20240531 Here's to another 3 years of battery life...

 Ever since I met Michael who introduced me to his car batteries, I have no regrets. The first battery (Energizer) lasted more than three years (or 40 months). For current one (EuroPower), it was 3 years too (and not 5 years as I thought). However, I am not sure as to why the battery was dated 26th June, 2019. If that was correct, then it would be 5 years!

The result of arriving too early to work before the Sun rises is that, today, I've forgotten to switch off the main lights. I am not sure how long it lasted but it was long enough for me to finish reading the clickbait post from FB. By the time I realised the error, the was was almost impossible to crank.

 Not wanting to bother him as he really travels all over the place, I decided to search for the Europower Battery myself. Sadly, after going through the Internet, most of the 'activities' for this battery has cooled down

A quick call to Michael (+6012-253 7322) soon sorted the issue. The battery sells for RM289, excluding delivery via LaLaMove.
He was also kind enough to upgrade mine from 40B19L to 42B19L, which I hope my alternator can charge it. It is giving out 14.08Volts.

The two batteries side by side. Both are from Korea...

So, there you have it. The 42B19L Enercell

 

20240520 The Move Part 2

  Today is the second moving and this time, it is from my Father's House. Yeah, the first one was also my Father's house. Anyway, the movers came quite early which is surprising for a Sunday. Their promised time was 1030 in the morning but they were early by 40 minutes. So early that I forgot to change my shirt. So, if any of your guys were passing by and saw an old fart with torn shirt, that's me.

 The plane was that my Wife would drive to the new house and wait while I coordinate the picking up from my end. I am not sure how much my Wife negotiated with the movers but they told me that anything after the half of the lorry, it would be counted as a 3-ton move instead of 1-ton. So, I made sure the bigger stuff were given priority. Anything that cannot be shoved into a car goes in to the lorry.

 

In less than 10 minutes after my left for the new house, I got a WhatsApp message saying that the lorry is right outside the house. We had to be very careful because of two low lying cables.

Just like the last time, the movers played 3-Dimensional Tetris to make sure everything fits and does not go over the half-line. So we have tables, cabinets and some chairs, plus long big-ass boxes going in.

Something fell out. This is a head from the Fujimi 1/20 F1 Racing Pit Team

Just exactly 30 minutes later, they are set to go to the new house. Again, we had to make sure the cables were not snagged since the lorry was quite high. Guess who wanted the thief's shoes?

One of the problems with buying food for a large family. What is left over would be kept in the fridge. So when the fridge is full, food would be stuff where there is available space. As items move in a out, overtime, some would be forgotten...

One last look, the old friend.

With the lorry going first, I , as the Dutiful Son, waited for my Dad to wake up (Hey, its Sunday) before wishing him the best. These are the smaller stuff that comes with me and most of them were from my Daughter's room. I wanted to show you the eFX MkIX Tricorder but at the last minute, my daughter's white frame thingy blocked it.

About 70 minutes later, I was greeted with this scene. MIL made sure the Red Cloth was put up.

And she brought in a lot of food just for Lunch.

At the end of the day, this will be my Man-Cave which for the very first time, I get to utilise 100% of the available space. And yeah, even that is not enough.

 

20240529 Bolting a Boltless Rack

 I need to set up the newly Wife endorsed Man-Cave as soon as possible. Right after moving in, the first priority is to have the 'stuff' organised and put away so that I can have some semblance of working space. I was shopping for another rack and since the first (bought through my Wife) was quite sturdy where each shelf was capable of supporting 400Kg.

 The original shelves were quite expensive and therefore, using the same spec, I decided to a cheaper alternative, where each shelf is capable of supporting half the weight. Not only that I had to solve the issue to someone being there to receive the big package. I mean this shelf is 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Which seller can ship their product to me within this week was my main priority. Because it would be ackward and too bulky to fit into my car. Not only that, this might be the straw which could break the camel's back; I am sure our Office is quite tolerant on Staff receiving packages but this is too big to put away.

  Anyway, I got them in under three days. Maybe it was the rain but one great thing about Shopee Xpress is that they would give the Customer a call before sending it over. The amount of huffing and puffing (that can blow a pig's house down) got me at least 20 feet before I had to ask for assistance. Yeah, I'm getting old.

The Before
This is the Man-Cave which is next to the kitchen and the stuff that you see is just a fraction of what I had accumulated. If I were to bring in the rest from the other two locations, I would need half the house.

I was quite surprised at how flexing the heavy package was. Opening it, I was quite dismayed that the four corner beams had to be joined, hence the eight short pieces. The wooden boards were about 5mm thick.

These are the four clips to join the eight corner beams together. Some of them we bent and because the metal was so thin, I can just use my pinkie to shape it back.

