20261110 Changine the Polarizer on VeeChai's Audio Unit

 A Little bit of History

 Once upon a time, aka a long, long time ago, sometime in 2011, I got a 1.3 Myvi SE. Apart from the Engine, the Audio unit was working non-stop everytime VeeChai was on the road. And so, after about 15-years, the front of the audio unit has started to deteriorate.

 

What is the Happening

 It seems that the polarizer has failed or rather, succumbed to the Malaysian Vehicular heat. So, the only logical solution is to buy a ne... er, get another polarizer. After being with the current company for years, maintenance is more of less pulling out and pushing back plastic trims, along with the holding screws. Japanese cars are mostly designed to slip together, helping to speed up repairs.

 

 Removing the Fascia

  The first thing I need to do is to remove all the decorative plastic trims and stuff so that the Audio unit is free from any obstructions.

There was not much Sun today and so, with a soothing breeze, I figure it was a good time to do this, outside of the house.

The black piece of plastic is the polarizer and the transparent ones are most likely some protective layer. Whereas the solid plastic at the top was a soft protective plastic which I meant to remove some time ago, maybe a decade ago but well, I got lazy.

To remove the three knobs, firmly grip their pointing arrows and then yank it out. You can use pliers or stuff but you need to have some cloth over them and do it carefully in case you slip. Once that is done, remove the two screws on the left and right knob area. 

The next thing you need to do is to remove the coin holder so you can remove the two screws.

 

With that, you are now free to slowly yank out the two front fascia. You need to remove them together as the upper and lower parts are clipped together.

If you want, you can remove the cigarette lighter cables but do make sure which is which since this is DC and some devices can be polarity sensitive. 

Once you are clear you can now remove the Audio unit's upper flange by removing the two screws on the sides. 

Then take a T10 to remove the bottom two screws.

Like all electronic equipment, do not yank out everything because there are wire and cables still attached..

Just as I guessed although I was not surprised. The Mechanic who removed the whole dashboard had difficulty putting back the left screw. And it's nowhere to be found in the car.

Do note the orientation of the cables but in this case, the smaller connector is on the left while the larger one would be on its right. The thick cable on the far right would be the Aerial. So, if you're replacing the aerial later, you might have to open up even more.

 

Replacing the Polarizer 

Putting the Audio unit face down (if you can have some support with a hole for the Volume knob, it was even better) and remove the two small screws.

Using a flat blade, carefully unclip the edges all around the front fascia.

Again, make sure you do not yank the two parts immediately. In this case, carefully remove the small connector by holding its both sides and rocking it left to right.

Slowly unscrew the four screws. Use a big screwdriver so that you do not mutilate the screw heads. Press into the screw and slowly twist. If you hear a click before it gives way, you know that this audio unit has never been opened before.

Carefully lay the two parts as if you're opening a book. This is because there is a small thin pair of cables to the microphone. You can remove it but in my case, I am not going to.

This area is where the LCS' gum kinda messed up. After IPA failed, I used Lighter fluid cleaner but the effect was minimal.

It is not easy because the lighter fluid clears up fast. I am not even going to remove the whole LCD assembly and thoroughly clean the glass with, say, thinner.

Anyway, I cut the replacement polarizer to size and using the fluid lighter as 'lubricant' against the original glue, I slid the piece and slowly remove the remaining protective sheet. The polarizer comes with two sides of protective clear sheets.

A rogue piece of the original polarizer sheet got stuck inside.

Screw #4 had a broken pillar. This is strange as the unit was never subjected to any brute force. I can suspect the Mechanic but there was no prove.

A very beautiful design where the whole A/C unit, the coins holder was lit with these two T5 orange bulbs.

Finally, all is done after 70 minutes. And I am not happy because looking at the screen, I knew I did a boo-boo, most likely because I oriented the polarizer sheet at the wrong angle. When I have the time, I am going to remove that sheet and this time, properly alight the remaining polarizer sheet again.

20261108 Apple Game: Beyond Castle Wolfenstein

 Another one of those Apple II games I loved was the Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. Your mission is to infitrate the Bunker, steal the timebomb, place it inside the Conference Room and then make your way back before the timer runs out.

