Entropy

Relax in southern comfort on the east bank of the Mississippi. You're just around the corner from Beale Street and Sun Records. Watch the ducks, throw back a few and tell us what's on your mind.
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

Yesterday we had our first freeze.

As I went to bed the night before I heard the HVAC blower start and didn't like the sound of it at all.
Sluggish and wobbly-sounding.
For the previous couple of days I had also heard a slight tone/whining as it ran.
At 2:30 that morning I woke up to the smell of hot insulation varnish and a cold house.

Fortunately a replacement motor was only about 5 minutes away.
I spent yesterday morning in the attic replacing the blower motor and capacitor.
Its good to have heat again: As I write this its 30 degrees F outside.
billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

Dallas is colder than UK!

When I read '5 minutes away' I assumed that meant the spare was in the barn. Takes a Texan at least 10 to get off their own property :D
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

I keep capacitors in what used to be the "cat barn."
Now its a garage.
The garage should probably stock motors too though the condensor blower motor (2017) and the recently-replaced blower motor are now Nidec/Emerson.
I always liked to see Nidec motors in tape machines.
I should probably have a set so I'll never need them. (Sort of like the snow shovel I bought a few years back.)

I am truly blessed that - in a small industrial park a couple of miles away - I have a refrigeration supply, plumbing supply and a Grainger's as well as a "nut house" aka Fastenol. There is also a U-Fix-It which is open on Sundays.
Mouser is only 15 miles away so I enjoy next day service using regular UPS. I've driven there once to pickup a will-call.

The downside is that it's at least 4-8 miles to a good produce stand, health food store or grocery.

I need to post about my recent internet connectivity problems...
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

mediatechnology wrote: Fri Nov 01, 2019 7:01 am I keep capacitors in what used to be the "cat barn."
I've heard of barn cats, but never a cat barn...
Now its a garage.
The garage should probably stock motors too though the condensor blower motor (2017) and the recently-replaced blower motor are now Nidec/Emerson.
I always liked to see Nidec motors in tape machines.
I should probably have a set so I'll never need them. (Sort of like the snow shovel I bought a few years back.)
I left my snow shovels and ice scraper behind when I moved south over three decades ago... 36' F this morning
I am truly blessed that - in a small industrial park a couple of miles away - I have a refrigeration supply, plumbing supply and a Grainger's as well as a "nut house" aka Fastenol. There is also a U-Fix-It which is open on Sundays.
Mouser is only 15 miles away so I enjoy next day service using regular UPS. I've driven there once to pickup a will-call.
sounds pretty sweet
The downside is that it's at least 4-8 miles to a good produce stand, health food store or grocery.
I am about 8 miles to walmart, that is my health food store, grocery, produce... there is a dollar store within walking distance but everything costs more than $1
I need to post about my recent internet connectivity problems...
I was convinced that my dsl modem was faulty, and not getting any love from AT&T even had it disconnect my phone line on an technical help call...My wifi stopped working and DSL would drop out. In frustration I bought a used Modem (they are no longer made) from amazon or ebay and my DSL has been solid ever since. I hope I didn't jinx it by talking about it. :lol:

JR

PS: Years ago I had a DSL problem that I troubleshot to a lines problem. I could see the carrier come and go with my scope. I had the hardest time requesting a service call because every time I mentioned DSL problem they'd bounce me to a technician in Bangalore who tells me to unplug and replug my modem. :twisted: I had to lie to them and tell them my phone didn't work to get a man out to my casa... They told me I would have to pay for the service call if they didn't find anything. They found where a squirrel had chewed through the wire insulation a hundred yards from my house.Their switch equipment that tests lines didn't have the resolution to see a break that close to my end.
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

The AT&T (Arris) BGW210-700 gateway, which is used for fiber, also has a direct-connect DSL port labeled "Broadband."
The BGW210 is currently in AT&T inventory.
You might check and see if they can provision one for you on your line.
If you were to switch to fiber then all you'd need is an optical network terminator, ONT, and then connect (via Ethernet) to the ONT port on the BGW210.

I used to have an old Zoom DSL Modem but I think I donated it.

