I think it is easiest to refer to the numbers as being base 2 or base 3.

I had been thinking about how the base that a number is expressed in affects the number of characters used to express it. I was always interested in why phrases and sentences in Thai as much shorter than the English translation. English alphabet: 26 characters vs Thai with 72 characters. Then there is the remarkable reduction in character count when going to Kanji...

 

I think it is easiest to refer to the numbers as being base 2 or base 3.

I had been thinking about how the base that a number is expressed in affects the number of characters used to express it. I was always interested in why phrases and sentences in Thai as much shorter than the English translation. English alphabet: 26 characters vs Thai with 72 characters. Then there is the remarkable reduction in character count when going to Kanji...

Makes for some nice short text messages in those languages

 

Makes for some nice short text messages in those languages

OMG! IDK bout dat. IMHO. LOL.

Car battery puzzle ? ? ? Bit off topic me thinks.

 

I haven't. Wouldn't have thought it was that much more common a thing since I had heard a warning about that happening but have never experienced it, nor had any of my friends. And largely our friendship centered around our cars. With steel bumpers. And yes, I helped a friend on the freeway. Jumper cables from battery to battery was not possible. But since the cables I had at the time were not the sets where both wires are joined in the middle. Bumper to bumper, jumper end to jumper end and connected the dead battery first then the running 72 Chevy Nova.

If your negative post created a spark when bumping the chassis it must be a positive ground system. Either that or you mis-spoke. I've seen positive ground cars before, maybe twice. I know they did exist but don't know if they still do. And yes, what

is 100% absolutely correct. In short, regardless of positive or negative chassis ground, that ground is always the first off and the last on.

Thanks Tony, I went back and fixed it. Much appreciated.

Ron

 

That's a cute idea. Now if i can just get someone to jump my Tesla EV (ha ha).
i hate to think of what kind of explosion we could get with battery packs that large.

Most EVs do not have lead/acid batterys, which is the potential source of hydrogen gas. And of course, always connect to the dead battery first, the theory is that it would be the one generating the free hydrogen.

 

Most EVs do not have lead/acid batterys, which is the potential source of hydrogen gas. And of course, always connect to the dead battery first, the theory is that it would be the one generating the free hydrogen.

Oh yes, but the type of cells they do have has also caused fires and explosions.
These days shipping USPS you have to specify if the package contains Li-ion cells.

 

Oh yes, but the type of cells they do have has also caused fires and explosions.
These days shipping USPS you have to specify if the package contains Li-ion cells.

Fires and small explosions but no sulphuric acid hazards. So really they are a lot safer.

 

Fires and small explosions but no sulphuric acid hazards. So really they are a lot safer.

Well maybe statistically but not completely. USPS does not ask if the package contains any lead acid batteries, but now that you mention it i dont know why this is.
The problem was that the Li based cells caused aircraft to crash for various reasons so they had to do something about it. That was one of the fixes.

 

Well maybe statistically but not completely. USPS does not ask if the package contains any lead acid batteries, but now that you mention it i dont know why this is.

When was the last time anyone had a car battery in their luggage? Although now that I think of it - I'm sure some redneck has tried it at some point. Though it's somewhat hard to imagine rednecks flying commercial. Uncle Buck has that crop duster we can use to go to the big city in Atlanta. No?

 

Yeah, well my neighbor tried to jump start his lawn tractor and got the cables reversed and here is what happened.


Ron

 

Lead/acid batteries come in a number of different varieties, including flooded, gell cells, and absorbed glass mat types. Only the flooded types are a spill hazard, the other varieties can travel in any position. And mostly the flooded type ship as "dry charge" devices with the liquid in a leak resistant container.

 

When was the last time anyone had a car battery in their luggage? Although now that I think of it - I'm sure some redneck has tried it at some point. Though it's somewhat hard to imagine rednecks flying commercial. Uncle Buck has that crop duster we can use to go to the big city in Atlanta. No?

Hi,

Not sure what you mean there. Last time i shipped something with Li-ion cells i had to sign off at USPS to let them know it had those cells in it. I guess the reason they dont ask about LA batteries is because maybe that kind never brought any planes down. USPS ships a lot of packages so the chances of a problem are much greater than any single person would encounter just because of the sheer numbers involved.

 

When was the last time anyone had a car battery in their luggage? Although now that I think of it - I'm sure some redneck has tried it at some point. Though it's somewhat hard to imagine rednecks flying commercial. Uncle Buck has that crop duster we can use to go to the big city in Atlanta. No?

"Lead acid battery" does not automatically equal "car battery" and shipping one via USPS does not equate to having one in their luggage.

I have shipped systems that used small flooded lead-acid batteries (quite a bit smaller than a motorcycle battery) via FedEx and I had to remove the battery because I wasn't a regular shipper with a hazardous materials contract with them. Since I was actually driving with the bulk of the equipment I just took it with me in the truck. Another time, since I was flying, I had to buy one at the destination and then gave it back to the store I bought it at (couldn't get a refund) and had to write it off as a materials/supplies expense. I'm pretty sure this was well before the fires caused by Li-ion batteries.

 

Last time i shipped something with Li-ion cells i had to sign off at USPS to let them know it had those cells in it

And yet the weed wacker, cordless drill and cell phone batteries I bought from several Ebay sellers weren't marked in any way? And they all came USPS.

 

And yet the weed wacker, cordless drill and cell phone batteries I bought from several Ebay sellers weren't marked in any way? And they all came USPS.

I dont know if they mark them, all i know is when i go to send them to someone i have to press a button on the keypad at the USPS office that says that either there are Li-ion cells in the package or not in the package.

 

I have noticed that what seems to be important is whether or not what is being carried or shipped contains batteries with enough energy content to be a hazard. First heard of this sort of a problem maybe 20 years or more ago when they restricted the conveyance of photographic equipment with Ni-Cd battery packs.

I've never hear about a person's hearing aid being confiscated (or watch, laptop or telephone for that matter).

 

There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, those who don't, and those who can work in any number base. Author WBahn unless he heard it from somewhere else.

Yeah it took me a few seconds to get it. But I got it. 10 Boolean for 2.

That is the worst science joke I ever heard.

 

I have noticed that what seems to be important is whether or not what is being carried or shipped contains batteries with enough energy content to be a hazard. First heard of this sort of a problem maybe 20 years or more ago when they restricted the conveyance of photographic equipment with Ni-Cd battery packs.

I've never hear about a person's hearing aid being confiscated (or watch, laptop or telephone for that matter).

You can check out the web for some demonstrations of Li-ion cells catching fire or exploding. In an airplane that would set everyone in a panic. If it happened in the cargo bay it could start other things on fire, and apparently that actually happened and brought the planes down.
Id hate to be around even a regular 18650 cell if that happened. I keep a fire extinguisher and fire blankets on hand myself because i use these cells for different things like cameras, flashlights, and of course phone.

 

Id hate to be around even a regular 18650 cell if that happened. . . .
and of course phone

Your phone still looks like this? Can't imagine any other phone that would use a18650 cell.

 

Air Disasters did a show about UPS Flight 6.

" Crash investigators in the United Arab Emirates traced the fire that destroyed a UPS plane in 2010 to the cargo of lithium batteries, and found that smoke-detection equipment took too long to alert the crew, according to a report released Wednesday".

There have been multiple incidents of fires on planes involving Li-ion batteries. On passenger flights they prefer passengers not put Li-ion battery powered devices in their checked baggage. Now how any of this relates to car battery jumper cables escapes me but here we are.

Ron