Unknownnet Blog

Project Manhattan

2013-01-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

After bottling the whiskey from my original barrel, I was trying to figure out what to go for next. While I do love whiskey, getting a few more bottles seemed redundant. Doing a bit of research I found a new project; barreled cocktails. Take a normal cocktail, scale it up, and let it age for a few months gathering a nice charred oak flavour along with hints of the whiskey that was in there prior.

For my first attempt, I found a recipe for a classic Manhattan.

The recipe is pretty simple:

2 ½ oz Bourbon
¾ oz Sweet Vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters

After a bit of conversion and maths, I scaled the recipe up so it could fit my 2L barrel:

1540 ml Bulleit Bourbon
462 ml Sweet Vermouth
42 dashes Angostura Bitters

With the amounts in hand, I headed to the liquor store.

Mixing up 2L of cocktails was a bit of fun. I'm sure the pitcher (normally used for juice) had a shock with that much bourbon filling it.

As a test of my maths skills, I had made a single from the original recipe and compared it to a sampling from the larger quantity. The tastes were pretty close, I likely needed a little less bitters (dashes are hard to convert).

With the cocktail done, it was time to barrel. All that's left is to wait and see how the experiment goes.

From what I can tell, with this sized barrel it should be pretty much ready in a couple months.

Samsung ARM Series 3 Chromebook Review

2013-01-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

As a remote employee (and person that can't leave well enough alone) I'm constantly looking at ways to do things differently and (perhaps) more efficiently. In my normal routine, there are a number of tasks that make up my day, and all of them virtual. On top of that my company has moved nearly entirely over to Google tools, so that seemed like the ideal time to try out a Chromebook.

Priced at less that $500 (including 3G), the Samsung Series 3 made for an interesting piece of hardware to investigate (especially to try out the new Exynos ARM processor). It has a nice small form factor, with an 11.6" screen and weighing 2.42lbs (for comparison the latest Macbook Air weighs 2.38lbs). Its definitely very light and portable; and with a battery that lasts 6 to 8 hours on a single charge its perfect for long trips. The hardware is very capable and solid; the keyboard layout and functionality is exactly what you would want/expect from a laptop/ultrabook. The screen is well lit and I've had no problems being able to use the system. Closing and opening the lid the system responds quickly and is useable right away. As far as hardware goes, the Series 3 is definitely a good value.

Being a chromebook, the OS is ChromeOS, something I haven't had much exposure to. As a cloud based operating system using the Chrome Browser as its foundation for everything, I knew it would be a challenge especially for someone like myself that are a fan of using a lot of different application windows for everything. Logging into the system is directly associated with a Google account. This means that logging into any ChromeOS system should bring you the same environment; a cool feature that's been seen from different systems over the years (including Sun's SunRay service). Google Apps behave just as one would expect and there is direct access to Google Drive for file sharing. So far so good, until you start looking for applications that you're used to.

The first major hangup was Skype; there is no web-based Skype application available yet. While there are ways to still chat via Skype (using other web-based chat systems like Imo) there is not a good native way to do Skype video calls (there are workarounds that use external services but they're mostly questionable). Google hangouts do work quite well, including video calls; so this is an alternative for those not requiring Skype. In the past I've also used Skype-out for conference calls, so I needed to find an alternative. Google chat now allows you to make calls, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how well it worked. In addition to Skype, I use a lot of chat systems to keep in touch with contacts. Google talk works quite well, but I've never been a fan of the interface within Gmail. From a little bit of research, Imo seems to be the best option for a multi-account chat system.

Next on the list is Email. As I mentioned before, my company has recently moved all systems over to Google, so I figured this would be great. On OSX I've always used the build-in Mail application, including for my Gmail accounts. I'm extremely rusty on the Gmail interface, but ChromeOS has no mail clients, so it was time to get used to it again. Not much has changed over the years, for better or worse. It's not really my favorite but it's functional. The biggest complaint I have is having to utilize separate tabs to monitor each email account, but this is a "usability complaint that really I could get over.

With the communications part of my job mostly handled, it was time to look at another aspect I do a lot; remotely logging into systems. For diagnostics, repair, investigation, etc., I almost always need to be logging into one remote system or another. ChromeOS has a terminal application (the crosh shell) available via pressing Ctrl + Alt + T; and included is an SSH client. It would be a little more helpful is screen was included at this point (to allow multiple instances of the shell) but its still quite functional.

Fundamentally, I was able to find a way over most hurdles I put in front of the Chromebook. But, at the end of the day, it still didn't quite feel "right". There was definitely something missing. Working in multiple browser tabs really wasn't to my liking. Switching between the tabs was doable, but seemed annoying. In addition, open enough tabs and you start to realize the memory caching isn't quite right; complete refreshes of different tabs really shouldn't happen on this system. While it's silly to step away from something and not have a concrete reason, but for me ChromeOS just isn't quite there yet. As part of the tagline for ChromeOS, it's always improving and updating; so maybe in the near future it'll be something I can move to full time.

Figuring out the Angel's Share

2012-12-31T06:32:00.003-07:00

Back in August I started this little project with a kit. I didn't really know what the results would be, but as someone who enjoys whiskey, I suspected I wouldn't mind the outcome no matter what. With the last few tastes I've taken from the barrel I've noticed the flavour is probably right where I want it to be. A nice woody smell, and a strong whiskey with hints of vanilla. It's still got a bite to it, but for my first attempt I think it's right where I want it.

