Horses, Powerful

What is a HP (Horse Power, not to be confused with Hewlett Packard). A non-standard unit for measuring power. What is power. Something that creates mechanical work or heat, in general occurs when one form of energy is transformed into another, in a certain amount of time. Transformed in watts, which is a standard unit for measuring power (metric this time, not to be confused with SAE, or Standard American and English which is non-metric, confused already? Wait a minute, HP is SAE?).

"Well i never knew" there was a Horse Power and then there was a metric Horse Power, i don't have time for this right now, what i know is a HP is approximately 7 hundred something watts and this is what i want to talk about.

There is little concern in the US for like how many HP a car has. Some people look for things like, room, confort, safety. All these result in big cars, vans or SUVs and big cars need many HP to move and many HP mean usually big engines, V6 being midd range. Other people look for prices and smaller cars with smaller engines that are cheaper. Just googled and i saw the average power for a car in the US is 120 HP. That can't be right, from what i see on the streets.

Anyways. An internal combustion engine runs at a maximum efficiency of... Nevermind, i ran into something else. Google gives the answer for that question 80% which can't be true. Don't know how google picks the answer, next answer in line is closer to what i knew, 35-40% for "advanced engines".

But in reality, for real cars and real engines, with an average age of cars running on streets of 12 years, the real thermal efficiency of the engines is 20%. Which means 80% of the energy of the fuel is wasted in the radiator and exhaust. Heating the Universe as some would say. So it's the exact opposite of the answer picked by google to that question.

And here's where i wanted to get. Due to air drag, friction of tires with the road, an average size car needs about 15 HP on average to cruise at constant speed during long trips. The rest of the HPs, all the way to 120 or 200 or something is for acceleration. Usually you use for a few seconds all the power of the engine until you get "up to speed" and then you release the gas pedal and start cruising. From what i see on the instant dashboard indicator of the Elandra, engine goes to a consumption of 14-17 mpg for acceleration and above 35 for cruising. Hyundai Elantra indeed  has one of those advanced engines.

However, it's got a wasteful automatic transmission with hydraulic torque converter which is way more efficient at higher RPMs used during acceleration and wastes a lot during cruise. Waste in automatic transmission is so great it needs a whole section of the radiator just to cool it, in the range of 5 to 15%.

The newer continuous variable transmissions used in newer models (CVT) are much more efficient.

To compare that 15 HPs needed to cruise to the beach to let's say the energy used by a house, we need to transform the HPs into watts. 15 HPs by 750 would be about what, 10 KW, or the average power needed for 10 homes, including heating, dryer, AC, hot water, stove, other appliances. But when thinking that we use those 15HP coming from an internal combustion engine that has a 30 or even 20% efficiency, we realize that during those hours we use the energy needed to power up to 50 homes.

So that's why i'm tweaking the Hyundai almost every day, giving "them" opportunities to come outside and to their shows around me. Today it was raining and got wet and cold about 3 times (and they still started to move around me).

Because i saw one day i made from here to Spirit Mountain, a 49 miles trip, on other occasions, a mileage on the dashboard indicator of 39 mpg. But that was one day only. About half the times i get 37. It's not that much about the money, though a 15% difference in fuel consumption with that car would be about 1000 a year. It's curiosity and also pride. Hope i can prove something.

Then, every time something breaks allowing a vacuum leak. Last night coming back home it was 34. I replaced until now the hoses around the catch can i don't know how many times. Last time today, i found under one of the clamps a... hairline crack in the rubber hose? that was so straight it seemed a cut. I used high pressure, oil resistant breaded fuel lines. So i replaced them with PVC hoses. I modified the clamps, cause they were "gathering" the tire in one point or line and where not perfectly round.

I don't know why it's so important, but by freshly tightening those hoses, i get 15% better mileage. For that trip only. When i check the next day, i see they're loose again. The rubber gives in and then cracks. On the PCV ones, it looks like they get untightened. So i added extra nuts on the bolts.

The vacuum inside the intake while crusins is what, 15psi, but the problem is that is an average and it probably pulsates peaking at around 20 or something and probably the opening of the valves and sucking of the pistons gives shock waves through the hoses that combined with the movement (vibration) of the engine creates temporary pulsating leaks.

Original PCV hose (used without catch can) is preformed rubber, with spring clamps that barely tighten. I know Hyundai redesigned an engine with the shaft a bit off from under the pistons to make the angle at active stroke smaller just to get an increase of 1% efficiency when they are probably loosing for older or even newers cars up to 10% or more because of a hose and clamps.

I remember 15 years ago with the Nissan used mostly by Angela to go to work and for trips in weekends, i found a puncture in the heater hose, and i kept pouring coolant and coolant kept disappearing until i found that leak and went and fixed it. To me it looked a puncture made with a tool.

I don't know what to believe anymore.

Cyber Threats. Real or Myth

My opinion. They are as real as everything else. Governments, politicians.

In an ideal world (not the one we live in obviously), we should expect no critical infrastructure communication network is physically connected to the internet. I personally don't believe they are. They shouldn't. Classical example, power grid. What else. The controlling part of the phone providers. The military. Etc..

They should and probably have their own separate physical networks. It would be insane if they didn't.

Many people can't make the distinction between the front sites of the institutions giving access to a tiny fraction of the information from those sectors and their internal networks. There may be connections but one way only. Read only, if  you want. By hardware design.

By example. One should be able to go and check online his account with the power company. But that is the accounting part of it. And only the read only of the accounting part of it that details power usage and whatever, price, cost. The rest of it as the IT infrastructure controlling the grid should be physically isolated from the internet and probably is. Same with banks, government agencies, etc..

From time to time they come and bring us this unverifiable "news". Things that happened in the past and "they didn't know". Those that if you search the source of, you would find to be the source of all confusions and misunderstandings we leave with nowadays. When they squeeze everything they can out of those that never verify in the end they switch to some other imaginary threat.

About the recent "Russian" cyberattacks. The main problem here is the Russians don't deny it or don't make the slightest effort to educate the public in "the other countries" they are supposedly menacing. I bet vast majority of Russians don't even know about. They have a totally different view of the world, with their own journalists and their own news, tailored to their needs. And the language and especially the alphabet barriers. Most Russians can't read latin alphabet so they can at least read the titles from the sites.

They a front news agency called Sput Nick that sometimes is as confusing as American main media. Who wants to read Sput Nick or Spit Nick? It is made mostly for their own English readers so they can believe they are not totally isolated. Because they are in the same situations. Fake politicians, fake governments controlling everything.

Why they need this constant tension? Simply to take peoples' mind out of the real problems.

"On the other side are experts who say such warnings are vast exaggerations peddling FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) – that natural disasters and rodents are more of a threat than cyber attacks to industrial control systems (ICS) that power the grid, water distribution, transportation and other critical services.

The evidence – so far – seems to favor the latter view. No cyber attack in the US has crippled the grid, water, communication or other CI systems even for weeks. Indeed, major storms have left tens of thousands of people without power for longer than any cyber attack has."

Rodents. They (CSO) compare cyber threats to rodents. Rats that is.

One more thing. Who ever needed internet as an open, international network? What are 99% of Americans 99% of the time searching in other countries web sites? Nothing.

Uku Lelea și semaforul.

Ok m-am hotărât să nu mai scriu ce mi s-a întâmplat în parc înainte și după, devine plictisitor și pentru mine și pentru cei care citesc dar am venit acasă și am pus iar un video și m-a lovit iar nevoia de a scrie.

Deci. M-am dus să-mi iau frumusețea de camionetă din 98 din parcarea de lângă stradă, la 5-10 minute de mers de aici. Resetasem ieri computerul (poți să-l resetezi prin deconectarea bateriei, ștergerea codurilor de eroare cu ajutorul unui conector blue tooth de vreo 3 dolari și o aplicație gratuită, Torque Lite (pe care am plătit-o odată, dar am resetat tableta și nu mai merge), cu care poți citi și senzorii, etc.). Am vrut să-l resetez azi din nou dar am uitat și l-am pornit.

Ce se întâmplă. De câte ori resetezi computerul la mașinile mai noi de 96, motorul iese din funcționarea pe buclă închisă (closed loop, optimizat) și intră într-un mod generic (open loop) și începe să facă niște teste de senzori perioadă în care nu scoate coduri de eroare. Dacă trec toate testele, intră pe closed loop și începe învățarea stilului de conducere pentru a optimiza consumul și emisiile.

