These monitors cost around $200 new, which was a pretty good price at the time. I think the original warranty covered them for a year or two. What ever it was, it failed shortly after the warranty expired, which is typical for many electronics.

I’ve seen several of them fail in the same way, first it starts blinking on and off for a few seconds until it warms up, then works fine. After a few days it starts taking a few minutes to “warm up”, then finally it never stays on and just blinks on and off forever.

After replacing it and forgetting about it on a shelf for months (years?) I wondered how hard it would be to get it working. I did a little googling and found a site where someone said the capacitors in the power circuit often fail and simply replacing them cured the problem. Capacitors are cheap, so I thought, “why not?” and gave it a go.

This monitor wasn’t hard to break in to. First, remove the screws holding on the foot and the back and pop the side clips apart with a screwdriver.

Then there are four screws holding on a cover over the circuit board.

Then you can see the circuit boards. The board on the left is the power board that takes in AC line level voltage and converts it to various voltages to supply the logic board and the back lights. On the right is the logic board that takes the signal from the computer and controls the LCD.

Here is a closeup of the section of the power board with the capacitors that will be replaced. It’s hard to tell from this picture, or even in real life, but a couple of them are bulged a little. This is normally a sign of a bad capacitor when the top bulges and sometimes splits. Usually it’s very obvious, but it was very hard to tell with these, so I wasn’t even sure if this would fix my problem, but I tried anyway.

Here are the six capacitors I removed. To find replacements, just look on the sides for the voltage (v) and capacitance (uf) rating, then search for replacements on mouser.com or some other electronic component site.

If you look close you can see these two capacitors are bulged a little. I probably could have gotten away with just replacing these two, but like I said, capacitors are cheap and replacing them all at once is easier than replacing one, put everything back together, test it, take it back apart, replace another one…

Here is a new capacitor next to the two that are bad. Can you tell the difference?

And like magic, after soldering in the new capacitors, and screwing it all back together, I have a monitor that works like new!

Have you repaired a monitor using this method or any other method? Let me know below!

Good luck and happy soldering.

Related posts:

1. Controlling a Stepper Motor with an Arduino Part 2
2. How I Unlocked My Cell Phone for Free

Wiring it up

This is a basic transistor circuit set up as a switch. It can also be called an open collector configuration since when it’s on it essentially connects what is on the output to ground. This type of circuit is useful for things like motors or lights where you are simply turning something on or off and need to provide more current than the microcontroller can. When it’s “on” it connects the output to ground and can pass a relatively large current through the transistor. When it’s “off”, the pullup resistor pulls the output high. When pulled high, it cannot provide much current, but since the controlled device is off, it doesn’t need to.

One thing to note on this type of circuit is that it is also an inverter. This means that when you input a high, you get a low output and when you input a low, you get a high output. This will come in handy later.

Since we are going to be driving an inductive load, it is a good idea to use a snubber diode (shown below) to arrest any voltage spikes that occur when you turn off the inductor (coil).

Here is an example of how this transistor switch circuit can be used to control a stepper motor. In this example I’m using four transistors for the four coil taps on the motor. This is a unipolar stepper motor so it has an extra tap that is connected to +5 volts (or whatever voltage you are using for the motor). This makes a unipolar motor easier to use since all you need to do is ground each of the four coils. With a bipolar stepper motor, you need a more advanced circuit called an H-Bridge that can swap the voltages on each end of each coil. (That’s something I may cover in a later post)

As you can see above this design requires four input lines from the Arduino.

Here is another illustration of it:

Making it go

Now that the stepper motor is all hooked up, we need to talk about how to make it move. This is the basic sequence that makes the motor move.

Moving from one step in the sequence to the next makes the motor move one step. If you go forward in the sequence, the motor moves forward one step and if you go back, the motor moves back one step. Stepper motors also have a specific number of steps needed to move one full revolution. For example the motor I’m using has 200 steps in a revolution.

The Arduino software comes with a library that makes it easy to control a stepper motor. Here is some example code to get it going: random_stepper2.pde. One problem with this basic setup is that it requires four wires to control it. An Arduino only has twelve digital pins readily available, so if you have big plans for your Arduino project, you will run out of ports very quickly. Wouldn’t it be nice to only use two wires?