Rebottling the whiskey was pretty easy; open the bottle, stick in a funnel, and start draining. I need to take a closer look at the spout on my barrel as it doesn't drain very quickly; should be a simple enough fix.

One of the first things they mention in barreling is "The Angel's Share". The belief is there are guardian angels watching over the aging process; and periodically those angels like to make sure everything is still good. Slightly more scientifically, it's the portion of alcohol lost due to evaporation. While it's going to be hard to quantify how much was lost due to evaporation and how much due to periodic tastings, I certainly have a lot less whiskey than I started with.

After the rebottling, I have completely refilled one 750ml bottle, and perhaps a quarter (or less) of the second bottle (keeping in mind that I started with 2 full 750ml bottles and some water). Out here at higher altitude, and dry air, I suspect the Angel's got quite a large share. If I'd have replaced a bit of that evaporation with water, it might have cut the bite down a bit, perhaps next time.

The resulting whiskey has got a beautiful amber colour (compared to the completely clear colour of the original whiskey) and a nice taste (especially when compared to the original product). Back in the bottle, it presents quite nicely as well, especially with the new colour. I'll enjoy having a few snorts of it from time to time.

Overall, this has been a fun learning experience. My rum aging (which is covered separately) has taught me a few things as well. Doing research for "what to barrel next" has lead to some interesting ideas; so look for those to come up soon.

Nest (Gen 1) Fix After The Software Update

2012-12-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

I've had a Nest thermostat since May of this year, and for the most part I've loved it. It does a great job of automating most of the day-to-day management of the AC and heating in my home. On top of it, it keeps track of the overall historical usage so you can look back and see how much you've been using.

The problem came in when Nest updated to the latest software release (coinciding with their release of the 2nd generation of their Nest thermostat). For the last month or so since the software update my Nest has been dropping off the network, losing battery power, and basically being non-responsive. Searching online didn't help, and email support was slightly helpful but couldn't find the answer. Finally, I called tech support (something I normally dread). To my surprise, their tech support was very helpful and responsive.

With my original installation, I only hooked up the RH (power), W1 (heat), Y1 (cooling) and G (fan) wires (as those were all that was required since they were the only ones in use with my original thermostat). And this seemed to work just fine, all the way up until the software update. Without knowing the details, I can surmise that the software update included changes to their power monitoring and handling. The tech support explained to me that in all likelihood a combination of my wireless router and my wiring was causing the problem; that the router was pinging the Nest too often, not allowing it to go into a standby mode. As a result, the internal voltage would drop just enough that Nest would start powering off services (namely the wireless) to conserve power. The fix was to see if I happened to have an extra wire, a blue wire; finding it, I hooked up the C (24V Common) connection.

After a day or so of testing, so far this has fixed my problem; Nest remains responsive and back to its old stable self. The added wire provides a common 24V connection, and a little extra power to the Nest to help it remain up and running. The Nest user interface immediately detected that this new wire was connected and helped identify that it was functioning properly.

I'm keeping a watch over the next few days to make sure that Nest stays up and running, but I've got a pretty good feeling about this fix so far.

Revisiting the Whiskey and Rum

2012-10-23T15:12:00.000-06:00

Time for another non-regular check-in on the Whiskey and Rum barrels.

It's looking like the colours are basically locked in. The whiskey has taken the nice golden colour. The flavour is really taking on a nice vanilla tone. Can really tell that it's getting close; likely November will be time to start bottling the whiskey.

The rum has that nice red colour, likely from the remnants of port in the barrel. It's a very pretty colour. The rum is still extremely high alcohol flavoured. Hard to taste any amount of rum over the high-proof alcohol. Hopefully over time this will finally come to its own.

With the high alcohol flavour, I decided on an experiment. High-proof alcohol has a nice feature of being extremely flammable, so it would be interesting to see how things work out. I took the two glasses and placed them side-by-side (whiskey on the left and rum on the right).

The first test was to ignite the rum (which I knew would be a lot more interesting). The flame from the match flashed from the alcohol vapor, but then extinguished pretty quick. The rum was able to catch fire and hold a nice blue flame for a bit.

Next up was the whiskey. There was little to no flame with the whiskey, and the match remained lit.

Hopefully over time some of that alcohol in the rum will start changing flavours.

Checking in on the Whiskey and Rum

2012-09-18T13:30:00.000-06:00

I've been a bit busy the last few weeks, so haven't had a chance to do an update on the Whiskey and Rum aging processes.

The whiskey has been aging about 6 weeks now. Taking a small sip, it's really starting to take on the stereotypical whiskey flavours. You can definitely make out the added oak, but I'm not noticing much of a change in colour since the last time (perhaps a little bit darker, but not much at all).

You can definitely smell the oak barrel, much more than bottled whiskeys. There is still a definite harsh tone to the flavour, which will hopefully subside over more time.

The rum has been aging for about 3 weeks now, and definitely has gained a darker colour from the port in the barrel.

The smell is still extremely harsh, the high-proof 151 still needing to settle down. The flavour is definitely changing, though also overpowered by the harsh tones from the 151. There's a tiny hint of the port lingering, hoping that it will really start to shine in the upcoming weeks.

