cynar

Solder joints are use case dependent. If done badly they can become a weak point that can fail. Either from heat, or from mechanical stress.

Ideally, you want a crimp connector, or a proper terminal. However, in this context, I would not have an issue with it. You can also see it’s been done well on this version.

As for the wire, I was referring to the incoming cable. Power strips should be designed for the worst case scenario. In the UK, that would be a sustained 13A 240VAC load. The wire cores look a little under spec for that load. There might be a fused plug upstream, that de-rates it to a safe load. We can’t tell from the photo.

I’ve seen a lot worse working safely.

A couple of concerns however.

• Those Chinese universal sockets work, but are quite dangerous. They lack a lot of the safety features of sockets like the BS1363 (UK type G socket). They also can fail in nasty ways, due to wear and tear. Loose contact being the nastiest.

• Those wires also look a bit thin. If the plug is properly fused on the other end, it should be fine. They don’t look rated for sustained large loads however. Even if they are fine initially, any damage e.g. a bit of furniture pinching them, could push them over the edge. A hotspot can easily become a melty cable, which is a fire risk.

*Internally, it looks safe, but not amazing. Solder joints aren’t the best option, but they aren’t subject to motion either, so should hold up fine. There’s a bit of a lack of isolation, but again, it’s fine so long as it’s not damaged internally.

In conclusion, I have a hard veto No on the Chinese universal sockets. Other than that it looks acceptable for light loads. So long as it’s not treated like it will withstand anything and keep working safely.

For reference, I’m UK based. Our plugs are some of the safest in the world, at the cost of being big and bulky.

That’s not a UK plug socket. It looks like one of those Chinese “anything plugs”. They are fine the first few times, but can get dangerous over time. They also lack a lot of the safety features the BS1363 specs require.

Modafinil (or one of its other variants) would likely be better and safer. It reduces your need for sleep significantly. Combined with some caffeine pills it would have a better effect for far less insanity.

It’s the difference between an ebike and a JATO rocket. Both will mostly do the same job. But one is a lot less spectacular, but likely a lot more useful.

It definitely helped that we had both completely compromised the German spy network in Britain, as well as cracking their codes.

The spies let the British feed critical bits of false intelligence to the germans, in a stream of good, if slightly useless or out of date, intelligence.

The breaking of enigma then meant we could monitor, in near real time, how the Germans reacted to it. Limiting the intelligence just enough to make them feel they worked for it, but not so much they missed it.

The culmination was on D-day. Agent Garbo actually messaged the Germans warning them that the landings were on their way to Normandy, before they arrived. However, the British knew exactly how long it would take to actually reach the people that mattered. It arrived just after reports of the landings happening. It was then followed by a panicked warning. The Normandy landings were a diversion, and the main force was leaving for Calais! This kept the German tanks tied up for a critical 3 days.

They do invest (reluctantly) when grid stability becomes compromised. That’s the point where regulators and politicians start taking a strong interest. That’s why they bitch and moan about anything that can upset the balance in the grid.

Unfortunately, the upgrades can take time, so we not only need to bully them into them, but also give them time to actually do them. Fuck knows how we pull that off however, so we might as well go full steam for solar!

As well as the risks of shoddy kit, there is also a grid stability issue.

Basically, solar can go off an on at a fairly rapid rate, compared to what the grid is designed for. This can lead to instabilities. Either brownouts or spikes in voltage. This can panic some grid equipment and force a shutdown.

What they should do is invest in their infrastructure and make it better able to cope with a distributed supply, distributed load setup. We all know how they feel about investments however!

The interesting thing is that he kept the letters.

I would get that he quite likely had good copper. It was possibly a collection of letters from people trying to scam/shake down him. Next time they order, they can wave the letter in their face when he said no to them.