I’ve probably written about CYME PeakTo before but today seems like a good time to do so again. And to tell you how I have reorganized all of the photos at Dismal Manor. This all began when I noticed that the 2 TB MacOS system volume was getting skosh free space so I began looking into a potential solution. Read on to learn about the tools used and what I did.
Tesla Motors had made April 2024 its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) product debut. The debutant has been in gestation for about 16 year and has just come of age. FSD (supervised) is amazingly competent most of the time in coping with meeting sections and right of way at intersections. And it can be tuned to be chill, standard, or assertive at intersections. These determine the amount of margin to require during intersection maneuvers. All in all, an amazing achievement that was cutting edge research 10 years ago (and may still be).
I’m not an expert and not a fan. And I’m a poor retired moocher. What is it like? What do I think of it? Read on.
Both Schiit Audio and PS Audio provide this simple remote control with some of their products. It’s a simple but effective thing and the one shown here has survived 4 years of drops onto a hardwood floor. When that happens, the circuit board, secured by magnets, can be dislodged from the housing. It’s easy to fit back together. No self-respecting audiophile would put up with such nonsense and would immediately begin the search for a DIY mod to put an end to remotes gone MAD. There’s a simple cure offered and a bit of silly after the break.
Last weekend, extreme cold weather caught Chicago ride share operators unprepared for driving their electric vehicles in the extreme cold. In most cases, these operators were renting vehicles through the ride sharing services with which they were affiliated. Tesla Model 3, Kia Niro, and Chevy Bolt were the most common choices, and all vehicle types found themselves dead in the water at a charge point.
In this article, I’ll identify cold weather effects on battery electric vehicle operation and describe how the practice of scant bunkering can reduce time spent charging on shift and reduce charge point congestion.
Another year in the books and another birthday, number 75. Early in the year, my fraternity chapter sent out an E-mail with the chapter list looking for E-mail addresses for those with whom the chapter had lost contact. While reviewing the list, I realized that a number of my contemporaries were listed as deceased, mostly those who smoked tobacco while at college. Three years from median life expectancy, I’m still alive and healthy but with some wear and tear and chronic conditions.
Getting old brings with it aging related changes. Metabolism slows, recovery from activity takes longer, etc. And hereditary hazards begin to show up. Most uncles and aunts have weight problems with related cardiac problems and 4 of mom’s 13 siblings have had bladder lining cancer. And the usual joint wear and replacements. I ran true to type with weight gain, coronary artery problems, and PVC’s following a 2002 heart attack. These have been the primary health concern for the past 20 years.
2020 brought the pandemic and bladder lining cancer so I joined Aunt Betty and Uncle Harold as a bladder lining cancer survivor. Two older uncles, Bill and John were also bladder lining cancer patients. In all of us, the disease remained in the bladder lining where it is treatable.
They’re getting old. And I’ve got a sketch left hip that has been a pain for several years. It doesn’t like yard work. Mowing with the walk-behind mower gets it cross. But it recovers. My urologist says it looks sketch on the yearly CAT scan to check for metastatic cancer. So, sooner or later, it is time to get in the queue for hip care.
I’ve been fortunate. I have a good surgeon, perhaps the best urology cutter in the area, Doctor Young at Urology of Virginia. He’s been able to excise the surface abnormalities down to a clean margin in 2020 and 2021. The first removed a slew of polyps. The second surgery removed what looked like orange peel. Each of these included in-situ immuno-therapy. Then we started 3 courses of post-surgery immuno-therapy using BGC (tuberculosis vaccine). The 2022 and 2023 checkups have been clean and I’m now on a 6-month screening interval. So still alive and kicking with disease under control 4 years post diagnosis.
This is a good outcome. About 70% of patients survive to 5 years post diagnosis. If it stays in the lining, longevity statistics are favorable. If it gets into the muscle, that’s trouble, fancier surgery, and potentially bladder removal. One of my fraternity brothers is in this camp.
Healthwise, I’m doing better than I was a few years ago. With a diet change, I’ve lost 30 pounds, lipids are better — pesky triglycerides were creeping out of the reference range, and glucose was creeping up to the upper reference range limit. I needed to lower carbohydrates as I have a metabolism that tends to make triglycerides of them. The only fix was to eat less.
