The Modern Day Technologist

Audi A4 B7 2008 2.0L Multitronic (Australia)

2017-02-12T13:30:00.001+08:00

You've stumbled across my Blogger post. I have documented some of my findings whilst owning my Audi A4 B7 2008 Avant to not only help other people, but also so I can refer back to them ;c)

Workshop/Repair/Service manuals - You can actually get the entire collection of full workshop downloadable PDF manuals directly from Audi for 34 euros (price @ 2017). Go to https://erwin.audi.com/erwin and purchase 24 hours access to the VW/Audi/Seat workshop manual, once you download the manuals they are yours indefinitely.

VAGCOM Cables - If your looking to hook up the OBD II connector and use Ross-tech software on your laptop you'll need not just any cable off ebay but at the B7 is dual K-line plus CAN it's going to have to be the more expensive HEX-USB+CAN lead. I just paid $80AUD (current 2017) but that included the Rosstech software.

Programming Key FOBS - I've read that you can program your own keyfobs with the VAG COM cable and software which is big saving Audi in Perth charge over $250AUD (current 2017) for this service.

Coil Packs - I just had an incident where I put 20L of e10 at the petrol station and 30 meters down the engine light come on and the engine was spluttering and misfiring. I drove to the next petrol station and put 20L of premium fuel in thinking it was fuel related. I limped him and put the code reader on and found cylinder "1" mis-fire. At this point I thought it was important to drain the petrol completely and fill with a fresh tank (see drain tank procedure). After changing the petrol I still had the problem. I decided to use the isolation method, but as the coil pack harness is ridged it wasn't possible to isolate coils instead I used the injector plugs I found that disconnecting injector 1 made no difference to the idle, I then swapped coil 1 into cylinder 2 and visa versa and then did the isolation test again and found the problem followed. I cleared the codes and went for a drive but dispite the really badly running engine and flashing engine light no codes were produced (i was looking for misfire on cylinder 2 to appear). I was pretty happy that is was the coil pack and luckily my local parts shop (super cheap autos) listed them in stock for $73AUD (in year 2017), when I went down they said they don't keep them in stock but they will be overnighted and ready the next day. When the coil pack arrived it was actually a Bosch unit which fitted in nicely to the car and once I started the car it was running good again.

Drain Petrol Tank - This can be done in less than 15mins. Using 2 spanners unscrew the petrol line on the fuel rail in the engine bay and place it in an empty 2L coke bottle. Locate the fuse box (it's in between the drivers down and the dashboard, flick off the flap with flat blade screw driver), find and remove the fuel pump fuse. All you need to do is put 12V onto the fuel pump fuse terminal, for safety (and save dam$$age to the fuel pump) you should make sure to put the fuse inline with the wire. This method is actually the approved method in the workshop manual with the exception they use a "special trigger like tool" instead of a standard wire between battery but the principle is exactly the same.

LED Bulbs - One of the earlier things I did was replace all the interior/number plate/park globes for LED globes. The first thing you should know is unlike a standard car, the globes are all managed by the comfort control system which manages the globes and keeps an eye on them to see if they are blown. Because of this you can't just stick standard LED globes in because they don't drawn enough current and the computer will keep telling you they are blown. When you are in ebay add the keyword "CANBUS" to your search, they are the same price, but they have built-in resistors and heatsinks to make them draw the same current/amps as a standard filament globe making them CANBUS friendly (eg you won't get errors).

Footwell lights - If the guy who bought your Audi from the Dealership didn't pay for the optional extra "interior light" package then you are probably missing a few lights from your interior such as footwell lights this guide here will show you how to retro fit http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/my-diy-guide-for-retro-fitting-foot-well-lights.58215/

Door lights - You need VAGcom to turn on the courtesy lights. There is a guide here about retro fitting the door lights http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/retro-fit-warning-puddle-lights-a4-b7-salon-how-to.138473/

Ford Fiesta WT 1.6i Petrol Engine Fuel Filter

2017-02-02T13:42:00.001+08:00

Just going to do a 60,000 km service on my 2012 WT Petrol Fiesta and I've not been able to find any information on the internet about the Fuel Filter so here are my findings.

