Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.
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Would anyone like a type HG2A1034 mercury wetted contact relay? I acquired this a number of years ago when I had the chance to salvage electronics from the basement of my friend Brian’s deceased neighbor and it comes with the (not pictured) socket.
More than just being a classic and likely very reliable DPDT relay, the metal canister sloshes with mercury when shaken!
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I recently did a bit of work on the original version of this kit, a clone of Chris Carter‘s original Gristlizer; an analogue effects unit used by Throbbing Gristle. This one seemed to have the wrong type of LED on it (a blinking one), fitted backward so it wouldn’t illuminate.
After replacing the LED I hooked it up to my x0xb0x and ran some audio through it. It definitely seemed to be doing something to the sound, but I’m not completely sure what. I’m also not sure how it’s supposed to sound, so I don’t know if it’s working quite right or not. Since it’s analog and a lot of the pots and switches ground through their chassis, it’s hard to say what it’s supposed to do until it’s all buttoned up in a case. I have a feeling that some (or all) of the op-amps on the board might be cooked, but I don’t know enough to tell right now. At <$1/ea it's also easiest to test them out by just replacing them. (After looking over this PCB and photos of the v2, I can't help but want to pull an SDrive NUXX with it and release a much-improved, CC-licensed PCB / BOM / end panel set. I think I could do a much cleaner job on the board design and incorporate very useful connector footprints that allow flying wires to be terminated at headers, direct-mount pots, etc. I’d also like to do an end panel set that fits right into a nicely solid off the shelf enclosure. This would make assembly easier for kit-builders easier resulting in far more elegant devices with less room for assembly mistakes. Maybe this will be a winter project.)
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Admittedly this is a poor photo, but I didn’t want to get too close to the people working to remove this vehicle from the curb on which it was stuck. Apparently a driver with a handicapped license plate drove over the curb of the Walgreens at 21 Mile and Hayes, solidly lodging their car on a parking divider with the front (drive) wheels hanging in the air. Some people were working on removing it by jacking the rear of the vehicle up in the air to try and make the front wheels contact the ground.
I’d come across this scene while stopping in search of CR2032 batteries, as the local Target and Meijer are both sold out. I can only surmise that there is either a supply issue or there is some hot new consumer device which requires them.
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After contacting NiteRider about the ill-fitting extension cable which shipped with my Pro 1400 they sent a replacement. This one fits much, much better as it’s actually the right cable. The textured indicator will also make it easier to make blind connections, which are exactly what I have to do when getting ready to ride since one connection is made behind my head.
Amusingly, the package came with 34¢ of postage due, which I’ll happily pay to the mailman. More amusingly the postage due envelope (a 1996 vintage design) is stuck shut, likely from having sat around in a mail truck for years. I think I’ll just tape a quarter and dime to the envelope and see what happens to the extra penny.
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This is the inside of the NiteRider Pro Docking Station (a dual-purpose battery charger / headlight programmer) that came with the NiteRider Pro 1400. While using the programming software to set up the brightness settings that I wanted (to avoid another way too bright ride) I noticed that the base station appeared as USB VID 0403 and PID 6001, FTDI’s defaults. This had me a bit curious, so I opened it up to look around.
Beyond the charging circuitry, LEDs, lightpipes, custom connectors, and an unlabeled button (reset?) I found an FTDI FT232RL (U1), Microchip PIC PIC24J32GA004 (U2), Atmel AT45DB011 (U4), and a National Semiconductor LMV344MT (U6). I made no effort to trace out the board, but it’s pretty easy to tell that the FT232RL is used so the NiteRider D.I.Y. software can just talk to a serial port which will make it very portable to different OSs.
Perhaps later I’ll try and figure out just what the software sends to the base station for programming the light. Maybe then I could work up a Mac version of the program.
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Since I’ve acquired a NiteRider Pro 1400 my TriNewt Wireless (originally mentioned here) is up for sale. This light and battery are in great shape, I’m just selling it because I no longer have a need for it. It’s a great light for trail riding year round and had I not picked up a brighter light I’d still be using it.
This is the complete TriNewt Wireless package, which includes:
· Light Unit
· Battery
· Charger
· Helmet Mount
· Handle Bar Mount for Light
· Handle Bar Mount for Remote Control
· Frame Mounting Strap for Battery
· NiteRider Carrying Case
Asking price is $200, and I will ship domestically and internationally at buyer’s expense. Email me at c0nsumer@nuxx.net if you are interested.