 What made it great was how you dealt with the patrolling Guards. You can show them the use-once passes or at the last resort bribe them at the third try. The passes would change randomly once you exit the room. So, when you re-enter again, you need to show a different pass. Yes, to preserve the passes, you can kill them once their back is facing you. But the best thing? Getting the knife which you can bump them just by bumping into them once their back is turned.

 

The Exciting part

1. The Passes

 You need to have some passes ready. When you are challenged, you need to  produce the pass which disappears once they have been use. If the passes are wrong, then it is wasted. If memory serves me right, at the third try, you need to bribe them.

2. Unlocking the Cabinets

 Apart from killing the Guards and stealing their stuff, opening the locks of the cabinets are fun and there was no such thing as limited tries. You start by guessing the first digit with a random keypad number. Once you hear a click, that's your first digit. So, using the first same digit, you need to repeat the same for the other two numbers.

 The funny thing was, this technique allowed me to 'rescue' locked Toshiba PBX phones of a certain model when I was an Engineer.

3. Draw a Map

 You will need to backtrack to Level 1 fast once you have planted the timebomb at the Third Level. I cannot remember if the map layout is consistent during a Game and only changes with a new game. Anyway, once or twice I had to (R)eset the bomb out of the Guard's line of sight because I forgot the map's layout. but according to Zolton & Mr. Buster, the map should be the same.

 

The 'Cheat'

1. Phasing Guards out of existence

 Apart form the ones sitting at a Desk, you can phase a Guard out by walking alongside with them up until the egress doorway of each room. once you are out of that room, walk to the 'lane' where the Guard in the previous room was supposed to be. Once you have re-entered the room, that Guard is gone. This is so much more effective than the Knife. The Guard at the desk won't even raise the alarm even if you did the dirty in front of them.

 2. The one above is the only one I know.

 

 Summary

Unlike Aztec, this Game still intrigues me because of the breaking the combination of Locked cabinets and also, phasing out Guards.

 

 

 

20261108 Apple II Game: Aztec

 

I played this game many times over on a green monitor. It brought hours of fun but also, kinda my first fun foray into cheating. What I hated was the closing walls which I could do nothing but watch the character die a slow death.

 

 Eventually, one day, I realised, by some weird keystrokes, I can make the Character 'float' through screens and levels, thus enabling me to escape that dreaded walls.

The unfortunate thing was that this allowed me to complete the Game faster and eventually, that made me lost interest in it.

 

 This is one of the issues once you start to cheat. Once you have discovered the working mechanics of the game, the countdown to doom starts. You can have Fun beating the Game, and even do weird what if experiments but after awhile, the feeling of euphoria jades. Once the curtain has been pulled, everything looked easy and you'd feel invincible, like a God. The challenge is gone and you don't even want to play anymore.

 

I suppose this is also a potential feeling if you can live forever or well, created your own Country...

 

 

20261105 Today's Rain is Weird

 It started with a light drizzle and then continued with a heavy downpour. Just as I thought that it would stop, it continued to the point some of us were worried

Just like a full-course meal, the rain teased us with a light drizzle which we did not pay much heed. It was only after I re-parked my car nearer to the Office did the Sky opened up. There was no thunder nor any light shows; just a heavy, unrelenting torrent of water. By this time, some of us were worried since our Office is an easy target from flood waters. Then suddenly, just as we thought it had ended, it did not. Although we were ready to battle the flood, it was just a small fight and sadly, it was time to go home.

We could always wait and see if the flood would rise later in the evening or just come in tomorrow to clean up the mess. In the end, I just said, F**k it and drove home...

And it was not a good drive since some parts of the road were flooded while everyone is going to the Stadium for the Weeknd Concert.

 

The view is quite blurry with all the rain so I took this image with a slow speed, changed the aperture and then gave it a slight yellowish tint. Now it looked more like we're in a Blade Runner environment!

 

20261028 Communicating with the Mis-Communicated

 The Regular

 When I like a certain place, I would always go there. Still, at the back of my mind, I have to remind myself not to frequent that place too much. The people there would start to know me and stuff. In the end, they would not welcome with with open arms but just greets me with a nod or something like that. This is where, you graduated from being the 'usual' guy to the VIP or The Regular.

