Blackvue DR900S-2CH Dash Camera Fails To Reliable Connect To WiFi

Blackvue DR900S-2CH Dash Camera Fails To Reliable Connect To WiFi

Comments 0 Comment

I recently, (APRIL 2020) had a Blackvue DR900S-2CH Dash Camera installed in my car.  Everything about this device is quite good except it would fail to reliably connect to the cell phone WiFi.  I quickly found the solution.  I use an Android LGV30 phone.  I went into the cell phone settings and chose Network & Internet portion settings.  All I had to do was to turn Mobile Date Off.  Then the BlackVue cell phone application held a solid connection when I chose the BLACKVUE WI-FI menu selection on my cell phone.  I even drove around a while with my cell phone showing the live front dash camera signal.

Caution:  I did find a possible problem with turning off Mobile Date.  I drove over to Starbucks to buy a drink and I always pay using my cell phone Starbucks application in the phone.  Every time I open the Starbucks cell phone application I must choose “Scan in store”, a small sub menu option.  Pressing that small menu button then presents a new screen that the Starbucks people can scan to take money out of my account.  It would not work.  Was this because I turned off Mobile Data?  Or did I loose Internet?  I was forced to pay cash!  If this happens to you, just turn Mobile Data back on.

Just to check other cell phone menu options out:  I went into the sub menu of Mobile Data, after Network & Internet.  By pressing on that menu selection, “Mobile data”, I found two sub menu items:

  • Mobile: You can scroll down and view all the applications using mobile data.  BlackVue is one of them.  There are two on/off buttons you can choose.  I turned on both Background data and Unrestricted data usage.
  • Wi-Fi:  You can scroll down and view all the applications using mobile data.  BlackVue is one of them.  There are two on/off buttons you can choose.  I turned on both Background data and Unrestricted data usage.

Other Settings: 

  • Special Access > Modify system settings:  BlackVue showed “No”  (I have no opinion for this setting except to say that it was set to “No”.
  • Special Access > Wi-Fi Control > BlackVue “Allowed”  Allow app to control Wi-Fi.  It looks like you had better turn this on if not on already.
I Sincerely Apologize.

I Sincerely Apologize.

Comments 0 Comment

I would like to apologize to everyone who visits this web site.  I have been away from this web site since the end of January 2020, due to my sister developing brain cancer.  I am the only living relative that she has.  I was given power of attorney for all of my sister’s affairs.  My whole life has changed dramatically.  I drove about 91 miles one way to visit her each week for months.  My duties were to take over all of my sister’s investment and banking assets, billing, home maintenance, health care payments and cremation.  Most days I spend almost eight hours a day or more taking care of all of the required affairs.  I just can not believe the large to do list that comes with taking over the end of life responsibilities.  Also, it seems that there is some new issue that I have to take care of that I never expected.  I totally love my sister and I came to discover that I failed to be a closer brother to her upon receiving lots of remembrances from her friends, stories that revealed things I never knew about her.

My sister’s passing took place during the corona virus.  Each time I visited her at the Santa Barbara Serenity House, I had to face a new visiting restriction.  At first I had to answer questions as to my health before I was allowed up the parking garage elevator.  Next visit my temperature was taken.  Next trip they asked the same questions, took my temperature and was asked to wash my hands.  Then they restricted visits to only 2 people at a time and then to 1 PM to 4 PM.  The weather during her final months was stormy with lots of rain.  It was almost like the gods had to add really dark theatrics backdrop of a pandemic, weather darkness with rain to her final days.  This also made me feel like I was more important than my sister, that I was being taught some sort of life lesson because of being thrown inside this new movie like theater of amazing dark occurrences.   I really loved my sister and I failed to fully realized how much until I lost her.  I guess the lesson for me is I should attempt to be closer to those who I love but only to the extent they will allow.

 

Is President Trump Moving Toward Being Authoritarian?

Is President Trump Moving Toward Being Authoritarian?

Comments 0 Comment

Opinion with citations.

It has occurred to some that the United States of America seems to possibly be progressing toward being a dictatorship.

For example, Transparency International lowered the rank of the United States in 2016 = 74 to 2019 = 69, a drop of at least 5 points for being the least corrupt country.  The United States resides between France and the United Arab Emirates in this ranking. Also, Transparency International stated that the United States is “experiencing threats to its system of checks and balances”, along with an “erosion of ethical norms at the highest levels of power” since Donald Trump took office.

Following is a list of factors that may determine totalitarianism for Donald Trump: The Six Factors That Enable Totalitarianism by Tyler DeBrauwere.  

Factor one: The dictator and his lieutenants are unified by their political ideology and any individual that breaks this unity within the dictator’s administration will be eliminated. This also includes individuals within the dictator’s political party will be heavily pressured to conform.

President Donald Trump instills obedience through these following measures of demanding loyalty through these mechanisms:

Factor two: A totalitarian state is based upon an ideology.  For Trump, being so self centered and selfish his ideology is for him to win.   “Personalist dictatorships” are regimes in which all power lies in the hands of a single individual. It is up to government employees to understand this requirement to keep their jobs by making that single individual happy. Donald Trump appears to be a personalist dictator type.

Factor three: “Propaganda and the Terror is the whip that keeps the population in line.”
Donald Trump has Fox “News”, a sham example of a news organization because it fails evidence and truth. Fox is Donald Trump’s propaganda organ owned by a Australian-born American, “giving up his Australian citizenship, to satisfy the legal requirement for U.S. television network ownership”. “Since Donald Trump became the US President, Murdoch has shown support for him through the news stories broadcast in his media empire, including on Fox News.”  Donald Trump offers “a glorious, yet imaginary, future to a frustrated population” through is promise of “making America great again.

Side Note – Russian Intervention: Russian Putin has acted to enhance the standing of Donald Trump to diminish the United States by making some changes to the results of the 2016 election.  Russia is an enemy of the United States so why did that country help Trump?

Factor four: A directed economy where the different state’s economic sectors are appointed by and controlled by the dictator.  No evidence yet this is taking place.

Factor five: To “detach the individual from their individuality, transmuting the individual into the mass man; a member of the collective whose only purpose is to serve the regime and live by the regime’s ideology.”
We have seen this during the impeachment hearings where the members of the GOP Senate were cowered to abide by Trumps demands. We viewed a host of past renowned lawyers and politicians loosing their self identity, their integrity, for this cult personality.

Factor six: “seeks to monopolize weapons and armed combat in order to obtain further control of the populace.” The gun lobby is way too powerful to allow this to happen.

It becomes a bit clear that President Trump is not a complete calculating dictator yet. Because he is an alleged pathological narcissist, his behavior out of that alleged affliction matches some of the behaviors of a dictator because there is a parallel similarity . Sadly, in conjunction with the presidents affliction, there are other aiding factors that aids the president’s behavior.

It appears that President Donald Trump fits or comes very close to meeting four out of Mr. Tyler’s six factors. He fits being a totalitarian by creating a cult of personality but not yet using police and military, to force his will. A major component of this rising cult of personality appear to be members of the Republican Party which he controls through the help of Mitch McConnell. Many of the GOP come from former confederate states. This is because “over the course of the 20th century, the evangelical coalition entwined theology, whiteness, and conservative politics” and “in the 2016 election, 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump”.

President Donald Trump appears to have some clear similarities to being a authoritarian but so far we might reason this is because of his alleged narcissism.  But beware that Hitler was also considered a pathological narcissist by some.

Recommended Reading: History of Totalitarianism

 

 

Revised: Feb 8, 2020

 

Harbor Freight Thunderbolt Solar Panel Kit – Not Recommended

Harbor Freight Thunderbolt Solar Panel Kit – Not Recommended

Comments 0 Comment

September 2017, I purchased a Thuderbolt Solar 100 Watt Solar Panel Kit for $154.25.  This kit seemed really clever but the controller failed to work.  I measured the voltage from each solar panel with a volt meter and each panel put our 22 volts.  When all the panel were connected to the controller, nothing happened.  I could not get the controller to turn on.  It was dead.  I waited too long to contact Harbor Freight to get this resolved.  I expect products to work out of the box.  This product, for me, failed this expectation.

Both Thuderbolt products and Harbor Freight are not recommended.

They Don’t Deserve Democracy

They Don’t Deserve Democracy

Comments 0 Comment

I received the following e-mail message from an Indivisible activist:

“I’ve moved from despair over not being able to get the goods on Trump to despair over the Republicans and people who don’t want him impeached in the face of ALL the IRREFUTABLE evidence of multiple illegal and impeachable offenses we now have. Sometimes I just get angry and say to myself that THEY don’t deserve Democracy, but of course they take us all down with them!”

My reply follows with some edits:

What you outlined has bothered me a lot also. I am trying to research why about 30 to 40 percent of the electorate support Trump. I do not think there is a single reason. I do think this is rather complicated matter for us to understand. Here are just some of the possible reasons I am trying to put together. They all boil down to prejudice and ignorance. Remember that individuals are naturally self serving.

A significant number of people have given up with this form of government and thus no longer vote. This just might be a partial reason why Trump became popular because he is not the establishment and obviously was going to shake things up. Some citizens do not like this form of government!

White supremacy is an obvious factor probably coming from ego needs and fears of the lesser class taking my job away.

Family influence can be a strong factor where the parents are conservative and instill that viewpoint into their children.

Racism, especially in the former slave states is very powerful. (i.e. red states vote Republican)

Advancement of corporate and rich class interests work against what is best for the nation some times. A prime example is the United States withdraw from Paris Accord for controlling global warming. The oil and gas industries support Trump.

Some religions are against abortion, mixed marriage, and just love the concept of placing Trump into the throne of the chosen one.

Catholics also seem to mildly embrace singular powerful men as rulers. This explains, a bit, why Latin American countries are mainly dictatorships.  And, President Donald Trump is definitely a pending dictator.

