limelight79

This is really RV improvement, not home improvement, but I figure you would appreciate this.

We have a 1995 Airstream travel trailer that we bought in 2011. It still has the original rooftop air conditioner, which still cools very well.

During one trip, the air conditioner seemingly stopped working, but when I turned the thermostat down all the way, it cycled on again. After some trial and error, we found that it was now about 10 degrees off - if we wanted 72 degrees inside, we had to set the thermostat to 62. "Well," I said. "This thing is probably on the way out, and we'll be buying a new AC soon."

That was August, 2013. It continued to work that way until this January, during a trip to Disney World in Florida. It was cold enough early on that we didn't need the AC at all; in fact we got a picture of ourselves in the Magic Kingdom wearing our winter coats.

Later in our stay, it did warm up enough to need the AC, but now, with the thermostat on the lowest setting possible (60), we were only getting down to about 78 in the trailer. I had the trailer on a trip a few weekends ago, and had the same thing then; the problem didn't magically fix itself. Both times, it cooled and cycled on and off perfectly, as though 78 was the temperature I had selected.

78 isn't too bad, but it's like, what's next? When will it decide that, say, 90 is low enough? We travel with pets, and it's just not something I want to deal with. And neither of us sleep well in warm temperatures - and inevitably the cats and dog will curl up with us in that situation, making matters worse.

Maybe I'm cheap, but I hate to toss a working AC unit. And I like how that unit works - it's quieter than many new ones (not at all quiet, but quieter), and it can either run the fan constantly or change the fan speed as needed. It also has a heat strip, basically an electric heater, whereas newer ones have a heat pump instead - more efficient, but they don't work below about 45 degrees (I know home units can do much better than that, but RV units do not).

Note for this, the thermostat is right on the unit in the ceiling - it's not a separate part on the wall like in a house or even in newer RVs. Or even in some other RVs of that era, really. The actual control to set the temperature is a slider with markings that run from 60 to maybe 90.

Anyway, I figured the problem had to be either in the slider to set the temperature, or however it sensed the temperature. The slider seemed unlikely, because the issue is extremely consistent, and you'd think the slider wearing out would mean it would work sometimes and not others, that sort of thing, especially in a vehicle that gets bounced around on the road a lot. So that left the temperature sensor. I learned what a thermistor is - a variable resistor that changes resistance based on the temperature, and I realized one was mounted on the control board, with a section of the board carved away around it to let air get to it easily.

I ordered an assortment of thermistors from Amazon. I guessed it might be a 10k ohm thermistor, but I really didn't know for sure, and if the old one is bad, I can't trust the readings from it. I still can't find any documentation that states it either - it's 30 years old, and RV air conditioners tend to be disposable, and even if someone did diagnose it, they'd probably just replace the board. So, figuring I had nothing to lose, I desoldered the old one and soldered in a new 10k thermistor, and I put the board back in the AC.

IT WORKED! With the thermostat set to 70, it cycled off at about 72, which is good enough for us (and within the bounds of measurement errors on the thermometers I was using). Putting the thermistor in the cold air flow for a moment caused it to cycle off immediately. I'll have to test it more to see if the thermostat is roughly accurate (there are different 10k thermistors), but it's definitely usable, even if the thermostat isn't perfectly accurate.

Total cost, about $12 and a few hours, most of that sitting in an air conditioned trailer to see what would happen. Versus probably $1500 for a new AC installed. And I learned something and practiced my rarely used desoldering and soldering skills!

Now I just have to find a use for the other 99 thermistors...

It's a long story, but I need the aluminum trim replaced around a garage door. Just basic white aluminum trim.

I don't want to do it myself...but I have no idea what kind of contractor I even need to call to do it. What kind of contractor would I call to do this? I'm in Maryland, US.

Google searches either lead me to garage door replacement or siding replacement, neither of which is what I'm actually looking for.

Is there a site where I can post a picture of the project and dimensions and get contractors to bid on it, or at least express interest on it? Angi (formerly Angie's List) seems to require me to figure out what kind of contractor I need, and this doesn't fall into the usual categories.

Thanks!

In 2023, my goal was 4,000 miles, and I made it, so I started with the same this year.

In late September, 2024, my local club did a ride across our state, about 350 miles over 4 days. After that, I was about 20 miles shy of the 4,000 goal, and hit it within the following week. I normally ride 80-120 miles per week, so 350 was a huge jump.

Then, I upped the goal to 5,000 miles, then finished that in late November or early December. A friend congratulated me and noted that 5,000 miles was almost 100 miles per week, so I made the new goal 5,200 miles.

