Unique Digital Clock with 4 functions

24 July 2014

This unique looking digital clock sold by IKEA Singapore for less than SGD$5/= has 4 functions;  it has a digital clock,  an alarm,  a digital temperature and a digital timer.   It is made in China and called KLOCKIS. 

The Construction and usage 

The clock measured  about 70 mm square and 30 mm thick.  It requires 2 AA size battery for operation.    The current draw is as follows  

Working Display with  LED light off: 7 to 13 uA

With LED light on : 8-15 mA

Alarm : 22 mA 

Therefore,   a set of  battery should last for a few months if it is not often used as an alarm clock. 

The 4 functions are as marked in the clock surface and the functions are selected accordingly when the marked function is at the top.  The LED light will change color  momentarily for each display,  red for clock,   blue for temperature,   green for timer and light blue for alarm. 

The Timer

The Clock

The Temperature

The Alarm Clock

The clock has only 2 setting buttons at the back, one for setting the digital and the other for adjusting the display.  The button only allows forward adjustment.   

The alarm will set off in any display function once it is set.  There is no alarm button to silence the alarm.  The alarm can be silenced by turning the clock from one function to another.  

Conclusion

This clock is useful in the kitchen,  bedroom and in fact anywhere. For SGD4.90,  there will be many satisfied customers.

User Manual

Wyatt card 32L Battery Operated Water Pressure Washer

30 June 2014

This battery-operated car washer was sold for about $45/= including shipping at Q0010.  It is suitable for most water cleaning jobs in cars as well as in homes.   It is a handy pressure cleaner for washing the air-conditioning outdoor units which hand-operated pressure washer just could not do the work properly.  The delivery was the next day which is pretty fast.  

Pros

1. It has a 32-liter water tank;
2. It can deliver up to 1.2 mpa (130 psi) water pressure; Its motor is rated at 3.0 mpa (430 psi)
3. It is potable and equipped with all cleaning accessories,   such as a water brush,  hose,      and water gun;
4. It has auto-start and stops function triggered by pressure sensing
5. It is safer to use as it operates from a 12 volt supply which requires 4 to 5 amperes for normal operation;
6. It is constructed from ABS plastic that can withstand rough usage.

Cons

1. A full tank of water can be quite heavy to be carried around without having a trolley, But one can always carry a half-full tank then fill it full tank with a pail of water. 
2. Water can leak from the bottom of the tank when the suction hose is not properly secured;
3. The manual is written in Chinese.

Compared to hand pump washer

Pros

1. It has a larger water tank;
2. It can deliver at least 6 times the water pressure for cleaner wash;
3. It does not have a pressure tank that can easily crack;

Cons

1. It can be heavy to move due to larger and heavier water tank

Compared to mains operated pressure washer

Pros

1. It is safer to operate using 12 volts supply;
2. It does not require any hose for connection;
3. Can get supply directly from car batteries;
4. Easy storage as it comes with a box 

Cons

1. Refilling of water is required from time to time;
2. Needs 230 volts to 12 volts power adapter for mains operation; 

Construction

The box is quite pleasing in appearance and comes with a toolbox that can store all the components and accessories.  The box can be easily stored away in the storeroom.

The Pump Compartment

Hidden away from view is the pump compartment that is located underneath the water tank.  It can be opened for inspection by removing the 8 screws that held the cover as shown here

The 12-volt motor is held onto the bottom of the tank by a set of 4 screws.   

Testing 

It is noticed that the tank must be almost half full before one can prime the pump to start using the washer. 

When filling up the water,   water started leaking from the bottom of the tank.

 

Why the Water Leak? 

Water was found leaking from the flexible silicone hose that was only  ‘threaded” through the compartment hole without any adaptor or connector. The hose was connected to a non-return strainer located inside the tank.   

The design requires the flexible hose to be properly straightened so that the water seal is maintained by the wall of the flexible hose.  Water can leak through the ‘kink” if the hose is not properly seated to seal the hole as can be seen from this picture.

What Can be done?

