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Removing LEDs from a Sony CDX-GT43IPW

Published January 10, 2010

Having some time this evening I opened up the ultra-bright LED-bearing faceplate from Danielle’s new car stereo. I was originally hoping to replace the LEDs with red or green ones, but after seeing that some are part of the tactile switches I decided against that. Looking into things by plugging the bare PCB into the head unit (photo) I found that the most offensive LEDs were those under the horizontal translucent buttons, with two of them lighting each button, and the ring around the chromed selector dial.

The decision was made to remove one LED from under each of the translucent buttons and one from around the ring. The LED removal went well, save for discovering that the ring LEDs are wired in series, so removing one turned off the entire ring. Still, the final result is much nicer. The stereo now lights up blue, but it’s no longer a glaring blue which makes seeing the road at night difficult. If you compare this photo from last night to this one from tonight you can see how much more reserved (and appropriate) the illumination now is. The loss of the knob ring illumination isn’t really a concern, as it’s the only knob on the device so it’s easy to find and other light glinting off the chrome finish makes it easy to see anyway. The tradeoff for less irritating light is worth it.

Interestingly there were two discreet sets of solder pads for each LED, and some silkscreen on the back that indicated selections for amber and green LEDs. I suspect that other similar models of this stereo offered the other illumination colors and this particular model was just for Target, or perhaps low end markets, or something like that. Or maybe this board is just fitted differently when used in other higher-end models…

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Cross-Country Skiing

Published January 10, 2010

Today, for my first time since a ~30 minute session in fifth grade and Danielle’s first time ever, we went cross-country skiing. At 11am we met up with Erik, Kristi, Nick, Marty, and Jon at Stony Creek, paid the $20 to get some (fairly decent) rental equipment for the two of us, and headed out. While difficult, I managed to not fall and enjoy it, although neither Danielle nor I could keep up with everyone else. Danielle fell a few times, some of which were frustrating and others were comical, particularly as Marty then slid right into her.

It’s quite a fun activity and a nice way to get outside in winter time. Since there’s loads of local ski trails available, I really think I’m going to consider picking up some skis and equipment. After all, all that’s really needed is skis, bindings, boots, and poles. While initially saying that she never wants to do it again, Danielle did say that she’d probably give it another go, possibly in a few weeks or sometime next year.

Here’s the photos taken today, including the one above:

· Marty, Kristi, Danielle, Nick, and Erik while cross country skiing at Stony Creek.
· Looking down at my rented skis and poles at Stony Creek, cross country skiing for the first time since I was in fifth grade.
· Jon, Nick, and Erik way ahead of me while heading back towards the beginning of the ski trails.
· Danielle, Kristi, and Marty skiing along at Stony Creek.

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Ultra-Bright Blue LEDs!

Published January 9, 2010

Ever since getting an iPod Danielle’s been wanting a way to connect it to her car. While at Target today I happened across a Sony CDX-GT43IPW on clearance for $69.98, and a few hours later it was installed in her car. Installing an aftermarket stereo in a 2000-ish GM J Platform normally requires some wiring trickery so that the factory chime sounds aren’t lost, but thanks to Danielle’s car already having an aftermarket stereo I was able to simply adapt the old wiring harness to this stereo’s needs, resulting in the harness seen here.

Disassembling the dash to access the stereo was also a bit of a hassle, but easier than expected. The stereo worked on first go, and the iPod interface is surprisingly decent. The built-in menu system which manages the iPod is about as good as one can get from a one line display, and there’s another mode which simply allows the iPod to controlled directly. There’s also a standard 3.5mm Aux In on the faceplate, should she wish to hook up another device that way.

The biggest down side is the ultrabright blue LEDs which illuminate the controls on the front panel. For now Danielle just ignores them while driving, but I imagine they will get pretty irritating soon. Sometime tomorrow I’ll probably open up the face plate and check out the LEDs. Hopefully it’s easy enough to open and they are pretty easy to replace. Green or red, and much less bright, should work out well.

