NEST Learning Thermostat Loss Of Power = Error E80

NEST Learning Thermostat Loss Of Power = Error E80

Comments 1 comment

NEST Learning Thermostat Loss Of Power = Error E80

 

The main error I was getting was “No power to Y1 wire.”  I then lost Internet connection to the NEST because the NEST internal battery was not charging and it’s voltage went too low to maintain that connection.

The NEST Learning Thermostat needs 24 volts AC from the furnace unit.  The two wires that provide this power is Red marked Power and Y1.

Internet Source:   At this time, the Nest Learning Thermostat is only designed to work with 24Vac systems that are connected directly from the control board using solid copper wires.

I measured 24 volts on the Y1 Yellow wire and the Red power wire at the furnace unit wiring interface board.

I then went to the NEST and measured 24 volts with Yellow and Red pulled out of their connections.   I then took the Red wire and slid it in and out of it’s connector to clean it.  I did the same with the Y1 wire.  I should have used a pocket knife or some other sharp metal object to rub against the wires to clean them.  The UNIT WORKED as soon as I put the wires back in!  The NEST showed the problem to be the Y1 connection but actually it was the Red power wire that was not making a good connection.

We still showed a low battery but the system works.  This should not happen now that the unit is getting proper power.

Note:

  • A voltage of at least 3.7V is required to install a software update.
  • A voltage of 3.6V is required for the display to turn on when you approach.
  • The Nest Thermostat’s battery voltage will fluctuate.
  • But your voltage should generally be higher than 3.6V if everything is functioning normally.

I then went into the NEST menu and performed a Restart but specified that no saved settings be removed and the NEST came back showing no low battery!  Total success.

________________________________-

This repair worked for just over a year and then a new problem occurred.  The new problem was similar to the one described in this post.  The new problem was that the thermostat was receiving low power.  To view this next repair go to this web page: https://ypw.wrq.mybluehost.me/website_12972da0/2019/12/05/second-in-series-for-nest-repair/

 

Post updated: December 5, 2019

William Barr, Might Be In Violation Of Ethics Policy

William Barr, Might Be In Violation Of Ethics Policy

Comments 3 comments

Opinion

William Barr was appointed United States Attorney General in the Donald Trump administration February 14, 2019.  As a federal employee, Mr. Barr must abide by the federal government ethics policy which states employees shall act impartially and not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual. Barr may have violated this policy by seemingly protecting Donald Trump from having his misdeeds and crimes revealed to Congress and the American Public.

Barr is now in charge of the United States Justice Department and as such comes under the ethical guidelines outlined within the  Permitted and Prohibited Activities found within and for that agency. That document goes into the details of laws and regulations governing the conduct of Department of Justice employees. William Barr, as an employee of the Justice Department, might be in violation of the Hatch Act and if true should be dismissed from office for his most favorable treatment of Donald Trump.

“All Department of Justice employees are subject to the Hatch Act, 5 U.S.C. 7323(a) and 7324(a), which generally prohibits Department employees from engaging in partisan political activity while on duty, in a federal facility or using federal property. Political activity is activity that is directed toward the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group. The statute carries serious penalties including REMOVAL from federal employment.”

William Barr evidently believes in the unitary executive theory which holds that the President possesses the power to control the entire executive branch.  What Barr fails to understand is that the purpose of the government is to serve the needs of it’s citizens first and always and doing so through the efforts of the president and his administration.  If the president runs afoul of working for the best interests of the people then proper ethics for federal employees should have them resist.  We all need to guard against this country sliding toward being a dictatorship.

Another Source To Further Understand Unitary Executive Theory.

This unitary executive theory belief intuitively runs counter to a person avoiding running afoul of the Hatch Act.  This belief also could be a rather sneaky path toward the United States becoming a dictatorship.

