Category: electronics

GoPro HD Hero 2 Soldering

Published January 11, 2013

Steve Kinley with MiSCA was having problems with his GoPro HD Hero 2 camera and set about disassembling it, but in the process inadvertently disconnected the wires from the back side of the internal speaker. Knowing that I’ve done a bit of electronics work he asked if I’d take a look at it, so I did.

In the end I was able to reattach the wires to the speaker, and also fix the other end of one wire which was damaged during the original issue and came off of the PCB during reassembly. This was quite a pain, but it all seems set now. Hopefully it’ll keep working right for him.

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Pelican 1020 Case for Google Nexus 4

Published January 2, 2013

For the last few years I’ve been using a Pelican 1050 case to carry my Google Nexus One phone when biking, hiking, mapping, etc. This past Monday I received my new phone, a Google Nexus 4, and set about fitting it into a new case. The Pelican 1020 is the closest fit, but unfortunately it’s just slightly too tall to hold the phone flat inside the case.

Setting the phone at a slight angle allows it to fit nicely in the case, and with the addition of two block of neoprene foam rubber (layered and held into place with contact cement) the phone is soundly secured in the case. The block near the top of the phone holds it from rattling around, and the thicker block near the bottom keeps the phone from sliding around if dropped soundly on its face.

This is not the most elegant solution, but until I can find a better-fitting case it’ll do. I’d love one which allows the phone to nestle in as nicely as the Pelican 1050 did needing just a bit of extra foam, but that’ll take some digging, if they even exist…

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Maintenance Tasks

Published November 12, 2012

Today has included a number of little maintenance tasks. I’m glad they got done and in the big scheme they really aren’t much, but all the research and subsequent installation work seemed to take a bit of time. Thus far today I have…

…gotten an oil and transmission fluid change in my car.
…purchased replaced light bulbs (stop indicator and license plate) in the car.
…acquired and replaced rough service garage door opener bulbs.
…acquired and installed a Roku 2 XS for use while on the trainer.
…chosen and purchased snow tires (w/ wheels and TPMS sensors) for Danielle’s Mazda 3.

Now to relax a bit.

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Projected LED Die

Published October 12, 2012

Needing a new flashlight Danielle purchased this $5.29 BBQbuy@7w 300lm Mini Cree Led Flashlight Torch Adjustable Focus Zoom Light Lamp via Amazon (photograph). It’s small, and the button seems a bit flimsy, but it otherwise seems nice and it meets her needs. One amusing feature is the laser-style warning decal (in gold, none the less) on the body, but the most amusing is that at the narrowest focus setting it projects an image of the LED die.

This was photographed by clamping the flashlight to the camera’s tripod, pointing the two at the same point on the basement wall, and taking a photo with the lights off. I’m almost tempted to modify the focus mechanism to allow a little more movement which would likely allow the image to wholly focus, but I’d probably damage it during disassembly.

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Television in the Living Room

Published October 6, 2012

It’s been a bit over nine years since I fixed up the living room in my condo, and since then (and with Danielle now living here) the room’s needs have changed a bit. I’ve had a nice tube HDTV in the basement and it’s been well used for movie watching and playing games, but up until now there hasn’t been a TV in the living room. Danielle really has been wanting one there, but being oddly shaped I’ve been hesitant and somewhat resistant to trying. After last night’s fiddling with the HTPC and thinking a bunch about how much Danielle would probably use it, I decided to give it a serious look.

By pulling one of the love seats away from the wall and flipping it around I was able to create a nice space for a TV while still leaving the doorwall accessible. The recliner was moved to the basement, the coffee table moved into service as a TV stand, and the end tables kept doing their thing. This setup doesn’t clutter the room so walking through is still easy, and it doesn’t feel like one is sitting awkwardly in the middle of an open space.

This experimentation and talking it over with Danielle resulted in our purchase of a Sharp LC-52LE640 LED-lit flat panel LCD TV. Sears had them on sale for a quite reasonable price with a bonus $100 in-store gift card for a total of $953.99 after tax. This seems to be one of the nicer non-3D models available in this price range, and being in stock locally was a nice treat as it allows an easier return option if necessary.

Beyond the TV there was only a need to purchase one spool of speaker wire to get everything set up. Everything else came from either spares in the basement or things moved from the previous setup. I do need to pick up two replacement front channel speakers on eBay, but the model that I have is both good quality, relatively cheap, and fairly available so this likely won’t be a problem.

The end setup has the television with all devices connected to it via HDMI, except for the Wii which uses component + analog audio. The TV then re-ouputs the audio via TOSLINK to an AMB γ1 DAC that I built a few years ago which is the input for a NAD 705 stereo receiver that feeds a pair of Energy Take speakers and a Yamaha YST-SW160 subwoofer. I hooked the speakers up to the B channel of the amp, leaving the original Gekko GK-1824 flat speakers which I use for room-filling audio while working in the kitchen on the A channel. An original Airport Express also remains connected on one of the other inputs for times when I want to play synchronized audio throughout the house.