The Two Wire Method

I mentioned earlier that the NPN transistor switch is also an inverter, meaning it outputs the inverse of the output. If you give it a 1, you get a 0 and if you give it a 0, you get a 1.

Now if you look at the stepper sequence you might notice something interesting. Of pins 1a and 1b, they are never the same. They are always the opposite of the other one.

The same is true of the other pair:

So, if we use the output of one transistor switch as the input of another one, we can eliminate one unnecessary input on each side.

So now, our circuit looks more like this:

In the Arduino software sketch, the line to set up the stepper motor looked like this:

Stepper stepper(STEPS, 2, 3, 4, 5);

But with out new two wire system it needs to be changed to this:

Stepper stepper(STEPS, 2, 3);

And that’s all that needs to change as far as the code goes. It functions just the same.

Now go find a stepper motor and start experimenting. I found this motor in an old floppy drive. Old computers are a great place to find parts like motors, fans, lights, and lots of other things.

Let me know below if you found this guide helpful or to share your experience with stepper motors.

Related posts:

1. Controlling a Stepper Motor with an Arduino

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I started off with a basic 5 gallon American pale ale recipe. It was actually supposed to be a clone of Sierra Nevada’s pale ale. I don’t know how close it ended up, but it was pretty good anyway. After the primary fermentation was done I bottled three gallons of it and split the rest in to two 1 gallon secondary fermentors.

For the first batch I cut some jalapenos in half and soaked them in vodka overnight. Then I added the peppers to the fermentor. If I recall, I think I added the vodka, too.

For the second batch I roasted the peppers in a skillet for a few minutes until they were nice and dark. I figured the heat would have killed any beasties on them so I didn’t worry about sanitizing them.

My plan was to leave the jalapenos in for about a week, then bottle the beer. Well, as sometimes happens when homebrewing, I got busy and couldn’t get to them for two weeks. This was a mistake. When I was bottling them I poured some of each in to a glass to taste and it was like drinking pure fire! I couldn’t believe how hot it was.

Later I gave some to my friends to try (I warned them first, I couldn’t do that to them). and they agreed it was not fit to drink. One of them dubbed it “chicken marinade” which it is still known as today. Actually that’s probably a good idea I still need to try.

I brewed this beer a couple of years ago and I still haven’t worked up the nerve to try it again. I think next time I’ll use some more mild chilies like anchos.

If I were to try jalapenos again this is what I would do. Half them, de-seed, and grill instead of roast. Then start tasting after a couple of days and decide whether to leave them longer. Definitely less than two weeks.

Have you had a good or bad experience with peppers in beer (or even mead or wine)? Tell me about it below!

Related posts:

1. Raspberry Wheat Beer
2. Make Your Own Mash Paddle
3. Converting a Cooler into a Mash Tun

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It’s made from some 2×4s, 1/4″ plywood and some wheels I had that came with some metal shelves. Ad a little paint and it’s good to go. I made it tall enough to fit a 6.5 gallon carboy with an airlock on the bottom shelve. It’s also useful for racking from a primary fermentor on the top shelf to a secondary fermentor on the bottom shelf. Right now this sits in my basement holding cases of wine and mead and my fermenting homebrew until I get around to building an actual temperature controlled fermentation chamber. Stay tuned for that.

Related posts:

1. Raspberry Wheat Beer
2. Jalapeno Ale Experiment
3. Make Your Own Mash Paddle

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Most of the mash paddles you see for sell online are made of oak or some other exotic hardwood. I don’t know why this would be necessary so I used a piece of scrap pine 1×4 trim I had in the garage. I cut a piece off about 2 or 2.5 feet, drew a basic design on it with a pencil and cut it out with a jigsaw. Then I drilled a hole in the handle to be able to hang it and sanded down the edges so it was nice and smooth.

I thought about adding some sort of finish to protect it, but I wasn’t sure what I could use that would be safe to use in a mash that will eventually be beer that I and others will drink. Since it was so cheep to make (free) I decided to leave it unfinished and see how it held up. So far it hasn’t had any problems. I just wash it off and hang it up to dry when I’m done with a session and it looks as good as new.

