The first skiing day of the season today. Very quiet. Bareges was shut due to a problem with the Tournaboup lift, so they shut the entire area. Thanks for that.
then
9/12/13
12/12
10/1 looking bare
17/1 not bad 5-10cm 2 days ago
28/1? ok chains
4/2 quite a lot of fresh lienz drag open. plus black chair
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Friday, 8 November 2013
Post box bell
Now the letter box has been moved, we can no longer see if the postie leaves us any bills.
Whilst I encourage SHMBO to regularly visit the box, there has been a little bit of resistance; a return trip is nearly 160m.
So a bell was installed which triggers when post is delivered; luckily there were a few spare cores in a cable used to monitor the electricity consumption, which were in a box just adjacent.
Whilst I encourage SHMBO to regularly visit the box, there has been a little bit of resistance; a return trip is nearly 160m.
So a bell was installed which triggers when post is delivered; luckily there were a few spare cores in a cable used to monitor the electricity consumption, which were in a box just adjacent.
Sunday, 3 November 2013
Doinnnggggg - Yamaha Fazer Rear Shock removal
Finally got around to fitting the Hyperpro 1101X lowering spring to the bike.
Problem was the old shock had other ideas. The sleeve that holds the bottom mount point in is a loose, greased fit. However, after 8 years of being fitted, the grease allows small amounts of water in; this water causes stiction. About 10mm protrudes, but no enough to get mole grips on. After reading several posts there are 2 options
1. Heat the assembly to around 200C which frees it up. It also wrecks the oil seals and needle bearing, so these need buying and replacing
2. file flats onto the sleeve. This sounds easy, but access is rubbish, and the steel is hardened.
I opted for the 2nd choice. The night before I started I sprayed everything in WD40. The following day it wouldnt budge, so I carefully heated the sleeve with a pencil blow torch. Mole grips moved it a tad, but that was it. I filed 1 flat on the top with a Abrafile (normal files are no good) and then enlarged it with a small grinding disc. Access is really bad and you can see areas where I've taken paint off. This was repeated on the front face and the bottom. The bottom was poor, but enough to get the grips on and turn. More WD40. When the sleeve was turned to the front, where access is excellent, a good flat was ground on, then the sleeve turned 90 degrees and repeat. Once 4 good flats are on, it's easy to get the grips on and keep turning and sliding to the right. Eventually it slides right out.
The secret is the flats. You can't push the sleeve out as the sleeve doesn't go all the way through. Once you have flats you can get the grips on and turn. Polished and greased it just slipped back into the shock.
There are a few bike forums that gave me the ideas to try, so a big thank you to those that posted.
Once out I carefully improved the flats in a vice, they now fit a 15mm open spanner.
Oil seals - you can read the part numbers
Reference measurements
Using a Draper car spring puller and some 8mm rebar to compress the spring. Cardboard on the arms to stop scratching the particularly attractive purple.
Problem was the old shock had other ideas. The sleeve that holds the bottom mount point in is a loose, greased fit. However, after 8 years of being fitted, the grease allows small amounts of water in; this water causes stiction. About 10mm protrudes, but no enough to get mole grips on. After reading several posts there are 2 options
1. Heat the assembly to around 200C which frees it up. It also wrecks the oil seals and needle bearing, so these need buying and replacing
2. file flats onto the sleeve. This sounds easy, but access is rubbish, and the steel is hardened.
I opted for the 2nd choice. The night before I started I sprayed everything in WD40. The following day it wouldnt budge, so I carefully heated the sleeve with a pencil blow torch. Mole grips moved it a tad, but that was it. I filed 1 flat on the top with a Abrafile (normal files are no good) and then enlarged it with a small grinding disc. Access is really bad and you can see areas where I've taken paint off. This was repeated on the front face and the bottom. The bottom was poor, but enough to get the grips on and turn. More WD40. When the sleeve was turned to the front, where access is excellent, a good flat was ground on, then the sleeve turned 90 degrees and repeat. Once 4 good flats are on, it's easy to get the grips on and keep turning and sliding to the right. Eventually it slides right out.
The secret is the flats. You can't push the sleeve out as the sleeve doesn't go all the way through. Once you have flats you can get the grips on and turn. Polished and greased it just slipped back into the shock.
There are a few bike forums that gave me the ideas to try, so a big thank you to those that posted.
Friday, 1 November 2013
Fire!
Despite sunny days, the house cools down overnight and only gets up to around 18 during the day. Time to light the fire.
Monday, 28 October 2013
Chimney sweep
Swept the main part of the chimney today. Needed 4 rods an allen key and a bit of silicon
Saturday, 19 October 2013
web cam
Installed the web cam today. Viewing inside the router firewall is easy. It's taken several attempts to get the viewing on the net and was only possible with a friends help.
Got a nice view of the garden, drive, mountains and a drain pipe.
This is not live. Email me for the camera address.
Got a nice view of the garden, drive, mountains and a drain pipe.
This is not live. Email me for the camera address.
Monday, 7 October 2013
DIY Wheel alignment
There are many ways to align your wheel and the normal method involves 30 minutes and a few quid. Not in France. €40 for a check and another €30 to adjust. And that's just a basic 2 wheel check. A 4 wheel check is well over the ton.
There are a few DIY tools in the market; Gunsons have done a simple gauge for years, and there is a new one using mirrors and a laser. Both are around £60/70.
For simplicity, if your cars wheelbase is the same front to back, you can set a line the same distance out from the wheel centres front/back and measuring the distance string to tyre and adjusting it until you get the desired difference.
I've used another method as the Xsara wheelbase is different front/back. You measure the distance from the same point on the front tyres left to right, from the rear and front of the front tyres. This method assumes the rims aren't bent and the tyres are pretty identical and that your wheels are equally at fault. I was pretty sure the tracking was out on the car as the outer edges were wearing and there was a bit of steering wheel wobble. This is toe-in or positive toe (http://www.etyres.co.uk/glossary-tyre-terms?term=toe-inout) I measured the 2 distances and found 151.5mm towards the rear and 149.5 towards the front, confirming the toe-in. I'd squirted wd40 on the adjustment nuts a few weeks back and they came straight off. 20mm AF on the nut, 18mm (odd size) on the rack arms. I finally found out the toe figures which are 0mm. I started with 1/4 turn each side and this swapped the measurements over! 1/8 turn back got the numbers to 151mm.
I've been studying the original / classic Dunlop system and will probably try to make a modern version with a web cam and/or a laser.
There are a few DIY tools in the market; Gunsons have done a simple gauge for years, and there is a new one using mirrors and a laser. Both are around £60/70.
For simplicity, if your cars wheelbase is the same front to back, you can set a line the same distance out from the wheel centres front/back and measuring the distance string to tyre and adjusting it until you get the desired difference.
