Saturday, January 9, 2021

Recumbent Bike Build

 My in-laws are trying to get a bit healthier this year and purchased a bike to with that.  We went up to help them get it out of their trunk and put together.  The thing is a beast, the box says it weighted in at 163 pounds and I believe it.  Jen and I were able to muscle it into the house, then Nick and I were able to work through the 4 steps to put it together.

It went together pretty easily and seem like a sturdy bike.  They purchased it locally, but it is a Spirit XBR55 Recumbent Bike.  They found it for $1350, about 1500 after tax.  We saved them $150 by putting it together for them.

Now the key is for them to use it.  Lets hope so!




Friday, January 8, 2021

A little organization comes into the world

 I forgot to take a before, but the cables coming into the box were long and coiled all over.  The panel was a mess.  I had to go in there to hook up the Ubiquiti router that I recently got to resolve some wifi problems we were having with our home school and work situation.

Once I got in there I realized the panel was a mess, so I went and ordered a little patch panel to help organize it.  At first I wasn't sure how to patch the wires in, but after reviewing the direction I figured it out.  Just match the colors, even though they are not in order.  It is the A style so hopefully that works with your setup, luckily it did for me.

I want to order some of the little black clips so I can attach some of the other things in there a bit better.

The Ubiquiti router I got is working a bit better.  I don't love the app interface that I have had to use though, it is very restricted.


Here is the little patch panel I ordered:



Replacing an Arc Fault Breaker

This is the view I like to see of my circuit panel, all buttoned up and happy.  However, for the last couple weeks one of our arc fault breakers has been tripping quite a bit.  Probably once a day or so.  The kids computers are on this breaker so needless to say it is quite inconvient.

It sounds like breakers do need to be replaced sometimes, so I thought I would just replace the breaker.  Turns out it is a little challenging to find the right breaker.  They don't make it the easiest.  But I was able to find a suitable replacmeent at Menards ($36, ugh so much more than regular breakers) and was able to pick it up on the bag sale, which was nice.

It always feels dicey to me to put my hand in the panel, but I was able to get the old one out and put in the new one.  Didn't realize for an arc fault you need to attach it to the neutral bar, as well as the neutral line for the circuit.

So we will see what happens now, I am hoping to not have to deal with it anymore.  Or at least for another 10 years.

We have not had any issues in the last 10 days, so that is a definite improvement.