Archive for November, 2011

NSW Blue slip

Author: Striker

Nov 22

New South Wales has an interesting inspection system. Making mention of it does NOT mean that I disagree with it. In fact, I believe that something similar should be implemented across the country. Every State and Territory with the same rules and guidelines (hopefully a little more relaxed than the ones in NSW).

 

We (NSW) have a yearly roadworthy inspection called a pink slip. It’s not a big deal, even for modified cars to pass this inspection.

If your car has been out of registration for more than three months, or you’re bringing an interstate car to NSW, you need a blue slip. Blue slips are considerably more thorough, sometimes taking more than four hours to complete.

 

My TX5 was purchased from a friend in Victoria, and recently failed it’s blue slip. Yesterday it was towed to a detailer to get the engine and gearbox steam-cleaned so that they’re not covered in oil, as the car failed on “engine and gearbox oil leaks”.

 

Once that’s been fixed, it’s off to SX Developments to fix all the other issues on the list. There was an A4 sheet of paper attached to my blue-slip, and it was near-filled with other things that need to be fixed before the car will be allowed to be registered again.

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LED lighting installation

Author: Striker

Nov 16

The first permanent LED light has now been fitted and tested, it’s been installed in the lounge-room. When I say tested, we turned it on for three seconds to see if it worked. All I remember from that experience is a blinding flash of light akin to standing near a thermonuclear explosion.
For anyone wishing to install LED lighting in their home – a 20 watt LED light is WAY TOO MUCH.

At least my Deaf friends won’t need to move to the kitchen.

If I had to do it again, I would probably go with 10-12 watt for the loungeroom.

 

I’ve been for a trip to the local lighting shop today, and picked up assorted LED light-globes, most of them being 6.5watt, and all of them being cool white in colour.

LED lighting in the house is now as follows:

Loungeroom – 20 watt oyster-type wired directly to power.

Master bedroom – 10 watt LED globe in socket.

One other bedroom – 6.5 watt LED globe in socket.

Bathroom – 6.5 watt LED globe in socket.

Upstairs hallway – 5 watt LED globe in socket.

 

I’m not sure that I like the 5 watt globe in the upstairs hallway. It was a cheaper globe, and for good reason, from what I can see. It’s chunky and ugly.

Soon I will buy more of the 6.5 watt LED globes for the other upstairs bedrooms, the stairway, downstairs hallway, laundry and both toilets.

At $35 each, they’re not cheap, so I’m starting with the rooms where my flatmates don’t turn off the lights (The house has gone from one light constantly on at night to 5-6, which with only three people in the house is silly).

I’ve never considered myself particularly “eco-friendly”, but I am very aware of the cost of energy, and how much a power bill sky-rockets by leaving just one extra light on. Hopefully the LED lights will soften the blow just a little.

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LED Lighting – The next step

Author: Striker

Nov 15


It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and the one major thing that’s changed since then is that I now own mum’s old house. The house that my sister and I grew up in. The house that was once our family home. I moved back in here the day after mum died, and have spent the last two years fighting to buy it.

 

Until now, my experimenting with LEDs has been very limited, as I don’t want to invest money in to a home that I may not be able to keep. I have a 3 watt LED ‘globe’ in my bedside table and a 7 watt ‘globe’ in the light socket of my bedroom ceiling. The 7 watt globe is really strips of LEDs on the outside of a cylinder-shaped piece of plastic, with a few pointing downwards also.

The one in the bedside table has opaque bulb-shaped plastic over the LEDs to diffuse the light, and it works well.

Both of these are performing great. The 7 watt globe is very bright being that you’re looking directly in to naked LEDs. It lights the room extremely well, though, I would compare it to a 100 watt incandescent globe, only a lot colder.

 

Tomorrow will be the first serious step that I take.

The chandelier in my lounge-room belongs to my sister, and an electrician is coming along to remove it (and fix a few other things around the house). While he’s here, I’ll be having him fit a new oyster-style light.

Total power consumption for the unit is rated at 20 watt. There are 288 LEDs, warm white in colour, 1200lm (luminous flux).

The unit is far from fancy to look at, hell, I wouldn’t even say it’s interesting-looking, but it’s going to be the first LED set-up that I have permanently wired in to the house.

 

More importantly, replacing the chandelier with an oyster-style light means that I will be able to use the kinect on my Xbox without smashing my head in to a lamp all the time, and that if the light is on while watching TV, it’s not sitting just above line of sight tot he TV (which is considerably more annoying than you might think).

 

My first real step on the path to a more eco-friendly house will soon be complete, and if I like this light, I’ll start changing others.

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