Temporary fix

Pull the silicone hose carefully with a light force from the strainer inside the water tank to straighten the hose.  This will make sure that the “kink” on the hose will be straightened out.  However,  as the hose is flexible and can collapse under suction pressure,  the “kink” will soon re-appear after some usage.

Easy Permanent fix 

Cut a piece of a plastic tube with a diameter of around 7mm.  Test if it can easily be inserted into the hole to expand the hose to form a tighter water seal between the compartment hole and the hose as shown.   While testing the correct size of the plastic tube to be inserted,  unleash the hose clamp and pull the hose from inside the tank until one can try to test the fitting of the plastic tube.  Try not to pull the hose out totally as it could be a pain to re-insert the hose again.

While installing the plastic tube,  always make sure that the plastic tube would be larger than the inlet of the water pump so that it would not be sucked into the pump should it become loose during operation. 

Performance  

The washer has a pretty strong water pressure that can even strip off the paint work on a PVC pipe as can be seen from this video.
 

The pump would stop and start automatically just like any electrically operated pressure washer.  It has also a polarity switch that can switch over the polarities automatically without worrying if one has correctly connected the 12-volt cable in the right positive or negative polarities.   

The washing operation is quite smooth although one would have expected the soft suction tube to collapse occasionally when there is not enough water in the tank.  However,  it should not have caused permanent damage to the pump.

Operating from a main operated power adaptor

The washer can be operated from a 12-volt power adaptor which must have an output rating of at least 6 amperes. 

Conclusion 

It is a cost-effective car battery-operated water pressure washer which is well designed except for the leaking flexible suction hose which can be easily fixed.  Other battery-operated water pressure washers would cost easily more than $100/=.  

Turning Food Waste into Compost in High-Rise Apartments

5 June 2014

In Singapore, more than 90% of the populations live in high-rise buildings.  Some might have luxury of balconies,  most just have common corridors for planting some plants and flowers in pots.  Not many have backyards that could be used to make compost which usually emits foul smell.  Many resorted to buying  pallet fertilisers from the shelves which can cost them a bomb over a longer period.

What is compost?

It is an organic fertiliser made from waste fruit peels,  skins,  vegetables and other organic foods.  They are usually left to decompose for a period of about two to three weeks until they are turned into partly a soil enriched with organic fertilising elements. 

How Compost was made?

Many in the net taught us how to make compost at home; some are suitable for high-rise buildings while others are not. Some used compost bins and some used earthenware to keep and make the compost. What they normally teach us is either to keep the waste in the bins or earthenware together with some dry leaves. These bins/earthenware might give out odours or scents and other rotten smell filling the whole apartment. 

What is the better method? 

Instead of bins and earthenware,  the better method would be to use plastic bag which every household will have plenty when they shop at the Supermarkets.  Instead of keeping the waste together with dry leaves,  one must treat the waste such that it will not give out lots of rotten smell.   

Preparing the compost 

1. Drying the waste 

A good method is just putting the waste under the sun. This will unfortunately attract a lot of small food flies and sometimes,  big flies which some may have strong objections.  However,  one can cover the waste with fine net mesh to keep away the flies as shown.   

It is always good to cut the waste into small pieces for easy spreading and for drying under the sun.

The other method is to fry the waste on a frying pan so that the heat will not only dry up the waste for safe keeping in the plastic bags,  it will also kill  the bacteria inside the waste.  

2.     Grinding the waste (optional) 

It would speed up the compost making if the waste is grounded every time for storage.  It is not quite necessary if one is prepared to keep the waste for a longer period than 3 weeks and not too fussy about the smell that may be emitted from the compost.   One could further fry the grounded waste to get rid of more moisture.

3.  Storage  

The success of the compost making will depend on how one can cultivate the anaerobic bacteria that will consume the waste and turn the waste into soil enriched with organic fertilising elements.  This is where plastic bags will come in handy as one can easily mark the plastic bags to keep track of the storage period as well as ensuring that there will be little exchange of oxygen that will kill the anaerobic bacteria.  

1.     Find a good plastic bag.  The shopping plastic bags are so thin that they would usually have small holes here and there.  To plug these holes,  inflate the plastic bag by blowing air into it and plug up the holes if any with masking tape. 

