Pro-Lite PL-M2014R Multi Color LED sign

I recently purchased two Pro-Lite LED signs on Ebay.  They were easy to fix, I just needed to replace the capacitors in the power supply. The old ones were 4700 at 16 volts, all I had was 2200 at 25 volts so I used them and they worked fine.  They are the blue caps on the left in this picture.

Here is a picture of both of the signs working.

Now to make a 9 pin to telephone jack cable so I can program them from a computer.

Getting the Pro-Lite signs to work.

The instructions say to make a 4 conductor telephone cable to a 9 pin female serial connector.  Red and Green go to pin 2 and 3 then the yellow wire goes to pin 5.  Well I tried 300 baud, 9600 baud, a sign ID number of 1 to 10 and nothing worked.  I reversed pins 2 and 3 to no avail.  I got out my voltmeter and checked pins 2 and 3 and they were right to begin with.  When they are wired correctly they should both meter about negative 2 to negative 5 volts.  I also found out that both the yellow and the black wire are ground and can connect to pin 5 of the 9 pin serial connector.

There were two solutions to my dilemma.  In spite of what the notes say both signs were configured to 2400 baud.  I figured that out by trial and error.  You are supposed to get a remote control and use that to find out what the baud rate and the sign ID is currently set to.  However if you select a sign ID of  ‘0’ it sends your message to ‘all’ or in this case ‘any’ sign that you have connected.  Telling it to display the time is an easy way to test the communications setup.  Once that is set you can move on to more advanced programming.

Silent Radio LED Sign

I have obtained two Silent Radio LED signs on Ebay and I intend on rebuilding them. To get one of them apart I had to reach through a hole in the back and cut the wires to the power transformer. To remove the logic board I had to use pliers on the screw head and pliers on the mounting shaft. In one case the screw broke off rather than come out. Tin sheers or heavy duty wire cutters can be used to remove the connectors between the sign and the logic board.

Once the board is removed the reverse engineering can begin. The pin-out is quite simple;
1. 5 Volts
2. Ground
3. Seven common Anode lines (5 volts to light up)
4. Seven common Anode lines (5 volts to light up)
5. Seven common Anode lines (5 volts to light up)
6. Seven common Anode lines (5 volts to light up)
7. Seven common Anode lines (5 volts to light up)
8. Seven common Anode lines (5 volts to light up)
9. Seven common Anode lines (5 volts to light up)
10. Ground
11. Data
12. Clock
These same 12 lines are available at both ends of the sign.  I broke a couple of runs when removing the logic board.  Maybe un-soldering it would have been a better idea?

My objective is to make a very simple straingtforward interface to run the sign from a PC. Perhaps use the PC's serial port directly, a 8051, a Basic Stamp or some other simple common controller.

Here is some of my old work on LED array signs;
http://sites.google.com/site/bobdavis321/led-array-projects

I have several posts on LED sign modifications. 
Check this one out for more on the Silent Radio Modifications:
https://bobdavis321.blogspot.com/2013/05/silent-radio-led-sign-to-arduino.html

Here is part three on Silent Radio signs:
https://bobdavis321.blogspot.com/2011/05/silent-radio-led-sign-part-3.html

And here is part four:
https://bobdavis321.blogspot.com/2011/05/silent-radio-led-sign-part-3_16.html

Here is a simple column driver adapted from one of my old schematics. The problem with this setup is that you cannot turn off the columns while updating the shift registers.  Perhaps another IC would work better? 

This is the error message it displayed on arrival:

Look@lan - a good network tool

Today while looking at the logs I saw that a computer was misbehaving however I could not identify the computer name.  I tried Nmap/Zenmap several times and several settings to no avail.  Then I tired look@lan and instantly got the answer! 

After looking around a while I discovered another feature.  If you click on an IP address it gives lots more details about that computer including all the open ports!

IPCop bit the dust again back to Netgear FVX538

Our IPCop server quit working again.  Network traffic slowed to a crawl so I called Time Warner and we determined that the problem was here.  I switched in the Netgear firewall instead of the IPCop computer and the network came back up to speed.

When looking at the Netgear firewall logs I saw that flood control was being activated by a computer about every 4 minutes.  So the problem may have just been that computer.  MBAM found and removed a virus.

The big complaint about Netgear is that the default configuration allows everything.  So you have to configure it to block everything then enable what protocols that you want to allow.  When you get done it should look something like this:

The 'any' 'block always' and 'log always' at the bottom is so that any attempted violation of the rules will be logged.  This is a big help for troubleshooting when something is blocked from working just check the log then add it to the list of allowed protocols.