 

The Problem with being the Regular

 I have seen it and I believe, most of you have too. When you go to a place and suddenly, The Regular walks in, some of the Staff would sharply take notice and look at the Guy as if he is the one who saved their lives. "The usual, Sir?" or "[ order] coming right up!" would be heard while the Guy goes to their Usual Seat. As for the rest, they would either wonder what the heck had just happened or wished that They were The Regular.

 As for me, I hate that. Not because I already moving towards accepting my introvertness but I could foresee some untoward things that could happen. And this usually ends up affecting me financially. 

 

I said, Dua biji Telur setengah masak! (Two half-boiled eggs)

 Since it was around ten past ten, I decided to have a nice brunch to stave off the cold from (sitting) in the office. I were to go on, my body's temperature would have matched that of the office. Its either that or I become a walking popsicle.

 So, I walked to the Mamak using the Cloak of Invisibility since I do not have the orange crate with me. And the Mamak greeted me as if I was one of his long lost, um... someone who brought in loads of cash. After placing my order of a hot pulled coffee (Kopi Tarik) and two, I mean TWO half-boiled eggs, I sat down. And after some minutes, they came.

 Except it was a late of Roti Telur (Roti Canai with egg inside). Since he already made it, there is no point in cancelling, I ate as fast as I could like a man eating as fast as he could without tell others that he ate as fast as he could. And then, 9 minutes later, as I was paying, I was surprised at the total bill. Apparently, he did make the half-boiled eggs and slid them to my left which I was unaware of, while eating (as fast as I could on) the Roti Telur. How it happened is, I guessed he ASSUMED I wanted the Roti Telur since it was my 'usual order' yesterday and the week before. This is why I hate this kind of thing but since I ate it, I haz to pay it...

  

The sad part was, while waiting for the half-boiled eggs, I grabbed two curry puffs and by this time, I was famished. 

 

Fucker did a Ninja on me and now, I have to eat the damn eggs as well.

 

Not sure what happened to the egg boiler or, perhaps he did not bring it to the full boil but as you can see, it is about 10% cooked. I was already in a rush, so stupid being stupid, I gulped the slimy concoction (sans eyes), paid and rushed off. Funny, thing was, it did not taste metallic, something I was dreading apart from food poisoning.

 

20260915 Hyping up your Balls

  In some cases, there are situations which forces you to make decisions you'd never have the guts to carry it through. It's going to be a very bad day if you're not prepared for the consequences...

 

 Hi, my name is Chow and I am going to use a few minutes to explain some things.

 Throughout our lives, we do face some unacceptable instances which creates stress, conflict, unpleasantness, and more importantly, stress. And, while we're at it, more stress. It would sometimes forces that person to be incapable of rejecting insane logic or even, doing some sane decision making. I would not argue whether stress is good or bad since the results are individually dependent.

 But, there are signs which that person unknowingly projects. Signs that are so obvious to the surrounding, you'd want to go up and ask, "Hey Buddy, what is wrong?" and "Do you want another slap in the face?". Hopefully, this would help them snap back into their dreary, boring and stressful Life. Or, they would just decide to go through with whatever options that was last on their minds. But trust me, eating a burger would be the last thing anyone would think of.

 Unless you have been on a hunger strike in front of a Burger Stall, which no one cares nor would they want to care.

 So, I have an example today and this person has been on the downhill slide of Life since he got married recently, like last year. Or, was it the year before? Anyway, without ever speaking a word or even vocalising it, his behaviour showed. We had so many instances of him slacking that it's no point writing it down since it would take pages. So, it's not my problem.

His Team mates were complaining. Not my problem. 

His Customers are complanig. Not my problem.

Eventually, Management took notice. Not my problem.

 It had gotten so and that more things went downhill because as things escalates as they wont to do, everyone took notice. And so, it is still, not my problem.

When you're at your wit's end, your Balls would have enlarged and doing this is not an issue anymore since you felt that you have nothing to lose. Unless you fucked up the Interview...

 

 So, we come to this breaking point, where the person felt cornered and unable to make any move to escape. And he is desperate and so, he needs to make a move or decision. Either one would suffice because this would, in his mind, convince him that he is doing something to stave off the crushing madness. Yes, it is all in his mind and to do what he did, everyone considered him to be the Hero with balls to make that statement. Yahoo! Go, him!

