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If you think anyone runs a datacentre without backup power you live in cloud cuckoo land. For financial institutions in the EU this is a minimal regulatory requirement. Non-bank ATMs might be out due to local power especially the kind located in shops but most will be working in branches with backup power. Comms will be powered by back-up power sources over private circuits. This stuff will be tested regularly for disaster scenarios (regulatory requirement) of which a major power cut is such a scenario.

This evening's sunset (and the not very shiny roof of a Karoq)

Can't agree more - such a difference in clear skies 👍 A few more from East Midlands (again taken with the FZ1000) last August:

I took that with a Lumix FZ1000 - it's only a bridge camera (1" sensor), but has a reasonable lens with 400mm at the long end 👍 A couple of others I took with the Lumix (cropped):

That's so true, if you can stand the cold, you get crystal clear photos in the winter sunshine.

Its probs not your lens lee ,telephoto lenses emphasise just how much haze and dust can be in the air on warm sunny days .

DHL Freighter (? 737-800) departing East Midlands in the rain last week...........

Just a single cloud in the sky earlier 🥵

Battery level and signal strength of paired mobile phone.

Most likely handled by the top buffer of the battery. My ID.4 has an 82kWh battery of which 77kWh is usable (net capacity). The remaining 5kWh is split into a top buffer to prevent over charging and bottom buffer to prevent complete discharge. ISTR its 2kWh for top buffer and 3kWh for bottom buffer on MEB cars.

Those with the most seen to make the least financial sacrifice or lifestyle changes. The con is the green washing with tree planting and offsetting carbons. Carbon trading and so much more. Done with tax benefits from the treasury / public purse. The flights and travel and 11 minutes up to the edge of space type guff is a nonsense. The COP stuff is a pure pith take.

My entire career has been in mainframes and therefore datacentres. No loss of data in a disaster scenario was the goal of disaster recovery 30 years ago. Things have moved on considerably since then. Remaining operational is both a regulatory requirement and a matter of staying in business for financial institutions these days. Staff losing access to the system due to a gateway or VPN server going down will be part of 'graceful fallback', where non-essetial equipment is powered down to conserve backup power. Most essential staff will be connected via backed up access.

As a relative newcomer to the forum you will probably soon come to realise that thread drift is one of the great things about it and that's it's not strictly policed like some where only posts directly related to the subject are allowed... I've been here over 22 years from memory and it's a great place with a great community and members that are generally open, engaging and helpful with suggestions and comments. Anyhow, to turn back to the subject, I have no issues with stop start. 👍

Those with electricity in their vehicle will just have to make it last if they can not get charged. They might be well and truly stuffed. Just like those with liquid fuel in their vehicle, maybe full. maybe not. They might have many km,s worth, or not. If the Filling station is not pumping fuel with their own energy supply, or hand pumps then them taking cash money is no hep. Those with petrols or diesels might not have enough fuel to get home... The Truth of ICE Vehicles.

@pinkpanther I need to get a better lens I think. As an aside I went to Hamburg airport today (holiday here), found myself a nice spot to set up at the north end of the runway only to discover the wind had shifted since this morning and they were now taking off in a north - south direction. Doh!

The Mini electric have whopping 11% buffer. https://ev-database.org/uk/car/1409/Mini-Electric ID4 have 6% and MY LR have 4%. https://ev-database.org/uk/car/1314/Volkswagen-ID4-Pro-Performance https://ev-database.org/uk/car/1183/Tesla-Model-Y-Long-Range-Performance So I think Mini regen at 100% displayed is simply using the top buffer above usable range. German cars like to do this, Audi Etron (the fat SUV) famously have a HUGE top buffer.

Next update, doing this more if anyone ever searches for this in the future. The solenoids/servos ended up not working all of the time, after about 10 actuations on the bench, they would both get stuck. Confirmed that the part numbers i posted in the first post are correct for the whole assembly, however i took the white plastic outer off, the the black rubber cover under that.....and it becomes a VW part 3B0959782A, which is used as a central locking motor, glove box release in the A6, fuel cap release in the Mk7 Golf etc.etc. One thing they all have in common is that they fail all the time ! So I've ordered a pair and will fit and report back when they arrive

^^^ This. A critical Services Data Centre typically will have a minimum of two independent incoming power supplies from the grid, backed-up by diesel generators with either static or rotary UPS. The downstream server cabinets would be powered via two independently-fed static switches.

There are just 2 circumstances when I turn off stop/start: 1) when at a junction or roundabout with heavy traffic and only small gaps, so the delay for the engine to restart makes it impossible to safely get into the gap 2) when in a traffic queue that keeps stopping and restarting every few seconds

It's pretty common for dashcams, cigarette power adapters, and even hardwire kits to cause DAB interference. Try fitting a ferrite clip on the cable to reduce interference.

The Sportline seats will certainly appear more claustrophobic, due to the shape and bulk of the upper section of the backrest. However, in practice I've found no difference in legroom in the back of my Sportline+ vs an L&K; I'm 6'2 and can sit behind myself with ease. I can see there being a difference in capable positions for the different types of seat frame though i.e. full vs part electric vs manual.