Stuff to sell

I am selling a lot of my stuff on Ebay. Look on Ebay under bob_davis321 to find my stuff that is for sale.  My email address is bobdavis321(at)gmail.com  Make sure yo replace the (at) with @ so it will work.

Besides the stuff on Ebay I am also selling these three things;

1. Sold - My 'Super Thumper', washer launcher or 'Electromagnetic pulse device' based on the Bob Beck design.

2. Sold - My Improved 'Doug Coil' device with the capacitor switch box (QSC Amplifier is NOT included)

3. Sold - My 24 KV Power supply that is used for a Rife Tube driver (Rife tube is NOT included).

All of my devices are improved, cheaper, and simpler than the original designs.  For example the Super Thumper runs off an ac adapter making it much safer electrically.  The 'Doug Coil' uses 14 Gauge enameled wire making it much more powerful than when you are using one that is made with insulated wire.


Here are pictures of version 3 of the Super Thumper that is up for sale for $250, first a picture of the insides. 

 Then what it looks like on the outside, note the 24 VAC adapter on the left to power it..

I am looking for a cover for the coil to make it look nicer.  A mayonnaise jar lid might work nicely. Here is an updated schematic.  The input is 24 to 30 VAC at 1 amp.  Sorry that the schematic is so small, you can click on it and then it will get bigger.

Super Thumper Specifications;
Capacitor bank: 8 x 390uF at 400 volts
Power source: 24-30 VAC at 1 amp
Voltage Multiplier: 4 x 4A bride rectifiers and 7 x 220uF Capacitors.
SCR: Minimum 100 Amps at 400 Volts
Coil: approx 50 feet 14 Gauge enameled wire 3" in diameter.
Coil plug: 4 pin Cinch-Jones connector
Wire to Coil: approx 5 feet of 16 gauge stranded wire
Box size: approx. 8 inches by 6 inches by 2.5 inches

The Doug Coil Setup, the Capacitor is in a switch box to select the correct value.  I will include the coil and switch-box.  You can use a frequency generator program on a computer and the QSC amplifier can be purchased on Ebay.   I hope to have pictures soon. It works with as little as a 100 watt amplifier but a 250 watt model is highly recommended.  The QSC amplifiers can run into a 2 ohm load so they hold up better when running a coil that is only 1 ohm!

Here is a picture showing a 'normal' green Doug coil (I have 2 of them), my smaller coil (14 gauge enameled wire 9 inches in diameter) that is many times more powerful even with a smaller amplifier) and my switch box. The switch box I am selling is smaller (around 8 inches by 6 inches) and only has 6 switches on it.  Normal Doug Coils are made with 12 gauge insulated wire and they are very hard on your amplifier.

My modified Doug coil specifications;
Coil: approx 500 feet 14 gauge wire (enameled or insulated)
Wire to coil: approx 5 feet of 16 gauge stranded to 1/4 inch plug
Switch box: approx 8 inches by 6 inches by 2.5 inches
Switch box jacks: 1/4 inches input and output
Capacitors: Non polarized 1/2/4/8/16 uF at 400 VAC
Switches: 15 amp SPST switches

Capacitor values for several frequencies;
300    32
400    18
500    11.5
600    8   
700    6
800    4.5
900    3.5   
1000    3
1100    2.5
1200    2
1400    1.5
2000    1

Last of all is my 24KV Power supply.  Here it is shown running a Rife tube.

 Here is a picture of the guts.  The unit for sale is about 1/3 this size.  As you can see there is a lot of extra space inside.

How to get rich on the Internet - Part 2 -Link Farms

Or should I title this 'How a bunch of scum bags are destroying the Internet'.

First of all lets get our 'terminology' correct.

Link Farms - Worthless web sites that are just links to real web sites.

Dead end Link Farms - their links go no where.  The oldest I remember is motherboards.???  They just had a list of motherboard models down the middle of the page and lots of adds on both sides of the page.  The adds were for adult dating sites or worse.  The idea is that you are looking for help with your motherboard and you end up there where they will sell you help with your sex life.  Of course the advertisers were paying for referrals to their web sites.

Circulatory Link Farms - Their links go in circles.  Like if you misspell Staples you will find one, then you will go in circles that go nowhere.

Live Link Farms - These somehow follow sites like Ebay and create pages of links to live Ebay stuff.  How it works is that you are on Ebay and see something that you might like.  So you then Google the device name to get more information.  However the first ten pages of links all go to sites that in turn link back to the the Ebay ad that you started with!

Real Link Farms - These have real links to pages that you were looking for in the first place.  You might call them a 'monkey in the middle' Link Farm.  What is the point, if they did not exist you would have gone where you wanted to go in the first place.

PDF Link Farms - these scour the web for PDF files, then they sort them and then they create web pages of links to these PDF files.  These mess with Google's ranking by skewing search terms towards the pages with the pdf files because 'linked pages' are rated higher by Google.

All of these link farms have one purpose in mind.  To get you to see their advertisements for 'Pay Per View' or 'Pay per Click' so that they can make money off your searching usually without giving you want you wanted. 

The other day I came across one that really 'got my goat'  I was searching for some SEO help and I noticed that several of the sites all went to the same web site in one way or another.  So I was talking with one of their salesman and he said that they own over 1,000 domain names that have only one page and they in turn all point to their 'real' web site.

So there it is, follow these terrible examples and you too can be the next Internet millionaire!

Super Thumper rebuilt again

I was using my 'thumper' the other day and the diodes shorted out.  After looking at the schematic I realized that the diodes were taking the full force of the reverse EMS off the coil.  I changed the schematic to fix that bug.

Also I was able to purchase on Ebay about 50 of 390 uF 400 volt capacitors.  Thats enough to build five of these devices.  Here is what the rebuilt one looks like.

This is what it used to look like before I rebuilt it.

I hope to build another one that will use a 24 VAC AC adapter to power it.  This change will make it even more electrically safe that the current setup.

Targus PA248UI laptop cooler repair.

My daughters Targus PA248UI  laptop cooler stopped working. The problem was that the AC adapter jack had become completely unsoldered.  Click on the picture and you can see that all three pins are no longer soldered in.

The secret to getting it apart is to remove the 8 screws that are located under the rubber bumpers.

New bathroom to replace cast iron tub.

 My brother decided to replace the cast iron tub in his bathroom.  The old tub had to be broken into pieces to be removed.  Needless to say the project grew to replacing the floor under the tub and redoing the entire bathroom.  Here is the empty bathroom.

The new tub was designed to fit together precisely and not leak.

While he was at it a new sink was a good idea.

Dodge Caravan fan only works on high.

I have come across this problem a couple of times.  On a 2000 dodge the resistor block is to the left of the engine just below the wiper assembly and mounted onto the firewall.  It has 2 clips that hold it in place.

On the 2001 or 2002 grand caravans it is located behind the glove box.  There are two catch pins at the top sides of the glove box that push in and then the glove box drops down revealing the fan control resistor block.  Some fan controls use resistors (That resemble coils) and some have the new solid state version.  They are interchangeable.   The resistor model may be repairable.  I think it is the thermal fuse that goes bad.  Just replace it with a new on from Radio Shack.  The fan speed control block is dead center in the picture below.  Remove two wire plugs and two screws to remove it. 

Replacing a mobile home water heater with a normal one.

How to Replace a mobile home water heater with a 'normal' one.

1. Remove power (or turn off the gas).
2. Turn off water (Likely for the whole home).
3. Drain the old heater (if water is hot run it out first until it is cold).
4. remove the electric power or gas lines to the heater.
5. Cut the water lines to the heater.
6. Remove the old water heater.
7. Level the floor under the heater.
8. Remove the new heater from the box and Install it.
9. Add the cold water shut off valve.
10. Add pipes to go to the top of the heater.
  You will need the following;
     10 feet of pipe.
      4 x 90 degree elbows.
      2 x Male 3/4 inch connectors.
      1 x Shut off valve.
      1 x Union.
11. Fill with water and check the fittings - the top fittings leak the most.
  Add more Teflon tape and re-do the top fittings.
12. When the tank is full and not leaking run the hot water for SEVERAL minutes.
13. Reconnect electricity or gas lines.
14. Turn on electricity or gas.
15. The water should be hot in about 15 minutes.

Note: The old trailer heater had one 4500 watt heater element, the new standard heater had 2 x 3500 watt heat elements.  Trailer heaters have the water connectors on the front, normal heaters have the fittings on the top.

First the old heater.  Note that it has been leaking by all the stains on the floor.

Next the new heater. Note the old gray pipe as a shim to level it and the shut off on the cold water coming into the tank.  It looks like someday I might need to rotate it a little to access the heater elements?

PHP website attacks

I looked at our logs recently and was surprised that the normal visitors had jumped from 250 a day to 550 on one day.  Then I checked the error log and found this:

It is a new web site attack targeting PHP and Wordpress.  The evidence is that the lines all end in "//scripts/setup.php".  They attempt to target your PHP version then your WordPress version.

Asus EEE disassembly / teardown / crack open

How to disassemble the Asus EEE.

