Comments for Paul's esoteric meanderings

Comment on How much longer can your corporate network compete? by Brendon Davis

Brendon Davis — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:20:35 +0000

And so your opinion is??

Comment on Combining Vista Media Centre & a Virtual Windows Home Server by Brendon Davis

Brendon Davis — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:42:36 +0000

Hey Paul,

I have got PP3 running on the WHS at home now, The copy of files from MCE to the WHS is great. I have reduced the MCE system disk to a total of 300GB. Play back from the Atom WHS over the 802.11n Wireless is great.

Even viewing of files from the WHS is not effected by uploads, it looks to be using BITS or something to control upload speed. Likewise, when the MCE has all 4 tuners running, I don’t see any impact from uploads.

The unexpected benefit is being able to watch my recordings from the HP NetBook or Desktop PC about 20min after a show finishes recording.

If your interested, check out my configurations at http://brendon.davis.to/mywhs/ or http://brendon.davis.to/mymce/

Comment on Combining Vista Media Centre & a Virtual Windows Home Server by knoworange

knoworange — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:06:28 +0000

thank you alot for sharing this great post!
I found a youtube video about xbox live hacks: that I would like to share: xbox Live Hacks!.
But seriously, great post and thank you alot !!
I look forward to your next article !!

Comment on The hurdles of setting up Vista Media Centre by Milton Chiaramonte

Milton Chiaramonte — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:42:29 +0000

Hey. I got a 502 gateway error earlier today when I tried to access this page. Anyone else had the problem?

Comment on Maximising your Credit Card Interest Free period for Dummies by Dan James

Dan James — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:12:38 +0000

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Comment on Battery Heat Shields for my HZJ105 by Dave Petrie

Dave Petrie — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:23:05 +0000

You have linked the Fullriver HGL series as “cheap Chinese ones” which is both unfair and untrue. We don’t recommend this range for either deep-cycle usage nor under bonnet. I would argue that cheap does not necessarily mean bad either. For deep-cycle applications, use the dedicated DC series with the optional heatshield sheetmetal shroud now available too.

Dave Petrie (Fullriver Product Manager, Australia & NZ)

Comment on Combining Vista Media Centre & a Virtual Windows Home Server by VMware Workstation 6.5 ACE

VMware Workstation 6.5 ACE — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:01:27 +0000

VMware Workstation 6.5 ACE …

The time came to decommission the Home Server once I realised how much power it was pulling. My pow [...]…

Comment on How to destroy your Mont Blanc Pen by Seamus

Seamus — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:23:45 +0000

The problem is that you let it sit for a few days and it sounds like you used pure spirits. A good pure rubbing alcohol and a very short few minutes should do it. Remember how to wash your hair? It’s the same with pens. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Comment on Tuning and Understanding your Toyota Viscous Fan Clutch by Chris Fraser

Chris Fraser — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:05:08 +0000

Paul,

Thanks for the advice! I was about to dish out over $1000 for a new allow radiator until you told me about this. Armed with $10 tube of oil and an hour of my time all was said and done! The truck now runs two full needle widths cooler, which is back to where is was prior adding a turbo!!! My truck is just any old aftermarket turbo mod either, its a highly modified engine running various parts from both the 1HZ and 1HDT engines pumping out 150 rwhp! Keeping this thing cool is essential!

Thanks again
Chris

Comment on Greenpower – what exactly am I paying for? by Cam

Cam — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:49:41 +0000

Paul
what a complex life we live!
I put it to you that wind is not a viable baseload power source, and can never match the power density of a thermodynamic plant (coal, nuclear), or a (hydrocarbon) gas turbine. That is, they take up a hell of a lot of (prime coastal) space per kWh.
The energy required to manufacture wind turbines is significant (and comes primarily from nuclear or coal power stations).
Even a nuclear power station requires significant energy to construct, due to the large amount of concrete (people talk about multi-year energy payback with nuclear power).
I will email you a table on various parameters for a number of energy sources (and would be interested in any refinements you have to the table).
Regards cam.

Comment on Smashed Solar Collectors by mvg

mvg — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:52:58 +0000

Smashed Solar Collectors | Paul’s esoteric meanderings great article thank you.

Comment on Greenpower – what exactly am I paying for? by GJOESQ

GJOESQ — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:59:32 +0000

I’ve got absolutely NO IDEA what this means and I think I’m informed!! Can someone please explain this with definitions in plain English?

Comment on Greenpower – what exactly am I paying for? by Rob

Rob — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:02:12 +0000

A small nit. the PV deeming for RECs is 15 years. The 6c/kWh premium Origin pays above the 44c/kWh (which is paid by distributors like Energex to Origin to pass on) is around the wholesale cost of electricity.

Comment on Landcruiser Oil Filter Internals by David Poultney

David Poultney — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:01:10 +0000

Hi Paul,
Came across your stuff through LCOOL. I have enjoyed your postings there for some time.
I found your oil analysis interesting – you have to prick your ears up when people use the word “interesting” – it usually means they didn’t like it, have a different view or had a negative experience, but that’s an aside, I genuinely found it interesting. Also your filter dissection and analysis is very good too. I note you express a concern that an auxillary bypass filter has issues for you, and it it this I wish to share my experiences about.

In 1985 I purchased a brand new a Daihatsu Rocky, 2.8 NA diesel. I used it mainly for highway work, but as I was working as a farm salesman needed a car with clearance and sometimes 4WD to get over rural properties. At 24,000kms I fitted “dunny roll” canister filters. One for in the fuel line for fuel and one, a by pass filter for the engine through a T piece in the pressure line and a return to the sump direct via a hole knocked in the side of the sump. I had the sump oil analysed continuously, approx each 6 months (about 20,000kms) for the rest of the time I had the vehicle. I sold it with 360,000 kms on the clock. The oil analysis was done at Wigmores in Perth who had the Caterpillar franchise for WA back then. All analyses were well within spec. I am no expert about these things, but the reports and my tame mechanic told me so, and I did get to understand them more over time. From the time I fitted the by pass oil filter I never changed the sump oil at all, just left it in there. I changed the dunny roll every 1200-1500kms, took 5 minutes, and added oil back to replace what was lost with the dunny roll, this was between 500ml and a litre, each time I forget now.

To the query you have – “when do I know when to change my dunny roll filter?” It’s easy, pull the dipstick, wipe engine oil on the palm of your hand (about 2 drops) and smear it into your skin, wipe it off with a clean tissue. If your palm is clean the filter is not blocked, if black remains in your pores the filter needs changing. A few times of this and you soon work out when it needs to be changed and dont need to get your hand dirty, except to brag to mates. In my case it was “up to 2000 kms”, but as dunny rolls were only 50 cents each back then I decided to change them earlier. If it ran over for some reason, say up to 3000 kms or more I would then change the dunny roll after a short run, say 500kms, and voila, a clean palm.

After fitting the fuel filter I never replaced the Daihatsu fuel filter again – why would you at $80 a throw versus 50 cents.

This car never burnt oil or had any premature wear at the time of sale. In fact the only things I ever did was replace a bolt on the power steering, and a new radiator due to the rainwater I was using (I lived on a farm) reacting with the radiator as it was caught off a zincalume shed roof. It also stuffed the truck radiator and the old farm 4wd too.

I hope this is of interest to you. I notice the 1HZ we have has very black oil, as did the Rocky, and a Case tractor I had. I haven’t fitted dunny roll filters to the Landcruiser because we are unlikely to do enough kms to wear it out while we have it (we are retired) to tow our Tvan around. More than 160,000kms travelling around Oz is just not going to happen, and also we live in town now and having dirty dunny roll filters to dispose of would be a hassle, plus I now have clean hands and can barely handle the smell of diesel on them nowadays – so things have changed.