Gertrude - A New O2 Sensor

2012-09-08T11:18:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I've worked on Gertrude, but I've been putting a lot of thought into what's going on. The basic process is:

Cold Car
Start Engine -- Starts usually first time no problems
Let it idle
Rev a few times to warm up engine

At that point, it dies. Any attempts to restart after that are to no avail. After talking with a friend, he helped push me in the direction of checking out the O2 Sensor. Effectively, when the engine is cold, the O2 sensor does very little, and the fuel injection doesn't really care. But once things start to warm up, the O2 Sensor's job is to help regulate the air/fuel mixture for the fuel injection. Bad O2 Sensor, and things likely will not quite work right.

A quick trip off to the local auto store and I found a Bosch 11027 (Universal O2 Sensor). After a quick installation, started the Van up and things seemed to be going much better. Let the Van idle the usual amount of time and revved the engine; no problems. As Gertrude is quite heavy and my driveway is quite steep, I have grown to be more selective on when I pull out of the driveway. I pulled back a bit and drove forward, noticeably there was a lot more power than the previous times I've tried this. The last test before going onto the road was to kill the ignition and restart.

This is now the next issue I have to solve; warm restarts. Seems that when Gertrude gets nice and warm, she doesn't like to start up again. Back to the books; but at least there was a minor victory.

Whisky Taste - Week 3

2012-08-27T23:06:00.000-06:00

Another week has passed, and it's time for another taste from the whisky barrel

The colour is still increasing, taking on more of that expected whisky tan colour. The overall aroma is also starting to come around, the oak starting to show. The flavour is taking on a distinct creamy/vanilla like flavour, but very light.

Replacing Port With Rum

2012-08-27T22:59:00.001-06:00

The time has finally come to remove the Port from my now seasoned barrel and add in the rum.

I've read a few things about The Angel's Share (small amount lost to evaporation) but didn't know how much to expect, especially from only a week or so. Filling up the original port bottle, there is definitely a bit missing--the bottle refilled to a little below the neck.

Now it was time to add in the rum.

Bacardi 151, the bottle has precautions against being lit on fire. Seems like the best option really. The 2-litre barrel easily handled the two 750mL bottles of 151, along with 1 500mL bottle of water (to help make the overall rum more drinkable). Running the rum through the barrel already showed a colour difference, a slight rosy colour added to the rum.

The original flavour of the rum is basically pure alcohol with a slight rum flavour. Even with the hint of port, it's not a good choice unless you're looking to forget multiple years of your life instantaneously or create a fireball.

Aging Taste Tests - Week 2

2012-08-20T20:31:00.001-06:00

So, this is the second week for the whisky and the first week for the port. The whisky is definitely starting to get some colour.

There's a definite golden colour starting, more pronounced then last week. The flavour is still quite weak and mostly hard alcohol versus oak. The oak flavour is definitely there, but a long time to go I'd say.

The port, on the other hand, is really coming along. It's just a way to season the barrel, but still going to be quite drinkable. The flavour is a little more smokey than a normal port, and the sweetness is definitely cut down compared to normal ports. One more week to go, and then the rum goes in.

Whisky Taste - Week 1

2012-08-12T20:35:00.003-06:00

It's a day short of a week, but seems I couldn't wait.

Already the colour is starting to change in the whisky. There's a slight hint of tan, barely noticeable (and definitely not captured in the photograph above). The odor is still definitely alcohol, but there's a tiny hint of change. The taste is also still very rubbing alcohol-based, but an extremely faint hint of oak.

Aging Rum

2012-08-12T17:51:00.001-06:00

As I've been known to do from time to time, I tend to jump into things full tilt. Through a stroke of coincidence, when my gift of whisky aging was still on its way to my doorstep, I had also seen a deal on from Drinking Made Easy for a Pleepleus branded 2-litre white oak barrel. As the deal was for one day only I got it, and the next day my wonderful whisky aging kit showed. It took a week for the Pleepleus barrel to ship, but that gave me some time to read up and attempt to come up with the plan for the next foray into aging hard liquor.

This barrel comes from Thousand Oaks Barrels and is pretty nice quality. It has a medium char on the inside. As I've already got whisky slowly aging, I decided to look for something else to try. I came across the idea of aging rum, adding a smokey/oaky flavor, but then I found the idea of preparing the barrel with a Port so as to instill a bit of fruity flavor to the rum as well. So, here's the ingredients:

As the aging process in these small barrels incurs a lot of evaporation, a high proof rum was required. I went with a nice fruity port from Six Grapes.

After the port sits in the barrel, not only will the barrel get a nice fruity flavor, but also the port itself will change flavors, which should be very interesting. On this initial taste, the port is nice and sweet, with hints of cherries and all of that other snooty stuff people say drinking wines. In general, it was a pretty nice port and would be easy to drink.

As this is going to be a slightly more involved process, I have a game plan. This is mostly taken from some plans I found on the internet by more experienced people, so hopefully the results will turn out quite well.

Prepare barrel with water (2-4 days)
Fill 1/3 with port
Turn 1/4 turn every 2 days for about 2 weeks
Drain and rebottle the port
Fill with Bacardi 151 till full
Turn 1/4 turn once a week
Sample weekly, bottle when good flavor achieved (likely about 2 months)

We'll see how this experiment turns out.

Aging Whisky

2012-08-06T13:45:00.000-06:00

Those who know me likely have a few choice words when they describe me. "Avid drinker" quite often comes up, as does my interest in Scotch and whiskies. While I have a number of friends that brew their own beers I've always been more interested in the hard liquors, but with laws in place against distilling at home that became less of an option. This last birthday I received an awesome gift to help fulfill a quest: Age Your Own Whisky. Basically a kit, you get all of pieces needed for the process.

