The Leaking Roof Remedy

My latest effort to address the leaking roof problem. Two professional roofers have failed to solve it, and my two previous efforts were also epic fails. So here we have a ten foot gutter guard glued to the rooftop with four tubes of liquid nails all-weather adhesive, a tarp covering the base of the chimney sandwiched between it and a ten foot 2×4, all topped with 16 paving bricks. Lucky to have this mild weather for it to set up before a long period of rain tests the efficacy of the cure.

Update: two months and ten inches of rain later, it’s dry as a bone inside! StereoMan wins!

Kind help

Yesterday I provided in home service for a blind woman. Not merely “legally blind”, but absolutely not able to see. I got her two CD players hooked up and working (she has a backup just in case), and then figured out how to turn off the wake-up alarm on the backup (she had turned it on by mistake, and when it started beeping she thought it was a smoke detector and called in the fire department!). Then I helped her identify the different buttons on the remote, which involved guiding her fingers to the right positions as I explained what each button did.

When all that was done, she asked me to come in the kitchen and see if I could get her dishwasher started. To which I, of course, complied. She knew where the different buttons were located, but unable to see the indicator lights, she couldn’t tell that she had pushed one button too many and turned the wash cycle off instead of on.

Then when it was time to pay, she asked me to fill out the check, and then guide her finger to where she was supposed to sign it. I charged her $46 for my travel and my time. It was close by, and less than an hour.

I imagined how stressful it inevitably must be for a not-sighted person like her to let a total stranger like me into her house and allow me to work on her precious audio equipment. A lot of trust involved! It was so gratifying to me to feel that I had earned it, so satisfying to hear her say as I was leaving, “Thank you for your kind help.”

VW’s Are Strange

An unexpected challenge arose when I was doing a relatively routine speaker replacement on a 2011 VW Jetta. As is my habit, after replacing each speaker I turned on the stereo to let it play while I was reinstalling the door panel, to make sure it works and works right. When I got to this point on the fourth door, though, there was suddenly no sound through any speaker, and much to my surprise several other electrical components in the car stopped working: the door locks, the windows, the horn!

Blown fuse, right? How could I have blown a fuse by replacing a speaker??? There was no fuse diagram in the owner’s manual though, and nothing I could find online, so I had to hunt through the 50 fuses in the car’s interior panel one by one. But before I could finish this, the customer needed her car back, so I had to make an arrangement with her to return the car so I could resolve the problem.

Turned out not to be a blown fuse, but a shorted speaker wire inside the door frame, where I couldn’t possibly get to it. How to remedy such an issue? Replace the wire! Not an easy task, but not impossible. And once it was done, like magic all of the other issues were resolved as well.

VW’s are strange.

 

First step is to remove the rubber boot from the door frame and cut the shorted wire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First step is to remove the rubber boot from the door frame and cut the shorted wire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, the wire is cut at the other end, going into the speaker connector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, the wire is cut at the other end, going into the speaker connector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new wire has been run through the door frame, twisted and taped to the wire going into the vehicle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new wire has been run through the door frame, twisted and taped to the wire going into the vehicle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the other end of the new wire twisted and taped to the wire going into the speaker connector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the other end of the new wire twisted and taped to the wire going into the speaker connector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then taped the new wire to the factory wire bundle and reinserted the rubber boot in the door frame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shorted wire is inside that factory wire bundle, but it's no longer connected to anything at either end.

 

 

 

 

 

The shorted wire is inside that factory wire bundle, but it’s no longer connected to anything at either end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Generous taping is a must-do on any vehicle wiring job, not just for neatness, but more to protect the wires from the elements. esp. water and road chemicals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Generous taping is a must-do on any vehicle wiring job, not just for neatness, but more to protect the wires from the elements. esp. water and road chemicals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the repair is done and the rubber boot is reinstalled on the door frame near the hinges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the repair is done and the rubber boot is reinstalled on the door frame near the hinges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, the speaker is reinstalled, tested, and working properly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, the speaker is reinstalled, tested, and working properly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liberation

Are you one of those people who pays hundreds of $$ every year for cable or satellite service just so you can watch the local news and a few favorite broadcast TV programs? You might be a candidate for liberation!