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Today I received a NiteRider Pro 1400 (more on this later), a new bike light for trail riding. NiteRider lights typically have a textured indicator on the connectors to make blind connections easier, such as when plugging in the light behind one’s head or while in the dark. When setting up this unit I noticed that the cables on the light and battery pack have this textured piece opposite the flat side of the connector, but the extension cable (so that the light can be helmet mounted) has it on the flat side of the connector.
This inconsistency means that when using the extension cable one has to be sure that one cable has the texture on one side and the other is the opposite. I’ve contacted NiteRider via their contact form and hopefully I’ll hear back from them soon.
Pictured on the left above is the extension cable, which has the textured keying indicator on the same side as the flat part of the keyed connector. The battery pack’s cable (on the right) and the light’s cable (not shown) has it on the left. It only seems logical to me that the keying indicator would be on the flat side which is opposite how the Pro 1400’s light and battery pack are set up. It’ll be interesting to see what NiteRider’s response is. Maybe this first run of Pro 1400s (it is a newer product, after all) have their keying indicators inadvertently backwards?
UPDATE: NiteRider has sent me the proper, and much better fitting cable as a replacement. Per Davilynn over at NiteRider:
Leave a CommentSome of the systems were packaged with our older extension cords by mistake.
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The ceiling fan in the bedroom has a remote control to turn it on and off. Over the past few weeks it’s become increasingly hard to turn it on and off, with the switch inside the remote feeling like its failing. Taking apart the remote tonight I found that instead of small tactile switches (like I thought it had from the feel) it instead has cheap, printed contact switches actuated by conductive rubber on the back-side of the buttons. As common with switches like this some of the rubber had worn off on to the PCB, fouling the copper and causing the buttons to not work well. A bit of quick work with a pencil eraser and alcohol-soaked paper towel cleaned the contacts up nicely and everything is working great again.
Click here to see a high-res version of the photo above, clearly showing the bits of rubber stuck on the PCB.
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Three days after defrosting my freezer to get the whole refrigerator working Danielle noticed that the fridge was no longer cold. The evening after Danielle rushed most of the food stores over to my parents house I set out to try and diagnose the fridge. After I’d spent a few hours fruitlessly looking it over without any documentation I decided that the best thing to do would be to call a repair person. I normally don’t like doing this, but not having a fridge makes things somewhat difficult, and it likely would have taken a few more days for me to figure out what was wrong.
Doc’s Appliance Service (warning: auto-playing video) came out to do the repair and $210.21† later the relay on the compressor was replaced with a new, compatible (but non drop-in) replacement that required cutting the wiring harness to install. As this was the only part the repair person had readily available it was the only choice to get the repair done at that time. While talking to the repair guy (who was quite friendly) afterward and detailing everything I’d looked into, he showed me that Maytag actually ships block diagrams and technical troubleshooting guides with each fridge, sticking them to the bottom of the fridge in a small plastic bag, folded up to about the same size as a deck of playing cards.
I wish that I’d known about this diagram before calling, because that would have allowed me to do all the troubleshooting myself, including finding the failed relay. It also would have saved me the time spent looking at the fridge’s main control board for issues, as the automatic diagnostics would have eliminated the control board and other items that I fiddled with. I would also have then been able to order part 67005560 from Sears for $27.33 and do the replacement myself for 13% of the cost.
In the end I suspect that the relay was failing, keeping the compressor on long after it should have, resulting in the coil freezing up. It’s even possible that the fridge had been running near non-stop for the last few weeks. Turning the fridge off for a while and then putting it back in normal duty cycle then likely caused the relay to fail completely, after which it no would cool. If you’d like to see more photos of the failed relay, part 3ARR65P4E3A6, they can be found here: Failed Fridge Relay (3ARR65P4E3A6).
†$69.95 diagnostics charge, $80 labor, $56.85 in parts, and $3.41 in sales tax.
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As you may have noticed by now I occasionally fix Garmin Edge 305 cycling GPSs that have a known problem where they will suddenly power off during use. This is caused by the spring contacts for the battery bouncing free from the battery contact and the device momentarily losing power, leaving it in an off state. To remedy this I move the battery wires from the contact PCB directly to test pads on the main board, completely bypassing the iffy spring contacts.
It appears that Garmin is aware of this issue and has tried to remedy it in recent versions of the Edge 305. Tonight when I pulled apart another one apart I found foam rubber stuck under the contacts apparently to provide additional pressure and avoid the problem. Clearly this did not work as otherwise I would not have been repairing this one. I can only hope that Garmin has a much better design in the Edge 500 (and future models) to completely avoid this issue.
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