Here is a head-on view of the whole setup. I may do a better job of bundling the wires, perhaps replacing some of them with black versions, and I might stuff all of the visible bits inside of split tubing to make it nicer looking. It’s not bad as it is, though, especially for not having a large mass of wired network gear, power supplies, and all hookup cables bundled under the bottom of the table.

Thus far it seems to be working out well, and Danielle seems quite happy with it. I’m really glad.

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Almost-Lost Phone

Published June 24, 2012

Today I almost lost another phone. While heading out to Addison Oaks I set my phone on the top of the car, put something in the trunk, then apparently forgot the phone on the car before leaving. By the time I reached 23 Mile and Schoenherr I wasn’t sure where my phone was, and thinking I’d left it behind I turned back and looked around the house for it. Being unable to find it I called it, only to hear a ringing outside where my car was.

So, where was it? Just as seen above, sitting on the windshield of my car, down against the wiper, positioned just where I couldn’t see it. (Yes, I had a second camera handy, which is a good thing because I didn’t want to move my phone before I took a picture of it.) Apparently it slid down from the roof at some point, then stayed where it landed even in 50-55 MPH winds and through a couple of stop lights.

I’ve been feeling a bit out of it today and this seemed to be right in line with that. Even riding today just didn’t feel right…

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Android Phone as BitLocker Recovery Key

Published February 28, 2012

I recently ran into an issue where I needed my BitLocker recovery key, but found that I’d left it at home. This locked me out of my machine for a few hours and was a bit of a hassle. It got me wondering if maybe I should instead keep said key on my phone instead, as it does a pretty good job serving as a USB mass storage device.

It turns out that this is not such a keen idea, as it doesn’t work out very well. On my Nexus One (and presumably other Android phones), when connected to a computer they prompt the user to switch the microSD storage over to USB Mass Storage. Once selected this takes a few seconds. Whenever the phone is disconnected from the USB host it automatically presents the card back to the phone, and only prompts the user once a host is detected.

With BitLocker, one becomes aware of needing this key when the boot is interrupted and the user is prompted to insert a USB mass storage device with the key present. The computer is then rebooted, finds the key, and continues to boot. With an Android device as the USB mass storage device this reboot resets the phone. I’ve found that it’s typically not possible to get the phone into mass storage mode between POST and OS load, particularly as the machines I’ve tried it on seem to reset USB after POST.

I think I’ll just have to stick with a USB flash drive for this.

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Shattered Hard Drive Platter

Published February 24, 2012

To collect neodymium magnets for rebuilding the not-currently-great drip tray to kegerator / kegged beer cooler I started disassembling more old hard drives, attempting to salvage the magnets. When disassembling one drive I decided it’d be fun to bend the platter, but I (stupidly) didn’t pay attention to the platter material before doing so. The result? Tiny bits of broken glass and amazingly thin foil spraying all over the basement floor. Whoops.

At least it was easy to clean up.

I had little luck collecting useful magnets from the drives because some were too small, some drives only had one, and many of them shattered as I removed them. Instead I’ll just buy a bunch of tiny ones on eBay or Amazon and epoxy them on instead. It’ll be a lot easier.

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iPod Battery Replaced

Published February 24, 2012

Roughly six years after buying my black fifth generation iPod I finally replaced the battery. After years of working well it was starting to fail, providing me with only a few hours of music listening while at work, way down from the original 10-15 that I was getting when it was new.

The replacement battery was part number BIPOD550MV30 from OWC, a very reliable online Apple reseller who has been around for years, and cost just over $20 shipped. While I could have purchased a cheaper battery via eBayI wanted to be sure to get one from a reliable place, so if I had problems with it there wouldn’t be an issue returning it.

The battery is now installed and charging, so hopefully by morning it’ll be full and ready to go.

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Burroughs Mainframe Cards

Published February 17, 2012

Years ago I got the chance to help empty out a friend’s neighbor’s basement after they passed away. This basement was stuffed with old computers and electronics, and I acquired a number of interesting items from there, many of which are now displayed around the house. (Core memory, old test equipment, notebooks, etc.)

The photos from this excursion can be found here, if you’re interested.

One of the items I’d acquired was a milk crate full of old cards from a Burroughs mainframe. Each is a bunch of discrete components built into what’s essentially a logical unit, designed to perform some function. These days a small integrated circuit would be used to perform the same (or multiple) functions.

I’ve given many of these items away, as in my excitement I ended up with many more items than needed. Everything from large boxes of valves to old, uncalibrated oscilloscopes have found homes with friends who had a better use for them than I did. A little while back I was contacted by a guy named William Donzelli who was interested in the history of the Burroughs mainframe and the cards from it. I didn’t know much about it and couldn’t answer many questions, so a couple days back I sent off this box containing the cards to him. Hopefully he’ll find them enlightening.

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