I had been trying to eat home cooked but was eating too much home-baked bread and too much rice. So I made the following changes
With dumb luck, I dropped enough calories to lose about a pound a week, but I managed to plateau back in September so need to take a look at nibbling.
Summer’s labs were good, triglycerides and glucose well in reference range and A1C down. But the surprise was that my PVC’s had stopped in late summer. The Apple Watch low pulse alarms had stopped and Apple Watch 1 lead EKG is free of PVC waveforms. And certain hydraulically operated anatomy was a bit more active.
2024 finds me the owner of loans for 2, the Millennium Falcon ID.4 and the Di-lithium Dream Tesla Model Y. The two purchase experiences were night and day. The ID.4 was unfinished. The Model Y, complete, polished, easy to drive, and no Southern Hospitality (TM) to purchase.
In December 2021, I traded the VW Mk 7 GTI for a new ID.4 AWD battery electric vehicle. The ID.4 was OK, bigger which I was looking for with a big male greyhound and finding entry and exit of the GTI difficult as I aged. I was also looking for built-in navigation and additional ADAS capabilities not in the GTI.
The ID.4 though OK is an unfinished product. I decided to purcase the AWD variant back when they were in reserve then order process. VW-Audi had been making eTron BEV’s for some time so it seemed a safe thing to do given VW Golf’s reputation and that the BEVs would be replacing the Golf in their various markets.
VW promised feature parity with the 2020 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y but was unable to deliver. Promised feature gaps included the following.
I was resigned to live with the vehicle until this fall. This spring, the ID.4 was involved in a repairable mishap with a Virginia Beach emergency services vehicle. The car sat for two months while USAA dithered over loss adjustment.
By that time, HV Isolation devices were out of stock at VW US parts and VW global parts. The isolators are pyrotechnic fuses that disconnect the battery box internal DC bus from the battery external cable connector in the event of a mishap. Until they are available, the vehicle cannot be repaired. Because the battery assembly is important structure, the HV isolation had to be repaired and the battery returned to the vehicle before the collision repair could begin.
So, I burned through my rental allowance waiting for USAA to get the work scope settled. Then we waited until September while pyro-fuses were out of stock globally in VW parts supply. Repair of multiple vehicles in Europe and the US was delayed awaiting this unique critical part.
In September I called VW Cares to register my concern and learn what the hell VW had done to itself. VW had pyro-fuse assemblies in Chattanooga to assemble new ID.4s, and in Germany and China, but none for spares? What gives? Can’t you grab a pair from Chattanooga to fix my vehicle? No joy, no answers, just be patient. They would not tell me when they would repair my ID.4 so I was looking at an indefinite period with a rental.
Enterprise was renting a Nissan Versa to me for a monthly amount in excess of my car payment. A Versa is a $17,000 list low end sedan that is pretty miserable. Small. Cramped. One dog car.
As I write this, Santa brought VW HV isolators, the battery is back in the car, and Checkered Collision is putting the car back together. Then it has to go back to VW for recalls. The following recall actions are open on my ID.4.
But the bolloxed repair estimates, out of stock until the end of time HV-isolators, and inspiring chat with VW Cares lost my confidence in the company and convinced me that it was time to cut my losses.
Meanwhile, the Model Y, Dilithium Dream, just works.
With no date certain or date approximate for the return of the ID.4, in September, I decided to purchase a Tesla Model Y and sell the ID should it ever be repaired.
Shortly after the VW Cares call, the Enterprise bill came. I poked around checking expenses and found that the Versa was costing as much as the ID.4 car payment. With two car payments going out the door. I ordered the Tesla Model Y with plans to part with the ID.4 should it ever be repaired. The Versa is back with Enterprise and Tesla delivered the Model Y in time to drive the greyhounds to Richmond for reunion picnic.
The 2023 price reductions brought the 2023 Model Y 5 seat hatchback in reach. Also, Congress had enacted a new purchase incentive schedule for which the 2023 Fremont and Austin Model Y production qualified. So, I scheduled a test drive, liked what I saw, did some rummaging around and raiding of piggy banks, then placed an order in early October. Two days later I had a VIN and the car was coming to Norfolk. On October 12, I took delivery after arranging a loan with Navy Federal at well below the national lender rates.
The Model Y has been a joy to drive. It has done nothing weird. It has had no 12 V battery spells. It has not had any issues of any sort. Like the ID.4, the greyhounds can walk into the 2nd row seating. And the boot (wayback) is large enough to carry Missy. The back seats flip down giving a large load floor on which they prefer to ride. Tesla included tie down points on the back of the rear seats to which a dog harness may be secured, something not in the ID.4.
Unlike the ID.4, the Model Y charges happen as scheduled and the car will precondition itself for an outing. I had to plug the ID.4 in at bedtime to charge it on the Dominion base rate. I just leave the Model Y connected between trips. And the mirror controls work. And it has old-school window lift buttons! And the radio volume control is an actual knob (steering wheel left roller). And voice control works.
The biggest surprise with the Tesla Model Y, a hot turn from a VA A-road onto a county B-road that it did in lane without complaint! Returning home from that trip, I found that my rear temporary plate had flown away and that a couple of license plate screws had gone missing. Tesla Norfolk sorted that on the next business day.
Another big surprise is that the Tesla Model Y knows “bingo”. As stored energy reached 20 percent, the navigation realized that we were low on margin for return home. It gave an alert, added a supercharger stop for DC fast charging to our route, and navigated us to the charge point. And from the charge point back to the route home. And to start charging, just connect the cable. Tesla billed us $6.48 for the energy we needed to complete the trip home.
I had planned to charge in Richmond before heading south but managed to put that waypoint after our arrival home. Di-lithium Dream covered our butts for us.
Rocky and Missy have enjoyed a good year. Missy continues to benefit from her geriatric supplements (CDB oil and Phycox) and Rocky continues to become comfortable with home life and life with humans under foot.
Back in April, Rocky caught a toe in the hardware of the Martingale collar that he was wearing. The toe rotated catching in the loop hardware. Rocky panicked, and gave a yank then another, breaking the toe. After consulting with Rocky’s local vet, James River Greyhounds, and Greyhound Health Initiative we decided to amputate the damaged toe. Everything has healed up nicely. Rocky has no disability from the loss of the toe, a rear outer toe. He does look a bit odd with 11 toes however.
Both dogs rode to Richmond for reunion with James River Greyhounds. Rocky did marshmallow run.
Both had an hour or so of off-lead time to get properly tired before the drive home.
Elon Musk’s young son asked Dad why the future did not look like the future, well the young boy’s notion of the future. Dad went to work to challenge the Tesla product designers and product engineers to make a truck that looked like it was the future and not another me-too pick ’em up. They did, the 2024 CyberTruck.
In this post, I’ll pull together information from several content creators granted extended driving access to the 2034 CyberTruck to look beneath the skins at the way Tesla is changing the automobile.
James River Greyhounds has an yearly picnic for the adopters. Every year, hounds from all over Virginia gather at the “farm” for fun and games and several fundraising events. It’s a bit of a report to the members and adopters of the year’s accomplishments and the state of the group’s finances followed by a fund-raising auction. There were burgers, sides, and dessert, and silly dog games while people visited the shops and the raffle ticket sales.
When we can, Dismal Manor Gang makes the voyage to the Richmond area for the event. It’s always a good time and an excuse to drive some Virginia country roads.
In this article, Dave describes the experience of making this trip for the first time in a Tesla Model Y. Those curious about JRG can read the 2021 and 2022 picnic articles as this article is about making the voyage in the Model Y.
In October, a Tesla Model Y replaced the ID.4 as my daily driver. Six months after the ID.4’s mishap, VW still can’t tell me when they will have the contactors needed to repair my vehicle. I’m becoming concerned about the battery’s health as it has been in a discharged state for 6 months now. But the things that drove the Model Y order were
Cory Steuben, then with Munro Associates, made a telling statement that I’ll paraphrase.
When I talk with friends working at the American OEMs, they talk about their promotion, pay, their careers, but not the cars they build. When I talk with friends at Tesla, they talk about the company, the company’s mission, and the cars they’re working on.
https://www.youtube.com/live/SSP3EDRFlss?si=gOG_Tz8h4esWF_Xw
Apparatchiks versus car guys. I’ll take a car built by car guys and gals any day! The video is Skip and Cory talking with the Autoline After Hours journalists. Skip and Cory talk about Tesla’s spring show and tell for finance types, the things they saw on the factory tour, and the evolution of Tesla design and manufacturing from Model 3 to Model Y as seen in tear-down analysis and the implications for Tesla’s growth and competitors (they’re toast).
