Rick's b.log - entry 2021/12/30

Whoa, warm!

I didn't get to sit and read Anna and The Apocalypse. A little furry creature wouldn't let me.

The film version of Anna and The Apocalypse is currently showing on Horror Channel (FreeSat) and it may or may not be on Amazon Prime. It's a funny and weird horror musical. Try to catch it, if you can.

Stopping the post person driving on the grass

Driving on the grass.

I should point out, this was the end of the part that I cleared last year (or was it the year before?) to be a place to park. Goodness knows what she'd have done without that!

Take the hint!

As the caption says - take the hint!

She did, actually. Seemed a little upset and said I should have told her. The thing is, we have several people that come to deliver the post, so I don't want to point the finger without seeing who it actually is.
I guess, therefore, that she must have had an inkling, and just ratted herself out. ☺

Actually, it turned out to be fortuitous, for as I was talking to her, a hunter with a white van and trailer (with something that looked like a deer tied to it) came down and did a ninety eight point turn trying to turn around.

We both, postie and I, figured that if the blocks and people weren't around, he'd probably have just driven across the lawn. It's happened in the past, but then hunters are generally the sort of pompous bastards that would think nothing of driving over someone else's lawn...

Freeing the phone line

Free the phone line.

Tidying up the offcuts, on the other hand, was the usual annoyance.

Cuttings.

Those last two photos, by the way, were photographed in 20:9 aspect (4480×2016; 9 megapixel). It's a shame that photo machines (using a paper roll) still seem fixed on 15×10 prints. It would be nice if wide prints were available, but it seems that was only an option with APS film.
I find the extra width helps to give a sense of space, either to bring more into the photo as shown in the upper photograph where you can see it all in one go; or to allow for a more interesting composition as shown in the lower photo where you can see the entire length of the cut branches.
I used to use widescreen aspect photography long before it was 'trendy'. Our eyes are mounted side by side to give us a fairly wide field of view.
Maybe it's because I'm an introvert? It makes me pretty aware of where threats problems other people are.

A more useful thing for the car

To help should I need to change a wheel.

More on the washing machine

Washing machine - checking the controller.

With the three wires to the controller verified, I checked the motor. The three wires turned back are the ones to the controller, as there are two of the blue and brown wires. Helps to tell which is which even though...cough...the pairs are hooked to the same poles of the capacitors (blue with blue, and brown with brown).

Washing machine - checking the motor.

The wiring matches up with the diagram for the TL560. Colours, poles, everything. Thanks to the schematic from ElektroTanya, I'll know how to hook everything together tomorrow (when the caps will arrive).

I also located the part that was tripping out the main breaker. It's a good thing that there's a circuit breaker in the house, and not a bunch of old-style fuses!
I haven't wrapped electrical tape around this. I shall tomorrow, and also reroute the wire so it doesn't rub against the drum.

Washing machine - the damaged wire.

It's actually kind of amusing. All the safety features in the design of the machine, all of the way it is set up and arranged, and the weak link was simply one wire that had a little bit too much slack so it would have been rubbing the drum as it shook during spins and such. Whoever it was that build this machine in November 1991 just left the wire a nearly insignificant amount too long, and that is where the fault occurred.
Well, at least it's a simple one to repair.

Once all of that was done, I took the hose and started to fill the machine, looking for leaks. I guess it would have been smarter to do this before I ordered the capacitors! ☺ Thankfully there did not appear to be any leaking. I say "did not appear" as things may be different when the drum is spinning.

I couldn't check the thermostat, given that it's supposed to cut out at around 87°C or something (essentially to stop the machine from boiling) so I doubt I'd ever have need of it. I don't intend to use the ninety degree wash, like, ever. But I did note that the thermostat is actually mounted quite high up on the machine. I forgot to look inside when the drum was 'full', but it seemed to me that it might be a little above the water level? Hmm, maybe it's just on it and it's a perceptual thing? If I remember, I'll look tomorrow.

I then checked the pressure sensor. It's important to know that the machine can tell when it is suitably full...and not.

Washing machine - are we full enough?.

It's a little hard to see in the photo. The level of the water is just below the nobble in the centre of the side of the drum.
As the water drains, the pressure sensor clicks off when the water is about the level of the blue agitator at the bottom.
So, I've not looked at the wiring diagram to confirm this, but I noticed that the pressure sensor has three connections. So I would guess that it's a power input, and two outputs that are "level low" and "level good". The heater element would be fitted to the "level good" side, so that when there was enough water in the machine, it'll start to heat. The other side? That would logically be hooked to the fill valve, so that it will let water into the machine until it reaches the desired level.
It also provides a measure of security. If something, say a duvet, absorbs a lot of the water in the machine and the level gets too low, the pressure switch will flip over, cutting out the heater and engaging the water fill again - until the level is reached once more.

It's rather impressive how the machine can appear to have a sort of intelligent behaviour with some simple mechanical devices.

Oh! As I write this, Heart 80s is playing "True" (Spandau Ballet). The song started, and then hiccuped right back to the beginning. Now that surely wasn't intended. But, alas, those sorts of radio stations run automatic, so they'll only know if they get a flurry of emails from listeners.

I wasn't able to test everything works as expected, as the heater element appeared as a near short circuit to the multimeter in beep mode, it is was beeping whatever was going on.
I turned the beeper off and used the ohmmeter to trace the wires. I think the heater measured around 60 ohms. Off the top of my head, that sounds like a reasonable value. More importantly, it was neither a short nor open circuit.

The problem was I couldn't trace beyond the door switch. There's a little plastic lug that is supposed to be pushed out to prevent the door from being opened whilst in a cycle, however I think the magnetic dodah that makes that happen also flips the switch that turns on the rest of the machine.

That said, apart from the missing caps and the dodgy wire, nothing looked particularly out of place or damaged. Well, the metalwork was a bit rusty, but hey, it's rustic!
Whatever, I have a good feeling about things.

[quick! panic! touch something wooden!]

Oh! It's just done the same thing for "I'm Still Standing" (Elton John).
Oh, jeez... what? They just played the Heart 80s jingle at the end of that song and started with a few bars of "Say I'm Your Number One" (Princess - no, I haven't heard if this one either) before skipping back to the end of "I'm Still Standing" and then the jingle again.
Does their machine need a reboot?
This is going to drive me nuts. Time to change the channel on my NetRadio. <clicky> "The Edge Of Infinity" (Lunatica). Much better.

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J.G.Harston, 2nd January 2022, 04:10

Watched Anna and The Apocalypse yesterday, and I agree: it's well worth watching. Nice fun musical British horror romp.    Followed up with World's End.

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