Today I liberated a client from Charter cable by installing a simple rooftop antenna. Not one of those old school monstrosities with the long metal rods, just a simple little dish, less than a foot in diameter. Total cost for labor and materials was less than the cost of a year of cable TV service. When I was done, my client could get all the major networks – ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and Fox Entertainment – and all the sub-channels that are now being broadcast because of the extra bandwidth that digital TV affords. 29 channels in all!

 

Not everyone’s results are that good, but you can contact StereoMan with your physical address and I will let you know what is possible where you live. If it won’t work for you, I will recommend you stay with what you have. But if you’re in a good location, like my client today on Fairview Rd. in Oakley, I’d be delighted to provide the tools and skills to liberate you from your monthly TV bill!

Bose Makes Waves

I’ve been working on Bose products for years and years, with some success despite their complete lack of support for field repair. No replacement parts, no service information, no tech support, nothing. Still, I can boast a better than 50% success rate, just knowing how to take them apart, what common problems to look for, and what replacement parts can and can’t be used to complete a repair. Due to their immense popularity – and high cost – I have at least one Bose unit in my shop at any given time.

Recently a customer bringing one in for repair told me they had found out about StereoMan on the Bose website! Imagine my surprise to learn that although they are doing absolutely nothing to support my efforts, they are happy to tell people that I am out here to support their products. The irony is not lost on me, but I take it in stride. I’m here to support my customers, and if they’re willing to take a chance on me repairing their Bose stereo, I’m going to give it my best shot.

Apparently my best shot is pretty good. Good enough to get mention on the Bose website. Huzzah!

Dog Day

Today I had three service calls, one install of two new tv’s, two consults. Each of the three households had at least one canine member. The first was a huge dog, some kind of Labrador mix, quiet and friendly but not overly. She followed her master everywhere. The second was a tiny ball of fluffy fur with endless energy, she never merely walked when bounding was possible. Two dogs in the third household, one border collie-ish, the other like a smallish Samoyed. The collie greeted me at the driveway and I gave her a cookie. She carried it around in her mouth, without biting it, for several minutes, then trotted over to a nearby hedge and buried it.

I love dogs and I feel like they tell me a lot about their human companions, what kind of people they are. All the dogs I met today, they all had good humans. Good people.

Happy Frigid New Year!

It’s 2018 and StereoMan is back at work, dealing with the frigid weather as best as possible.

On a day like today (25 mph winds, expected high temperature of 23) it’s impossible to work outside, so I have to call and cancel my appointments. I regret the inconvenience, but thankfully my customers are understanding and willing to take a time slot on another day.

I’m so grateful to be working inside today! Besides the warmth and comfort of the Great Indoors, I’ve been able to spend a few extra minutes with each phone caller, of which there have been a half dozen already today, and with each walk-in customer, of which there have been almost as many! Not getting much bench work done just yet, but there’s still six more hours to my work day.

The Perfect Gift (Certificate)

If you’re thinking a professionally installed car stereo would be the perfect gift for a friend or loved one, StereoMan can help! Come by my shop, pick out the product you want, and along with the stereo I will provide you with a gift certificate for the installation, with the recipient’s name on it. Then they can call and make an appointment and when the work is done, present the gift certificate as payment. Simple? Perfect! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Saturdays … gotta love ’em!

I’m often in the shop by 8 a.m. even though I’m not officially “open” until 10. Gives me time for coffee and a little breakfast, tidying up, finishing paperwork, that sort of thing. Plus if one of my customers needs to drop off a vehicle, it’s convenient for them to do so before their work day begins. But I never make a 9 a.m. appointment.

This morning I was puttering around, cleaning the bathroom, emptying trash, around 8:30 someone came in, said “I’m your 9:00 appointment, I’m here early.” Heh. I thought for a second, then I said “OK, let’s get ‘er done.” So I gathered the equipment for the job and by 9:30 I was finished. Meanwhile, around 9:15, my 10:00 appointment showed up early. “Hang in there for a few minutes,” I said, “while I finish with this one.” I was done with the second job by 10:15.

The down side is that my breakfast got cold. And it looks like maybe my microwave is crapping out. On the bright side, I am ready for the usual Saturday onslaught of walk-ins without having to feel all apprehensive about getting my scheduled work done while I’m fielding their questions and making appointments with them.

Saturdays. Gotta love ’em.

Delayed Voice Mails

Jan 26, 2017

It seemed odd to me that when I got back from my Monday hike, there were no voice mails on my phone. But then this morning, like magic, they turned up. An hour later, I’m finally finished returning the calls!