Rezistența de încălzire de la al doilea senzor de oxigen (ăla de după catalizator, cu 5 fire). Se rezolvă cu o pornire la rece (temperatura lichidului de răcire să fie cam aceeași cu cea a aerului și mai mare de 4 grade Celsius, deci după o noapte, dar se prea poate iarna. Adică se poate dacă prinzi o dimineață peste 4 grade sau 40 Farenheit). Al meu l-am schimbat aiurea acum doi ani fiindcă nu știam chestia. Dacă trece, face și testul senzorului însuși în vreo câteva minute de mers sub 40 la oră combinat cu ralanti. Apoi supapa de recirculare eșapament EGR (pentru răcirea amestecului, se recirculeaza o mică parte din gaze de eșapament în galeria de emisie, care micșorează temperatura și practic crește cifra octanică printr-o supapă comandată de computer, a nu se confunda cu supapa de recirculare pentru aerisire, PCV). Și aceea era schimbată, dar a fost într-adevăr defectă. Pentru aia trebuie să mergi vreo 5 minute peste 90 la oră cu viteză constantă. Deci trecusem toate testele și m-am dus la stația de testare care era închisă. Luni, uitasem.

Am emoții fiindcă dacă nu trece, trebuie să schimb iar catalizatorul pe care l-am schimbat deja de 3 ori, fiindcă tot așa nu am știut chestia și am pus catalizatoare ieftine, care nu au cantitatea de ceramică necesară și se duc după vreun an (un catalizator bun nu are cum să fie sub vreo 500 de dolari și de obicei trebuie să iei unul original). Dar cum s-a stricat și ăla. Într-un an pe 3 iulie (2010) am mers undeva și când am venit acasă pe drum mașina a început să facă un zgomot foarte nașpa, ca de pietre care se rostogolesc, de fapt se spărsese blocul de ceramică din catalizator, care e o chestie rară. Chevrolet S10 este un tip de Chevrolet făcut de GM în colaborare cu Isuzu care au și ei unul identic care se numește Isuzu Hombre.

M-am întors și am intrat puțin în parc. Adică pe strada de pe lângă, cum merg eu mai recent, din cauza prafului de piatră de pe alei unde au turnat pietriș care se macină și se face praf foarte nașpa. Am mers eu vreo 10 minute și am dat de un nor de fum. Foarte subtil, fin, cum zice Angela. Cel mai probabil cocaină, care seamănă mult cu fumul de vegetație. De fapt, e tot o plantă și aia. Mă gândeam iar, cum m-am mai gândit, dacă nu cumva Gingis Han nu a folosit asta ca pe o tactică de luptă. Adică iei niște provizii de ceva plante de care lumea în Europa nu a auzit și niște meseriași care știu cum bate vântul, trimiți doi din ăia care fac unul două focuri din direcția vântului lângă tabăra sau satul pe care vrei să-l iei. Oamenii din tabără sau sat simt puțin miros de fum, dar nu știu ce e și într-o oră două devin happy, încep să facă tot felul de chestii, după care vii și-i iei cu pierderi minime. Astfel a luat el Asia și o parte din Europă, pe care însă nu a putut s-o țină, fiindcă habar nu avea de cultura și mai ales religia locală.

Nu mult fum, dar m-am întors. Eram puțin happy dar nu prea. La ieșirea din parcare prima fază. Se bagă o tipă în față (aici sunt foarte puțin pietoni) să treacă pe trecere.

Dar în intersecția următoare și singura până acasă, la 7-11. Se face verde, pornesc încet și semnalizez stânga, vine un tip din parcarea din față de la 7-11 spre mine, îl las să treacă înaintea lui pe lângă mine (aveam semn să cedez dacă fac la stânga), mai iese unul și face la dreapta, îl las să treacă și pe acela, fac stânga și în ultimele secunde de verde apare și un pieton întârziat care trece strada de la stânga, pe care nu-l văzusem din cauza celorlalte două faze, la care frânez. Un tip roșcat cu barbă destul de lungă. Vin acasă, încerc să mă relaxez, pun un video, îl văd pe tip, singura diferență e că avea barba mai lungă decât în video. Și apropo e prima dată când mi-am dat seama că tipul are barbă roșie fază la care îmi vin în minte versurile "woke up to a red parade and refused to make amends".