Edit: I’ve been reading lately that butcher block oil is good to use on mash paddles. I might have to give that a try.

If you have made your own mash paddle, especially as a result of my post, let me know!

Related posts:

1. Converting a Cooler into a Mash Tun
2. Jalapeno Ale Experiment
3. Raspberry Wheat Beer

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This is a very basic and cheep setup. I wanted to build a mash tun while spending as little money as possible. One way I saved money is by using an ice chest I already had. Since I didn’t want to commit my ice chest to this project I wanted to add a manifold and valve without any modifications to it and so I could easily disassemble it for cleaning. Another way I saved money is by using PVC instead of copper since it’s so expensive now.

Most of the parts came from the hardware store. I think the only thing I bought from my local home brew shop (LHBS) was the plastic valve.

Parts List:

• some PVC pipe
• 3 PVC T’s
• 4 PVC Elbows
• Some vinyl hose (not shown)
• Brass barb fitting (not shown)
• Plastic (vinyl?) valve

I’m not listing sizes or measurements since everything will very depending on your requirements (and because I don’t remember)

Tools Used:

• Hack saw
• Utility knife
• Tape measure

I cut up the pipe as shown above and dry fit everything to make sure it fits. Then I cut slits half way through the PVC spaced about an inch apart (half inch spacing would probably be better). The utility knife is to clean up the shavings from cutting the PVC. You will need to figure out a way to clean out the shavings inside from cutting the slits. Then screwed in the brass barb and attached the hose.

Update: Here is a close up of the slits I cut in the PVC.

The hose just barely fit through the spout in the cooler and when you stuck the barb of the valve in it, it would make a tight seal in the cooler spout. This worked so well and the PVC fit tight enough that I did the whole project without using any kind of glue or sealer. This also allowed me to easily take it apart and clean it.

Valve

Mash Tun Test Run

First batch of grain before adding water.

I’ve used this for a few batches now and it works very well. If I did it again I would make it a little longer to reach the end of the cooler and not so wide so it wasn’t so close to the edges, but overall, it does its job.

First mash almost done

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1. Make Your Own Mash Paddle
2. DIY Brewing Stand
3. Jalapeno Ale Experiment

I like raspberries, and I like wheat beer. I also like brewing beer, so it was inevitable that the two should someday meet.

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I started with a basic wheat beer kit. I got mine from highgravitybrew.com, but any basic wheat beer recipe should be fine. These pictures were from the first time I made this beer.

3lbs Frozen Red Raspberries (4 12oz bags). I used frozen because they are much cheaper than fresh and the normal disadvantages of frozen fruit would actually be a plus for our purposes.  When you thaw out frozen raspberries, they pretty much turn to mush and for adding to a carboy that is a good thing.

For this batch, I decided to pasteurize the berries to prevent contamination so I heated them on the stove to 150f for 15 minutes or so. Then strained them into a secondary fermentor and racked the fermented beer on top of the juice.

Let it go in the secondary fermentor for another week or so and you’re ready to bottle or keg.

This is what I was left with after straining the raspberries. It too forever to strain the juice out and I never got it all. This seems kind of wasteful and was also a lot of extra work so I decided to do it differently the second time.

This time I took the more relaxed approach. I didn’t pasteurize the raspberries and I didn’t strain them. I sanitized a pan and a funnel, thawed the raspberries in the pan and then used a funnel to pour them straight into the carboy (seeds, skins, and all). You could also just throw them into a secondary fermentor and rack the fermented beer on top of them. I decided to just add them to the primary right after fermentation slowed down and give it a few more days to integrate and settle out. That’s one of the advantages of a wheat beer, it doesn’t really matter if it clears or not.

Using this method, you may get a few skins that make it through, so if that’s a problem, you could deffinatly move to a secondary to let it clear a little more. If you kegging, the skins all come out after the first couple of glasses. They don’t effect the taste at all, but some people may be afraid of “floaties” in your “basement beer”.

So far, I’ve made this beer twice and everyone loves it. It’s a little sweet and easy to drink.

