Electric blankets, Gratuitous complexity??

On 11/9/2012 4:01 PM, Existential Angst wrote:
> OK.....
>
> So ahm happier'n'a alcoholic workin the night shift in a Jack Daniels
> distillery....   with my 400# deep cycle battery, 1500 W inverter (sitting
> in the back seat of m'truck), and my brand new blue electric
> blankey-poo.....
> Now I can curl up in a fetal position -- in m'truck -- in compleat toasty
> comfort.....
>
> Now, don't ax me WHY I gotta curl up in a fetal position -- in m'truck.
> Just suffice it to say, if you had my yob, you'd be curling up in a fetal
> position in YOUR truck, too.
>
> Except for one thing.....
>     My g-d electric blankeypoo dudn't WORK with my 1500 W fukn inverter!!!!!
> WTF??????
>
> And the reason quickly became clear:  some electronics don't work with
> modified (read: shit) sine wave power.
> But, what electronics are in a g-d electric blanket???
>
> So I take apart the three-heat controller, and lo and behold, the goddamm
> thing looks like the motherboard of a small PC....    holy shit....   for a
> $25 blankeypoo????
>
> Tryna sleuth out the ""circuitry"" of this electric blanket reminds me of
> the two days I spent tryna fix a $2.00 flashlight....  unsuccessfully....
> holy shit....
> The blanket has three wires between it and the controller, but only two of
> the wires register continuity!!  From which I surmised, via advanced Ohm's
> Law, that there is only one element in the blanket, and the controller
> actually does control voltage/current, ie, no switching among elements, cuz,
> well, there's only one element.
> .
> AND, the resistance is in fact the "right" resistance, cuz the wattage is 60
> W (1/2 amp), and the ohms measure 230.
>
> So now I got an extree wire that I don't know wtf it does, amidst my awe of
> all this goddamm gratuitous complexity.
>
> Now, I do have an inkling surrounding this latest Conspiracy of Gratuitous
> Complexity -- whose fundamental purpose is, of course, to assfuck the entire
> Global Population up to their collective ileocecal valves, so that Orwell
> looks like summer fukn camp.
> It appears that this particular example (this blue electric blanket) of
> Gratuitous Complexity has to do with.....<shudder>  <shudder>   SAFETY!!!!!
> And of course the li'l CHILDREN.......
>
>     Btw, a brief digression:
>     You DO know that they now make crawling helmets for toddlers???   Yes
> indeedy, google    helmets for babies crawling    ,  and pick your link.
> Better yet, ORDER yours, right away, so's when you take the li'l future Wall
> Street predator-to-be to Montessori for his (first) pre-school interview,
> you'll be showing up correck.
> You yourself and the spouse should also wear matching bicycle helmets, as
> well, just to show Montessori that the whole Beaver family is indeed
> correck.....
>
> Back to this g-d blanket bidniss....
>      This shit blanket, for safety (it is UL listed btw), SHUTS OFF
> automatically EVERY GODDAMM  HOUR!!!!WTF?????
>
> I mean, look, the g-d blanket is a *whole 60 effingW*!!!!   My goddamm BODY
> puts out more heat than that....
> fyi, Your BMR of about 1 cal/min is actually nearly exactly 70 W of heat....
> which is why 10 blustering assholes in a meeting room make the place so
> goddamm hot.
>
> So some dumb QA engineering fuckhead sed, Oh, OH, 60 W -- spread over **24
> sq ft of g-d blanket**, no less -- is MUCH too dangerous!!!!
> Sheeit, in that case, my 70 W of body heat puts me at risk for
> self-immolation, right???
>
> Fuuuuuuuck, they couldn't have timed it for 8 hours??  6 hours????  4
> hours?????   WTF???????
>
> So now, some while after the blanket shuts off, I'll freeze my goddamm ass
> off, have furtive nightmares, wake up, and flail around for the controller,
> just to reset it.
> So now I can't even g-d SLEEP worth a goddamm, in my fetal position -- and
> if you knew how long it takes me to get in that fetal position (in m'truck),
> you'd realize this is really a significant issue.
>
> OK....  so NOW ahm gettin it:
>      SAFETY, and our precious li'l bratty g-d CHILDREN, require a solidstate
> automatic safety controller.  Shitty li'l dropping resistors, or a xsformer,
> or split heating elements, just won't do it anymore.
> Now, they got a g-d controller in a $25 electric blanket  that could have
> gotten Neil Armstrong to the g-d moon.
>
> Well, let me tell you, no one, but NO ONE messes with Angst's fetal
> position/sleep....
>
> So I took that controller off (via the detachable connector) and
> hard-wire-crimped a shit 18 ga wire with a shit 99c-store two-in-a-pack
> unpolarized plug, so now's I got *60 uninterrupted W* of blazing power,
> blasting thru my li'l blue blankeypoo.  What a fukn triumph.....
>
> My gripe against Gratuitous Complexity harks back to my erstwhile 1971
> Datsun 510, which got better gas mileage than almost every effing car out
> here today, ceptin Volts'n'Prius'n'shit, and mebbe that VW TDI motor....
> AND, I could fix it my goddamm self.
> And I think I drove around Hawaii about 25 g-d times in a Datsun B-210, on a
> gallon of gas.
>
> Now, cars are so fukn complicated.....
>
> HOW COMPLICATED ARE THEY???????
>
> Cars are so fukn complicated, that factory Toyoter mechanics make more money
> than asshole college puhfessuhs.....  AS THEY RIGHTLY SHOULD, cuz college
> professors are just absolutely fukn useless.   goodgawd.....  What a sham
> the college credit is, and a bankrupting sham at that.
>
> Cars now weigh 50% more than in the 70s....  and you can't even adjust the
> g-d IDLE!!!!
> Well, you can, I spose, with a laptop and about $1,000 worth of g-d
> programming.....
>
> Part of the Conspiracy behind Gratuitous Complexity is, imo, the desire to
> shut out the small entreepreeneer, bidnissman.  A good fraction of the
> people on these ng's could *make their own perfectly navigable electric
> car*, with a welder, lathe, milling machine, some fukn batteries and a
> motor.  Or mebbe just a welder, drill press, and an angle grinder....
> But fukn Chevrolet and Nisan barely got *their* electric cars out, the
> regulatory ante is so goddamm high.  Near $40K for a g-d electric motor and
> a bunch of g-d batteries....
>
> So, inyway, Angst finally has his new blue blankeypoo blazing away, and I'll
> be fellatingly positioning myself in peaceful bliss tonite, in m'truck, with
> my 400# marine battery/1500W inverter right behind my blissful head.
>
> Oh shit, did I say "fellatingly"???  That would be "fetally",  "fetally
> positioning myself in peaceful bliss".....
Our old electric blanket died several years ago. It had the bimetalic 
strip type control with the 0-10 dial. We loved it because we could turn 
it on an hour before going to bed and the bed would be toasty warm when 
we went to bed.

