Author: jamesclay

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Solitary Charging

ORA Funky Cat charging

After getting my Funky Cat back from the dealer (after three months), without the CarPlay update I should say; a few days later it needed a charge. I had planned to use the Revive chargers at Worle Station, but changed plans and didn’t go to work in Bristol. So needing a charge, rather than use the MFG chargers close by, I headed down to Tim Hortons to use the Instavolt chargers there.

It was in the evening, and for most of the charge I was the only EV charging. Though a Tesla arrived later. I went for a walk, and then stopped at Tim Hortons for a coffee and a doughnut, well why not.

I only did a 85% charge, but this was from a starting point of 15%. 

Instavolt EV chargers

The process was nice and simple, though at 85p per kWh is not the cheapest place to charge. I did read that in September that they are introducing off-peak pricing. It will be 54p per kWh, between the hours of 10pm and 6am. Might be able to take advantage of that, I think for a top up charge, considering the location of the chargers in Weston.

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It’s back

funky cat headlight

I finally got my car back from the dealers.

I took it in on May 24th for the CarPlay update.

Unfortunately the update failed for an unknown reason and essentially bricked the head unit in the car. The head unit needed to be replaced, and it had to be sent from China.

Eventually the part arrived and was installed.

After all that they still didn’t do the CarPlay update.

Now spending time re-learning how to drive the Funky Cat, remembering there is no clutch nor a gearstick.

 

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Roaming across Europe

This summer I travelled to Germany, taking the ferry to France, travelling to just outside Paris for a few days before then setting off through Belgium and Luxembourg to Germany.

Following issues with using data in Portugal last summer with excessive data usage on my iPhone, I followed the same process I had used last October when I went to Amsterdam.

So before we boarded the ferry at Newhaven, I went into Settings -> Mobile Data and turned off virtually all the apps which could use mobile data. Took me a while as there were a fair few. I turned off mobile data for virtually all my apps and also specifically iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup. I am pretty sure they were the culprits for my excessive data usage whilst in Portugal.

As and when I needed to use apps, I either used the campsite wifi, or switched on mobile data for specific apps.

Arriving in France I was able to roam without any issues, of course as I travelled across Europe I switched networks, first in Belgium, then in Luxembourg and finally in Germany. In the end I used four different country networks. Each time I switched over without issue as I crossed the border.

In Portugal I reached 80% of my 12GB limit within the first twenty four hours. I did wonder if I would reach the fair usage limit on this holiday. As it happens I did six days into the trip, with two days left. It was relatively easy to purchase a 1-day Data Passport for £6 for the two remaining days of our holiday rather than pay silly prices for data on a pay as you go basis.

Though difficult to tell, I think the main data culprits were Waze and Amazon Music, which were used extensively as we drove across the continent.

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Black Cat in the Wild

Walking around Ealing I saw a Black Funky Cat.

This is the sixth cat I have seen in the wild. As I post to the blog when I see one, it’s easy to know how many I have seen.

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Flaky Waze

Having arrived in Dieppe on a travelling holiday I started Waze and was a little annoyed that it was quite laggy. My position on the map didn’t reflect the reality of where I was.

It was challenging enough to drive in France anyhow, but without a working navigation tool, it was a little more difficult.

However the next time I started Waze it worked fine.

It is illegal to use a speed camera detection system in France, but this was easy to turn off in Waze.

Routing avoiding toll roads was also relatively easy.  It was a much nicer and more interesting journey. Yes it takes longer, but I found the driving experience so much better and more interesting than when we came back through Belgium on their motorways (no tolls).

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European Travels

I had intended to blog about my experiences of driving the Funky Cat from the South West of England to Newhaven, taking the ferry to Dieppe, driving to a campsite outside Paris, then driving to Germany, visiting Cologne, Luxembourg City, before heading back home cross the Channel between Dunkirk and Dover.

However…

The Funky Cat is still with the dealer being fixed after the CarPlay update went wrong. In the end I had to take a petrol courtesy car across with me.

It had CarPlay and that worked well. I had planned a charging route, but relying on an internal combustion engine meant that this was thrown out! I had to re-apply for a range of low emission zone certificates, stickers and registrations, having already done that for the Funky Cat. I also had to change a range of bookings for the ferries and campsites with the different car registration.

It was a good trip, but I think I would have preferred to use the Funky Cat.

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I finally haz the CarPlay

…but not quite in the way I wanted.

CarPlay

As I mentioned previously my CarPlay update to my Ora didn’t go to plan… As I write this the Ora is still with the dealer and I have a courtesy car, a petrol Nissan Juke.

I needed to charge my iPhone, I haven’t needed to do that in the car since I was provided with it. In the Ora I use wireless charging, so rarely use a cable. However, wanting to charge the phone, I plugged it in. The Nissan noticed it and asked if I wanted CarPlay!

Well I wasn’t going to say no was I.

First impressions are very favourable. Waze is so much better than the built-in navigation on the Juke (and the Ora Funky Cat). I like how I can access my music, both from the phone, but also from Amazon Music.

Slightly disappointed by the lack of apps that are available through the interface, but certainly am pleased to finally “have a go”.

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Saw another one in the wild…

Saw another red Funky Cat in the wild, this time driving into Cheltenham on the A40. I was driving in the opposite direction. I would have waved or flashed my headlights, however at the time I was driving a courtesy car, a Nissan Juke, as my Funky Cat is still being updated…

This is the fourth wild Funky Cat I have seen.

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Prioritising WiFi Networks on OS X Monterey

I was staying in a hotel in London and using my Mac. There was hotel wifi which worked fine. However the Mac would (after waking from sleep) connect to a neighbouring EE WiFi network which was very weak and required logging into. So each time I would need to connect to the hotel wireless network.

I did a quick Google search and realised I could prioritise wireless networks, ensuring that the Mac would connect to the hotel network first, by reordering my networks, and ensuring that the hotel network was above the EE network.

The process is System Preferences -> Network -> Wi-Fi -> Advanced…

You can then Drag networks into the order you prefer.

This now means that my Mac will connect to the right hotel network.

Now this feature was removed in Ventura and Sonoma. If you are using the newer OS then you will need to turn off Auto-Join. You could also remove the problem network.