I had to re-think my steps as assembling this 200Kg version is quite different from the 400Kg version. All through the stages, the metal frames were swaying here and there. This is making me losing my confidence in the whole shelf.

OK, by this time, I am pissed. With sweat coming down like a waterfall and some from unknown pores too. What you're seeing here are the middle beams that will be used to hold the long horizontal beams together. Each level would have two of these. I had to use a pair of pliers to bend the tabs. Of course I can use my hands but I want this to be as accurate as possible.

The corner beams were starting to lean out. Good thing I decided to assemble the lower half first for strength. Seriously, while I was sweating like a pig, I really regretted buying this shelf.

 

The After
After one and a half hours, this is the result. Notice the difference?
The original rack was 6 feet tall, 5 feet wide. The current pos (piece of sh1t) is 5 feet tall, 6 feet wide. So, the new cabinet is jutting out and is almost touching the arch. And I cannot stack more stuff since the height is now one feet less. These are paper boxes and with our Malaysian weather which has high humidity, they will soften and eventually crumble.

 

Mush as I hate to say it, the original plans have now gone out of the window.
For a start, I don't have the L-Shaped table and the metal cabinet across it has been given to the wife. Only the original shelf (left) remains and if I were to keep the new shelf, the two Ikea Detolf display cabinets would have to move out. If I buy another shelf, I would have to decide where to place this stupid pos. and it would still cost me.

The Aftermath

I guess the next move would be to solve the issue of the current shelf which I am not too pleased about. Once that is done, the next issue would be to consolidate the remaining stuff which is about three times the volume. I guess I'll be at Amcorp Mall selling stuff that was accumulated over the decades...

20240526 Our very first Dinner

 After more than two decades, we finally got our own house at the more or less ideal location. House hunting is an adventure and somehow, it was not really a rush thing. But eventually, we needed to have our very own space and more importantly, I want my Wife to be free. And the same goes for my Kids.

 This house had some sentimental meaning where just about 10 years ago, we were inside and also interacted with the original owners. We never thought much about it but a decade later, we are now the new owners. And I am grateful.

 

 

A very simple yet delicious dinner. No matter what ingredients were available, she made it so delicious.

One of my BIL gave me this, which was when the girls were young. I was saving it for special occasions such as this. At that time in it only costs RM60 from Langkawi which was tax-free.

Upon opening it, the residue on the mouth was bad news. The Amarula has turned into one solid hunk of alcoholic custard. Although I have stored properly, apart from the inescapable heat. Being a fruit based cream liquer it tends to spoil faster. The website mentions up to 24 months from production. So, yeah, damn.

 

20240524 Fixing Vee-Chai's ass

 Ever since I got the car, I can (not) remember the times I had to open the boot. It was OK for the first few years but after that, I have to remind myself that the boot is not holding anymore. Either that or Gravity will do it for me.

 Sadly, there are times when I needed to use it, this problem can be a real headache. The rear boot, with its glass panel is heavy. And therefore, using my head as support is a no-no but I did it anyway. I mean, it is much safer than a stick which can break or slip, causing the boot to slam down hard or even, main someone.

 Normally, the rear boot is help up by a pair of dampeners (or absorbers) and once it reaches the specific angle, the boot will lock in place. But now, with those absorbers gone, nothing works. I am fine with that. But then, just last month (or two), the boot cannot be opened anymore. After digging around, I realised the lock mechanism has gone bye-bye. To be specific, one of the plastic part holding the thick piece of metal has shattered. OK, this means the car is more secure since the only way to open the boot is through the rear seats... I'm still OK with that.

 Or so I thought. I forgot that the coming Sunday would be the second trip for the Movers. Yeah, we're moving to our very own house. In other words, I'd need to repair the boot asap since I would be using it a lot. And so, the back burner lock got ordered and arrived within a few days. And doing this is as easy as 1, 2, 4...

 Open Sesame

The first thing I'd need to do is to get the boot opened. Its a very simple thing except that my mind could not 'store' the experience I had weeks ago when opening it for the very first time. So, I had to fiddle with the oil mechanism much longer than I wanted to before my fingers remembered what needed to be done (and as soon as it did that, I've forgotten whether to turn it left or right...).

To reach the lock mechanism, I had to remove 12 plastic clips holding the rear panel.
Later on, I could not find them after keeping in a safe place...

The main culprit is this lock (yellow). It has a solenoid which disengages the handle above.
When I pull the handle, it will push the long metal rod to engage the lock.

Here is the new lock mechanism. This is the part (yellow arrows) which caused the whole boot to fail. Its main job is to make sure the metal rod does not come out of its socket. Then again, this little bro has been doing its job for more than 10 years.

The dampeners

The next thing is to get the boot to stay in position so that changing the lock mechanism would be easier. Unfortunately, in my arrogance thinking this was a simple job, I forgot to watch some YouTube videos and went straight into the task.