Recipe for 5 gallons

5 lbs Muntons Wheat LME
0.50 lb. 2-Row Pale Malt
0.25 lb. Light Wheat
1.25 lb. Flaked Wheat
.20 oz Magnum pellet hops (bittering)
1 tsp. Irish moss
3lbs of frozen Raspberries
Wyeast 1056 or White Labs WLP001

Related posts:

1. DIY Brewing Stand
2. Jalapeno Ale Experiment
3. Make Your Own Mash Paddle

Here’s a quick and easy way to label homebrew beer bottles. I take some small printer labels and print the name of the beer on them and stick them to the caps. You could also print other info like bottling date or gravity. I like this method since there is nothing to clean off when you recycle the bottles. You just throw away the label with the cap. It also makes it easier to tell the difference without taking them out of the box.

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Update:

Here is a template I created for Avery 1/2″ x 1-3/4″ labels (ie: avery 8167)

I modified the standard template so you can print twice on each label and cut them in half. This way they end up the right size for a bottle cap.

Beer label template Word 2003

Beer label template Word 2007

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1. Mythlink for Human Readable File Names
2. Jalapeno Ale Experiment
3. Converting a Cooler into a Mash Tun

I have a couple of bipolar motors, but I started with this unipolar since it requires fewer components to hook up. since I didn’t have a driver chip I used some 3904 transistors to provide more current to the coils.

Arduino Controlling a Stepper Motor

Each line has an LED to show the sequence of which coils are being activated. There is also a diod on each one to drop the feedback from each coil when it is turned off.

And here’s the video:

I have it running a program that picks a random number of steps and either forward or backwards then moves in that direction. There is a library included with the Arduino software that makes using stepper motors pretty easy once you get them wired up. You can check out more here: http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/Stepper

Update: Here is a better illustration of what’s going on. This is missing the LEDs I added as a visual aid, but it has everything you need to make it work. I’m using 2n3904 NPN transistors and I added some diodes (1n4000 series) to prevent kickback from the motor.

Here is a simple sketch to see if your stepper motor is working: random_stepper2.pde

Related posts:

1. Controlling a Stepper Motor with an Arduino Part 2

A quick google for “unlock cell phone” or anything like that will return pages and pages of sites wanting to charge you $10 – $20 to unlock your phone. Mixed in with those are several forum sites where someone posts their IMEI # and someone else replies with an unlock code. Well, since I wasn’t using this phone I didn’t want to pay to unlock it, and I also didn’t want to post the IMEI on a public forum. I thought, if there are so many people who are able to do this, it can’t be that hard so there has to be a way to do it myself.

After some more googling I found out that for each type of phone there is an algorithym that is ran against the IMEI # for the specific phone to generate an unlock code. Some carriers would give you this code for free just for asking and T-mobile is one of those carriers, but since I’m not a current customer I doubted they would help me, but I kept that in mind as a last resort. (I have actually used this method in the past to unlock a phone. I was leaving the country and wanted to purchase a local prepaid sim while I was there and T-mobile was very helpfull in unlocking it.) I also read about some applications you could download to generate unlock codes and possible use a cable to connect to the phone to unlock it somehow.

My next step was to try and track down one of these applications to see how they work. I checked usnet and some torrent sites and found a program called nokiafree (this is a nokia phone). I tried downloading this from various sources and it was generally just a virus of trojan. I googled for it and found the site it came from unlock.nokiafree.org. They have an online calculator and also the program you can download to generate unlock codes. I decided to try their online service first since I didn’t have anything to lose.

They have four fields to fill in,

IMEI which I got from my phone.

Network – I selected USA – T-Mobile

GEN – I selected T-mobile

Nokia Model – I selected Nokia 3200 (my phone model is 3220b and this was the closest)

Then I clicked the button to generate the DCT4 code (whatever that means) and it spit out 7 codes to enter. I wasn’t sure which one to use and they warned that after entering 3 or 5 codes it might brick your phone, so I guess be careful if you’re trying this.

Their instructions were to power on the phone without a sim and enter the code, but I couldn’t get this to do anything. If I used my AT&T sim I would get an option to enter an unlock code, so I picked the first number and punched it in, clicked unlock and presto, it worked.

I tried making a phone call on it and it seems the microphone may be too quiet. I’ll try it again and see what happens. I can also get my old address book off of it which is also a bonus.

Update: I just used this process to unlock another phone, a Nokia 3595. It worked first try.

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