Of those 5,348 miles, 2,111 miles (~39%) were on Zwift. I did three imperial centuries on Zwift this year, and several more metric centuries on Zwift. The rest were all outdoor, ranging from 25 miles to 120 miles.

I haven't decided on a goal for next year yet. Right now it's at 5,200 miles (it automatically resets to the same). But, for various reasons, I'm not sure whether I'll ride that much this year.

Hi, all. I recently received two Zooz Zen51 dry contact relays, and installed one of them in an outdoor flood light fixture with a motion sensor. I thought I'd share my thoughts on the device in case anyone else is thinking about it. Note, I'm in the US and only familiar with US electrical wiring.

1. I didn't notice until after I installed it that the recommended temperature is 32-100 F (0-38 C), and it's marked for "indoor use only". Well, it's safely in an electrical box with a gasket and won't get wet, so I'm too worried about the latter thing, but I am curious if I'll have issues with temperature with it. It's supposed to get really cold here in a few days, so we'll see then!

2. Size - it's pretty small, but won't fit in every box, especially smaller switch boxes. There was plenty of room in the box behind the motion sensor light, but that's not surprising.

3. It gives HA a control to turn the light on and off via a switch entity, which is what I expected.

4. I was surprised that the "switch" function (in my case, the motion sensor is the switch, but it could also be a regular light switch) status is not reported, unlike the Shelly 1 I have. Instead, there's an event that is fired when the motion sensor turns on or off. So I can't (directly - I could program a template sensor) see what the current status of the motion sensor is (i.e., is it calling for light or not?).

5. Pairing - the directions are a little sloppy on this point. To start the pairing mode, you have to hit the button on the device VERY quickly three times. The slowly blinking green light is the normal operating mode. This is clear when you look up the HA directions on their website, but it's not really in the directions that come with it. The directions that come with it imply it'll automatically connect once you hit the pairing mode in HA. (I installed Zooz's smoke detector sensor a few weeks ago and had the same gripe then...but I forgot when I went to install the Zen51.)

(Note this also means you want to pair before you reassemble everything!)

6. There are a bunch of configuration options that can do interesting things. For example I could have it automatically shut off the light after a few seconds or minutes. Or I could "reverse" the operation of the motion sensor - turn off the light when it senses motion, and turn it on otherwise. (I can't think of a use case for that latter situation, but the possibility exists, and I'm sure someone can find a use for it.)

7. Configuration is very easy through HA. Go to the device, click configure, then ...configure it. Most options are explained well, but a few aren't clear enough to use without looking it up. For an example of the latter, the "Auto timer unit" setting lets you choose seconds or minutes for the automatic turn off/turn on features...but it doesn't say whether "1" is minutes or seconds. But this is a minor issue; once you have it configured once, you'll probably not need to worry about it again.

8. The configuration option "External switch type" was interesting. I set mine to "Toggle switch"...then discovered, the next morning, that the light was on all night. In that mode, any state change of the connected switch (either on to off, or off to on) prompts a flip in the on/off status of the device. So what happened was that I had the light shut off when I went to bed, then the motion sensor turned off, and the Zen51 interpreted that as me wanting the light to come on.

"Toggle switch with fixed actions" was what I actually wanted (and is the default). Motion sensor comes on: light comes on. Motion sensor tells the light to turn off: light turns off if it's on.

I haven't tried the other three modes - Momentary Switch (seems self-explanatory), Split 3-way, and Garage door mode momentary (also seems self-explanatory). Split 3-way lets you use the Zen51 when there's a 3-way switch setup (two switches controlling one light, usually).

9. Without any special actions in HA, the light works normally. But I now have the ability to turn it on for reasons other than motion, or turn it off manually when triggered by motion (i.e., I trigger it while walking the dog, then go to bed - my "bedtime" scene will turn it off, if it's still on at that point). I'm planning an "all outdoor lights on" mode that will turn on, well, all outdoor lights, and this will fit right into that plan.

10. The other reason I wanted to install this was to provide a point that is closer to the detached garage in the hopes that the Z-wave switch I installed there would now be able to connect to the network. No go on that front, though. :( It should act as a relay but that switch might still be too far away. I might pull that other Z-wave switch back out and put a standard light switch in, and use the second Zen51 to control a different set of lights in the garage (it's a long story as to why I'd do this).

11. The secure pairing failed. I didn't retry it, so I don't know if that was a fluke or something more; it did connect in insecure mode. Unfortunately to retry it, I would have had to exclude the device, then re-include it, and I was running short on daylight to finish this installation.

