Alan Liefting, Author at Ecotech Services

Isn’t the internet wonderful

Alan Liefting

4 July 2015

With all of this electronics and computer technology we have got things really good. My toaster pops up when the toast is done just right. I can video Skype my mates on the other side of the world for free. I can see how little money I have in my bank account at any time of the day or night. I can take really good pictures with my little camera (and sometimes bad ones with my big camera). I can find and play all sorts of music that I have a sudden urge to listen to. I can watch all sorts of films and tv programmes whenever I want. I can watch all sorts of rubbish that I like to laugh at.

But I think the best thing about technology is that I can lie here on the couch in our lounge and do most of the administration of my little business empire.

This picture has nothing to do with this blog post except that it has a couch in it. Our old one at that. This is Tom playing cat and mouse on our couch back in 2004. Tom was the neighbours cat. RIP Tom. You were a good cat. You had a personality. Anyway, this is the internet. We got to get all of our cat photos uploaded on to it don’t we?

administration, cats
Blown lamps

Alan Liefting

2 July 2015

We have had a bad run with light bulbs not lasting very long in our dining room lamp. It is the one we use the most and it has got three bulbs in the fitting so I wasn’t sure if the short life span was more of a perception than a reality. When I replaced the last bulb that blew I put the date that I fitted it on the bulb, and guess what – it blew after a tad less than two months. I had fitted it on the 18th of April and it blew on the 13th of June.

Now these lamps, a Philips 60W B22 240V T55 SW, have a rated MTBF of 1000 hours. We have our dining room light on for about five hours per day on average. That means if the lamps last 1000 hours they should last 200 days in our dining room. Well the blown lamp only lasted 57 days! Ok, since MTBF is only a mean I would expect one of them to last 1000 + (1000 – 57) = 1943 hours. We can but only hope.

I like Philips as a company. Maybe it is my Dutch heritage and because Philips make some really good stuff. But I decided to take them on about these bulbs. I sent them a message via their website and got a phone call a bit later. It was then that I was told about the 1000 hours specification and unless I could prove the short lifetime of the bulbs they would do nothing. It was then that I decided to label the installation date on the bulbs.

So when the last bulb blew I sent them another message. This time they said they would send out some replacements and wanted the faulty ones sent back to them for checking. I received four new bulbs from Philips (shame about all of the packaging and some of it was unnecessary, but that’s another story) and I found that I had collected four of the Softone bulbs and another Philips lamp from my bedside lamp.

I was thinking about a way of making the manufacturers a bit more honest about their lamps and I thought that we should get the Government to tell them to put a production date on the bulbs. I don’t think that idea will work very well because to may take quite a while between when the bulb is made and when it is finally used.

A better idea is what I ended up doing. Before you replace a bulb write the date on the metal part of the lamp so that when it blows you know how long it has lasted.

I have just remembered that we had problems with CFLs in our dining room lamp as well. I blogged about it here. Hmmm, is it something specific to the lamp? Heat? Maybe. Voltage? Probably not. The fact that they are fitted horizontally rather than vertically? Maybe, but it shouldn’t.
Power cords

Alan Liefting

1 July 2015

I am quite sure that we have produced enough of the computer style power cords to never ever have to have another one manufactured ever again. They are thrown out by the billions. I was going through some recycling stuff and in it, with all of the second hand power cables, there were quite a few BRAND NEW ONES. Sorry to shout but it is ridiculous! It is criminal! All those wasted resources for nothing!

Technically, the power cord socket is the IEC 60320 C13 which mates with the matching C14 male equivalent. It has been a commonly used plug and socket style for quite a while and there is no sign of it being superseded any time soon.

So here is an idea for all the manufacturers of computers, printers, power supplies and anything else that uses them: supply the equipment without the power cord. We can save money (a good thing) and it is better for the environment (another good thing).

Oh, and it will also mean that I can then sell some of the millions of power cords that I have got stacked up.
Lamp sockets and electrical safety

Alan Liefting

30 June 2015

I have just done my electrical safety refresher course and when I was changing yet another blown light bulb in our house I began thinking about the safety of the actual sockets.

All sorts of work, backed up by regulations, is done to make things as electrically safe as possible, such as doing periodic safety checks, limitations on who can do what, insulating sleeves around the live and neutral on mains plugs, a protruding shroud on extension cord sockets, prohibition of the sale of some second hand electrical goods, to name just a few.

So then why is it that it so easy to stick your finger into a live lamp socket? Sure, most lamp sockets are on the ceiling but there are plenty of desk lamps, bedside lamps, wall mounted lamps etc from which you can get zapped. On a technical point, and I don’t want anyone to test this, the shock received would only be across a couple of centimetres of skin so it may not be fatal. The fatal electric shocks are those where the electricity passes though the chest area where the heart is located.

electrical, safety
Plugs

Alan Liefting

30 June 2015

I came across this interesting and comprehensive website all about electrical plugs:

Museum of Plugs and Sockets: Overview

World map with links to photos and detailed descriptions of various types of domestic plugs and sockets.