Poor education at grade school level is apparent in the United States. Approximately 32 million adults in the United States can’t read, according to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that 50 percent of U.S. adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level.

It is increasingly harder to pay for education beyond high school. For some reason, students who enter junior college fail to enter a four year college and graduate. While about 80 percent of entering community college students indicate they want to earn a bachelor’s degree or higher, only 29 percent of community college students who started in fall 2011 actually transferred to a four-year institution within six years.

Communities that are rural can be backward. Just look at the past elections in England where Brexit was voted for in rural but city dwellers voted no. Look at Turkey where Recep Tayyip Erdogan has support in the rural areas but not in the cities. Cities push people with different backgrounds, different educations, different ethnicity, different views together way more than rural areas. Also, rural typically is singular economic enterprises where cities have way more businesses that throw people together.

There are social media platforms that wish to propagandize. Fox “News”, Wall Street Journal, YouTube. A major new study of social media sharing patterns shows that political polarization is more common among conservatives than liberals.

I think there are more factors but these come to mind right now. I am pessimistic too for the reason that facts fail to matter that much to a lot of people.

Take care,
Do not despair. We have a difficult job to do to save this Democracy.

 

Posted December 16, 2019
Updated December 17, 2019

SECOND IN SERIES FOR NEST LEARNING THERMOSTAT REPAIR

SECOND IN SERIES FOR NEST LEARNING THERMOSTAT REPAIR

Comments 1 comment

This is the second post in a series for repairing the NEST.  This second method should not be attempted by anyone who does not understand electronics.  If you feel unsure of your capabilities or your understanding of this repair, please call a professional repair person who understands NEST products.  It is strongly encouraged that you shut down all power to your heater and air conditioner prior to making this repair!  Typically this is done by turning off your circuit breakers for these devices.   Please call a HVAC qualified repair person to check your wiring prior to energizing the system after this repair is made.

A few months after putting up a post describing my repair of the NEST thermostat we encountered another problem. We started getting errors showing the NEST was not connecting to our WiFi.

In the evenings after the AC has been on for hours we begin to see battery error. (This error is because we had NO C wire connected which I will explain to you shortly).  We only had power from furnace and air conditioning wires powering the thermostat.

At night, after the air conditioning runs for a long time during the hot months, we get low battery resulting in loss of WiFi connection. Battery should be 3.8 or higher.

 

Note in the image above that the battery voltage is a bit too low (3.848 V).  We still have a problem.  The battery should be 3.9 or higher.

In the morning, after the AC has been off for hours, the battery is back to normal as seen in the image below (3.926V) and the system works properly.

This is obviously a power supply problem. My guess is power from the heater and air conditioning wires is not providing enough power to the thermostat. We need a better solution. I then added my own 24 volt transformer as the supply source but that failed because the wiring did not “see” a complete circuit. The final and best solution was to connect the C wire! I found this was the problem by finding this web site: https://smartthermostatguide.com/thermostat-c-wire-explained/

 

Prior wiring that failed to work properly as seen in the picture above was because the NEST was getting power from the heat and cool circuit wires and not from a dedicated power source.

I then turned OFF the whole furnace and AC unit at the circuit breaker box. I know electronics but I am NOT an authority for HVAC systems. I really do not want to take down our HVAC system by making any mistake.  I will only add new circuit wires to the system when the system has been turned off!

I looked carefully at the thermostat wires and found an unused wire at the thermostat and at the furnace unit. Prior installers had spun this extra wire backwards around the the other wires to keep it out of the way.  It took me a while to find this unused wire.  At the thermostat end, I had to pull the whole set of wires out of the wall to find this unused wire.  I stripped the thermostat end of this prior unused (blue) wire and attached it to the C connection at the NEST thermostat as seen in the image below.

 

 

I then went to the furnace and found that unconnected same wire color and connected it to the “C” terminal at the furnace.

ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE SAME WIRE COLOR CORRESPONDS TO THE CORRECT CONNECTOR AT THE FURNACE END AND AT THE THERMOSTAT END!

I then called a HVAC repair person that knows NEST products and told him I would pay to have him make sure this new thermostat wiring was good to go. He came over and took a look and said it was good. I turned the circuit breakers back on. I then did a thermostat reset.  We have not had a problem yet with the system.

Summary: This method adds a single wire connection between the thermostat and your heater/air conditioning units to complete a new “C” or common circuit between the two devices.

If you do not have your NEST wired for C and are having problems with your NEST, research this option by going to this web site: https://smartthermostatguide.com/thermostat-c-wire-explained/ This web site is a bit technical.

When I tried to find a HVAC person to come over and check my wiring I found the Internet did show vendors that service NEST thermostats and I did call that qualified person.

I find it rather odd that the NEST Thermostat worked for over a year before having power supply problems.

I just love the NEST as I can see the house temperatures and adjust them even when on vacation.

 

Posted December 5, 2019