1. The Fuel/Petrol filter is only available as a genuine part, if you can find on ebay good luck to you.
2. I rang my local ford dealership today and was told the filter is $109 AUD (as of Feb 2017).
3. The fuel filter location is on the drives left side of the petrol tank, you get to it from underneath the car. There is a white clip which supposedly you can push back and the filter wiggles down, I tried and it would move.

4. You will find lots of information pointing to the Ryco Z795 fuel filter, this is for the Diesel engines only it contains a water trap and bleed valve (petrol filters do not have these).

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Push Auction (for ebay) my thoughts

2016-12-15T16:38:00.002+08:00

You are probably coming to this thread coz you have come across another seller who is using Push Auction and you may or may not have tried other products like Auctiva or Inkfrog and are uncertain about Push Auction.

The reason you are uncertain is because they are Chinese based, because you are finding it hard to pin point information to make you feel sold on the product.

AUCTIVA/INKFROG
I am PushAuction user, previously I used Inkfrog I got so feed up with Inkfrog bugs and focus on the aesthetics side of their business to pick up new customers and not looking after the hard core ebay sellers that couldn't give a toss about colours and nice pictures they just want a database solution that will look after their 1,000s of products and 100s of weekly sales and allow for staff. Inkfrog and Auctiva is for beginners and as your business grows you will soon realise you need to leave. Whats more it will cost you 6 months and 1,000s of dollars in labour to do so.

NO FORUMS
There are no forums for PushAuction which leaves you contacting support@pushauction.com if you have questions and you will have lots of them. Luckily they speak good english, they are generally pretty good with their response times, they don't bullshit you with fluffy go nowhere sales answers like auctiva and inkfrog support. The lack of forums though is a big killer because there is no knowledge shared you are on your own.

PREPARE YOURSELF
Being a newbie to PushAuction sucks a fat one! They have video tutorials but it is so overwhelming and you will find it so hard if not impossible to get your head around how to actually get your first listing going. My support assistant gave up and called it quits and eventually just mearly after beating my head against the wall so many weeks and feeling like I was just getting caught up in a tangled mess something somewhere clicked and all that familiarisation of the different parts started to come together. Point is the tutorials don't help, their is no forum, it is not easy to get started
.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT the greatest downfall
They have built a everything to run your ebay store and manage your inventory in one place you can assign stock to warehouses and even shelves in that warehouse, create purchase orders from your stock listings. Brilliant right! All that time, code and planning hours and hours of it! and all of it a big fat waste of time because when an item sells on ebay it fails to reduce your stock quantity so you have an inventory management system that can't even automatically reduce stock on hand. I am serious here that have gone to alot of trouble building their inventory manager, on your listings you can even say how many stock units the listing is worth (eg lot items). I have contacted them multiple times pleading with them to link up sales on ebay with reducing stock on hand in the inventory section it will take like max of 3 hours of programming. This was their last response to my query "Our "inventory" function is free for user, but currently it can not achieve such a feature. Later we will continue to make optimization."

AS A LISTINGS MANAGER
As a listings manager I am happy with it and glad I made the switch for any newbies, for new products you create a profile first list that profile to ebay, existing listings you go to your live listings and create a profile from that listing and link existing live listing to the profile. You always make changes in the profile and update the live listing from the profile.

CONCLUSION
It cost me over 6 months to switch over to PushAuction as would it do moving that amount of products I have 2 staff and me working part time. PushAuction is another level up for sellers as there store grows I am happy I persisted with the changeover and have not looked back over my shoulder thinking was it the right thing to do.

Hipages rippoff OUCH for tradies

2016-11-15T14:00:00.002+08:00

I signed up as a business to www.homeimprovementpages.com.au aka Hipages what a complete an utter piece of shit this site is.

Most of my jobs are around $110 - $200, Hipages charges vary per lead for me but average around $19.

Doing some basic maths that's over 10% gross profit a lead.

That's not the most shocking thing either.. It is not your exclusive lead, they send the lead to all the other businesses and the first 4 business to accept it get charged as well and then you has to fight amoungst the other 4 business. So if the lead is being offered at $19 which they get off 4 companies they take profit $76 per lead.

Still thinking you've got what it takes to have a 1 in 4 chance of winning the job.. Wrong! None of the leads go anywhere, so far I have spent $500 in leads and not one job not even close to being a job.

My conversion rate is 95% on all my other marking avenues, eg I call them I get the job.