That's all I have, I hope that helps someone who is thinking about these.

Wow. That's all I can say. Check out the stats on Vaakanainen at the bottom of the article - he has 1 point in 5 games this season, and is currently on the IR. Overall he has 25 points - 1 goal, 24 assists - in 141 regular season games.

They traded the captain for a guy on the IR and a pick.

First, the good news: My friend is essentially okay, aside from some bumps and bruises. His bike took some damage, but likely not catastrophic: From what we could tell, both derailleurs on his bike and the bar tape were damaged; there may be other damage we couldn't identify immediately, such as the handlebars themselves.

We were riding on this road with two lanes, no shoulder, and there's a light at the bottom of a hill, with a right turn lane. The light was green, so our group was cruising at a pretty high pace - probably 25 or 30 mph - in the right lane (not the turn lane, the through lane) and some driver needed to turn right, but couldn't wait a few seconds. So, they went into the LEFT lane, then turned right in front of our group, hit one of our riders, and kept going.

("Must get in front...oh I have to turn here..." Shitty driving habits in general, I'll bet.)

A few other cars stopped, and someone called the police, who took a report and got an ambulance to check out the victim. Hopefully they'll do some investigation and find the guilty party. The cross street leads into a neighborhood with no other exits, so there's a good chance the perpetrator lives there. Also there is a camera at that light, and one person thought to note the exact time it happened, in case the camera does continuously record.

I hope they find the driver. They deserve to pay for all damages and a huge fine.

Our friend commented that his bike was likely worth more than the minivan that hit him, which is almost certainly true, given it was an older model van and his bike is a high end Pinarello. He also noted that none of us stopped his bike computer, which was good for a laugh.

The ride leader's husband was able to come and pick up her, the victim, and another rider that wasn't comfortable continuing after the crash (we were only about halfway through the planned route). The rest of us pedaled on, albeit a bit more subdued for a while.

What is he?

I came across this a few weeks ago but didn't save it and couldn't remember what strip it was. I searched many times for it, but it wasn't until this morning that I finally got the right search term for it to turn up again.

Hi, all. Finally migrated from Kubuntu to Debian 12 over the weekend. It's working great, as I figured it would, with one exception: The system isn't turning the monitors off after 10 minutes. It's blanking them, but they're clearly still on.

One monitor is on an AMD graphics card, the other is on the motherboard Intel adapter.

Debian 12 with KDE Plasma running on Wayland with sddm login. It previously worked fine on Kubuntu (which I believe was running X11). It's a fresh Debian install on a different drive; I didn't overwrite the Kubuntu installation.

In the Energy Saving settings, I have "Screen energy saving" checked with a delay of 10 minutes. (I have "suspend session" turned off - one, because I don't want the computer to sleep or suspend, and two, because when I woke it up again, the graphics were garbled and I had to reboot.) As I said, it does blank the screens, but they're still clearly on. I want them to go into power save mode.

I've tried running dpkg-reconfigure and selecting sddm, no change. In KDE's background services, I tried turning off KScreen 2, but that didn't help (though I'm not sure if I rebooted after turning it off, now that I think about it).

I found advice somewhere that suggested deleting .config/powermanagementprofilesrc and rebooting; I did that, no change.

I did notice yesterday that the monitors had shut off...after a very long time of being idle. I'm not sure how long, but more than overnight, for certain.

Any advice or suggestions? Unfortunately, searching is difficult, because I get a lot of results where the screen blanks when it shouldn't. I haven't found much for this problem.

I used the same installer on my laptop to do the same migration (also with KDE Plasma and sddm) and it works fine there.

No major question here, just thought you might find this interesting. It's an example of the kind of (off-the-wall) things you can do with HA that aren't immediately obvious. When I was starting out with HA, I enjoyed reading these examples, because it gave me ideas for my own setup. And, I wrote many automations that should really be scripts, so hopefully this will help someone avoid that and recognize the power of scripts early.

At home, my laptop from work sits (closed) on a stand under the monitors. I have a docking station for it, but the docking station doesn't have a power button to start the laptop (the official Dell docking stations have a power button, but other brand of docking stations don't). So, since I got that stand a few weeks ago, I've been pulling the laptop out and opening juuuuuuust enough that I could reach the power button, then closing it and sliding it back into the stand. There had to be a better way that didn't involve buying an expensive Dell docking station.

