Hank the Tanks Dodgy battery and solar system

[barryd]

I bought one ages ago, not very good but much better than nothing, and I paid £20 for mine, so I'd not rate that one too much, but you never know.

Looked alright in the video but like most things that cost next to nothing. Probably crap. Having said that I tried Temu for the first time recently and bought various items and they have all been pretty good.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

They do sell some crap too though, you have to be selective, especially on electronic stuff, reviews are pretty meaning less on these sites now.

 

[merl]

I assume swift did not use 0.75mm cable on a solar set up.
His new Victron MPPT will improve things Merlin.
Very good of you to do what you did.

No, it wasn't swifts install Bill, obviously done by the previous owners to Barry.

 

[barryd]

No, it wasn't swifts install Bill, obviously done by the previous owners to Barry.

Correct. Supposedly the guy that had the van from new who sadly passed away according to the guy selling it was a millionaire. I think it must have been the cheapest solar setup I have ever seen.

 

[colinm]

Correct. Supposedly the guy that had the van from new who sadly passed away according to the guy selling it was a millionaire. I think it must have been the cheapest solar setup I have ever seen.

I my line of work I meet a lot of very rich people, some of them would need therapy if they lost a penny.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Correct. Supposedly the guy that had the van from new who sadly passed away according to the guy selling it was a millionaire. I think it must have been the cheapest solar setup I have ever seen.

He didn't get where he was by throwing money away, it worked okay, just not as good as it should.

 

[trevskoda]

There are no pockets in a shroud, take a massive loan before you kick the bucket, then a round the world trip with a good doctor and nurse.

 

[alcam]

Well safely back home although the A66 tried to catch me out by being gridlocked again but being a local hooligan I found my way around that.

Poor Merl. I had to wake him up this morning. Even then he smiled and was very jolly. If it had been the other way round I would have told him to fcuk off!!

I can't see the Victron controller on the app though from the house but that is perhaps a good thing. Ill end up like Kev obsessing over apps, displays, voltages and machines that go ping!

There was some debate yesterday of what size the original panel is. Its hard to tell from the photos but its considerably larger than the 100w new one. Merl did some tests and thought it was maybe a 115w but I thought it might be a 140w just going on the difference in size.

What do you think? Angles of the photos are not great.

The good news is its still there 150 miles later

Should we have an auction for the old PWM controller?

There are no pockets in a shroud, take a massive loan before you kick the bucket, then a round the world trip with a good doctor and a very pretty , friendly nurse.

What ever pronoun you're happy with

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Is that a noun that makes a good living?

 

[merl]

He knows his electrics Merl! I am sure he wont mind me posting this (in fact I am sure I asked him if it was ok although I was a bit pissed at the time). The Valve amp he built himself and these fabulous 1959 speakers (I forget the name) are absolutely amazing. It was most interesting learning about all the valves and stuff. It sounded superb. Of course I got him to play some Bazza Bingo stuff and amazingly it didn't blow up. In fact I was feckin impressed how great it sounded. Photos are a bit crap but the two square boxes are the speakers and the amp is on the top left with all the valves on show. So clever.

View attachment 141691

View attachment 141692

The speakers were actually first produced way back in 1957 by a British company called Quad.
I played Barry a Blue Note Jazz LP recorded way back in 1958, so we had a 1958 LP recording being played back through an amplifier with valves made back in the 1940's though speakers from 1957 and even though Barry claimed to not really like Jazz after a few minutes he seemed to have changed his mind. Makes you wonder how far the world of HiFi has come in nearly seventy years.

The world's best-sounding stereo system?

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Pudsey Bear]

They certainly command attention in your lounge mate.

 

[Robmac]

I bought one ages ago, not very good but much better than nothing, and I paid £20 for mine, so I'd not rate that one too much, but you never know.

Yes I bought one a couple of years ago Kev and it has proved very useful.

