Michael Kors Eyeglasses Frames MK 4034

I am looking at getting some new frames for my spectacles. My old specs are using ones made by Police and while they are very good, they are coming up to 5 years in age or are more than 5 years old. IO was looking at this Michael Kors MK 4034 and I thought that it is a nice pair of frames. I wonder if these can be gotten in Singapore. They are very affordable too. It looks like I may have to get some new lenses as well. My eyesight has deteriorated over the years sadly. Oh well, time to make some enquiries!

Cloth tap filter

I have been using a cloth tap filter on my taps for ages. It is not to say that tap water in Singapore is undrinkable and dirty. This is just to make sure that I have peace of mind that my water gets filtered. You can buy these water filters for a very cheap price in places like neighbourhood hardware shops and the like. Just remember to change them every month or so.

Three phase power supply

This is a three-phase power supply at my mother’s house. You can see the incoming cables coming up into three 100A fuses, one for each phase. Notice that it is using the old Red, Yellow, Blue phase wiring. The newer one should be from the Brown, Black, Gray. In any case, from the fuses it goes into three splitters. The splitters split the power supply to one for my mother’s place and one for my neighbour’s house. Remember a post some time back where the blue phase was gone? Well, during that time, the cables from the ground were replaced by the temporary cables laid to my mother’s place. This setup has been here for more than 30 years and it is still running great. We are following the UK-system of power distribution and will continue to do so.

7″ magnetic Ingco spirit water leveller

I bought a smaller spirit water level from Ingco yesterday. This spirit level is smaller than the previous Ingco spirit level I bought some time back. The reason I bought this is because I wanted a spirit level that would fit my toolkit. I bought this for about $3 and it is not too bad. Next on my list are some VDE pliers and I will be set.

Ecler Audeo 103 louspeakers

We had to dismantle some of these nice Ecler Audio 103 loudspeakers from one of their meeting rooms. The reason they were uninstalled is because we were installing new speakers. I have seen these speakers being installed outside pubs and bars in Singapore and they look really nice and compact. I did not know that they are 2-way speakers. I thought all the while it was just one small full-range cone speakers. The features are seen below:

• Full range, 2-way loudspeaker, 25 WRMS
• 3.5 in woofer / 0.5 in tweeter
• Made of reinforced ABS
• Available in black (RAL 9005) or white (RAL 9003)
• 8 ohm and 70/100 V line operating switch
• Accessories for wall-mounting included
• IP54 class outdoor rating
• Protective front grill with anti-rust treatment

They look pretty good as I said. I wonder if the client wants to sell these off. These will be great monitor speakers for my small studio!

Insulated pliers set

Remember that post of mine a few days back where I got that toolbag for my insulated screwdrivers? Well, I decided to get myself a set of insulated pliers and cutters for my set too. These ones are made by Ingco and can handle 1000V like the screwdrivers. However, I might be getting some other brand instead. Once I have these, my electrical toolbag will be complete.

“Smart” door locks

One thing I will never understand is why people turn to locks like these. There have been many reported cases of people complaining that their so-called smart locks failed. One complaint was on the batteries in the smart lock had exhausted themselves. As a result, he was locked out of his house. Another one reported that he could not get out of the house because the mortise of this smart lock had jammed. The solenoid or motor that unlocked the gate was not operable at all. Probably had exhausted batteries too!

For me, I would go with the tried and tested. That is right. manual locks. before someone gets his or her panties in a twist by reading this post, let me ask you this. Are you really comfortable about putting yet another variable (and one that can fail) in the safety and security of your house? I certainly would not. Of course. There are pros and cons. But the cons totally outweigh the prose of putting a smart lock on your front gate or front door. My advice once again? Stick with the tried and tested. They just work!

Trying to find MAC address of equipment

Quite a few of my clients whitelist MAC (Media Access Control) addresses so that the equipment can function on their network. More often than not, we have to collect the MAC addresses and pass them to the client for whitelisting first. Therein lies the problem. Sometimes, the equipment does not come with the MAC addresses listed on the equipment or on the box they are packed in. Take this QSC Core for example. This piece of equipment, costing a few thousand dollars, you would think that manufacturer would spend a little more to have the MAC address printed on a sticker or even printed on the chassis. The answer is no. So what I had to do was to connect the device to my notebook computer via the small D-Link switch that I bought some time back. After that I used Wireshark to scan for the MAC addresses. And thankfully, I was able to get them. But to be honest, this is not the way it should be. The MAC addresses need to be printed. Because of this, I wasted quite a few hours at the client’s place trying to find out MAC addresses. Come on QSC! Just print the MAC addresses on a sticker and paste them on the damn box!

Greener toolbag

Remember I wrote in a previous post about me buying a set of insulated screwdrivers for my work? I then decided that I needed a bag to hold them so I bought this Greener bag above for about $10 online. It is very well constructed, with tough Oxford cloth, or so I was told. It was able to cater to all my insulated tools nicely, plus some other tools I added to it. This toolbag will solely be for electrical tools only. I am on the lookout for some VDE insulated pliers and when I do, my toolbag will be complete. Maybe I should go back to that shop in Kelantan lane where I bought my insulated screwdrivers. Hmmm…

Inside the Whirlwind IMP 2 DI box

Remember a previous post a few years back when I was talking about my old Whirlwind IMP 2 DI box? In any case, I decided to strip it down so one can see how simple the setup is. It certainly is a lot simpler compared to the Radial DI box innards that I posted some time back.

Wat you see here is simplicity in its finest. The audio transformer that converts Hi-Z signals to Low-Z signals is a Whirlwind TRHL. On the top of this picture is the ground lift switch. There are no electronics in here like resistors and the like…just 5 components. And this DI box has been rocking events since 1991 or 1992 when I first got it. The Hammond metal casing makes sure that the innards are well-protected always

That is the way things should be – simple and functional.