Emirates Boeing 777 just now. Zoomed in and cropped...

No, sorry the ice scraper is on one side, that is right in the middle of the inside of the boot lid, for a warning triangle or something similar in other cars I've had.

@Ootohere I'm aware of the thread name, hence why I was posting in it and it seems to have escaped most people the connection I was making to online authentication of account cards and or debit/credit cards not just in shops, cafes etc but also with public chargers which for those not fortunate enough to have home charging (assuming they had power) but those that had enough SOC to make it into work, may not have enough to get home again etc. but hey ho.

I think it's likely that if the ECU is seeing those impossible temperature readings, critical engine ancillaries will not be commanded on.

Have all 4 wheels been balanced? I'd also take a closer look at the drive shafts.

The car has had an engine change, no accident/flood etc. I’ve checked the VCDS on another vehicle, had it a few years now. I’ve charged the vehicle battery and get the same results. I have no problem idea why the temperature readings are so far off, I’m wondering if there is some sort of wiring fault/damage. The ambient air temperature is showing fine on the dash but VCDS says it’s 2000 C in one place and -373 somewhere else. Probably a default due to open or short circuit? The fuel pump has 4 wires as I’ve detailed earlier assuming 2 of them are +/- I don’t know what the other 2 do and whether the trigger is 12v, something less that 12v or earth? So I’m stuck with that one. I have the wiring diagram for the pump and module but it doesn’t say what these 2 wires do. P025a refers to the fuel pump module which I’ve replaced, I suspect that for some reason the module isn’t been triggered but I’m not sure why? I’ve read about the cooling fan relays causing a problem but not a complete failure for the engine to run. At the moment I’ve hit a brick wall.

Interesting, do you know if the E Mini uses a load-shed heater battery to allow that?

I charge to 100% in the MINI and regenaration braking is still available. In some other EV,s i have driven and in the Corsa Electric i had there was no Regen Braking for a few miles if the battery was at 100%. The new MINI 99% & Pre Heating / Cooling battery.

I’m in the same situation. I asked the dealer and got the same answer, that there’s no update available for my car, even though several newer versions have already been released.

Was the Filter getting replaced or did they say that was not till the 2nd service of a DQ381. No filter is listed on the invoice but the girl on reception says the filter has been replaced How many miles has the car done, and how much were they charging for the DQ381 DSG Service? 47800 miles, cost was £329. Was the VAQ diff serviced @ 3 years / 30,000 miles or at anytime. It has never been serviced, that’s next on my list of things to get done.

That time I was part of a power out dis/rec test...... power off went well until two hours in when everything went dark! The diesel generators had not kicked in so when the UPS batteries were exhausted everything went off. We could see the generators from the Sys. Prog. office window, so added a step to the run-book to 'Look out the window to see if there is smoke from the generator exhaust' 😊 We tested our procedure for a cold start that day too.... Caused a lot of paperwork. Sorry will stay on topic now...

As has been said only about 4% of charging is at public charges, the rest is at work or home where it is half, or a tenth, or free to charge. Trip to Heathrow earlier in the week. 250 miles, nearly all motorway, I have the smaller 65 kwh battery rather than the 90 kwh battery in most Scenics, made the journey without any need to charge. Cost of about £5 of charging cost. Mileage tax relief claim on Srlf Assessment will go in later. If I could not charge at home from my two wallboxes would have to find the best public charging deal or use the work ones, some are 33p a kwh, some are free. Getting over 4 miles per kwh currently. The truth for electric cars are they are very cheap to run ie energy, servicing etc. Sadly still get pictures etc.

Maybe a worthless post on your question, but I've done that job on a 2015 VW Polo - and also needed to replace the black frame and cover! The repeater lens is a complete assembly with the repeater inside it, easy enough to replace and not too expensive. I'd think that you will be able to find "how to do it" using Google, if not for Fabia I'd think that there will be one for same age Polo with not much difference. Sorry not an exact answer, but maybe something to work on.

You might want to look into The Blair Institute, as it has disproportionate effect on Government policy. Beyond that, instead of dismissing everything he says as "opinion", it might be more convincing to take "facts" he alleges, and correct them. @Ootohere 's post shows some of the funding, but there is also a lot of Government money that gets laundered, for want of a better word, through various charities and NGOs to people like Blair and Gates. (Hence all the bleating about DOGE putting a stop to USAID. That's p'd on a lot of people's chips). Unfortunately for Blair, while previous submissions to various governmental institutions have been welcome, such as during COVID-19 (https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/2160/html/), with his latest proclamation he's stepped on a few toes. So because he's gone off narrative on "Climate Change", suddenly the TBI is a problem and must be looked into. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/apr/30/blairs-net-zero-intervention-invites-scrutiny-of-his-institute-donors

You would think the guy would hold up rechargeable battery rather what looks to be an alkaline Duracell.