What then are alleged instances of William Barr acting toward the success of Donald Trump?  Here is a list of William Barr’s alleged federal government ethics policy and Hatch Act violations:

      • Alleged attempts to minimize the impact and importance of the Mueller Report by clouding its findings.  Barr repeatedly declared that Trump had been cleared of collusion when the report did not come to that conclusion.
      • Barr’s news conference repeatedly (but not universally) mischaracterized what the Mueller Report itself presents.
      • Barr allegedly killed the investigation being conducted into the Trump Organization by U.S. attorneys in the Manhattan District of New York.  Sources:  Politico,  Washington Post, The Atlantic
      • The Justice Department sent Muller the command, to limit his testimony:  “Any testimony must remain within the boundaries of your public report because matters within the scope of your investigation were covered by executive privilege, including information protected by law enforcement, deliberative process, attorney work product, and presidential communications privileges,”   As a result, the Justice Department is  interfering with Congress and preventing the citizens of the United States from being properly informed about the alleged misdeeds and possible crimes of the president. 

Summary: It appears that United States Attorney General William Bar may have violate both the federal employee ethics guidelines and the Hatch Act and the penalty for that crime is termination.

 

Further Reading: How an Attorney General Works

Help Put America Back Together

Consider Joining Indivisible:

Find Your Group

 

The above blog post was asked by and written for the web site  IndivisibleCA39.org.

Posted: July 23, 2019
Edited comment:  July 27, 2021

Tape Measures That Will And Will Not lock

Tape Measures That Will And Will Not lock

Comments 0 Comment

I have the following Titan Quick-Read Tape Measures:

12 ft x 5/8 inch  will not lock

25 ft x 1 inch  will not lock

33 ft x 1 inch will not lock

None of the Titan Quick-Read tapes will lock the tape in place when the tape is extended out from the tape container.  I donated all to a charity.  I do NOT recommend this brand; a total waste of money.

What I do have that works are the following:

12 foot Stanley Write-On  – no problem

12 foot Stanley Power Lock – no problem.

25 foot Craftsman 939455 – no problem

Installing Kenwood 144/430 MHz Dual Bander, Model TM-D710A Into 2009 RAV4

Installing Kenwood 144/430 MHz Dual Bander, Model TM-D710A Into 2009 RAV4

Comments 0 Comment

I was given a Toyota 2009 RAV4 from my sister who can no longer drive.  I decided to install an old Kenwood radio that I had purchased years ago into that vehicle.  The Kenwood TM-D710A radio is a dual display radio because two channels can be received. MSRP for the TM-D710A when it was sold $600. I have this model. E-Ham Score for TM-D710A: Average rating: 4.2/5
TM-D710A is no longer made.

Current, in production, model is TM-D710 GA, ($530 to $580). It includes a GPS (Global Position System) unit.
It also has a E-Ham average rating of: 4.2/5
Listed cost about $600.

Some terms that will be used:

      • APRS =  Automatic Packet Reporting System
      • CERT = Community Emergency Response Team
      • RACES = Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service

Radio capability:

• APRS Ready (I purchased a separate GPS unit for this radio) (I am using this) • APRS Weather Station ready
• KSS II+ (kenwood Skycommand II+)
• NMEA 0183 GPS I/O port
• Built-in 1200/9600 bps TNC (Packet) (Not using this) • Echolink Ready (Not using this)
• High RF Power Output (V/U: 50 watt)
• 1000 multifunction Memory Channels
• Dual Receive on same band (V+V, U+U)
• NOAA Weather Alert/RX (US Only)
• Voice Guidance & Storage option (VGS-1) This is installed.
• MCP Compatible with ARRL “TravelPlus”
• With “illegal” MARS / CAP Modification radio can transmit into FRS frequencies:

Cut one wire and remove one resistor is all that is required for this modification.  At first I did not have the guts to make this modification.  What changed my mind was when I shared this installation document to our local RACES group, a ham radio operator said he makes the MARS /CAP modification to all of his radios.  This modification results in the radio violating the FCC rules set for FRS (Family Radio Service) hand held radios.  BUT, in an emergency, all FCC rules are thrown out the window as they expect results for assisting aid, not compliance.

Antenna:

Diamond model NR770HNMO Average cost $60
E-Ham review score: Average rating: 3.4/5
2 meter and 440
No ground plane required
Gain: 3.0 on 2 meters and 5.5 db gain on 440. Connector: NMO

Antenna Mount:

Diamond Deluxe Luggage Rack Mount model K515SNMO. Cost: $70.
SMA connector attached to coax. SMA to PL-259 included. Installation was very easy. The mount allows the antenna to stay mounted but can be angled forward or backward and also side to side. This allows the owner to angle the antenna horizontally so the vehicle can enter a garage without removing the antenna. The antenna lead-in cable has a very small diameter. I used split wrap to protect the antenna cable for the portion of the cable exposed outside the car. I purchases a NMO protector cap.

