Still in the garden.

The watering system made me think more about a garden that needs less attention from me so it can thrive if I am away for work. 

I thought of the orchards inside: They are not doing as well as the outside ones so lets put them all out there. Clear some space under the bananas, make a frame to hold the pots I reasoned and I did that. It looks good and a few weeks later they all seem fine. The space inside is filled up with cactus and succulents who can live for weeks without attention so this should work well.

I snagged a pallet from work on the Friday. It had long narrow planks and was heat treated so safe for plants. On Saturday I got out the saw and drill and just started without a plan. That's fun sometimes.

I made two and cleared out a space in the bananas and just kind of jammed them in there and added some props until it was level and stable.

It only took an hour and I don't expect it to last, thinking if it is a success then I will put some real effort in and make it more durable.

 

 

frames to hold the orchards in place... 

 

and then populated.

 Garden watering system.

I will be away for a few days and the seedlings can't be let to get dry at this time of the year. Not much time and I as always work on a budget:  Reviewed the timer tap controllers and sprinklers. Picked a controller from Jaycar and tried a rotating lawn sprinkler.

I thought if the timer software is not good but the hardware is Okay I might gut it and replace it's brains with a Arduino type controller then get all sorts of remote control. The hardware seems fine so far though and the software too. Lets leave it at that for now.

The lawn sprinkler just did not work and stuck after half an oscillation. I returned it an got a simple cone spray that is meant to stick in the lawn. I mounted it upside-down over the main garden and used the timer to set it running for 15 minutes at 6 am and 6 pm. It seems just fine for late spring and did a great job while I was away for 5 days.

Control unit and sprinkler.
 

I might tap into the hose that runs along side of the house with some screw in spray nozzles to water some potted plants to the along there. I put these pots in the empty spots of the garden under the timed sprinkler while I was away and that worked out well but I need that space to let things grow so the pots need to go back.

Then

Now

 I now own an 8 Track player

So I just found an 8 Track Player.....

 A Prinzsound CRD8, Serial # 001429 (thanks man)

I spent a bit of time on it to get it going nicely and it does now. Information on it is very sparse to the point were the above post was the only reference I could find on it.

I want to do a fairly complete post on the fix so that web can preserve the info in case others need it:

I opened the case and the hardware was all quite good. Heads nice and not even very dirty. Only one drive belt in the whole unit and that still has good tension. The power plug was loose so I tidied that up and plugged it in. 

No smoke or bad smells. Plugged in a David Cassidy 8-Track (the tape I cared least for was picked for testing) and it thumped into life ( really does thump. Big fat solenoids ) and plugged my 70 Technics EAH-220 headphones in.

Right channel fine, left channel nothing.

Got to be the rec/play switch. Stripped and cleaned with iso. No difference. Made a quick and dirty audio probe with a guitar amp I had to hand and found the signal disappeared in the left pre-amp just before the volume. 

No service manual to be found anywhere on the web. 

Drew a circuit and overlay then put it back together and started checking voltages on the left channel against the right. Second transistor in the left channel sus; replaced the 2SC871 with a BC549 . Sound in both channels but the left starts quietly then fades to full volume after 10 or so seconds. Replaced various electro' caps to no affect until I looked at the what I had considered the least likely electro which was the cap to the playback head. 

Replacing that fixed it and it now runs just fine. It was quite obviously swollen on removal and had interfered with the bias of the first transistor until the cap in the emitter path had charged up. Finally I put RCA plugs on in place of the DIN plug.

I'll post the overlay and circuit diagram I worked out in as follow ups to this post.

The only real lasting damage is that I now quite like David Cassidy. 

 

PC board overlay: Solder side.

 

 

Circuit diagram of the left channel :