I was very interested to note from your work that the OEM filter has the finer filter in it, so that may explain why some 1HZs do a lot of kms before wearing significantly.

Further, my cousin used these filters on his Deutz farm tractors, and had a similar experience. A small fault in one engine had it pulled apart at 5000 hours, and the mechanic couldn’t belive how clean it was inside. My cousin also had a tractor stop through lack of fuel. The issue was water had got into the fuel tank and the dunny roll filter blocked rather than let any water through.

Hope you find this “interesting” Paul

Cheers
David

Comment on Greenpower – what exactly am I paying for? by Monty

Monty — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:44:18 +0000

Interesting post! I think one of the key determinants on the value of green power is whether the retailer counts the green energy toward his obligations under the MRET or not. On this web page http://www.energy.com.au/energy/ea.nsf/Content/NSW+Green+energy I believe that Energy Australia advise that when they sell Green Power they do not count the RECs purchased to provide this Green Power toward their MRET total. This makes sense to me as it truely represents additional Green Power over their target (which it should if you have to pay extra for it!). I’m not sure if all Green Power merchants tally their RECs in the same way.
Incidently – where did you read that solar hot water RECs aren’t elligible under Green Power schemes? I was under the impression that all RECs were equal?

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by Chris

Chris — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:36:27 +0000

Hi Paul. Thank you for publishing your experience for the benefit of others, like myself, who are interested in doing a similar installation. You mention about Rheem’s “solar convertible” tanks not being very adaptable for conversion, and that some other tanks with extra outlets being better for this purpose. I have noticed that even a relatively new (2-3 years old) Rheem “solar convertible” tank does not have on the outside skin the inlet and outlet ports for connection to the solar panel. Are the ports on the inner tank wall? I haven’t been able to get any information about that from Rheem’s website. What brand of tanks do you know of that have the extra ports built-in? Do you know whether it is practically feasible to convert a standart gas hot water tank into a solar storage tank? All Rheem’s solar convertible tanks are electrically boosted.
Chris

Comment on Mechanical (Auto) Lockers by Bundyrulz

Bundyrulz — Sun, 24 May 2009 06:09:17 +0000

G’day Paul,
Great article. I have been a fan of Auto-lockers for a while now. I had one in the rear of my 75 Cruiser. It was a Detroit series IV. I was able to pull it apart before fitment and was able to see the ruggedness of the construction. It is a similar principle to the “lokkas”. Ramps to disengage and teeth for drive. They are in different location. Also backed up by two very heavy coil springs.
I have a GU Patrol and there is no Detroit available for it. Having said that, I am more than happy with the LSD in the back.
I have helped a mate fit a Lokka to the front of his Patrol. He reports the drive now is much better.

Bundyrulz

Comment on Winch Mount Testing and Breaking Rope by Dave

Dave — Sat, 16 May 2009 10:48:27 +0000

A little disappointing result huh? A suggestion that if works would align things better. I’m guessing the alloy channel is bolted to the underside of the chassis rails. Turn the channel with winch upside down and bolt it to the top side of the chassis rails. That should align the rope spooling through the fairlead better. (I was going to suggest just turning the winch over, but that would surely twist the channel). Good work, and well documented. Cheers.

Comment on Toyota Landcruiser 100 Series ‘98-‘04 Temp Gauge Mod by 100 Series Temp Gauge Mod - IH8MUD Forums

100 Series Temp Gauge Mod - IH8MUD Forums — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:04:01 +0000

[...] Series Temp Gauge Mod Want to make your gauge work properly and remove the dead spot? Toyota Landcruiser 100 Series ‘98-‘04 Temp Gauge Mod | Paul’s esoteric meanderin… Catchya [...]

Comment on Tuning and Understanding your Toyota Viscous Fan Clutch by Electric fans on a 4.2 td - Australian 4WD Action Online Forums - the 4WD, 4x4 and offroad truck community. Get the latest tips, news, reviews, images and video clips.

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:19:19 +0000

[...] yes, you can adjust the temp settings on the fans. Paul has done a good write up on this… Tuning and Understanding your Toyota Viscous Fan Clutch | Paul’s esoteric meanderings __________________ BEU77Y and the BEE55T 105 series GXL Intercooled turbo diesel auto Don’t [...]

Comment on Tuning and Understanding your Toyota Viscous Fan Clutch by New Fan Clutch Article I wrote - IH8MUD Forums

New Fan Clutch Article I wrote - IH8MUD Forums — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:06:13 +0000

[...] Fan Clutch Article I wrote This might interest some of you. Tuning and Understanding your Toyota Viscous Fan Clutch | Paul’s esoteric meanderings It’s an expansion on Franks. Thanx [...]

Comment on Batteries lead an isolated life by Rod

Rod — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:42:17 +0000

have you considered the impact of the drop out voltage on the longevity of the primary battery?
I’ve seen anything from 12.5V to 12V for the drop out voltage. At 12V the SOC is anything from 10% to 50% depending upon the battery type and which set of figures you believe. The cycle life drops dramatically the deeper the discharge. I suppose it then becomes a cost/benefit calculation between battery life / depth of discharge and size of the battery bank.

PS had to start my vehicle today but I checked before I started it, the isolator was still activated over 40 hours after I last shut the vehicle down. That’s a fair bit of wasted power keeping a solenoid active.

Comment on Batteries lead an isolated life by me2

me2 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:11:02 +0000

In regard to the isolator parasitic current – this is why many manufacturers use several small relays in parallel (Traxide, TJM etc) rather than the single large relay like Redarc. It is a significant draw on it’s own.

Comment on Batteries lead an isolated life by Rod

Rod — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:04:46 +0000

I’ve been making some observations regarding my installation with a voltage sensitive isolator.
The power consumed by the solenoid is significant. mine measured at ~0.8A. Not a problem when the alternator is running but if you have a low drop out voltage, say 12.5V, and not much of a load and/or a lrage capacity of battery then it can take a significant period of time to discharge to 12.5V.
In my case, as I write, it has been nearly 24 hours since the engine stopped and the solenoid is still operational. ~19Ah of load just keeping the solenoid active.
Two possible solutions, increase the drop out voltage to, say, 12.8V or make the solenoid driver smarter and reduce the holding current once it has actuated.

Comment on eBay Chinese HID’s and Hella Rallye 4000 Review by floor jack

floor jack — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:53:20 +0000

This is the first time I commented here and I should say you share genuine, and quality information for bloggers! Great job.
p.s. You have an awesome template . Where did you find it?

Comment on Exchange Move Mailbox and Outlook Redirection by JDM

JDM — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:45:56 +0000

FWIW: I’ve only encountered the redirect issue with clients on Outlook 2003 RTM.

Comment on Every Light an Energy Saver by Michael Blewett

Michael Blewett — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 09:55:28 +0000

Hey Paul,
One more question…what brand is that mirror (fluoro) light? That’s exactly what i am looking for in my bathroom

Comment on DNS – NS Records are NOT Glue Records (or "How to break your DNS Delegation") by Suso

Suso — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:14:50 +0000

‘dig’ can easily help you to find what are your glue hosts:

dig @yourccnic.com.xx company.com.xx

It will give you both your nameserver hostnames _and_ the glue records for the domain in the “additional section”.