Tyre kickers or Fake leads take your pick. I have the same suspicion as many other people who have left feedback about Hipages and that being that most of the leads are fake eg they are hired call centre staff pretending they just wanted to get a price for a job but will call you back later.

It was a stressful experience dealing with the and the leads that come in. It took time away from my business and existing customers. Don't even bother wasting your time with these crooks.

Here are some phone numbers that have been used in the leads that I paid for:
0402353759
0400179106
0409082635

0478637807
0407577282

Ebay Auto Light Rain Sensor Kit Guide VNX vehicle sensor

2016-11-06T18:43:00.003+08:00

Manual: PDF 2.4MB Google Drive
Version Discussed: v5.0 (as seen on first page of user manual).
Youtube: I think this video is the same sensor as this mod.

If your like me and bought a Universal Car Automatic Windshield Light/Rain Sensor off ebay and have spent the last couple of days pulling your hair out, then let me walk you through some of the things I found out and overcome them.

1. You open the manual and get confused by different installation methods coz they contridict each other.

Completely ignore Installation (6) "Light sensor" layout because that is only for people who purchased a light sensor kit only this is the light & rain sensor kit so you need to follow those instructions even if you are only going to use just the light sensor or rain sensor part.

For the light setup side of things use the wires found on Installation (4) for the 8 pin plug and follow the schematic on Installation (5).
Do not use the red or black wire on the 8 pin plug, instead hookup the red and black wire from the 10 pin plug to give the box it's power and earth.

2. On the Installation (5) diagram the Orange wire goes to "Battle", this is a typo error they meant to say "Battery".

3. The White wire hooks up to the park switch, if you turn the park lights and the white wire receives a 12v signal it disables the auto light sensor until next key off and on.

4. The Grey wire feeds the blue and green wire it's power when. If you're like me and all your switches are 5V volts make sure you hook the grey wire up to to 5V and not 12V that way when the unit put power to the blue and green wires it feeds them 5V and not 12V.

5. The white wire can only operate on 12v it's doesn't work on 5v and if you do hook the white wire up to 5v the unit won't work. I used a relay with the 5v from the park light switch going to the coil side of the relay and then 12v on the switch side with white wire.

6. Despite on page 2 of the owners manual showing it, there is no light sensor adjustment either on the module circuit board or on the sensor itself. (I took some pictures of module board so you can look for yourself). The default setting for when the lights come on is actually quiet dark and I am usually always the last person on the road to turn on their lights. Looking on the manual the sensor should be on the front corner next to the plugs or at the back corner of the main unit, there is no solder areas on the circuit board even for this. At a guess, I'd say the unit has been upgraded but the manual hasn't and is for an older unit.

Here are some markings I noticed. The main unit says VNX or VHX vehicle sensor, the main unit circuit board has 20110331-2015 printed on it. The light sensor has 20130406 and KRAIN150308 or KRAIN150008 (solder joints intrupt the printing) printed on it.

Office 365 Home Premium and Google Apps Sync Intergration

2016-09-24T10:08:00.000+08:00

If you have Office 365 Home Premium you may have found out that it does NOT come with any cloud based sync for your contacts and calendars like google apps or icloud, this only comes with the business version of Office 365 which carries a more expensive monthly fee.

Office 365 is a click-to-run product. Google apps has always been for non click-to-run eg you installed Office from a CD or ISO. Recently though on the Google Apps sync installer page https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gappssync you will find a link for click to run versions. If you try to install this and you have Office 365 Home Premium you are likely to get a failed to install error message

Holden/Vauxhal/Opel Combo/Barina XC Van DRL

2016-09-15T00:20:00.001+08:00

Having had my van for a few years now and with all the new cars coming out with Daylight Running Lights/LEDs (DRLs) I was curious to see if I could spruce up my van.

My first major concern was driving around I've seen many people attempt put them on their cars with bad affect which just look poor.

I knew the first and most important thing I had to understand was how car designer follow the design shape of the car as to what shape the lights are. If you fail to understand this step you have failed no matter what you do next.

The next step was to think of light colour otherwise know as kelvins 2,500k being the standard yellowy headlight colour and 4.500k being white and 6,000k being blueish.

After than was whether the LED spacing from each other. most i have seen the leds are too spaced out.

Actual wattage (or lumens if you prefer) most people fit cheaper strips with turnout to be low wattage.