Setting aside the patient excitement of the whisky to come, the kit itself is quite pretty. Included is a nice 2-litre charred white oak barrel with stand, two tasting glasses, and two 750ml bottles of Woodinville White Dog Whiskey.

The overall process is simple, which is definitely a bonus for guys like me. The first is to prepare the cask, filling it with water and keeping it full for multiple days. This is to allow the wood of the barrel to expand and close up any leaks. The process took about 4 days, but really the last of the leaks were gone after 2 days.

After the barrel was ready, it was finally time to fill it. The two 750ml bottles mostly fill the barrel, the remainder was filled with filtered water. Not only does this make the barrel nice and full, but it helps take the 110 proof whisky and cut it down to a more reasonable 83-85 proof at the end of the process.

Once everything was filled up it was time to mark the bottles for when the aging began.

The only step left was to take a taste and see where things begin. I've never tried barrelling strength whisky and likely never need to again. The whisky was crystal clear and the aroma was that of an old grain field doused in rubbing alcohol, and the taste reminded me of every episode of M*A*S*H where they take a drink from the still and look like their throats were on fire.

For the aging process, the barrel needs to stay out of direct sunlight, but no real other requirements were there. According to the instructions, because the barrel is so small, the overall process is a lot more accelerated compared to the larger barrels usually used. Every week the flavour should noticeably taste and a nicely flavoured whisky can be expected as soon as 2 months. I'm going to try and take notes every week and see how things go. For now, the barrel has taken up residence in the bookshelf (the bottles count as reading, right?).

Now, to wait patiently.

Craven Speed Gauge Install

2012-05-09T12:58:00.000-06:00

One of the things I've seen missing in the MINI's console is gauges, something to tell me a little more information about what my car is doing. Not only can this be informative, but it's always nice to see more spinny dials on the dash to make things feel sportier.

I've been looking at the Craven Speed gauge kit for a while. Primarily they make the mount that is used for adding the cups for the gauges to the driver's side console. You can either buy all the pieces separately or just get a single "kit" that includes everything you need; I went for the kit.

Included in the kit is the mount, gauges (I choose the oil pressure and turbo boost pressure), and all adapters needed for the gauges. There was a mishap on the first delivery of my order (they sent me the older version of the kit; seems they haven't sold a lot of R60 sets as-of-yet), but their support is quite fast and very helpful.

For the oil pressure monitoring the kit includes a gauge, set of tapless adapters and a sending unit (included with the gauge itself).

Everything is well machined and a good fit. Since this is for oil pressure I did have a few criticisms; there are two adapters which (from what I can tell after installation) are designed to give a large enough distance to allow the copper tube to be attached and not run into anything. Having these as two separate adapters provides a number of places for potential oil leaks (between the two adapters); in addition the second adapter has 6 holes (drilled to allow you a chance-in-hell of connecting compression fitting for the copper tube) which all provide another source for potential leaks. Moral of the story; tape or seal everything. Believe me, after ripping everything apart twice to fix oil leaks you learn to tape everything.

To install this adapter, you need to get access to the oil pressure sensor. This isn't the easiest of things to get access to as it lives underneathe the turbo and behind many pipes and wiring harnesses. The easiest method was to remove the coolant reservoir (trying not to spill coolant everywhere) and remove the intake pipe and the hose that leads down to the intercooler. The oil pressure sensor consists of a wiring connector attached to a sensor. Neither of these are easy to remove and took a lot of frustration and time. The instructions are helpful, it's really just something that has to be done.

As I mentioned above, remember to tape up or seal the adapters. You can pre-assemble the two adapters and most of the plugs, but you will need to test fit to figure out which hole on the adapter you'll be using. Once you have that, I went ahead and cinched everything up (including attaching the oil pressure sensor to the end) and made sure it was all air-tight. One problem is that you cannot pre-install the compression fitting for the copper tube (there's no room to spin the adapters in if it's on the side), so tape that one later.

After a lot of hours of frustration, I had the adapters installed. I needed to get the wiring harness connected back onto the oil pressure sensor, but found that the added distance of the adapters meant not enough slack for the wiring. I cut a bunch of wire-ties and found as much slack as I could, but it's an extremely tight fit. I installed the copper tube and ran it up along between the intakes and around the frame.

I attached the sending unit under the frame where the cables for the hood latch ran. It's out of the way and seems pretty secure.

At this point, I turned to installing the boost pressure adapters. This part was extremely simple compared to the trials of the tapless adapter. The PSIclone Boost Adapter attaches to the sending unit underneathe the air intake.

As I have the VIP Intake, it was easy and quick to get in there and replace the adapter. I had previously installed an adapter for the BoV that I have, but decided I like the PSIclone a bit more (primarily since it was black).

Because of the BoV installation, I already had some tubing ran through the engine. I went ahead and found a point to tap into for the tube to run to the gauge.

Now it was time to start running things into the cab of the car. Only two pieces need to cross through the firewall: a green wire from the oil pressure sending unit, and a tube for the boost pressure.

Once in the cab I ran them under the dash and around the steering wheel up to where the gauges will be installed. Wiring up the unit was pretty normal, using the wires to the cigarette lighter (found under the center console) as well as a gray with red stripe wire for lighting (found in roughly the same place). The instructions say to use the gray wire, but as it turns out the gray wire only lights up when the car is in drive.