Comment on Olympus u720SW Owners Review by Shane Brook

Shane Brook — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:20:11 +0000

I have had my camera for 28 months now and up until about 2 months ago i was very happy with.
I had an issue with the lens recently and sent it in to get fixed.
The quote came back at $267.30.
The seals needed replacing due to use in the water which is supposed to happen every year.
My query is, i have only used the camera under water (about 1-2 metres) approximately 15 times in the past 28 months and it is buggered.
If i get it fixed, the service work would be warranted for only 12 months.
I am better buying a brand new camera for $500 and getting an extended warranty to 3 years if the above is anything to go on.
Not happy at all and won’t be buying Olympus again.

Comment on Combining Vista Media Centre & a Virtual Windows Home Server by mmx

mmx — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:23:34 +0000

I think the better way is to run Vista inside WHS, not the other way around.

This way, you can use physical disk for storage and performance is greatly improved.

Comment on Rethink your Lid by DavidS

DavidS — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:06:45 +0000

You make mention of replacing a 13 year old helmet, but you are now paying attention to 5 star safety ratings.

I suggest that from now on you purchase helmets more regularly. Check what all the manufacturers say about the age at which helmets should be replaced. All the ones I have seen state 5 years from manufacture. This is due to the materials used in construction perishing over time (not just the padding compressing and causing a looser fit for helmets without replacable pads, but also the foam used to absorb any impacts).

Always good to see a new standard though. Better to be able to make informed decisions with more information.

Comment on Rethink your Lid by BrianK

BrianK — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:53:18 +0000

Dugie, quote of the day…
“Of course nothing will protect you from those big ones that just leave you dead”
My immediate thought was “except physics, especially the one about an object in motion…”. I had a mental picture of me in a Hummer H2 wearing the cheapest dodgy helmet on the market, and some poor soul (or former soul depending on your beliefs) on a GSXR1000 with a $2000 lid….

Comment on Every Light an Energy Saver by Michael Blewett

Michael Blewett — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:45:57 +0000

Hey Paul,
How are these Crompton lights going now that you have them for a while. I bought a similar item from the Environment shop but found that the fluoro bulbs kept blowing way ahead of when they should ( i think mainly because of the heat buildup in the fitting itself). have you found that at all? I tried a range of different brands for the bulbs (phillips, Mirabella, ge etc). Interested in your experiences with these fittings.. – Mike

Comment on Maximising your Credit Card Interest Free period for Dummies by MaLaKa

MaLaKa — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:13:45 +0000

i agree with DZ great post mate, i was doing the same thing paing it off in full,

closing balance it is lol

Comment on Combining Vista Media Centre & a Virtual Windows Home Server by Jay

Jay — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:09:16 +0000

I’d like to do something very similar to this – ie. Running Vista Media Center as the main OS while running WHS in virtualization, but I have a few questions before I purchase that hardware. I’m looking at doing it with a pretty beefy small form factor system, using a Phenom 9450e w/ 4GB of RAM, if that matters:

1. I’d like to use MyMovies for WHS to automatically rip Blu-Ray and DVD movies without any user input, which I think is one of the great WHS features going for it. Will the system be able to accomplish this under virtualization?

2. I’m also planning on serving this Blu-Ray content to to other VMC machines. One in my bedroom, and the base machine (that is, the one also running WHS via virtualization) and watching it there, as well as an Xbox 360 working as an extender in my living room. Can this be done under virtualization as well? I know the Xbox 360 won’t play hosted Blu-Ray content, but I believe it will play served DVDs via Transcode 360, so as long as it’ll do that, I’m happy.

Thoughts?

Cheers,
Jay

Comment on Combining Vista Media Centre & a Virtual Windows Home Server by Jase McCarty

Jase McCarty — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:29:51 +0000

Regarding the sluggish console access… Keep in mind that WHS is built on a Windows 2003 foundation. Make sure that you set video hardware acceleration to Full.

That should help out with the console sluggishness.

Cheers,
Jase

Comment on eBay Chinese HID’s and Hella Rallye 4000 Review by Jim Bob

Jim Bob — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:07:49 +0000

Did you rivet the lights to the bar?? and use Glad wrap to replace both lens’.?

Comment on Windows Home Server & PP1 – I’m impressed by Recent Links Tagged With "homeserver" - JabberTags

Recent Links Tagged With "homeserver" - JabberTags — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:19:45 +0000

[...] public links >> homeserver Windows Home Server & PP1 – I’m impressed Saved by leorayman on Sat 13-12-2008 Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 and other WHS resources. [...]

Comment on Maximising your Credit Card Interest Free period for Dummies by Prime Credit Cards

Prime Credit Cards — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:33:32 +0000

Oh the joys of credit card interest juggling. It can be like juggling knives, very dangerous. You laid out some great strategies though. Great post. Nothing beats spending discipline when it comes to managing your credit cards, but its easier said than done. Without the spending discipline in the first place, I wouldn’t even try your strategies.

Comment on Combining Vista Media Centre & a Virtual Windows Home Server by Home Media Data Center Project: VMC + WHS Combined | eHomeUpgrade

Home Media Data Center Project: VMC + WHS Combined | eHomeUpgrade — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:18:15 +0000

[...] 3: New how-to guide using VMWare Workstation 6.5 posted December 4, [...]

Comment on Combining Vista Media Centre & a Virtual Windows Home Server by Combining Virtual Windows Home Server & Vista Media Centre

Combining Virtual Windows Home Server & Vista Media Centre — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:59:30 +0000

[...] Full Article [...]

Comment on Combining Vista Media Centre & a Virtual Windows Home Server by maciek

maciek — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:44:57 +0000

Hello,
I’ve got dual setup too. Using Vista 32bit TVP as host and WHS PP1 on VMWare Server 2. The hardware is ABIT AB9PRO (9xSATA), Intel Q6600, 4GB RAM (3,2GB seen by Vista).
Hard Drives:
VISTA: 40GB PATA for ststem; 160GB SATA for Recorded TV;
WHS: 140GB virtual drive on 160SATA disk; 480GB virtual drive on 500GB SATA drive;
Another hardware: 2xHVR1300,2xFloppyDTV,Z-WAVE emiter, Silverstone LC-16M, Power Suply BeQuiet 300W, 2xNIC on board
The performace is OK for me. two network cards help a lot. Heating vs. Quiet is a little problem for me but replacing cooler will help.

Comment on Combining Vista Media Centre & a Virtual Windows Home Server by Media Center plus Windows Home Server on one machine | Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise |

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:39:17 +0000

[...] Young has an interesting description of his experiment running Windows Home Server in a virtual machine on a system that’s also serving as a full-time Media Center. It’s an [...]

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by Rich

Rich — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:29:33 +0000

Hi Paul,

Nice work. 25 years ago, I built a drainback (DB) solar hot water system for my home. It uses 2 pumps – pump 1 for the solar loop and pump 2 to circulate the potable water between the 120 gallon (about 450 liter) storage tank and the heat exchanger coils in the DB tank. When collecting heat, the pump 1 pumps water from the DB tank to the collectors and back down with solar heat, and pump 2 transfers that heat to the storage tank via the DB / storage loop. When the sun goes down, both pumps stop and the collector water drains into the DB tank, so there is no water in the collectors to freeze. Problems:
1. The glass on the central collector broke mysteriously and was replaced.
2. The op amp in the controller had to be replaced.
3. The start capacitor for one of the pumps failed and was replaced.
Without antifreeze, there is no required maintenance except I should oil the pumps. It’s been problem-free for the past 10 years or so.
Mine, too was a DIY – I did get some tax benefits courtesy of Jimmy Carter.
Good luck with your system. – Rich

Comment on Lies, Damn Lies and Cheap Power Meters by Combining Vista Media Centre & a Virtual Windows Home Server | Paul's esoteric meanderings

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:45:23 +0000

[...] time came to decommission the Home Server once I realised how much power it was pulling. My power meter debacle had concealed the 24/7 150w consumption, chewing into my solar feed in tariff at 44c in the daytime [...]