I've used another method as the Xsara wheelbase is different front/back. You measure the distance from the same point on the front tyres left to right, from the rear and front of the front tyres. This method assumes the rims aren't bent and the tyres are pretty identical and that your wheels are equally at fault. I was pretty sure the tracking was out on the car as the outer edges were wearing and there was a bit of steering wheel wobble. This is toe-in or positive toe (http://www.etyres.co.uk/glossary-tyre-terms?term=toe-inout) I measured the 2 distances and found 151.5mm towards the rear and 149.5 towards the front, confirming the toe-in. I'd squirted wd40 on the adjustment nuts a few weeks back and they came straight off. 20mm AF on the nut, 18mm (odd size) on the rack arms. I finally found out the toe figures which are 0mm. I started with 1/4 turn each side and this swapped the measurements over! 1/8 turn back got the numbers to 151mm.
I've been studying the original / classic Dunlop system and will probably try to make a modern version with a web cam and/or a laser.
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
tech note - SCS sentinel pro 500 gate controller
This note refers to the PCB CTP50-2 (2007 approx)
The manual for this product if fairly useless and does not describe what the (spare) terminals are for, or what all the dip switches are for. Even though an emergency stop circuit is provided, this is not documented. A cynic would suggest this is all deliberate, as in large letters on every page is the premium rate phone number to call for assistance.
This model, along with the cheaper gate controllers, try to detect the gate fully open and gate fully closed positions by sensing the motor current; a stalled motor will draw a lot of current. Unfortunately, unless your gates are made extremely solidly your gates will bend and flex. In my case, steel gates made out of 30mm, 1.6mm box section and welded together, were flexed along the 1.5m mounting height by around 25mm, and the system still didn't recognise a closed gate. These gates are mounted onto the pillars with plastic mounts which were promptly dislodged; the gates had to be removed and the bits re-fitted.
To try to kill the motors a 0.68R resistor in parallel with the motors stops the gates; in normal running it works a treat. I later found the ADC lines from the current sensing resistors (R5/6) and ran +5V through a 4k7 to (R15/12) After a lot of messing around, I realised the system uses a timer to run the motors, so a variance in supply volts means they over/under run. On battery it's even worse, even though it detects loss of mains and does apply some adjustment. Basically, even if you fudge the learn sequence and simulate over-current, it will quite quickly lose track of where it is and bend the gates again. If power is lost for any reason, the system assumed the rams are fully out and if the rams were fully in, it will try for many seconds to push the rams in.
There are 8 spare terminals on the pcb and these didn't seem to do anything. I then read the sliding door model 400 manual and noticed this uses a limit switch. Trying again I found the connections for fully open and fully closed on both gates. NB the learn feature does not look at the limit switches. If the rams are fully out (switches properly made) and power is lost, on power up the system will only operate mot1 in the opposite direction.
A 12V SLA battery can be put on terminals FS1+ FS2-
So 2 new internal switches are now fitted to simulate over current (on adc) An emergency stop is also fitted (not shown in manual) A NC switch on terminals 14/15.
To set up the gates, install limit switches and run the learn feature (P2)
set rams 80mm from fully in
press p2 an be ready to hit mot1 over current. The ram will move another 20mm then the other will go. Press the other over current
the rams will now be sent out. Press the correct o/c when they get into position. Note if one ram only moves half way and then stops, you didn't hit the o/c button quickly enough on ram2.
done.
The proper aim is to find the correct limits, but I set up the rams for full travel and use the limit switches to stop them. Rams move a tad after limit switches are reached.
If the gates aren't mounted, or you don't care, just let the system learn on its own which will doubtless mean it send the rams fully in/out.
The transformer is a multi-tap 100VA toroid of dubious quality. It consumes 9W doing nothing with a pretty high 'copper loss'. Red (FS3) is 0V, black (FS4)12V, yellow 15V, green 20V. Note a SLA charger can be made using the 15V tap and a L200 regulator.
AC quiescent is 9W, +3W for charging. DC (battery) is 30mA (leds on, 4mA less off) 2A typically both rams running, 11A when jammed.
Removed the 7805 reg. System took 5mA @ 12V. If 5V (23mA no leds) is externally maintained on the pcb during mains fail the system will not notice. You have at least 4s to return power once you request gate open/close, so if you get a small efficient mains 5V psu, you could wire that into the pcb and then switch the mains onto the toroid when required. A small psu will take <1W.
If running at 5V, a 14V/6A SMPS on ac terminal will run the motors, or a 14V/4A with a 15000uf cap to ease the starting current.
The battery charger circuit is a joke and sends 13.75V through a 10R resistor to taper charge the SLA battery - around 83mA for half charged battery. After mains fail, charging current is only restored once the battery voltage drops below 9V or around 2.5V below the recommended minimum. If the battery is momentarily disconnected on mains return, charging recommences. The smallest relay seems to control this and was not investigated particularly.
The remotes are keeloq and use HCS301.
25/10/13 put a small 5v psu to directly power the electronics, with a relay to turn on the toroid when the system needs it. Overnight consumption shows this at 4-5W, which is odd for a 0.03A x 5V = 150mW consumption.
The manual for this product if fairly useless and does not describe what the (spare) terminals are for, or what all the dip switches are for. Even though an emergency stop circuit is provided, this is not documented. A cynic would suggest this is all deliberate, as in large letters on every page is the premium rate phone number to call for assistance.
This model, along with the cheaper gate controllers, try to detect the gate fully open and gate fully closed positions by sensing the motor current; a stalled motor will draw a lot of current. Unfortunately, unless your gates are made extremely solidly your gates will bend and flex. In my case, steel gates made out of 30mm, 1.6mm box section and welded together, were flexed along the 1.5m mounting height by around 25mm, and the system still didn't recognise a closed gate. These gates are mounted onto the pillars with plastic mounts which were promptly dislodged; the gates had to be removed and the bits re-fitted.
To try to kill the motors a 0.68R resistor in parallel with the motors stops the gates; in normal running it works a treat. I later found the ADC lines from the current sensing resistors (R5/6) and ran +5V through a 4k7 to (R15/12) After a lot of messing around, I realised the system uses a timer to run the motors, so a variance in supply volts means they over/under run. On battery it's even worse, even though it detects loss of mains and does apply some adjustment. Basically, even if you fudge the learn sequence and simulate over-current, it will quite quickly lose track of where it is and bend the gates again. If power is lost for any reason, the system assumed the rams are fully out and if the rams were fully in, it will try for many seconds to push the rams in.
There are 8 spare terminals on the pcb and these didn't seem to do anything. I then read the sliding door model 400 manual and noticed this uses a limit switch. Trying again I found the connections for fully open and fully closed on both gates. NB the learn feature does not look at the limit switches. If the rams are fully out (switches properly made) and power is lost, on power up the system will only operate mot1 in the opposite direction.
A 12V SLA battery can be put on terminals FS1+ FS2-
So 2 new internal switches are now fitted to simulate over current (on adc) An emergency stop is also fitted (not shown in manual) A NC switch on terminals 14/15.
