Check out this promising new green energy technology mentioned on Engadget that uses the “motion of the ocean”
A twist on the idea of the underwater turbine, the Searaser also uses the motion of the ocean to generate power. The device consists of two independent floats that move with the waves, pumping out seawater as they do. The water can then be pumped inland for hydroelectric power, irrigation, or to hilltop reservoirs for later use.
One of the most annoying things about my Toyota Prius is the it beeps constantly while in the reverse gear. As in, it beeps the entire time you’re in reverse. If you’re like me, you just drove your new Prius home and you’re Googling for a fix. Look no further, my friend.
The second Prius hack (below) to disable the seatbelt beeping is meant to serve as a convenience feature only. I often put something heavy (non-human) on the passenger seat and the Prius will beep annoyingly to remind (my computer bag mostly) that it needs to wear its seatbelt. Obviously, you should always wear you seatbelt for safety reasons. As the sticker I recently saw on a UHaul said “Don’t get caught dead sitting on your seatbelt.”
To disable the reverse beeping on your Prius (tested on the 2008 model):
Without your foot on the brake, turn on your Prius and make sure you are in ODO mode (not Trip A or B). Power off the Prius
With your foot on the brake, turn on the Prius. As soon as the ‘Ready’ light is lit, press and hold the ODO button for at least 10 seconds.
Keeping the ODO button pressed, move the shifter to Reverse and release, then press the Park button again. At this point, ‘b- on’ should appear on your dashboard display.
You can now let go of the ODO button, and each press of the ODO button toggles between ‘b-on’ and ‘b-off’. To disable the reverse beep, simply set it to ‘b-off’, the power off the Prius.
And to disable each of the front seatbelt warning beeps, follow these instructions:
Be sure someone is sitting in the seat which seatbelt beep you wish to disable.
Without your foot on the brake, turn on your Prius and make sure you are in ODO mode (not Trip A or B). Power off the Prius
With your foot on the brake, turn on the Prius. As soon as the ‘Ready’ light is lit, press and hold the ODO button for at least 10 seconds.
Keeping the ODO button pressed, insert the seatbelt that you wish to disable the beep for. At this point, ‘b- on’ should appear on your dashboard display.
You can now let go of the ODO button, and each press of the ODO button toggles between ‘b- on’ and ‘b-off’. To disable the reverse beep, simply set it to ‘b-off’, the power off the Prius.
These instructions may work for earlier model years as well, although 2006 and earlier models may require no one be in the seat which seatbelt is being disabled.
Smart chargers indicate the state of charge, monitor temperature and voltage curves and adjust the rate of charge. They charge a fully discharged battery fast and then throttle down to put a small trickle charge on the battery once fully charged. This is not needed for low discharge batteries. Just take them out and store them for a year a more once fully charged.
Sanyo Eneloop is the most well known low discharge NiMh batteries. Rayovac makes some called “hybrid” and Duracell just calls theirs “pre-charged” because they are sold with a full charge in the package and are ready to use. You can really treat these like Alkaline batteries once they are charged, just put them away until you need them. A trickle charge will just reduce their life and waste electricity. These chargers use independent channels for each battery so you can charge just one and when you charge several, each battery is monitored separately.
Although I wish could have bought it alone, I ended up buying the La Crosse BC-900 bundle. I got it from Thomas, because they ship it with 2400 mAh AAs (vs. 2000 mAh on Amazon) and they stock the latest version (33) which is important to me. I like that it has four individual circuits and with separate displays for each one (doubles as an excellent battery tester too).
I’ll continue to rotate out my older AA recyclables and buy low-discharge cells the next time I need more cells.
A twist on the idea of the underwater turbine, the Searaser also uses the motion of the ocean to generate power. The device consists of two independent floats that move with the waves, pumping out seawater as they do. The water can then be pumped inland for hydroelectric power, irrigation, or to hilltop reservoirs for later use.
PPUG’s Bob Snow emailed me the following advice on battery chargers for low discharge batteries: