Archived News starting from 12-02-2020 and earlier
Blog
With my
beautiful GLAS thermostat having now served me well for over 2 years, it was disappointing (but understandable) that JCI has decided to
discontinue the device. I immediately bought a cheap backup in case one fails in the future, but realized if support is ending I'd best get the latest firmware update now while it's still available. The micro USB port on the thermostat seems to provide power, but won't turn on the thermostat, so I was forced to use the 24v wires from my existing thermostats. Being lazy, I decided to use uninsulated wires to extend the HVAC wires so I didn't have to uninstall my existing thermostat. Of course they shorted, and of course it cut all power. I quickly discovered the 3 amp fuse my heat pump has to protect against idiots such as myself, and replaced it with a 5 amp I had on hand (3 amp on order). After my electrical adventure, the new thermostat finally
booted up and revealed a rather old firmware version. A quick firmware update and factory reset later, and it's now
on the latest firmware. I disconnected my Frankenstein wiring and packed it back into the original box in case I need it in the future. Hopefully JCI provides connectivity beyond the life of my current thermostats.
Less than a week after securing my prized possession, I couldn't resist pocketing the $300 profit potential. Within an hour of
listing my Xbox Series X for $799 it was sold for that ridiculous price. I'm expecting mid-April before they are back in stock at the regular MSRP, but I'm OK with waiting that long since my Xbox One X has all the horsepower I need for my current projectors limitations. Now I'm left eyeing my Series S which is selling for a $150 premium currently. If I sell both now I can effectively get one for MSRP when it's back in stock and only be out $50.
Last month after an hour of slamming refresh, I was actually able to secure pre-orders for both the Xbox Series X and S. Today
they arrived and after setting them up I'm not as impressed as I'd hoped. The graphics don't seem that much better than my Xbox One X was able to produce, but hopefully that gets better as the developers optimize further. The storage speed is vastly improved, all my games start faster than they did on my One X even with the SSD I installed on it. One drawback is a total drop for Kinect support, and of course my kids still play the dance game, so for now my trusty Xbox One X
remains to play a single game. Everything else transfers nicely to the new one. And now of course, it's time for a new
topology map.
On December 7th 2018, I decided to buy 30 shares of
ATVI after it dove down to $47.23 a share. Little did I know the massive government stock prop up plan known as the "Coronavirus Stimulus" would hit when it did, skyrocketing the shares to $84.60. Today I got cold feet, realizing the government can only print money for so long before it loses effect, so I decided to sell. I think a
79% ROI over 1.7 years (40.34% annualized) is a nice return, so that's why you're hearing about it. Oh fine, here's the
calculator link, but I'm sure it won't work a year from now.
In 2.5 months I've managed to clock 311 miles on my new (to me) Focus RS. Rolling over 17,000 miles seemed like a good milestone to get excited about, and so far I've only had one hard stop on my Progressive Snapshot. That puts me in "A+" discount position. I'm trying to avoid driving it at all until the snapshot period is over, but it's just too difficult to choose an ST over an RS when given the choice. I view 311 miles as a testament to my will power, since any rational person would have over 1k by now.
Shortly after I purchased my Focus RS, the dealer who sold it decided it was a good time to drill a license plate mount for a car that was headed to a state that doesn't require front license plates. Once they drilled it, there was no point in arguing, but today I finally eliminated the holes thanks to a
shady eBay aftermarket replacement cover. Removing the bumper to take off the cover was fairly easy. While I'm not a fan of the drill dimples, it looks
much better than the
drilled stock one it replaced.
Today I discovered the most useless piece of my HVAC system: the Static Pressure Regulating Damper. The purpose of this is to release extra air pressure when only one of my two zones are requesting cooling. This makes sense when you're concerned about overall system noise, but not when I could care less about noise when it's at the expense of cooling speed. The
insulation on this install prevents the weights from ever closing it fully anyway, defeating the entire purpose of it. I zip-tied it permanently closed for a much faster cooling with slightly louder noise and regret nothing.
Tired of looking at the cigarette lighter adapter running to my dashcam in both my cars, I decided today was the day I finally routed them properly. My Focus RS has an
unused sunroof 12v source that I was easily able to modify the dashcam power supply to fit into. The Focus ST had a
slightly more complicated solution, since it has a sunroof already using that source, but still relatively easy. Both cars already had a spot in the headliner for a wire to the european models more complicated center stack, so the end result
looks relatively stock.
After a kickstarter ad for the
WeatherFlow Tempest weather monitor kept flashing on my screen, I couldn't get the idea of mounting it on my mailbox out of my head. Fast forward to today, and I've gone and
done it. The weather data it puts out for having no moving parts is
pretty impressive. Some internet folks on the forums thought mail delivery would result in a false rain report (from vibration), but so far
no problems. If I didn't have cameras on it 24/7 I'd be worried about someone stealing it, but at this point I'm pretty sure nobody even notices it's there, since it looks like a post itself.
With the soon-to-arrive Xbox Series X, it's time to start purging my
excessive collection of Xboxes. It's hard to part with my years of acquired special edition consoles, but my recent purchase of the Focus RS helps me liquidate with a purpose. The actual
INCREASE in value on these things is also helpful. I'm always amazed when there are bigger nerds with more money than me willing to pay a premium for my old crap. Now that I'm pared back to minimum Xbox count, I'm ready to fill back up on the new version.
Hosted Domains
AtomicInternet
AtomicDetroit Forums
Web Applications
Photo Collection
Solar Generation
Weather Station
Gnome Webcam
Mower Status
Farmer Status
Outdoor Lights
Upload Box
Home Inventory
AtomicDetroit Forums
System Info
System Statistics
Proton System
System Uptime
ASP.net Version
Vehicle Info
1999 Mercury Cougar
2017 Ford Focus ST
2017 Ford Focus RS
2013 Kawasaki Ninja
With my beautiful GLAS thermostat having now served me well for over 2 years, it was disappointing (but understandable) that JCI has decided to discontinue the device. I immediately bought a cheap backup in case one fails in the future, but realized if support is ending I'd best get the latest firmware update now while it's still available. The micro USB port on the thermostat seems to provide power, but won't turn on the thermostat, so I was forced to use the 24v wires from my existing thermostats. Being lazy, I decided to use uninsulated wires to extend the HVAC wires so I didn't have to uninstall my existing thermostat. Of course they shorted, and of course it cut all power. I quickly discovered the 3 amp fuse my heat pump has to protect against idiots such as myself, and replaced it with a 5 amp I had on hand (3 amp on order). After my electrical adventure, the new thermostat finally booted up and revealed a rather old firmware version. A quick firmware update and factory reset later, and it's now on the latest firmware. I disconnected my Frankenstein wiring and packed it back into the original box in case I need it in the future. Hopefully JCI provides connectivity beyond the life of my current thermostats.
Search 1549 News Articles
Comment Statistics