It died and we got a new one and it would not preheat the bed. We 
returned it to the manufacturer and they said it was working fine, but 
sent a new blanked anyway. New worked the same way.

I am convinced the thing knows when there is a body in the bed and when 
there is not. It can be on for hours and the bed is still cold when we 
go to bed. About 1/2 hour later, the blanket is warm, but we freeze 
until then. Real POS design.

Paul

On Fri, 09 Nov 2012 21:30:28 -0600, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
<lloydspinsidemindspring.com> wrote:

>"tm" <No_one_home@white-house.gov> fired this volley in news:k7khim$at3$1
>@dont-email.me:
>
>> Well, if it has a poorly designed triac controller, it may radiate RFI. 
>
>Even well-designed ones do on the turn-on.  Only a lot of down-line 
>choking and shielding will get it down to reasonable levels.
>
>But it's not likely that the RFI emitted from a 1/2-amp controller would 
>emit enough to be harmful to tissue.  Could screw up your pacemaker, I 
>guess...
>
>Lloyd
 There ARE controllers that switch on the downward slope of the sine,
greatly reducung theRFI.

One thing for sure - an electric blanket sure plays havok with
magnetometers, like in electronic compases - and electronic gyros.

On Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:06:23 -0500, clare@snyder.on.ca wrote:

>

>  What he NEEDS is a 12 volt blankie.  