To set up the gates, install limit switches and run the learn feature (P2)
set rams 80mm from fully in
press p2 an be ready to hit mot1 over current. The ram will move another 20mm then the other will go. Press the other over current
the rams will now be sent out. Press the correct o/c when they get into position. Note if one ram only moves half way and then stops, you didn't hit the o/c button quickly enough on ram2.
done.
The proper aim is to find the correct limits, but I set up the rams for full travel and use the limit switches to stop them. Rams move a tad after limit switches are reached.
If the gates aren't mounted, or you don't care, just let the system learn on its own which will doubtless mean it send the rams fully in/out.
The transformer is a multi-tap 100VA toroid of dubious quality. It consumes 9W doing nothing with a pretty high 'copper loss'. Red (FS3) is 0V, black (FS4)12V, yellow 15V, green 20V. Note a SLA charger can be made using the 15V tap and a L200 regulator.
AC quiescent is 9W, +3W for charging. DC (battery) is 30mA (leds on, 4mA less off) 2A typically both rams running, 11A when jammed.
Removed the 7805 reg. System took 5mA @ 12V. If 5V (23mA no leds) is externally maintained on the pcb during mains fail the system will not notice. You have at least 4s to return power once you request gate open/close, so if you get a small efficient mains 5V psu, you could wire that into the pcb and then switch the mains onto the toroid when required. A small psu will take <1W.
If running at 5V, a 14V/6A SMPS on ac terminal will run the motors, or a 14V/4A with a 15000uf cap to ease the starting current.
The battery charger circuit is a joke and sends 13.75V through a 10R resistor to taper charge the SLA battery - around 83mA for half charged battery. After mains fail, charging current is only restored once the battery voltage drops below 9V or around 2.5V below the recommended minimum. If the battery is momentarily disconnected on mains return, charging recommences. The smallest relay seems to control this and was not investigated particularly.
The remotes are keeloq and use HCS301.
25/10/13 put a small 5v psu to directly power the electronics, with a relay to turn on the toroid when the system needs it. Overnight consumption shows this at 4-5W, which is odd for a 0.03A x 5V = 150mW consumption.
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Beer
Brewed around 45l of pride today, partly using the home grown brewers gold hops. The recipe calls for 170g, of which 60g is this year's crop, 10g last years, stored in the freezer.
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Gates
Bought the gates and the pillars today for the driveway, plus more 10mm re-bar for the post hole. And polystyrene as an expansion gap. The 800mm bar, made up in a 100x100mm square, is sunk 400mm into the footings. The 400mm remaining was welded onto another 1200mm to give a nominal 1500mm reinforcing. This does mean that you need to lift the blocks over it, and they ain't light.
24/9 spend a day measuring, cutting & welding brackets for the gates, plus the 'stop' in the middle of the drive. The gates are suspended in the metal tubing by some awful plastic devices that look like drilled out plastic feet you find on office desks. One has failed a bit and been tweaked. I can see that this will need to be replaced by a piece of steel, welded in. The gates are not designed for outward manual opening and you can't open them from the inside presently. Once the motors are on, these problems will go.
1/11/13 added a controller so the Hormann remotes now control the gates too.
Stats. Each pillar element is 15kg. 6 elements = 90kg. Each pillar is filled with about 100l/240kg of concrete. The foundations are about 64l/150kg (0.4m3). So each pillar is around 480kg. The gates weigh 18kg each. Over engineering? Wish I'd put in a steel post, but it ain't done like that over here.
1/11/13 added a controller so the Hormann remotes now control the gates too.
Stats. Each pillar element is 15kg. 6 elements = 90kg. Each pillar is filled with about 100l/240kg of concrete. The foundations are about 64l/150kg (0.4m3). So each pillar is around 480kg. The gates weigh 18kg each. Over engineering? Wish I'd put in a steel post, but it ain't done like that over here.
Thursday, 29 August 2013
Concrete drive
About 4 years ago, we had a gravel drive installed, which was in the region of 150mm of gravel rolled and re-rolled as various deliveries were made during the construction.
The drive would have been fine if it wasn't for the torrential rain that falls here from time to time. Despite a membrane and weed killer, and top-dressing with more stone, little by little the drive was getting more and more loose, mud filled, weedy and difficult to ascend.
Tarmac is only really used for public works, with a price to suit, so concrete was the only viable solution.
The local concrete company came over and said they thought
that the truck would make the drive (19%) in reverse, but they would have to pick a skillful driver. So the concrete was ordered and the shuttering installed. 3 days, 90m of timber and 80 hand made beech pegs later, we were ready.
The truck turned up 15 minutes early by French standards and 45 minutes late by British standards. We knew the truck was on its way by the engine note from 4 km away being a cross between a motorbike and V8. Yep, they'd definitely picked the fastest driver.
When invited to walk the course, the driver took one look and said 'I've seen worse - no problem' In one go he made it half way, stopping only to check that he wasn't about to crush the shuttering. The vehicle wheel width is 2.5m, the shuttering at worst was 2.8m. This truck, fully laden with 8m3 of concrete weighs in at around 25 tonnes and has 8 wheels on 2 axles at the rear, plus 4 wheel steering
We started pouring at 3pm and the 4 of us were done by 4.30. The driver pitched in from time to time and didn't seem keen to get away. The driver dumped the concrete nice and slowly and then pulled clear to allow the next bay to be prepared. Then he started to lose a bit of traction and managed to stall, but nothing too dramatic. We were 'allowed' about 90 minutes unload time, but there was no pressure. At 6pm I put tarpaulin over the drive, and it was possible to walk on it carefully. It had already
started cracking and pulling back from the shuttering.
Just need to prepare the next 26 metres, and do the same again.
Grade XF3, slump S3 with fibre. 10x10cm 2.4m x1.2m mesh laid down and pulled up during the pour. Control gaps by way of timber every 3.5m, but also to stop the concrete sliding down the slope. This turned out to be essential on the steeper bits as the concrete mysteriously became more liquid half way through the pour.
On 3rd September, I ordered another 8m3 of the finest environmentally unsound concrete.
The driver was trying to beat his PB today. He left the concrete plant 5 minutes earlier and arrived 10 minutes earlier. However, his driving between the shuttering was not so good today. Having removed 12m of shuttering to allow the vehicle access, the driver thought the best way of helping me put them back was then to run them over and increase the number of pieces. All in all, the delivery was delayed and we were working for close to 2 hours, and the concrete was getting really hard to get out of the wagon, let alone move it on the ground. (too much) water was added for the last bay of this pour, so again there is a slump on the expansion/control gap.
It was a warm day too, about 26C, so the concrete went off pretty quickly.
Attentive as ever, the driver forgot to check clearance on the overhead phone line, which is marginal.
The wagon was cleaned by dumping concrete in the road drain.
Just 6m to go to the road.
On 6th September the final pour was due, so I ordered another 2m3.