When I had a lot of ISDN lines AT&T had to remove all the loading coils.
I was 20,000+ feet from the switch at that time and they had to use line extenders.
billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

mediatechnology wrote: Fri Nov 01, 2019 7:01 am
I should probably have a set so I'll never need them. (Sort of like the snow shovel I bought a few years back.)
I have a friend with a landrover (I think you call it LD4 there, we just call it disovery). Every time something stops working, he buys a spare and as soon as he does it starts working again, so he leaves in in the back for when needed!

I got a set of winter tyres for my car on same principle. TBH they are worth it even when you don't get snow for the silly grip levels on damp cold roads.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

mediatechnology wrote: Fri Nov 01, 2019 8:45 am The AT&T (Arris) BGW210-700 gateway, which is used for fiber, also has a direct-connect DSL port labeled "Broadband."
The BGW210 is currently in AT&T inventory.
You might check and see if they can provision one for you on your line.
If you were to switch to fiber then all you'd need is an optical network terminator, ONT, and then connect (via Ethernet) to the ONT port on the BGW210.

I used to have an old Zoom DSL Modem but I think I donated it.

When I had a lot of ISDN lines AT&T had to remove all the loading coils.
I was 20,000+ feet from the switch at that time and they had to use line extenders.
I am not going to mess with it now that it is working and appears stable (knock on wood)...

The internet is full of user complaints about the POS motorola nvg510 modem

JR
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

It's been about a year since I changed batteries in our cars and hopefully it will be about 3 more years before I need to do it again.

One thing I did at the time that I thought I would share was to install, with clip leads, a 12V "keep-alive" battery in parallel with the one I was replacing.
I used a good removed-from-service UPS battery about 6 AH.
This prevented reset of the PCM module calibrations and fuel trims as well as kept me from having to re-program the radio.

Speaking of in-car radio I thought I wouldn't live to see the day that streaming, to my car, would overtake radio listening but it has.
The year was 2019.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

mediatechnology wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 11:48 am It's been about a year since I changed batteries in our cars and hopefully it will be about 3 more years before I need to do it again.

One thing I did at the time that I thought I would share was to install, with clip leads, a 12V "keep-alive" battery in parallel with the one I was replacing.
I used a good removed-from-service UPS battery about 6 AH.
This prevented reset of the PCM module calibrations and fuel trims as well as kept me from having to re-program the radio.

Speaking of in-car radio I thought I wouldn't live to see the day that streaming, to my car, would overtake radio listening but it has.
The year was 2019.
Since my car has been running sub par due to sundry bad inputs (like MAF, temp, O2, etc) so I don't mind hard resets of the ECU.

The last battery I replaced when it started slow cranking in cold weather turned out to still be OK (according to store test), just discharged due to my low weekly mileage (roughly 15 miles). Now I hit it with a smart trickle charge every week after my shopping trip.

Something I have noticed only recently is that the trickle charger takes less hours to fully charge the battery. I don't know if this is a good sign or bad, probably not good.

Soon I will remove my zero turn mower battery and bring it into my laundry room for the winter and top it off... That should improve it's life expectancy. Original mower battery died much too young, but just sat outdoors all winter, and never got charged.

JR
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

billshurv wrote: Sat Sep 07, 2019 5:09 pm Sigh. Sat the kids down to watch a DVD this afternoon and, 2 minutes in got a 'no signal' message displaying on the screen. Thought that the DVD player was dead so left it an checked by plugging a laptop in this evening. Nope it's the TV. Ar5e. Quick check on line suggests a known issue, part thermal management on the HDMI receiver chip and part the curse of lead free solder. Lacking a hot air rework station and not wanting to do the usual bodge with the 2kW heat gun I do have going to be a delicate resoldering of the QFP. Not a job I was expecting to need to do over the weekend....
were there any other symptoms before the HDMI failure?

On my current computer monitor, repurposed after years of living room TV, two of the three HDMI inputs are balky.... so far if I wait long enough they resolve.

Do I understand your repair was resoldering the IC?

I have a hot air station, but not much patience. This monitor is old and tired, but it will feel like a step backwards giving up the 44". I can almost use it without my reading glasses, almost. :lol:

I was thinking some tired electrolytic caps but your HDMI failure is close to home.

JR
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