Being in the electrical and electronics business and being a bit of a hoarder I have ended up with a collection of old electrical plugs. I have had the idea of setting them up in a little private museum display. I thought it might give me a good chat up line as well: “Hi darling, do you want to come up and see my plugs?” a bit like the classic “Want to come up and see my etchings?”. Then I thought about it some more and realised that not only is it unlikely that the chat up lines would work but also my partner Megan wouldn’t be impressed!

electrical
More spam for a scam

Alan Liefting

11 June 2015
This scam arrived in my inbox:
(spam links removed)
```
Hi My name is Prof. Dr. Richard Goran,

"Gentlemen, finance me and help me improve this and all the planet 
will afford energy".

Here’s what 71 year old Dustin Grey from Atlanta says:
"I’ve never built anything in my entire life... yet this was so 
easy, I assembled it with my grandkids. Now we get almost free 
electricity 24/7".

That will reduce your electricity bill starting today by at least 
80% ... now is the perfect time.

Here's how to get "Power Innovator Device":
I'll let you have Power Innovator Vidoes PLUS a surprise bonus, 
PLUS the List of tools and supplies

----------->Here is Your Video
(If the above doesn't work,click not spam for you to see the video.)
 
Your Success,
E-Saver Inventor
```
I followed the link to the video and was redirected to a website with a sort of “but wait there’s more”, hard sell, scammy video. I wasted about 20 minutes of my life watching that damned video but I am always curious about this sort of rubbish. If you are interested in watching the video cut and paste http://nicolatesla.info/PowerIP/ into your browser.

The email was obviously a scam and I did not need my ISP to mark it as such in the subject line. When there are outrageously bold claims and a request for money it is obvious that it is a scam.

The number of scams relating to technology has prompted me a start a list of these sort of scams.
humour, scams, spam

Fossil fuels

Alan Liefting

14 May 2015

Here at Ecotech Services we pride ourselves in limiting the use of non-renewable resources. The big one of course is fossil fuels, particularly petroleum, so when I got a spam email inviting me to invest in a petroleum project I had to laugh.

Attn: Dear Friend,

My name is Nour El Deen Nabil a staff in the National petroleum 
agency of Sao Tome and Principe but originally from Arab Republic 
of Egypt; I secured a crude oil lifting license from the National 
Petroleum Agency (STP-NPA) where I work.

Nour, I don’t know you from a bar of soap and if I did, and if you are an actual person, you would not be my friend. I don’t befriend spammers and scammers.

Due to my position in the Petroleum Agency, I cannot handle this 
project alone; you have all the qualities needed for this project.

Flattery will get you nowhere with me. And so how do you know that I have all of the qualities that you need? What about money? Do you think I have a few hundred million to throw at this project?

All we need do to are these:

1. We have to officially register a company with the Sao Tome and 
Principe Petroleum Agency, which shall serve as our lifting company 
as to enable us make use of this lifting license.

2. I will ensure that all lifting procedures are in place and buyers
 readily available.

3. You stand in as the license operator for all the lifting and 
sales transactions,

If accepted we can start working on this project, I know oil 
business may not be your line of business but I will handle and 
manage this project and also make sure that I guide you on what to 
do at any given time.

Oh, that is all we need to do? That makes it all ok then. And yes , you are right. The oil business is not my line of business so I will need your help.

Don't forget to furnish me with your private phone and fax numbers 
for easier communication amongst us.

Ok. I will get that off immediately.

Thank you my Dear Friend.

humour, scams

Lost in translation

Alan Liefting

7 May 2015

I came across this sticker on a no name piece of rubbish masquerading as weigh scales.

“Tearing up the void”

I am pretty sure that the sticker is supposed to say “Warranty void if removed”. Not only is the English complete nonsense but there is not even a screw in the hole under the sticker!

Ok, they may not have a grasp of the English language but are the manufacturers able to produce a reliable and accurate set of scales? There are a few issues with it. The power adapter socket is not labelled with the required input voltage (it needs a specific voltage to charge the internal four volt lead acid battery). The light indicating that it is connected to a power source is called “ACC” instead of AC. The internal wiring is a bit messy. I am unsure of the accuracy. It has a strain gauge on a cantilevered bar. Is that a good way of doing it given that it goes up to 25 kg?

It is a real shame that everyone buys on price (even I do so sometimes) at the expense of quality. In the case of weigh scales the technology has not really changed significantly over the past couple of decades so we may as well keep the older, better quality ones in service rather than buying new rubbish.

humour, odd
Screws

Alan Liefting

6 May 2015

Don’t you hate it when no matter how many screwdriver bit sets you have you will still come across a screw for which you don’t have a bit?
And don’t you hate it that the sets come with tri-point but not tri-wing driver bits?

Another great cartoon from xkcd.com

humour, screws, tools
Computer monitor case repurposing

Alan Liefting

29 April 2015

This is cute. The cat as well as the concept.

DIY Cat Bed From a Computer Monitor | Home Design, Garden & Architecture Blog MagazineDo you have an old computer monitor and it’s no longer of use to you? Instead of throwing it out to the garbage, how would you feel about transforming it into something really cool? If you have a cat and want to surprise it with a new cozy sleeping place, you can transform your old […]

I always like the idea of repurposing but if it is done we should always consider the end of life recycling. In this case the plastic case has been painted which means that when the plastic is granulated for recycling it will be contaminated with the paint.

Another point about this reuse of the computer monitor case is that the circuit board and CRT (which is difficult to recycle and dangerous to handle) will need to be delivered to a recycler who will accept it for recycling.

cats, cool

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