brunnhilde's bluetooth head unit firmware update - part 3

A man's with two mistresses is a bliss, or may be misery depends how you look at it. Brunnhilde is now upset because Isolde has been the center of attention, love and pamper. A while ago I tried to perform an important firmware update for Brunnhilde's head unit but ran into difficulty because on an error code.

It tuned out I have to send in the unit to Alpine service center for the update. At the mean time I bought the newer replacement model CDE-143BT for Brunnhilde thinking she would be elated for the shining new toy. Well she didn't like it and insisted wanting her CDE-133BT back. I have to agree with her that the old model is much more elegant despite the new model's improvements.

Today the CDE-133BT that I sent into Alpine for update arrived. No charge. One subtle feature difference between the two successive models is Alpine added the rear preamp out which double as subwoofer. I initially thought this would suit the application in Brunnhilde better because the old model cause the subwoofer amplification to track the fader setting. This is a nuisance when you changes the fader setting depending when you are driving or camping. It turned out I have been ignorant that the old model has a setting for the front/subwoofer output jacks. If you set subwoofer = on it functions as subwoofer output and the amplification does not tack the fader control. This should teach me to read the manual sometime.

I swapped out the CDE-143BT and reinstalled the old CDE-133BT. Brunnhilde both agree the old model has a very elegant appearance. Everything works and I verified the firmware had indeed been updated to 1.27. Although according to Alpine's firmware release note that the update fixed a few bluetooth related bugs with iOS 7.x. It also fixed the inability to control the iDevices in the iPod mode (that is when you opt to connect via USB instead of bluetooth).

here you can see the old CDE-133BT face plate design is cleaner, more logically laid out

it is so common for a company to mess around with what once very good design in the name for change for change sake; i intensely dislike the crucifix layout of the buttons on the left and the shifted to black dominant look

here with the 2 units side by side and you can certainly see better the incremental degradation between the two models (CDE-143BT on top); the old model has a more elegant whiter blue illumination and more legible backlit legends

Now with the bluetooth bugs finally behind me I can say I am very happy with my chosen upgrade to the audio systems:

• Alpine CDE-133BT head unit
• Boston Acrostic SE-45 4" speakers for the front
• Alpine SPS-510 5.25" speakers for cabin
• Kenwood KSC-SW10 compact powered subwoofer
• Alpine IR remote control

You can see this post for a better recap of the audio sound system configuration. Surprisingly even without boost amplifiers the system can be played quite loud owing to the advancement in audio amplifiers built into the head unit despite of the limitation of 12Vdc power supply. The system vastly improved the performance and functionality yet only with minimal increase in power consumption (due to the power subwoofer). The most important is able to maintain the factory look. The Kenwood subwoofer is the best fit as it incurred virtually no sacrifice of usable space. It fills in the bottom end allow me to keep the driver dimensions the same as the factory speaker. What I most surprised is how good the 4" Boston Acrostic speakers for the front and by listening to them alone you would not think the sound comes from 4" speakers.

It able to play the rite of spring with the brilliant thundering percussion at decent sound level and accuracy (despite the limitations of a mobile environment and acoustics). You can really appreciate what made this such a controversial piece at time of it's first introduction in the turn of the previous century. BTW, PBS's Paris The Luminous Years is an excellent documentary on the dawn of modernism with the luminaries of arts and literature. It is available on Netflix on DVD.

NYT had published a detail review of the documentary. It is quite fair overall but at time a bit harsh for such an excellent production on such a vast subject.

If you like Igor Stravinski a very entertaining movie that I recommend is Coco Before Chanel. If you watch both of these DVD, you would also see the important role Sergei Diaghilev played in promoting the early twentieth century avant-garde composers and dance performers.

I have been wanting to enhance the florescent light fixture above the dinning table in Brunnhilde. I don't like the orange-tint color spectrum and find it too bright for most of my use. I want to replace the florescent light with the LED lamp modules I brought back from Bangkok. I set out to explore a satisfactory change. As a design requirement, I want the ability to return it back to the factory configuration. should I want to one day.

front of the module

back of the module

 you have to loosen the 4 screws to detach the florescent bulb

 on the back side the plastic plate can easily be popped out

 you have to unsolder the two contacts of the rocker switch to remove the electron ballast board

My plan to make the enhancement reversible (as in most of my enhancements) is to keep the ballast board while at the same time utilize the rocker switch. Examining the PCB I can see that is a place where I can make an incision on the PCB traces to sever the power to the ballast electronics. This way I can keep the PCB in the assembly without risking damaging it (or cause a fire) while converting to LED lights.

close up of the ballast PCB

back side of the PCB - my plan is to severe the traces near one of the two spade terminals so I can still use them to provide power to the LED

 i experimented with 4-lamb and 3-lamb modules that i have and decided on the 3-lamb module

before committing the modification i temperarily tacked the LED lamp modules to the housing with masking tape

 bench test

 only draws 140 mA instead of about 1A

i installed it back in Brunnhilde in a mock-up fashion so I can do in-situate assessments before committing to the modification

The Westfalia lamp fixture only has a fresnel lens which works well with a florescent lamp because the lamp itself put outs diffused light to begin with. Replacing it with LED which is essentially very close to point sources the fresnel lens alone cannot effect sufficient diffusion. The lens only redirect the light to spread it into a wider pattern.

looking at the fixture you can see the LED is not as diffused but the illumination surface (for example a book) seems not too bad; i will wait until night fall to do more testing

i have new tenants - i helped put up this guest studio (the plywood on top of the light fixture) for the expecting robin family

I mentioned a while ago in another post that I could not stop this silly robin from trying to breach my big glass windows. I am sure this is the same robin trying to find a safe spot to build a nest. It eventually try to build one on top of my metal can light fixture. Problem is the plant matters it try to build the next keep slip off the fixture. See this I strapped a piece of plywood with some cable ties to secure it to the fixture to create a stable platform. I also installed 4 screws and wrapped a loop of steel while so the robin has a secure anchor to build the nest with.

there will soon be a family of 5! amazing, the eggs are blue

there were only 2 eggs a few weeks ago

I am looking forward to observe when the chicks hatch and eventually take wings.