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truckracer
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
I recently went to a local business that called on me to give them an estimate to upgrade their dvr surveilence system. It basically includied a new hard drive, replacing 5 cameras that did not work or had distorted images.

I also gave an estimate for another site having a full 16 camera system with webserver for online viewing.

I spent 6 hours or more metting three times with the facilities director and president.
They never took the bid and now that they got the bid i heard from an employee i know they took the specs off my estimate and ebay ordered cameras trying to get their maintenance man to do the work for 7.25 per hour.

I should have charged for the estimate if i was not going to get the job. My prices are well below the competition in this area. I know what the others charge and i do clean and neat installs.

I usually always get the jo s i bid around here.
I should not have put the exact specs in the bid but thats what they asked
for.
I got used!!!
10 Replies · 1529 views
Paul Wozniak
I'm a plumber and I don't charge for estimates either. I hate when people use me to "low ball' a competitor, or are just looking for an explanation for their problem so that they can fix it themselves. Probably easier for me than you, but now I don't give detailed written or oral estimates anymore. I've made "closing" the deal the emphasis now.
Skyhi
I'm a plumber and I don't charge for estimates either. I hate when people use me to "low ball' a competitor, or are just looking for an explanation for their problem so that they can fix it themselves. Probably easier for me than you, but now I don't give detailed written or oral estimates anymore. I've made "closing" the deal the emphasis now.

I had a plumbing problem a few months ago and couldn't get an estimate over the phone to save my life....I ended up just calling someone and he took me to the cleaners. :(
Paul Wozniak
I had a plumbing problem a few months ago and couldn't get an estimate over the phone to save my life....I ended up just calling someone and he took me to the cleaners. :(

It's sometimes impossible to give an estimate over the phone. Sometimes the true nature of the job doesn't reveal itself until you're inside the job. Even something as easy as a water heater can bring some surprises. Fixing leaks in a house with galvanized pipes always leads to a bigger fix than originally planned.
Skyhi
It's sometimes impossible to give an estimate over the phone. Sometimes the true nature of the job doesn't reveal itself until you're inside the job. Even something as easy as a water heater can bring some surprises. Fixing leaks in a house with galvanized pipes always leads to a bigger fix than originally planned.

I can understand that I guess....for me it was just power-snaking the kitchen cleanout in the basement....$180 for 5 minutes. Good work if you can get it! :)
Paul Wozniak
I"m surprise that nobody would give you an estimate for a snake-out. that is commonly done over the phone. Was this a clean out of the line running to the city sewer? If so it was a reasonable price, but if the snake never left your house, I would call the charge excessive.
Skyhi
I"m surprise that nobody would give you an estimate for a snake-out. that is commonly done over the phone. Was this a clean out of the line running to the city sewer? If so it was a reasonable price, but if the snake never left your house, I would call the charge excessive.

I was surprised too....they all told me that they can't give a price until they get the jobsite.

The snake probably went in the clean-out 4-5 feet. :( They told me the reason I couldn't get the clog with my handheld snake (and I tried for many hours) was because it was too flimsy to get around a 90 degree angle.
Paul Wozniak
They weren't lying about that, but the price was too high. Sorry. I would have made them snake the whole line for that price, just to be sure they moved the clog completely out of harms way. Get even, post a message at Craig's list about their pricing policy.
dfergie
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!
Last reply · posted in What's Cooking?
We have a Breakfast and Dinner thread so... :)
Continuing from the Breakfast thread, found Cornbread mix so ...
Yellow Cornbread Mix
2 Hatch Green Chiles -diced
1 Egg
2/3 cup of milk
add to greased pan
Bake for 400f 20-25 minutes(From instructions)
now to put together and try... this to go with pinto beans...
5449 Replies · 336086 views
TRG
TRG
Club sandwich and corn chowder. Iced tea.
dfergie
Chili dog bowl, water… (homemade chili)
TRG
TRG
Leftover wanton soup and pork fried rice. Water.
dfergie
IMG_5955.webp

Sweet tea…
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TRG
TRG
Tuna salad sandwich on toasted honey whole wheat bread with a handful of kettle chips. Water.
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Scott Greczkowski
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne


Get it?