The oil pressure gauge needs an additional wire, which was easy to attach to the OBDII port. The instructions from Craven Speed were pretty helpful on this. You have a choice of using amber or white lights on the gauges, I went with amber since it matches the rest of the MINI interior lighting.

I still have a little cleanup to do on the wiring behind the gauges, but overall everything looks pretty good and the gauges are responsive. I'm not sure if I'd do this again in the future, only because the oil pressure adapters were a pain in the rear to install. I like having the gauges, and chances are in a months time I'll have forgotten all of the frustration.

Wanted to also add a picture of how things look at night.

Kayak Mount Install

2012-04-12T19:20:00.000-06:00

With snowboarding season winding down I decided it was time to get ready to switch sports; switching sports means switching mounts. I've been interested in kayaking for a long time but never brought myself to finally just committing. This past year I've had the chance to go out a few times with friends and finally it was time to just go ahead and do it.

The first step was to get a mount up on the car, that way I can get kayaks to and fro. I opted for the Swiss Cargo 3-in-1 (SC-KJ02).

The mount claims to work on virtually any rack system, but I had my doubts. On the plus side, the box did contain two different sizes of bolts: 2 1/4" and 3 1/4". Doing a quick test fit it looked like I had to believe them. The box contained basically everything needed: the two mounts, mounting hardware and tie-downs.

Piecing everything together is pretty easy. The only installation was to pick the right bolts (for my rails, I had to use the longer bolts), attach the brackets, and start the knobs on the bolt.

Just needed to line everything up and cinch it down. Not to difficult, especially helpful is that the system is completely tool-less. One big problem with my setup is the sunroof on my Countryman. When the sunroof opens it lifts up, and gets dangerously close to the bolts. The only answer was to pull the bolts out and shave them down a bit with my Dremel. Didn't have to take off to much, but now the clearance looks pretty good.

One of the big reasons I went with the 3-in-1 is that it can handle mounting a single kayak, two kayaks, or a larger tandem kayak. With the center mount fully upright, it can be used to sit two kayaks, which is how it will most likely be used. The rest of the time, it can be laid down and out of the way.

Installing A Skid Plate

2012-04-07T21:56:00.001-06:00

With the MINI Countryman being All4 that lends to it having a slightly more off-road nature. One problem with this is that there is no protection under the car for many of the more important pieces (like the engine and whatnot). I had seem some pictures of the work Detroit Tuned did and was very interested in picking up their skid plate. I received it a few weeks ago, but just haven't had the time for installing it.

The plate came pretty promptly, and was well packaged. You can tell the amount of work that went into the machining of the skid plate, it is extremely solid. There were no installation instructions, so I used George Hamma's extremely helpful posting over on SmugMug, the pictures were exceptionally helpful (so much in fact that I didn't bother taking too many of my own).

There are only a couple modifications required for the installation. The first is trimming the shield for the air conditioning compressor cover. Part of it sticks out to allow it to sit over some existing bolts. I used my Dremel to cut off the part.

This quick cut allowed me to put the cover back on later. Removing this cover allows access to straps that connect the beam to the front. Removing the straps was easy, and the skid plate should provide a strong connection for the front end. One thing I decided to do was refit the larger bolt back into the beam (there are two next to each other); while it was probable overkill, I feel better with it back in place.

As there wasn't instructions, I opted for emailing Detroit Tuned to figure out the torque settings needed for the new bolts. The response was quite prompt: "The torque on the big M14 should be between 140 - 150f and the small bolt (3/8) should be good at 25f." Using a bit of blue Loctite on each bolt, I put everything back together.

Overall the installation was quick and easy. I haven't had a chance to get out on the road with it on, but like having the added protection under the car.

Home Networking

2012-03-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION

Like more and more homes these days, mine has a lot of devices; iPhones, iPads, laptops, gaming systems, the list goes on. Not only are there a lot of devices, but quite a few of them need access to the internet. But the problem wasn't as simple as "how do I connect all of these devices?" I needed an overall solution that provides at least the following:

Wired and Wireless Connectivity
Can span a two-story house with basement
Can stream HD media
Can stream audio
Can support "work from home" requirements (including Skype phone conversations)

I went through a few different iterations, different devices, trials and many errors. Each could meet some of the requirements, but really miss others. Some worked but managing the entire layout was beyond painful. I think I've finally reached a pretty happy deployment, but time will only tell.

NETWORK DIAGRAM

The following image shows the basic layout of my home network (and a few devices that are directly connected to it).

It's a pretty simple layout, but provides some different connection options. The most important piece is that while it seems complicated (lots of devices) it's surprisingly very easy to manage. The cable modem provides a gateway onto the internet, everything within the house hides behind the Linksys E4200.

WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY

Wireless connectivity is likely the most important aspect of my home network. Most devices connect in this way, and each can be very demanding on network resources. The Linksys E4200 provides a very solid wireless access point that can handle most of the load. There are likely better options (most notable is the E4200v2 which increases its internal processor to 1.2GHz which would really help with the overall load on the network), but this one has provided a fair amount of options. Any wireless devices within the house connect directly to the E4200; the only worry being the range as it has to cover a lot of space within the house.

Hanging off of the wireless are 4 Apple Airport Express. Specifically these are being used as AirPlay devices with speakers--this means that iTunes can be used to stream audio over the wireless to just about any area in the house (including garage, basement, and living room).

