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Author Archives: The Elite Geek
Just when I thought all was screwed…
… with our car’s water leak, a solution. I had a look at Hyundai’s ‘hmaservice.com’ website which contains the workshop manuals for all Hyundai vehicles and came across a section on “Body (Interior)” – had a look at noted that … Continue reading
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The Garden in Autumn
We got a reasonable result from the back garden in Autumn. We had some losses on getting the seeds in a growing state though – we lost a heap to what might have been excess water. Then the first set … Continue reading
Posted in Garden, Random, Sustainable Future
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It’s as easy as..
.. watching what you use. I’ve heard it many times recently, and was discussing with someone today, in the context of solar power, that there is no point adding any sort of solar power system if you don’t take the … Continue reading
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Resigning..
It’s far too easy. A simple and short – I’m gone in 2 weeks is easily done. I was reading through a new employment offer just now, and it’s amazing how ‘less concerned’ I could be of the minor details. … Continue reading
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Loading Custom Characters into HD44780 LCD display
I have been toying with a “TI Launchpad” recently, something I’ve been trying is to get it to work with the popular HD44780 LCD. The LCD supports loading of custom characters in addition to the standard character set – with … Continue reading
Posted in Programming, Random
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Looking at Career Options
.. doesn’t make me think correctly. I’m thinking of what’s ‘next’ now I see my current duties being made much lighter through the progression of those located in a different time zone taking on more of the duties I am … Continue reading
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Car For Sale Ad
If I was to sell my car right now, it would have to have an ad that goes something like this: For Sale, Rattles. A 1997 Hyundai Sonata Sedan. Features: Immobiliser with Anti Hijack feature, Timing Belt and Engine Mounts … Continue reading
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Planned Gross FIT reduction
The NSW Government is proposing to legislate a reduction to the feed in tariff from 60c per kWH to 40c per kWH. It’s reduction of one third of the rate that was legislated at the time we bought. But what … Continue reading
Posted in House, Random, Sustainable Future
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Eggs. Home Made Foods.
Eggs are finally arriving, we’ve had 6 of them from one chook, the other chickens seem to be slow or younger. We planned to have extra chickens join the current ones over the weekend, since they aren’t laying, that’s not … Continue reading
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Nearly out of debt
Nah – we haven’t paid the house off, however, we have nearly finished paying off the credit card enough to claw back our interest free period. It’s most satisfying that I can see we get to go back to the … Continue reading
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Chickens are free.
Last weekend, we took the time to clip the wings of the chickens to give them some lawnmowing time. You’d think the first place they’d rush is our garden beds, with the straw, green leaves, food to tear apart. Not … Continue reading
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Worm Farm now seems productive
We had originally established the worm farm based on a simple idea of two styrofoam boxes stuck together, and bedding based on garden soil, newspaper and straw. The worms seemed to be OK with that, but after 6 months or … Continue reading
Posted in Garden, Random, Sustainable Future
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A new tree addition
After considering more what our desired trees will be, we went out over the weekend in search of some stone fruit trees and some kiwi fruit vines to bury the chicken house with (it’ll double as shade cover and provide … Continue reading
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A day in the garden
Today, we spent much of the afternoon fixing up the odds that occur in the gardens. First up was the front, the flowers we placed there last year are still going strong, but the weeds have found paths through the … Continue reading
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Funding our projects
Finding funding for many of the changes I want to take going forward remains difficult. The solar panels are paying for themselves, but we still need to pay the upfront charge which is restricting our ability to expand and add … Continue reading
Posted in Garden, House, Random, Sustainable Future
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An Electric Car
The concept behind moving from a petrol driven engine to an electric car is amazingly simple (when you remove all the safety aspects): – Pull out the current petrol engine. – Source an electric motor, lithium batteries, thick cabling, motor … Continue reading
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Chickens are in!
We had finished the setup of the chook house during the week, and then set out to get some chickens. The plan is to start with just a few and see how they work out with respect to feed and … Continue reading
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The Oven is nearing completion
I’ve spent a lot of time lately on the car that I’ve left the chook house – “The Oven” – alone sort of. A few weeks ago, we bought drill bits capable of boring large holes into the stump and … Continue reading
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Passion Fruit Moves to New Home
I was contemplating making Strawberry planters which make the most of the space given to them, by placing the plants in a vertical position, growing out of pipe – the online one uses PVC pipe – we looked for alternatives, … Continue reading
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Future of Food
I was watching The Future of Food on SBS, this was an interesting documentary on exactly what I’ve thought were unsustainable farming practices. It was a good watch, noting just how much grain is used to produce 100g of beef … Continue reading
Posted in Garden, Random, Sustainable Future
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Rain Rain Go Away
Items on the list of things to take care of involve the garden out the back – I need to move our passionfruit to the back fence, the small garden bed they are in was never supposed to be permanent, … Continue reading
Posted in Garden, Random
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Data capture works well
I rebuilt the initial circuit I had used for the ALDL port on the car to a far more simpler design – this had solved the issue of Idle RPM showing up as several thousand. The data is spot on … Continue reading
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Car Data Logging
In a previous post, “A new idea“, I was contemplating the benefits of logging various information from the car. I’ve since done some checks to see what would be possible, and after many hours of smacking my head, and bringing … Continue reading
The Status Quo Trap?
I’ve been thinking lately about well, the future, and what that holds. Unfortunately, I don’t have a working crystal ball (and I don’t know anyone with one), however, it is always going to be something to consider – where are … Continue reading
A new idea…
I’ve just thought of something useful for once. Purposing an arduino to maintain logs of speed, brake pedal (on / off), camera facing front, camera facing rear with 150 degree (or higher) viewing angle. What this can be used for … Continue reading
Checking and fixing belt tension
After I changed the alternator belt some time back, a squeal had redeveloped. This was likely due to the tension backing off after it had worn in, so a short while ago, I tried to fix it by tightening it … Continue reading
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pH fixed – crops formed
Back in November, I was doubting the success of our vegie garden, the plants seemed to be growing, but no food was to be seen – we had plenty of healthy plants with no food. The cabbage was attacked by … Continue reading
Posted in Garden, Random
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How to rot a tree stump?
After having our tree chopped down, I wanted to get rid of the stump, but paying nearly $600 for that isn’t an option right now, so I hunted out alternatives. Nitrogen and water are the best from what options we … Continue reading
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Don’t screw with the alternator
What a pain in the arse waste of time that was. I had set to go about replacing the remaining 3 mounts, and the alternator, and power steering belts today. I began with the engine mount, it seemed to be … Continue reading
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A Christmas Present!
Initially, I had an idea to make a RC Chopper for our oldest to fly around, it wouldn’t take a lot, as I have wireless receivers and an Arduino from our Solar Hot Water monitoring setup that I’m now rethinking … Continue reading
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