Cheap fridges

We have a cheap little bar fridge, Chinese made ofcourse and from previous experience I'm pretty sure it has something stuck in the compressor... In an attempt to free it up, I swapped the start and run windings and got it to kick over, after which it ran normally. Weird part was that when it cycled on the thermostat, it can't restart.

I'm at a loss to figure out what is happening, thinking about tipping it on its side to maybe force the item out the discharge and hope it doesn't block the capillary tube. Problem with that is I'll be giving the compressor a drink of oil which it is very unlikely to enjoy. That and getting oil into the evaporator and stuff will probably make it sad. Hmm, only real choice I have though. Think I'll give it a shot.

EDIT: I tilted the fridge over after I got it running again, compressor stalled as it got a sip of oil. Bit of persuasion seems to have got it to push the oil out the discharge and it's running again. Now I just hope that whatever was in there stalling it doesn't end up blocking the capillary tube.

EDIT: Well damn, seems this compressor is more annoying than I expected. May have to just leave it on it's side and try to start it a few times. I can't imagine the oil is going to do much to the rest of the system but it's the last chance it has. Really need to flush whatever it is in there out into the filter(?)/dryer.

EDIT: Yup, don't try that at home kiddies. Blew the gasket on the compressor trying to do that and embedded the broken off piece of valve well and truly into the piston.

Queensland floods

The internets came back today, after going out yesterday, and first thing I see on Facebook is people bitching and carrying on about how their phones are out or the internet is finally back. Or about how they didn't get any warning.

The way I see it is that: floods are made of water. Water and technology generally don't mix. If our society was smart enough, anyone with half a brain would be able to realise that the floods are likely to cause damage. The fact that Telstra managed to restore connectivity to the backbone(s) that were damaged in such a small timeframe is amazing.

Really, what is so bad about being without these services for a day or more anyway? A few decades ago these technologies were barely known. Take a moment to consider the amount of work and people who have spent their lives getting us to where we are today.

Thumbs up Telstra, and thumbs down general population of people who can't think for themselves.

Stop bitching and find something else to do.

/rant

End o' holidays

Meep. I've got about 6 days left of the school holidays, before starting Grade 12. What a fun time this is...

On the topic of all my projects, I seem to be looking at them all the wrong way, and seemingly ending them without any real results. The only actual project I'm working on at the moment is the biodigester, and it feels like that's not going to get very far anyway, without a great use or anything it'll end up just sitting and fading to nothing like all my other projects. Ah well, if you're reading this because it mentioned biodigester, good luck, hope you have a good use for it in mind.

What a fun post this was, ah well. I'm in that kind of mood.

Holiday update 2

Well, as talking to other people about wind power, it seems that's just not the best thing if it can't be above the house. That's one project down...

The next thing to spark my imagination, which is reachable are biodigesters. Thought being that I have a reasonable amount of grass, which when digested produces a reasonable amount of methane. Cheap solar power, in a way. That's my next project, so far I've almost completed a small digester based upon a 20L bucket, not sure how long it will last, or if the bacteria will grow without cow or horse poop to start it... Will be an interesting few weeks seeing what is produced, if successful I will probably put together another post on it. Future ideas are to scrub it of H2S and CO2, and possibly compress/store it to run a generator. Those are pipe dreams at the moment though.

Cheers for the read, if you have any suggestions or questions or want to remind me of this, please post a comment below. They are now able to be posted anonymously, which hopefully doesn't bring in much spam.

Council and Wind Turbines

As expected, my email to the local City Council about erecting a wind turbine was met with uncertainty, although the fact that they didn't just say "No, we're afraid it'll make noise and blow up and blah" gives me a little bit of hope. I sure wish they were able to just say "Don't make it too big and ugly and make it safe" rather than wrapping it in the cotton wool that is rules and regulations and stuff.

I've been advised to submit a "pre-lodgement enquiry" which seems to be something to be mailed in, this makes me wonder if it's going to be worth continuing this project over these holidays, as once school starts again I'm going to be met with a little less spare time.

Oh well, guess life wasn't made to be easy!

Holiday update

Sorry about the lack of posts over the last month or so, it's school holidays over here and it seems I have too many projects. Slowly working my way through a few, but I don't seem to be able to stick on one long enough to finish it. Hopefully soon!

Projects

• I've just sent an email to our local council to see if it's legal and/or what restrictions there are on backyard wind turbines. Guessing that's a project that will keep me going for a while.

• My dad has a little 20W solar panel that I'm considering mounting and wiring up, which I may or may not one day make a sun tracker and/or a MPPT for. Things to do!

• On my foundry/furnace, I fired the burner again today and I need to get a better oil pump, probably one out of a scrap car or something. I've also put the ZVS driver in an old ATX PSU case along with a MOT to power it, maybe an upcoming post! I've sent an email to Refractory and Ceramic who are based down in Victoria, and it seems that for the two bags of refractory I need, the ceramic wool, crucible and shipping will likely cost me upwards of $500. Depending on whether they get back to me or not, I might end up just making a refractory that won't last near as long but it may be enough to tell be whether it's worth it or not. 

• I've got some dimmers that are pretty simple which I also need to make a post on sometime, although first I have to add some filtering and install them. (On a cheap and nasty gasless MIG welder)

• Apart from that I've also been playing around with our rainwater system, for which I want to get a low pressure cutout hooked up. Looking to one day also add a greywater side to this to collect our shower/washing machine water, filter it and use it for the sprinklers. 

And that's about all, it seems I'm lacking the motivation I need to really get these projects done, but hopefully I can finish some if the goalposts come back into view!

If anyone has any comments, or would like to see a project (hopefully) finished, please drop a comment below and I'll be sure to take it on board.

Converting Macbook keyboard/touch pad into USB keyboard/touch pad

For those finding the title not overly helpful, this post is about adding a USB cable to a Macbook keyboard/touch pad for use with other computers.

The inspiration for this came about as I scoured the house for any trace of a USB keyboard, which led me to the Macbook featured in my previous post, creating a mini DVI to VGA adapter. A quick Google search led me to Cryozap, who had already done the heavy lifting with this project by finding the pinouts of the connector used by the keyboard, as seen in the post MacBook Core Duo Logic Board Keyboard Connector Pinout. Here is how I managed to attach a USB cable!

Decogging a Fisher and Paykel SmartDrive

DISCLAIMER:
This post involves decogging a Fisher and Paykel Smartdrive motor, with the use of power tools, welders and human strength. If you're attempting this as well, I take no responsibility for injuries that may greet you.

Following along with my plans of making a wind turbine, this post shows how I went about decogging the motors. Reading through The Back Shed articles, the two main ways of decogging a Fisher and Paykel Smartdrive motor seem to be
1. grinding off the corners of the stator poles
2. twisting the stator poles.
For the sake of learning, I went with trying both.

Making a SmartDrive decogging tool

This post requires the use of power tools and welders so if you are following this, don't be stupid, and make sure you know how to handle the tools as well as protect yourself from them. I take no responsibility for injuries that may come about from this post.

EDIT 10/10/12: Found more pictures.


Making this decogging tool requires access to a welder, so if you don't own or have access to a welder (be it through friends or work), you will have to think up another way. If you're really willing you could make your own welder out of microwaves. Milling machines can also be used to make the tool as seen on The Back Shed, credit to Jarbar for making the tool and it's much prettier than my own (see right).

PowerTech 0-24V bench top power supply teardown

 Here's my newest toy, a 0-24V, max 18A PowerTech branded switch mode benchtop power supply. In this blog we'll take a peek into the supply and see what makes it tick!