While I'm at it, I have also ordered the boot dampeners to scratch that decade old itch.

The first issue is that I am not sure if I can just pop the dampener out of its socket. So, it was better to just unscrew it. I have to be very careful since the nut felt soft and after a few tries, the edges were almost gone. If my adjustable spanner had feelings, it would be pissed.

As the screws had very  or almost no exposure to the weather, this is how the original white paintwork on the left side looked like. The rest of the grime was due to the weather and also my leaving it exposed for a year while I was away working in another State across the Sea.

    

The nut on the right though, was rusted but luckily, I was still able get a strong grip with the spanner

The new dampener (above) and the original (below). I made sure both lengths are the same and you can actually twist the ends a little for this.

 I did not take images of the steps to replacing them but here are the main points.

1. Use a stick to hold the boot up.

2. Unscrew both dampeners. This is the part where things can get tricky. You'd need to hold the boot higher (and also worry about the supporting stick falling) while you unscrew. If you do not, the nut, which is pressed by the boot, can be a real pain in the butt.

3. Screw in the new dampeners with the thinner end at the boot. At this point, if you are doing this by yourself, you cannot, and I really mean, cannot, close the boot. The results can be expensive.

4. Lift the boot higher so that the other ends of the dampeners can each reach their respective screw hole.

5. Try closing and lifting the boot but do not shut it or else you'd need to unlock it from the inside again.

 

 

Changing the locks

OK, now comes the most easiest part of this evening's adventure. The rear boot's lock mechanism is held with four 10mm bolts. And it is controlled with a group of wires. Remove all those, replace the part and put everything back together.

The electrical connection to the lock mechanism is locked into place via a clip. Just carefully unclip it and then release the plug.

My finger shows where the plastic part had broken on the old lock (left). The new lock as its own metal rod too.

I'm not sure on how to explain this but you just insert the other end of the rod into this plastic hole, turn the white plastic part around it will lock it into place. This is from the other side of the handle, located above the lock.

Ta-daa! All done and the metal rod is locked into place

And done! This took about an hour, far longer than I anticipated but I am glad it is done.
The only thing now is to find the 12 plastic clips so I can close the rear panel.

 

20240520 The Speaker from the Bin

 There is this unusual appeal when it comes to dumpster diving. Maybe it's the insatiable curiosity of wanting to know more about the owner and their history. Which usually boils down to, 'Who in their right mind would buy/ own this piece of junk?' judgement and then take it. There is usually nothing nice when it comes to raiding a waste bin as there would be the usual rotting pulp and dangerous sharp rusting pieces. However, some do it for survival and some well, for other reasons than survival.

 So I was dumping stuff as usual when I came across this nice Speaker. It has a nice heft to it and even a USB/ SC Card slot which means, it can play MP3s. The display confirms that and it can also pick up FM radio transmission. Anything except Bluetooth. Anyway, the next thing is to find out what was the reason it was thrown away and if there's nothing wrong, perhaps I can repurpose it for the boys, that is, if Boss agrees.

Uh-oh, as soon as the euphoria died down, I realised what this was.
A sub-woofer unit with the input and amplifier built into it. The unit was able to switch on and using a USB drive, it can play MP3s but with a muffled sound (obviously).

From the side, it has output for two satellite speakers via the RCA connections and an AUX via a 3.5mm Stereo jack. I have not turned the box completely as I'd need to know the amplifier's Wattage and speaker's impedance. Worst case would bet o open the box and look for clues. Right now, it has a supposedly model code of I-21-695

Update: 20240529

From the Internet, it is a 48W (Total Peak power) speaker system that comes with a remote. The model is E-221CR/FM. The Sub is a 5" while the satellite speakers are 3". I'm not sure of the impedance but one day, after the move, I'll try with a speaker.

I mean, this is a cheap system, and it's going for RM100 as a used unit. So, yeah, if I were to create a pair of replacement speakers, it would costs more.

 

20240519 The Gas-Lighting remote

 So, I had this remote which replaced the previous remote that was replaced by the previous, previous remotes and more remotes after that. The problem with these remotes are that they are literally the Gatekeepers of the house and would not let any nonsense through. They do their job diligently and if you do not please them with the correct protocols, you're locked out.

 We, or rather, I cannot live without remotes, especially the gate remotes. When I was a kid, we were the ones who got out of the car and opened the gates while our parents waited in the car. I cannot remember if it rained but I supposed I think I did fight for the umbrella for the privilege to open the gates. By the time I was in my late-thirties, we had automated gates. The automated gate was no longer a jaw-dropping event or a luxury gadget for the rich.

