Hedges

Cut the southern hedge back very hard on top. It's down to around 1.5m, to allow it to grow and be cut at 1.6m where I can just reach. Took off around 2m in places - the laurel had got way too tall. Around 4m3 of waste shredded in 1 hour. About 40m of hedge.

Parkside PFDS 33 B3 dead on arrival

 80€ at Lidl. I'm not a good (stick) welder, and a good welder will not make me a good welder. Looked at the more expensive one (140€) which does everything, but only seems to be sold in Belgium. Disposable gas bottles last 15 mins according to plenty of forums and at 25€ a pop, that wasnt going to happen. I could hire/buy a bottle, but I weld maybe 10 times a year. Gasless was the way to go for me. And after a bad start I'm happy with the results.

Set it up, turned it on, fan spins, but no wire feed.

The main circuit is very similar to this one https://www.instructables.com/id/MIG-Welder-Repair-and-Mods/   but it is AC output, and the speed control is more complex. All the pin numbers and AC correct on this one. https://www.reddit.com/r/Welding/comments/amsy7p/help_can_someone_please_explain_the_wireing/ Mine uses the welding supply to drive another bridge, and the drive is 24V, so ignore all the electronics. 

When you press the trigger, you complete the AC circuit from a small 12V trafo on the pcb, which drives a large relay and a small relay together, so you should hear a click. I had no click. The large relay feeds the large welding trafo. The small one runs the feed motor via a 4069UB chip, pot + SVF740 mosfet

I removed the PCB, and the 1/2A fuse, and put a 12V psu on the fuse and pin 4. Doesnt matter that it's DC as the next device is a bridge rectifier. Nothing. Tried on the relay.  All good. Kept working back and it was a dry joint on the bridge. Looked fine, but a quick re-heat and all good.

I repair quite a lot of stuff and this is by far one of the best pcbs I've seen in cheap gear for a long time. They could be fake parts, but they are branded, and the soldering is err good. I think it's hand soldered, but it looks like lead to me, not ROHS - way too shiny. A good layer of conformal coat too...all over the connector too! 

The dodgy one is on the right

harbor freight flux 125

I might look at changing to DC - see here 

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/modding-a-really-cheap-swiz-ac-welder-some-help-please.85827/

Duvet

Winter duvet washed in 9kg machine. Largely dried in garage over night, then 2 days outside in the sun.

Woox smart plug

This was bought as a Woox 5402 from Amazon. It had Tuyau firmware, seen at boot on the serial port. There are a few sites that enable you to reprogram these without opening.
The stock FW needs an app and you need to register with Woox. A few people reckon they phone home.
It's nicely made.
I didn't want a system that can't operate when the internet is down, or even to register to use it, so I've blown in some simple MQTT FW.

15/2/25 gone over to ESPHome

Very similar to this. Pinout is good

https://sylvainzimmer.com/blog/2021/09/smart-plugs-tasmota/

Ground GP0 and apply power

YAML mainly from https://devices.esphome.io/devices/Zentec-Smart-Plug

led 2, button 13, relay 15

Car service

Full service, all filters and brake fluid. No issues.
Receipt emailed.
Service booked 20 March,  but cancelled by garage.

MT09 batterie

Battery changed at 11590km, mid March 2020, but not taken out until 17 May. Started very well.

Cubster

The tongue on the chute got bent and no longer fitted onto the deck.
Took the opportunity to clear all around the hydro box which was pretty choked
Oil in box 45mm down vent pipe
drive belt work on inside edges.
65:56/181.1 rear back plate has also got quite badly bent and the bin was falling off. Better now, but not right.

4/6/20 replaced steering ball joint front right. Wasn't too bad.

27/8/20 took put the petrol tank to fix the hand brake which no longer locked. Turned out that the screw holds the handle on was almost lost. It has been getting worse and worse. The design isn't fantastic and the metal pull rod for the mechanism has made an oval hole in the handle. I've tyraped it up, so the tyrap should wear out first.

I also tied all the cabling out the way as this was rubbing on various parts like the steering column.

The throttle, which has always been a bit odd, and didn't like to stay at full revs was broken. The bowden cable had come out of the crimp, so that was crimped, oiled and replaced.