I really good forum where people talk about this is https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/forum/general-discussion/leds/44634-what-s-the-key-to-non-ricey-looking-drl-s-opinions-wanted

I am still in the planning stage. Using photoshop and this tutorial I found on youtube (https://youtu.be/0DCFdYheSAY) I created some mock designs of what my Holden Combo 2009 could look like and thought I would share them because there is nothing on google.

There are also some other things I have considered being that I will replace my standard H7 headlight globes from the yellowy 2,500k with whiter 4,500k colour to accompany the new DRLs, I will remove old parker globes (no need to double up), I will need to build a circuit so that when I indicate the DRL on that side turns off (majorly dangerous if you don't coz the indicator will be hard to see).

I think I like the shark fin looking one (top right pic). The Combo is not the nicest shaped car but I think this follows the shape well without shrinking the front of the car anymore than it already is for the size of it's arse (no thanks to the barina front end).

Kerui W1 433Mhz Wifi Alarm

2016-05-18T14:50:00.002+08:00

Join the discussion.... on the new forum http://keruizone.boards.net/

- change over date (29/3/2017)

Welcome

First of all you are by no means alone! You like many other thousands of visitors to this site have come to this page because your Kerui is buggy, not well documented, you want it work and it just doesn't seem to do what it is supposed to do.

The good news is there is some good chewable information that will help you get alot better understanding of whats going with your system which might trigger something in your brain to get over that hump. If not you can always ask a question and me or someone else will respond.

For me when I first bought my Kerui W1 WiFi alarm unit there just really wasn't much info on the internet and support weren't replying to me and I figured every other user out there must be in the same boat. So this began... Read on ;c)

Links

The manufactures official website http://gsmburglaralarm.com
Kerui W1 manual Dowload (Google Docs) 1MB

Android W1 APP v1.3 Download (Google Docs) 20MB
Email of Manufacture: sales@secrui.com

Android APP

After much waited delay the Android APP is returns to the Google Play store again. Thanks guys (don't expect many updates though)

16-03-2017 an update was released this week on the Play store. "1.Optimize part of the push function."

Expectations/Reality

I thought when the alarm went off and alerted me on the phone the alert would tell me which Zone was going off and because you can customize the Zone names I could straight away identify the area. WRONG. The message just says "Alarming". To find out what zone it is you have to open the APP and go to Alarm recording tab. Kind sucks if someone breaks into your house whilst you are asleep and you wake up check your phone and the message says "Alarming" no shit! There is someone in my house it would be handy for the popup to say "garage" or "he's behind you"(joke)!

Inside Alarm noise from the unit. W1 has an alarm has an internal speaker, it's loud but not huge and there are some bad reviews on the internet about the speaker being too quiet. It's easy loud speakers are big W1 is thin and small what do you expect. The easy solution is to go back onto ebay and buy the 433mhz inside siren and bind it with your W1 unit, this will give you alot more disruptive noise in the house to mess with the burglars concentration. Note even more expensive professional installed alarms have external speakers.

Show me your insides

Peel off the rubber feet to reveal the screws (ps you need to take 2 of these off if you want to use the snap mounting clip that is included W1.

With the lid off you can see the internal speaker on the right. Wifi top right corner and reciever coils for the detectors on the left.

Unscrewing the circuit board and taking a look underneath you'll find the backup rechargable 800mah battery. I'd say ebay will be your best bet when the time comes to replace it (probably 2-4years time).

How to

Connecting Outside Siren - Press Learn on Siren (I think light on siren flash), on W1 press once on the Light Bulb button the light on W1 will go purple and "0" will sound from the W1 box indicating Group 0 which is reserved for the strobe alarm (as opposed the higher numbers 1,2,3.. which are for the smart sockets).
Connect Smoke Alarm -Emergency detectors need their own zone. On the app pick a zone name it Smoke Alarm, next change the Zone type to Emergency (so W1 will alarm anytime the smoke sensor detects smoke) and then click on 'Parts' then click on the + sign and within 1-3 seconds hold the Test button on the smoke alarm to bind (make sure you don't set off PIR sensor at the same time because that will bind instead). Once add was successful change the name of the detector to a name that is realivant (eg kitchen, hallway). Test the smoke alarm by getting wife to cook or any thing else that produces smoke when something is burning (lol).
Add Smart Power Point - See Pg7 of the Manual (see above link for manual). Things to note on the 3 buttons W1 box when you press the button with the picture of a light bulb W1 counts upwards from 0 to 8 every time you press it. This numbers correspond the 1st Group, 2nd Group etc under the Smart Home section on the App, so when you are adding smart sockets depending on which number is called out from W1 when you press the Globe button on W1 will be which group the smart socket is added too. 0 is dedicated for the strobe alarm.
Changed WiFi Password - If you've changed the password on your modem you will see the notification light on W1 will flash green. To update the WiFi password on your W1 on the PDF manual use steps 4.2 on page 11. Note if your modem has 2.5Ghz and 5Ghz bands make sure your phone is connected to the 2.4Ghz band because W1 does not support 5Ghz and your phone is going to push the settings into W1 so make sure your phone is on the 2.4Ghz.