The gentle sound of the concrete wagon could be heard screaming across the valley; a 12 wheel skid is an impressive thing to behold just outside your house - no ABS then. It's Friday and time to get onto the golf course. 2m3 of concrete was dumped as fast as it could be, but sadly, it was not enough. Another 1m3 was requested, but was met with 'it's Friday' and the driver seemed to forget he had a company mobile. After a slow drive back to the depot, he did finally ring and agree to bring the concrete. This arrived and was dumped in double record time. We had around 300l (about 700kg) left, which I barrowed up to the house to make up some levels on paths.
So in total about 19m3 of concrete, or about 48 tonnes.
And the finished product, seen from the road a week later. The post box has been moved to blend in with the other cream boxes on that side.
10/9/13. The gates have been picked up. Whilst I was unloading, the mayor and council turned up and announced I needed a drain to stop the road being flooded as the water comes down the drive. I then pointed at the drain I'd put in, plus the others at 10m intervals and the council asked if I could remove the gravel and pipe and replace this with a covered channel. I didn't argue, as the rest of the drive doesn't strictly comply to code and they seemed keen to get away. It's only taken 4 years for them to tell me I need a drain, so we'll see what I need in another 4 years.
As off 14th September, the new covered channels are in and look quite smart. I'm not about to change the other 3 sets at the moment.
The gates will be installed about 12m back from the road, to allow me to park a car and trailer whilst I open the gates - not my idea, but one from the council. If you click on the photo and enlarge it, you can see the start of the gate pillar on the left with a red pipe in front.
And being France, with trust and honour still largely intact, we have only received 1 of the 4 bills for the concrete, which we've paid. I made contact today (17/9) with the firm to chase up the missing bills, in case they they were lost in the post. Apparently they invoice monthly, so I've paid August's bill, and I'll have to wait a few weeks for the next batch.
21/9. Received the last 3 bills. The nice people have only charged for 1 delivery.
Statistics
19m3 of concrete in 4 deliveries, laid in 3 sessions of 8/8/2+1m3
about 12 days prep
Drive is around 58m long by 2.9m +/-2cm wide. Concrete company recommended 3m width to allow ideal truck access. Original width was 2.75m
Total cost for concrete at €143,88/m3 x 19, plus one delivery charge (<6m3) €106.44 = €2840,16 (XF3 with fibre)
There would have been about 10% saving in buying the raw material and mixing at home, which would have taken months, and probably weaker. 19m3 is around 190 mixes in a standard electric mixer, plus having to stockpile about 30 tonnes of aggregate, and 7 tonnes of cement.
Shuttering. Bought about 70m x 100mm (€60), but only used about 50m due to a change in plan. However, all of it is being used for compost bins, edging or building up raised beds.
Drive slope. Originally calculated at 16%, but may have confused this with gradient. The angle from horizontal is 11 degrees from the road for around the first 50m. At this point the angle drops to around 6 degrees. In grade, 11 degrees is 19%, 6 degrees is 10%
The main conduit (40mm) from the house comes in very near the base of the control box/ 20mm conduit. The conduit that crosses the road (40mm) runs from the middle furthest outside edges. The ditch side runs to 2 x 20mm conduits, partly covered by soil. The control box side turns 90 degrees and runs around to the box side under the house conduit. Cables are a bit tight around that corner. The conduit if full of water.
The supply cable is 61m of CBP01360220 - CABLE U-1000 R2V 2X2,5MM2 NOIR. Earth is connected to a piece of rebar left exposed on the west side of west pillar.
The drive would have been fine if it wasn't for the torrential rain that falls here from time to time. Despite a membrane and weed killer, and top-dressing with more stone, little by little the drive was getting more and more loose, mud filled, weedy and difficult to ascend. Tarmac is only really used for public works, with a price to suit, so concrete was the only viable solution.
 |
| Shuttering in place |
The local concrete company came over and said they thought
that the truck would make the drive (19%) in reverse, but they would have to pick a skillful driver. So the concrete was ordered and the shuttering installed. 3 days, 90m of timber and 80 hand made beech pegs later, we were ready.
 |
| Ready to pour |
When invited to walk the course, the driver took one look and said 'I've seen worse - no problem' In one go he made it half way, stopping only to check that he wasn't about to crush the shuttering. The vehicle wheel width is 2.5m, the shuttering at worst was 2.8m. This truck, fully laden with 8m3 of concrete weighs in at around 25 tonnes and has 8 wheels on 2 axles at the rear, plus 4 wheel steering
 |
| 26m out of 56m done. Beer time |
Just need to prepare the next 26 metres, and do the same again.
Grade XF3, slump S3 with fibre. 10x10cm 2.4m x1.2m mesh laid down and pulled up during the pour. Control gaps by way of timber every 3.5m, but also to stop the concrete sliding down the slope. This turned out to be essential on the steeper bits as the concrete mysteriously became more liquid half way through the pour.
On 3rd September, I ordered another 8m3 of the finest environmentally unsound concrete.
The driver was trying to beat his PB today. He left the concrete plant 5 minutes earlier and arrived 10 minutes earlier. However, his driving between the shuttering was not so good today. Having removed 12m of shuttering to allow the vehicle access, the driver thought the best way of helping me put them back was then to run them over and increase the number of pieces. All in all, the delivery was delayed and we were working for close to 2 hours, and the concrete was getting really hard to get out of the wagon, let alone move it on the ground. (too much) water was added for the last bay of this pour, so again there is a slump on the expansion/control gap.
It was a warm day too, about 26C, so the concrete went off pretty quickly.
Attentive as ever, the driver forgot to check clearance on the overhead phone line, which is marginal.
The wagon was cleaned by dumping concrete in the road drain.
Just 6m to go to the road.
On 6th September the final pour was due, so I ordered another 2m3.
The gentle sound of the concrete wagon could be heard screaming across the valley; a 12 wheel skid is an impressive thing to behold just outside your house - no ABS then. It's Friday and time to get onto the golf course. 2m3 of concrete was dumped as fast as it could be, but sadly, it was not enough. Another 1m3 was requested, but was met with 'it's Friday' and the driver seemed to forget he had a company mobile. After a slow drive back to the depot, he did finally ring and agree to bring the concrete. This arrived and was dumped in double record time. We had around 300l (about 700kg) left, which I barrowed up to the house to make up some levels on paths.
So in total about 19m3 of concrete, or about 48 tonnes.
 |
| All done. You can see about half the drive from the road |
10/9/13. The gates have been picked up. Whilst I was unloading, the mayor and council turned up and announced I needed a drain to stop the road being flooded as the water comes down the drive. I then pointed at the drain I'd put in, plus the others at 10m intervals and the council asked if I could remove the gravel and pipe and replace this with a covered channel. I didn't argue, as the rest of the drive doesn't strictly comply to code and they seemed keen to get away. It's only taken 4 years for them to tell me I need a drain, so we'll see what I need in another 4 years.