WIRED CONNECTIVITY

There is likely always going to be need for wired connections. For some homes it is likely too difficult to run Cat5E (ethernet) cables to every room, so other options need to be looked at. I tried various wireless routers which could provide ethernet ports at end points, but this became difficult to manage. After doing a little bit of research I came across PowerLine adapters. The basic idea is simple: provide a network signal over existing power lines in the home. In other words, using the wiring already available in your home, devices can be plugged in that will use that wiring to as if it were all a part of the network.

There are a lot of powerline options, but I chose to go with two basic kits: PLA4225KIT and PLA4215KIT. Within these kits you have the following three devices:

Image	Device	Description
	PLA4225	4-Port Gigabit Switch, 500Mbps
	PLA4205	1-Port Gigabit Switch, 500Mbps
	PLA4215	1-Port Gigabit Switch, Built-in pass-through, 500Mbps

Connecting the devices are easy enough; plug them in and they start talking to each other. I haven't looked at the encryption functionality with them yet, but will soon. I have 4 of them on my network and they negotiated their connections automatically and immediately came online. In this way, I've been able to expand my wired coverage to pretty much any room in the house.

Attached to these are mostly media-based devices; satellite TV box, PS3, and Media-capable TVs. Each were able to immediately see the rest of the network and join is as expected with no modifications.

NETWORK RESULTS
I wanted to gather a little bit of data on the network to see how it performs. While I could set up some internal tests, I opted for using SpeedTest.Net to do a quick test. The results are pretty encouraging:

Wireless Connection

PowerLine (from Basement)

Direct Connection

The most noticeable is that the PowerLine adapters are working quite well. They're getting nearly full bandwidth; in fact I might have to think about other devices I might want to switch away from wireless. As expected, wireless is somewhat limited, but still working quite well.

Yellower Bulbs

2012-03-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

Ever since the install of my VIP Quad Driving Lights I've wanted to swap the bulbs on the Hella Black Magics. The original bulb is a 55W 12V H3 White but didn't quite do it for me. I wanted something a bit more yellow, and found the Hella Optilux H3 Xenon Bulb 12V 55W (Yellow):

The swap was pretty simple (took about 15 minutes to do all 4 lights). Just needed to remove one screw below the housing, and then pull off the connectors.

After this, the lamp was free. Just needed to pop the H3 clip, swap the bulb and rubber grommet for the positive lead, and it was ready to reinstall.

Comparing one light to another, I like the difference in the color. It's a bit brighter, and the yellow really stands out.

Finished up all 4, put the covers back on, and things are looking pretty cool.

First Movements of Gertrude (In A While)

2012-02-05T13:25:00.002-07:00

After fretting for a while on what steps to take next to get Gertrude (my VW Westy) moving again, I tried a few things. In my last post, I mentioned Seafoaming the bus, but subsequent running just didn't seem to improve. She'd start up, get warm, and then sputter out, now wanting to restart until things cooled off.

From my investigations, one point to look for is a faulty EGR valve. On my hunt for this, I found that the EEC valve on the Air Cleaner seemed stuck.

I had taken off the air filter, and found that the diaphragm inside didn't want to move. I poked at it and got it moving again. Then I turned the engine back over and let it run.

After a bit (when the engine normally sputters and dies) it kept going. I played a bit with the throttle and noticed that it seemed pretty strong. From the Seafoam treatment a lot of white smoke came out of the engine, followed by a fair amount of dark smoke at higher revs. This didn't last for too long, I mostly attribute this to an engine that's sat still for quite a few years.

Then I decided to try something I haven't tried for a while. I hopped into the drivers seat, popped it into reverse and reversed a foot or so, then back into drive and moved the bus back into place. This is the first time (under it's own power) that Gertrude moved. The engine stayed up and running for a while after, and showed no signs of stopping. I turned off the ignition, tinkered for a bit, and tried again. The major issues I found from this are that putting the shifter into Park seems questionable (one attempt the ignition wouldn't start, turns out it wasn't quite in park) and there was some hesitation while starting the engine on the third or so attempt.

Gertrude -- Compression and Spark Plug Check

2012-01-02T16:18:00.002-07:00

Continuing the adventure of fixing my Westy, I went about looking at some basics and doing a few checks. The first was a visual inspection of the spark plugs. As it turns out, removing the spark plugs in this engine isn't the easiest of jobs. They're down below a shielding which adds a little bit of annoyance.

Once they were removed, I was able to take a look. These spark plugs seem a bit aged, and not necessarily happy. They're quite dark (sooty deposits) and a chance of being slightly oily. This points to perhaps there being some worn piston rings and/or bad valve seals. This will have to wait till later.

Next came the compression check, which is done by attaching a compression tester to the spark plug hole and turning over the engine (via the key in the ignition) a few times. The result of the test wasn't entirely happy.

Cylinder	Compression (lbs.)
1	90
2	103
3	105
4	110

The 90 lbs reading is the most concerning, this could point to a valve job of some sort, perhaps the exhaust valve not seating properly.

Because of the amount of carbon build-up (along with other gunk from just sitting in a garage for so many years) my plan is to run Seafoam through the engine and give it a chance to get clean. I've added some to the fuel (about 1/3 of a pint), and the rest to the oil/crankcase. I plan to add some directly to the cylinders (via the air intake), but there is currently a problem with the engine that when it gets up to operating temperature the engine sputters out (and I need the car up and running to do this). I need to get to the bottom of this, so that I can properly idle the engine.