2.     Put the dry waste and spread it across the bag as a layer,  then cover it with 2 layers of ordinary soil. Active soil with some anaerobic bacteria in it will populate and digest the waste much faster than those inactive soil, idled for some period. 

3.     Mark the plastic bag with dates and keep in storage until 2 to 3 weeks later. Additional layer of same proportion of waste can be added to the plastic bag until it is full.

Precautions in Handling Compost

There were reports that some farmers in Australiaand New Zealandwere killed by legionnaire bacteria when they handled the compost with their bare hands and did not wash their hands afterwards.   

It is good to bear in mind that there would be many different type of bacteria in the soil and compost.  Legionnaire bacteria are one of such bacteria that could populate well under anaerobic condition especially when the waste is still wet before storage.   Legionnaire bacteria are commonly found in air conditioning cooling towers and also air conditioning condensate pipes and water storage if some part of the water is kept under an anaerobic condition. 

It is good to wear gloves as well as breathing mask when handling the compost as bacteria could fly around when the compost are being churned and mixed.  It is always advisable to wash the hands with soap and clean water each time after handing the compost.   Let the soil expose to the sun for a few day before handling them with the bare hands.

Review on Omron Blood Pressure Meter

2 June 2014

Bought this meter from Q0010 for less than SGD$90 including $4.50 shipping charge.  This meter was delivered within 4 days which was considered fast. The first impression was that it looked better than the Osim icheck 100 blood pressure meter I had had for almost 2 years.  I bought this Omron meter as a replacement for the Osim meter as the latter had not been giving accurate readings.  I had  to rely on manual method to get the readings done. 

Model and Features 

The model is BP742,  a lower 7 series of the Omron range.  It was manufactured in Vietnam.   It came standard with 3 main readings,  the systolic,  diastolic and the pulse/min reading.   The screen reading is quite big with characters measuring about 15 mm tall per character which is very easy to read for elderly who has vision difficulties.

Besides the bigger characters,  this Omron meter also has some other features which are useful:- 

1.   Memory storage for 2 persons.  Each person can store up to 30 readings that include time and date signatures.  The memories can be reviewed easily by selecting the front buttons. 

2    averaging the readings taken in the last 10 minutes 

It also comes with hypertension warning indicator. 

It is running on a set of 4 batteries giving a total of 6 volts supply.  It  did not come with a storage bag and a 6 volt adaptor.  The manual came together with the set are just description on how to use the meter. 

Inside the Meter 

Those guts inside the meter are also quite standard.  It has the following components 

1. The LCD display board
2. The electronic control board and the pressure sensor
3. The Pressure pump
4. The pressure header
5. The solenoid relieve valve
6. The orifice capillary valve

How it works

When the start/stop button is pressed,  the electronic control board will start the pressure pump to pump air into the cuff via the pressure header.  The pressure sensor in the control board will give the readings to display on the LCD display board.   At the same time,  air will also be released continuously through the orifice valve at constant speed as the solenoid valve is slammed shut.   The pressure pump will be shut off once the electronic does not detect any pulsing signal through the pressure sensor and the air is allowed to discharge through the orifice valve until the pulsing pressure is detected again and subsequently,  disappears. This is when the solenoid valve will release the air completely and the LCD will display the reading. 

Accuracy Checking 

The meter was checked against a pressure dial gauge which had been calibrated before against a mercury pressure meter. The meter and the dial gauge are then connected in parallel to measure the blood pressures.   

The pressure readings recorded were almost the same for the two types of meters as shown in the following table. 

Dial Gauge (mmHg)	Omron meter (mmHg)
20	20
60	60
80	82
100	103
160	162
180	182

The measurements of systolic and diastolic pressures were also within close limits when compared between the manual dial gauge using stethoscope and the automatic Omron meter.

Overall Verdict

 

It is a cost effective and accurate blood pressure meter that will keep customers happy for a smaller sum.

Safe to Buy Stocks with Little or No Float?