 But in actual reality, it is like buying expensive stuff and making commitments first because you bought a Lottery ticket that tells you the First Prize was in the Millions. Boy, imagine his Face when the results was not what he expected.

The Sad Reality

  So, what happens after you have announced your anti-stress breakthrough solution and the confetti are still in the box? Yeah, Life as you know it, would be in your Face, waiting to perform plastic surgery with a baseball bat.

 And in real life, that person would need to be isolated since the chances of work sabotage can be potentially high. This is also the instance where he or she will be under the Management spotlight, which, as expected, plies on more stress on top of the embarrassment should they need to crawl back to the Office. In the end, what stayed would be a dry husk of a former person which, by all definition, a useless employee...

20260905 The Obvious Child & Reebok

 The Percussions which got me started

 When I was in the UK in the early 90's there was one Ad which got me hooked due to the drum beats. It was a Reebok Ad where every step or hit synchronised with the beats. Not only did the imaginative visuals centred on the white line, it had a lot of meaning to it (which I was quite oblivious). And so, began my search for that song, naively thinking it could be a CD single or some movie soundtrack...

 

Cue Paul Simon

 So, the next closest thing I could get my hands on was Paul Simon's The Obvious Child, the song which was also used in a 2014 Movie of the same name. I played the single over and over again in my BengMobile I most of the time (until it got replaced with some other songs) because it had a Sony sub-woofer. 

 I was very hooked on the background percussions and not so much on his voice. So, as usual, I will spend some time looking into the Instrumental version (not Karaoke) and maybe, even the Samba-raggae  Grupo Cultural Olodum.

 

 

 

20260901 The anger of being Angry

 Where did it come from?

 I don't think it was because while I was settling for Dinner, we all realised no one (me) was picking up my Kid's end of shift at 1930.

 I don't think it was because of some nut made an illegal U-turn in front of me and I forgot to horn him.

 But it might have been as well. Because I can feel that anger simmering when I got back. And due to the way I drove. With my Wife gone now, my Mind was quite flustered.

The Trigger

 As soon as I plopped my Wallet on the boxes, the Bluetooth earplug set fell off and rattled on the floor.

 Thinking its a non-issue, I reached to pick it up. But its rounded shaped eluded my fingers

 I bent down again and picked it up. Yet is slipped away.

 By the third time, I was already annoyed. So I grabbed the fucking thing. And it slipped away again.

 Last straw. Picked up the fucking piece of shit after I leaned way down. Crushing grabbed the shit and it won't budge. Only thing on my mind was this is a shit earpiece as the sound was all muffled.

 Smashed it on the floor and it broke to pieces. 

 Temper went down very fast after that.

 

The Aftermath

 Saw the pieces all over the hard tiles. Don't give a fucking shit.

 Anyone stepped on the debris? Don't care.

 Phone went silent, realized its Bluetooth was connected to that fucking pink shit. Un-paired the fuck out of it.

The fcking battery is small and everything was snap-fit together.

 

20260831 Mike Oldfield's The Bell MC'ed by Viv Stanshall

For the past few weeks, I was quite a happy camper having converted both my Mike Oldfied's Tubular Bells II CD and the YouTube's 1992 Concert in Edinburgh into FLAC format. Both versions were such melodious delight. The latter, being a Live session, had more noticeable instruments than on the CD.

 

Is that all, Sir? 

 I know that in this World, nothing is perfect and the pursuit of such can be maddeningly challenging. In the CD Album, the MC for The Bell was the late Alan Rickman (aka A Strolling Player). I found out there were others, and surprised that Billy Connolly had the privilege too. Then came Vivian Stanshall.

 Compared to Mr. Rickman, Mr. Stanshall's voice was warmer, almost playful, like that smiling and warm Uncle who greeted you at the Door. And yeah, for a short moment, I was obsessed with it. The first YouTube video was from presumably, a VHS source as this was done very long ago and sadly, Mr. Stanshall had passed away in 5th March, 1995.

 

 This was the first version which got me into searching for a much clearer recording.

 

Which eventually led me to this version. It was the same as on the CD but with his voice as the MC. 