An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
68658 Replies · 2680224 views
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dishstaller
I Wanna Talk About Me - Toby Keith
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Bobby
98.6 - Keith
harshness
I'm Easy - Keith Carridine
gms49ers
It's Easy - Boston
RaiderPower
Take It Easy On Me - Little River Band
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R
Last reply · posted in Computers and Gadgets
Lately my eight year old Dell laptop has been shutting off even when I have a full battery. I have had to keep it plugged up all the time to keep this from happening. Any idea what is causing this? I replaced the battery about three years ago.
2 Replies · 46 views
arlo
A recalibration might be needed. Even if it shows full, the individual cells may have become unbalaced. And the BMS chip in the battery reports false information to the pc.
Try this. Start it up in the bios/uefi and leave it there until the battery dies and it shuts off.
It might just keep running longer than in Windows. Or run for a short while and shut off.
If it's the first case. Probably just needs a balancing. If the latter, the pack might just be dead.
Not throwing stones but perhaps just a cheaply constructed battery with substandard cells. Could be.

Patience. Keep restarting it in bios/uefi until it won't fire up anymore.
Then plug the charger in and let it complete a full charge. And see what happens. If it's better.
Do the same thing one more time. Run it until it dies dead-dead. Then just let it charge, pc shut off.
When charged, it might be better. It might not be.

There are bench jigs that read the actual BMS and override it to let a tech manually monitor and charge the separate packs. They can also reset any "time bombs" in it that cause an otherwise good pack to show bad.
Maybe Santa will be good to me some year.

You might just need a new battery. Maybe the PC power management chip is going. A Dell common thing.
Leaving a laptop plugged in with a full battery is known to reduce the life. Asus for one recommends that you don't leave the charger plugged in all of the time even when shut down. And setting Windows to charge the battery to 85% instead of 100% increases life.
That's all I got.
dishstaller
That's all I got.
That was quite enough....I definitely learned something from your post. Thanks
TRG
TRG
Pub Member / Supporter
Last reply · posted in Computers and Gadgets
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
5 Replies · 285 views
b4pjoe
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
If you can't get into the router to reserve an IP address just don't use DHCP on the device that needs connected and assign it to a specific IP address in the network settings.
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HipKat
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
They are not. Your best bet is to set up a third-party router, attached to the Starlink for your server, that you can get into, like a Linksys, etc
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Foxbat
…it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
The Starlink V5 Install Kit I just got comes with the Mini Router. It is pretty limited in what it can do. For example, it can provide only one IP subnet at a time, no Guest Network, but it does support the pass-thru to a third-party Router. You can also split the Wi-Fi into separate 5 GHz & 2.4 GHz SSIDs to help some IoT devices that don't support 5 GHz bands to work.

The larger Starlink Router that still comes with the V4 Kit does support a Guest Network with separate IPv4 Subnet, but it's $120 from Starlink. And it still won't do DHCP Reservations.
harshness
If you can restrict the DHCP address space to assign addresses to one end of the subnet (i.e. x.x.x.50+), you can manually assign the IP address on pretty much any operating system. This is a default behavior on several popular routers. As the Router Mini only supports 235 devices, I expect that's already done.

Another option is to use a router that supports PoE to power the antenna. This article discusses that option (under PoE Power heading):

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Foxbat
Now that I've had the v5 kit with the Mini Router, it's not as bad as I first thought. Yes, no DHCP reservations, but you can set up multiple SSIDs that have separate IPv4 subnets, and like the big brother, you can select from 192.168.x.0/24 or 10.x.0.0/16 (where "x" is 1-4).

You can also split a subnet and have different SSIDs for the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz channels to handle some IoT devices. I haven't discovered what subnet the 2nd NIC on the router assigns, I'm guessing it's the first subnet.
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
2 Replies · 51 views
dishstaller
Sorry for posting the wrong link. Just corrected it.
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

2 Replies · 55 views
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Jimbo
Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

They will have to look at the switching sections to determine WHY 2 trains were on the same track ... at the same time.
dishstaller
Thought this article might be of interest to some of you who might travel via train.