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Snow Storm Ride

Published January 7, 2010

Wanting to get some exercise and ride a bit I set out on my bike at about 8:30pm. While originally intending to ride around the neighborhood and just see how well the Nokian Hakka WXC300 tires perform in real snow, I found they worked well and instead headed towards River Bends. Taking the usual routes I logged 11.39 miles over 1:17:39, for an average of 8.8 MPH. That’s slow, but considering the super-studded tires and riding through 3″ of powder over packed snow and ice, I don’t think it’s too bad. (In case you don’t know we’re actually in the middle of a snow storm; one which is potent enough that riding a bike is almost easier than driving.)

The tires work out really well, and their large knobs do a very good job of sticking in snow. When riding on somewhat-packed residential roads they felt a bit squirrly, but that’s to be expected as there wasn’t much for them to bite into, but it was too deep for the studs to be of any use. While on the paths/sidewalks and on the trails where the surface was snow/ice they were outstanding and I’m really glad I purchased them. While they are of obvious limited utility being for one particular season, it would be much more difficult to ride now without them.

One of the other interesting events of the night was getting made fun of. It’s been a while since I was last shouted at by people in cars, but maybe the snow brings out odd people. While riding along, just as I was crossing some train tracks on the path, someone in a black Chevy Avalanche driving slowly past yelled something out the window. Later on when heading back home it passed again, the driver honked at me. Further on still while waiting for a it passed another time, slowing so the passenger could yell “nice light, yo yo”. This whole time I was 20′ – 30′ from the road, on an adjoining path.

I get made fun of in the strangest places. Flipped off from the road which I’m 40′ above on a pedestrian bridge… Yelled at from people below me on a highway while I’m in a bridge… People are strange.

Anyway, here’s some photos from tonight. Any cloudy bits (such as seen above) are condensed breath and sweat from my arms hanging in the air, as it wasn’t windy enough to carry it away:

· My Specialized hard tail, in River Bends, while riding in the middle of a snow storm which had already dropped 2-3″.
· After a bit of riding I stopped in the park pavilion to eat a gel. Riding in 3″ of snow is hard work.
· My bike after getting home snowing snow packed into the rims and other bits.
· Rear triangle showing snow packed into the cassette, chainrings, etc.
· Another view of the rear triangle, this time from a higher angle. Lots of snow is packed into the bike. Note how clean the tires from riding in snow.
· Detail of the bottom bracket / front derailleur area showing packed snow.
· The fork, front wheel, and brakes showing how much snow is packed into this end of the bike.

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Google Nexus One!

Published January 6, 2010

With Google’s release of the Nexus One it worked out very well for me to give my G1 to Danielle and pick up a Nexus One for myself. Thus far I’m quite happy with this phone. The AMOLED is absolutely outstanding and the phone is simply faster overall; the occasional quirky slowdowns when using many apps at once are gone.

It even comes with a cute logo’d neoprene case, as seen here!

I still have some service plan shuffling to do, including moving myself to an employee discount plan (via my workplace) and possibly another service plan. While I am out of contract and should be able to move plans at will, it appears that T-Mobile has a $35 fee to change plans via their website and I don’t want to pay that. We’ll see how that goes… Until then, the phone still works great, just like my old G1 but even better.

(Photographing a phone with active screen and having both parts look nice together is a very difficult task. More photos of the phone unboxing can be found here. I’m not bothering with measurement / thickness / whatever shots, as those are thoroughly addressed elsewhere.)

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Defective FSA OS-190 Stem

Published January 5, 2010

 

 

 

 

While working on my new bike I realized that a slightly shorter stem would be good, so I ordered an FSA OS-190 from Price Point. When the box of parts arrived it had been opened (photo), but as the thread locking compound on the screws was unmarred and there were no marks on the stem it appeared to be brand new. Unfortunately, after installing it I found a small crack in the stem cap, right near one of the bolts. Here is a photo of the stem on my new bike, with an arrow pointing to the cracked area.