20260826 Having Fun with Crafty Amigo

The Problem 

  Some time ago, we realised we have an issue in the wet kitchen in the form of the Dish dryer. For those who are not familiar, it is basically a box with a lid where you keep your washed dishes and utensil until they dry off or when you need to use it again. Living in a humid country, it takes a longer time to dry them off. By then, you'd notice the pool of water at the bottom has become slimy and worse, apart from dead insects, there are mosquito larvae happily swimming in there.

 My Wife has asked me to come up with a solution, which is essentially to create a drainage hole at the bottom of the box. The fastest and easiest solution would be to purchase a new one that already has a drainage system. But since the Dryer is a gift from Family, we have to drill it to bi... er, treat it with loving care.

Our Dish Dryer looked similarly like this. Except there is no heater, the lower box is another colour, the placement for the utensil are in the opposite direction and so on.

 

The Open Loop...

 Yeah, I just learn about this today, where the meaning of the term, 'Open Loop' is quite different from an Engineering perspective where it is meant as a non-feedback system control system. But here, it is a term for unresolved task that forces you to use more of your thoughts. For example, I need to have some ice-cream, but the shop closes at 10pm, which is too late for me, because I could be fetching someone but they have not answered my messages which I need to confirm so that I can use the extra hour after dinner to finish some Projects and I then I would also need to take a look at the... as so on. It is quite taxing and at the end of the day, you're just mentally exhausted to the point of being too tired to think about anything.

 

 ... vs Overthinking

 Of course I can solve this with just buying a new Dryer, which has a nifty little drawer you can slide out and throw away the excess water. But would the Family member be offended if they realised we have changed the dryer? What if we forgot about the drainge and the small drawer overflows? How are we going to clean the whole thing to prevent molds and so on.

  So, that is one solution I am not going to entertain. Rather, I am going with another solution which is so mind-boggling and excessive; build our own Dish Dryer stand. The main reason is that the two solutions have one main obstacle which is the edge of the sink. The former's drawer needs to overcome the sink's bumpy edge during the sliding out. While the latter, I would have to build the stand so that it can hover that very same edge. 

 

 

Anyway, I found an online tool that lets you build anything possible with PVC pipes called CraftyAmigo. The site is sometimes slow and clunky but then, I realised that this is due to my Internet connection. If there was an offline App, I would be able to learn and construct this in less than 90 minutes or so. It takes quite a bit to learn but after a few minutes, you're on your way. The only issue was me trying to figure out how to rotate a part in another axis, which is not in their selections. But select another one that has more joints, the options are there. Weird.

 

Just for clarification, the app allows me to colour the various parts. One issue is, no matter how hard I try, I cannot get the view I wanted, which is to turn the model clockwise to face me.

Most of the PVC parts are available here in Malaysia except for that on the lower left, which looked like a 'Y' lying on its side.

In some parts, you can 'rotate' them by selecting which options or configurations and then, rotate them. Something which is not possible with a 3-point basic connector. But hey, at least I got the job done.

There is even a parts list for you so you know what to get and how many. For me, this is not important as I have yet to measure the actual Dish Dryers dimension.

One more thing, it can even export your design to a few 3D formats with .stl being one of them. However, You'd need to examine the model carefully as in my case, I could not get some points to 'snap' into other points.

20260818 Bengmobile II's DVR

The ADDKEY 7-inch 1080P Car DVR Double lens rearview mirror Video Recorder Dashcam Auto Blackbox Night Vision Dash Cam (US $45.82)

 It's been quite awhile since I've taken a real hard look at VeeChai's DVR. To me, it is a very important part of the Car which, without it, would make it less important. Nowadays, the DVR comes as standard for every new car. Although it has not been made Law, thanks to those compensation-claiming bonnet-hugging scoundrels and those 'he said, I said' incidents, the DVR has become a very important. It not only protects both parties but gives you the potential to generate more likes and make it viral in SocMed.

 

How long was it again?

 Thinking back, this was my first DVR. I reasoned that in the long run, it was much cheaper to get a real one. And it was a much more reliable solution than taping a Mobile Phone to the front of the car. Not only are the double-sided tapes are not weatherproof, you can get disconnected during a Bluetooth call (because your phone went bye-bye in the middle of the road).

  Anyway, I got it sometime around December 2018 if I am not mistaken. But based on the Invoice Date, it was 12.11.2018 which makes it 7 Years, 9 Months (OK, and 7 Days, more or less.) If I remember correctly, its price was significantly reduced compared to other units. And so, I was very happy with the DVR. 

