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All the statements have the caveat "now", and "today", meaning " maybe not ok now". At some stage, either a board of directors, or CEO, or deranged president can declare "ok now". When that day comes I won't trust the first generation of autonomous weapons, say perhaps flocks of autonomous killer drones, to recognise my face as friend-not-foe. Worse still, imagine the money that governments around the world can save when drones can do the work of our police. Autonomous ICE is sure to be trialled in USA first! Once this was just sci fi plots, now it is getting real.

Good job GON. Even if you only save a small amount, it is good take action and feel that you have some control.

I'm not sure whether smart meters are available down our road. In theory you would think it would be a much better, more efficient way of doing it. All in all over the years, I've had a fairly good run with meter reads. When Energex did it themselves it worked good. They had Energex employees in Suzuki 4wd vehicles that could access all the rural properties. When Cleanaway took over, they didn't want to tackle rural driveways so they'd leave a card in the letterbox saying they couldn't get access and would estimate it. The only irritating thing about it was the BS they'd put on the card as the reason they couldn't access the property, eg: weather when it was a perfectly sunny day, dog on premises when there is no dog etc.. I was glad when they eventually stopped leaving the cards with the fairy stories. Back when Energex used to read the meters, I had a visit one day from a bloke who had come to investigate if I was stealing power. What it was is that I have 3 phase power but the third phase is not connected to the meter as I don't have any 3 phase equipment and only use the outlets from the other two. Every meter read it would show up as two meters with a reading and one was always still on zero. Once I explained the situation, they were happy and I never heard any more about it again.

That one looks more useful in situ than my full circumference ones, which require space all around.

I remember my mum having an album of his with him in a hat and fur coat. Funny how an image can be remembered from over 45 years ago.

I did exactly the same thing just a few minutes ago. I was searching for a cheaper rate and chose Origin, then got a phone call from iSelect to change me over from AGL. After going over my bill, AGL failed to deduct one of my discounts. I won't chase the discount. Instead I've finished up with them

I wouldn't BET on it. None of US are getting out of this alive.. Nev

Aren't the Latest meters read remotely? I'm with Momentum. Tassie Hydro. . Not available everywhere. Nev

USA is a Joke in front of the entire world. Choose your Leader wisely next time. IF there IS a Next time. Nev

Nev, I've been with Origin for quite a few years now and have had a fairly good run with them. I swapped over from AGL back when they lost a lot of customers, mainly due to their billing department. They overcharged me on a bill and I think it took 9 months from the start of the process until they finally paid it. At one stage they got into a lot of trouble in this district and customers left them in doves. They got into trouble over fake local newspaper headlines. If a customer left, they would print a fake copy of the local paper, with the ex customer's name splashed across the headline. The printed story was designed to shame the customer with very disparaging headlines about why they left. Some old ladies received it in the mail and thought it was real and it caused them a lot of stress. I think from memory the head of the billing department was forced to resign over it. I'd already left AGL by then, but I remember their billing department at the time as being very arrogant and difficult in my dealings with them. What a way to do business. It took them a long time to recover any sort of reputation in this district after that. The way it works here, Energex (formerly government owned South East Queensland Electricity Board) is the supplier and you have to buy your power from a retailer of your choice. Origin in my case. The meter reading is all done by Energex sub-contractors and Energex passes the numbers on to the retailer. The Energex sub-contractor for the meter reding is Cleanaway and it's gone way downhill since they took that job over. When Energex did the meter reading themselves, it was faultless.

Your eyes will wear out in their sockets IF you watch too Long. Nev

Bore water doesn't Lather with soap very well. Nev

Beautiful sounding engine. I used to like listening to those hit and miss engines at the pioneer shows. Another favourite was watching the Lanz Bulldogs idling.

