The Next America

Repairing the Lifecycle 5000

One of the stranger things of modern life is that the more stuff we get, the more stuff breaks. Yet the TV repairman is nearly out of business. Many things can only be repaired in distant specialty shops. And some of it is hard to transport -- getting an exercise bike out of the basement, into an SUV/pickup, dropped off, picked up, etc. is a lot of work. If I were looking for a small business for a mechanically/electrically inclined high school student, exercise equipment repair would be ideal.

So here's my Lifecycle 5000 story. The first computerized bike with variable resistance (though only one resistance program). Built for gyms, lasts forever. Doesn't require electrical power -- everything is powered by the alternator you're driving by pedal. Bought it used in 1997. Stopped working in 2001 (dead battery). From 2000 on, had problems where after 5 minutes or so, "surges" would occur requiring intense peddling far beyond normal to keep going.

1) Get to know National Gym Supply. They are your friend. The manufacturer could care less about individuals. NGS is tuned to small gyms, but they'll work with you. They provide phone technical support for troubleshooting -- not always the best help, but beats banging your head against a wall. They also offer exchange service, so you can have both your old and new parts on hand and really determine if the old part is broken. And a good catalog. Other sources have fewer parts at pretty much the same price.

2) Replace the battery ($25). That's their first advice. It may be wrong. I'd already replaced it in 2001. If you don't have a high enough battery voltage, the field won't flash on the alternator, thus power won't be produced at the right voltage. Being off a volt or two can cause a range of tricky problems and behavior. But if you can get "correct" behavior (select time, select level, pedal a couple of minutes) its not a battery problem. If the battery is below field flash voltage, you can't recharge it. Unless you flash the field with an external battery (one for power tools worked well for me)

3) Replace the alternator control board ($55). The "difficulty" of pedaling is controlled by adding artificial load to the alternator. The more power you're producing, the tougher it is to pedal. The ACB "bleeds" power through the huge honking resistor attached and has a circuitry to control the amount of power. Seems like the culprit, but its not. If this had failed you would likely see no change in perceived resistance, or a consistent increase.

4) Replace the alternator ($85). Interesting job -- get out your muscle wrenches. Ultimately, this fixed the problem. The alternator produces power based on the load applied. Once the power got beyond a certain level, the damaged brushes couldn't carry enough power, thus resistance increased exponentially trying to "force" the extra power demanded. Requires removal of the crank which requires a bearing puller (available at any auto parts store). There's a funny looking thing that looks like a setscrew on the crank -- ignore it -- just pull it off. If you could figure out another application of the same alternator, you could probably get it cheaper somewhere else.

5) Replace the alternator brush ($10.50). Probably an easier solution. I'd already bought the alternator so was committed. But on further reflection, probably would have solved the problem. No evidence of a general alternator problem, just a problem handling high power. And brushes are the wearable part.

The death of my Rio Karma

My wife's Rio Karma died. When I gave it to her 13 months ago, I got the "why am I getting a geek toy for my birthday present?" reaction. After a month, it was so heavily used that I can only borrow it under strict conditions of rapid return.

The Karma will no longer charge. After 10-15 seconds it stops charging. Looking at riovolution this is fairly common. A few people have replaced the wall wort successfully. One resoldered the battery connection to the circuit board. Unfortunately, a complete disassembly found nothing amiss. It is either battery failure or failure of the charging circuit. This problem is #3 for Karmas behind complete hard disk failure and the thumbwheel detaching (already happened -- doesn't really affect operation). The 90 day warranty is long since gone. Rio products are becoming notorious for technical excellence but extremely shoddy build quality and premature failure. However, if someone (probably an HD failure) is interested in selling their battery and charging circuit, I'm interested.

My wife insists on immediate replacement. Ebay sells them (refurbs) for $150. Or buy.com (new)for $180. But there's quite a reticence (especially from her) to throw good money after bad, even though the a working Karma has significant advantages over much of the competition.

So Ipod mini it is (I'll let my wife pick the color tonight). The Karma moves to car stereo use where it can be permanently plugged in.

An Obscure Tivo Problem

To all those people that told me that Tivo would change my life...they were right. And the IR blaster for cable box control wasn't as painful as I expected.

But here's an unusual problem I've had twice. Ever have your "suggestions" just stop recording? And soon so does everything else?

Mac, I'm seeing the same thing...for the second time.

I noticed it coming this time.

First suggestions start slowing way down. Then when you check suggestions there are only a handful. And they don't record. And after the record date they are still on the list.

A few days later season passes stop working (Oprah for wife stopped today). Yet some season passes are still going strong. When you go into them, the episodes aren't checked to record. And when you go into the episode it says "this episode will not be recorded". No conflicts or anything.

Yet it continues merrily taping my shows. Last time (two months ago or so), a restart would not solve. However, clearing program information and the to do list fixed it right up (though its obviously annoying to reprogram your season passes). You don't lose any of your recordings. This time I will try "clear thumb ratings & suggestions" first since the problem seems to be tied in to suggestions.

What kind of box do you have? I have a Toshiba SD-400H w/DVD.

BB

Sites like tivocommunity and avsforum are great for the home theater junkie. Chock full of information. (Why, oh why, don't companies take advantage of their status as pretty much prewritten FAQs -- it's easy to clean up answers, the hard part of a FAQ is knowing the questions). But their google power is abysmal. Sadly, this post will be far easier to find here than on its authoritative source.

Panasonic Plasma Unusual Failure

One for google: Did you know that Panasonic Plasmas (6UY) have a known error than occasionally "crashes" the screen into bright white when fast-forwarding a VHS tape? Power cycling corrects. There's a few indirect mentions on AVSForum. I've seen it twice in 7 months.