Comment on How to destroy your Mont Blanc Pen by Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:45:16 +0000

Wow.

I thought my little incident with a 149 and a spilt glass of whisky was bad. It cost me $150, but Mont Blanc was able to fix it.

I’m not sure there’s much to be done with that one, except to post it as a warning!

Comment on HZJ105 Radiator Bash Plate by Bluey

Bluey — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:08:53 +0000

Rivnuts are getting more accessible – I saw a kit at Qld Tradetools for $70.

Comment on The hurdles of setting up Vista Media Centre by Jay

Jay — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:25:07 +0000

Remove SD Channels?
Don’t get this one.. SD and HD channels often broadcast different content

Comment on 1HZ Oil Analysis and Oil Changes by les

les — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:21:40 +0000

Have you gone to 10,000K changes? I read on another forum that if you filter to less than 1micron you take out the oil polimers that keep the crap in suspension. There is so much conflicting info out there!
Is there an update to this and filter internals.Sakura is made in same factory as genuine toyota.
Thanks for your effort

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by John

John — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:40:00 +0000

Paul,
Very interesting. I’m very happy with my setup which is similar to yours. Even during winter I seldom use the electric boost; but that depends on how cool you can tolerate the water. It is always hot enough for showering; it’s dishwashing where I sometimes add a jug of boiling water rather than run the electric boost. My system uses 24 tubes and is also a Chinese eBay unit. Fortunately mine came with the adaptors to connect to 1/2″ copper tubing, but yes what’s on there is a weird size.
The controller works well, but as you found necessary, I added a relay to switch the element. My tank temperature sensor is actually immersed in the water being a 1/2″ BSP fitting.
I notice no mention of a non return valve to prevent reverse thermosyphon at night. This was a real problem before I installed it. The system would lose most of the accumulated heat overnight, dissipating it into the cool night sky.
The other key factor is insulation. Thick foam insulation instead of the green stuff I used first makes a big difference. I wrapped the foam insulation in aluminium tape I got from Jaycar. It seems to weather very well.
Curious that you felt the need to add another lot of tubes…I’ve been tempted to try this myself as it would give a greater reserve on cloudy days. Tank is 125L stainless steel which is just adequate for 1-2 people and is ok but after one cloudy day it starts to run out.

Comment on Lies, Damn Lies and Cheap Power Meters by Evan

Evan — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:32:29 +0000

Those Power Factor numbers for the SI are weird. .16 is impossibly low. I wonder what’s going on there?

Comment on Airspring / Airbag Suspension Calculator by air ride suspension

air ride suspension — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:41:50 +0000

air ride suspension…

The RX- 8 is anything from an ordinary car. From the unique 1. 3 litre Wankel rotary engine to the rear- opening passenger doors this car is truly a modern marvel. Below is a compiled list of some of the more interesting hidden- features embedded in ea…

Comment on Maximising your Credit Card Interest Free period for Dummies by DZ

DZ — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:59:37 +0000

Great post! You not only clarified for me how the whole ‘55 days interest free period’ works (and I’ve read many personal finance books), but also put an end to my habit of paying out the outstanding balance in full. From now on I’ll stick with the ‘closing balance’ and leave the additional money in my offset account until required.

Thanks!

Comment on My digital home just isn’t quite there yet by DZ

DZ — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:56:18 +0000

I’m in a similar situation – love my XBMC, use it almost daily, but now with a HDTV, I’m looking for another (HD capable) solution. I’m currently leaning towards Plex on a Mac Mini, but waiting to see whether Apple does a (long overdue) hardware refresh.

Comment on Wireless Mesh (or Mish Mash) by me2

me2 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:46:26 +0000

Results were dismal at the time. Advise extreme caution in this space.

Comment on Exchange Move Mailbox and Outlook Redirection by Xaneth

Xaneth — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:18:16 +0000

In fact, it looks like it will indeed also migrate RPC over HTTP clients seamlessly as well with the exception of the external facing DNS name, unless you are using a front end server of course.

Comment on Exchange Move Mailbox and Outlook Redirection by Xaneth

Xaneth — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:58:38 +0000

Seems fairly retarded to me. I’ve done mailbox migrations without issue in the past, and I’m referring to Exchange 2000. Not a single failure for internally connected systems. They should be able to be pointed to the new server when all the servers are part of the same administrative group, especially.

My concern is with my RPC over HTTP clients. However, I’m pretty sure we’ll have to handle those manually. Ah well, such is the life of an Exchange admin… Running around from computer to computer, like a headless chicken…

Comment on Lies, Damn Lies and Cheap Power Meters by WD External USB HDD’s do Spin Down | Paul's esoteric meanderings

WD External USB HDD’s do Spin Down | Paul's esoteric meanderings — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:15:32 +0000

[...] Paul’s esoteric meanderings But why Dad? « Lies, Damn Lies and Cheap Power Meters [...]

Comment on Lies, Damn Lies and Cheap Power Meters by Dugie’s Pensieve » Blog Archive » REPOST: Lies, Damn Lies and Cheap Power Meters

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:59:22 +0000

[...] rather than say what has already been said, check out Paul’s notes on “Lies, Damn Lies and Cheap Power Meters” and a snippet is [...]

Comment on Lies, Damn Lies and Cheap Power Meters by LT

LT — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:13:57 +0000

The ATA made Electus (Jaycar’s wholesale division) fully aware of the problem, we returned close to 20 of these meters. Their response was ‘oh, it was just the first batch’. This was complete garbage of course, my general feeling having dealt with them over the years is they simply don’t give a stuff, so long as they make sales…

Comment on Lies, Damn Lies and Cheap Power Meters by Munter

Munter — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:03:34 +0000

Very dissapointing indeed. Do you think Jaycar could be pressed to recall the meters?

Comment on The hurdles of setting up Vista Media Centre by Joseph Ozdemir

Joseph Ozdemir — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:31:48 +0000

Interesting you had the same idea as me…last night just built my media centre but it went without a hiccup! So i’ve got my HTPC connected @ 300mbps (yes it’s actually connected at that) over 802.11n, streaming all my movies and music from my Home Server…and it works perfectly even when streaming 1080p HD.

I found a better site for codecs though than k-lite, i’ve had problems with that in the past…http://www.shark007.net/ check that out, works perfectly for me. I’ve actually got it all running through HDMI to my 32″ LCD with no issues, but i’ve got an external sound card running to my speakers to save me buying an amp just so I can run audio through my HDMI…

But yeah basically worked straight out of the box for me after I built it running Vista Ultimate with a 2.2Ghz AMD Quad Core and the IGP on the board will decode any HD format…

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by Dom

Dom — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:17:40 +0000

Paul

I’am not an ecogeek but I appreciate your meanderings and especially like the emphasis on cheap. I am doing research on a hot water setup for my new house which was a carpenters workshop before, cut a long story short lack of cash means my total hot water consists of an 80 litre mains pressure tank with a 1.9kw immersion heater. Now I thought that using another 80 litre tank (80 euros a pop), stripping the insulation off, dumping it in a enamel bath (70 euros each), put a lid on the bath, insulate to the max, park it outside then using thomasons corrugated solar panels at atmospheric, just run tap water through a cental heating pump to the roof across the collectors down again to the bath with the mains pressure tank in it (heater element removed and bunged). Tee the pressurised tank into the existing hot water system and voila! (maybe need a shutoff valve for the old tank)

Comment on The hurdles of setting up Vista Media Centre by Jerry

Jerry — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:05:06 +0000

Remote Terminal Services can now be used on Home Premium, AND concurrent login, thereby allowing login without logging off the user.