I didn't know thtey had such things, but 
http://www.amazon.com/Heated-Fleece-Travel-Electric-Blanket/dp/B000V8QVX6
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Maxsa-Comfy-Cruise-12-Volt-Electric-Blanket-Navy-Blue/10756183

Onlly 25 dollars for each. 

>My baby brother has been a long

They let babies drive trucks!

>distance trucker across north america, from Alaska to Florida - and
>has 12 volt mattress warmer and 12 volt electric blanket for YEARS.
>
>Lost 'em both when he rolled the truck last year. Bust his neck too,
>but he's back on the road - doing mostly short haul flatland driving
>hauling crude - less than 2 years after the crash.

Glad he's doing so well

<clare@snyder.on.ca> wrote in message 
news:2omr98t4arl2kgo1kbe6bqadg9ns7i193b@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 09 Nov 2012 21:30:28 -0600, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
> <lloydspinsidemindspring.com> wrote:
>
>>"tm" <No_one_home@white-house.gov> fired this volley in news:k7khim$at3$1
>>@dont-email.me:
>>
>>> Well, if it has a poorly designed triac controller, it may radiate RFI.
>>
>>Even well-designed ones do on the turn-on.  Only a lot of down-line
>>choking and shielding will get it down to reasonable levels.
>>
>>But it's not likely that the RFI emitted from a 1/2-amp controller would
>>emit enough to be harmful to tissue.  Could screw up your pacemaker, I
>>guess...
>>
>>Lloyd
> There ARE controllers that switch on the downward slope of the sine,
> greatly reducung theRFI.
>
> One thing for sure - an electric blanket sure plays havok with
> magnetometers, like in electronic compases - and electronic gyros.

It's best when they switch on the zero crossings. 

tm wrote:
> 
> "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:tvadnRooF-HbUADNnZ2dnUVZ_oqdnZ2d@earthlink.com...
> >
> > tm wrote:
> >>
> >> "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> >> news:LYKdnWLgX8cYWgDNnZ2dnUVZ_rmdnZ2d@earthlink.com...
> >> >
> >> > micky wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> Really older blankets might have a problem with low frequency
> >> >> radiation.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >   Very doubtful, considering that one cycle is 5000000 meters long.
> >> > That's 5,000 Kilometers or about 3106 miles.  How big is that blanket?
> >>
> >> Well, if it has a poorly designed triac controller, it may radiate RFI.
> >
> >
> >   Which wouldn't be low frequency.
> 
> Wouldn't that depend on your definition of "low frequency"? My AM radio is
> low frequency :)


   Ok.  1500 KHz is near the top of the AM BC Band. 
300,000,000/1,500,000 = 200 meters for one cycle.  How big is that
blanket? :)

micky wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:18:39 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
> <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> >
> >micky wrote:
> >>
> >> Really older blankets might have a problem with low frequency
> >> radiation.
> >
> >
> >   Very doubtful, considering that one cycle is 5000000 meters long.
> >That's 5,000 Kilometers or about 3106 miles.  How big is that blanket?
> 
> Are you saying unless something is 3000 miles long, it can't radiate
> low frequency?.


   No, but has to be an appreciable fraction of a wavelength, or we
would be forced to use DC power for everything.

>  I don't think so.  And if that were the case, then a
> radio transmitter broadcasting at 600 KHz would require an antenna
> that was a third of a mile long.


  No, it doesn't. AM BC band broadcast antennas are not a full
wavelength, and the aren't resonant at the transmit frequency.  They all
use use L/C networks to make the tower work at the allocated frequency. 
Some ATU are as large as the AM transmitter when the tower is difficult
to configure.  It gets even worse with multiple tower arrays, and
different day/night patterns and transmit power authorizations.  You
should have seen the ATUs at the VOA station in Bethany, Ohio.  They
could put up to 500,000 watts of RF at any frequency from 2 to 30 MHz. 
They had multiple antennas, and more than one a 50,000 transmitter was
switched to full power before the antenna was properly tuned, and wet
the wood support poles on fire.


  I was a broadcast engineer at a number of radio & TV stations over the
decades.

 
> The question is not whether it can radiate, but whether the low
> frequency is harmful.


>    This was the controversy that also centered
> around power lines, often just past the backyard of people's homes.


   Very long power lines can radiate.  That's wy there are regional
power grids across the US, and they are interconnected with HV DC.