Yeah main dealer. Local mechanic quoted 190 so will go with that. Just can’t believe how much more money and when I asked why it was so expensive she started saying that it’s the centre of the wheel and a safety issue.

Wow where did them years go. I've never got over the felicia so last week I bought another.

Yes, I did this by going to a mobility centre where they specialise in this and other modifications. The job took about an hour and cost (raisers and labour) £200.

Received mine today, ordered 21 January. Looking forward to getting to know EV driving. 85 Edition with Plus Pack in Timiano Green. Very happy to have it finally sitting on the drive!

Why do Spain waste their time with experts @Graham Butcher when you can tell them what went wrong?

Hi all, So on Monday, got these back from the coaters: Replacement brake shields as per the earlier posts, where presumably they blasted off the original coating and applied Cerakote Blackout. I'll probably still give them a spray of something (especially the rears). One could argue that the fronts being aluminium means this is overkill, but the rest of the bits in the pic above is for a Honda Insight, which also used aluminium brake shields, which now don't exist, mine being corroded to buggery and one side completely missing before I got to it. Honda don't make those parts anymore so want to see if get these shields to just last a tiny bit longer. So those are ready for when I do the bearings, probably some time in the summer/autumn assuming nothing untoward happens. This arrived yesterday: Some proper 6mm spacers, with correct PCD and centre bore. In my rush to buy these at £22.99 I neglected to check that they're just a pair. I guess for now I'll just run with a wider front track, and sort out the rears whenever. Don't think we'd even notice. These also arrived: Hopefully replacement connectors for the electric parking brake. Cheapest I could find them was £13.28 and from, well, the pic plugs the site. The connectors having wire tails already inserted probably means I can then find the appropriate terminal extractor to remove them and then do the same on the actual connectors. Hopefully. So off to double check the spacer is ok: Because they're not universal, they can be plonked straight onto the hub, I guess eventually I'll get one of those alignment pins. Then the wheel on: Skin of the teeth. Reminds me of the E55 AMG we were SO close to getting instead of this, with its paper thin clearance of caliper to wheel, which to me is the correct wheel size. So I guess it's onto the brake lines before this is all sorted, but back to work... Maintenance: £2873.55 (+£13.28) Upgrades: £4559.79 (+£22.99) Miscellaneous: £820.07

You can pick up usb3 drives for peanuts these days and it’s backwards compatible

The Haldex VAQ interval used to be 30k/3 years, however is now 20k/2 years. I believe it is the same for Haldex AWD. DSG wise, all of the gearboxes are 40k intervals, with the exception of the DQ200 (n/a) and DQ381, which is 80k. That said, I'm about to do mine at 39k. The haldex wants the fluid doing, and the gauze cleaned out. Some places do it, some don't. The DSG wants the fluid doing, and the filter replaced (Skoda usually don't do the filter, but you want it done). 2019 is the GPF year for all cars. You won't see any difference, unless you're planning on changing the exhaust system for more power (as @travs and I have found out). I've driven a GTI with the DQ250 and my vRS has the DQ381. I think the 381 is the vastly superior box, however I do agree with @nicknorman on the whole. Mine has a TCU tune so is a non issue now, however I did used to find (when accelerating very slowly up a hill) that it would shift into say, 3rd, at 1600rpm and then struggle to go anywhere. That's now fixed, however I can't say if the Superb is any better/worse. That said, it's a very minor issue and certainly nothing you'll really notice if someone doesn't point it out to you IMO. For the Superb I'd say the 381 is the better box - having that 7th ratio keeps it nice and quiet. You're at the top end of torque on the 250, so if you're thinking about tuning or anything like that, then the 381 is the box.

Washer pump has seized. remove the wheel arch liner, and give it a tap! The pump is £15, easy to change.

No the rear diff is in a separate chamber with it's own oil. There has been instances where people have confused the drain/fill plugs and emptied the rear diff while trying to do a Haldex service. This usually results in a failed rear diff.

Just a quick, short update. The DSG mechanic told me that sound and vibrations are coming from the gearbox itself. Its likely that some bearing (likely on the main pyramid) got destroyed. Once he opens and looks at the internals I will have more info, but that will have to wait till his schedule opens up. Really NOT the news I was hoping for, but what's done is done, such is life. I will post more details once I know them and hopefully some photos of metal machine horror.

Note, it is possible that when the coolant level falls to a point where the expansion bottle is completely empty, air pockets can become trapped in the coolant passages of the engine - if this is the case, it may take some time for the trapped air to be purged from the system, the coolant level will drop as this air gets purged, mimicking a leak.

Has the coolant level fallen since you topped up 700ml? Strongly advise you to monitor both oil and coolant levels more frequently - the oil usage is probably normal given the distance travelled, but the coolant really needs to be kept a very close eye on for some time until you can confirm there is no leakage. Why is there so long between oil services - do you plan one soon? It is a big mistake to simply rely on warning lights instead of doing regular engine checks.