Gertrude's First Sputtering

2011-12-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last few days making what seemed like little to no progress. Seemed that everything I tried, the engine just didn't want to even try kicking over. After doing some reading, I found that the older starters in these Buses can have a tendency to stick. The result is that the battery (even a new battery) cannot provide enough amps to the starter/solenoid to get it to move. Jumping the terminals directly on the starter provided direct current to the starter and allowed it to try, but using the key in the ignition it just couldn't get enough juice. An easy temporary fix for this is to give the starter a couple whacks with a hammer. Doing so, and the engine finally came to life.

Shortly after this, the engine died and no longer will turn over, but the starter is still trying to do its job. This is what it was doing years ago, so I'm at least back to where I was before. Up next is to start looking further into the engine issues.

1979 VW Westfalia - Gertrude

2011-12-27T17:33:00.001-07:00

A few years back I purchased a VW Westfalia. This was going to be my first project in vehicle restoration and maintenance.

She has a pretty interesting background; the previous owner was Judy Irving, a filmaker who made a wonderful documentary about The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill [Amazon Link]. Gertrude was then used as a film vehicle, going from location to location hauling gear as needed.

At the time I had a lot of lofty ideas, but, for one reason or another, none of them really came into fruition. One day the engine stopped working (wouldn't turn over and stay running), and I had little time, no space, and even less knowledge to fix it. Over time the project got more and more daunting, and so I let it sit for a few years.

In the last few weeks Gertrude is now back with me, and I'm moving ahead on the project. Hopefully some of my experiences in the last couple of years will help, I've got a lot more knowledge and have a space to do the work. This project is going to have a lot of parts. The first is to get the engine running again. After sitting dead for a few years, this is likely going to be not-so-easy.

I replaced the battery and got the terminals hooked up (the transporter that shipped my van pulled the battery and most of the terminals with it, so I had to fix those). Flipping on the ignition nothing happens (the electrics come on, but the engine doesn't even try to start). I needed some hints, and so I did some research.

One of the best books available for old-school VW maintenance is "How to Keep Your Volkswagon Alive". Easy to read, and gives good ideas on what tools to have around, as well as where to look when there's trouble.

After reading a bit, I got under the van and took a look at the solenoid. Turning the key, one would expect some action in the solenoid and the complete lack of sound tells me that something is wrong in that area. Using some spare wire, I connected the two main posts on the solenoid (battery directly to motor) bypassing the ignition key; the solenoid whirred to life. The next step was to see if the starter might be a problem (perhaps something stuck); I connected the battery directly to the ignition input and the starter came right on. Seems the problem lies in the ignition key wiring itself.

I did some quick investigation but got nowhere fast. Somewhere in the previous history of the van someone attempted to wire up a few accessories in the cab. While the stereo didn't work, they did succeed in creating quite the rat's nest of wiring. Unravelling the ignition wires and looking for the problem is going to take a bit longer than I have today, so off to think a bit.

Installing Quad Driving Lights

2011-12-02T14:54:00.001-07:00

With the weather changing and it getting darker earlier and earlier, I decided adding a few more lights to Norman seemed like a good idea. As I've been very happy with all of the other parts I've received from VIP Custom Parts, I opted to go to them for their driving lights. I saw a few examples online using the quad lights and really like the outcome.

I ordered the lights, and they showed up promptly. I decided to go with the entire kit (VIP offers just the brackets or a kit that also includes all the wiring and lights), choosing the 6.4" Hella Black Magics. The lights and wiring come from Hella while the brackets and mounts are all from VIP.

The same high standards of metal work from VIP is seen from this kit, and the instructions are well written and quite in-depth. Overall the installation took a few hours, while not overly difficult there is some wiring and cutting that is required overall.

First, I focussed on the physical installation of the mount and the lights. The steps were quite clear from the instructions and went quite well. First we start with removing the grill. This is actually pretty simple, just involves removing 4 bolts and pulling the grill toward you (takes a little bit of force, but it will come off).

To make room for the passenger side bracket, there needs to be a modification made to the grill. The instructions included a template that could be cut out and fits perfectly inside of the backside of the grill. The exposed area is what needed to be cut out.

Because this is the quad light setup, there is a bar the spans the two side mounts. VIP created a central bracket to support the load. The bracket fits right around the metal bumper and holds it perfectly. It takes a little bit of work to get the bracket lined up and tightened, but once on it's quite snug.

After everything was tightened and lined up, it was time to put the grill back on and see how the central bracket lines up. The next few pictures show the mounting brackets protruding from the grill.

Once the grill is installed again, the spanning bar can be installed and finishes up the overall mounting hardware.

The next steps were to start wiring up the electrical. The instructions say to mount the relay to the firewall using the self-tapping screw. This is installed along the back right between the driver-side strut and the fuse box.

You'll notice to the right of the relay two wires going under the rubber grommet. These disappear to an access compartment near the opening in the firewall. I couldn't get pictures of that area (as it was getting dark), but the wires for the override switch in the cab go through the firewall opening (just cut a hole in one of the nipples in the rubber big enough to feed the two wires through). The other wire is a black wire that runs to the battery. This ran through the vent area between the engine compartment and the firewall over to the battery. Easy enough to do, and the instructions were quite clear on it.

The next step is to include the grounding wire to the frame. On the front portion of the strut housing is a bolt grounding the rest of the electrical. This was easy enough to tie into.

The wiring loom for the driving lights is quite well bundled and marked. I was able to run it along between the headlight and intake up to the front of the car and under the grill mounts.

