Freedom Motorcycle

Archive for the ‘Motor Division’ Category

From 1926 to present, Pontiac vehicles has continued to be one of the high performance and sporty marque of vehicle produced by General Motors. This mid level car make was originally introduced as a 5 passenger car by the Oakland Automobile Co. Even though Pontiac vehicles were designed as a low-price alternative, they are far more equipped than entry level cars with its standard car parts and equipments. The powerful line up of Pontiac includes the Pontiac Sunfire, Pontiac G6, Pontiac Grand Prix, Pontiac GTO, Pontiac Vibe, Pontiac Bonneville, Pontiac Montana SV6, Pontiac Aztek and Pontiac Montana. The sporty, aggressive but youthful impact of Pontiac vehicles made them appeal to younger car enthusiasts. But it would not be able to catch the attention of car lovers if not for the car components comprising it. No matter how big or small, every component attached to your Pontiac complements the performance and feature of your car. They are highly engineered so you would be able to achieve the durability and efficiency in ride handling.

The Pontiac door is among the most important aspects of your car. This car component is basically an opening that enables you to get inside and outside of your car easily. Although important, car doors are the most often neglected and abused part of your car. This may be one of the simplest car parts, but it ensures your safety and protection. Just think of your Pontiac without a door. Even if you have the most technologically advanced and high performance parts, your Pontiac would be incomplete without a car door. Do you know that in the United States alone, forty-two thousand accidents resulted from defective car door locks and hinges? With this figure, don’t you think that you should not take your car doors for granted? For this reason, your Pontiac vehicle has adapted the regulations and standards of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding car doors. To be able to make your driving safe, you must employ constant repairs and inspection of your Pontiac car door for possible cracks, dings, and defects.

Your Pontiac door is made up of several parts which include the door handle, door glass, door panel, door frame, window channel, door skin and door switch. The door handle is used to lift up the locking mechanism present in your car door so that you can get in or out of your car. The door glass or window glass is a car door part that can be raised or lowered. The door switch, on the other hand activates all the other spurs and gears installed on your car door assembly. The inner door panel is attached to the door frame. The door skin is attached outside the window channel and the door frame. And lastly, the window channel is where the door glass is mounted. There are also two types of car doors: the manual car doors and the electric or automated car doors. Automated car doors are electrically controlled with a motor that is hidden within the lower corner or rearward corner of your door. If you want to upgrade your car door, just go to your favorite car parts dealer and get some car door add-ons.

The four rings of Audi is one of the most recognisable logos in the car manufacturing world. Dealerships are proud of the rich and illustrious heritage of the company and all subscribe to the motto, ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’, in English meaning ‘advantage through technology. Nowhere is the saying more apt that in the large saloon cars that Audi are proud to show in the dealerships, but where does this technology come from? How have Audi built up such a good reputation when it comes to producing advanced cars at the cusp of the technological revolution? The answer lies in the motor sport division of Audi, a department that strives to produce the most advanced technology and that in the past, has succeeded.

Audi first experienced true success in the world of motor sport thanks to the development of the famous Audi Quattro. This seminal car revolutionised the world of rally sport taking the championship title for two years running and being a major competitor until rivals managed to catch up. The reason this car was so successful was due to the creation of an all wheel drive system that at the time was disregarded by other car manufacturers as folly. The critics however were soon silenced as the benefits of increased grip and power distribution became evident. Today all WRC cars utilise a four wheel drive system, thanks to the introduction of the Quattro. As rally rules ensured that a minimal number of models were built for the road, dealerships soon found themselves in a situation where orders greatly outstripped supply. Despite this not many more were built and the Quattro remains a collector’s item in the motoring fraternity.

The use of the Quattro drive system is used up until this day by Audi, although refinements have been made to the original technology. Today cars such as the A3 and TT are available as Quattro models, Audi are one of the few manufacturers who have been able to consistently produce great cars with this form of drive train. It has only been fairly recently with the introduction of cars such as the Subaru Imprezza that other manufacturers have attempted to compete with Audi’s drive train technology.