As off 14th September, the new covered channels are in and look quite smart. I'm not about to change the other 3 sets at the moment.
The gates will be installed about 12m back from the road, to allow me to park a car and trailer whilst I open the gates - not my idea, but one from the council. If you click on the photo and enlarge it, you can see the start of the gate pillar on the left with a red pipe in front.
And being France, with trust and honour still largely intact, we have only received 1 of the 4 bills for the concrete, which we've paid. I made contact today (17/9) with the firm to chase up the missing bills, in case they they were lost in the post. Apparently they invoice monthly, so I've paid August's bill, and I'll have to wait a few weeks for the next batch.
21/9. Received the last 3 bills. The nice people have only charged for 1 delivery.
Statistics
19m3 of concrete in 4 deliveries, laid in 3 sessions of 8/8/2+1m3
about 12 days prep
Drive is around 58m long by 2.9m +/-2cm wide. Concrete company recommended 3m width to allow ideal truck access. Original width was 2.75m
Total cost for concrete at €143,88/m3 x 19, plus one delivery charge (<6m3) €106.44 = €2840,16 (XF3 with fibre)
There would have been about 10% saving in buying the raw material and mixing at home, which would have taken months, and probably weaker. 19m3 is around 190 mixes in a standard electric mixer, plus having to stockpile about 30 tonnes of aggregate, and 7 tonnes of cement.
Shuttering. Bought about 70m x 100mm (€60), but only used about 50m due to a change in plan. However, all of it is being used for compost bins, edging or building up raised beds.
Drive slope. Originally calculated at 16%, but may have confused this with gradient. The angle from horizontal is 11 degrees from the road for around the first 50m. At this point the angle drops to around 6 degrees. In grade, 11 degrees is 19%, 6 degrees is 10%
The main conduit (40mm) from the house comes in very near the base of the control box/ 20mm conduit. The conduit that crosses the road (40mm) runs from the middle furthest outside edges. The ditch side runs to 2 x 20mm conduits, partly covered by soil. The control box side turns 90 degrees and runs around to the box side under the house conduit. Cables are a bit tight around that corner. The conduit if full of water.
The supply cable is 61m of CBP01360220 - CABLE U-1000 R2V 2X2,5MM2 NOIR. Earth is connected to a piece of rebar left exposed on the west side of west pillar.
Monday, 19 August 2013
CSR internet radio teardown
This is a CSR Portable Internet Radio Wifi / FM, also known as Novodio
Mutant M-wavio MIG-PIR-1
Koolertron GD-WIFM09
Sovos SVWFPIR
Bought October ish 2011
It ports all traffic through the CSR tuner website, which slows everything down
Current version of firmware is 5.1
To get into it, remove the knob carefully. Then lever off the front panel from the right side (speaker on the left) which is held on with very sticky tape. There are 2 tabs that lock the panel to the LED strip in the middle. The back comes off with the 4 screws revealed beneath the front panel. The pcb is held on with 4 screws. Speaker and battery unplug. Battery replacement looks straight forward when the time comes.
Today, mine stopped working. It acquired IP, then tried to get the default radio station, but failed, normally resulting in an auto-reset. After I took it apart, I tried spray ice to localise the fault. All psu rails marked 1v8 and 3v3 were fine. The 2 large silver caps are about 1.6V, small tant is across the battery at 3.7V. Running off mains didn't help.
Checked firmware revision, which didn't work at first as it hadn't made contact with the http://csr.vtuner.com website, but once it did, it told me I was up to date. Current is 1.5, my backup version is 'invalid' which I take to mean there is no backup.
The built in li-on charger seems to operate in a similar way to the ubiquitous TP4056 and the led flashes when the battery is disconnected. The radio takes about 150mA from the battery during normal operation and about 50uA when off. A fairly flat lion battery was fed 360mA, so maybe the charge limit is low. It does take about 8 hours to fully charge. It's stamped 5.55Wh which is about 1.5Ah. A similar size replacement is a Samsung EB504465VU. A bit longer than the original. Contains cut off circuitry below 3V.
Theoretical battery life is 1500/150 = 10 hours
Battery indicator
empty 3.55
1/4 3.67
1/2 3.77
3/4 3.91
full 4.02
won't turn on below 3.45V
shuts off below 3.37V
Capacity of the battery tested at about 3/4 capacity May 2016 ie ~ 5 years old, giving about 8 hours use.
Battery is 60 x 40 x ~5.5mm thick, but the case back is flared a good 1mm more
Update 18/9/16 - New battery. Physically larger, but the same capacity. There are plenty this kind of size. This is a T18287 which is fitted to a Galaxy S2, plus some others. At 5.55Wh/3.7V, it's 1.5Ah, but you see it advertised as 1750mAh.
25/11/20
Battery barely lasting 2 days.
Battery changed to a 2600mAh Samsung one glued to the outside. Dated 2016.
Update 11/8/22
Radio stopped working 2 days ago.
CSR57E6 Bluetooth Stereo Audio Chip
29lv3200b 32 Megabit (4096K x 8-bit / 2048K x 16-bit) Flash Memory Boot Sector Flash Memory
CY7C1041 512K x 8 Static RAM
CSR UF1050B UniFi-1 first generation single-chip Wi-Fi solution
The csr.vtuner site is not responding. As there are no open ports I can't even begin to hack this.
I suppose I could trap the site and divert it to one of mine but life is too short. I think this radio goes to the recyclers!
I did try to trap the calls, but wireshark cant get my wireless card to go promiscuous!
Tried ycast, which had a similar URL ie *.vtuner.com Local DNS worked fine but radio kept crashing when I changed the DNS away from the gateway addy.
Friday, 16 August 2013
bodge-con. Air-con for bodgers
So, you want aircon, because of 1 or 2 days of the year when it's a bit warm.
There are 3 solutions
1. Shut up and put up. Sleep during the hot part of the day, and keep the windows shut and the sun off the rooms by shutting the curtains. After all, you keep the heat in during the winter with the same idea
2. Move to a really hot country, then move back to a more temperate climate.
3. bodge something up.
OK there is a 4th option, buy something, but you can't justify buying something for a few days a year, which will cost a lot to run, then sit in a corner getting in the way, then won't work after a few years and will end up in land fill.
An old dehumidifier is perfect for me, as it doesn't use very much energy, but conversely doesn't give much cooling either - say 800W in theory, but I doubt I achieve that as the evaporator isn't finned. And I can (only) run it off surplus energy on the solar panels.
I don't know much about aircon, but luckily a pal does. A bit of advice and bodgery later and voila. A window rattler, as they are known in the trade.
The view from outside
The view from inside. Blue Peter would be proud.
There are 3 solutions
1. Shut up and put up. Sleep during the hot part of the day, and keep the windows shut and the sun off the rooms by shutting the curtains. After all, you keep the heat in during the winter with the same idea
2. Move to a really hot country, then move back to a more temperate climate.
3. bodge something up.