Faults

W1 not connecting to WiFi (initial setup) - W1 can only connect to 2.4GHz wifi signal, make sure you phone's wifi is not connect to the 5GHz band when setting up your W1 as your phone is pushing the settings from it to W1 you can't push 5GHz settings into a device that doesn't support it.
Android App Crashes - This happened for me after opening the app as soon as the W1 box shows as online if I power off W1 and open app it doesn't crash. Solution was to uninstall and re-install App (I've had to do this twice now).
Android App Constant "Alarming" message - As soon as you open the app it goes crazy with contestant popups saying "W1 Alarming" even through W1 is not alarming nor is there any event history in the "Alarm Recording" tab on the app. SOLUTION uninstall and re-install app.
Failed to connect - This happens quiet abit when you open the app or where using the app and then closed the app and re-opened straight away and try to connect back. SOLUTION wait 30seconds or force close the app and open again.
W1 Loses Custom Name - On the Android app you can customise the name of you W1 unit to whatever you want but after a day or two it reverts back to the default name. SOLUTION none this is programming issue.

Feature Requests

There's not much on the internet about this box so I figure the developers will probably come across this post at some point and have a read. So this one is to the developers.

Outside Alarm Beeping on Arm/Disarm with keypads - It is quiet annoying when we disarm the alarm system with a keyfob that the outside alarm siren makes 4 beeps as it can upset the neighbours late at night and also it is telling people that we are leaving the house.
App popup to say which Detector is alerting instead of current generic message "W1 Alarming".
Speed up app connection time we connect to W1 from APP. From opening the APP to waiting for it to say "Upload CID success" and then waiting a few more seconds seems like an eternity when you've accidently triggered the alarm and want to turn it off using the APP, it takes even longer if you click on the W1 too early and the APP trys to connect and then fails. The ideal scenario would be we open the APP and can instantly start controlling.
Increase app security for new devices. Currently anyone with your username and password can sign into your account from any device. It would be nice if you blocked new devices from signing in until a request that you send to the registered email is clicked to accept that device.

Kerui PIR Sensor

You can increase the life of your PIR sensor batteries by changing the switch positions around on your PIR sensor, by default the LED light is set to flash every time it detects movement, but you can change it so that it will only flash once with in a 5 minute interval.

Smart Sockets

Kerui Smart Power Socket Manual PDF (1MB)

I am actually quiet happy with the smart sockets and they have been working seemlessly for the last couple of months on outside lights on timer.
Pros
- Nice looking
- Easy to setup
- Work like clock work
Cons
- On the W1 app you can only ADD 4 on/off events which is very limiting. I have 2 sockets that turn on at 7pm and off at 10pm, I would like to use another timed smart socket but it's not possible.
- The switching side is on the neutral terminal not the active/live WTF! who does that why is it the rest of the world switch the power on and off using the Live/Active side of the circuit but you think you can re-invent the wheel. This basically messed up my idea of using an outdoor lighting circuit which I could either use the smart socket to turn the lights on and off or a light switch because the light switch controls the active and these stupid sockets control the neutral wire and no I am not going to re-wire my light switch coz then I would be an idiot too who electructs someone because they think the switch is off therefore the active is off!!

K16 Wireless Keypad

Here's video to add on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8ZzXENoAIU

I've just added this to my W1 system. On a score of 1 to 5 i'd probably rate this a 2 out of 5. Initially it seems like a great idea being able to tag the alarm off when you enter into the house and saving having to use the app on your mobile phone which is laggy at best to get going. But like most of Kerui's products the design looks good but the gaps in the programming is pretty poor.

