My neighbour, Chelsea, was head gardener in our house. Sadly he died this week. 
Before he went he took off the brass tap connector for the hosepipe for whatever reason. We can't find it. And we can't ask him.
I am now promoted to head gardener and tried to fix it. Turns out there are THREE types of hozelock connector of different colours attached to the Hozelook pipe reel. All totally incompatible on thread and diameter though they look the same.
Red, Green and Grey. Who designs this stuff?
Much fiddling about. I had to drill a flow hole in the green one (which was some sort of sealing cap) to restore service without drips. My neighbour Matilda loves me. She hates flogging around with watering cans to keep her climbing cabbages in the greenhouse watered.
Before he went he took off the brass tap connector for the hosepipe for whatever reason. We can't find it. And we can't ask him.
I am now promoted to head gardener and tried to fix it. Turns out there are THREE types of hozelock connector of different colours attached to the Hozelook pipe reel. All totally incompatible on thread and diameter though they look the same.
Red, Green and Grey. Who designs this stuff?
Much fiddling about. I had to drill a flow hole in the green one (which was some sort of sealing cap) to restore service without drips. My neighbour Matilda loves me. She hates flogging around with watering cans to keep her climbing cabbages in the greenhouse watered.
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I have bad experience with a 32" Hitachi LED t.v.
When this goes from standby to on the logo "Hitachi" appears and disappeared instantly and then you can hear the chanel audio only.Led bars no light.
When the lcd panel removed i show a shorted led.
New led bars installed and then... Icd is death.
No logo at start up.
Now new led bars light and dim correctly.
Trying to scope lvds signals, i see an i.c SM4186.
I can't find any information no pdf for this i.c.
The only information i found is that is a d.c to d.c converter.
I found some voltage measurements too.
According to those, pin 1 is 15v.
Pin 2 is 12v.
I have nothing (0v) at 1&2pins.
I don't know if 1 is output and 2 is input.
I found other voltages in other pins, like 12v 5 v e. t.c.
Any help here?
When this goes from standby to on the logo "Hitachi" appears and disappeared instantly and then you can hear the chanel audio only.Led bars no light.
When the lcd panel removed i show a shorted led.
New led bars installed and then... Icd is death.
No logo at start up.
Now new led bars light and dim correctly.
Trying to scope lvds signals, i see an i.c SM4186.
I can't find any information no pdf for this i.c.
The only information i found is that is a d.c to d.c converter.
I found some voltage measurements too.
According to those, pin 1 is 15v.
Pin 2 is 12v.
I have nothing (0v) at 1&2pins.
I don't know if 1 is output and 2 is input.
I found other voltages in other pins, like 12v 5 v e. t.c.
Any help here?
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You know the old problem of getting the tops off Jam Jars and Whisky Bottles that the other half often presents you with? Usually just takes a firm and confident grip.
Nearly defeated myself tonight. Couldn't get this bugger off even with a cloth.
Adjustable spanner failed miserably. Resorted to an old technology "Plumbers Wrench"...
Success! System7 pickled again. What is an engineer else supposed to do in lockdown?
Nearly defeated myself tonight. Couldn't get this bugger off even with a cloth.
Adjustable spanner failed miserably. Resorted to an old technology "Plumbers Wrench"...
Success! System7 pickled again. What is an engineer else supposed to do in lockdown?
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My internet radio failed the last days. This is a Raspberry Pi feeding my stereo. I resetted the Raspi - but to no avail. I inserted an USB voltage monitor that showed unstable voltage between 4.3 and 5.0V. Using another USB-charger everything worked fine. So I focused on the faulty charger, which is part of an Ikea AC-strip. Opened it (tri-wing screws) and soldered a 1000uF parallel to the secondary caps (2x820uF/6V3) - but to no avail. Went on fiddling on the primary side, soldered here and there and eventually the voltage was stable. So I re-soldered all joints, tested again and everything was fine. After re-assembling all I did a final test - that failed with the same symptons of unstable output - btw this did not depend on the load. So guess what I did? I re-opend the AC-strip, removed the AC-adapter, layed it on the solid concrete ground of my cellar and applied a well dosed impact with my 5 pound hammer onto it. Job done!