OK there is a 4th option, buy something, but you can't justify buying something for a few days a year, which will cost a lot to run, then sit in a corner getting in the way, then won't work after a few years and will end up in land fill.
An old dehumidifier is perfect for me, as it doesn't use very much energy, but conversely doesn't give much cooling either - say 800W in theory, but I doubt I achieve that as the evaporator isn't finned. And I can (only) run it off surplus energy on the solar panels.
I don't know much about aircon, but luckily a pal does. A bit of advice and bodgery later and voila. A window rattler, as they are known in the trade.
The view from outside
The view from inside. Blue Peter would be proud.
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Moving the wood pile
The wood had been dumped on the ground, so it was time to re-stack it on pallets. I got quite a few pallets and after 4 hours, voila
This is what it looked like before
After its been covered in some attractive blue tarpaulins, you'll never see it.
This is what it looked like before
Monday, 29 July 2013
Wood store is full
After about 6 morning's work, I've chopped enough timber to last about 3-4 years, which is about 6 stere. The wood stockpile is reduced in size, but there is still a lot left. I've been cutting up the smaller bits in general, as these will rot the quickest in the coming years. Each load into the wood shed has been alternated round and split to make sure it stacks better.
The pile did extend to the tube on the left, at about 1.5m high.
The pile did extend to the tube on the left, at about 1.5m high.
Monday, 22 July 2013
Parking
Since Allan made the parking bigger, I've been left with a lot of soil to move. It's an area in shade until midday, so slowly, with the trailer and Harry, I've been moving the soil to fill in the old drainage ditch. There's been about 5m3, and the ditch wasnt that big so we now have a bit of a hill.
Going
Going..
Gone
Cutting logs
Simple but efficient.
I've seen something like this before, built out of fence posts and portable. The problem I have is that my chainsaw blade is only 350mm, so a freestanding one would have a narrow base and may not be too stable. I could fit stabilisers, but I'm not intending to cut too many logs from trees, so an ad-hoc one like this does just fine.
About a stere an hour can be cut. If they are small diameter they go straight into the trailer and onto the woodstore. If not, splitting adds a little more time.
Maybe I need a bigger chainsaw...
I've seen something like this before, built out of fence posts and portable. The problem I have is that my chainsaw blade is only 350mm, so a freestanding one would have a narrow base and may not be too stable. I could fit stabilisers, but I'm not intending to cut too many logs from trees, so an ad-hoc one like this does just fine.
About a stere an hour can be cut. If they are small diameter they go straight into the trailer and onto the woodstore. If not, splitting adds a little more time.
Maybe I need a bigger chainsaw...
Friday, 5 July 2013
Combistrim teardown
There are 5 release points on the line cover. The cover clips on at the front. There is a clip immediately behind the spool (big one), 2 smaller ones to the side of the spool and two stiff ones at the rear. Release the rear ones first, and hopefully the middle one will come loose. The ones on the side are minimal.
With the spool facing you, remove all the screws and ease fast the red angle adjustment lever. Remove motor etc as required. The spool is glued onto the spigot. Once off, the motor can be stripped and the bearings pulled (2 long screws). Brushes are easily accessible 5x8x20mm. 24 segments on commutator. Top bearing marked WT00 698Z. Resistance L to brush is 5.9R, L-N 22.0. Same with N. (Isotech meter)
Small drop of oil put on bearings
Reassemble and glue long motor screws and spool.
This was the first strip from new (2007) as there were no marks on the plastic. Minimal grass inside.
With the spool facing you, remove all the screws and ease fast the red angle adjustment lever. Remove motor etc as required. The spool is glued onto the spigot. Once off, the motor can be stripped and the bearings pulled (2 long screws). Brushes are easily accessible 5x8x20mm. 24 segments on commutator. Top bearing marked WT00 698Z. Resistance L to brush is 5.9R, L-N 22.0. Same with N. (Isotech meter)
Small drop of oil put on bearings
Reassemble and glue long motor screws and spool.
This was the first strip from new (2007) as there were no marks on the plastic. Minimal grass inside.
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
(more) Strimmers
Well, in keeping with the purchase of aging gear, today saw the purchase of a Jonsered (now Husqvarna) strimmer GT24L. And a much newer (5 yo) Bosch electric strimmer. €45 for both.
The strimmer had been well looked after but had 'choke problems'. It looks like a carb repair kit and some new fuel line will cure this. It has run well, but the carb just choked up again with grot.
The electric strimmer replaces a really poor quality Stihl FSE31/41. It's hard to know where to start. Only 18 months old and was bought to replace a cheap Black and Decker strimmer that was 20 years old and had never once had a problem.
The spool holder cap is too thin, flexes and now has broken.
The rivets on the spool holder have almost worn out
There is no moulding to stop long grass wrapping itself around the shaft. The spool housing is not removable, so you have to spend some considerable time fishing out grass in the garage.
The guard is very loose and wobbles
Not a design issue, but poor environmental consideration. The spools are designed to be consumable. If you do re-fill them the bump cap wears out in no time.
Stihl's response to this was 'we've had no other complaints' As far as I'm concerned 'we will not purchase Stihl anymore' or other brands they own, such as Viking
The strimmer had been well looked after but had 'choke problems'. It looks like a carb repair kit and some new fuel line will cure this. It has run well, but the carb just choked up again with grot.
The electric strimmer replaces a really poor quality Stihl FSE31/41. It's hard to know where to start. Only 18 months old and was bought to replace a cheap Black and Decker strimmer that was 20 years old and had never once had a problem.
The spool holder cap is too thin, flexes and now has broken.
The rivets on the spool holder have almost worn out
There is no moulding to stop long grass wrapping itself around the shaft. The spool housing is not removable, so you have to spend some considerable time fishing out grass in the garage.
The guard is very loose and wobbles
Not a design issue, but poor environmental consideration. The spools are designed to be consumable. If you do re-fill them the bump cap wears out in no time.
Stihl's response to this was 'we've had no other complaints' As far as I'm concerned 'we will not purchase Stihl anymore' or other brands they own, such as Viking
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Patio doors
Anonymous double opening patio doors
Doors can be individually removed
to remove :-
remove black nylon brushes in middle / top of frame 2 x posi screw
internal door only, remove curved white plastic trim, up top in middle on door, by carefully prising from below, then lift up & off. Can't lift door enough if fitted.
Lift door up, then lower either in or outside onto wooden chocks.
the roller housings are marked 4401B and can be individually and easily prised out.
the white nylon (?) rollers are 23 dia, inner 20 dia (bit that contacts the rail) The bearing is needle type, marked Nadella HK 06-08 made in france (http://www.nadella.fr/produits/pages/roulements-a-aiguilles.htm). Rod that fits through is 5.97mm dia. Outer bearing dia is 10mm nom (maeasured 9.86mm) and is pressed into the roller
The alu rails that the doors run are loose and I imagine can slide out, but this will mean removing the entire frame. Tricky. Meaure 3mm ride, 1.88mm tall.
