Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

jmonroe1

@stickguy said:
they rail to the east coast of Mexico, then boat up to Newark, and get dispersed from there for the north east. I think they train straight up to the southern states like Texas. Not sure what they do for the west coast.

They put them on a boat so they can sit in Long Beach Harbor.

jmonroe

stickguy

Hermilliso is much closer to the west coast than I thought (close to Baja) so looks like a short ride up to southern california, so probably easier to train up that way.

xwesx

jmonroe1 said:

So, how many inches of snow was on the ground when you woke up that morning?

jmonroe

Nearly one.

cdnpinhead

The farther north you go, the less snow there is. That said, what falls, stays until March or April. At least that has been my experience.

roadburner

stickguy said:

I would not ding an audiophile for not wanting to fish wires on walls or do electrical connection work.

A local "professional home theater installer" wanted $10,000 to pre-wire a friend's new home before the drywall was hung...

jmonroe1

@roadburner said:
A local "professional home theater installer" wanted $10,000 to pre-wire a friend's new home before the drywall was hung...

That could almost turn you into an Alexa fan.

jmonroe

roadburner

jmonroe1 said:

@roadburner said:

A local "professional home theater installer" wanted $10,000 to pre-wire a friend's new home before the drywall was hung...

That could almost turn you into an Alexa fan.

jmonroe

When we remodeled the family room I did hire an electrician to run the BJC speaker cables, but I installed and calibrated everything else myself. I've seen/heard far too many systems installed by "professionals" that sounded awful and were ridiculously overpriced. As an example, one installer used a subwoofer 1/3 the size and wattage of mine in a room three times the size of my family room. And they had the nerve to charge over $100 for installation. What installation? You put it on the floor, plug it in to a wall outlet, and connect the RCA terminated sub cable from the receiver.

jmonroe1

@roadburner said:
When we remodeled the family room I did hire an electrician to run the BJC speaker cables, but I installed and calibrated everything else myself. I've seen/heard far too many systems installed by "professionals" that sounded awful and were ridiculously overpriced. As an example, one installer used a subwoofer 1/3 the size and wattage of mine in a room three times the size of my family room. And they had the nerve to charge over $100 for installation. What installation? You put it on the floor, plug it in to a wall outlet, and connect the RCA terminated sub cable from the receiver.

I thing I may have told some of this before:

When Son #1 decided to go into the house flipping biz in addition to wanting his houses to stand out quality wise he decided to install independent home run ethernet cables in all the bedrooms, living rooms, family rooms etc. where applicable. They are marked and terminated in the garage. Not only did we do that but we installed both high and low power and ethernet outlets so that you could wall mount a TV without having to hide the wires dangling down the wall if you decided to use the high outlets.

It’s a bit funny when his realtor takes close up pictures of the walls in all of the locations showing these high and low mounted outlets and rolled up cables in the garage.

When his mother came over to see the first flip when it was just about to be put on the market she asked, “what are those outlet things doing up there”. When he explained what they were she said, “what happens if a person doesn’t want to mount a TV up there? Then you have those unsightly things showing”. His response was, “then you hang a picture there, and NO, I ain’t providing the picture”.

So far we have heard positive feedback about buyers really liking that idea. It’s a good thing his mother isn’t buying any of those houses.

jmonroe

tjc78

@jmonroe1 said:

@roadburner said:
When we remodeled the family room I did hire an electrician to run the BJC speaker cables, but I installed and calibrated everything else myself. I've seen/heard far too many systems installed by "professionals" that sounded awful and were ridiculously overpriced. As an example, one installer used a subwoofer 1/3 the size and wattage of mine in a room three times the size of my family room. And they had the nerve to charge over $100 for installation. What installation? You put it on the floor, plug it in to a wall outlet, and connect the RCA terminated sub cable from the receiver.

I thing I may have told some of this before:

When Son #1 decided to go into the house flipping biz in addition to wanting his houses to stand out quality wise he decided to install independent home run ethernet cables in all the bedrooms, living rooms, family rooms etc. where applicable. They are marked and terminated in the garage. Not only did we do that but we installed both high and low power and ethernet outlets so that you could wall mount a TV without having to hide the wires dangling down the wall if you decided to use the high outlets.

It’s a bit funny when his realtor takes close up pictures of the walls in all of the locations showing these high and low mounted outlets and rolled up cables in the garage.