If u interested, let me know and I’ll send it to u.

Comment on Quiet SATA DVD Burner for Media PC by The hurdles of setting up Vista Media Centre | Paul's esoteric meanderings

The hurdles of setting up Vista Media Centre | Paul's esoteric meanderings — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:27:16 +0000

[...] DVD-ROM – Pioneer DVR-215 [...]

Comment on Quiet / Silent PC Design Fundamentals by The hurdles of setting up Vista Media Centre | Paul's esoteric meanderings

The hurdles of setting up Vista Media Centre | Paul's esoteric meanderings — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:25:44 +0000

[...] Cooling – Quiet Fans [...]

Comment on Vista Media Centre is junk – Is this Alpha code? by The hurdles of setting up Vista Media Centre | Paul's esoteric meanderings

The hurdles of setting up Vista Media Centre | Paul's esoteric meanderings — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:24:04 +0000

[...] OK – it came time to rebuild the media centre. [...]

Comment on Netgear Dual Band Wireless N Review – WNDR3300 & WNDA3100 by My digital home just isn’t quite there yet | Paul's esoteric meanderings

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:36:52 +0000

[...] whole digital home experience for a while now. I’ve reviewed Vista Media Centre, Home Server, Wireless N before, the experiences there are [...]

Comment on VPN client fails with Windows OneCare by Jumma

Jumma — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:11:31 +0000

Just in case you’re wondering, it is worth posting this stuff – this saved my bacon, thank you!

Comment on My digital home just isn’t quite there yet by Randal

Randal — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:17:48 +0000

Ditch the Media centre pc and look at the Beyonwiz PVR devices.

http://www.beyonwiz.com.au

Digital TV, dual tuner HD. Able to play media contant from windows shares. Also a line in device can be attached to allow you to view/record from Cable tv.
All in a simple to use (even the wife can work it out) set top looking box not much bigger than a DVD player.

Mortis.

Comment on 1HZ Oil Filter Catch Tray by Paul Pickford

Paul Pickford — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:05:33 +0000

My HZJ105 had the tray, I chopped up a brass T fitting, to leave a barb and a small flange. Drilled a hole and soldered it in, then run a hose to the sump plug area. Works ok, except the hole in the barb is quite small, wouldn’t take much to block it. After changing a filter the oil in the tray takes a couple of minutes to drain away. Cheers Paul, keep up the good work

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by Greg Cahill

Greg Cahill — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:01:28 +0000

Hi Paul,

I had an evacuated tube solar hot water system installed 12 months ago to replace An old flat plate Beasley system from 1980. My system uses the same controller as you installed originally & I have had nothing but problems from day 1. It was installed “professionally” & I have had the installer back numerous times over the last 12 months. The system doesn’t seem to heat the water over about 35c max & I am wondering whether I have a problem with the controller. I have burnt my bridges with the installer who insists that the system will only heat the water to lukewarm. I know from my old Beasley system that that is just not right. So I.m wondering if you could tell me where you obtained the controller as I would like to get a spec sheet & a display for my system.

Cheers

Greg

Comment on My digital home just isn’t quite there yet by Andreas

Andreas — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:36:38 +0000

XBMC for Linux front-end (and MythTV back-end combined if you want) is the ultimate solution, it does high-definition and playback every format you through at it.

XBMC (formerly XBox Media Center) is now available for Linux, Mac, and Windows, all supporting high-definition if the computer that you run it on has the performance needed.

Comment on Windows Home Server & PP1 – I’m impressed by My digital home just isn’t quite there yet | Paul's esoteric meanderings

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:10:11 +0000

[...] to have the whole digital home experience for a while now. I’ve reviewed Vista Media Centre, Home Server, Wireless N before, the experiences there are [...]

Comment on T-Amp and Paradigm Atom Review by My digital home just isn’t quite there yet | Paul's esoteric meanderings

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:56:08 +0000

[...] I’m still looking for the cheap simple, web managed, wireless MP3 player I can plugin to my amp. [...]

Comment on Vista Media Centre is junk – Is this Alpha code? by My digital home just isn’t quite there yet | Paul's esoteric meanderings

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:51:55 +0000

[...] been trying to have the whole digital home experience for a while now. I’ve reviewed Vista Media Centre, Home Server, Wireless N before, the experiences there are [...]

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by Darcy Drayton

Darcy Drayton — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:18:13 +0000

Hi Paul, Nice DIY solar hot water article! It certainly highlights the greater technical challenges of hot water storage on the ground requiring a pump and sensors etc. A roof top tank able to work with passive thermosiphon is definitely much easier.

I’ve found working with low pressure gravity feed rather than mains pressure enables the use of low pressure poly and the ability to build a very cheap system. There is a catch with low pressure systems though and that is the internal house plumbing should use a larger pipe size to deliver similar flows at lower pressure. Your readers might appreciate a look at my home-built solar hot water system at: http://www.littlegreenguide.com/build-solar-hot-water-system.htm

Just a quick comment on your plumber… I find it really irritating that we are by law, forced to employ “qualified” tradespeople for relatively basic tasks. It’s a symptom of “nanny” governments, effectively telling us we’re not capable of making informed assessment and decisions ourselves. It’s a very negative style of governance.

Comment on 4WD Winch without the Weight by Winch Mount Testing and Breaking Rope | Paul's esoteric meanderings

Winch Mount Testing and Breaking Rope | Paul's esoteric meanderings — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:19:31 +0000

[...] Paul’s esoteric meanderings But why Dad? « 4WD Winch without the Weight [...]

Comment on 4WD Winch without the Weight by My Winch Fitup - Australian 4WD Action Online Forums - the 4WD, 4x4 and offroad truck community. Get the latest tips, news, reviews, images and video clips. Chat with other 4WDers and share your offroad adventures.

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:25:42 +0000

[...] Winch Fitup If you are bored and want a read 4WD Winch without the Weight | Paul’s esoteric meanderings Catchya Paul __________________ ‘98 GXL HZJ105 Turbo’d Locked and [...]

Comment on Fullriver 120Ah AGM into 100 Series Cruiser by 4WD Winch without the Weight | Paul's esoteric meanderings

4WD Winch without the Weight | Paul's esoteric meanderings — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:24:14 +0000

[...] pulls inside them and the copper contacts stop working.The winch is wired with a switch to each AGM battery, letting me use either one, or [...]

Comment on What’s the big deal about NAS? by Windows Home Server & PP1 - I’m impressed | Paul's esoteric meanderings

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:40:59 +0000

[...] reluctant to bother. I was happily running Server 2003 with a 1.5TB software RAID 5 array and am not a fan of NAS, so didn’t get the [...]

Comment on Building a cheap 2TB RAID Server for home by Windows Home Server & PP1 - I’m impressed | Paul's esoteric meanderings

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:38:23 +0000

[...] I first heard about Windows Home Server (WHS) – I was pretty reluctant to bother. I was happily running Server 2003 with a 1.5TB software RAID 5 array and am not a fan of NAS, so didn’t get the [...]

Comment on My Cheapo Greywater Irrigation System by Peter.A

Peter.A — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:52:18 +0000

Cool, but I think you have too much time on your hands!