26 May 2014


Someone has been selling on the idea when there is very little float,  for example in the case of China Fishery Group Pte Ltd (CF,  BOZ.SI) in SGX,  there would be little chances of prices falling drastically should there be a sell down;  it is pretty safe to buy and keep so to speak.  Let examine a scenario how things can always happen when everyone is complacent.  That is usually how the contrarians will profit. 

Security Lending and Borrowing 

Like most major bourses in the World,  SGX allows also security lending and borrowing.  This is done through the Central Deposit Pte Ltd (CDP) that keeps the registries of all stock and shares traded in SGX.   Any member of CDP can lend and borrow any amount of a particular stock exceeding a minimum lot  provided there are agreed lenders and borrowers.  The script lenders will get 4% interest which is  better than nothing sitting pretty in the CDP’s vaults.    Once lent out, the lender will temporarily lose the ownership of his scripts although he still has all the rights such as receiving dividends, voting and other rights.  The borrower who becomes the temporary owner of the scripts will pay 6% for the borrowing.  He  can do anything with the scripts such as for “covering” its risk in a margins trade or for shorting purposes.  Under the agreement,  the lender can still sell its stocks and CDP will make separate arrangement to cover until the period of the "loan" is over.

Margin Trade

Margin Trade is like borrowing money from a broker or an institution such as a bank to purchase stocks. It can be treated as a loan.   Margin trading allows one to buy or sell more stocks than one can possibly own using the normal channels. They will need little capitals because of the leverage,  sometimes,  can be more than 1 to 10; in other words,  one can buy $10/= worth of stock with just $1/=.  Margin Trades are governed by laws structural wise but not in the actual trades.  One must have the qualifications to become a margin trader and the brokers or institutions will need to comply with some rules and regulations.   In a way,  Contracts for Differences ("CFDs")  is one derivative of margin trades.

 A Possible Scenario

Trader A,  a prominent business man,   thinks that CF is a good stock and it will move up but he could get little through the normal channel because not much was traded in SGX daily due to very little float.  He goes to his brokers or his banks.  Because he is a big customer who can back up his  “loan  of shares” with his collaterals or cash deposits,  the brokers allow him to purchase the stock on a margins trade.  

Assuming CF went up daily,  Trader A will make tons of money because of the leverage.  There will be no top ups required for his margins trade and he can withdraw some of his winnings.  Assuming CF went down,  Trader A will be asked to top up the margins.  Now further assuming that Trader A could not do the top ups in time,  the brokers will have to right to “call” his margins trade with the brokers recovering the cost from Trader A.

Now,  one may ask how do the brokers “call” the margins.  You guess it right.  Besides threatening to confiscate Trader A’s  collaterals,  the brokers can also through some means,   taking the opportunity to “short sell” CF using  the borrowed  scripts.  They can always sell CF  in a Zombie way (selling without feeling of losses),  making “a pile” while Trader A will be footing the final bills.

Characteristics of Zombie Sale

Besides these zombies sale has no feeling of losses,  the brokers and institutions are also not in a hurry to buy back and return the scripts.  It will usually take a long time before the price can rise again.

 

Catching the falling knife

It has become an even better ground for the brokers to short sell the market using borrowed scripts when SGX started clamping down the short sellers.  First, they said one cannot short-sell without covering within the day; otherwise, the buying-in will start on T+2.  Then, they modified later to say one can short-sell but must cover within T+3.  The buying-in by CDP will start at T+4.  

Either way, greedy investors now turned to CFD or margins trading where investors are allowed to buy or short any amount within the scope of  “limited funds and collaterals ”.  These are all performed and controlled by the brokers and Institutions. 

When the brokers and Institutions started making margin calls and afterwards, short selling the market,  it will create a falling knife pattern where many retailers will trade for profits by buying at low,  then selling at high.  How much will these retailers profit will depend on when the brokers and Institutions will complete their zombie sales.

The final winner is none other than the brokers and the Institutions as they will have the  control of the market and also enough collaterals to cover the damages and losses.  The retailers who rushed in to buy up the stocks think it was a bargain might contribute more to their winnings .

Transcend SSD340 Review

5 May 2014

Got this 256 GB Transcend Solid State Drivefor a Samsung Laptop R440.  Q0010 has a price tag of $159/= and it was delivered within 3 days. 