When his mother came over to see the first flip when it was just about to be put on the market she asked, “what are those outlet things doing up there”. When he explained what they were she said, “what happens if a person doesn’t want to mount a TV up there? Then you have those unsightly things showing”. His response was, “then you hang a picture there, and NO, I ain’t providing the picture”.

So far we have heard positive feedback about buyers really liking that idea. It’s a good thing his mother isn’t buying any of those houses.

jmonroe

We have Ethernet jacks home run to a panel in the basement. None of them are used. WiFi is pretty robust. I do suspect if my son starts gaming more that I may end up using it for his room. For some reason his room has the slowest speeds in the house.

Oddest placement for one of those jacks is in the ceiling of our upstairs hallway. I can only think it was for a WiFi access point.

mjfloyd1

The Ethernet could also be for a glass break sensor in a security system - assuming that there is a window in that hallway. Could also be for an alarm siren/ sounder or carbon monoxide or fire alarm

stickguy

JM, what’s the point of running them to the garage? Don’t they need to go to a modem?

kyfdx

stickguy said:

JM, what’s the point of running them to the garage? Don’t they need to go to a modem?

Central access, near the electrical panel, is my guess.
When they first started running CAT5 in new homes in the '00s, that's why they did it.

tjc78

Yeah home run to a hub in basement or garage. Then you can put the modem there too or repurpose one of the jacks to connect the modem to the hub. That is what I did to feed the media hub because burying the modem/router that far in the basement would kill the signal.

jmonroe1

@kyfdx said:
Central access, near the electrical panel, is my guess.
When they first started running CAT5 in new homes in the '00s, that's why they did it.

BINGO. You should be in the biz too.

jmonroe

stickguy

so the hub acts as a remote sub-panel type modem? That makes some sense. I only have my old desktop etherneted into the modem since the modem is next to the desk it is on in the living room. plus a nicer Wifi router connected to the modem with a cable. I suppose that could just be a longer cable run to another room!

When we move, if we build or remodel, I want to have jacks run to the places I plan to have equipment (TV and laptops). Tired of having Xfiniti wifi drops. Much rather be able to plug in the computers, especially the work one that never moves from my office desk.

jmonroe1

@tjc78 said:

@jmonroe1 said:

@roadburner said:
When we remodeled the family room I did hire an electrician to run the BJC speaker cables, but I installed and calibrated everything else myself. I've seen/heard far too many systems installed by "professionals" that sounded awful and were ridiculously overpriced. As an example, one installer used a subwoofer 1/3 the size and wattage of mine in a room three times the size of my family room. And they had the nerve to charge over $100 for installation. What installation? You put it on the floor, plug it in to a wall outlet, and connect the RCA terminated sub cable from the receiver.

I thing I may have told some of this before:

When Son #1 decided to go into the house flipping biz in addition to wanting his houses to stand out quality wise he decided to install independent home run ethernet cables in all the bedrooms, living rooms, family rooms etc. where applicable. They are marked and terminated in the garage. Not only did we do that but we installed both high and low power and ethernet outlets so that you could wall mount a TV without having to hide the wires dangling down the wall if you decided to use the high outlets.

It’s a bit funny when his realtor takes close up pictures of the walls in all of the locations showing these high and low mounted outlets and rolled up cables in the garage.

When his mother came over to see the first flip when it was just about to be put on the market she asked, “what are those outlet things doing up there”. When he explained what they were she said, “what happens if a person doesn’t want to mount a TV up there? Then you have those unsightly things showing”. His response was, “then you hang a picture there, and NO, I ain’t providing the picture”.

So far we have heard positive feedback about buyers really liking that idea. It’s a good thing his mother isn’t buying any of those houses.

jmonroe

We have Ethernet jacks home run to a panel in the basement. None of them are used. WiFi is pretty robust. I do suspect if my son starts gaming more that I may end up using it for his room. For some reason his room has the slowest speeds in the house.

Oddest placement for one of those jacks is in the ceiling of our upstairs hallway. I can only think it was for a WiFi access point.

It would have been a LOT easier to have let the buyer go with the WiFi type of signal but so far nothing has been proven to be as reliable as a “hard-wired” cable.

jmonroe

mjfloyd1

@28firefighter said:
@mjfloyd1 - I tried resetting the oil life. It went into hybrid mode for one driving cycle and then the fuel/oil refresh mode came back. I guess it should go into the Jeep dealer, but I'm slightly afraid of them making it worse, not better.