Comment on sob My small compressor feeds my feelings of inadequacy (or why you should install a regulator) by Joel Thompson

Joel Thompson — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:39:31 +0000

Great Idea! I was playing with the idea of a check valve or similar so that when the Compressor is charging and not attached to a tire, the air would just simply not flow out the end of the hose. I love this idea!

Comment on My Cheapo Greywater Irrigation System by Steve

Steve — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:25:10 +0000

Well done Paul,

Think about an old stocking in a drink bottle as a filter.
Steve

Comment on My Cheapo Greywater Irrigation System by bryon

bryon — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:09:59 +0000

I am a plumber learning green plumbing and that was pretty cool
regards,,,,,,,,,,,,, bryon

Comment on Netgear Dual Band Wireless N Review – WNDR3300 & WNDA3100 by Dave Jones

Dave Jones — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:30:29 +0000

Hey there, useful review, I also bought a WDNR3300 one recently as I needed a QoS capable router to add in my digital on-demand television to my network, as this wouldn’t work successfully with my DG834N. I also got caught out by the lack of internal modem but am using my DG834N in ‘modem’ mode in a similar fashion to yourself, two lots of power consumption though is not so cool.

Anyhow, my main comment is: you *can* turn the annoying lights off on the WNDR3300, I searched for the menu setting (equivalent to that for the DG834PN) in vain, only to find that *you turn off the lights on this unit by simply physically pressing the light dome on top, it’s an on/off switch !* d’oh, fooled me for a while, anyhow, no need to buy black tape

Comment on Qld Transport supports Fuel Catalyst Scammers & Ripoffs by Peter

Peter — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:53:30 +0000

I got booked by queensland transport for having a pipe on top of my ute sticking out the back 150mm longer than the law stated(about 700mm long total), i complained to the bloke that it was allowed to be 1mtr overhang front and back ,he said that it was now calculated on the ratio of the wheelbase somehow and my vehicle was outside the requirements ,i thought at the time why didn’t they send this info out with your rego renewal including any relevant changes to the laws.
I supose they don’t make money doing that though
Peter

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by Chrisbee

Chrisbee — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:44:36 +0000

Unless all our governments start thinking about making “alternatives” affordable through rebates and zero purchase taxes they will never meet the CO2 reductions they pretend to care about. Global mass production of solar water heating and installation without purchase tax *minus* rebates makes sense. Until they do this only the middle classes and wealthy will bother with solar. Improving supply efficency is far too slow.

Comment on Battery Heat Shields for my HZJ105 by frank

frank — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:14:12 +0000

Wow Paul – I wouldn’t call FullRiver a cheap chinese battery… there are plenty of AGM’s cheaper than Full River…. and I wouldn’t call their quality cheap either, again – I have seen many other brands that are not as good in terms of quality – not that I have much experience – I only have them in my boat, 4wd, 2 x cars, jetski and two running fridges every week end and another couple I use for other things like running portable pumps and sold hundreds of them which are running in boats and 4WD’s.

Lots of people assiciate “chinese products” with lower quality… not all chinese manufactured product is lower quality than product manufactured elsewhere – I guarantee you – your name brand IT Hardware if it is relatively new is made in one of 3 factories in China. People used to bag Japanese product – now everyone wants Japanese product.

Why don’t you review the expensive AGM’s that are twice the price and see if they are offering real value or is it marketing hype?

Everyone’s entitled to an opinion though… including me

Comment on Windows Mobile 6 and Poxy Proxy Settings w/ Vista by Des

Des — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:27:59 +0000

This worked perfectlly for me as well.
I am running Vista Business with a Samsung i780 (Mobile 6 Pro)
Thanks

Comment on Beat the Boring Powerpoint by T. Benjamin Larsen

T. Benjamin Larsen — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:45:36 +0000

Thanks. It seems the 'movement' against boring powerpoint is gaining members by the minute. I recommend Garr Reynolds' book Presentation Zen for tips on battling the syndrome. His blog of the same name is also very good. And last, but not the least, I have to push some of my own stuff about the subject...

Comment on DFS-R Replication Efficiency by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Just one (or three) Shares Dammit

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:56:19 +0000

[...] is kept in AD, so it replicated and safe. DFS-R get’s copies of data where it needs to be efficiently. You file server only needs three or four shares to keep everything [...]

Comment on Every Light an Energy Saver by Jason

Jason — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:00:42 +0000

Thanks, will be studying it closely.

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by Bob

Bob — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:05:20 +0000

A very interesting read. I am considering doing something very similar. My property is low set so I hope that will help a bit. Your experiences will help many to minimise the technical problems of solar installation. It is hard to find such good information. You have done well

Comment on 1HZ Oil Filter Catch Tray by Dave Peacock

Dave Peacock — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 05:41:42 +0000

I did the same addition to our ‘98 105 a while ago. I saw a mate transplant an import 1HZ into an 80 and I’m sure it had the drain pipe on it too. I think the drain pipe would be good, or it could drip everywhere for hours…
I’ve cut a template for the bottom of the drip tray and cut out a stack of oil soaker pads to suit. I put 2 pads in before an oil change and throw them out when I’m finished. A quick wipe and all done.

Dave

Comment on Review – Crompton CF Downlights by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Every Light an Energy Saver

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:51:46 +0000

[...] are the lights I reviewed here. I think they are great, a reflecting CFL downlight in a normal package. Warmup time is [...]

Comment on Jasjam Poxy Proxy settings by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Windows Mobile 6 and Poxy Proxy Settings w/ Vista

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:18:35 +0000

[...] had the same problem as before – Activesync changing my Proxy settings in my Jasjam to use the work proxy, breaking web browsing [...]

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by Ian Hill

Ian Hill — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:17:23 +0000

Our local green plumber is about to install diesel furnace-to-solar HWS conversion for our HWS & slab hydronics.

Components: 2 x 18 tube Sunplus vac tube system, heat exchanger in the slow combustion heater flu, 1,000l tank with 3 coils, 2 gas instantaneous boilers (1 small for light demands, one heavy – washing, spa – we have a 5 bedroom house).

Rough estimate below $17,000, less rebates. As its not a conversion from gas or elec, we may not fit the bureaucratic criteria for rebates.

Feeding all the house hydronics is prob too unrealistic, but experience will tel. 5 hydronic zones, heavily insulated, solid brick home. We’re on a farm on tank water, 250,000 litres in conc tanks, so water quantity is not an issue with 1100mm rainfall/yr. For simplicity, we’ll use 240v hydronic pumps & extra pipe insulation to shift the water uphill from the wood-fired heater as we’re on 3 slabs – we have a PV system to counter it. Wood from storm damage on the farm.

This replaces a ’70’s large diesel boiler, costing $6.30/day for hot water only, for 2 people, not using the hydronics at all! Diesel is farm-delivered, adding 5c/l.

Looking forward to checking its performance. Might write it up for the ATA’s website.

Comment on 1HZ Oil Analysis and Oil Changes by Oil Analysis Results - Australian 4WD Action Online Forums

Oil Analysis Results - Australian 4WD Action Online Forums — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:26:19 +0000

[...] Analysis Results Read, Debate, Ignore, Enjoy Paul’s esoteric meanderings ? Blog Archive ? 1HZ Oil Analysis and Oil Changes Best would be for others to do same. Thanx Paul __________________ ‘98 GXL HZJ105 Turbo’d [...]

Comment on Landcruiser Oil Filter Internals by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » 1HZ Oil Analysis and Oil Changes

Sun, 11 May 2008 23:56:48 +0000

[...] Oil Filter Pics Here [...]