 Owning a remote has become a natural since by this time, even my first car has a remote. These remotes work well and sometimes, it is fun to play with them. There was a time in the 90's where during my Friend's Wedding and we played with the car remote. His car was visible from more than 100 feet and so, everytime we armed or disarmed his car, people who were looking for parking space would swarm in. After about a minute or so, they realised it was a prank, they would drive off.

 The only time it was not fun with the remote was when the battery ran down. Or its frequency drifted if the remote was using a variable capacitor. THAT was a pain to tune if all you had was a small metal screwdriver. Or, when one or two of those small tactile push buttons failed. And one more, when the battery contacts oxidised. So, you'd end up activating the remote closer (as if standing next to it) or, whacking that damn thing.

 For my case, this remote I believe was either due to the oxidised battery contacts or, the push buttons themselves. The end result was causing me to doubt myself if I had pressed the button or not. So, I had to press again, this time, really staring at the remote as if it just nicked my hand or something. And they stupid little red Led lit up like normal. So, I kinda got gas-lighted.

 

See the mischievous grin on the remote? Yeah. The little gas-lighting f*cker.

 

I was forced to buy a used pair of slippers for RM35

 Yeah, that was expensive for a simple pair and I had no say in it. I did not even like the design but what's done is done and there's no refund either. In other words, while we were sleeping, a thief broke into my car.

 Long ago, I used to lock my car but with the, "Viper Armed" and "Viper disarmed" sound everyday, it kinda got tiring after a few years. And with my Bengmobile2, because the 'original' buzzer broke, I used a Proton Wira type of sounder, the also became tiring fast. Usually (most of the time when the school is out) when start the car for work, the sound can be quite jarring. Not only the whole house will know my odd-hours escape attempts, even the neighbours too. Having a weird work hour schedule is really asking for it. Thank goodness I stopped locking the car before someone else did it for me. I'm the only guy who does not lock his car...

 And for years, right in the compound, protected by high walls and fencing that challenges even the highest dwarf, I felt safe. Or rather, we all became complacent, never thought of such things could still happen after the turn of the Century. Yeah, we have have these decades ago because of the renovations around the area. Although it could not be proven, we do know, it was the the workers being adventurous at night since they're staying there.

 Anyway, it hit me when I was entering the car to go to work. I was wondering why the coins drawer was opened since I did not use any coins the previous night. And then, why did I open my Glove Box as well? The questions turned from 'Why' to 'Who'after seeing the pair of slippers. Looking back at the coins drawer, some notes were missing. And yeah, that's when I realised, my car had been broken into.

 

1. Why did I open the coins drawer? OK, it was more for cigarette butts. Then again, this car was designed in the last few decades where smoking was still considered OK.
2. I never do open the glovebox unless I need to use the tissue after there are no more 'clean' space on my arms to wipe my mouth.
3. These are not even my slippers but they do look comfortable.

 

 Still, I am not sure why the pair of slippers were left behind. Looking at them, these size 8 slippers were still in good condition. I am guessing that the thief took their time in the car and only disappear once they hear movement in the house when I was getting ready for work. After discussing it with the Family we reaslised this was an on-going problem for years. Even my Brother's sweat soaked torn laundry were taken as well. (OK, I was suprised at that one, maybe it was during the dark of the nights.)

They do look comfy though but I ain't gonna touch them. So, for the rest of the week, they traveled with me...

Nowadays, banks are not interested in converting and accepting your coins.
I have to find one that does since I have a 1/3 water bottle full. Kinda dropped some coins everytime I can but nowadays, we're all using online transactions.

Luckily, the bags designed by Dave Liew were still there.

 Later in the evening as I came back from work, my RM200+ seldom worn sneakers were gone. It was a present from my Wife which I would wear on special occasions. Well, hope you get run over by a cat driving a steam-roller, thief.

20240511 Mixing my own drinks

 This is one of my typical mix. It kinda came about after reading on the Internet how people are mixing their Soju with Yakults. Since I (still) can't handle my alcohols, I guess the next best thing would be to replace it with 100Plus. Knowing each component has their own sugar content at 325ml per can, surprisingly, 100Plus (21.45g) contains less sugar compared to Ice Cream Soda (36.4g). No wonder the F&N Ice Cream Soda made it taste better. I have yet to try Tonic Water which has slight bitter taste due to the quinine but coming from Schweppes, it has 28.925g per can. In the end, if I want to go further on this, I'd have to get one of those soda maker machines (Soda Stream) that pumps C02 gas into the water/mixture. It was fun when I tried that as a kid. Fun but expensive.

 Looking back at the mixture, I can cut down on the cordial and increase the Calpis but I'd only get a hint of mango. Adding some milk might be interesting but I am not sure how it would react with the carbonated 100Plus. Still at the end of a long day, I just want to sit down, take some sips and torture myself with circuit designs...

Here's the link where I got the sugar content from, but there is no date of when it was last updated.