Skip Munro and Cory Steuben continually talk about Tesla’s continuous improvement process, running changes on the line, and steady improvement of build quality.
When initially asked to review Model 3, Skip took a look at the haphazard fit and finish and scowled. Hanging out in the lot, he noticed that his engineers who had driven the car were grinning from ear to ear. When the engineers began the tear-down, the simplicity of structure and assembly impressed him. About 4 months later, they received a second car that they compared to the first and noted that significant improvements had been made on the line.
The Model 3 is built from stampings and weldments but Model Y replaced 70 or so stamped parts with die cast aluminum frame castings (“giga-castings”) significantly strengthening Model Y and simplifying building it.
A Model Y has a lower assembly cost than a Model 3 as a result of the optimizations made in the structure, use of giga-castings to eliminate assembly steps, and simplified control area networks and associated wiring harnesses, and a compact spur-line assembled integrated cooling and HVAC system. The HVAC is organized as a multi-zone heat pump system with heat recovery. It can cool the battery and drive while cooling or heating the cabin.
About 43% of Model Y’s cost is in the battery, drive, and cabin and drive cooling.
Tesla’s tuning of the Model-Y accelerator and drive is just amazing. I have the vehicle set to hold position while feet off. When I roll the vehicle off, I can control the creep precisely with just the accelerator. If I want to move the vehicle 3 inches, I can!
The traffic sensing cruise control works pretty well on the motorway but only kind of sort of around town. It will maintain speed pretty well but Tesla has tuned it for open road motoring and not keeping posted speed in a school zone. Coming out of cruise, the car would drop into 1 pedal with the accelerator released and begin a robust slow-down. I didn’t like this behavior. Maybe less coast down for road trips?
The Model Y feature to start charging at time T works. I set up the car to commence its first charge Friday midnight and it did. For Saturday’s trip to Richmond, I’ll set it to have the car ready to go at 0830 and it likely will. The dialogs are clean. No table of places identified by mensurated coordinates from the GPS.
Just pick how the next charge should behave. Normally, the car will charge cell phone style if a start time is not set. Start time and completion time are mutually exclusive and independent features. Choose one from column A; there is no column B to complicate the logic.
Our WallBox Pulsar+ was originally specified as J1772 to mate up the the ID.4 charge connector. The North-American Tesla Model Y is NACS. Tesla provides a J1772 to NACS “pig-nose” connector that converts J1772 to NACS for destination charging of Model-Y here. In Europe, Tesla uses the 3-phase version of J1772 (different number I’ve forgotten) and CCS. On the continent, most homes have 3 phase power unlike here.
Tesla uses machine vision and the full self-driving cameras for parking proximity warnings. Multiple stereoscopic cameras identify the nearest obstruction and estimate range to it. Edge detection identifies the curb and adjacent vehicles. This works with some drama, alarms, and re-alarms. Machine vision is still not the equal of a sober Mk 1 eyeball. The backing camera is crystal clear.
Parking head in, the machine vision forward safe distance estimate makes up for the inability to see the Model Y’s nose. I thought I’d miss the sonar distance to the obstruction. The camera is so good, that I don’t need the fixed box or the clearance and bumper lines.
Reversing into the carport, the machine vision seems to be learning the carport. After a week of returns home, it is less shouty than on day 1. The calmest approach is to turn in, pull forward to adjust the line up, then back straight into the carport. I stop with the A-pillar door hinge at the side posts. This keeps the bumper about 2 feet off the head wall.
The drive tuning is much better than that of the ID.4 for negotiating the driveway slope. ID.4 had a tendency to roll if you lifted off on the sloped part of the drive. And rolling off was a bit grabby and jerky. Not so, the Model Y. It will stop and sit feet off. It will roll off smoothly with complete control of creep.
The Model Y does not have a steering column mounted binnacle unlike the Model S and X. The center display has the speed, turn indicators, navigation next turn and distance to the turn. Surprisingly, that makes for a good scan. From the road to the centerline mirror then down to the centerline display to check the Autopilot display and navigation next turn. And finally, the wing mirrors. The left pane also shows the wing cameras when active. The right pane shows the entertainment or the navigation map.
The Model Y has conventional wing mirrors and a conventional rear mirror. The wing mirrors are tapered to reduce drag relative to the ID.4 mirrors. The view aft out the Model Y rear window is better than the ID.4’s tunnel-like view aft. The real magic is in the blind spot monitors. Both use machine vision but the Tesla Model Y lets you see what the cameras see and the system’s evaluation in two ways.