To start with remove the battery and find the four catches located under the battery. Unlock them and they should stay that way so you can remove the keyboard. Under the keyboard are about 6 screws. On the bottom of the laptop there are 4 screws. Inside of the memory compartment on the bottom there is one more screw. Two of the catches are shown in the picture below.  Unplug the keyboard and remove it.

After you remove the 6 screws that are under the keyboard the top half comes apart by undoing the several catches located around the outer edge.  You might need a small flat blade screwdriver to unhook them.  Disconnect the touchpad as you lift off the top half.

Once the top is off the screen can be unplugged.  Unscrew the wireless adapter.  Remove two screws one is hidden under the ribbon cable.  Remove three screws and remove the cooling fan. You should now be able to remove the motherboard.

I was taking it apart to fix a broken power jack.  However the jack was fine the problem was the AC adapter.  The outer braid goes bad about 1/2 an inch short of the plug.  You could likely fix it by removing the insulation and wrapping the ground braid in some fine like 22 gauge copper wire. 

Internet Security Suite - Fake Anti-virus

Well I just ran across a new version of the old fake anti-virus software.  This one did not even attempt to stop me from installing MalWareBytes Anti-Malware.  It installed, updated and nailed this sucker!

This is what the virus would do.  It would bring up this screen and gray out the rest of the screen.  Alt, control, delete was disabled. 

Here it is running right along MBAM.  Note that over 800 infections were detected!  Wow!  Then when I told MBAM to "remove all infections" it shut down the pop up.  Then, after a restart of the computer, the computer was working normally once again.

Windows Server 2008 taken down by Windows Updates

This morning Sage ACT was down when I arrived at work.  They had been trying to get the Windows 2008 server to work to no avail.  I logged in and answered a question that came up on the screen and everything started working.  The server wanted to know what kind of network it was.  I told it that it was a company network.  Not sure if that was the problem but it was part of the problem.  There might have been some sort of change on the network that had confused the server into thinking that it was attached to an different network?

When I checked the error logs I saw that one of the updates had failed to install.  Here are some screen shots of the error logs:  (Click on them to see them full size)

MP4 player Dissembled

Last year for Christmas I bought some tiny MP-4 players on Ebay.  Unfortunately most of them died after about a month of use.  One sat around in my drawer until this weekend when I decided I was going to dissemble it.  You should be able to remove the bottom cover with two screws then slide the guts up and out of the top.  However I could not get it apart that way, for some reason, so I cut it open with a pair of tin sheers.  I could not fix it or get it to work with external batteries, but that is a good thing, because I could not get it back together either! 

Here is what they look like inside if you wanted to see their guts:

Another Fake Antivirus - ThinkPoint

There is a new fake anti-virus out there.  It is not as 'tricky' as some of the older ones, as it can be defeated with out doing a lot of work. With the infection you cannot get onto the Internet and Alt/Control/Delete does not work.  I could not get any anti-virus program to load to fix it either.

I restarted the computer in 'safe mode' and was expecting that it had disabled safe mode, but it did not.  So I  loaded Malware Bytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) from a USB drive and scanned the hard drive.  It found only one infected file so I thought that it had missed the virus, but that was all there was.  The file is named 'hotfix.exe' and that is all there is to the virus infection.  Delete 'hotfix.exe' and you are good to go!

Kodak Camera Repair

Recently I was given a Kodak camera that was a few months old but was not working.  It had fallen off a chair and that fall had rendered it DOA.  After taking it apart to look inside I discovered that the battery contact fingers were not touching the battery.  The fix was easy, just bend the battery contact fingers up.  That can be done without taking the camera apart. 

Just in case you want a peak inside the camera, here is a picture with the front and back covers removed.

Facebook is infected once again

There is a new Facebook virus going around.  The biggest giveaway is that it uses shortened links.  The messages refer to a video of you or other things like that.  Don't open the link.  If you are infected the only way you will know about it is if one of your friends tells you that you sent them something that you did not send. 

Gateway W350a Laptop Conversion from vista to XP

My dad’s Old laptop was running Windows Vista and true to form doing anything with it was a pain in the butt.  So I upgraded it to Windows XP.  Once again Gateway does not support XP on that laptop so you have to go out and find the drivers for yourself. 

This time to find out what hardware was in the laptop I used a program called SIV or ‘System Information Viewer’.  It’s free and it does a fantastic job of identifying your hardware.  SIV told me what the motherboard chip set was the AMD ATI 690 and the network interfaces were both from Realtek.

