• 0 Posts
  • 22 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: August 16th, 2023

help-circle


  • You have to keep in mind the scenarios where it will be used. While truly fast charging does exist today (20 minutes or so for 80% charge), that is not widespread, nor is that the way it’s typically done. Level 3 (DC fast charging) is expensive (moreso than gas), potentially detrimental to the battery, and still usually not very fast (an hour at least). As such, you aren’t going to charge at your local gas station the same way you get a fill up today.

    Most people use a level 2 charger, either at home or at work. This means it can sit for 8 hours to refuel. Many parking garages have this as well. Level 2 chargers deliver AC directly to the vehicle, meaning you don’t need a lot of infrastructure- just a 240v line and a billing system. This in turn means it’s cheap and relatively easy to install. Sometimes you’ll see these outside of Starbucks or a grocery store, but not especially often. You’ll get ~25 miles of range per hour charging using level 2. But even if you spend 2 hours drinking coffee, or buying groceries, you’ve only added 50 miles of range.

    This is where level 3 comes in. It requires some pretty significant equipment (which is part of why they’re always broken), because it has to convert AC into high voltage DC. It also has to chill the cables internally, otherwise they’d quickly overheat from the electricity passing through. But this takes up space that’s probably not really available in the lot.

    I am seeing fast chargers now being installed at travel centers/truck stops along major highways. It fits in nicely with regular stops on a road trip for food. I’m also seeing them being installed at most Walmarts, since that’s perfect for grocery shopping.

    Around here, that last group has been from Electrify America, which does NOT require an app. They have a standard credit card reader.





  • You’re overlooking a very common reason that people setup a homelab - practice for their careers. Many colleges offer a more legitimate setup for the same purpose, and a similar design. But if you’re choosing to learn AD from a free/cheap book instead of a multi-thousand dollar course, you still need a lab to absorb the information and really understand it.

    Granted, AD is of limited value to learn these days, but it’s still a backbone for countless other tools that are highly relevant.






  • You know how you need to test any backup solution? This is the same. Have anyone that you’re expecting to do this run through the process entirely from your documentation. If they can’t, adjust the doc/process until they can. Then include that with your will, or with other documents people will be looking through in the event of your death.





  • I had a terrible experience with them. They are selling drives that previously failed in the data center, but currently pass manufacturer tests. They also wipe SMART. Or at least, they usually do. That’s how I know the first part. I had 4/3 drives fail on me- all of the original set within my burn-in tests, and 1 replacement (before I returned the others for refund) a year later. The last one was clearly meant to be wiped, but had the error still in the SMART logs.

    They did have good customer service at least, but the parts are unreliable garbage that should not be trusted.


  • The “designed for 24/7” thing is a myth. Yes, some server/enterprise parts have a lower failure rate, but it has nothing to do with 8 hours a day vs 24.

    Also, my setup is almost entirely the cheapest consumer drives available, and I’ve never had any significant failure rates outside of the one bad supplier. If you are seeing anything like that, you should examine your setup. I suspect you either have cooling issues or (more likely) vibration that’s causing premature failures.