The Autopilot monitoring display is a machine vision rendering of what the cameras see ahead and along side. If a car is in the blind spots, the Autopilot display will show it. If you signal a lane change into a fouled lane, a chime will alert you to look. The Autopilot display also shows the traffic ahead and following distance. The right encoder-rocker lets you move following set point in or out. The right encoder roller lets you adjust autopilot’s speed set point up and down. The right stalk engages and disenages Autopilot as does a tap on the brake.
When you signal a lane change, Autopilot shows the view from the two wing cameras. You can confirm what is over there. When you signal a turn, Autopilot will show you the camera on the side toward the turn.
The Autopilot cameras can almost stand in for mirrors in polite traffic. Unfortunatly, Virginia Beach has rude impatient traffic with fast overtaking and reckless lane changes to exit the road from the passing lanes. The mirrors show the fast overtakers that the machine vision seems to miss.
The Model Y steering wheel mounted controls follow the same minimalism that the interior design does. The limited ornamentation reduces visual clutter that the driver must contend with. Controls are simple, easily learned, and easily remembered. The controls on the steering wheel are simple compared to those on my recent VW-Audi products. I never did learn to use all the doo-dads there for interacting with the phone, audio, and cruise control.
Yet I’ve easily learned the Model Y’s two thumb controllers. I have the left one set up for the radio volume and wipers. The right is set up for the cruise control. No phone buttons. No cruise on-off or lane aid on-off. The drive stalk does all that. The wipers are in auto normally with manual control on the left roller when pushed down.
The left controller is also used to set up the mirrors when stopped. The right adjusts the wheel position and pedal position when stopped.
These are both parked functions enabled from the Vehicle display. One tab is dedicated to driver adjustments and driver profiles. Profiles are paired to the keys and mobile phone BlueTooth MAC addresses. The key presented identifies the operator profile to be loaded. No extra set and recall buttons on the seat trim. The car learns and remembers your preferences for seats, controls, cabin conditioning, etc.
Tesla is amazing. I ordered the car on October 3rd. One in stock but not in the area. Tesla shipped it to Norfolk and had it ready for delivery on Monday (a bank holiday). So delivery was Tuesday.
Sandy Munro keeps telling us legacy auto makers are a timezone behind Tesla. After a lap around Virginia Beach, I believe him.
Back in April, Millennium Falcon, my VW ID.4, was in a mishap that resulted in some repairable damage to the rear quarter panel, rear hatch, and crushable bits under the car. Damage stopped short of the battery charger and other expensive bits.
As I write in late September, Millennium Falcon is in pieces at the VW repair activity awaiting replacement contactor/disconnect assemblies so it could be reassembled and shipped to the collision repair activity for to do the mechanical repairs. The battery box is out of the car. The doors are tagged out as, without the battery in place, you’ll fall out the bottom of the car. So no work can be done. They can’t even update the console firmware.
Without the contactor/disconnects, the drive doesn’t work. These devices use pyrotechnic fuses to disconnect the battery from the battery module connectors. Without them, the car can’t go. These are fairly sensitive shock activated devices. When working as designed, they become unusable and must be replace. Without contactors, an ID is not a vehicle, it is sculpture!
In mid-September I learned that the contactor/disconnect assemblies were on global backorder in the VW parts logistics system. That it has been several months suggests that they might be on galactic backorder! VW had no date for availability.
I called VW Customer Care and made the observation that Chattanooga and Mosel among other VW assembly activities were putting ID.4 and other vehicles together that needed these same HV contactor/disconnects.
Oh, and can’t you just nick a couple off the line? In reality, other factories make the battery packs where the contactors are located. And the dealer and assembly operations are separate companies with a common parent so we’re not raiding the fridge for ice cream here.
In looking at the part number I checked in April, visiting the local VW parts manager and his staff, I learned that at least 4 SKUs (stock keeping units) had been used for these parts since launch. And the new one, the one you are supposed to use, can’t be had.
But this is a different story, Millennium Falcon is out of service with no immediate prospects to return to service. I’m renting a stand-in from Enterprise for an unknown period. While paying bills, I realized I had a car payment plus going out the door to Enterprise each month. Why not turn the Enterprise bill into an actual car payment?
Dismal Manor Dispatches 
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