Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[Zelandeth]

I think it being a manual added a fair amount to the irritation. That I get the impression would work much better with the supposed hybrid system - which I have to admit to never being in any way aware of doing anything useful. Would also make the behaviour of the electronic handbrake several thousand times less annoying.

It's a Qashqai hybrid. As a passenger it wouldn't be too bad, the ride is reasonably compliant by modern standards, it's very quiet and room isn't too bad in the front of the cabin. So long as you can put up with the thing beeping, bonging and chirping at the driver more than an airliner on final landing approach.

We had a Pathfinder as a hire car over in the US a few years ago (uh... actually probably nearer to ten now I think about it), and we all quite liked that if I'm honest. Yes it's a huge SUV, but it was a proper seven seater, had a huge amount of room inside and was a very pleasant way to travel. First car I'd come across with a heated steering wheel - which I initially dismissed as a gimmick but actually found to be really pleasant and stopped my hands from seizing up on longer drives.







Would take that over the most recent example (which I refuse to spend 90 seconds trying to work out how to spell again) if I had to pick one, far nicer way to waft around.

The thing which just sticks in my mind is how much time I spent being distracted from actually driving because I was looking out for what was going to upset the driver aids next - or trying to figure out what on earth it was beeping at me for this time.

[Zelandeth]

It is now a full week that I have been down with the flu.

I am sick of being sick. Not only do I feel miserable, there is a steadily growing mountain of things I need to do which I currently can't.

[CitroJim]

I am sick of being sick.

I know that feeling all too well after my bout of the lurgy that kept on coming back for an encore...

May you soon be good and fully fit Zel...

[Hell Razor5543]

Zel, something I find that helps with a raw throat is crystallised ginger.

[CitroJim]

Zel, something I find that helps with a raw throat is crystallised ginger.

In my case, I find it best to stop talking for a while... That's the usual cause of me having a sore throat

[Zelandeth]

Why do I keep insisting on cramming MORE things in here?



Only halfway through it in this photo. The big black automotive starter solenoids are the new additions - only five are currently in place, another three are still sitting waiting to go in. There will also be an additional 12V DC supply added to drive these. Given how much back EMF these will throw into the supply I absolutely do not want these sharing a power supply with the PC - no matter how many commutation diodes I've fitted. So I'm making use of the original small contactors as drivers to run these big ones from a totally separate power source. I'm not so worried about the small contactors we used originally for proof of concept as the coils in there pull only a couple of 10s of milliamps. These new ones however draw somewhere in the region of 10A. So a bit more caution is called for. If it's going to kill anything I'd rather have that just be a cheap power supply than the PC or Pinscape interface boards.

Will just be nice to get the pile of solenoids off the dining table.

[CitroJim]

Excellent Zel and good to see the pinball tale project is continuing to progress nicely

[Zelandeth]

As I had kind of expected I'm going to need to add some further RFI suppression to these brutes. While I have back EMF commutation diodes in place, the radiated noise from the contacts opening is still sufficient to crash the controller. Which isn't even connected to the same power supply.

Methinks some caps across the switch contacts will be the next port of call. If that doesn't do it a bit of rethinking (I suspect putting the contactors in a metal box to contain things) may be required.

Or swap to solid state relays? As there are no contacts physically opening there in theory things might be less noisy...Hmm. Let's try the simple solution first though before we start re-engineering half the table.

[CitroJim]

Following with interest Zel

[Zelandeth]

I really did not think when I started building this thing that space was ever going to be an issue.



Space is definitely becoming an issue!

[mickthemaverick]

Time to install a mezanine maybe Zel?

[Zelandeth]

Well there shouldn't really be anything else we need to attach to the base. The only substantial upgrade I may look to add later would be some exciter speakers (basically speakers which attach to a surface and use that as the cone) to emulate the sound of the ball rolling around the playfield more accurately. That's all hardware which would be going on the sides rather than on the base though so shouldn't be a huge problem. I do actually have some room on the back wall by the mains electrical enclosure as well. I've just been ignoring that as it's a pig to get to with where the table currently lives.

I do apparently have some bug fixing to do. Several coils seem to lock on as soon as the system starts up. I need to check the documentation first. It's possible that some of the outputs are configured incorrectly and are currently active low. It didn't matter with the original setup as there were no duty cycle limitations involved, and it still went clunk when changing state - the big solenoids we're using now though really aren't made for long duty cycles. I mean they are starter motor solenoids, so that tells the story really. Just like the coils used in an actual table, they're designed to be pulsed quickly rather than left cooking for ages.

Need to do some hunting and see if it's a configuration issue, dodgy parts or I've wired things up wrong. All of these are valid options. I don't *think* the original contactors I used had any normally closed contacts, but I could be wrong.

The plus side is I built this thing so the spaghetti isn't as daunting as it otherwise might be! I do need to properly document it though so while it's still fresh in my mind so if I'm here again in ten years time or some other poor sod needs to work on it they have any hope of retaining their sanity.

Edit: Well I've found why half the coils are locking on as soon as the 12V bus comes up. I've got a random mix of normally open and normally closed contactors! Oops. I never even looked at the contact configuration when I bought them as it wasn't relevant for the original application. They were only a couple of quid each as well so no huge loss.

Oh well, I was thinking that upgrading to solid state relays anyway to tame the RFI issues and hopefully improve long term reliability anyway. They've been ordered.

[Zelandeth]

Some very much unwanted drama yesterday evening right as I was about to head to bed.

There are some things which you notice and can just file under "I'll deal with that tomorrow." Hearing loud, angry electrical arcing from under the sink when walking into the utility room however doesn't fall into that category. That is very much a problem for right now.

Turns out that the zone control valve for the upstairs heating circuit has sprung a leak and had drowned a wiring connector below it. This had clearly been sizzling away for quite a while.



All I can say is thank god for Wago connectors.



Absolutely not fixed obviously, but in a state where I can attack it at a slightly less unsociable time.

All three of the zone valves need changing (one sometimes sticks, one has been disabled in the open position for a couple of years now after the motor head blew up, the third has just started leaking and they're all from 1980). I have been putting this off because due to their location it's going to be an utter pig of a job.



They were clearly installed before that area was boxed in and definitely before the sink was installed so access is awful. Removing the utility room sink I think will be step one in the process.

I did attempt to get a plumber in when the first one failed but got absolutely zero response despite contacting about 15 of them so eventually gave up.

I cannot quite emphasise enough how much I Do Not Want to get involved in this job.

[Hell Razor5543]

While you may not WANT to do that job, the satisfaction in getting it done RIGHT will mean you can sleep easier at night.

[Zelandeth]

Doubt I've got any choice in the matter.

Better view of what I need to remove.



I'd hate the idea of it slightly less if my back wasn't already wrecked, making doing anything folded into a corner and working at arm's length like this absolute agony. Even before you add in the frustration factor of not being able to get your hands into where you need to be much less any tools.

Changing the pump (out of frame to the left) took me an entire day of swearing a year or two back, and that is marginally easier to get at. It should have been a half hour or so of work really. Well not counting the two hours it takes to drain the system anyway.