Settling soils can create short in electric meter box

We've lived in the same house for over 20 years. This neighborhood is well-known for its expansive soils and bentonite clay. Real estate offices write about it for home buyers who are new to the area (example here). Over the past few years, we've been going through a dry spell. This causes these soils to shrink. Our garage and driveway have sunk over four inches, causing us to have them mudjacked. I've got multiple photos of that process, but since the focus of this post is the electric meter box, let me show a photo of how I knew that the soil was sinking relative to the house:


See where the paint on the conduit stops? That's four to five inches from the ground. That's a pretty good indicator that the ground is sinking relative to the meter box, and that's not a good thing. So on August 18, I called Xcel, who is my electric provider. I asked them to come and check my meter box. Within a couple of weeks, I got a call from the gas meter people stating that they would come by to check that meter. I said that they were welcome to, but I was more concerned with the electric meter box. Evidently they came, found nothing wrong with the gas meter, and went on their way. 

On October 5th, I saw an Xcel electric truck pull up in front of my house. The tech said that she was in the neighborhood and asked if I still wanted my meter box checked. Yes, please. She said she would have been by sooner, but she'd been working many extra shifts due to the 1000-year flood that we had the second week of September.  So we went back and had a look. She pulled the meter and then opened the box. Interestingly, one of the feed cables had settled and was in contact with the box -- which isn't good. Here's a shot of the "as-found" condition:

In fact, the cable the tech's glove is on has pulled down so much that it is in contact in two places; the upper right meter contact, and the cable guide to the right.

Ah, so I was right: it did need to have an extension spliced in to relieve the tension and make sure that the cable was not touching the contact or the guide.  I was happy that I hadn't called for nothing.  It turns out that the cable clamp screws were in very tight, so I volunteered to try to loosen them.  She reminded me that all the cables were live, so please don't slip and get into some voltage.  Er, thanks, I guess.  Luckily, I got both screws cracked loose with no mishaps or slippage.  Whew.

The tech then cut out a section of cable and prepared to spliced in an extension.  Evidently the cable was worse than it originally looked:


Yes, cable was visible through the insulation. It happens that there is a clear layer of tape between the rubber insulation and the cable. That's all that was preventing a major short in the box.

If I hadn't called and the soil had continued to settle just a little bit more, then a major short would have occurred. That causes a lot of heat which can easily lead to a fire. As a firefighter, I've been to fires in my neighborhood due to exactly this cause. My meter box is mounted on brick, so I was more safe than houses where the box is mounted directly to flammable siding. But these kinds of shorts can also cause nasty surges and spikes, and wreak havoc on expensive electronics like big-screen TVs, computers, audio systems, and the like.

Moral of the story: if you see evidence of the soil setting down from your meter, call your utility and have it checked. It may save your electronics at a minimum, or a devastating house fire. Be safe out there!

CDOT has low credibility with me right now

CDOT has what they call VMS (Variable Message Signs) along eastbound I-70 at Frisco and Silverthorne.  Sunday 04-Mar-2012 at 5:55 p.m. these both read:

2+ hours to the Tunnel
4+ hours to Denver
Call 511 for info

Now, I'm a frequent skier and have been parked in Sunday evening traffic on I-70 too often.  Generally, the estimates on the signs are very accurate.  This evening's info had me concerned, so I exited at Silverthorne, pulled over, and called 511.  The recorded message had better news than the signs: roughly 30 minutes to the tunnel and ~45 to Georgetown.  OK, back on the highway.

Fortunately, even the 511 recording was more pessimistic than reality: about a 5 to 10 minute delay to the tunnel; maybe a little more to Georgetown.  Hey, this wasn't too bad.  From Georgetown to the Twin Tunnels past Idaho Springs was reasonably normal; a few stops in the usual places but nothing to write home about.

It had been a windy day on the plains, so I called 511 again to check on the status of Highway 93 to Boulder.  511 said that 93 was closed for culvert construction.  Hmmm.  When I went on that stretch of Highway 93 just that morning at ~6:00 a.m., it looked like construction was complete.  I decided to try it.  My GPS agreed with 511, showing that 93 was closed.  Coming up 93 nearing Highway 72, a VMS said that 93 was closed at 72 Sunday through Thursday evenings.  Yet when I got there at roughly 7:45 p.m., 93 was open.  

So, let me summarize what CDOT told me:

• VMS: 2+ hours to the tunnel; 4+ hours to Denver. Actual: 2+ hours from Frisco to north Boulder.
• 511: 30 minutes to the Tunnel; 45 minutes to Georgetown.  Actual: a bit shorter.
• 511 and Highway 93 trailer VMS: Highway 93 closed between 72 and 121.  Actual: open.

I know that Sunday evenings are busy for CDOT employees because I-70 has peak traffic flow for the week during these hours. But as far as I could tell, there were no accidents and the roads were primarily dry -- or a bit wet from earlier snow melt.

CDOT: if you're going to have signs and phone recordings, please make them be accurate.  As it stands, I don't believe anything that you say.

