LED dimmer noise

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My cheap AliExpress LED dimmers are noisy. Not audibly, but they output a lot of EMI (?).

One of my (triac?) dimmers has multiple Philips bulbs on it. When I turn it on, I can hear a loud chopping noise on my headphone amp.

Another dimmer is in the same socket as the amplifier for my speakers, and the cables run closely parallel to each other. When I use this dimmer, I can hear the same chopping noise on my speakers, and at a little lower volume I can hear it on my headphones too.

I’m thinking of modifying the dimmers by adding a coil to them. I’ve never used them before but I have a big box of de-soldered ones from when I first got a soldering iron and liked to disassemble things.

What I need, short of getting better dimmers, is probably a lamp debuzzing coil in series. There might not be enough space in the little dimmer modules to add an inductor, though. The dimmer running to multiple bulbs already has a junction box that I can put it in, so I can experiment with that one first. The coil should go on the load side (or at least not between the dimmer and the load).

I have no idea how to calculate the ideal inductance value, and I probably can’t even measure the inductance of the ones I have, so I should just experiment with a few different ones to see which solve the problem without affecting the dimming.

Polyphasic sleep

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I’ve always had problems with my sleep schedule. It used to shift forward slightly every day, and sometimes invert – and sometimes I had big sudden shifts in my sleep rhythm. I also used to often wake up around 3 or 4 am. At one point I just gave up with trying to have 1 long sleep, and would do some reading in the middle of my sleep for an hour or two and that improved my sleep.

I think it 2021 when I read about polyphasic sleep and I did a rather strict period of siesta-ext (6h30m+1h20m) for about half a year. The adaptation took a while, but afterwards this was the best sleep consistency and quality I’ve ever had. This schedule is a little reducing for me, with about 8 hours of sleep where my natural monophasic sleep duration is closer to 9 hours on average.

I still try to stick to the siesta-ext schedule as much as possible, but I’m not strict with it at all any more. It can be hard to fit the afternoon “core” in and I’ve been moving towards a much longer night core. I’ve tried to do shorter naps when I can’t do a full afternoon core, but I still only manage an afternoon sleep just a few times per week. Lately, my sleep time has been shifting forward again too – I have flexible work times but now it’s getting a little out of hand.

I’m thinking of being a little stricter for a while again, to get to a Biphasic-X schedule where I do sleep twice every day. This schedule is very flexible, in that the night core can shift a bit, and the daytime nap can be anything from 10-90m in the afternoon.

I think it would be good for me to stick to the following for a while:

  • Strict bed time; always go to bed at 00:00. This is just to get back to a more stable rhythm
  • Wake up between 7 and 8, with an alarm at 8 if I haven’t gotten out of bed yet
  • Strictly nap every day, between 11:00 and 18:00
  • Nap: core (1h20m) if I can, nap (10m or 25m) if I can’t. No 25m nap between 16:00 and 18:00. Set alarm/timer to avoid in-between durations

Deodorant

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Some ideas:

  • This recipe with zinc ricinoleate & zinc – hard to get
  • Alcohol based: isopropanol? Might not be good for skin
  • Try to recreate my current deodorant based on Triethyl citrate (TEC) – probably about 3-5%. Replace propylene glycol with glycerin like this product? Or this one? Formulations on Specialchem (or at least the ones without alcohol) have about 3% glycerin.

Some ingredients:

  • Glycerin
  • Triethyl citrate (TEC)
  • Xanthan gum? HEC?
  • Isopropanol?
  • pH buffer

I did find TEC (29%) in a product called dermosoft decalect deo MB, which also contains sodium caproyl/lauroyl lactylate (70%) and sage oil (1%). Specifically meant for deo. Maybe I’ll just buy that. At the recommended concentration of 0.5% however that’s only like 0.15% TEC though. Hm.

Laundry detergents

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I want to make my own soap-free laundry detergents; one for wool wash and one for general laundry. The general one should use aggressive surfactants, the wool one must obviously be mild. I haven’t made any detergent before.

I’m starting off my research here at thethingswe’llmake, where they use liquid SLS, coco betaine, and decyl glucoside as surfactants, salt as a thickener, and preservatives. This looks like a great recipe for cotton and synthetics, but the SLS is too harsh for wool.

Wool is in some ways similar to human hair, and on hiking trips I’ve used my (CG) shampoo bar for washing my wool clothes. I think if ingredients are not CG, they are probably not good in a wool wash detergent too. Handwashing with mild shampoo seems to be considered safe.