The Package 

The SSD was packed inside a hard paper envelope.  It contained a 3.5” mounting bracket and some screws.  There was no installation CD except for a mult-language quick installation guide that has little information about the installation procedures.  It tells something about how to upgrade the desktops and nothing about upgrading of laptops.

Software for Hard Disk Cloning

This is one of the most important steps.  To clone the existing hard disk will require special software.  Without any CD and explanation,  I instinctly used the "Acronic" cloning software to clone of the existing hard disk. This required me to dismantle the existing hard disk from the laptop and mounted it as an external USB hard disk together with the Transcend 340 as another USB hard disk.  The cloning process was smooth and all done within 1.5 hours for about 200GB worth of existing data transferred. The start-up also went without a hitch. Windows 7 started up with a 20 seconds from pressing of the start button.

Only when everything was completed,  I saw a little note on the side of the box saying that there is system clone software available from the Transcend website.

Performance

The Samsung R440 has an i5 CPU running @ 2.4 GHz and this laptop has an installed memory of 4 GB and runs on a 64-bit Windows 7 operating system.

Comparing the start up timing,  one can see that Transcend SSD is much faster than  the original Samsung HM321.  The Transcend started up all within 20 seconds whereas Samsung hard disk took about 3 times as much time to start up the same Windows 7 laptop.

  

In term of ASSSD measurement,  one can see that Transcend 340 is 6 times as fast in turn of read and write capabilities as shown in the attached pictures.

The Transcend Software

The Transcend Software that can be downloaded free is called “SSD scope”.  It has about 6 functions as shown below.   Again,  there isn’t much explanation on how to use the software and I found only the “TRIM check" useful besides the “system clone” which I presumed is for cloning of the hard disk of the laptop.  It may allow one to clone the hard disk by mounting the SSD as an external hard disk.

Conclusion

Most 256 GB SSD in the market cost more than SGD$200.  Although the  performance of Transcend SSD 340 might not be as good as those “bigger brothers”,   one should not notice much performance differences without comparing the SDDs side by side.   For a cost of $159/=,  there should be satisfied customers especially when the price come with a 3-years warranty plan plus a free 4GB thumb drive.

A Review on a AC/DC Digital Clamp Meter

17 April 2014

Just bought an AC/DC digital clamp multi-meter from Q0010 for about SGD$18/= including shipping.  It was manufactured in Chinabut it came pretty fast within 3 days because the cost included a QExpress shipment which presumably had the item sent from a local warehouse instead of the usual mail from China which may take up to 20 days.  The package came completed with the testing leads,  an English manual and a set of 2 AAA batteries

Branding

The set has no brand except a model number called DT3266L.  It came “humble” with all the ranges and functions comparable to the other more expensive models available in the market

The Ranges and Functions

The clamp multi-meter is one of the cheapest models manufactured.  It has just the following basic functions

     1. Amperage measurement:  AC only

1. Resistance measurement
2. Voltage measurement:  AC and DC

It has also a live wire detector for voltage less than 400 volts to test which wire is alive. 

The range of each function is listed in the manual attached.

Inside the Box

The clamp meter can be opened up by unscrewing 3 little screws that hold up the cover behind the meter.  Two of the screws are hidden inside the battery chamber and one underneath the “QC Passed” label (Note: The removal of the label may void warranty). 

The circuit board as shown looks simple and tidy.  It consisted of mainly surface mounting components,  one LSI (Large Scale Integration) and 2 ICs and 3 transistors.  It has 3 adjusting resistors for adjusting AC volt,  DC volt and AC ampere ranges and accuracy.

What is lacking?

A fuse for protection of the circuit board in case the meter is accidentally connected to an electrical mains when one had the range set,  for example,  as an ohm meter,  then use it to measure high voltage.  This fuse could however be added if one is handy with a soldering iron.

Reviews 

1. The meter is a handy tool for measuring of  AC currents.
2. It has other functions such as volt,  ohm meter measurement which can be also handy for electricians who does not need sophisticated readings.
3. With the LSI and surface mounted technology,  the meter was designed to last.