Technology has been instrumental in the development of Audi cars, making the research and development department at the company one of the busiest in the business. One of the advancements has been the use of rust resistant body parts. One of the ways in which this is achieved is through galvanisation; coating all body parts with a protective layer of zinc, a metal that does not rust. As such the company has been able to supply cars with an anti-rust guarantee spanning ten years, in recent years however this guarantee has been extended to twelve years due to the effectiveness of the galvanisation process. Currently the A8, a car that competes with the BMW 6 Series and the Mercedes S Class has a frame constructed solely of aluminium, once again showing the dedication to producing cars that will stand up to rust for as long as possible.

Audi have always had a focus on technology throughout their development. They have had to though, being neighbours of companies such as BMW, Mercedes and Porsche the German car manufacturing industry is one of the most competitive on the planet. This dedication to advancement has revealed itself in the motor sport sphere but also on the road, showing that ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ is more than just a motto, it is a mandate, a mantra and way of life.

Somfy Vs Lutron – QED and Sonnesse

Somfy and Lutron both offer tubular motors for raising and lowering interior motorized shades for windows. Lutron sells the motor and shade together while Somfy sells just the motor which can be combined with any window shade. Both companies also sell controls (wall switches, remotes and interfaces) that are used to operate their respective motors.

In the late 90′s, Lutron introduced the QED (Quiet Electronic Drive) which it paired with its own brand of shades (roller shades mostly). The product made big waves for being practically noiseless. This was a classic example of redefining the parameters of competition in an industry. Beforethe advent of Lutron’s quiet motors, consumers did not even know that motor noise level was or would become a factor in their motorized shade or motorized blinds purchase decisions. Only in the last couple of years has Somfy (almost) caught up to the QED’s noiselessness. Today, there is still a difference, but it is rather slight and most consumers do not consider it a deciding factor.

Somfy manufactures two different types of ‘quiet’ motors; an AC powered version (ST50) and a more recently introduced DC powered version (ST30). Lutron’s QED Motors are all low voltage, DC Motors. The difference between AC and DC power is that the former is high voltage while the latter is low voltage. AC Power is the same as the power received from plugging a cord into a standard wall outlet. Low voltage is powered by that same outlet but the cord has a transformer (think of a cell phone cord or a computer power cord with their boxes on the plug on in the middle of a cord – that is a transformer) and reducing or ‘knocking down’ the high voltage power received from the outlet to low voltage power. A main reason that DC power is important is that fewer building code issues arise and no electrician is required for wiring low voltage powered systems. Absent an electrician, wiring costs and job complexity are both considerably reduced.

The QED is available in three different sizes called the QED64, QED100 and QED225. The number gives a rough gauge of the square footage of fabric that the motor is designed to lift. For example, the QED64 can lift a shade up to 8 feet x 8 feet, the QED100 can lift a shade up to 10 feet x 10 feet and the QED225 can lift a shade up to 15′ x 15′ – this size motor is only very rarely required for residential applications. These are approximations only, in the field, these motors are known to actually lift more than these numeric values imply. The size of the motor affects its diameter which determines the diameter of the tube that the motor uses. Lutron’s QED64 uses a 1 5/8″ tube, the 100 uses a 2 ½” tube and the larger 225 uses a 3 1/2″ tube. Tube diameter is important mostly for determining how wide motorized window shades can be without bending (deflection). A bent tube means that fabric will not roll up properly. The fabric will sag causing creases- this is not acceptable. Therefore motor size is as much about shade width as it is about lifting capacity.

Somfy’s quiet motors, known as the Sonnesse line, also use different tube sizes. The ST30 uses a 1 1/2″ tube, the ST50 can use either a 2″ or 2 1/2″ tube*. The lifting capacity of the ST50 falls somewhere between the 100 and 225. For very large applications, Somfy has larger motors, but to date, they are not in the Sonnesse (quiet) product line. It is very rare that a motor larger than an ST50 is needed for interior applications. This is true even if multiple shades are driven by a single motor.

Both the QED and Sonnesse motors have proven to be reliable options for motorized window shades and both come with 5 year warranties.