A 220V Car Charger for my Volt

This is a blog on a project that I started over a year ago.

Back in November of 2013, I bought a Chevy Volt to save on the gas used for my commute.  I estimated that I would save over $2000 per year in gas alone, not to mention the cost of oil changes. However, it only came with a 110V charger that took over 12 hours to charge fully, but I have to leave for work before it has enough charge to top off.

At around the same time, I was getting some quotes for electrical upgrades to prepare for a big home insulation project–The insulation was going to cover my entire attic and fill all the exterior walls so I wanted to address any electrical issues before then.  So, in anticipation of the insulation project, I had an electrician upgrade our home wiring (when it was built in the 60’s it did not use a ground wire).  Part of the upgrade was to put a second breaker box in the garage to handle my Volt’s charging needs, but I didn’t want to pay for him to wire up the charger (he was going to charge me $1500).  It was an easy enough job for me to do it myself, for $300.

My Volt needs a charger that has to be installed on a 40 Amp circuit at 220VAC; it pulls 30 Amps max.  The size of wiring needed to handle 40 Amp is 8 gauge.  When jacketed, it is big and tough to handle, but I wanted to run a 6 gauge instead (an even thicker cable).  Why?  In case I want or need to upgrade to a 50 Amp charger at some future date.  Since there is not a significant cost difference between 6 and 8 gauge, I might as well do it now.

In March 2014, here, I’ve cut the drywall boards to create access to run the 6 gauge cable (intended to handle a 50 Amp load).

 

After some cable routing, I run it into the breaker box and add a 40A breaker.  If I decide to upgrade the charger, all I have to do is upgrade the fuse because the cable already sized to handle a higher load.

That’s it!  The charger is installed, and I flip the switch!  I’ve been enjoying a full charge every night ever since.

Here’s a product pic of the Charger, Seimens VersaCharge:

And now comes the tedious part: patching up the holes I’ve made.  Fast forward a whole year and I finally get around to patching them up last weekend.  It’s been a year since I started this project? Where did the time go?  But, it’s finally done now!

A New Side Gate

One of the consistently grating things about our beloved home is the dilapidated side gate that never hung right ever since we moved in.  It had rusty hinges and rubbed against the latching post and made a loud screechy scraping sound each time I opened or closed it, not unlike the sound of finger nails on a chalkboard.  Every week I dread the sound as I pulled the trash bins out to the curb, and then more dread when I have to put the bins back.

After multiple attempts to relieve the scraping, including another attempt made over the weekend, I finally decided it was time for a new fence.  It was a pretty quick project and I find myself wondering what took me so long to come to this conclusion.  I guess it was not high enough on my priority list until now.  After a trip to Home Depot, it was pretty quick to put this fence together.  Much of the time was in the prep work: getting power tools down from storage, getting hand tools out, taking measurements, etc.

Below you see the redwood fencing already screwed onto the pressure-treated 2×4’s mounted underneath.  I would have gone for the redwood 2×4’s but they cost 2x as much!

Did you notice the “dog ears” at the top of the fence (bottom side of pic)?  Well I would have been okay with it to keep them but then I wanted to match the curved feature of the other gate we have.  The planks were spaced out uniformly (to account for expansion and contraction from temperature) using grout spacers I had kept from previous projects.

As an aside: did you notice the diagonal 2×4 across the gate?  It is a common mistake to run it the other way diagonally.  It is supposed to be in compression and, as shown, it helps to keep the gate from sagging under its own weight.  A good way to remember this is that the diagonal always points *toward* the latch.

A few measurements later, I’ve cut the top of the fence to match what you see to the right.

The fence rested on a spare plank to keep it off the ground (to determine ground clearance) and the holes for the hinges were marked and pre-drilled.  I then re-installed the door handle from the old fence (it was still new-ish) and I was good to go!

And now, AaaaHHH….the wonderful sound of silence when I open and close it!

A Shed. In Need, Indeed.

Ever since the birth of our first child, our house has been exploding with STUFF!  Does every family face this challenge, I wonder?  Well this family certainly does, despite my efforts to regularly get rid of stuff we don’t need: selling them, donating them, giving them to friends in need.  For the past 4+ years, our cars have lost the battle for garage space to all of the kids’ and family gear that clutter our house.

Storage!  We need more Storage!

I started by contacting TUFF SHED.  Great sheds but pricey!  A 8′ x 12′ shed finished and painted would cost us around $3800!  Granted that included all materials and the labor to assembly it on our property.  Ok, we are not THAT desperate for a storage shed!

Enter Costco.  A 8′ x 12′ Everton shed “kit” comes delivered on a pallet, with all the lumber pre-cut with very good assembly instructions.  $1100 delivered.  But that doesn’t include shingles for the roof.  No problem, an extra $300 took care of it.

Kitted pallet of the shed.

Start date, August 9, 2014:

I estimated 4 straight weekends to finish the shed, which means 8-hour days for Saturday and Sunday for 4 straight weeks doing it by myself.  I came close in total hours, but life did not cooperate with my strict schedule.  More on that later…

Rolling up my sleeves the weekend after our daughter’s 2nd birthday, I de-palletized the kit by moving it piece-by-piece into the backyard.

Here’s the kit organized on my back deck.  Most of the framing work was done on this deck, in the shade, so I was thankful for that in the August heat that spiked in the 80’s and 90’s.

The contents of the shed kit laid out on the deck.

Here I marked the spot where I planned to have the shed installed. A previously planted orange tree was in the way so I had to move the tree to another spot.

The intended spot marked. Notice the orange tree inside of the lines? It clearly needed to be moved.

I marked it with dissolvable paint and excavated and leveled 6 spots to put cinder blocks for the floor frame.

The intended location of the shed with cinder blocks for support, leveled and squared.

Flooring frame in place.

The floor framing came together pretty quickly, but I needed help carrying it to the exact spot.  My cousin Kenny dropped in for a visit one day and I put him to work helping me carrying it to the spot.

Often times, I had to keep an eye on Elliot while I worked, because he wanted to hang out with me regardless of what I was doing.  I had to warn him what not to touch and what he was allowed to play with, and he was great for the most part, being a “good listener.”

Elliot learning how to handle a hammer and nails.

The wall panels and roofing A-frame I pre-assembled on the deck.

The 4 walls and roofing A-frame came together pretty quickly too, but positioning them together and holding them up temporarily while being nailed down required the hands of a helpful neighbor, Brian, from down the cul-de-sac.

The floor, walls, and roofing A-frame in place.

Adding exterior panels.

The doors and roof panels installed.

The roof panels fitted with 2×4’s so I can walk across them.

Hoisting the panels up to the roof was a technical challenge, one that made me use my engineering skills to plan and execute.  Since these panels are quite heavy to carry up the steep (5:9) roof, I didn’t want to ask my wife for help in case they slip and fall on her, so I resolved to do it by myself.  I had to rig up a safety system that kept the panels from falling too much in case they slipped off their intended positions.

Sometime during this project, I had to do some travel to Asia for work so everything was on pause until I came back.  I lost a couple of weekends because of this.

After I returned, I had to run to a local roofing supply yard to pick up under layment, shingles, drip edges, a strip of ridge vent, roofing nails, and ridge caps.  The ridge vent was an upgrade feature I wanted because it would greatly help ventilate the shed and keep the interior from large temperature swings.  Below are stock pictures of what a ridge vent would look like.  Cool air comes in through the soffits and exit the vent at the ridge (roof peak).

Underlayment and drip edges installed, preparing for shingle installation.

Next came the underlayment and drip edges.  Just a hammer and a few nails to hold things in place.

Ridge cap covering ridge vent along with the finished roof.

After the starter strip at the bottom of each side of the roof, the shingles were fun to install, but took more time than expected as I made the effort to match the shingle coloration and patterns for a uniform look.  Also climbing on such a steep roof made for some very careful work.  I hadn’t realized how heavy shingles are; they mainly consist of tar felt paper, tar, and gravel, and lugging them up and down a ladder was laborious and awkward at times.

A few weekends here and there, work was interrupted with out of town guests, our 7th anniversary weekend trip to Monterey, and weekend errands.

I was working against the clock at this point because the weather forecast was rain, so I had to finish the roof to protect the shed.  The rest of the exterior came mostly pre-primered already out of the kit so I didn’t have to worry about that.

By the time I was done with the construction of the shed, it was early October.

A Neighbor’s view: As seen from across the street.  The shed’s roof is clearly in view.

Since the shed roof is taller than my 6′ fence, I often get people driving by watching what I was doing, and some of the friendly neighbors cheered me on as they watched me pound nails weekend after weekend.

After some rain, I thoroughly caulked all the seams and it was time to paint.

First the primer, then 2 coats of paint (with eggshell sheen).  I diligently taped off areas separating the white accent color from the main color.

The shed taped for painting the white accent color.

After a couple of weekends dedicated solely to painting, it was early November, and finally, I was done.  It was 4 weekend’s worth of work stretched out over 12 weekends.  I count myself lucky as Sabrina minded the kids and took care of other household duties while I worked.

Here’s the final product:

The finished shed.

Below are some close-up details of the shed:

Steep roof pitch.

Finish detail: Transom window.

Finish detail: faux hinges

Finish Details: Roof joins the front wall.

Final Details: Roof

Finish Details: soffit inlet vents.

Final Details: back side

I intend to add gutters to this structure to avoid soil erosion from rain run-off, but that will be another project and another post.  Maybe even some stepping stones around the front of the shed to give it a finished look…more projects!

A Garage Project

As a family of 4, we’ve grudgingly accepted the idea that we need extra room to stock the consumables that kids go through.  Naturally we look to the garage for more storage space.  There is a corner behind this wall and to the left of the washing machine (covered by drop cloth) that is largely wasted space because we couldn’t get to it conveniently. In the picture, the space in front of this wall was already cleared of a standing storage shelf full of supplies (took about an hour).

 

So given that this was a 3 day weekend, I took on the task of making this space more usable. 

It’s demolition time!  In just half an hour, the wall became this:

 

In another 30 minutes, the framing is gone:

 

Demo’s the easy part.  Now comes the time consuming part.  Shown below took another 17 hours spanning 3 days, which didn’t include about 3 hours at Home Depot and errands with Elliot, getting groceries, supplies and hunting for forklifts (he loves them).

The activities include:

1. Spackling nail holes that were never spackled–1 hr

   

2. Install wallboard on remaining wall–1 hr

   

3. Apply corner beads and 2 layers of mud, then paint–1.5 hrs

   

4. Install new floor tiling to go up to and around the washer/dryer–1 hr
   

   

5. Taping seams between wall boards and mudding (apply joint compound to) the corner joints: 2 layers (where the walls meet the ceiling), then paint–4 hrs
   

   

6. Assemble purchased cabinet, shelving, level, and fine tune doors–1.5 hr
7. Fix dryer vent.  The previous exit vent was made of plastic and had come loose.  Attempting to fix it only ended up disintegrating it, so I replaced it with a nice metal one (black)–1.5 hr

   

8. Install organizing features behind the wall (for step ladder and vehicle ramps)–30 mins

   

9. Organizing: moving deep freezer into place, loading consumables, moving stuff into the attic, sorting remnant lumber into a bin, loading the standing shelf, etc.–3 hrs

   Where deep freezer was (yes in the middle of the garage):

   

10. Cleaning: sweep, mop, clean workbench, etc.–2 hrs

 And the final product:

The whole space already looks more open and more useful. 

Notice that the paint doesn’t match the existing paint by the window?  Well, that’s another project.

 

Let’s Call it “A Long-Term Goal”

 I’ve been gone for a while, but I haven’t forgotten.  It is 2013 is it not?  I’m quite pleased to write about the front yard fence project that started in 2008, that we shall call…a long-term goal.

Once upon a time in June 2008, when we decided to make a project to fix the eyesore that is our front yard fence, I did a test install of 1 panel to see how it would go before committing to buying all the panels.  Since it went well, I bought all the needed panels but then other priorities took over. 

Then in September 2009, I installed 5 more panels along the front of the house to really start the project, then other priorities took over.  At this point, it’s easy to think of the other panels along the ‘other’ front side of our house (since we’re on a corner lot) as the ‘side’ yard which made it easier to de-prioritize.

Then in January 2010, we welcomed our son to the world, fell in love with him, and Priorities REALLY took over!

After the hustle settled, in August 2010 I managed to take another swag at it by demolishing some brick pillars to make room for a privacy fence.  This converts the ‘other’ front yard literally to a ‘side’ yard.

Some time in 2011, I took down all the remaining old wrought iron fence panels, leaving, well, a bunch of brick pillars.  I called a metal recycler to come pick them up to avoid sending them to the landfill.  That was a good move, since it also avoided dumping fees.

In March 2012, I repaired the pillars as most of them were broken at the base and rocking like loose teeth.

 

Then…crickets…lots of crickets!

 

In August 2012, we welcomed our daughter into the world.  We fell in love again and I dropped off the face of the earth to spend time with her.

Here we are, April 2013, and the fence is still not done!  Oh wait, it IS done!  It’s only been, what, almost 5 years in the making!

All the sporadic prepping over the years paid off in a relatively quick install of the remaining 9 panels of the fence.

The before pictures…

  

 

The first step in the install was drilling the holes into the pillars to mount the panel anchors.  Because of the relative precision needed for this task, I created a template to make it repeatable and speedier.

  

My hi-tech template included an attachment of a level onto a piece of extra baseboard with blue painters tape.  After creating the template, I drilled the top hole on the pillar and stuck a drill bit in the hole to keep the template in place for drilling the bottom hole.  After inserting another drill bit into the bottom hole, it stabilized the template to drill the remaining 4 holes.  At 12 holes per panel, drilling the 108 holes and mounting the anchors took 5.5 hours last Sunday (April 21), which included one panel install (with 8 remaining).

This weekend was the big push to get it done.  Yesterday I got 4 more panels installed in 3.5 hours, and today I got the last 3 panels done in under an hour!  It figures, just when I get good and fast at something it’s when I’m done.

Notice that there is a missing panel?  I started out saying I needed to do 9 panels to finish the fence, but I only finished 8.  Well, I thought that I would leave one open to create the next project: a more convenient entry point for guests to go into the back/side yard.  Admittedly, this was partly inspired by the fact that I ran out of screws to drive in the fence anchors for this panel.

After explaining my intent to Sabrina, she voted it it down with such conviction that I was compelled to agree with it.  So much for another entry point.

Darn, I’m still not done!!

 

Attic Storage

** This project was started in July 2011.  That’s right, 2011, but due to other priorities, never got done.  Finally, this phase is done now. **

We needed more storage without taking up more valuable real estate, so I started looking upward for an answer.  Yes, the attic!  Attic space in the garage is often ignored and forgotten, so I thought I’d try to take advantage of that somehow.  It’s a small project but one that will give us about 60+ sq. ft of valuable storage space, good for seasonal items and long term storage.  However, given the dramatic temperature swings in the attic, it is not a good location for sensitive items such as photos and electronics.

I also got to use my new power tool, an impact driver!  This is like a power screw driver but adds a hammering action to the rotation to drive screws through wood without a pilot hole.  Very handy and makes for an easy framing job.

This is the first of a 2 part project.  1) make attic storage space, and 2) vent the garage attic to have proper air flow to better control moisture and temperature swings.

Below is where I created attic access above the garage. The opening has a panel that will cover it.

I know that putting in insulation after I start using the space for storage will be highly inefficient, which really means it won’t happen.  So it only makes sense to lay insulation first before I panel over that space.  In addition, to reinforce the beams in the attic to support additional weight, I added some framing to tie to the roof peak.  This will leverage the strength of an A-frame roof to keep the ceiling from sagging due to the added weight.

A little drywall, spackling, and paint, and here we are…60 sq ft of additional storage and a significant de-cluttering of our on-floor storage space.

Here is the opening with the cover on.

Some shots of the added storage space.

 

 

 

 

No More Cable

Well, it’s been quite a few months since i posted on this blog, as work and other priorities have kept me busy elsewhere.  But, my Home Projects list continues to grow and it will just be a matter of time until I get to them.

Ever since TV went digital, I’ve been thinking about how to go without cable TV but just didn’t make the time to dig into the details.  Granted, I’m getting tired and annoyed with our “basic” cable, which costs us about $63/month, without any HD content.  Given our TV watching tendencies, it is not money we feel good about spending. 

So recently, I started investigating what it would take to go without cable.

For about $90, I got a high quality antenna (ClearStream4 shown here) for over-the-air programming and hooked it up to our coaxial cable previously used for getting the cable TV signal.  We were really pleased to discover that we get quite a few local and network broadcasts that also included international channels that had Spanish, Chinese, and other programing.  And on top of that, some of the channels are in HD!  Not bad for a FREE connection.

There’s a smaller version of the antenna but has less range (single infinity shape).  Shown is the double infinity shape.  This one has more range so it improves signal strength.  The days of “static-y” antenna reception are over.  It is as good as cable TV.

This is what the antenna looks like pointed N-NE towards Sutro Tower in San Francisco.

The cable was routed discreetly along the side of the house:

Flash back to a month prior: I switched us out of AT&T DSL Elite (1.5Mbps download, 750kbps upload) to Comcast cable broadband (20+Mbps download, 4Mbps upload)…super fast, and saved us about $10/month in the process!  This was a coordinated first step for cutting our cable TV connection. 

Along with the antenna, I got a set-top box (Roku XDS, for about $100) that wirelessly streams video content via our internet connection.  Through this connection, we can get a very good variety of programming from sources that include Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu, Crackle, and many more!  They have dedicated streaming services for almost any type of interest, ranging from anime, cars, food, and sports.  A few of these sources offer free programming, including entire past seasons of select TV shows, and even full length movies, for FREE (Crackle, for example).  Netflix, however, charges $8/month for unlimited on-demand content.  The high speed cable broadband connection is key to smooth content streaming (5Mbps download speed recommended).

The upfront investment of cutting cable TV was about $190, but we will break even after about 3 months and start saving about $55/month in cable TV at that point (and even more if we don’t subscribe to Netflix for $8/month)!

This entire effort was pretty darned painless that anyone can do this!  But depending on one’s TV watching habits, it’s not for everyone.  We get HD content and don’t miss cable much at all!  For us, cutting the cord only means we went cordless, and we still get to enjoy our TV when we want to, mostly for FREE!

 

Repealed at Last!

Wow!!  I’m overjoyed that “don’t ask don’t tell” finally cleared the Senate in a historic 65-31 vote today! 

Finally, the unjust policy of forcing our brave men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens gets the boot!  it was 17 years in the making, but it is practically a done deal, waiting for President Obama to sign it into law next week. 

And McCain should really take stock in his position, to use “wartime” as an excuse to sit on his thumbs about this major civil rights issue, when Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Pentagon study, and the majority of the armed service men and women all sided with repeal.  And especially when the law does not dictate the timeline of implementation!  This will be a big stain on McCain’s reputation!

President Obama said it well:  “It is time to close this chapter in our history…It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed.”

 

Both Trees Down

I called around to get estimates to cut down the last palm tree and dispose of the mess, and the price ranged from $350 to $1100!!  In this economy, how can anyone think that they will find customers with pricing on the high end?  The lowest bid was with the neighborhood Japanese gardener, who has been maintaining a few houses on the block for many years now.  So on Tuesday, they started work.  It took a crew of 2 workers (2 chainsaws going at once), plus the owner and his son 3 full hours to do the job and clean up.  I’m so glad I hired out for this project!  I watched them do some of the work and appreciated that i wasn’t wrenching my own back on it.

  

With the palms chopped almost down to grade, they had to stop about 3″ short of chopping all the way down to the ground…the people who planted the palms lined the perimeter with various brick-sized rocks and as the trunks grew over the years, they wrapped around the rocks so much that they literally became part of the trunk!  They gave up on using the chainsaw as the rocks quickly dulled the chains and resorted to an ax at this point! 

Before and after…

From reading online sources, I need to wait for the stump to dry out a bit, then use a liquid stump remover (potassium nitrate) to accelerate the decomposition.  This process takes a few weeks but in the end, the stump becomes soft and spongy and can be taken out with an ax and shovel. 

We don’t plan to plant anything in this area so as long as it takes, I’ll keep at this until I level the stump!

 

Felling a Tree

When we bought our house at the end of 2006, the two palms at the front corner of our corner lot was not one of our favorite features.  They were not to our taste and poorly placed (little did we know just how poorly placed as I’ll explain later.)  They were about 8 feet tall to the tip of the highest fronds.   I was ambivalent about keeping them but had no REAL reason to chop them down. 

Flash forward 4 years and now our palms are about twice as tall and the trunks have gotten quite a bit larger.  But when I was researching about our fence, I came across building code for our city that specified that our front yard shall not have anything taller than 3-1/2 feet tall 45 feet on each side of the corner.  That includes fence, bushes, trees, etc., the reason being that they would obstruct the visibility of oncoming cross traffic.  I don’t want to wait for an accident to happen before I try to do something about it–I worry about our liability in these cases, being blamed for having obstruction and ‘non-compliance’ on our property that had a hand in an accident.

 

The two in front of our house…(the bushes need a serious pruning too.)

The research on city code led me to some other concerns…Doing a bit of a Google search, I found that the species is called a Mexican Fan Palm, capable of soaring to 90 feet high!!  One of the trees is just a few feet from the fire hydrant on our curb, and close to our main sewage drain line as it exits our property.    The mature root ball and root system of this palm can get quite large, and with some sensitive plumbing close to its roots, I would be asking for plumbing problems if I simply just wait. When the root system gets larger, it could also start buckling the sidewalk.

Oh the joys of home ownership, to worry about these things. 

I inquired about felling the trees a couple of years ago and the price was around $500, which was too much for us at the time.  And not knowing what I know now, we were not too compelled to do anything at the time.  Now, a couple of feet taller, I asked the city about permit requirements on the trees and found out that they have a 16″ diameter limit (measured at 4-1/2 feet from the ground) before they would be considered “significant trees” and require a permit.

This passed weekend, I took a tape measure to one of the trunks–they are right on the edge of the limit, coming in at 49″ (the circumference of a 16″ diameter is just over 50″.)  So if I waited any longer, I’d have to pay to get a permit from the city and be forced to plant 2 new trees somewhere else on the property to compensate for removing the trees or we will be fined–I want to plant new trees regardless, but don’t want my hand forced.  Sabrina has a Japanese maple in a pot that has been pleading with us to plant it in the ground.

** DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS **

Initially I thought I was OK with it, but the thought of chopping down a tree makes me quite sad actually.  But I had to consider the other factors and potential costly damage to plumbing.  And comforted by the idea that we will plant new trees in another location to compensate.  With a sigh, off to Home Depot I went to rent a chain saw.  I’ve only handled a lower power electric chainsaw before, but a gas powered one with 20″ of saw arm was an intimidating little Beast to say the least!  The sound of the chainsaw alone gave me goose bumps when I first heard it! (Think “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”). 

Eye and ear protection are definitely required!

Felling a tree is simple but not easy.  If you are not informed on what you are doing, a falling tree can be quite destructive.  Earlier I had hopped online to read up on the basics of felling a tree, not just from any source online, but from the manual of a reputable chainsaw manufacturer.

When I look at contractors doing many of the things they do, I think, “I can do that!  Should be pretty easy!”  Well, let me tell you, cutting a tree, even with power tools, was back breaking work!  And at about 17 lbs., the chainsaw starts to feel very heavy after about 15 minutes. It took me 2-1/2 hours to chop down ONE tree, because taking down each foot of the lower trunk required 9 separate cuts to break it into 5 sections (the trunk towards the base was bigger than the saw arm was long).  I estimated that material from each tree weighed about 700 lbs.!  I could have enlisted a friend to help, but in many cases it should be done with no one around, as accidents with a chainsaw can be mortal.

Fatigued after only one tree, I came to realize that I wouldn’t mind paying someone else to fell the other tree and dump the trunk and fronds–fatigue and chainsaws are a bad combination, and had to stop for my own safety.  (Sadly, the city cannot recycle fronds and trunks, as the material is too wet and fibrous that it causes wood chippers to bind, and hard to compost in California due to low humidity.  They are heading to the dumps, ugh.)

The next step is to get someone to fell the other tree.

Hopefully soon I will blog about planting of a tree instead!