> But you do remind me that most of the opinion, or maybe the consensus
> after a few years, was that that was not harmful.    By then electric
> blankets had already been redesigned, since they were much easier to
> redesign than power lines.   But yes, they're no longer thought to
> be a risk, I think.  I'd forgotten.

I think we are feeding a troll (original poster), but yes, it is stupid 
to boost a voltage or go from AC to DC for a resistive heater. A company 
that I will not embarrass (plus I forget the name) was using a DC/DC for 
a heated stethoscope. [Hey Doc, do you keep that thing in the 'fridge?] 
Far better to get a heating element of the right resistance. And from 
what I hear, it is the speculum that needs heating.

BTW, I've been to the Jack Daniels factory. It is worth the tour. The 
irony is the factory is located in a "dry" county, so you can't do any 
tasting there. [See what happens when you let Bible thumpers get too 
much power!] The factory is more like a college campus. Lots of 
buildings surrounded by patches of green grass. The whiskey is aged in a 
manner like you store explosives. The "bunkers" are away from the 
factory and have a buffer zone so that all the stock won't be destroyed 
should one site catch fire.

"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message 
news:CcCdnVraIvTgdADNnZ2dnUVZ_hOdnZ2d@earthlink.com...
>
> micky wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:18:39 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
>> <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >micky wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Really older blankets might have a problem with low frequency
>> >> radiation.
>> >
>> >
>> >   Very doubtful, considering that one cycle is 5000000 meters long.
>> >That's 5,000 Kilometers or about 3106 miles.  How big is that blanket?
>>
>> Are you saying unless something is 3000 miles long, it can't radiate
>> low frequency?.
>
>
>   No, but has to be an appreciable fraction of a wavelength, or we
> would be forced to use DC power for everything.
>
>>  I don't think so.  And if that were the case, then a
>> radio transmitter broadcasting at 600 KHz would require an antenna
>> that was a third of a mile long.
>
>
>  No, it doesn't. AM BC band broadcast antennas are not a full
> wavelength, and the aren't resonant at the transmit frequency.  They all
> use use L/C networks to make the tower work at the allocated frequency.
> Some ATU are as large as the AM transmitter when the tower is difficult
> to configure.  It gets even worse with multiple tower arrays, and
> different day/night patterns and transmit power authorizations.  You
> should have seen the ATUs at the VOA station in Bethany, Ohio.  They
> could put up to 500,000 watts of RF at any frequency from 2 to 30 MHz.
> They had multiple antennas, and more than one a 50,000 transmitter was
> switched to full power before the antenna was properly tuned, and wet
> the wood support poles on fire.
>
>
>  I was a broadcast engineer at a number of radio & TV stations over the
> decades.
>
>
>> The question is not whether it can radiate, but whether the low
>> frequency is harmful.
>
>
>>    This was the controversy that also centered
>> around power lines, often just past the backyard of people's homes.
>
>
>   Very long power lines can radiate.  That's wy there are regional
> power grids across the US, and they are interconnected with HV DC.
>
>> But you do remind me that most of the opinion, or maybe the consensus
>> after a few years, was that that was not harmful.    By then electric
>> blankets had already been redesigned, since they were much easier to
>> redesign than power lines.   But yes, they're no longer thought to
>> be a risk, I think.  I'd forgotten.

Got to know the transmitter engineers at NSS Annapolis. 24 kHz at 1 million 
watts. The ATU was in a building four stories tall.

A friend of mine and I were instrumental in saving the three 600 foot self 
supporting towers on Greenbury Point at the Navy Academy property. The array 
was called a modified Goliath Array. The main feed went to a central 1200 
foot hot tower fed with four inch diameter litz cable. Six towers around the 
central tower were 800 feet tall and made up a capacitance hat. The hat was 
extended to the east to the three 600 foot towers.

Two water cooled Eimac tubes made the power. They were amazingly small, 
maybe a foot tall. Cooled with deionized water in the anodes. A third tube 
was between the two that could be switched in if one of the main tubes 
failed.

It was really sad to see the site decommissioned. A little bit of our 
history died.

