-08-12

Practice makes perfect

Lately, I've been able to practice this slope.
Time after time, I learned to maximize recharge and I've come to this:
At the end of the slope, battery is 8 bars full, with a gain of 16% versus 14% of my first attempts:

There's a noticable difference in the charging current: in this run we have a steady flow to the end of the slope.
On the previous attempt, charging was interrupted by the intervention of the braking system that was triggered by a hole on the road: whenever the system senses the wheels losing grip during regenerative braking, "classic" braking kicks in, disabling regeneration.

This is even more evident in the following graphs, where wheel cylinder pressure is sensibly lower than the previous run.
Previously, pressure ramped up and current levelled down.


The pratical effect of having a fully charged battery can be felt in the next 3 km, where the car runs in EV mode up to nearly 70 km/h.

2013-08-09

Which one would you rather drink?

Look at these two yogurt drinks:


Is it just me or the second one does not invite you to drink at all?
Maybe it's the color of the bottle ("dirty" white), or the color of the writings (dark red), or the shape (sharp edges), but everything seems to shout "liquid soap, do not eat".
The other one, instead, is smooth, shiny and colorful: maybe they just have a better marketing department?

2013-08-04

Yaris rear wheel woes

Looking at the rear wheels I noticed that there was something relieved:


 A closer look revealed that it was kept relieved by all the sand and small stones that probably got inside from the road.
 To remove all the dirt, you'll need to detach the whole piece by unscrewing the screw that's directly below.
Be prepared to repeat from time to time, as the front is not tightly coupled with the rest, so all the dirt from the road will collect inside.
Who's the engineer that came up with such a bad design in a car with one of the most advanced engine?

2013-08-01

Winter vs Summer

Last winter, when the car was brand new, I've got my best mileage on an one hour 50km trip hillside, with 3.9 l/100km. Even if it was winter, I didn't use any heating.
Today I had the chance to drive the same trip again.
This time I've scored 3.7 l/100km, with A/C on.