FACE Vocal Band: "I Hear The Bells"

I am loving the new Christmas song by Face Vocal Band.  Their tight harmonies are striking.


Listen to it here: http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_10784523 

More at http://www.facevocalband.com

I took a stab at capturing the lyrics.  Corrections are welcome.

"I Hear The Bells"
FACE Vocal Band
(C) 2011 All Rights Reserved

Ding Dong Ding Dong DONG
Ding Dong Ding Dong DONG

Zha Zha Zha Zha Zha Zha
Ding diddie ding
Zha Zha Zha Zha Zha Zha
Ding diddie ding
Ding diddie do ding ding ding

Surrounded by silence, snowflakes in the air,
crystal clear quiet breaks through.
They come through the stillness
striking even here
drawing me closer to you

Like a siren they call out your name
Off in the distance unseen
Constant chiming in close harmony
All at once loud and serene

I hear the bells and they're calling to me
ringing your name like some wordless decree
This is the season and now is the time
Draw me closer with each steady chime

We now foretell
I hear the bells

Suddenly driven, running to your side
Having spent too long away
I'll be with you shortly, closer with each stride
And this time I promise I'll stay

Like a siren they call out your name
Off in the distance unseen
Constant chiming in close harmony
All at once loud and serene

I hear the bells and they're calling to me
ringing your name like some wordless decree
This is the season and now is the time
Draw me closer with each steady chime

No more farewells
I hear the bells
I hear the bells

I hear the bells
I hear the bells
I hear the bells

I hear the bells and they're calling to me
ringing your name like some wordless decree
This is the season and now is the time
Draw me closer with each steady chime

We now foretell
No more farewells

I hear the bells
Ding diddie ding
I hear the bells
Ding diddie ding
I hear the bells

Ding dong ding dong DONG
 

Norelco 7616X shaver battery replacement DIY guide

When my trusty cordless electric shaver quit delivering a week's worth of shaves on one charge, it surprised me.  I looked a little (more) rough around the edges, but it was a Saturday, so I didn't care.  As time went on, it started running out of juice sooner, losing it on a Friday.  Now, I'm a long time user of rechargeable batteries and losing ability to hold a charge is normal as they age.

I'm an engineer so I'm not afraid to take things apart to fix them.  A quick google search revealed that others have replaced their shaver batteries and it usually requires a bit of soldering knowledge.  No worries; I'm pretty good with soldering.  If you're not, stop here because you won't want to do this yourself.  If you want to do this, order your batteries from eBay or Amazon and come back when they arrive.

Now you have your replacement batteries and your shaver.  You'll need these tools:

1. Soldering iron and solder
2. Flat head screwdriver
3. Forceps or small needle nose pliers
4. Sandpaper 
5. Electrical tape 

First, I chose to discharge the batteries all the way by letting it run until it quit.  It didn't take long :-).  Now, it is time to disassemble the shaver.  There are two screws that need to be removed: one is obvious; the other is not as obvious.  I used a simple flat head screwdriver to remove the obvious one; then pushed the beard trimmer to the open position to remove the less obvious one (the top one in the photo below).

As oriented in the photo above, start to pry apart the bottom first.  The top is held captive by the beard trimmer attachment -- both in open and closed positions.  To remove it, the beard trimmer wants to be about 1/4 to 1/3 open. In that position the back cover can be slid down and out to remove.

Now you can see where the batteries are.

To remove, I grasped the batteries at toward the bottom (charging plug end) of the shaver and pulled up.  They were then held captive by the leads at the top.  I marked polarity on the battery holder (+ and -) so that I would know the correct orientation to reinstall.  These battery tabs are spot welded to the top of the batteries.  I didn't have a cutting tool that would get in that small space, so I used a pair of forceps to pull/rip the tabs off the batteries.  Start at the top and use force, being somewhat cautious not to pull the tabs completely out of the shaver.  The goal is to remove the tabs from the top of the batteries -- and leave the tabs still connected to the shaver under the battery holder.

It is a nice feeling when they're out, isn't it?

The white batteries are the replacements.  I marked polarity on the pack so I'd know which way to reassemble.  Usually the positive end is covered by more tape, leaving a smaller diameter showing.  To be sure, I checked with a multimeter -- and it confirmed what I already knew :-).

I suggest roughing up the contacts of your new pack with some sandpaper and tinning the leads.  Without this step, they'll be harder to solder.  Holding the new battery pack in place for soldering also proved a bit tricky.  I balanced the shaver using plier handles and used another pair of pliers to hold the pack in place.

Soldering wasn't easy and took both hands, so no photos of that :-).  Once you're done soldering, you can push the pack into the shaver.  You'll need to fold up the leads so they don't protrude above the battery pack.  This photo isn't the greatest, but I think you'll get the idea from it:

Now, see how close the leads get to the metal mount for the back cover?  If the batteries are charged and contact that metal, a dead short will be created -- which is a "Bad Thing".  For peace of mind, I put a few layers of electrical tape between the leads and the metal mount.