Pros
- RFID touch keys to turn off the alarm.
- Wirelessly connected to W1 (or other W series) no need for wiring.
- Looks nice.
- Easy to mount.

Cons
- The RFID tags only disarm the alarm if you used the keypad to arm the alarm, if you use the APP to arm and try and use the RFID tags they don't work.
- The touch screen is Resistive touch (as opposed to Capacitive touch like smart phone) which means you need to somewhat press hard on the digits to register your touch.
- Still the same loud annoying double chirp from the outside siren when you dis-arm and even louder annoying chirp when you Arm. Imagine it's 12am in the morning and you go to bed and put on the Stay Arm and you outside alarm is friggin making noises to annoy the neighbours and let them also know your movements. Fuck you Kerui and your stupid chirping... grrr

Key Fob

Here's the video on how to add a key fob to W1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYcGfvPTA0M

Infra Red Beam (gate) Sensors

Beam Sensor Manual - PDF (0.79mb)

These are the type of sensors that you find in shops and when a customer walks through the door a chime sounds. I decided to get these as first line of defense during the day from people sneaking up the driveway and breaking into cars or walking in front door whilst we are in the house.

They use 433mhz to connect to Keriu systems, although you do need to supply external power to these which is a little annoying given they are outdoors and a distance away from my nearest 240v.

As far as operation goes you just set them on their own group and set that group to either doorbell or welcome setting so when someone passes through W1 will make the 'Welcome' or 'Doorbell' noise which you can then check your driveway for activity.

Thank you

If you found any of this helpful please leave a small comment just to let me know I've helped someone. Thanks for dropping by ;c)

Duplo DC-6 Mini Collator - Tips and tricks

2014-02-24T15:50:00.001+08:00

I've just bought a Duplo DC-6 2nd hand machine for a mear $200. Naturally there is a reason why it's a bargin.

As I am tight arse, I am going to use DIY where ever possible to iron out all the problems, as there is not much info around on the internet I thought I blog some notes along the way to share my findings and fixes.

Firstly parts are not cheap , I guess if they were the previous owner would have fixed this machine.

I found this parts website: http://www.chilvers.co.uk/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=294 and ebay but only chivers have parts listed on ebay and they have marked them up to counter the ebay/paypal fees.

The PDF manual is online here http://www.ppm-sales.com/manuals/duplo%20manuals/duplo%20DC%206%208%20Instruction%20Manual.pdf

The feed rollers are refered to as tyres as they pull on and off the plastic rims. If you decided to buy some new ones, you only need to replace the centre tyres as these are the ones that wear as there rub on the bottom plate unlike the outer pair which have and air gap.

Problem 1.

Paper mis-feeding gets dragged about 2cm and then stops and then the machine halts.

If you notice from the photo below the 3 rollers in a line, has a shiny center tyre. This happens when the tread wears away, the tyre is made up of a foam centre, then a plastic coating to which the rough grey tread is sprayed onto.

I did mention before I am much better at being resourceful than handing out my resources, so for me rather than run out and spend $180 (inc postage) for 6 new centre tyres, it was mearly a case of swapping an outside roller with the middle one. This is because the outside rollers on the left and right aren't nowhere near as important as the centre roller.

Rear view of tray 1 from conveyor cover

So if you take my route, facing the collator from the front where the paper trays are, grab hold of that rod with the 3 rollers on and push to the left (ps it is spring loaded) and then pull the whole rod out.

Once you get the rod out carefully pull around the outside edge of the outer tyre and work it off the rim sliding it off the shaft, do the same for the center one. Thats it now do it all in reverse making sure you put the outer tyre with the tread on to the centre and leave the worn shiny tyre on the outside position.

Seperator (pop in and out)

Before you go ahead and re-install the tyre shaft back in the machine you may want to using a small flat blade screw driver (as above) flip over the plastic plate that the paper runs over as it is picked up by the centre pickup tyre. Once your done. Put the rod back in the collator and then repeat for all trays.

Update Sep 15, 2014
All the tyres are now fully worn out so I have bought 6 new tyres to go down the centre, after about 2 weeks of running the new tyres I am quiet happy I made the investment as the machine is operating on it's own with out any paper mis-feeds which means I can get on with other work.