 

The Short-lived Joy of Temporary Happiness

 But very quickly, within the first few years, I noticed some degradation to the LCD screen. At first, I thought nothing of it since it was placed inside a rolling oven everyday. But later on, the degradation was apparent even on the saved footage. And the clock was always around the year 2017 every time I started VeeChai. 

  Over the years, I did open the unit on and off to check and diagnose the issue but it was always put on the back-burner since there was a lot happening in my Life such as The Pandemic, Moving Places, Work and Work after Work and more Work after the Work after Work. But one thing I can deduce from my exploration is that (apart from cheap faulty [imitation?] microSD cards), one, the 403040 Lithium Battery has failed and two, the lens on the CMOS sensor is clouded.

The two half shells for the DVR is secured with only 4 small screws and some internal clips. The cheapish plastic is quite brittle but then again, it was being cooked daily.

  

Finally, I remembered to buy the replacement 403040 battery.

   

I am not sure of the original lens spec but this 1/2.7 28mm version visually looked quite similar (heh)

 

I forgot to take the picture of the AFTER but somehow, after seeing the original lens, somehow, it should have been wider. The only good thing is, I can now adjust the focal distance since its thread was not glued.

 

Removing the original battery is not as easy as I thought because the glue is quite stubborn. Moreover, there is no proper window where I can throw it out of if things did go bad. Anyway, the spec is 3.7v 403040 with 1.48WH at 400mAh.

Yeah, that old glue sure is good. It allows for the battery to move slightly but can be quite strong when I tried to pry it off.

A piece of 3M DST in place of the old glue. All I need to do here is solder the Li-Ion battery to the circuit board. They did not use any connectors, maybe it is not to save cost but to ensure power is still available in a vibrating environment. The new 3.7v 403040 battery has a lightly higher spec of 1.665WH at 450mAh. I think I can get an even bigger and slightly thicker battery but nah, its going to touch the metal of the LCD screen and that is not a good idea.

 

Next is the camera. I need to remove the three bigger screws to the ring which holds the whole assembly. 

 

This is also the same ring that keeps the camera in place when it is turned about.

The two middle sized screws holds the lens. In the background is the old Li-Ion battery with its wires cut.

The new lens have the same screw location and also, the full-colour filter.

 

This is the sensor, which needs not to be disturbed. After blowing at the sensor (not with your mouth), I quickly put on the new lens.

 

After making sure the Li-Ion battery is secured and the lens put back in place, I powered the DVR with a Mobile Phone Power Pack. I figured since the DVR uses a very ancient USB connector, it must be using 5volts. Boy, I was lucky there.

 

Inside the car, I slowly adjust the focusing distance, which is slightly beyond the gates. The DVR will automatically focus on the subjects during operation. Once I am satisfied, I wiped both the screen and the lens before closing everything up. Although the screws are accounted for, there are still small bits of plastic which means the the DVR is going to break soon.

 

So far so good. The Li-Ion battery is working because it retained the current date & time plus all the settings I have entered. 

 

A FeW DaYs LaTeR... 

The DVR was behaving itself for the past few days and there was not much issue. However, playing back the files was another problem. I am guessing that the 16GB Kingston microSD card could be the issue. 

Maybe I should get a new microDC card and make it a 32Gb version

 

 

This is the quality of the Camera before I change the lens. It is incredible how I was able to only notice it now and yes, it was always April 2017...
 

 

This is how it looked after I replaced the lens. Yeah, the angle is a little less but that's OK.
 

In Summary

 Yes, I am a doofus for not noticing something so obvious for years. The DVR is just in front of me when I am driving. Maybe its the reflective mirror which blocked the errors but man, that is just lame.

 Anyway, I would not recommend you to open yours just because you think there is a problem. Remember, my DVR is at least 8 years old and was on the bargain bin. I am not too sure about the repairability of the current 'modern' models. Basically, you have a circuit board that is connected to a 1080 camera, a LCD screen, a Li-Ion battery and a speaker. The rest such as buttons, connectors and a microSD card reader are all on the PCB. They could share the same construction notes but we would be talking about the compactness of the product. Heck, they might not even have screws but welded shut with ultrasonics or fragile internal clips.