the Rinaldo family web presence
This Alesis MultiMix 8 USB 2.0 FX mixer/audio interface has worked well for me over the years in my home studio, but lately the switches were noisy and would take some time to try to get working right. Dust and grime had seeped into the switches and pots and they were dirty on the inside. I finally had enough of it, so I decided to tear it open and clean everything. Here’s a few pictures on my adventure:
I recently sought out a way to be able to charge things while my car is parked. I own a 2013 Chevy Cruze and the power outlets are normally off when the key is off. This overrides that behavior by removing a relay and replacing it with an always on connection. DISCLAIMER: This overrides something in the electrical system in your car. If you’re not comfortable making these kinds of modifications, then don’t. If you do decide to try, then do be careful and please don’t blame me if something goes wrong.
I had found this post regarding it, but could not load the images, so I took the information I have and created this page with my own images of making both the power outlets always on instead of the switched by the key. The first step is to locate the fuse box just inside the driver’s side door on the dash. Open the door by pulling on it, it will reveal the fuses:
Next, squeeze the two side clips of the fuse box to hinge it outward.
Remove the right-most relay (nearest the steering column) labeled R3 on this chart, and fashion something to connect the two large paddle connections. I pulled out the fuse box for photographic purposes, but it could probably be done without fully removing it, but just hinging it down and removing the relay.
Fashion something to connect the two large paddle connectors. In my case, I found an old plumbing part and cut it down with the Wiss M3 sheet metal cutters that I have on 99-year lease from my Grandpa and will pass along to my son/grandson at some point.
At this point, it’s just a matter of putting things back together.
Just put the cover back on and charge away all day and night. You can save that relay and undo the change at any time. Remember not to drain your car battery too much…you have been warned.
Today, my mower somehow got stuck in an “always on” mode. So I found the Torx screwdriver and opened up the switch assembly. After the contents sprung out even while opening it slowly, I had to figure out where all the pieces went. Here’s a photo after putting all the pieces in the right places.
Maybe this will help someone else when they go to repair their mower. Good Luck!
Here’s another AKG K240 repair job. I took on the job of repairing my friend’s headphones after they had already been repaired once. Since I had a good experience with repairing mine I thought I’d give it a try. Here’s how it went:
After removing the “emblem” cover:
Take out the two screws
Ready to open:
Apparently, the previous fix used some sort of putty or chewing gum to hold it all together. Unfortunately, the bars and wires could still move around and one of the previously repaired solder joints had failed again. So I took out all the gum and got the epoxy ready.
After getting some of the gum out:
Had this epoxy in the shop for some time, had to see if it was still good…it was.
All cleaned up, new solder joints on both bars and ready for epoxy.
The epoxy cures so quickly, I had to make a third batch for the actual repair.
After putting on the epoxy:
After burying the screw, I thought that might not be so good if there were ever another attempt to remove the bars again, so while the epoxy was still gummy, I removed the screw, cleaned up the area and removed the epoxy from the screw.
After cleaning the screw off, I gave it a light coat of petroleum jelly and put it back in.
Here’s one last look inside before re-assembly:
Time for some final re-assembly after 20 minutes or so…
And back in the box for an hour to cure.
After one final test, call it done…good as new!
Last night I discovered the left side of my AKG 240 Studio headphones was flakey. With a bit of searching, I found this was a pretty common failure for this model. After reading and looking at a few tutorials on the web, I decided to go for the repair. The failure point was obvious once I got them open, a flakey connection that became fully open once I exposed it. Follow along as I document my 15 minute journey to repair them.
Just getting started, need to peel back the gold cover “emblem” by prying off with my fingernail.
Once that was off, the two Phillips head screws were exposed.
Once the screws were out, I gently pulled off the cover exposing the wires and the red one just popped off completely. I also found a small bit of plastic broken off from the piece over the cross-bars.
After peeling back the insulation on the wire and tinning it, I soldered it back in place with a generous blob of solder.
If you notice, I touched the plastic around the edge a bit with the soldering iron, but it’s no problem, they went back together nicely.
The cause appears to be because of the movement of the two cross-bars that not only provide the mechanical connection from left to right, but also carry the audio signal electrically. If this should happen again, I will probably get out the J-B Weld and epoxy over where the cross-bars connect so they don’t move around so much in there. But for now, all is working once again. Yeah!
I’ve posted my old projects that used to be hosted on the old “dot mac” service. The .mac Archive page has some of the popular ones, the entire archive is there with updated links to their rinaldo.net location now.