Worn rollers result in the edges running on the side of the rail.
26/8/15 Have found a supplier in Poland that makes a 22od rollers cast nylon with 5mm shaft. Close enough and around €2,50 each, rather than the €7,50.
They fit ok on door out to covered area. Tried to get them to 6mm, as did the supplier, with no success. Hardened. Used M5 bolt and strips of aluminium to make up the difference.
23/12/15 ish. Have found a supplier on aliexpress that makes an almost exact item, but the delivery never appeared and they wouldn't re-send. Another supplier has the same thing a few months on, but the Polish rollers are holding up well.
Rollers are called V groove or U groove
Pictures on file + copies of nadella catalogue
23/7/16 re-machined the old pair of rollers using a 4mm drill on ID to about 18.5mm and a large drill to turn down the OD to about 22mm using a drill on high speed. Quite smooth.
Polish rollers are holding up well on the most used patio door. There may be a slight ovalness creeping in.
See post 7/3/18 for replacement roller dates
Doors can be individually removed
to remove :-
remove black nylon brushes in middle / top of frame 2 x posi screw
internal door only, remove curved white plastic trim, up top in middle on door, by carefully prising from below, then lift up & off. Can't lift door enough if fitted.
Lift door up, then lower either in or outside onto wooden chocks.
the roller housings are marked 4401B and can be individually and easily prised out.
the white nylon (?) rollers are 23 dia, inner 20 dia (bit that contacts the rail) The bearing is needle type, marked Nadella HK 06-08 made in france (http://www.nadella.fr/produits/pages/roulements-a-aiguilles.htm). Rod that fits through is 5.97mm dia. Outer bearing dia is 10mm nom (maeasured 9.86mm) and is pressed into the roller
The alu rails that the doors run are loose and I imagine can slide out, but this will mean removing the entire frame. Tricky. Meaure 3mm ride, 1.88mm tall.
Worn rollers result in the edges running on the side of the rail.
26/8/15 Have found a supplier in Poland that makes a 22od rollers cast nylon with 5mm shaft. Close enough and around €2,50 each, rather than the €7,50.
They fit ok on door out to covered area. Tried to get them to 6mm, as did the supplier, with no success. Hardened. Used M5 bolt and strips of aluminium to make up the difference.
23/12/15 ish. Have found a supplier on aliexpress that makes an almost exact item, but the delivery never appeared and they wouldn't re-send. Another supplier has the same thing a few months on, but the Polish rollers are holding up well.
Rollers are called V groove or U groove
Pictures on file + copies of nadella catalogue
23/7/16 re-machined the old pair of rollers using a 4mm drill on ID to about 18.5mm and a large drill to turn down the OD to about 22mm using a drill on high speed. Quite smooth.
Polish rollers are holding up well on the most used patio door. There may be a slight ovalness creeping in.
See post 7/3/18 for replacement roller dates
Sunday, 9 June 2013
Wood shed
With our thoughts turning to winter - well we've had a very long spring and summer is nowhere to be seen - the wood shed needed an extension to both tidy up the space, and somewhere to start drying off the trees cut 18 months ago. A gross size of around 7m3, but the bin lives in there and boxes for tinder etc. There should be space for around 6m3; we use about 1.5m3 per winter, so there should be 3-4 years fuel.
The intention is to put a trellis over the panels and across the garage and grow something...
The intention is to put a trellis over the panels and across the garage and grow something...
Thursday, 30 May 2013
RIP Porcie
13 month old Porc noir (Porcie) didn't roll in for breakfast this morning. We found him dead by the side of the road around 1pm. Poor kitten.
Saturday, 11 May 2013
11 tonnes of gravel
11 tonnes of gravel sounds a lot until you realise this is only 30mm over 140m2, which is roughly the parking area we now have. The drive, due to be concreted is another 150m2.The lorry really struggled to get up the drive, partly because it's rained since Christmas and partly because he did it in reverse, uphill, and managed to get the rear wheels off the drive which then slipped on the grass.
We also dug out another metre on the parking area and gravelled this. All in all, we've used about 10 tonnes and I've shovelled the rest to the edge of the turning circle. Did this in less than a day, so we're quite tired now!
Saturday, 4 May 2013
Digger
Allan came over with his digger and dug out the turning circle and the pond.
4 hours for a small extension to the drive and about an hour to enlarge the old ditch into a pod.
And another hour the following day to get the digger on the trailer
4 hours for a small extension to the drive and about an hour to enlarge the old ditch into a pod.
And another hour the following day to get the digger on the trailer
Saturday, 13 April 2013
Lawn mower service
Serviced Ralph and junior. 2 days!
Junior. Stripped down to deck, 1 coat of hammerite. Some oil leaked out of the exhaust as I stored the engine plug down (should have been the other way)
Ralph. Repaired brake, greased, made pin / drilled for pedal, re-fitted original broken spring which was weaker than the replacement in the drawer. Welded deck, fitted some straps, hammerite & filler. Wouldnt start, but this might have been pilot error on the choke set up. Then the float stuck and fuel leaked over night. Suspect float had weeped over winter as there was a slight patch on the floor
Oil clean on both, so not changed. Cleaned plugs. Both a bit black.
Following day decided to inspect Ralph's carb. Found a blade of grass in the float valve. Cleaned this and the fuel tank. Carefully removed main jet and used lm grease on shaft to help seal it against the rubber seal. Replaced it all, but no new gasket for the bowl. It weeped a bit when moving, ok stationary as the float level is below the top (?) Ralph just wouldnt start - spluttered once (used a large external battery and 20A PSU on jump leads direct onto motor.) Cleaned the plug (NGK BM6A) and he started straight away and ran. Set up main jet, but then he wouldnt restart. Took the plug from junior (Champion RJ19LM - original). Different part number put same length internally, much longer externally, and easier to get in being longer. Started first time and every other time. Took off air filter and set up idle revs and mix. Mix too rich and idle too low. Both idle and main jet at 1/2 turn ACW from fully screwed in. Both had been too rich. Runs well, starts well, operated under load fine, no backfiring or hesitation. Oil leak from carb breather at low revs.
Refitted exhaust with a little gasket paste. Bit quieter now. The block is threaded presumably to take the screw in exhaust. Also removed bowl and re-fitted with a tiny wipe of gasket paste, although it's not recommended for immersion in fuel (fuel level is, I think, well below gasket)
Carb float hinge is on RHS (from rear) so raising the rhs will cause level to drop as the RH side of petrol will keep the float high. Tilting the lhs will cause an over flow. Ralph is impossible to start when RHS is high.
RH looking from rear tyre, which has always been a pain, was flat again mid winter and once the bead had broken, it wouldnt stay up. The valve was leaking too. This tyre had sealed ok with pva and grated rubber. Couldnt get the tyre off without worrying about breaking the steel band, so managed to get a wire wheel into the rim and cleaned all the rust off the bead on the rim. Re-sealed with boos white on the rim and valve. All ok.