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by Bill

Bill — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:45:38 +0000

Hi Paul,
An excellent article.
I had to smile towards the end, that plumber of yours has just the same writing style as yourself.

Last year I applied a bit of lateral thinking to a friends solar hot water problem. I used the same plumber as you did I think.

She lives in a block of strata titled units and her large Beasley system was leaking somewhere in the guts. The copper was covered with the moulded insulation and plastic so there was no way of even finding the leak without wrecking it anyway.

She had quotes from two plumbers to replace it, around $2500, even with the government discount. Her body corporate did not want to fix it. (They will eventually have to replace the lot, they are all the same age).

I asked my friend if she was on good terms with her immediate neighbour, another owner occupier. She was. Here’s where the lateral thinking came in, literally lateral.

On the roof, the plumber cut a tee into the neighbour’s outlet pipe (hot) and with one 8M length of 12mm copper was able to reach my friend’s equivalent pipe. A cut and the leaky system was disconnected, an elbow fitted and both units are now using the one solar heater. They are both single people using a heater that would provide for a family of four. The inlet stop cock was closed and the old system is still sitting there there waiting to be replaced.

Problem not solved, just deferred indefinitely for a cost of about $120.00.
Cheers
Bill

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by Vasil

Vasil — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:50:35 +0000

Interesting article. I looked at solar heating 30 years ago, but never finished the project. Just for the sake of intest here was my plan. Collector and tank were roof mounted and at atmospheric pressure, thermo syphon powered. Collector was to be 2 sheets of copper (2 ex hot water systems of the day) with washers between them and spot welded together withe the ends soldered into a copper feeder pipe at top and bottom, all painted black and under glass. The receiver tank had coiled copper inside (again the hot water system of the day) which was pressurised. Cold in – hot out. All up it would have been a cheap, fairly inefficient system, but the hot water from the roof was to go into the electric off peak system so that the electricity usage would have been minimal. Just a thought. Had young kids then so I could not be without hot water.

Comment on DIY Solar Hot Water by My DIY Solar Hot Water System Experience - Australian 4WD Action Online Forums

My DIY Solar Hot Water System Experience - Australian 4WD Action Online Forums — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:25:21 +0000

[...] topic, but it might interest some of you DIY types. Put it this way, I care enough to put it up. Paul’s esoteric meanderings ? Blog Archive ? DIY Solar Hot Water Catchya Paul __________________ ‘98 GXL HZJ105 Turbo’d Locked and [...]

Comment on Smashed Solar Collectors by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » DIY Solar Hot Water

Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » DIY Solar Hot Water — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:53:33 +0000

[...] tube panel from an importer in Sydney though eBay and had it shipped to Brisbane for $550. This was not entirely successful, and only 5 of the 15 glass tubes made the journey intact. Luckily most Chinese stuff are copies of something else, so they tend to be somewhat [...]

Comment on Fullriver 120Ah AGM into 100 Series Cruiser by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Battery Heat Shields for my HZJ105

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:03:07 +0000

[...] when I fitted AGM’s to my cruiser, I knew heat may be an [...]

Comment on Quiet SATA DVD Burner for Media PC by Brendon Davis

Brendon Davis — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:30:36 +0000

Well I reckon the problem is 50% MCE and 50% user…..

Comment on Dodgy Diff Work by Brian Macdonald

Brian Macdonald — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:35:46 +0000

Hi Paul,
Do you diffs have magnetic drain plugs. When I got my new 100 series in 1999 I checked the diffs and found a lot of metal turnings from manufacture in the front diff. I then istalled magnetic plugs in the diffs. I can’t remember which original drain plug was magnetic, but I bought another two the same from Toyota and fitted them.

Comment on Fullriver 120Ah AGM into 100 Series Cruiser by me2

me2 — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 02:37:04 +0000

I have since installed the second AGM into the other side. Same story, no worries. I have also installed heat shields which dropped the battery temps by a huge amount. One is folded aluminium with a flexible rubber seal. The other is an old windscreen silver shield for $2. Both work equally well.

Comment on Quiet / Silent PC Design Fundamentals by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Quiet SATA DVD Burner for Media PC

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 01:09:26 +0000

[...] I’m not saying it’s silent, but combined with a Media Centre built this way, I can’t hear [...]

Comment on Fitting a Diesel EGT and Boost Gauge by EGT Gauge - Pre or Post Turbo? - Australian 4WD Action Online Forums

EGT Gauge - Pre or Post Turbo? - Australian 4WD Action Online Forums — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 05:56:46 +0000

[...] Pre Post doesn’t tell you much useful that you couldn’t guess at anyway. Paul’s esoteric meanderings ? Blog Archive ? Fitting a Diesel EGT and Boost Gauge [...]

Comment on Dodgy Diff Work by Ttoyota

Ttoyota — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:23:59 +0000

THAT HAS TO SHIT YA

Comment on Dodgy Diff Work by Adam

Adam — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:15:43 +0000

Problems with Air lockers.
I warned you.
I had no trouble with my DETROIT until i sold it when my beautiful truck didnt want to leave me it broke (could have been the new driver trying to get up it too.)

Comment on Rear Storage Shelf & Boxes for 100 Series by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Review - Just Straps Fridge Straps

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:11:45 +0000

[...] purchased a pretty average fridge slide to complement my home made shelf / drawer system before a trip over XMAS. The straps it came with to tie the fridge down were a simple [...]

Comment on Broken ARB Air Locker by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Dodgy Diff Work

Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Dodgy Diff Work — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 04:00:19 +0000

[...] The diff housing was not cleaned out after the last failure. The company that did the work was BOAB 4×4 at Lawnton run by the owner Darryl. $5000 for 2 air lockers, CV’s, bearings and seals was obviously not that well spent. I should have been more suspicious after the rear air locker failed. [...]

Comment on Smashed It – Destroying diff’s in Landcruisers by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Dodgy Diff Work

Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Dodgy Diff Work — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:53:42 +0000

[...] when I first bought the 100 Series I did something silly and broke the front diff. That was 15 months and 25,000km [...]

Comment on Batteries lead an isolated life by Scott

Scott — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 07:32:16 +0000

problem solved

Comment on Vista Media Centre is junk – Is this Alpha code? by Randal

Randal — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 01:27:02 +0000

Last year I brought a beyonwiz PVR.

I will admit that until the December formware update I did have a couple of small issues but they are all mostly resolved now.

Althought there are a couple of things it can’t do compared to a Media centre pc, I still think it’s a much better option.

Simple to use (the wife facter is alway inportant).
save’s me getting Microsoft help desk call questions from the wife in the middle of the day

play’s movies, music picture files from network shares fine (only draw back is you can’t install additional codec’s youeself, but it has handled all my divx and xvid files so far.) Only files it will not play for me are the AVI’s direct from digital camera. Plays most downloaded avi’s fine.

And since the TV stations started broadcasting their own EPG guide infomation I no longer need IceTV program guide updates.

can’t burn dvd’s…… why would i want to do this in front of my tv anyway… thats why I have a computer in the study (where it belongs)

took 10 min to set up from unpacking, scanning channels, setting up username/password to access NAS box shares.

Hardest thing to configure was the Harmonay Universal Remote to run TV, PVR, DVD player & AMP etc.

Comment on Vista Media Centre is junk – Is this Alpha code? by Brendon Davis » Blog Archive » My Media-Center Setup

Brendon Davis » Blog Archive » My Media-Center Setup — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:14:02 +0000

[...] quite happily and have had little to no problems. Installing MCE on custom hardware is one of those black-arts that need a bit of tweaking to work just the way you want. Once you have it going though, it works [...]

Comment on Fitting a Diesel EGT and Boost Gauge by Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 01:41:21 +0000

excellent article, cheap insurance, upgrade would be an alarm that trips when too hot – cant rely on the driver to always watch the temperature.

Comment on Vista Media Centre is junk – Is this Alpha code? by Brendon Davis

Brendon Davis — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 01:46:56 +0000

While some of my experiences on MCE are similar, I have had a positive experience. My MCE runs quietly in the corner of the room, recording our HD TV for later viewing. It lets us play movies or music from file shares on the Home Server.

Admittedly I do have a USB keyboard and mouse permanently attached that is stuck in a cupboard which I pull out from time to time to maintain the system. For the rest of my house mates, the only problem is deciding which show to watch first…

For the average mom & dad, I suggest installing a tuner card and extra hdd in the family computer then using some type of media-centre-extender device to play the content. For those of us who want the box in the living room, it does require a bit of work to configure and maintain.

Comment on Vista installer can’t handle dynamic disks – that’s just silly by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Vista Media Centre is junk - Is this Alpha code?

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:25:56 +0000

[...] disk had been used for XP. As I alluded to here, you can’t install Vista onto a Dynamic Disk with a partition on it. Pull apart your PC and [...]

Comment on Leaking Power Steering on 1HZ by ross

ross — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:00:35 +0000

I had the same problem with the PS reservoir on my FJ73. I took it to a radiator shop and they silver soldered all around the lip where the 2 surfaces meet. Cost $30
Just a thought as I the crimping with the vice grips may not always work for everyone.

Comment on Rear Storage Shelf & Boxes for 100 Series by Terry Gannon

Terry Gannon — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 10:39:40 +0000

Hi Paul
I have done much the same thing in my 90 series Prado. However, I put the wings on mine – they sit flat on top of the wheel arches and are attached by piano hinges. They fold up to allow me to easily install/ remove the shelf. They also give me the ability to use the full width of the back of the truck for boxes etc. That then makes the whole storage area tighter. I am interested that you say the cargo barrier is not well secured up and down. I have attached my shelf by a number of brackets and plates attached to the barrier and have never noticed any vertical movement. Thinking about it, this might be because my bottom bolts and straps are very close to the base of the barrier. By the way, I find liquid nails works as well as any adhesive when fixing the carpet.

Comment on Leaking Power Steering on 1HZ by David

David — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 10:04:17 +0000

had the same problem. Just removed it and soldered it all up.

Comment on Dumb SmartUPS inefficiency by Randal

Randal — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 06:40:41 +0000

I did the same tests with a pair of UpSonic Ups’s I had at home, one on the video monitoring system and another on File server (DVD Archvie system).

The video monitoring system was using about 80W (1Pc, 4 CCD camera’s and 4 wireless receivers). UpSonic 700 UPS constant draw of about 160W.

File server with 5 Disks. by itself uses about 85W (depending on disk activity) Again UPS pulling about 150W

No longer using UPS’s.
(Just holding Acronis images incase a power outage ever kill on of them).

Comment on Dumb SmartUPS inefficiency by Toyota

Toyota — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:02:55 +0000

Can you add the lead lag times for the two up’s, plus show the VA levels of each this will allow for a better comparison

Comment on Quiet / Silent PC Design Fundamentals by Dugie’s Pensieve » Blog Archive » My Media Center - the story so far

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:05:07 +0000

[...] moving fans. To read more about the research Paul and I did, check his blog post: "Quiet PC Design Fundamentals". By today’s hardware standards, the hardware I chose is quite [...]

Comment on eBay Chinese HID’s and Hella Rallye 4000 Review by Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:06:45 +0000

I couldn’t understand some parts of this article eBay Chinese HID’s and Hella Rallye 4000 Review, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.

Comment on Book Piracy – Harry Potter by Brendon Davis

Brendon Davis — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:09:52 +0000

And through burning the books, added the the carbon emissions

Comment on Why you should VM your Print Servers by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Just one (or three) Shares Dammit

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 02:11:16 +0000

[...] There is no “backup” tool for share configurations when performing DR on a file server. Ideally for my DR I want to be able to restore the files and that’s it, not worry about the server configuration. My File Servers don’t run any app’s, they do SMB and that’s it. All other functions are run on an application server. Print Serving runs on a VM. [...]

Comment on eBay Chinese HID’s and Hella Rallye 4000 Review by Fred

Fred — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:36:10 +0000

which spot beams are you using, the pencil beam or the euro beam which I belive has a little more spread to it.

Comment on HZJ105 Radiator Bash Plate by LJ

LJ — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:40:47 +0000

Your opening statement is incorrect, at least here in South Africa. We have the 100 series SFA (solid front axle, we call it the 105 series) with a petrol option as well. It is an inline 6 cylinder, 4.5L, 1FZ-FE IIRC.

Comment on Building a cheap 2TB RAID Server for home by me2

me2 — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 00:28:30 +0000

Brendon has some good docs on Windows Home Server including disc failures.

http://brendon.davis.to/category/techstuff/homeserver/

Looks like the replicate function is essentailly very flexible RAID 1. Worth considering depending on the type fo data you save to it.

Comment on Quiet / Silent PC Design Fundamentals by Paul’s esoteric meanderings » Blog Archive » Building a cheap 2TB RAID Server for home

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:36:59 +0000

[...] in the house, making super silent a lower priority. If you want to build it silent see my “building a quiet PC article“. I prefer to shove it under the stairs where noise isn’t a problem. I manage it [...]

Comment on Why generators SUCK for camping by me2

me2 — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:22:59 +0000

Looks like Christie have imported a cheap 50A 12V genset. Approx $650 when I asked. Not cheap, but not too bad if it meets the requirements.

Comment on Quiet / Silent PC Design Fundamentals by WindowsVirtualization.com » Blog Archive » Some more Media Centre goodness

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 23:43:35 +0000

[...] you are thinking of building a Media Center, Paul has a really good post on Silent PC Design Fundamentals, it pretty much ‘notes from the field’ that both of us used when building our own [...]

Comment on Quiet / Silent PC Design Fundamentals by Jack

Jack — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 05:25:23 +0000

Great work, keep it up…..

Comment on sob My small compressor feeds my feelings of inadequacy (or why you should install a regulator) by Doug T

Doug T — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 05:12:02 +0000

TJM has some very nice looking Alloy Air Tanks , about the size of a 2ltr water bottle

Comment on Flexing the rear of a 100 Series Landcruiser by Flexing the rear of a 100 Series Landcruiser « Paul’s old meanderings

Flexing the rear of a 100 Series Landcruiser « Paul’s old meanderings — Thu, 31 May 2007 00:09:59 +0000

[...] Flexing the rear of a 100 Series Landcruiser This document has moved to http://neuralfibre.com/paul/?p=89 [...]

Comment on eBay Chinese HID’s and Hella Rallye 4000 Review by eBay Chinese HID's and Hella Rallye 4000 Review « Paul’s old meanderings

Thu, 31 May 2007 00:03:51 +0000

[...] eBay Chinese HID’s and Hella Rallye 4000 Review This document has moved to http://neuralfibre.com/paul/?p=73 [...]

Comment on 4WD Snatch Straps and Shackles tested to destruction by me2

me2 — Mon, 28 May 2007 01:48:07 +0000

I asked ARB about the results – geez weren’t they skittish. The sales guy (head office QLD) said it was all a paid Super Cheap stunt and the results couldn’t be believed. And anyway – that was ages ago and things are different now. blah blah blah….