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Haven't we all widlarized something at least once in our lifetime?
Your experience BB with the PSU reminds me of a mysterious intermittent fault I had on one of my appliances, after some fault searching I eventually found out it was just the supply cable connector that was broken, the bend test wasn't at first successful how much I ever bend the cable around the connector or wiggled it, and it didn't make it easier as the supply voltage didn't switch abruptly on/off but acted like a bad resistance at times, finally decided it must be deep inside the connector where the cable can't bend, so started to peel up the molded plastic connector with a knife and in the process inevitably destroying it, finally getting at the junction of the metal connectors one of the two copper conductors was badly mangled despite no signs on the outside and too far from the entrance into the connector housing where it would logically have been bent off, also some build up of black stuff seemed to have formed a resistor, maybe a production thing but the problem was solved.
Your experience BB with the PSU reminds me of a mysterious intermittent fault I had on one of my appliances, after some fault searching I eventually found out it was just the supply cable connector that was broken, the bend test wasn't at first successful how much I ever bend the cable around the connector or wiggled it, and it didn't make it easier as the supply voltage didn't switch abruptly on/off but acted like a bad resistance at times, finally decided it must be deep inside the connector where the cable can't bend, so started to peel up the molded plastic connector with a knife and in the process inevitably destroying it, finally getting at the junction of the metal connectors one of the two copper conductors was badly mangled despite no signs on the outside and too far from the entrance into the connector housing where it would logically have been bent off, also some build up of black stuff seemed to have formed a resistor, maybe a production thing but the problem was solved.
My craftsman lawnmower almost always starts on the first pull. The deck had started to rust after ten years, but it starts on the first pull. So I purchased a new deck for it. First I disassembled it as I have been tormented by frozen bolts before. So After taking it apart I ordered the deck and some new fasteners. While waiting for the deck to arrive I cleaned and lubed the axles, rust treated the front height adjustment, sharpened and balanced the blade.
Deck arrived at 2pm and I was cutting grass at 3pm. Would have been faster if the label had not come off the 2 cycle oil bottle in the garage. Seems one company makes most of the mowers sold under many names. Sure beat throwing it away.
Deck arrived at 2pm and I was cutting grass at 3pm. Would have been faster if the label had not come off the 2 cycle oil bottle in the garage. Seems one company makes most of the mowers sold under many names. Sure beat throwing it away.
There are two companies in the US that make nearly all of the mowers sold here.
One is Modern Tool and Die (MTD) in Ohio and the other is American Yard Products (AYP) in South Carolina.
I have a 16 year old Southern States (local farmers CoOp) brand 48 inch riding mower with an Electrolux (the Swedish vacuum cleaner company) label on it. It seems that the Swedes made vacuum cleaners here some time ago, transitioning to lawn equipment. The Electrolux factory is now AYP.
If I stick my model number into Google I find the same unit made and sold by Craftsman, Husqvarna, Poulan, John Deere, and others. Most of the parts interchange, so I use what I can get on Amazon or Ebay to fix the beast.
The cheapest deck I have seen is over $500, so mine is now mostly JB Weld and window screen.
I have two push mowers, a County Line (Tractor Supply Company brand) and a Craftsman. Both were made by MTD, and again most of the parts interchange.
One is Modern Tool and Die (MTD) in Ohio and the other is American Yard Products (AYP) in South Carolina.
I have a 16 year old Southern States (local farmers CoOp) brand 48 inch riding mower with an Electrolux (the Swedish vacuum cleaner company) label on it. It seems that the Swedes made vacuum cleaners here some time ago, transitioning to lawn equipment. The Electrolux factory is now AYP.
If I stick my model number into Google I find the same unit made and sold by Craftsman, Husqvarna, Poulan, John Deere, and others. Most of the parts interchange, so I use what I can get on Amazon or Ebay to fix the beast.
The cheapest deck I have seen is over $500, so mine is now mostly JB Weld and window screen.
I have two push mowers, a County Line (Tractor Supply Company brand) and a Craftsman. Both were made by MTD, and again most of the parts interchange.