Drive Assembly (Belt/Gears/Clutches)

The Clutches

Pulling off the 2 screws holding in the top to gears I was able to pull out the gear/clutch assembly. With the 2 units on the bench with a pair of circlip plies I removed 2 circlips and had the whole assembly apart in no time.

Clutch Unit

Disassembled Clutch Unit

Some background on the clutch. When you run button 1 on the collator the machine detects which trays have paper in via a small lever mirco switch just behind the roller set. The collator using the clutch gear above turns on only the trays that it needs the others stay disconnected from the main drive belt as it goes around.

The clutch is an electro inductive coil, like the starter motor on a car but rather than spinning it pulls the outer copper plate on the gear which is always spinning, into the metal case which is connected to the roller rod that moves the paper.

The 3 red circles are the contact points with the center red circle being the contact point when the clutch is disengaged and the outer 2 red circles when engaged.

The blue markings show the a blue circle where the center copper ring is mounted to the gear and the arrows indicating the gap in between the outer and inner copper ring which lift when drawn by the electromagnetic force.

DL paper size

It's not supported according to the handbook.

However all you need to do is use a small piece of wood on both sides of the DL so that it sits just left of the center roller enough to run over the micro switch lever at the back so it registers with the microprocessor. I spaced out my A5s as well so that they would came out nicely in the stack.

DL setup using wooden blocks

Sky Tunes Disappeared

2011-03-29T00:15:00.000+08:00

Help I can't fund Skytunes on the marketplace anymore. Does anyone know what has happened to it?

SHAW Titan G5

2011-03-07T16:14:00.000+08:00

Here is it folks the only photo on the internet of the SHAW Titan G5, I took and edited myself in photoshop after being unable to find it on the tinterweb feel free to use this image wherever you like!

Outlook 2007 "exit without sending message"

2010-06-10T14:57:00.000+08:00

I delay send, alot of my emails in Outlook 2007 for various reasons. Every time I close outlook I keep getting prompted if I am sure I want to exit without sending the mail in the outbox.

If anyone can help with this I would be most grateful, just leave a comment below.

caching issues - how to overcome? - PowWeb Community Forums

2010-04-08T16:09:00.003+08:00

Oh my god.. for the last 4 hours I have been pulling my hair out (whats left of it) with .css caching problems on a site I am designing.

The problem was that no matter what changes I made to the css sheet it wasn't updating on the website. I tried deleting the css file on the server but it still loaded in the browser. I deleted browser history and still no luck.

Error turned out to be on my powweb webhost which had carried out upgrades to the server which included changes to caching so that there is now a 4 hour cache on files, powweb offer a solution in their knowledgebase of renaming files.

There are two solutions which may or may not work for you.

1. Hold "Ctrl & press F5" this will cause hard refresh on your browser.

2. In your HTML file in the "HEAD" Add "?version=1" to the end of your css file name eg link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/style.css?version=1"

I spoke to Powweb live support & they gave me this bit of code to insert in the base of my .htaccess file.

<Files *>
Header set Cache-Control: "private, pre-check=0, post-check=0, max-age=0"

Header set Expires: 0

Header set Pragma: no-cache
</Files>

Source:

caching issues - how to overcome? - PowWeb Community Forums

How to fix Windows Media Player "Cannot Play This DVD" error message

2010-04-07T21:42:00.001+08:00

Like me if you are visiting this site then you are getting an error message from Windows Media Player when you try and play DVD's right!

If you go to the microsoft website it will tell you that you need to purchase another media program so that you can get the necessary codecs and then gives you a list of about 5 programs like WinDVD and Roxio.. YOU DO NOT NEED TO PURCHASE THIS SOFTWARE.

After 20 minutes of playing around I came up with this free SOLUTION.

As Microsoft says you need codecs (this is simply small piece/s of software that helps Media programs like Windows Media Player decode different media formats eg DVD).

I download and installed three free Codec packs "K-Lite Codec Pack", "XP Codec Pack" & "DivX" from free-codecs.com they should be still located on the left side menu as quick links or in the main content section.

Also if you are going to play AVI media files you should install "DivX" playing AVI's without these will result in "video playback"

Hope this helps.

Google Maps 3D Street View

2010-04-07T13:39:00.002+08:00

Google maps is now offering 3D view. This has enabled Google to make it's map service even more realistic than before for the virtual tourist.

