aVANger Build

[bdosborn-SMB]

Pi4 UPDATE

I got a Pi 4 a couple of days ago, transferred the van HA settings over to a new SD card and wow, what a difference. It just works - no reboots, no disconnects, no issues. Memory use is not an issue (4 gb) and the CPUs are hardly loaded compared to the Pi 3B+:

I loaded Tailscale and it's running. I updated to the latest OS version over WiFi and that worked. It even runs a little bit cooler as I don't think it's working as hard.
TLDR = Don't use a Pi3B+, use a Pi4 for HA!
Bruce

 

[bdosborn-SMB]

After 3 years of using a Thule tent organizer to keep our shoes off the floor at night I finally found something different that I think will be more convenient. A foldable shoe rack on the kitchen counter by the slider:

I had to graft two 12" racks together to get it to span the cabinet and make it wide enough for 2 pairs of shoes. I covered the joints with heat shrink to hide the cut lines.

This replaces the non-foldable shoe rack I installed in the Spring. It had to go because we kept tripping on it turning the corner around the cabinet. I might replace the flat stock on the top with some stained oak but I'll leave it alone for awhile and see how well it works. The previous version let the dirty shoes rest on the cabinet panel but this one doesn't. I don't think it holds shoes in place well enough to drive with them in there but it should work for overnight storage. I would go with dedicated racks for shoes that are a lot different is sizes, say a men's 12 and a women's 8. They won't hold flip flops.
Bruce

 

[bdosborn-SMB]

Well the Lemans Fan motor lasted almost exactly a year before the brushes wore completely away and disappeared:

I sent Claude and Chat GPT on a deep dive looking for a replacement motor. G&C Systems B.V. that makes the fan is in the Netherlands and the only place we found that shipped a replacement motor was also in the Netherlands. Price with VAT and shipping was ~$200. A complete new fan assembly is $217 at DIYVans. So it looks like the replacement motor is a unicorn here in the U.S.

So i used a Fantastic Fan replacement motor I had in the garage.
I made an adapter plate out of 1/8" BB plywood to convert the 4 hole motor mount to the 3 hole fantastic fan motor:

I attached the motor to the adapter plate and ran the new motor leads. I had to extend the wires on the fan to get them to reach where I had installed the lever connector:

Then I attached the fan to the motor. This is the only really janky bit, the Lemans motor has a round 5/16" shaft with the fan was attached using a c clip and cross pin. The Fantastic Fan has a 5/16" D shaft with an end screw. I jammed a shim in the flat space of the D is and put the screw in over the shim. Fingers crossed that the shaft doesn't start spinning in the hole. If it does I've got my eye on a new fan with an Allen screw collar.

We'll see how long this motor lasts but at least I can easily get a replacement from Amazon now. It's drawing around 40W at max speed now that it's installed; the Lemans motor pulled twice that. The amount of air the FF motor pulls seems to be the same.

Bruce