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I made a mount for the SST to accommodate the Verus. I can also mount the Pico/Toughbook set up I have.
Using it in a real world situation will be the test but I like the idea of having this as a full diagnostic cart set up.
Trying to take photos of this screen is tricky; I assure you it looks fine to the naked eye, but my camera/phone is not happy taking them.
There are ways I could take it by setting my camera to manual mode and adjusting settings, but that also would require a tripod. I’ll set it up when I have it finished.
Anyway, it’s now running on A/C power. These machines were designed to run from the vehicle battery, and that’s fine once you have it hooked up to and are working on a vehicle. But I wanted to explore functions with some bench tests while I learn its limitations, and it’s just not practical to pull my car in every time I want to do that.
The answer was an AC to DC plug-in of some sort. This sounds easy, and it is, but getting the right power unit wasn’t easy. Partially because I wanted to go to a shop and pick it up, I’m tired of ordering online then waiting days to get back to the project, it just feels counter-productive. But it turns out trying to find a power unit locally, or even within a distance because I was prepared to travel, was counter-productive.
There wasn’t one to be bought anywhere except online. And prices varied hugely. I ended up finding one on Amazon on Wednesday night and even with choosing free shipping it arrived today (Friday), which was 3 days early. Glad I didn’t pay the 10.99 they wanted to guarantee delivery today, there’s a lesson in there. It’s all set up now and running on wall plug power.
I opted for an SAE J563 connector (cigarette lighter or accessory charging port) to fit with the power unit. It keeps it somewhat standard and fits well with the same connector I have in my power probe kit, so I can still hook it to a 12v battery if needed.
More photos on page 2
https://sun-electric.nl/product-groepen/diagnostics/sst-1500/
This is my “grab ‘n’ go” Pico setup, it works very well. Less set up time and easy to hook up for quick tests.
What about this on top of the Sun SST cart and have an all in one diag set up for the workshop? And will just clip off when need elsewhere. The same clip/integration would hold the Verus too.
A lot of this information is still relevant today. We just use different tools but the waveforms and rules remain unchanged. This manual is full of great illustrations.
There’s more pages to this post. See below.
The images coming from Artemis II are incredible.
The lengths NASA go to for the best screensavers is admirable.
This made its way into my workshop today. Looking forward to using and posting more about this.
I bought an old Simmonds machinist tool chest in a reclamation yard recently and it had a couple of tools in it I’m trying to identify.
Google and Chat GPT haven’t been successful in identifying them precisely.
This was stamped: AUTOCRAFT TOOL CO. STAMFORD CONN.
Chat GPT’s best guess was a wire crimping tool for wire fencing repair. It also suggests it has a wire cutting part near the pivot point but I don’t see that.
My guess is it’s a former or a tool for holding round stick without damaging it. Another tool that was in the box looks like a seam former for sheet metal, so that would tie into that.
This looks like a tool for shaping a seam into the edge of sheet metal. The handle end is chisel like, so it looks like it’s used with a hammer to form a shape on the edge of metal sheeting to match it to a seam or another panel.
I’m open to ideas and I’ll continue to check what these tools are.
I was having trouble with my mobile service, so I called my provider.
I foolishly, because I was trying not to be a jerk, started the conversation with “I’m not sure if it’s my phone but ….”
For the whole conversation he just kept going back to that, when I would explain my issue to him he’d refer to my phone. Didn’t matter now what I said he would refer to my phone.
I came away actually thinking there might be something wrong with my phone.
Later that morning service returned as normal. And then today I get an email saying there were service issues yesterday and please accept their apologies. Thanks.
I still have the same phone!
Technology has changed my job quite a bit and in my opinion for the better.
That’s not to say everything is perfect. DEF systems spring to mind straight away. But if you zoom out and look at the bigger picture, the positives far outweigh the negatives.
Now I can plug into a car and read live data from a system to get clues in the form of codes on a screen that gives me direction to fix the fault.
Technology can’t tell me exactly what to fix or how to fix it, you still need to have skills and think about issues.
Also getting information and data necessary to repair cars is much easier now, it’s on the Internet. Yes you have to pay subscriptions for it, but it’s still a huge improvement over how it used to be. I remember having filing cabinets full of data books, constantly going out of date.
Even going to get parts has been made better by technology. Now you go into the parts store with a registration or VIN number and they can look up any part you need. I remember having to get multiples of the same part because it was impossible to figure out which was the correct one.
It was inefficient, frustrating, and completely normal at the time.
So while there are downsides to modern vehicle technology, overall it’s made the job faster, more accurate, and in many ways more interesting.
You just have to keep up.
To go with the 10 mm sockets I bought at Harbor Freight I bought an ICON 3/8 drive ratchet that was on special.
First impressions are good. It looks the part and feels good on the hand.
I’ve a few jobs to do over the next while and I plan on putting them to use and see if they live up to the hype.
This is not the G2 ratchet that’s all over social media this is the low profile head 90 tooth ratchet with a 4° arc swing. It also comes with soft handle but I prefer the full metal chrome design.
Will report back soon on the performance of all items.
I have a real problem saying no. I rarely do it, and it gets me in a bind sometimes.
But going forward as soon as I’m set up again I will be saying no more often. There’ll be a strategy to it but it’s something I have to do for my sake and for the sake of my clients.
The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.
Warren Buffett
Being able to diagnose a car over the phone. Now that’s a skill I’d love to have.
The amount of times I’ve had people call me and ask to tell them what could be wrong with their car just because the check engine light is on.
Or hold their phone to the engine to ask can I hear something, unfortunately all you can really hear is the wind.
But never fear, the technology does now exist to make this kind of scenario possible. So very soon it will be commonplace.
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