The title says it all really – after coming home from work we found that the circuit powering the microwave, coffee machine, insinkerator and fridge had been tripped. After checking everything I reset the circuit and everything sprung back to life except the fridge. It’s a Fisher & Paykel Q E442B fridge which has been trucking …
Tag Archive: Power
Jun 15 2012
Optimise Battery Life for Smartphones with AMOLED Screens
Here’s a quick tip. If your phone has an AMOLED screen (as opposed to an LCD screen) it’s worth knowing how these displays work. In a nutshell, LCD screens rely on a backlight and a liquid crystal matrix in front of it which blocks certain colours and allows other colours through. Power usage will be …
May 21 2012
Nyko Power Grip Unboxing and Preview
As promised, I am posting the unboxing video of the Nyko Power Grip which is an extended battery of sorts for the Nintendo 3DS. It’s not like regular extended batteries which end up replacing the internal battery inside the device but rather it complements the existing internal battery. Installation is literally a snap by angling …
Dec 26 2011
Why Won’t Windows Automatically Sleep?
Recently, I reinstalled Windows 7 from scratch after putting a brand new OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 solid state drive in my desktop computer but since then my computer hasn’t been going to sleep automatically after its nightly backup. After a bit of research, I found that I needed to use the powercfg tool to see what …
Nov 29 2011
How to Thoughtfully Dispose of Batteries
I’ve covered batteries a bit lately including how to look after lithium ion batteries as well as how to replace a battery in a MacBook Pro but I haven’t covered how to thoughtfully dispose of batteries. It can be tempting and convenient to throw batteries in the general garbage or try to rationalise that they …
Nov 10 2011
Look After Your Lithium Ion Batteries
These days, nearly all of our portable devices like mobile phones, tablets, laptops and music players contain a lithium ion or lithium polymer battery which have largely superseded the old NiCad (nickel cadmium) or NiMH (nickel metal hydroxide) batteries. If you can remember back far enough, NiCad batteries suffered from “memory effect” which occurred as …
Oct 16 2011
Check a Power Supply Unit’s Efficiency
Here’s a tip for people looking to build a new computer or upgrade their existing one. Most things inside the computer will require power measured in “watts”. To put it simply, this measures the rate at which electricity moves through a circuit. One watt (1W) is equal to one joule of energy consumed in one …
Oct 15 2011
Current Cost EnviR Real-Time Home Electricity Monitor Unboxing
It’s a bit unusual to have back to back unboxings but I am not one to complain! Today, I unbox the Current Cost EnviR real-time home electricity monitor which I bought from SmartNow (fantastic customer service and highly recommended). I covered this device at a high level in a prior article. This device is designed to …
Oct 05 2011
Incoming Gadget – Current Cost EnviR Power Monitor
Just a heads up that there is a new gadget on its way to help keep tabs on the electricity usage in the home. It will require professional installation by an electrician so that might slow down how quickly I can get it up and running. I’ve also purchased an additional cable to connect the …
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