Released on the 1st of April it was first perceived by many visitors to be some kind of April fools joke by Google.

This is a view of St Georges Tce, Perth, WA as you can see below the little Icon of man with 3D glasses. Clicking on this will change between 3D and normal view. Like the icon suggests you need a pair of red and blue lense 3D glasses to view the map in 3D.

Photoshop Stuck on Hand Tool/icon

2010-04-02T23:49:00.001+08:00

I was working on customers project in Photoshop CS4/CS3 on XP SP3 machine. My friend called me on Skype so talked to them on Skype for awhile, after the conversation I went back to my Photoshop window which I had left open and all I had was the "hand tool" no matter which tool I chose it made no difference.

I read a few posts about clearing warning messages cache etc, in the end the error comes down to low memory. The solution is to wait 2-3 minutes and windows will re-allocate memory. Restarting your computer will fix the problem also because you are closing off all the programs so when you start windows all the memory will be fresh again.

In my case I had Skype, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Outlook, Chrome and a couple of other background programs, it is very easy to understand why Windows run short on memory when I had open all these bad boy fuel guzzlers.

Hiding the blue border IE and Firefox linked images img

2010-03-10T16:58:00.000+08:00

Do you want to get rid of the blue border that displays around a linked image in IE (internet explorer) or firefox.

Add this code to your CSS;

a img {
border: none;
}

How to Add Zoom Icon to Lightbox Images CSS

2010-03-10T15:08:00.003+08:00

This code will enable you add a zoom picture to your lightbox images so when a visitor mouseover the image they see that the image needs to be expanded.

Copy and paste the HTML code into your html page changing the "my image1.jpg, myimage2.jpg... " for your own thumb.

HTML PART:
<div id="photos1">
    <h3>Add Zoom Icon</h3>
    <a href="myimage1.jpg">
        <span></span>
        <img src="myimage2.jpg" alt="" />
    </a>
    <a href="myimage3.jpg">
        <span></span>
        <img src="myimage4.jpg" alt="" />
    </a>
</div>

Copy and paste the CSS code into your CSS file or into the head area of your html page.

CSS PART:
#photos1 {
   width:100%; overflow:hidden;
}
#photos1 a {
   position:relative; float:left; margin:5px;
}
#photos1 a span {
   display:none;
   background-image:url(zoom.png);
   background-repeat:no-repeat;
   width:48px;
   height:48px;
   position:absolute;
   left:15px;
   top:15px;
}

#photos1 a:hover span {

display:block;

}

#photos1 img {
   border:
   solid 1px #999;
   padding:5px;
}

Posting Code Snippets into Blogger

2010-03-10T09:53:00.001+08:00

Are you having problem with Blogger WYSIWG editor turning your code snippets into smashed eggs.

The new editor allows you to display your code snippets with just a few small changes.
1. Settings tab.
2. Basic tab.
3. Choose new editor.
4. Open WYSIWG editor (i.e create or edit a post)
5. Click on the post options at the bottom of the editor.
6. Change compose settings to "Show HTML literally" and your done.

Source:
http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?answer=156829

2009-09-23T21:32:00.001+08:00

FOR THE IMPATIENT (QUICK NOTES);

1. SET NETWORK PROVIDER TO MANUAL.

2. DO NOT LEAVE Wi-Fi TURNED ON.

THIS IS THE STORY;

5 days in after I have received a new HTC Touch clone I have come up with a few issues.

1. The back cover doesn't quiet fit properly and overhangs at the top making it harder to access the power button.

2. I can't seem to get the temperature display working. All I have is two tabs the "home" and the "quick launch" icon menu.

3. I had loads of problems using Microsoft Active Sync I worked out Zonealarm (Zone Alarm) had to be turned off or manually add Active Sync to the programs list as there was no automatic prompts from Zonealarm.

4. This is the most annoying problem of all and I am still trying to troubleshoot. The phone turns off when charging either off the wall plug or the USB on the computer. I have tried unticking (untick) the to options in the advanced power settings on the phone, but everytime I click ok and then go back to check the power settings the tick boxes are still ticked. Happened for awhile and then didn't which makes me think I got two batteries with the phone and maybe there is some kind of problem with one of the batteries as this is the only thing that is changing. I have marked the batteries and going to swap them around over the next couple of days and see if this has an affect.

Anyways so far money for bang, this is the best phone I have every seen or used.