Having torqued the stem bolts (cap and steerer) to FSA’s published 78 inch-pounds (FSA’s Stem and Post Torque Specs – PDF) I don’t believe this was caused by me during installation. This is also a particularly inopportune place to have a crack, as it could easily lead to stem/bar failure, which would likely result in a pretty bad crash. Even though it was relatively cheap and looks good on the bike when I request to return the item to Price Point I’m tempted to get a different stem, as I don’t want to risk there having been a bad batch.

Currently I’m thinking of a Thomson Elite X4, but now I have to decide on 0° or 10° rise. The aforementioned FSA is 6°, so 10° shouldn’t be too different…

UPDATE: Thinking about it, I wonder if follwing the FSA directions, which I followed, to “[l]ightly grease the bolt threads and under bolt heads” caused the problem. It’s my understanding that greased fasteners, particularly under the heads, are easy to inadvertently over torque, even with a wrench. This is because the fastener slips along much more than normal, and doesn’t provide the resistance that the torque wrench measures.

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Sunday Morning Winter Ride at 10°F (-12°C)

Published January 3, 2010

Starting a bit after 11am a group of us headed out for some biking at Stony Creek. With temperatures bounding between single and double digits Fahrenheit it was definitely a cold day. With a double-layer of sweat pants and BDU pants, boots and toe warmers, thermal layer, fleece, and jacket I was almost a bit over-warm, but some armpit venting and selective undoing of layers made things rather nice. We ended up riding one course of the single track, visiting The Pines, The Snake, and The Roller Coaster before heading back to the car. This was a rather slow ride, with my middle of the pack average somewhere around 8.6 MPH.

Wanting to wear boots I also fitted my bike with platform pedals, which turned out to be an interesting experience. Since these pedals have a bunch of sharp pins to ensure good traction my foot had no float, meaning that whatever position my foot contacted the pedal in was the position I had to pedal in, unless I was able to lift up my foot and replace it. This doesn’t sound like a problem, but compared to a normal clipless setup where one can pivot a foot at will, it’s a bit uncomfortable. There were also times where I’d inadvertently come off of the pedal, not due to slipping but forgetting that I had to provide continuous, but ever so slight downward pressure while on the upstroke of the pedal. Thus, I’m really not sure I like platforms for riding single track. At one point I had to duck around a tree that I almost hit, and the familar motions that I’d make with my foot to move the bike sideways a bit didn’t work and I ended up clipping the tree.

All said, it was a very nice ride. Having studded tires I had no problem staying upright on icy patches, even if I did have to walk a couple glazed switchbacks in The Snake. With the frequent riding of others and the snow being as cold as it was, everything was packed into nicely gritty flat areas, as seen above.

Here’s a couple of the photos that I took today:

· Standing in the bathroom at the Stony Creek mountain bike trailhead getting ready for a cold winter ride.
· Regrouping at the end of The Pines.
· Heading towards The Snake on a cold single-digit Sunday morning.
· Bob’s icy mustache in the field after The Roller Coaster at Stony Creek on single-digit early-January ride.

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Debadged Klean Kanteen

Published January 2, 2010

My sister got me a an 18oz. plain stainless steel Klean Kanteen Classic for Christmas, along with a Sport Cap 2.0. This will eventually be fit to my new bike with a stainless steel King Cage Iris for holding drinkable things (water, HEED, juice, etc) while biking. Being made of stainless steel the cage won’t leave any marks (save for scratches which can be polished out as needed) on the bottle, and it should look nice for years. It’ll also be easy to scrub out, should any unexpected funk develop.

Not being fond of having too many logos on things I removed the Klean Kanteen branding from the bottle with a No. 96 Scotch Brite pad, whose grit perfectly matched the existing finish of the bottle. A solid rubbing over the logos and a quick wash with a bit of soap and water later and the bottle is now nice and plain, ready to match the logo-free bottle cage.

I’ve been using the bottle and sport cap to drink from while writing this post and it’s really quite nice to drink from. With a silicone check valve on the top to let in air while drinking liquid flows quite quickly. The use of this check valve means that its not completely leakproof, but it should be sufficient for bike riding when the bottle is generally kept upright in a cage.

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