The docking station power is on a Sonoff S31 outlet (flashed with Tasmota, not that that's important here) that is remotely controllable. Long ago, I set up HA automations that turned on the S31 when the laptop was detected on the network, and shut off the S31 after the laptop dropped off the network at the end of the day (leaving in a time delay so it didn't shut off if there was a momentary network glitch). So, I'd boot the laptop, and a moment later the docking station would kick on and connect the mouse and monitors to it. And the end of the day, I shut down the laptop, and a few minutes later the docking station shuts off automatically.

I recently discovered the Wake on LAN integration. So, after setting that up, I wrote a script that turns on the S31, waits a while*, then triggers the Wake-on-LAN for the laptop...and it boots up! With HA, I can start the boot process while I'm still relaxing in the living room before starting work; in theory I'll go into the office and it'll be ready for me to log in.

Heck, if HA knew for certain it was a workday, it could boot the laptop for me.....hmmm. Maybe something to think about for the future.

*How long? Well, 30 seconds seems to be too short; the laptop doesn't respond to the WoL command after just 30 seconds with power applied. It did work this morning when I waited several minutes to try it again. I just changed the delay to 1 minute and will see how that works tomorrow.

I also added a repeat loop (starting after that 1 minute timer) with three components:

• A condition that looks for the laptop being "Away" on the network. (If it is "Home" on the network, the condition will end the script.)
• If it is, then it tries the WoL command again.
• Then waits 30 seconds and repeat.

The repeat loop counter is set to 3, for a total of 4 attempts to start the laptop. I'll check the traces and see when it starts working, and set the initial delay accordingly, so that in general it shouldn't need the repeat loop.

If people want, I can post (sanitized) YAML. But I do like explaining the process rather than just posting code.

This is not the first time I've ranted about the previous owner's wiring jobs, though I think they were on the other site (and I had a different username there).

His greatest hits include:

• Above a drop ceiling in the basement, a wire that went into a metal box without a strain relief, so it eventually wore through (for whatever reason) and started shorting out. Since it was above the drop ceiling I had no idea why that breaker would occasionally trip, then reset without complaint. Also, there are other things on that circuit, but the offending wire was only live when the light switch in the room was on, so it was harder to diagnose. It wasn't until we demolished the room that we found the problem...black marks on the box and wires and all.

• A duct fan to route heat from the pellet stove into the master bedroom...with the wiring completely enclosed in the ceiling, with no access to the box. Said duct fan has started making noise, so I'm going to have to cut that ceiling open and replace it, and I'll probably install one of those spring-loaded covers so there is access in the future.

• A fascinating wiring job in the shed that is unnecessarily complicated and certainly a violation of the code on how many conductors can be in a box. I'm going to fix that some time this spring. This is actually a REALLY great one, so maybe I'll post it as a comment.

On to today's hilarity. A few weeks ago I noticed the UPS for my computer in the basement had a red light on the back warning of a wiring fault. I never noticed it before, or I did and forgot, and it's not very bright, so you almost have to be looking for it to see it. Well, I got out one of those testers that you plug in, with three lights that diagnose the issue, and it showed no ground. Odd.

I checked the other two outlets on the same wall, the one closer to the panel tested fine, but the one on the other side of the outlet in question also showed an open ground.

Today I dug in to find out what was up. It turns out the ground was cut on both wires in the outlet the computer was using (supply from the previous outlet and the wire to the next outlet). It was not connected to the metal box or the outlet.

WHY WHY WHY? Why did he do this? I can't fathom why you'd do this.

I replaced all three outlets on that wall with new ones and made sure the grounds were connected. Nothing really wrong with the original outlets and covers, but they were old and beige, and I like white.

Years ago I found an outlet in our closet that only had two prongs, no ground. The house was built in 1987, well after three prongs were standard. With some trepidation - what am I going to find here? - I opened it up and found that...there was a good ground there (to my relief) but he apparently just decided to use a two prong outlet. WHY? He had to have gone to special effort to find a two prong outlet to install. (Actually it is theoretically possible that was done by the builders, but everything else in the house is three prongs, and I can't believe it would have passed inspection.)

Hi, all. My wife and I recently got new phones, and it got me thinking again about how notifications work.

Currently I have several automations (maybe 10) that send notifications to my phone, her phone, both, and possibly other devices.

But when we get a new phone, or replace a tablet, etc., I have to update every single one of those automations. And I inevitably forget some or introduce errors.

Is there a better way to do this? For example, it'd be nice if I could abstract the concept of "my phone" out in those automations, then I'd only have to change the device "my phone" in one place, rather than a bunch of places.

Any thoughts on this? Maybe I'm missing a way to do it. Thanks.

Of course he does.