Man arrested for moaning about running police car

[7mike]

Perhaps the plod could go and visit their local ASDA and see how the Click & Collect vans can keep their fridges & freezers working for hours without leaving the engine running.

[TooMany2cvs]

7mike said:

Perhaps the plod could go and visit their local ASDA and see how the Click & Collect vans can keep their fridges & freezers working for hours without leaving the engine running.

Oooh! Me! I know the answer...

They plug 'em into the mains. Bigger reefer vans have an auxiliary diesel motor for the refrigeration.

Maybe that's the answer for Plod, then? An i3-RangeExtender-style setup with a generator in the boot? Or a really really really long extension lead?

[turbobloke]

Or use a couple of lightweight lithium ion batteries in reserve rather than a single lead acid accumulator, or adapt the computer system to operate on even lower power in standby mode, or...

[7mike]

TooMany2cvs said:

7mike said:

Perhaps the plod could go and visit their local ASDA and see how the Click & Collect vans can keep their fridges & freezers working for hours without leaving the engine running.

Oooh! Me! I know the answer...

They plug 'em into the mains. Bigger reefer vans have an auxiliary diesel motor for the refrigeration.

Maybe that's the answer for Plod, then? An i3-RangeExtender-style setup with a generator in the boot? Or a really really really long extension lead?

Calm down dear. Yes, plug in extension points is a silly idea, it'll never catch on you're right.

[boyse7en]

Maybe it's because I live out in the countryside, but the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary seem to be quite happy to turn their engines off when they pop into ASDA to get lunch (or maybe they buy donuts, just to look like real cops).

Does the slower pace of life in this bucolic idyll mean that the seven-minute boot-up time is more acceptable than in hustle-and-bustle London Town?

[mel]

Modern run lock systems do actually shut the engine off, they then monitor the vehicle voltage and stop/start as needed. They're just a few hundred quid more expensive than the old ones so don't get specified as often, it's obviously much cheaper to leave the cars ticking over!

[TooMany2cvs]

7mike said:

Yes, plug in extension points is a silly idea, it'll never catch on you're right.

"Hold on, Bodie, I've just got to grab the extension lead - can you knock on that door and ask 'em if we can plug the Capri in? Oh, hold on - where's that git we were chasing gone?"

[alangla]

7mike said:

Calm down dear. Yes, plug in extension points is a silly idea, it'll never catch on you're right.

At the risk of being hit by a low flying parrot, this is exactly what the Scottish Ambulance Service do to keep their vehicles "warm" when they're on station - basically a big hinged metal frame with a cable dangling down next to each parking space & a socket on the outside of each vehicle, including IIRC, the fast response cars. I assume the vehicles have some sort of interlock to stop them driving off while still connected to the mains.

[thescamper]

TooMany2cvs said:

7mike said:

Yes, plug in extension points is a silly idea, it'll never catch on you're right.

"Hold on, Bodie, I've just got to grab the extension lead - can you knock on that door and ask 'em if we can plug the Capri in? Oh, hold on - where's that git we were chasing gone?"

Ambulances and Fire Vehicles are all plugged in at the depot, it keeps the engine oil and water hot and keeps any fridges cold and any other electrical systems running, they are also designed to be just driven away from.

[Mk3Spitfire]

^^ All well and good. What about when they're nowhere near the station? Or...in the middle of London? The problem isn't when they're parked up at the station, it's when they're at calls.

[matchmaker]

Trafpol cars especially have a lot of electrical kit. To stop the battery draining some have (AFAIK) the facility to remove the keys and lock the vehicle, but leaving the engine running.

[Fastdruid]

Mk3Spitfire said:

^^ All well and good. What about when they're nowhere near the station? Or...in the middle of London? The problem isn't when they're parked up at the station, it's when they're at calls.

True. Except this guy is complaining about them being parked up at the station...

[TooMany2cvs]

Fastdruid said:

True. Except this guy is complaining about them being parked up at the station...

Not in the yard, though. On the street near the station.

[Mk3Spitfire]

TooMany2cvs said:

Not in the yard, though. On the street near the station.

That's what I thought. I can't see them running leads from the station across the pavements and roads, to the waiting cars. Think that might be a trip hazard.

[Fastdruid]

Mk3Spitfire said:

TooMany2cvs said:

Not in the yard, though. On the street near the station.

That's what I thought. I can't see them running leads from the station across the pavements and roads, to the waiting cars. Think that might be a trip hazard.

Nothing to stop them putting little "charging stations" at the edge of the kerb though.

[y2keable]

Living where he lives is a choice, not only a choice to live next to a cop shop where engines are running all day but also a choice to live in London. I Don't live in London because I prefer not to breath air that I can see. Been their once, never going back so long as I have a choice about it. It was noisy, smelly and crowded.

If you don't like the heat in the kitchen... get out.

//breathing my beautiful, fresh and clean Northumberland air right here//

[Mk3Spitfire]

Fastdruid said:

Nothing to stop them putting little "charging stations" at the edge of the kerb though.

Would the wires still not have to cross the pavements? And what about when the cars are parked up running in other areas where these special little chagrin statins haven't been magic'd up?

[TooMany2cvs]

Fastdruid said:

Nothing to stop them putting little "charging stations" at the edge of the kerb though.

So does the kerb for a hundred metres each side of the police station get dug up for the install, then all the parking specifically allocated?

[Fastdruid]

TooMany2cvs said:

Fastdruid said:

Nothing to stop them putting little "charging stations" at the edge of the kerb though.

So does the kerb for a hundred metres each side of the police station get dug up for the install, then all the parking specifically allocated?

Er, Surely it's pretty simple.

Police station has x number of cars of which y are always out so number of spaces = x - y. It's not going to be "two hundred meters" it'd probably be two spaces. Maybe three.

[Mk3Spitfire]

TooMany2cvs said:

So does the kerb for a hundred metres each side of the police station get dug up for the install, then all the parking specifically allocated?

Which would only benefit the dozen or so houses on that stretch anyway.