 

[barryd]

The speakers were actually first produced way back in 1957 by a British company called Quad.
I played Barry a Blue Note Jazz LP recorded way back in 1958, so we had a 1958 LP recording being played back through an amplifier with valves made back in the 1940's though speakers from 1957 and even though Barry claimed to not really like Jazz after a few minutes he seemed to have changed his mind. Makes you wonder how far the world of HiFi has come in nearly seventy years.

The world's best-sounding stereo system?

www.nbcnews.com

They truly were amazing. It does make you wonder how far the world of not just HiFi but also live amplification and recording has actually come in terms of producing a sound like your system does and the answer is clear, not very far in terms of quality but of course leaps and bounds in terms of affordability and more importantly capability in the case of recording at least. Anyone can do it now for a few hundred quid. When you think though that musicians are constantly searching for that 60s and 70s sound it speaks volumes. We lost that "warmth" I think when everything went digital which is probably why you still hear of people recording on analogue tape.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

They truly were amazing. It does make you wonder how far the world of not just HiFi but also live amplification and recording has actually come in terms of producing a sound like your system does and the answer is clear, not very far in terms of quality but of course leaps and bounds in terms of affordability and more importantly capability in the case of recording at least. Anyone can do it now for a few hundred quid. When you think though that musicians are constantly searching for that 60s and 70s sound it speaks volumes. We lost that "warmth" I think when everything went digital which is probably why you still hear of people recording on analogue tape.

Here ya go, knock yersen out Barry.

Tascam 133 Cassette Tape Recorder Multi-Image Series (2ch Stereo) | eBay

Up for sale is my Tascam 133. Deck is in good working condition. If you are familiar with this generation of Tascam you will be aware of the build quality. Playback and records great. Ideal for making higher quality recordings & mix downs.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[barryd]

Here ya go, knock yersen out Barry.

Tascam 133 Cassette Tape Recorder Multi-Image Series (2ch Stereo) | eBay

Up for sale is my Tascam 133. Deck is in good working condition. If you are familiar with this generation of Tascam you will be aware of the build quality. Playback and records great. Ideal for making higher quality recordings & mix downs.

www.ebay.co.uk

I'm not even sure if that is a 3 track recorder. We did use something similar, a Tascam 4 track recorder in the 80s which we borrowed from college to record our crappy band. We were amazed how great it sounded. Probably because the alternative back then was just recording your jam session on a crappy tape deck which would have been 100 times worse than just recording it on a modern mobile phone. The fact that we got a mixed four track properly recorded cassette at the end though was like black magic. I remember we recorded "Wonderful Tonight" and "Bad Moon rising". We gave cassettes to our parents as presents. I remember my dad playing it to just about anyone who would listen.

Pretty useless now though as nobody plays tapes and here's the thing, four tracks is never enough. Well it might be if its just a vocal, a guitar and maybe drums or a bass but you would be amazed how many instrument and vocal tracks go into one recording. There could well be half a dozen or more vocal tracks. Often to fatten up vocals they are double or treble tracked and moved around left and right, then there are harmonies and backing. Then guitars are often doubled up to go left and right, multiple synths / key parts, drums, bass etc, strings. My DAW software supports I think 16 instrument tracks and 8 midi tracks and I often run out.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

And it still sounds ..........................

 

[alcam]

capability in the case of recording at least. Anyone can do it now for a few hundred quid.

We know

 

[trevskoda]

I love my linn turntable as the sound has never been betten esp through a good valve or electronic amp and top quality speekers, no tape deck or jap scrap gets anywhere near.

 

[merl]

I love my linn turntable as the sound has never been betten esp through a good valve or electronic amp and top quality speekers, no tape deck or jap scrap gets anywhere near.View attachment 141727

I owned a Linn Sondek for a few years Trev. It's biggest drawback was the way the sound was ruined by the lid. It sounded slightly better when played with the lid up but taking the lid off really made it sing but it was a faff.
The Michell I replaced it with doesn't suffer with the same gripe and the tone isn't quite as bass heavy as the Linn either.
Linns are still in high demand, fetch good money and hold their value really well.

 

[Nabsim]

I still have a pair of Palmer Acoustic speakers in the garage. Should have got rid of them as I will never use them again