Category Archives: Hobbies

Building a new PI with DAC

Hobbies, Home Automation, Music

Purchased a Justboom DAC Hat a while back, along with a PI 3B+.  Was going to install OpenElec, but found out the latest distro isn’t compatible with the Pi.  I ended up going with LibreElec, which has been working great with it.

I did solder the IR receiver onto the Justboom DAC but found it wasn’t responding to a couple remotes – I have a Flirc dongle that worked fine though, so I have Lirc disabled for now.  I might spend more time trying to get it working later, so I can use the Flirc dongle elsewhere.

#dtparam=audio=on
dtparam=audio=off
dtoverlay=justboom-dac
Have been very pleased with the sound quality of the JustBoom DAC – makes my vintage AR-210’s sound amazing!  I also have an old pair of Wharfedale Diamonds that also sound awesome – just lacking some bottom end – but for a tiny speaker, they are still awesome!

Aquarium rebuild

Aquarium, Hobbies

After a tragic loss of all but 2 fish in my aquarium, I took it as an opportunity to try something a little different.

The 2 survivors are my stealthy Bristlenose Pleco’s.

The new occupants:

  • 9 Rummy-nose tetras
  • 6 Discus
  • 3 Botia dario loaches

Added a very large piece of driftwood to the tank, and also added a new LED light – MicMol 36″-48″ Planted tank lamp, with scheduling.  The lamp is very nice – but is a pain to program.  Just have to be patient 🙂

I have been finding snails to be a challenge to control, which was one of the reasons for adding the loaches.  Unfortunately, they don’t seem all that interested!
I’ve been reducing the amount and frequency of feeding the fish, although the discus I bought are young and growing!  One seems to be a runt.

Gecko Upgrades

3D Printing

I received the East 3D Gecko upgrade kit, last fall, and recently I had finally gotten around to tearing down the printer and installing it.  In the process, I also installed some RGB lighting, ceramic heat bed, and the Lerdge power-off module kit as well.

The upgrade kit changes the gantry suspension so that it hangs from 4 points, instead of the original 2 points. It also changes the XY gantry, providing a new rail to make things much easier to square up.

I ended up removing the power-off module after it resulted in a blown fuse in the ac input switch – thankfully the blown fuse protected the main board and power supply.

The ceramic bed is a much flatter printing surface – and is supposed to provide much better print adhesion.  In practice, I find it works really well, provide that you have the surface perfectly clean and levelled from the start.  If either of these things aren’t perfect, you end up with a spaghetti print!

One of the other upgrades I did previously was replacing the stock hotend and extruder with original E3D components.

Current Tank Occupants

Aquarium

Currently, my 55 gallon aquarium has the following:

  • 3 new Denison barbs, about 2″ long
  • 1 old Denison barb, about 4″ long
  • 2 Plecostumus – I rarely see them, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen both at the same time since adding them to the tank.  When I do see one, it is about 3″ long.
  • 3 black tetras
  • 1 Phantom tetra
  • 4 Siamese algae eaters

A few fish have died over the past couple years, and the only new additions since my last stocking post was the addition of the Pleco’s.

The amazon sword plant I have is flourishing.  Can’t say that about the 3 other kinds of plants that I have, although they aren’t dying… just growing very slowly.  I mean very very slowly 🙂

I want to make some changes to the lighting.  The 4′ flourescent tube has quit – and I would like to replace it with some LED lighting.  The lighting needs to be string enough for the plants however – which can make them very expensive.  Debating whether I should just make my own using some outdoor LED floodlights.

Hydor + Big Al's = Great Customer Service!

Aquarium

When setting up our aquarium a couple years ago, I purchased a Hydor 250 canister style filter. The filter has been fantastic, performing flawlessly, and completely silent in our living room.
During the evening a couple days ago, I noticed that it wasn’t moving any water. I promptly unplugged the filter, and shut off the valves to and from the tank. I had just cleaned the filters 3 or 4 weeks earlier, but cleaned everything again, including the impeller. I did notice that the blades spun freely of the magnetic cylinder, but I couldn’t remember if that was the way it was supposed to be, but nothing appeared broken or damaged otherwise.
I cranked up the aeration in tank, and went online and found the Hydor website, and filled out a contact form, and explained my situation. The company is based in Italy, so I wasn’t expecting a response for a couple days, so after work the next day I went to Big Al’s here in Edmonton, expecting to buy a new canister filter. While looking at all the different filters, a saleperson came over to assist, and I explained what happened. They checked their parts and found they had no stock of the impeller for my particular model, so asked if I could bring the filter in and take a look.
Bringing the filter back to the shop, they immediately confirmed that the problem was with the impeller – and no, it wasn’t supposed to spin freely. They applied some aquarium safe adhesive to cement the impeller blades back onto the magnetic cylinder, we tested the filter in the store. It’s moving water again!
After I got back home and reconnected the filter to the aquarium, I checked my mail, and had a reply back from Hydor, asking for a photo of the impeller. I told them that I was able to get things resolved at Big Al’s, and told them about the repair. The next day, I got another reply, and they told me they are sending me a new impeller, at no cost!
I was very pleased with the Hydor filter to begin with, very impressed with their prompt replies, and very surprised about them sending me a new impeller! Big kudo’s to Big Al’s and to Hydor for their excellent customer After this experience, I think that I might add a second filter to the aquarium, just to be on the safe side!
UPDATE:  January 5th, 2018
The new impeller arrived today!  Thank you Hydor!