As an engineer, I'm a "function over form" guy, so aesthetics didn't matter to me.  I'm sure you can make it look nicer than I did.

Now, it is time to reassemble.  First, clean off the rubber gasket around the shaver.  We want it to be clean of dirt and particulate so that it will continue to be water resistant.  If you have a bit of silicone lube handy, put a light coat of it on the gasket for enhanced water resistance.  Then fit on the back cover.  Start at the top where the beard trimmer attaches.  Push it to the 1/4 to 1/3 open position, then fit it down and toward the top of the shaver.  When you've done this part correctly, the rest of the cover can be almost dropped in place.  It should sit easily on the shaver body with no force required to hold it down.  If force is needed, you probably don't have the trimmer correctly positioned.  Now, put in the screws and you're done.  Go plug in the charger and you'll be ready for a week's worth of cordless shaves -- or more.  Good luck!

HP desktop woes

Recently I bought my first desktop PC in a long time (2004?).  I got a refurb HP Pavilion Desktop Refurb P6320Y from TigerDirect.com for $540 delivered.  This is a Quad Core 2.8 GHz box with 8 Gb RAM and a 1 TB hard drive running 64-bit Windows 7.

I've had it for a few weeks and it has been rock-solid.  This weekend, it started rebooting randomly.  Aw, crud.  Was it the new USB KVM switch I installed?  An update?  One of the random shutdowns corrupted Chrome; another gave me an error saying that my Windows 7 was not registered.  Sigh.  

In a moment of clarity, I booted into the system hardware checker.  Sure enough, it found a memory error.  Woo hoo!  Now I have a path to fixing the problem.  I pulled out the first stick of the four, then ran the check again.  Happily, it passed.  I then booted it using a memtest386+ CD and ran diagnostics on the remaining 3 sticks = 6 Gb.  The first round passed, but to be sure I let it run all night.  This morning, all was still reporting good.  Using System Restore, I chose a restore point from a week ago.  That worked well; no more "your copy of Windows isn't Authentic" messages.  Things are looking up!

So, I took the bad stick of RAM to work with me.  During a break, I called HP support.  Because the PC initially came without the WiFi antenna, I knew to say the magic words "Pavilion Desktop" and was quickly greeted by a support associate.  She took down the information and said that I had 54 days remaining on my warranty.  Beauty.  I'm thinking they'll send me a new stick of RAM, I'll send back the defective one, and the world will be good.  Wrong.  :-(


I have to send the entire PC back to them, she says.  Any cards I've installed must be removed (and I've installed a parallel/serial port and modem cards).  They'll send me a box with a prepaid label.  The machine will be gone for 7 to 8 business days.  Evidently RAM is not a user-serviceable part.  Really?  They post instructions on their support site how to upgrade RAM.  She says if this was a business system, they could send me the part, but it is considered a home machine so they can't.


For now, I'm probably going to run with 6 Gb of RAM while I sort this out.  A new 2 Gb stick is $24 delivered from numerous vendors, so I'm not going to get too worked up about this.  Still, the conditions on the HP warranty do seem to be ludicrous.  Why should I have to pay for a stick of RAM that was defective from them?  It is probably the reason that the box was returned to them in the first place and is being sold as a refurb.  In my eyes, I've diagnosed their hardware issue for them at my time and expense, yet they're not willing to own up to the warranty without me jumping through some hoops which includes modifying my PC, sending it away for over a week, and getting it back only to have to test it again.


My incremental time investment to do this: 

1. Receive empty box
2. Disconnect PC from monitor, USB, printer, etc
3. Open PC and remove cards.  Reinstall bad RAM.
4. Package PC.
5. Drive PC to shipping point.
6. Repair old PC (needs new thermal grease, I think).
7. Connect old PC to USB, printer, etc.
8. Re-map printers and network drives to old PC.
9. Wait.
10. Get back new HP.
11. Open new PC and reinstall cards.
12. Test hardware.
13. Connect new PC to USB, printer, etc.
14. Re-map printers and network drives to new PC.

Or I can pay $24 on my own for some RAM and keep my PC.  When the RAM comes, install it.  That's it.


Thanks, HP.  That warranty I have?  Not worth anything to me.  Is that your intent?


Thinking about this from their perspective, it is hard to justify the policy.  They're going to ship me an empty box with packing materials -- say $10?  Then pay shipping from my house to the repair depot ($15? $25?).  Pay a technician to open the box, pull the PC out, open it, ID the bad RAM, replace it, and put it back in the box.  Say $20/hour = $30/hour with benefits.  I'd bet there's an hour of labor per box, especially when you consider somebody has to receive it, put it in the right queue, pack it, ship it, etc.  Then there's freight back to me.  That's looking like $70 to $90 at a minimum -- and I bet it is more.  It'd be a lot cheaper to send me a stick of RAM at $24 delivered and an envelope for me to send back the bad one.