Had a good laugh about the latest American, "shoot 'em up, and ask questions later", mentality. It seems that U.S. Customs and Border control were running a drone looking for illegal immigrants near the Mexican border, and they strayed into a U.S. military area. The Pentagon ordered their latest laser drone-killer into action, to defend against the "military threat", and blasted the Customs drone out of the sky, no questions asked! 😄 Naturally, Customs is furious, and is raging about everyone doing their own thing with no consultation (led by the White House, of course) - and even the FAA is getting dragged into it, with their over-arching control of airspace, and no reference to any other Govt authority. What a typical, complete CF, of American gung-ho adventurism!! https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/26/us/pentagon-shoots-down-cbp-drone

There is so many weirdo's about I wouldn't advise anyone to give people a lift. Unfortunately THAT is the world we NOW live in, Way back you Left doors unlocked and left Cars with dodgy Batteries, idling in the street, while you ran into the shop. Nev

Willie - Yes, the days of our proud local engine manufacturers such as Ronaldson Bros & Tippett, and Southern Cross are long gone, but their good products still survive in restoration groups and museums. When I was a kid, my father purchased a twin cylinder Ronaldson Bros & Tippett engine, type CK, rated at 25-27-1/2HP. It came from the powerhouse in Williams, about 160kms ESE of Perth, so it had probably done tens of thousands of hours before we got it. The thing must have weighed nearly a tonne, and I have no idea how Dad got it into the shed and set up. Dad bought it to drive a 4" Stalker centrifugal pump to pump water for our dairy and to do some small scale irrigation. We had an unlimited water supply at 6M deep, in deep sand, from the Gnangara Mound. Stalker pumps were another great local (W.A.) manufacturer, they had their own foundry and produced thousands of good pumps. The engine was a monster to me as a kid, and my two older brothers did some workouts cranking it up. I think they only did about 1000-1200RPM. Here's a bloke in Victoria who got one running again. The video is crap, and the engine is running half disassembled, but it sounds just as I remember it. The fool is running it with no water in it. I can't believe the idiocy of some of these restorers. The valve train arrangement is curious, I never saw ours apart, so I didn't know about this weird arrangement, and can't figure out the design principle behind it.

I had one meter that wore out and overcharged Immensely. The "Provider" wanted to charge what it read even though they replaced the (very obviously faulty) Meter. Get a good provider IF you have a choice. Nev

The previous W.A. electricity provider, the State Electricity Commission, started this "usage estimation" technique in the 1990's in rural areas, because they deemed it too expensive to keep sending around meter readers every couple of months. So then they'd send readers around every 6 mths to read the meters. They wouldn't trust property owners to read the meters correctly. Nothing has changed with newer corporate entities that now control our energy supply. If your property is remote, or the reader can't access your meter, due to locked gates or big threatening dogs, they estimate the power bill based on previous usage levels, until they can finally access the meter to read it. You can challenge estimated meter readings.

onetrack, I must admit part of the attraction to the YB, apart from nostalgia and being a good engine, is a bit of local pride. Back in the day the foundry was one of the biggest businesses in town.

I do understand your comments Nev, and appreciate them. One thing with this project is that it's about the journey, not the destination. In regard to adding to challenges, I do a lot of that on purpose. It's the challenge of projects that attracts me, not so much the end result. Yes, there's easier way of doing things and if I just wanted the end product I'd go out and buy it and save myself a lot of time. But that's not what this project is about. All good advice from you Nev, and starting off with something good would suit some. In this case, I'm neither starting with something good, nor am I resurrecting a pile of junk. It's a scratch build; I'm building a pile of junk from scratch. That's the basic idea of it at ths stage. It will be a good challenge. I've done a lot of restoration work, but always restoring something to original condition. There's a lot more freedom in this project.

The upraised middle digit is for those departing vehicles that refused to give you a lift! 😄

My supplier, Origin, are doing the same thing now. Previously when they estimated it, it was based on my own average useage. Recently they changed it to an estimate based on average household use across the board which is about four times what I use. Most of the readings now are estimates, so every three monthly bill I receive a way too high bill, then submit a self read, then they reissue the correct bill. I guess it's the way it will be every three months from now on.

Now that I really think about it, that would have been the battery setup we had. I remember a lot of them so they were probably all 2 volt. We had a YB as well, it was a good old motor.

What do you make of this? I used the automated chat feature in my provider's (AGL) website and asked if I am charged more for still having an old meter instead of a new digital meter. This is the answer I received ... The type of meter you have can affect your electricity charges. If you have an old basic meter, you may receive estimated bills more frequently, which can lead to higher charges if your actual usage is lower than estimated. Digital meters provide more accurate readings and can help you avoid estimated bills, potentially leading to lower costs. However, whether you are charged a higher rate specifically due to your meter type depends on your tariff plan and usage patterns. Apparently they're allowed to estimate usage and charge me accordingly. Huh! Is this North Korea we're living in?

Good luck getting a lift though!