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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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

mediatechnology wrote: Fri Nov 30, 2018 1:09 pm I noticed that over time the clear lenses over the solar cell yellow and craze a lot.
I don't know how much that affects output.
My two lights were new probably 2 years ago or less. I cleaned the tops this morning but didn't look dirty. The batteries failing this soon may be unusual or not... lots of web advice to change batteries every year.

It looks like tonight will be relatively warm again so I will see how successful just daylight charging works without the low temp variable. I still have low expectations for 20+ YO batteries.

another data point, one light seemed chronically less bright... I tried swapping the tops and that didn't make a difference, what did help was rotating the bottom that has the clear lens... apparently not symmetrical for light steering/output.

At dusk they switch on at slightly different times suggesting the solar cell output may not be identical as that probably dominates that (battery voltage could also be a factor).

As usual spending more time on these than they deserve... (its what nerds do).

JR

[edit it only took two days for a weak sister to reveal itself from my decades old nicad batteries. One winked out around midnight, while the other was still lit at 4:30AM. The writing on the wall is that A) 20 yo nicads are not to be trusted, and B) I probably don't need more than 300mAh while the smallest replacements I see are typically 600mAh. [/edit]

[edit2] by process of elimination I have found the two best of my four, decades old 1000mAh nicads. Now the 2nd best one dims out around 3AM and the stronger one is still lit at 4:30AM. [/edit2]
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mediatechnology
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LED Landscape Lighting

Post by mediatechnology »

We shouldn't have started talking about landscape lighting failure.

This week I had an uplight (LED) short and trip the power-pack's breaker.
There is no weep hole in the luminaire and the lens - and perhaps the base - flood.
There are a about 6 lights on that string so I began by using an Ohmmeter and finding the lowest resistance to find the point of the short.
That luminaire smelled burnt so I was pretty sure I'd come to the right place.
Another one, which had also flooded and dimmed, failed at or near the same time.

These lasted pretty well - some of them had gone through the 3 great lightning strikes we had.
I'm thinking these were installed around 2013-2014.

I'm not adding outdoor landscape lighting to my low count of indoor LED bulb failures.

Today is the first sunny day we've had since about Tuesday: I'll see if the battery-powered lights come on tonight.
They haven't had enough sun to charge in days.
billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

Washing machine stopped mid cycle on saturday. Now with 2 under 4s currently in the house it gets used a lot so this was not a good day for it to go. I'd noticed the door lock misbehaving a bit recently so took it apart to have a look . I honestly had not realised how basic the whole door interlock setup was on most machines. I'm actually astounded that I've never had one fail given I run washing machines into the ground. I mean, who in the 21st century would still use a heated bimetallic strip to both lock the door and supply ALL the current to the machine!

Hey ho, just a strap to bypass until the new one comes in. Without a wiring diagram there are 3 permutations. One will do what you want, one will do nothing at all and one will cause something to pop as you short 230v. For one I got lucky :).
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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billshurv wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 5:54 pm Washing machine stopped mid cycle on saturday. Now with 2 under 4s currently in the house it gets used a lot so this was not a good day for it to go. I'd noticed the door lock misbehaving a bit recently so took it apart to have a look . I honestly had not realised how basic the whole door interlock setup was on most machines. I'm actually astounded that I've never had one fail given I run washing machines into the ground. I mean, who in the 21st century would still use a heated bimetallic strip to both lock the door and supply ALL the current to the machine!

Hey ho, just a strap to bypass until the new one comes in. Without a wiring diagram there are 3 permutations. One will do what you want, one will do nothing at all and one will cause something to pop as you short 230v. For one I got lucky :).
I have been kind of waiting for my washer/dryers to fail... 20-30 years old, but I can't see replacing them until they stop.

I am glad I managed to miss out on most of the euro water saver trend funkiness. But at some point I will need to replace these tired old soldiers that just keep on truckin... for now...

hope you didn't jinx me. :lol:

JR
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billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

I've never replaced a machine as beyond economic repair. Have replaced one as it was just too slow for the growing family, but even that did 15 odd years. Fixed the tumble dryer as well a few years back, that was a scary fault. Poor crimp on the connector to the heating element. I am suprised it didn't cause a fire.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

Maybe you haven't been following this thread :lol: :lol: :lol:

I couldn't buy repair parts to fix my wall oven when it couldn't regulate temp... I didn't feel up to MacGuyvering it.