The 4xe is staying in hybrid mode with electric working. Not sure if it was resetting the oil minder or driving 30 minutes with warm engine or a combination of both.

kyfdx

When we built in 1998, I had them put a phone jack by where my desktop was going (lol). That was great for DSL, but not so much for cable/fiber.

In 2009, we finished the lower level, and I had them run a 50 foot CAT6 cable from my desktop location to the new entertainment center, as my son was playing Call of Duty, and stringing the cable up to his bedroom. This worked out great, as intended.

But, it's really paid off now, as that cable is plugged into the fiber TV box downstairs, and I'm able to hardwire my desktop into my 500mb internet. I could use wi-fi for it, but it works so much better. Getting actual wire to my desktop location would be a real pain, now, and involve many drywall holes.

Sometimes, old technology decisions pay off.

stickguy

I have considered getting one of the pod wifi set-ups so I could get better signal out by the pool and in the garage. But that would cost money, so it went on the list of things to do when I move instead!

tjc78

Hard wired is always better especially for gaming. My home office doesn’t have one of the jacks but the room the hub is located in shares a wall, so that’s a project. Still pulling over 350 mbps through the air but I’ll see darn near the gig speed I pay for if it’s wired.

We “only” have 200 down the shore and honestly that is plenty. 4 TVs can stream at the same time with no lag.

Here are some pictures of the panel in our house. This was before I terminated and connected all the cable lines. All the data, CATV, and speakers are run here.

oldfarmer50

corvette said:

Apparently, my Tundra isn't burning oil, after all. Decided to give it one last check before hitting Autozone for some top-up oil, and it was reading just slightly under the full mark on the dipstick, after the truck had sat for an hour. It's weird because I know it's read lower than that before, if I check it a few minutes after I shut the engine down. I can only guess that the design of the engine causes it to take a long time to drain all of the oil back into the pan.

I only check my oil cold because of what you said.

tjc78

I’ve cleaned it up a bit, was done a bit sloppy on install.

Just realized this is CCBA. Sorry off topic

kyfdx

oldfarmer50 said:

corvette said:

Apparently, my Tundra isn't burning oil, after all. Decided to give it one last check before hitting Autozone for some top-up oil, and it was reading just slightly under the full mark on the dipstick, after the truck had sat for an hour. It's weird because I know it's read lower than that before, if I check it a few minutes after I shut the engine down. I can only guess that the design of the engine causes it to take a long time to drain all of the oil back into the pan.

I only check my oil cold because of what you said.

Some makes require checking when warm, but after sitting for 10-15 minutes (BMW for example)

graphicguy

I like to think I plan in advance. More often than not, I’m wrong in my planning. One of the few times I was right was running cabling through my house. At the time, no one could predict today’s tech. But, every room in my house has CAT 5, speaker outlets and landline connections. Obviously, I don’t need the landline connections any more. But, those speaker wire connections sure have come in handy.

I do have enough connectors to add to my already 7.2 channel set up. But, I’m not sure I want to move to Dolby Atmos configurations. I think I’ve hit the point of diminishing returns in the number of channels I need. Plus, subwoofers are now wireless. And, I have a mesh system for house/yard wide WiFi is great regardless of where I am in the house.

If I stay here, I will need to look at putting an eCar charging station in sooner than later, though!

oldfarmer50

kyfdx said:

oldfarmer50 said:

corvette said:

Apparently, my Tundra isn't burning oil, after all. Decided to give it one last check before hitting Autozone for some top-up oil, and it was reading just slightly under the full mark on the dipstick, after the truck had sat for an hour. It's weird because I know it's read lower than that before, if I check it a few minutes after I shut the engine down. I can only guess that the design of the engine causes it to take a long time to drain all of the oil back into the pan.

I only check my oil cold because of what you said.

Some makes require checking when warm, but after sitting for 10-15 minutes (BMW for example)

Really? That’s a new one on me. Figures BMW would pull something like that.

On a different topic, I was thinking about Hoovie’s recent Superbird purchase and how the seller had misrepresented the condition. BAT refunded their commission but it made me wonder how many other non-celebrities have had similar experiences with these online auctions.

It certainly reinforces my desire to only buy a car in person.

roadburner

@graphicguy said:
I like to think I plan in advance. More often than not, I’m wrong in my planning. One of the few times I was right was running cabling through my house. At the time, no one could predict today’s tech. But, every room in my house has CAT 5, speaker outlets and landline connections. Obviously, I don’t need the landline connections any more. But, those speaker wire connections sure have come in handy.

I do have enough connectors to add to my already 7.2 channel set up. But, I’m not sure I want to move to Dolby Atmos configurations. I think I’ve hit the point of diminishing returns in the number of channels I need. Plus, subwoofers are now wireless. And, I have a mesh system for house/yard wide WiFi is great regardless of where I am in the house.

If I stay here, I will need to look at putting an eCar charging station in sooner than later, though!

I agree, 7.2 is as far as I am willing to go. My basement system will likely stay at 5.1 but I my go with a couple of wireless subs upstairs.

stickguy

tjc78 said:

I’ve cleaned it up a bit, was done a bit sloppy on install.

Just realized this is CCBA. Sorry off topic

quite the set up. I assume the input is your cable coming into the house, that then just gets dispersed to devices?

stickguy

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

oldfarmer50 said:

corvette said:

Apparently, my Tundra isn't burning oil, after all. Decided to give it one last check before hitting Autozone for some top-up oil, and it was reading just slightly under the full mark on the dipstick, after the truck had sat for an hour. It's weird because I know it's read lower than that before, if I check it a few minutes after I shut the engine down. I can only guess that the design of the engine causes it to take a long time to drain all of the oil back into the pan.

I only check my oil cold because of what you said.

Some makes require checking when warm, but after sitting for 10-15 minutes (BMW for example)

Really? That’s a new one on me. Figures BMW would pull something like that.

On a different topic, I was thinking about Hoovie’s recent Superbird purchase and how the seller had misrepresented the condition. BAT refunded their commission but it made me wonder how many other non-celebrities have had similar experiences with these online auctions.

It certainly reinforces my desire to only buy a car in person.

Auctions are pretty much always you bought it, you own it. So I imagine there are plenty of those situations. And it is not easy to get restitution, especially if you can't afford expensive lawyers. so you better really trust the seller (and at this point, there are dealers that basically sell all their inventory off those sites, so they do have a track record to base it on).

stickguy

I did tell my wife that when we move I plan to finally unearth the audio components and set a system back up. I used to have stuff out but it got stashed away years ago when we did a bunch of remodeling including new floors, and never came back out.

I just have a receiver with 2 towers and a center speaker in the family room. The sub is in the basement, not hooked up. Been a long time too since the rear speakers were hooked up (the wire I had run for that disappeared when we put in new hardwood floors). In the basement rec room, just have the ancient DLP projection TV hooked up. My son stole those speakers for his house. If we were staying I would swap in a newer TV and put back together a stereo. I even bought new speakers, which are still in the box!

I did organize all my audio gear into 1 place. With what is set up someplace, or on the storage shelf, I think I have at least 4 receivers (maybe 5), 3-4 DVD players, a CD player I got in the 80's, a couple of DVD/VCR combo units and my nice technics turntable sitting in the box. Out of all that I should be able to cobble something together!

I do have compact bookshelf speakers for the bedroom TV, and the new, bigger ones I bought for the basement. Plus my 1,000+ CDs in boxes. Man those things are heavy!

stickguy

oh, 4 portable speakers. 3 of which are bluetooth.

I need to have a garage sale, or drag this all to some used equipment dealer and sell it!

tjc78

@stickguy said:
quite the set up. I assume the input is your cable coming into the house, that then just gets dispersed to devices?

Yes the main cable line from outside enters in the box and then distributed out to the other rooms.

jmonroe1

@stickguy said:
oh, 4 portable speakers. 3 of which are bluetooth.

I need to have a garage sale, or drag this all to some used equipment dealer and sell it!

If any of it has value I can think of 3 guys in here alone that could be interested and 1 is pretty close to you.

jmonroe

stickguy

I forgot to add my tape deck. I think I got that one in college.

one receiver is even a Denon!

jmonroe1

@stickguy said:
I forgot to add my tape deck. I think I got that one in college.

one receiver is even a Denon!

I think I just heard a Volvo start up.

jmonroe

ab348

stickguy said:

I did tell my wife that when we move I plan to finally unearth the audio components and set a system back up. I used to have stuff out but it got stashed away years ago when we did a bunch of remodeling including new floors, and never came back out.

I just have a receiver with 2 towers and a center speaker in the family room. The sub is in the basement, not hooked up. Been a long time too since the rear speakers were hooked up (the wire I had run for that disappeared when we put in new hardwood floors). In the basement rec room, just have the ancient DLP projection TV hooked up. My son stole those speakers for his house. If we were staying I would swap in a newer TV and put back together a stereo. I even bought new speakers, which are still in the box!

I did organize all my audio gear into 1 place. With what is set up someplace, or on the storage shelf, I think I have at least 4 receivers (maybe 5), 3-4 DVD players, a CD player I got in the 80's, a couple of DVD/VCR combo units and my nice technics turntable sitting in the box. Out of all that I should be able to cobble something together!

I do have compact bookshelf speakers for the bedroom TV, and the new, bigger ones I bought for the basement. Plus my 1,000+ CDs in boxes. Man those things are heavy!

If you are anything like me, if you go to all that effort you will never use it once it is all set up except to test it initially. I have a basement full of vintage gear I will never use in my lifetime as well.

tjc78

@jmonroe1 said:

@stickguy said:
I forgot to add my tape deck. I think I got that one in college.

one receiver is even a Denon!

I think I just heard a Volvo start up.

jmonroe

Ha ha. You know me well.

mjfloyd1

@stickguy said:
I forgot to add my tape deck. I think I got that one in college.

one receiver is even a Denon!

Don’t forget the reel to reel🤣

stickguy

that I don't have.

and most likely I will set it all up more for decoration, but if I spend the time on it, may use it occasionally.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

I forgot to add my tape deck. I think I got that one in college.

one receiver is even a Denon!

Cassette?

I once had a home component 8-track deck.

ab348

kyfdx said:

stickguy said:

I forgot to add my tape deck. I think I got that one in college.

one receiver is even a Denon!

Cassette?

I once had a home component 8-track deck.

I still do. Actually it is also a recorder to let me make my own 8-tracks. Was useful when I had the Cutlass with the factory 8-track player.

stickguy

man, you guys really are old farts!

I never actually owned an 8 track. My old cars (a 67 and a 73) both only had AM radios. I did add an FM converter to the Duster. That was hot stuff back then!

jmonroe1

@kyfdx said:
Cassette?

I once had a home component 8-track deck.

I think I hear laughter in here but that thing might actually be worth something if only as a conversation piece. I’d be willing to bet you’d get more for it than what you paid.

jmonroe

breld

I just sold my B&W speakers last week on FB Marketplace. I’ve been holding onto them for decades but haven’t used them for years, so finally decided to free up the space on the storage room. Made a few bucks and someone else got a great deal on nice speakers.

mjfloyd1

kyfdx said:

stickguy said:

I forgot to add my tape deck. I think I got that one in college.

one receiver is even a Denon!

Cassette?

I once had a home component 8-track deck.

I am watching a movie on my Betamax. Not

oldfarmer50

kyfdx said:

stickguy said:

I forgot to add my tape deck. I think I got that one in college.

one receiver is even a Denon!

Cassette?

I once had a home component 8-track deck.

Is this it?

https://youtu.be/o28M41iiVRI

I see you liked scotch even back then.

sda

jmonroe1 said:

@kyfdx said:

Cassette?

I once had a home component 8-track deck.

I think I hear laughter in here but that thing might actually be worth something if only as a conversation piece. I’d be willing to bet you’d get more for it than what you paid.

jmonroe

I hear it clicking and pausing in your favorite song as it changes tracks!

sda

stickguy said:

man, you guys really are old farts!

I never actually owned an 8 track. My old cars (a 67 and a 73) both only had AM radios. I did add an FM converter to the Duster. That was hot stuff back then!

Audiovox?

stickguy

my memory does not stretch that far. But quite possibly.

corvette

Had my lowest MPG fillup of the trip so far today: 12.6 MPG over 256.7 miles. It was nowhere near empty, but I had to stop for lunch, so I figured I might as well.

jmonroe1

@corvette said:
Had my lowest MPG fillup of the trip so far today: 12.6 MPG over 256.7 miles. It was nowhere near empty, but I had to stop for lunch, so I figured I might as well.

If you want better MPG, next time plan a trip where you won’t have to buck head winds.

jmonroe