I moved the shelves with some of the amps (Stupendous on top, Monoblocs on the middle and bottom) after they fell off the wall! Apparently, the wall was thicker than I thought. It was fine until I bumped into it (pretty hard though) LOL
The relocation required a 100 foot spool of wire cut into 25 foot lengths.
If you count signal, there is now almost 75 feet of wire from preamp to speaker on those amplifiers now...
Also our Guinea pigs say "Hello!"
The relocation required a 100 foot spool of wire cut into 25 foot lengths.
If you count signal, there is now almost 75 feet of wire from preamp to speaker on those amplifiers now...
Also our Guinea pigs say "Hello!"
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Also, I added two outputs to the back of my DAC/clock/input switch/bluetooth box, but the vibration took out the filament in one of the meters... No worry. 3 1/8" holes, and 3 white leds, and now I have blinding super meters! LOL
It's not as bad IRL though. The amp on top is using compactrons for the first time, too...
Also PYLE means PYLE of SH*T lol This tuner has less noise if I only rest the antenna lead near it instead of connecting it all of the way. The clock runs fast. I changed the LED dropping resistors. Before that, you could land a plane with it. Even for the 40$ I paid for it, it's trash.
It's not as bad IRL though. The amp on top is using compactrons for the first time, too...
Also PYLE means PYLE of SH*T lol This tuner has less noise if I only rest the antenna lead near it instead of connecting it all of the way. The clock runs fast. I changed the LED dropping resistors. Before that, you could land a plane with it. Even for the 40$ I paid for it, it's trash.
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I finally finished building up my Little Miracle amp.
I found out that I forgot grid leak resistors for the output tubes on the PCB when the amp wouldn't bias up properly.
I also found out that even though I waited for 2 weeks to receive TL783 for the damned thing, I still installed LM317 on one of them. There was also a defective 7806 and I needed to modify the RC filtering in the power supply because the PSRR of a CCS biased amp is trash.
Now I wait for transformer covers to make it look even nicer and I give it to my dad for his birthday.
I found out that I forgot grid leak resistors for the output tubes on the PCB when the amp wouldn't bias up properly.
I also found out that even though I waited for 2 weeks to receive TL783 for the damned thing, I still installed LM317 on one of them. There was also a defective 7806 and I needed to modify the RC filtering in the power supply because the PSRR of a CCS biased amp is trash.
Now I wait for transformer covers to make it look even nicer and I give it to my dad for his birthday.
Found this in the street today. An ancient Sharp microwave oven. Very retro.
Top quality. Weighs a ton. Brought it home with some effort and plugged it in. It works!
Smells like a rat has died in the back, but nothing a good clean with a bleachy cloth can't cure. Interestingly has a metal tray with a heating element underneath.
A keeper.
Top quality. Weighs a ton. Brought it home with some effort and plugged it in. It works!
Smells like a rat has died in the back, but nothing a good clean with a bleachy cloth can't cure. Interestingly has a metal tray with a heating element underneath.
A keeper.
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Found this in the street today. An ancient Sharp microwave oven. Very retro.
Top quality. Weighs a ton. Brought it home with some effort and plugged it in. It works!
Smells like a rat has died in the back, but nothing a good clean with a bleachy cloth can't cure. Interestingly has a metal tray with a heating element underneath.
A keeper.
Ancient? - retro?
Looks like mine, purchased in 2004, and still works fine.
I wouldn't call it ancient.
Less so a repair, moe like an upgrade...We have one of those 'standard' TV stands, but it is 15+ yrs old & is shaped for the old CRTs...& takes up entirely too much floorspace. So I took the TV off the corny stand & screwed it onto the wall where it belongs...I'm in the midst of "modernizing" my sixties era 12" "Leea" 12XXX full-rangers in their factory cabinets. Immediatly thereafter, finish up my "Rack", built-up of five boards & four meter-long 3/8ths" threaded rods, & lots of nuts & washers.
All of it to rid myself of this glass-doored monstrosity !
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick....
All of it to rid myself of this glass-doored monstrosity !
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick....