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.

splendid isolde

Isolde and I have been together now for nearly 25 years now. We first met in Portland and for me it was love at first sight. She was born in a small town called Rheda-Wiedenbrück in Germany from a marriage to a much large family in Wolfsburg. When I first saw her I was awestruck by her beauty and her down to earth personality. She does not care for fancy jewelry or makeup. She dresses plainly but with poise.

vehicle tracking for brunnhilde and isolde

I have been testing this vehicle tracking device lately. My plan is to install one in Brunnhilde and one in Isolde. While there are few rough edges so far I have been quite happy with the choice. There are a lot of things you can do with it, in addition to some optional accessories such as video camera and shock sensor. With some technical skill and think out of the box ideas, you can expand its functionality further by interfacing to your own home brewed gadgets, or interact with an existing anti thief system.

brunnhilde's bluetooth head unit firmware update - part 2

I ended up buying a third Alpine car head unit. I have been extremely with the first I bought for Brunnhilde and the third would be installed into Isolde. I seized the opportunity for an opened-box CDE-143BT which is a refresh model of the previous CDE-133BT.

Because I don't want to live without a sound system in Brunnhilde I planned to swap out the existing CDE-133BT with the newly arrive CDE-143BT. The plan would only work if the two connectors are compatible. I noted that there are difference in the interface interconnect in the previous post. I concluded that these are immaterial in how I wired in Brunnhilde. The second potential problem is if the connector dimensions are different. Owing to the substantial relationship of the two models I wager that Alpine has little reason to change the connector. It was just an educated guess on my part.

brunnhilde's bluetooth head unit firmware update

I installed the Alpine CDE-133BT head unit in Brunnhilde nearly 2 years ago. After market automobile sound systems came a long way compared to even the top of the range systems 2 decades ago. The irony is today the after market automobile market is a lot smaller and most companies are making just meager profit due to nearly collapse of the demand. Most vehicles comes with not so bad sound system as most buyers perceive. Many vehicles have built in system that is very difficult to switch to standard DIN dimension after market systems. For me I seldom find factory sound system acceptable especially when I know how cost-reduce they are.

GM ignition switch recall - and my key chains

I happen upon the news yesterday that GM is asking NASA to conduct an independent assessment on if the problem with the ignition key assembly in the affected vehicles can be used safely if a single key is used. Seems GM is trying to find a cheap way out on this ignition key switch problem. From the little bits on the news report what I infer is the switch is susceptible to unintended rotation from drivers that have excessive amount of weight on their key chain. The excessive weight and coupled with the design of the key chain can impart sufficient rotational moment overcoming the detent and cause the ignition switch to rotate out from the normal drive position.

troubleshooting thermocouple thermometer

It is long overdue for me to look into the discrepancy of temperature measurements amongst the channels of my 10-channel Fluke thermocouple thermometer.

road trip - spring 2014, part 2

This is the part 2 of the road trip taken in the spring of 2014.

watching movies and tv in brunnhilde - part 2

There were some unfinished business with my setting up the streaming movie and TV in Brunnhilde.

servicing brunnhilde's kitchen extractor fan

In this autumn I noticed the kitchen extractor fan in brunnhilde began to labor and make noise. I thought to myself the bearing must be dying due to lack of lubricant. I refrain from using it as much as I could to minimize damage hoping I can extend the life of the electric motor.

watching movies and tv in brunnhilde

I have been wanting to set this up in Brunnhilde for quite some time and finally the time is ripe. I recently upgraded to a iPhone 5S from a 2-year-old 4S. For this application it is my iDevice of choice for watching movies and streaming TV online in the home on wheels.

brunnhilde's sewer vent final configuration

Ever since I acquired Brunnhilde the smell of the sewer odor had always been an on-going problem. I have done a lot of investigation and learnt a lot. There is not one single cause for the odor, but rather many potential causes. Of all however there is a glaring problem caused by the poorly chosen location and the design of the vent port. I had written many posts during the investigation. Recently I designed a vent port using a common household plumbing fitting. I have done quite a bit of field testing since and am satisfied with the result. What remain is to add the final touches to make the installation final.

shady boy sunshade for brunnhilde - part 3

Sometimes with a DIY project I underestimate the actually time, planning, and labor that goes into what seemingly a relative simple task. The installation of the Shady Boy sunshade is a good example. When I set out to swap out the Fiamma F45i awning that Westfalia provisioned on Brunnhilde with the Shady Boy I thought it would be a simple cakewalk. Just fabricate an adapter for the Shady Boy and it is done.

shady boy sunshade for brunnhilde - part 2

I spent a few hours yesterday making significant progress on the Shady Boy sunshade for Brunnhilde. I like the naughty and sinister connotation of the name Wolfgang chosen for this sunshade. I'd never met him but spoke to him on the phone when I purchased the sunshade nearly 2 decades ago.

shady boy sunshade for brunnhilde

I started the rough installation design of the Shady Boy sunshade which replaces the Fiamma F45i awning two days ago. The length of the Shady Boy sunshade (I think sunshade is a better term for the minimalistic Shady Boy) is much shorter than the Fiamma F45i it replaces. The case length does not span the distance of the two mounting points Westfalia provided for the Fiamma awning. This calls for a custom aluminum V-shape channel that serves as an adapter plate. It will span the two mounting points and the Shady Boy in turn be mounted onto.

eat, drink, no play, and sleep - aug 2013

What do you do when you are literally crippled? Watch a lot of TV and movies and eat. That was what I thought but I get a bit restless. Breaking my foot give me a taste what it is like to have movement challenge. While mine is relatively minor kind of immobility I realize how much difficulties it brings to daily chores.

odb scan tool for brunnhilde - part 2

I installed the new ODB scan gauge in Brunnhilde yesterday as soon as it arrived. I knew it will take some careful reading and understanding of how the tool derives the parameters to properly set it up. Last night I read through the entire 60 pages of the user manual. As I have mentioned in the previous post so far I found this product to be very well designed and executed. From the carefully written manual, the tasteful website design, truly informative FAQs, the Gauge Availability Estimator that actually works, to the frequent documented known issues of some make and models all add to my confidence in the competent design of this product.

odb scan tool for brunnhilde

I have been resisting adding another electronic gadget to Brunhilde. When I am driving I don't want to be distracted. Having owning this Sprinter based diesel chassis camper for over a year now and learning the servicing of this vehicle I  am now convinced that monitoring a number of crucial parameters of the engine management system is beneficial for an operator to get the most of this complex machine. One of the top benefits is improved fuel economy. With ever increasing fuel cost as well as the desire to minimize the carbon footprint are the major motivations for me to invest in this tool.

oregon this and that - july 2013 part 2

these guys were having major challenge to jack up the vehicle - they ran out of height range even on a professional shop jack

Just a post with a lot of miscellaneous things without a particular central theme.

brunnhilde's sanitation system field test

In the last two weeks I went camping trips twice. This give Brunnhilde's newly revamped sanitary system a thorough field tests. My regular readers would recall the major revamp projects are the conversion of the US RV style toilet and black water holding tank back to the European cassette type, and the grey water discharge system that I designed.