I've opted to tie the lights to the fog lights rather than the high beams. This gives me better control on the driving lights in different driving situations. To do so, I ran a wire down along the drivers-side headlight down to the fog lights below. The access panel is in the wheel well, where I was able to get a view of the wires available. The fog light has a yellow and brown wire to it, so I tied my wire to the yellow wire.

Here are the lights mounted on the front. I think it looks pretty good (though I need to get everything aligned when it finally gets a bit darker).

Bumper Guard Installation

2011-10-30T19:27:00.002-06:00

Likely one of the easier installations/modifications I've done in a while, today I installed a rear bumper guard onto my MINI Countryman. While somewhat an aesthetic addition to the car, the goal here is to add a little bit of protection to the top of the bumper when moving things in and out of the rear hatch. I picked up the bumper guard from NGP Racing. From the various forums I've read, seems that this was hard to come by, but NGP picked up a larger stock recently so my order only took a week to get to my door.

Not much needed for this installation: the instructions, alcohol wipe, and the bumper guard itself. Doing a dry fit on the car, you could see how well this was molded/shaped for the car. Looking at the bottom, you can see the double stick tape that was added to secure it to the car.

The instructions were a tad confusing (since there were no actual words, and only pictures everywhere). I believe they're fairly generic directions, but the back side mentioned screwing the bumper guard in place. Doing the dry fit you can see that there really isn't many places to screw it down, so I guess time will tell how well the double-stick tape will hold.

The install steps are simple, clean off the bumper.

And stick down the bumper guard. Looks pretty good, and feels pretty secure. I like the black trim on the car, makes for a nice accent to break up the rear bumper.

As you can see, the car needs a bath; one problem is that the instructions say not to wash the car for 48 hours. I guess that's just the excuse I'll use to get the car even more dirty.

Torque Arm Bushings

2011-10-10T23:06:00.000-06:00

In the continuing quest to see what else I can do to my car, I was doing a bit of research and came across a couple links about NM Engineering's Torque Arm Bushings made specifically for the MINI Countryman All4. Well, this lead to the inevitable question of what are torque arm bushings (I realize that most car people will likely know the answer, but I'm not really a car person and am just learning).

Turns out that the torque arm being referenced is the lower mounting for the engine. Because the engine is a mechanical device, it's subject to a lot of movement, especially under load. For example, if you were to stomp on the gas peddle, what you notice is a burst of speed but under the hood the engine is spinning hard trying to transfer all that energy to the tires. This can result in a lot of torque in a fairly resistant environment and since that energy has to go somewhere the engine will physically move a bit. While this is completely normal if we were to limit the overall movement of the engine (such as by holding it firmer in place) that energy would transfer as increased torque to the tires rather than movement on the engine.

This is where NM-Eng's Torque Arm Bushings come into play. They're a plug-and-play insert that fits directly into the stock torque arm and provide a tighter fitting of the torque arm. Tighter fitting means less movement for the engine, and that hopefully means more torque. The following image is from NM-Eng's page, but shows how the bushing inserts into the torque arm. But now the question is why doesn't this come stock, which is pretty simple: road comfort. By stiffining this mount, you're going to be transferring energy directly to the frame as well as the tires; the result being a little more noise and perhaps a bit of vibration.

I've mentioned Way Motor Works before but just wanted to mention again that the guys there are great to work with; and that's who I ordered the bushings from. The product page for the All4 can be found at the following link: Torque Arm Bushings All4. Everything showed up nicely packaged as well, and the instructions were mostly helpful.

Getting under the car was really the hardest part, especially as I'm limited currently in tools for lifting the car. During the install of the exhaust mentioned in a previous blog I was at VIP Custom Parts, and the guys there were nice enough to help me get this installed while the car was already up on the lift. This can likely be done easily with jack stands, but you'll need something to prop the car up to get underneathe.

At this point, there was one thing not mentioned in the instructions but you might think about; some kind of support for the engine. Since you're removing a part of the lower mounting of the engine, you're going to be temporarily increasing stress on the upper mounts. This likely isn't a problem, but if you want to be safe you might want to look for a good place to support the engine. Doesn't have to be fancy, just needs to provide a little bit of pressure to the underside to keep it elevated. Just be very careful what your support is using, don't pick something weak or sensitive.

Once everything was secured, I was able to take a look at the stock torque arm.

As you can see, there's a lot of open space between the car frame and the torque arm. Removing the torque arm isn't overly difficult, just requires removing to very large bolts. Once off the car, the inserts just push right into the torque arm without a problem. Very well crafted and fit nice and snug.

Putting it back onto the car proved to be a bit more difficult. The instructions don't offer much help or guidance (the instruction is to basically do the opposite of when you removed the torque arm) by way of how to get the now significantly bigger torque arm back onto the car. The main issue was sliding the torque arm forward into the frame while dealing with the engine's mount being in the way. If there were a slight cut at the rear of the upper insert, this would easily slide right in. Without cutting it (which is likely preferred since cutting it could reduce the overall effectiveness since you're decreasing some of the surface area), you just need to get your fingers to the upper insert and help push it into the housing. It'll take a little bit of work, but it will go in.

Once installed and tightened, it looks pretty good. A lot less free space now. Taking the car for a spin, it's not a huge difference but it can be noticed. Winding up the engine, you can definitely feel a bigger kick. The overall noise and vibration doesn't seem to be that noticeable in the cabin of the car. Overall just seems like a quick was to get a little bit more power out of the car, and that is always nice to get.