My washing machine is more likely to stop before the dryer,,,

JR
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

billshurv wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 7:51 pm I've never replaced a machine as beyond economic repair. Have replaced one as it was just too slow for the growing family, but even that did 15 odd years. Fixed the tumble dryer as well a few years back, that was a scary fault. Poor crimp on the connector to the heating element. I am suprised it didn't cause a fire.
That's how the crimps in my garage heater would have looked if I hadn't gotten to them in time.
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

JR. wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 7:58 pm
I couldn't buy repair parts to fix my wall oven when it couldn't regulate temp... I didn't feel up to MacGuyvering it.

JR
I am to stubborn to be wise enough to not try and McGuyver things. The only regulation is the wife who tries to point out when things are easier to replace. I blame my mother and grandmother. Make do and mend runs strong in my family. One day I'll grow up :)
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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billshurv wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 3:33 am
JR. wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 7:58 pm
I couldn't buy repair parts to fix my wall oven when it couldn't regulate temp... I didn't feel up to MacGuyvering it.

JR
I am to stubborn to be wise enough to not try and McGuyver things. The only regulation is the wife who tries to point out when things are easier to replace. I blame my mother and grandmother. Make do and mend runs strong in my family. One day I'll grow up :)
I was able to troubleshoot the oven's temperature regulation failure to a break in the conduction path for the temperature probe... The oven was too many decades old to still have replacement repair parts available... Not obvious how to roll my own temperature probe for a decades old wall oven (probably a thermocouple?).

I still have a broken dehumidifier with a faulty temperature probe... I was never able to find a suitable repair part for that. Apparently several different flavors of temperature probes exist. It was almost new so they sent me a new dehumidifier and let me keep the faulty one... I am keeping the broken unit for spare parts when the compressor fails eventually on my working unit.

I bit the bullet and replaced the oven. The several decades newer technology is notable. I noticed a larger improvement when I replaced my broken dishwasher a few years ago... it had a wiped bearing or something in the rotor/pump motor, made horrible noises. The improvement in cleaning capability between new and old is night and day. I am not as optimistic about washing machine technology. I expect washing machine technology to have invested too much effort into efficiency and low water usage, and unneeded extra features over recent decades. So I will keep using the old one until I can't. I will find out this weekend if we jinxed it by talking about it. :lol:

Not to mention that steel tariffs and trade negotiations have prices for white goods in flux (moving up).

JR
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Re: Entropy-red neck repairs

Post by JR. »

I may start a new thread just for "red neck" repairs.
DSCF0066.JPG
This is my current kitchen sink sprayer and while shiny and chrome after only a few months in service the button/lever actuator popped off. I could snap it back in place but it would just pop off again every couple days. This was annoying so my Rev-A red neck repair was to wrap some gaffer tape around it to hold it loosely in place. That worked remarkably well, ignoring that it looked more like it should be in a house with wheels than inside a proper brick house. :lol:

In some fortuitous serendipity some steel cable ties came into my possession (***long story below). I was able to loosely hold the button in place much more attractively than using gaffer tape. By feeding the left over cut short end of the cable tie tucked in underneath.. there are no sharp edges exposed to draw blood.

Rev-B is prettier than it deserves to look... 8-)

JR

**** OK the (too long) story about the metal cable ties. I was looking out my window that faces the post office across the street a while back and saw my old neighbor's widow's car, stuck blocking the post office parking lot entrance... then I saw her exit the car and walk home leaving her fully grown son in charge. :roll: He is not what one would call mechanically inclined. After a suitable delay, hoping it would resolve without needing my participation I walked across the street, to be a good neighbor. Long story shorter, I ended up on my back, under the car, in the post office parking lot, reattaching the shift cable to the transmission lever.

I could see a couple broken nylon cable ties that were apparently holding the cable in place before, until they didn't. I got him able to drive it home and told him to put some new cable ties on it, but I would find something better. The stainless steel cable ties arrived this morning. I gave him about 10 of them to secure the shift cable in place... (these are really cheap... probably developed as red neck exhaust system repair staples.) I told him not to make them too tight, and not to secure any electrical wires with them. :lol:
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