Junior. Stripped down to deck, 1 coat of hammerite. Some oil leaked out of the exhaust as I stored the engine plug down (should have been the other way)
Ralph. Repaired brake, greased, made pin / drilled for pedal, re-fitted original broken spring which was weaker than the replacement in the drawer. Welded deck, fitted some straps, hammerite & filler. Wouldnt start, but this might have been pilot error on the choke set up. Then the float stuck and fuel leaked over night. Suspect float had weeped over winter as there was a slight patch on the floor
Oil clean on both, so not changed. Cleaned plugs. Both a bit black.
Following day decided to inspect Ralph's carb. Found a blade of grass in the float valve. Cleaned this and the fuel tank. Carefully removed main jet and used lm grease on shaft to help seal it against the rubber seal. Replaced it all, but no new gasket for the bowl. It weeped a bit when moving, ok stationary as the float level is below the top (?) Ralph just wouldnt start - spluttered once (used a large external battery and 20A PSU on jump leads direct onto motor.) Cleaned the plug (NGK BM6A) and he started straight away and ran. Set up main jet, but then he wouldnt restart. Took the plug from junior (Champion RJ19LM - original). Different part number put same length internally, much longer externally, and easier to get in being longer. Started first time and every other time. Took off air filter and set up idle revs and mix. Mix too rich and idle too low. Both idle and main jet at 1/2 turn ACW from fully screwed in. Both had been too rich. Runs well, starts well, operated under load fine, no backfiring or hesitation. Oil leak from carb breather at low revs.
Refitted exhaust with a little gasket paste. Bit quieter now. The block is threaded presumably to take the screw in exhaust. Also removed bowl and re-fitted with a tiny wipe of gasket paste, although it's not recommended for immersion in fuel (fuel level is, I think, well below gasket)
Carb float hinge is on RHS (from rear) so raising the rhs will cause level to drop as the RH side of petrol will keep the float high. Tilting the lhs will cause an over flow. Ralph is impossible to start when RHS is high.
RH looking from rear tyre, which has always been a pain, was flat again mid winter and once the bead had broken, it wouldnt stay up. The valve was leaking too. This tyre had sealed ok with pva and grated rubber. Couldnt get the tyre off without worrying about breaking the steel band, so managed to get a wire wheel into the rim and cleaned all the rust off the bead on the rim. Re-sealed with boos white on the rim and valve. All ok.
Monday, 8 April 2013
First cut of the season
Well, not really the first cut. Took junior out to cut around the ginko, as it was soo long, but too wet for ralph.
Ralph got out on 14/4. Grass was very very long and needed careful cutting to prevent stalling. Grass was quite wet.
Strimming took about 4 hours.
Ralph got out on 14/4. Grass was very very long and needed careful cutting to prevent stalling. Grass was quite wet.
Strimming took about 4 hours.
Monday, 25 March 2013
Another rotten Monday on the piste
You know how it is. It's Monday again, you're tired, not slept so well, and all you've got to do is ski on 20cm of fresh.
Not a bad set of eights and Ss. You could say we made a bit of a mess of the mountain.
It took a lot of training, but she's doing alright.
Not a bad set of eights and Ss. You could say we made a bit of a mess of the mountain.
It took a lot of training, but she's doing alright.
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Another mole
Well, it seems the cats like to play with moles. Another one turned up today.
Not quite sure who got it, but it seems likely that it was porcy. Quite a big mole.
Not quite sure who got it, but it seems likely that it was porcy. Quite a big mole.
Saturday, 9 March 2013
Finished bendroom 2
The skirting is now installed in the spare room and all the furniture back in. Also installed the architrave in the bathroom.
Almost finished the house.
Almost finished the house.
Weather station
I had noticed that the temperatures from the WS were about 5C higher than Tarbes when it's sunny. So it's been moved to a more exposed position and the temperature & rain gauge are at regulation 1.25m, the wind speed and direction are at 3.5m.
The weather station was originally installed on the pergola near the kitchen door at about 3m on 25/12/12.
The weather station was originally installed on the pergola near the kitchen door at about 3m on 25/12/12.
Sunday, 3 March 2013
Finished decorating
Well, almost. Study filled, skirting board and architrave. Bathroom filled and painted (had under coat and largely filled a year ago) A little architrave and tiled skirting left there.
But, the 4th bedroom needs painting (2nd coat) and skirting. The presence of a very large bookcase may prevent the painting, as might a lack of paint. Only got about 15m2 left.
Tiled skirting in the ensuite would be nice too.
But, the 4th bedroom needs painting (2nd coat) and skirting. The presence of a very large bookcase may prevent the painting, as might a lack of paint. Only got about 15m2 left.
Tiled skirting in the ensuite would be nice too.
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Snow (again)
Plenty of snow this morning - around 100mm. Very dry. About the same fell on the hill.
Pictures are in dropbox under feb 2013.
Largely gone by 2pm.
Pictures are in dropbox under feb 2013.
Largely gone by 2pm.
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
sharpened chainsaw
Well, more of a change the chain. Chain too blunt to sharpen with a file.
2 hours to strip and clean, changed air and petrol filter
2 hours to strip and clean, changed air and petrol filter
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
1 year with (grid) electricity
With a year of 24/7 (grid) power, we have averaged 1.28kWh/day. That's about a fifth of our usage the last time we were on grid (2009), and about 1/10 of the UK average.
Some of the saving is made through the use of solar panels, which offset the sun against our usage. This saves about 109kWh per year, or would change our average to about 1.6kWh/day.
To put this into context, our leccy bill is about €128/year with panels and €141/year without the panels, so not really worth the bother.
The bulk of our savings have been achieved very easily. We sold our 'designer' fridge and an upright freezer, and bought a very energy efficient fridge freezer. Whilst our freezer space is around half what it was, it is used 100%. The old freezer was never full, which means it ran even less efficiently.
Whilst we don't freeze that much summer produce, it does become diminishing returns if you fill a freezer with low value produce. And besides which, where do you put another freezer. You can't put it in a garage as they need to be kept +10C to +35C. And not in a bedroom as they are noisy.
Some of the saving is made through the use of solar panels, which offset the sun against our usage. This saves about 109kWh per year, or would change our average to about 1.6kWh/day.
To put this into context, our leccy bill is about €128/year with panels and €141/year without the panels, so not really worth the bother.
The bulk of our savings have been achieved very easily. We sold our 'designer' fridge and an upright freezer, and bought a very energy efficient fridge freezer. Whilst our freezer space is around half what it was, it is used 100%. The old freezer was never full, which means it ran even less efficiently.
Whilst we don't freeze that much summer produce, it does become diminishing returns if you fill a freezer with low value produce. And besides which, where do you put another freezer. You can't put it in a garage as they need to be kept +10C to +35C. And not in a bedroom as they are noisy.
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