Via Google I also found out that the Gateway W350 is also known as the T1625

Realtek RTL8101E-GR Ethernet:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=6&PFid=6&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

File name - PCI_Install_XP_2K_5719_10202010.zip

RTL 8187B Wireless:

http://218.210.127.131/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=1&PFid=1&Level=6&Conn=5&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8187B

File Name - RTL8187B_Auto_Install_Program.zip

Once you can connect to the Internet then you can go after the video and sound drivers;

Graphics drivers:

Go to support.amd.com and look for XP drivers for the ATI 690 chipset.

File Name - 10-2_Legacy_xp32-64_dd_ccc.exe 
Its many megabytes in size (I think 75 megs) so have a fast connection and be ready to wait.

Sound – Some say to use the Dell R134875 drivers but they did not work for me.  I also tried using the ‘Sigmatel’ drivers on the gateway web site to no avail.  I think the hardware is an ATI-791.  Some say to use Gateway CAB D00758-001-001


*** NOTE *** The best sound driver is sound_driver_92XXM4.zip

All of the drivers are available at  http://www.allquests.com/question/969837/Gateway-T1616-Windows-XP-Pro-upgrade.html


This is a typical SIV "machine" tab screen, click on it to see it actual size.

Interlocking laminate flooring

I used tiles to do the floor in the master bedroom.  The floor tiles have several problems.  They require luan to be put down first to be glued to, that takes a lot of time and increases the price quite a bit.  They stink, literally they give off a bad odor for months (currently over 6 months), stop and smell a box of floor tiles at the store before buying them!  And last of all we moved the bed and there are permanent dents in the tiles where the bed had been. 

So for the living room floor I used the Interlocking laminate - wood looking floor tiles.  It took 8 hours to do a 200 square foot floor.  The first 2 rows are the hardest to do.  When you tap in the next row the first one wants to come apart.  Then the lip gets into the groove so they do not go back together.  The floor is supposed to float, but I was tempted to nail down the first row then take the nails out after the floor was done.  Anyway if you can get the first 2 rows done then you can stand on them to do the rest of the floor. 

You might want to know that even though they easily snap together one at a time, when you have a row of 18 feet of them they do not go together very well at all.  You will need to get the tool kit to gently tap them together or make a tapping tool out of a 2x4 about 8 to 10 inches long by cutting a groove it it to match the groove in the floor tiles.  Also you need to keep each row slightly raised up (Put a pry bar under the leading edge to do that) until they are all snapped together lengthwise.  That allows some of them to unsnap slightly so they need to be tapped back together.  When they are gently tapped together they will then drop down to be level.

Hopefully soon I will have before and after pictures. This one is a before for sure!

And here is an after picture.  Note that the room was also painted and the door replaced.

Ban Java!

Some others are picking up on something I have been saying for years... "Microsoft reports 'unprecedented wave' of Java malware exploits"

Here is their link:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/microsoft-reports-unprecedented-wave-of-java-malware-exploits/7474?tag=content;search-results-river


And here is their chart to back it up.

Massive web site infections or false positives?

Are there many infected web sites including most twitter shortened links and Alexa.com? Either that or BitDefender is having a lot of false positives?

IPCop with Block Out Traffic - BOT

Installing BOT on IPCop is not for the 'faint at heart'. It takes some time because by default it blocks all traffic. Secondly there are easier ways to get it up and running than what they show on their web site.  You do not need to create 'groups' you can just add the items to the main screen.

Start by downloading and burning BOT onto a CD and take it to your IPCop computer.  Then do the following as seen in the screen shot below:

BOT Installation

-----------------------
Download BlockOutTraffic, burn to a CD and put CD into IPcop server.
type 'mount /dev/cdrom'
type 'cd /mnt/cdrom'
type 'cp Block [tab] /'
type 'cd /'
type 'tar zxvf Block [tab]'
type './setup'

When you first go to BOT, it is found under the firewall tab, you need to enter your computers MAC address so that once BOT is running you can override its settings and still access IPcop.

If you have forgotten how to find out what your MAC address here is how to do that, start by right clicking on your network connections;

First you have to create a new rule for each normal service, they are HTTP, HTTPS, POP3, and SMTP.  Make sure that you select 'default networks, Green Network' then 'Use Service, Default services', and use the select box to select the service that you are adding, and remember to 'enable' the rule.

once you have your rules enabled then you should see this screen.  Now there are some IPcop access rules that need to be added.  Mainly they are 'domain' and 'NTP'.  It will not work if you add them to the 'Outside' rules as your computers should be getting them from the IPcop server instead of from the outside world.

Last of all you need to add some IPcop rules in the advanced section too.  These allow all computers to log into IPcop not just the one that has their MAC address set up in the initial screen.