It is money well spent if one is just looking for a simple ampere clamp meter that can measure AC currents.  It is an economical handy tool for most electricians.

The Manual

Document (1) by skyjuice123

The COE tweaks

13 April 2014

Singapore controls its car usage and population using several measures.  It used road taxes in earlier days to control car usage as well as air pollution.   It then introduced car registration taxes later to limit the population growth.  When these measures failed,   it  introduced Certification of Entitlement (COE).  In between, Singapore tweaked the COE system,  introducing “weekend cars” for example.  The most recent tweak was to recategorise those cars in Category A. 

What is COE System?

Those who want to own a car in Singapore must first obtain a Certificate of Entitlement (COE) in the appropriate vehicle category. Each COE represents a right to own a car for 10 years.

There are altogether 5 categories for various types of vehicles and the COE are opened for bidding twice a month.  Category A  used to be for car of engine capacity of up to 1,600 cc and category B for those above 1,600 cc.  Category A was earmarked for mass-market buyers and sellers and therefore,  has more  COE available for bidding.  It has always commanded a lower COE prices.  

What is the recent COE Tweak? 

The recent tweak introduced a new element called “engine power” besides the original element of engine capacity of up to 1,600 cc for Category A.   Cars having a powerful engines more than 130bhp will no longer be qualified for bidding under Category A even though they are less than 1,600 cc.  This latest tweak literately “kicked out” more powerful smaller branded cars such as Mercedes and BMW from Category A.

What they said about the recent COE Tweak?

The critics and those in the car sales cried foul but the Authorities went ahead to implement the rule with the understanding that this  rule can be further tweaked for improvements to be made.  After 2 months in operation when the public did not notice a fall in COE prices,  the Authority came out to say that the recent COE tweak has achieved its goal to retain the car models for the mass-market.  Its goal was not to lower the COE prices.

What was the Authority’s Original Goal?

No one quite knew what the Authority’s original goal was although the mass was of the view that the Authority was trying to cap COE price in Category A when it was rising rapidly.  Some thought that owners of the branded cars like Mercedes and BMW usually have deep pockets and therefore,  they could hike the COE prices.

Why the Recent Tweak did not work?

If one were to analyse the recent tweak,  one would find that the recent tweak did not comply with the fundamentals of controlling the car population nor the usage;  instead,  it deviated with the intention to regulate the price of Category A.  It is "designed" to fail.

The basic economic theory always tells us that the price of a product is often controlled by supply and demand and not by product’s other properties such as shapes or dimensions.  

The recent tweak may have managed to “squeezed out” the branded car to the other categories but what good does it serve?  On the other hand,  the recent tweak “punishes” those car owners who wanted to buy more economical, efficient and more powerful branded cars.

Earlier days,  the Singaporeans'forefathers came out with the various categories of  taxes tied to capacity of the cars because cars caused pollution;  therefore,  petrol cars has lower taxes than diesel cars;  cars with smaller engine capacity has lower taxes.  They increased the amount of taxes and introduced car registration taxes to regulate the population at the later stage.  When that failed,  they introduced COE.   The original idea of COE was for bigger car to pay higher COE as it has a bigger footprint;  therefore,  occupying more valuable space.  For ease of implementation,  COE categories and the numbers were tied to engine capacities instead of the cars' footprints. That worked pretty well.   

Electric Cars

These cars will be taken by storm in the future when they have improved the energy storage system.  Electric cars could no longer be ruled by engine capacities nor could it be classified properly using engine horse-powers.  Electric cars may be able to churn out more powers than ordinary petrol engines for the same physical size because the energy driving system will be much smaller.  There would be a need for the Authority to reclassify the  present COE categories in the future to cater for electric cars.   It is hope that Singapore Government could introduce new tweak that would comply with the fundamentals of controlling car population and usage instead of tweaking  around with the COE price.

Conclusion

Singapore  Government has often learnt from its mistakes.  It has progress far to achieve what the people have today.  It is hope that Singapore Government can take the recent COE tweak on engine power as a lesson learnt and refine its future tweaks in order to serve its  citizens well.