"miso" <miso@sushi.com> wrote in message 
news:k7kpn0$9rq$1@speranza.aioe.org...
>I think we are feeding a troll (original poster), but yes, it is stupid to 
>boost a voltage or go from AC to DC for a resistive heater. A company that 
>I will not embarrass (plus I forget the name) was using a DC/DC for a 
>heated stethoscope. [Hey Doc, do you keep that thing in the 'fridge?] Far 
>better to get a heating element of the right resistance. And from what I 
>hear, it is the speculum that needs heating.
>
> BTW, I've been to the Jack Daniels factory. It is worth the tour. The 
> irony is the factory is located in a "dry" county, so you can't do any 
> tasting there. [See what happens when you let Bible thumpers get too much 
> power!] The factory is more like a college campus. Lots of buildings 
> surrounded by patches of green grass. The whiskey is aged in a manner like 
> you store explosives. The "bunkers" are away from the factory and have a 
> buffer zone so that all the stock won't be destroyed should one site catch 
> fire.
>
>

You fucking nitwit. That rule was made by a consensus of the local 
community. It has no effect on you other than you couldn't get a free 
handout of booze. Typical libtard. Maybe you can ask obozo for free whiskey. 

tm wrote:
> 
> "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:CcCdnVraIvTgdADNnZ2dnUVZ_hOdnZ2d@earthlink.com...
> >
> > micky wrote:
> >>
> >> On Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:18:39 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
> >> <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> >
> >> >micky wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> Really older blankets might have a problem with low frequency
> >> >> radiation.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >   Very doubtful, considering that one cycle is 5000000 meters long.
> >> >That's 5,000 Kilometers or about 3106 miles.  How big is that blanket?
> >>
> >> Are you saying unless something is 3000 miles long, it can't radiate
> >> low frequency?.
> >
> >
> >   No, but has to be an appreciable fraction of a wavelength, or we
> > would be forced to use DC power for everything.
> >
> >>  I don't think so.  And if that were the case, then a
> >> radio transmitter broadcasting at 600 KHz would require an antenna
> >> that was a third of a mile long.
> >
> >
> >  No, it doesn't. AM BC band broadcast antennas are not a full
> > wavelength, and the aren't resonant at the transmit frequency.  They all
> > use use L/C networks to make the tower work at the allocated frequency.
> > Some ATU are as large as the AM transmitter when the tower is difficult
> > to configure.  It gets even worse with multiple tower arrays, and
> > different day/night patterns and transmit power authorizations.  You
> > should have seen the ATUs at the VOA station in Bethany, Ohio.  They
> > could put up to 500,000 watts of RF at any frequency from 2 to 30 MHz.
> > They had multiple antennas, and more than one a 50,000 transmitter was
> > switched to full power before the antenna was properly tuned, and wet
> > the wood support poles on fire.
> >
> >
> >  I was a broadcast engineer at a number of radio & TV stations over the
> > decades.
> >
> >
> >> The question is not whether it can radiate, but whether the low
> >> frequency is harmful.
> >
> >
> >>    This was the controversy that also centered
> >> around power lines, often just past the backyard of people's homes.
> >
> >
> >   Very long power lines can radiate.  That's wy there are regional
> > power grids across the US, and they are interconnected with HV DC.
> >
> >> But you do remind me that most of the opinion, or maybe the consensus
> >> after a few years, was that that was not harmful.    By then electric
> >> blankets had already been redesigned, since they were much easier to
> >> redesign than power lines.   But yes, they're no longer thought to
> >> be a risk, I think.  I'd forgotten.
> 
> Got to know the transmitter engineers at NSS Annapolis. 24 kHz at 1 million
> watts. The ATU was in a building four stories tall.
> 
> A friend of mine and I were instrumental in saving the three 600 foot self
> supporting towers on Greenbury Point at the Navy Academy property. The array
> was called a modified Goliath Array. The main feed went to a central 1200
> foot hot tower fed with four inch diameter litz cable. Six towers around the
> central tower were 800 feet tall and made up a capacitance hat. The hat was
> extended to the east to the three 600 foot towers.
> 
> Two water cooled Eimac tubes made the power. They were amazingly small,
> maybe a foot tall. Cooled with deionized water in the anodes. A third tube
> was between the two that could be switched in if one of the main tubes
> failed.
> 
> It was really sad to see the site decommissioned. A little bit of our
> history died.


   That Bethany VOA site is now a stinking golf course.