Wool wash detergents typically contain:

  • Surfactants such as SCS, lauryl glucoside, and cocamidopropyl betaine – similar to some shampoos.
  • Emollients like lanolin (wool fat). Typically 0-1%, or 5-7.5% in lanolin replenishing formulations. However lanolin is probably not what I want, it’ll prevent moisture wicking of the garments.
  • Preservatives such as potassium sorbate or 2-phenoxyethanol
  • pH adjusters such as citric acid – pH should be neutral to acidic (pH<4 can help preserve)

I guess I could just adjust the thethingswe’llmake formulation to use a milder anionic surfactant:

  • 5% SCI – poorly soluble so mix with coco betaine first (melt the surfactant phase?)
  • 5% Coco betaine
  • 3% Coco glucoside
  • 2% table salt
  • pH adjustment to pH 5-7 is ideal for wool, pH <5.5 is ideal for Geoguard, pH >6.0 is best for SCI because otherwise it will start to hydrolyse. Maybe another surfactant or preservative? Aim for pH 5.5-6.0 otherwise
  • 1% Geoguard

Soap press

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I want to make shampoo bars around 65-100g. The ones I buy from the store are about 6cm diameter, 3cm thick, 65g.

Some ideas:

  • DIY press using glue clamps and PVC pipe
  • Using a mooncake press – the common 50g ones are probably too small, but a 75g or 100g one would work. The press usually comes with multiple moulds
  • Using a rice ball (onigiri) press
  • Using a hamburger press
  • 3D print a puck mould like this one

Ways to keep the soap/shampoo/syndet bar from sticking to the mould:

  • Cling film
  • Corn starch
  • A drop of oil

Shampoo bar

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I’m quite happy with my shampoo bar. However, it’s only available from 1 shop and they’ve been known to change their formulation.

The current formulation uses the following ingredients: SODIUM COCOYL ISETHIONATE, AQUA (WATER), GLYCERIN, COCAMIDOPROPYL BETAINE DODECANOIC ACIDS, PARFUM (FRAGRANCE), OLEA EUROPAEA (OLIVE) FRUIT OIL, SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS (JOJOBA) SEED OIL, PRUNUS AMYGDALUS DULCIS (SWEET ALMOND) OIL, PERSEA GRATISSIMA (AVOCADO) OIL, CHONDRUS CRISPUS EXTRACT, URTICA DIOICA (NETTLE) EXTRACT, RUBUS IDAEUS (RASPBERRY) FRUIT EXTRACT.

The formulation clearly uses SCI in noodle/needle form to give the soap bar some texture, which really works well to get the soap into my hair so I want to replicate this. I’ll have to look up how to make a formulation without melting the SCI.

A similar recipe using SCI and Cocamidopropyl betaine can be found here although they use SCI powder. Also they add BTMS-25 which is what I already was going to get for my conditioner. Humblebeeandme also has a recipe including BTMS. Wait, this is what I was looking for! Humblebeeandme figured out how to leave the noodles intact. They use SCI/SCS/glycerin/oil instead of SCI/coco beatine/glycerin oil, and probably quite a bit less glycerin, but it’s close enough. The idea is that they use just enough water to dissolve the surfactants together but not enough to dissolve them completely. Alternatively, the secondary phase can be melted separately and mixed with the cold surfactants to melt them together but not melt them completely.

The 3 formulations I could find use about 90% surfactants, 2-4% humectant/binder, 4-6% oil.

Surfactants

  • Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) noodles
  • Cocamidopropyl betaine
  • BTMS-25

Humectants / binders

  • Glycerin – in original formulation probably used to keep the bar from cracking
  • Hydrolyzed protein – but I don’t want protein
  • Agar
  • Carrageenan

Oils

I’d like to use some lighter oils than the Kruidvat bar:

  • Sunflower oil
  • Almond oil
  • Argan oil

Formulation

Taking the savvyhomemade formulation and the humblebeeandme one as inspiration, this is the formulation I would like to try:

  • Primary phase
    • 50% SCI noodles
    • 29% Cocamidopropyl Betaine
  • Secondary phase
    • 2% HEC
    • 4% BTMS-25
    • 5% glycerin
    • 1% panthenol
    • 2.75% water
    • 0.25% citric acid 50% – aim for pH 4.5-5.5
  • Tertiary phase
    • 5% light oil (sunflower, almond, argan, includes fragrance oils)
    • 0.025% vitamin E
    • 1% Geoguard

Would need to get/build myself some sort of soap press though.

Toothpaste tablets

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I like using toothpaste tablets but they’re expensive and the store where I get them doesn’t always have them in stock. Recipe: Xylitol, Microchrystalline Cellulose BP, Dicalcium Phosphate Dihydrate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Mint Powder, Menthol, Sodium Fluoride.

Maybe this recipe?

Maybe use hydroxyethylcellulose? About 1%? The brand I’m currently using containts microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), and some brands contain up to 70% MCC. I can’t find any good sources for MCC, I guess calcium carbonate has the same function.

Hair conditioner

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I use a lot of conditioner and so far I haven’t found the best one to make my wavy hair easier to handle and more curly. So I want to make my own recipe. Apparently it’s really easy to make, with only a couple of ingredients: water, oil, an emulsifier, and a preservative.

The emulsifier

I found two very similar recipes using BTMS as the main ingredient over at Humblebee & Me and The Things We’ll Make. BTMS is a lightweight, plant-based cationic emulsifier that is apparently a really good detangler and hair conditioner.

BTMS-25 and BTMS-50 are roughly the same price, but the latter is twice the BTMS concentration of the former, although with less of the stabilising additives blended in. I want a thin, lightweight conditioner that doesn’t weigh my hair down much, so maybe using less of the more concentrated BTMS is the best option for me.

For leave-in conditioner, about 3% BTMS-25 seems to work fine, so maybe I’ll try 1.5% BTMS-50. The TTWM recipe is 5% BTMS-25 and the Humblebee one is 4% BTMS-25 but those are not specifically leave-in, for which they recommend a lower strength. Humblebee does have a 1% BTMC leave-in conditioner recipe, and that is about twice as strong as BTMS-50. I could try the BTMC instead, but it’s harder to get and I’d have to get cetearyl alcohol too.

The oil

I’m looking for a lighter oil, this rules out things like shea & coconut butter. Also, I’m not really looking for a coating oil that makes my hair shiny – what I’m looking for is a penetrating oil. The following I think are light penetrating oils judging by this site:

  • Sunflower oil
  • Grapeseed oil
  • Almond oil
  • Argan oil

Grapeseed is the lightest oil and sunflower is by far the most penetrating out of these. The other two contain vitamins, almond oil also containts proteins, and none of these should leave greasy residue on fine hair.

TTWM uses a 1:1 oil-to-BTMS-25 ratio (5% oil), Humblebee uses a 2:1 ratio (8% oil). If I indeed go for 1.5% BTMS-50, I guess I could start with 3% oil. I could also try the Humblebee formulation without oil first.

The preservative

I need to do more research but it looks like 1% Geoguard would work. Interestingly it is the most expensive ingredient at around half of the total formulation cost.

Other ingredients

  • Film forming humectants, plant gels
    • Panthenol – expensive but good idea, 0.5%?
    • HEC for enhancing slip? Should be 0.5-2%
    • Carrageenan
    • Aloe vera
  • Film forming humectants, hyrolysed protein – I’ll try without first
  • Glycerin

Folding Python delta trike

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The following is mostly a project post from about a year ago. I started ordering some parts but still haven’t settled on a final prototype design yet, even after I got some very good advice on a lot of aspects on the AtomicZombie forum. I don’t know if I will ever actually build it.

The idea: a recumbent Python delta trike, but make it foldable.

Design requirements:

  • Comfortably haul a 10kg 40L backpack, to go on hiking trips I otherwise can’t do without a car
  • Be able to take it (plus backpack) on a Dutch train, which means it has to fold down to a small size
  • Max 75cm total width, to fit through shed door and comply with Dutch traffic regulations more easily
  • Fun project to build together with my dad, who is an experienced aluminium welder and has worked on bikes before

Nice-to-haves:

  • Functions as seat when folded
  • Still rolls when folded
  • Can carry heavy/large items, e.g. using a 60x40cm Eurocrate
  • No dimension over 85 cm when folded – this would make it easier to carry on international trains too
  • Lightweight
  • 26” wheels – probably won’t work with the other design requirements though

What I’ve learned about Python trikes so far:

  • Inspiration: the only other folding Python trikes seem to be Howard Stevens’ Porta Velo’s, but folded up they’re still a little too big/wide for what I want, and the Russian Denedi trikes which more closely resemble what I want to do
  • Pivot point & seat should be as much forward as possible, to put more weight on front wheel. This is extra important because of the added weight of the backpack
  • Wheelbase should be as long as possible, also to put more weight on front wheel
  • Seat should be as low as possible for cornering stability, but not so low that there is no ground clearance

Current design idea:

  • Python type recumbent, with two rear wheels. Open space between the rear wheels for mounting a backpack, maybe with straps under the seat
  • Folding: the rear wheels are on double pivoted swing arms that allow the wheels to fold all the way against the front wheel. The seat folds forward over the three folded up wheels. When folded, the backpack can stay attached to the seat and the whole thing acts as a luggage trolley running on the rear wheels
  • Wheel size: 20”, because 24″ or 26″ would make the whole thing just so much bigger :(
  • Suspension: none. Perhaps a balloon tire in the front (Big Ben?) for a smoother ride, or even 3x balloon tires
  • Wheelbase: 90 cm
  • Track: 67 cm (total width 75 cm)
  • Pivot angle: 60°
  • Pivot type: Rod end bearings M12
  • Seat angle: 50°
  • Seat height from ground: 20.0 cm
  • Trail: -18.4 cm
  • Ground clearance: 11.9 cm – 15.0 cm
  • BB-EOS: max 76 cm (my inseam is 89 cm)
  • BB: Press fit in 40x3mm tube, adjustable with clamping bolts
  • Front hub: 8 speed gear hub with roller brake?
  • Rear hubs: Sturmey Archer 70mm drum brake, single mounted (12mm axle)?

Alternate designs that might fit requirements

  • Instead of folding, detachable rear wheel arms?
  • Upright two-wheeled folding bike design with rack for backpack?

Vacuum dessicator terrarium

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The lab was throwing out this vacuum dessicator because the lid is stuck.

I want to turn it into a terrarium / ecosystem, but first I have to get the lid unstuck.. Things I have tried:

  • Dissolving the hardened grease between the ground surfaces in alcohol
  • Softening the grease with sunflower oil
  • Heating the interface with a hair dryer for almost half an hour

I’m afraid to put more heat in it because I don’t want the thing to explode. I know it’s safe to -1 bar (relative to atmospheric pressure) but I don’t know how much positive pressure it could take. It’s pyrex glass though so it should be able to take concentrated heat.

Maybe I’ll have to make a wooden jig to slide the lid off with a lever, after applying the hair dryer again to soften up the old grease.

To be continued.

Radiator cover

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I’m making a radiator cover.

Goals

  • Hide ugly radiator
  • Extend windowsill for plants
  • Protect windowsill plants from touching hot surfaces
  • Work with fabric for a change

Steps

  • Measure
  • Find inspiration
  • Draw design
  • Buy materials
  • Cut materials to size
  • Assemble

Design

I would’ve embedded the Pinterest section I made for inspiration in this post, but apparently you can’t embed Pinterest sections, only whole boards. Here’s just the design I came up with:

It’s a simple design made out of wood, unbleached cotton and rope. Part of the wood is reused hardwood skirting boards that we had laying around. The plywood sides are closed, the bottom is open, and the plywood top has a 10mm ventilation slit. The whole thing is lightweight, which makes it easy to attach to the wall so I can vacuum under it.

I might put some reflective foil on the underside of the overhanging part of the windowsill extension, so less heat is radiated directly into the plants. I might even extend it all the way down behind the radiator, but I don’t know if the fabric I bought is dense enough to hide it.

DupeGuru on Fedora

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After many years of Ubuntu, I’m still a Linux noob. This is me typing out loud while I try to install a program.

I moved to KDE Nobara (Fedora) late last year and so far it’s been a nice experience. The only program I didn’t immediately manage to reinstall after the move (besides my wireless dongle) is DupeGuru. On their homepage they only give an option for Ubuntu as well as the source, and I’ve never compiled anything from source.

I was expecting this to be a whole adventure log with me learning to convert or to compile from source or something, but apparently they do have an .rpm package, so I installed that.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work straight away:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/dupeguru", line 88, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
             ^^^^^^
  File "/usr/bin/dupeguru", line 71, in main
    from qt.app import DupeGuru
  File "/usr/share/dupeguru/qt/app.py", line 22, in <module>
    from core.app import AppMode, DupeGuru as DupeGuruModel
  File "/usr/share/dupeguru/core/app.py", line 26, in <module>
    from core import se, me, pe
  File "/usr/share/dupeguru/core/pe/__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
    from core.pe import (  # noqa
  File "/usr/share/dupeguru/core/pe/block.py", line 9, in <module>
    from core.pe._block import NoBlocksError, DifferentBlockCountError, avgdiff, getblocks2  # NOQA
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'core.pe._block'

Instead of using a search engine, I asked AI (Perplexity) what to do. It told me to check if the core.pe._block Python module is installed and how to install it. That did not work and the AI kept repeating itself. So back to the search engine, the first hit was somebody with the exact same problem on the DupeGuru github. There the following was suggested:

sudo ln /usr/share/dupeguru/core/pe/_cache.cpython-39-x86_64-linux-gnu.so /usr/share/dupeguru/core/pe/_cache.cpython-310-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
sudo ln /usr/share/dupeguru/core/pe/_block.cpython-39-x86_64-linux-gnu.so /usr/share/dupeguru/core/pe/_block.cpython-310-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
sudo ln /usr/share/dupeguru/qt/pe/_block_qt.cpython-39-x86_64-linux-gnu.so /usr/share/dupeguru/qt/pe/_block_qt.cpython-310-x86_64-linux-gnu.so

I checked my Python version (3.11.6) so I changed the 310 above to 311 and ran the commands.

Now it works.

Yay.