I used Split Wrap and applied it to the antenna line coming from antenna mount and as it enters the car door.

Image below shows Split Wrap being applied to antenna line coming from mount.

Power Supply line Installation:

• Power line was routed directly from the car battery through the car fire wall and into the passenger compartment with 12 gauge wire. It took about 3 hours to make a hole through an existing rubber gasket on the passenger side using a small diameter Phillips head screwdriver. (see image below). Anderson Power Poles were soldered to the wire ends inside the car cabin.

• Connections had to be made at the battery and an in line fuse was included to protect this wiring. I used split wrap to protect some of the power lines within the engine.

Image below shows split wrap being applied to main power from battery.

 

The disadvantage of supplying constant power to the radio from the battery, is you could run the car battery down if you forget to turn the radio off. I set the APO (Automatic Power Off) to 60 minutes, just in case I forget to shut the radio off when I leave the vehicle for a long time. The APO resets it’s timer every time you make any change to one of the radio controls.

• The main radio was mounted on a plastic sheet. Under that sheet I placed the hook side of Velcro. This Velcro attached itself to the car carpet under the passenger seat with such force that I had to almost use crow bars to lift the radio so I could service it.

• A method was needed to mount the radio control head. A cup holder was decided upon because there was no impact into the car like glue or drilling.

I purchased the Lido LM-802 Heavy Duty Cup Holder Mount. Cost $45.

The Toyota 2009 RAV4 has 2 cup holders between the driver and passenger. This cup holder installation naturally takes up one of those cup holders. This car has rubber inserts that can be removed to make for larger drinks. I found that the radio mount needed those rubber inserts. Also, the mount expands or contracts to the size of the cup holder by turning the large knob just above the portion that slips into the cup holder. I had to really expand the mount so it would not mover around. Note that the mount, seen above, has 2 rings toward the bottom The one on top gives you more expansion and one below for smaller expansion. I had to use the smaller expansion portion.

There is also a large knob that compresses two opposing ball joints at both ends of the top portion. This allows you to angle both the cup holder and the radio head mount. I found that I had to try to keep the holder in a vertical angle as much as I could so it would be less prone to dip.

The radio head has dual display. Left side is completely separate for reception and transmission and so is the right side. I chose to have APRS  set for the right side of the control head.  When working properly the top right of the display are the words “BCON GPS” The GPS must flash on and off to tell the operator that the GPS receiver component for APRS is working properly.

I also had to drill some holes into the adapter plate that comes with the cup holder mount so the radio head plate could be bolted to the cup holder plate. (see next image below). The cup holder plate allows for slide removal of radio head.

The Kenwood mounting plate allows the radio head to also easily be removed because it has 2 sections. One section stays attached to the radio head and the other is part of the mounting plate. A simple press to release uncouples the two.  The Lido plate is bolted to the under side of the Kenwood plate.

• Audio Out Solutions

I found three solutions to providing audio out of the ham radio:

#1  The main radio has a single speaker that provides audio for both radio channels. But, because I put the main radio under the passenger seat, the audio favored the low frequencies.

#2  The automobile has an auxiliary audio input located in the console between the driver and passenger. The advantage for this method is the audio comes out toward the operator from the front of the car. The radio has 2 speaker outputs which were easy to wire into the Aux audio input. The left audio channel as seen in the radio display comes out of the left side car speakers. The right side of the radio display’s audio comes out of the right side of the car speakers. This audio has the best quality of the three solutions. I chose to put the APRS signal into the right channel and I turn that volume down because I do not want to hear the digital tones. In an emergency which includes CERT volunteers, I would shut off APRS on the right channel and switch to FRS. I like to keep the left channel for active RACES station traffic.

3. The third method was to mount 2 separate speakers to the driver’s seat headrest (see image below). The problem with this was the audio comes from behind the operator. When using APRS, the radio sends out tones which can not be turned off. The tones come out of both audio channels equally. Thus, those tones seem to come right behind the head of the operator. This audio solution takes some time to get used to it.

? Summary:

I swept the car antenna with a SWR meter and the results were near perfect for the whole 2 meter band. My meter, being very old, can not sweep 440.

The radio GPS (Global Positioning Unit) was a pain to keep working while I was setting up the radio. Every time I inputted a new list of frequencies stored in the radio, I lost GPS. I even had to do a radio factory reset. The number of menu items one needs to go through to make the GPS work, is over 15! Any one of those menu items being set incorrectly would take down the GPS. But, once I got the menu system set correctly, the unit worked perfectly.

I came to realize that putting this radio in this car really added to my capabilities for the city. Let me list the improvements that I can now provide:

  1.   My connectivity and capacity to communicate has drastically improved.  The range of this radio is 1 to 3 miles. The new car radio has 50 watts of RF power out when set to high power.
  2.   My exact location is available. With the radio APRS capability, I can easily be found on a map in real time using APRS Google Maps. I can also use APRS to find another operator that is transmitting their location using the radio control head. APRS shows direction and distance between stations in the control head display.

When you get another ham radio operator to show up on the APRS display, it shows a compass heading for that station.  If I press POS (Position) on the control head I see more information such as distance between me and the other station.  The compass shows the direction. It is this feature that allows a radio operator to find and get near another station that is sending out APRS position signals.

Anyone can do a Google search for APRS and a map will appear.  In the APRS image map, you can see APRS radios that have transmitted within the past hour within any zip code you specify.  You can change the station logo image. WX stands for weather station. I chose car for my Toyota RAV4.

  1. I now can respond at any time to a call out. Before, I shared a car with my daughter.
  2. My vehicle can carry support items. I now can take with me food, clothing, sleeping bag, tent, cooking devices. My car can be used to make supply runs.
  3. If I make MARS / CAP Modification to the radio, I can transmit into FRS frequencies. FRS radios are really handicapped by extremely low power and not being able to switch antennas. FRS radios have an awful range. But, if I were to open my radio up to MARS /CAP modification, then my radio would have way better receive capability and fantastic transmit power. Our job as RACES members is to support CERT volunteers and if the only communications they are using is FRS then we need to be capable of reaching them. It is illegal to transmit on FRS frequencies with this high powered radio unless there is an emergency.

APRS Web Site: http://www.aprs.org/aprs.html

MARS /CAP Modification Reference:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm-8vBU29pw

 

 

 

Posted 7/15/219

Google, Allegedly, Rather Stupid Sports Cell Phone Option

Google, Allegedly, Rather Stupid Sports Cell Phone Option

Comments 0 Comment

July 6, 2019:  Tomorrow I want to watch the final women’s soccer match with the Netherlands.  I did a search on my cell phone to find out when the game would start.  Google presented a new cell phone option called “Sports”.  I decided to give this desktop option a try.  After I installed it into my phone, an option appeared: “Who you’re following” and World Cup was right under that text at the top of the cell phone screen.   “World Cup” thus showed up as the most prominent option.  I chose that menu option but it only showed 2018 games only.  I think those games were men’s.    I could not find 2019 games.  I had to go into “News” menu item and scroll down to find The Washington Post story “Locked on and still hungry, U.S. soccer enters World Cup final aware of its legacy.”  I click on that option and the news article shows.  I sill can NOT find the rather impossible male chauvinist, obfuscated, rather incompetent path to find any information on WOMEN”S SOCCER”!  I gave up looking for women’s soccer.  I deleted the Google option form my cell phone.  I am looking for news not history.  Simply incredible.  Simply stupid!  Simply incompetent.

CNN Is NOT A News Channel?

CNN Is NOT A News Channel?

Comments 0 Comment

It is Friday July 5, 2019 at 7:44 pm.  I tried to view some current news.  I chose  CNN  but found they offered no news but some idiotic non news show, The Eighties, Video Killed the Radio Star.  I had to change channels to BBS and MSNBC.  Why is it that a channel that pretends to be news is not that at all?  Does this mean that CNN is a half baked news channel or incompetent news channel?

This country needs to hear and see exploratory facts, accurate investigations, concise news coverage to help discover what the real facts are, and show the meaning to explain the significance of the discovered information.  News needs to expand upon accurate views and facts, and pursue those results toward educating the American public because the public needs to decide who and where they support or deny that support to make this nation strong, fair and honest.

CNN needs to rediscover their mission.