VW MK4 Golf central locking

Refer to the VW MK4 Golf central locking problem post. It felt like all hope lost. I couldn't find the right tools to get the locking mechanism out of the door. Finally though, my dad found the correct star (Some funny 12 pointed star used in VWs) and I went at it with renewed vigour. To recap, the problem was the central locking unit not locking the door, or unlocking immediately after locking or just not sensing a locked state.

Turns out it was in fact a broken solder joint. I disassembled the whole thing in about an hour (including removing the door panels) and found exactly the broken solder joint indicated in the links I posted on VW MK4 Golf central locking problem.

I resoldered all the joints and reassembled the mechanism and the door. It seems to work like a charm. Thanks to all the blokes who took the time to write up their findings in such detail. For anyone too afraid to try it, don't worry. If you have the tools it will take a while the first time, but everything fits back together quite easily.

I love German engineering...

One red paperclip

http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/. This may just be the coolest way ever to get a house. He traded a red paperclip for a house.

I could really do with one, and I would trade it for a paperclip, any colour you want... :-)

Do these make money online schemes work?

I just surfed a blog with a link to the following http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-13000. The author seems sold on the idea. It's not the first time I've come across these.
"No Experience Necessary! Earn 5 Streams Of Auto-Pilot Income Working At Home..." Bleh...
They seem to be quite common on the internet. Just search for anything in the order of making money online and it'll pop up. I'm sure there must be a couple of people who at least try it out of desperation (or boredom). I've been blessed with more than I need my whole life, so I haven't bothered to try it (too stingy?). Are there any real people out there who could comment on this? It all seems so fake and forced to me.

Software defined radio

All of a sudden there seems to be a big upsurge in software defined radio in our local ham community.

Software defined radio of course is any radio receiver or transmitter where the modulation in completely performed in software. This allows any modulation scheme that fits into the given bandwidth to be demodulated assuming enough processing resources are available.

Now there are a number of quite ambitious, and succesful, implementations on the net. One of the projects, GNU Radio - The GNU Software Radio, that was started quite some time ago peaked my interest. I never bothered following the project since I believed that the complexity of the problem and lack of available expertise would results in the project dying a rather quick death. Boy was I wrong. Not only did they manage a working system, its quite well designed (the bit that I had a look at) and can even decode HDTV.

The image above is an example of an HDTV snapshot. Very impressive indeed. In order to get the signal into the PC one of their contributors designed a UniversalSoftwareRadioPeripheral with quite astonishing results.

Designed with upgradability and modularity in mind they are able to quickly put together various daughter boards that mix the RF down to IF I and Q for sampling and processing with the on-board DSP and FPGA. Both transmit and receive is supported at full speed. There is room for 4 daughter boards. 4 AD and 4 DA converters generate the relevant IF signals.

However, for the rest of us who don't want to go to the expense of designing a $550 system (yet) and just want to play around with the technology there is a much cheaper option. The softrock is an ideal starting point. Mine arrived today in the post (I'm so anxious to get started - however, read my previous post. Central locking may be the more important task).

The image above shows the simple softrock receiver. Quite cheap, but apparently very effective and sensitive. The little receiver is connected to the stereo input to the sound card. The two channels represent the I and Q channels and allow pretty much any signal to be demodulated with the correct software.

The standard software for suggested use is shown above. The SARL software defined radio forum thread described some of the experiences of the local SA hams.

The next step would be to make a switchable input band-pass filter and a variable input frequency allowing a much wider receive band. That is where the DDS-60 daughter card kit comes in.

It uses an Analogue devices AD9851 DDS chip capable of synthesising any frequency 1 to 180 MHz with 40 dB harmonic supression. Not bad. When used in smaller bands or with switchable filters harmonics shouldn't be a problem.

Using the DDS-60 with the softrock should allow much greater band coverage than the 48 kHz (or 96 kHz) allowed by the usual soundcards that are available. I'll document some of my experiences (if I don't mangle my circuit board). I would just love building my own tranceiver for VHF or maybe even UHF capable of pretty much any mode. Using the softrock of course will not allow ATV (amateur TV) unless some interesting modifications are made, but its should still be possible if one makes an IF input/output available for direct AV connection. At least the normal speech and data modes will be done in software and should allow a tremendous amount of flexibility.

VW MK4 Golf central locking problem

I've found the guide that I lost a while ago. The author explains the repair of the same central locking mechanism found inside my VW MKIV Golf. I'll try it tonight hopefully...

Passat - Door lock mechanism repair As far as I know they share the same locking mechanism.

Another guide that also refers to the taligentx guide above also indicates that the common cause it a broken solder joint. That explains why the problem is intermittent. Have a look at vwvortex guide for more info.


If it's just a dead microswitch then vwsandman says a $3 fix is all one needs. I quote, "Ok, we can fix this door switch for $3 USD! You need to go to Radio Shack and purchase Part number #275-016A. This is a Submini Lever Switch." We don't have radio shack here is South-Africa, but I'm sure we have microswitches somewhere ;-). Hopefully I'll have it all done by tomorrow.

Oh, and btw, I think the driver side unit also died this morning. We'll see. This morning it exhibited exactly the symptoms as the passenger side door. I'd hate to have to replace both as the best price will still damage my pocket significantly. In fact, I'll get rid of the car if I have to fork out anything close to R 1000 to completely repair the problem. I've had enough.

The biking saga continues

Now that I'm officially off the market, romantic as it were, I don't seem to get the time to post in my blog. Even more important is that I don't really worry about it as much. There is a different outlet for most emotions.

I digress. The reason for this post is my biking experience (See My new wheels are on the way.

I can't beleive that anyone in their right mind would start selling this junk. It's like a 4 year old monkey with the skakes put it together. Sure, it's fun to ride and really looks good, but hell. Problems so far, in no particular order:

• Starter solenoid dead


• Indicator relay dead


• Battery charger dead


• Break light switch snapped in half


• Fuel leak at carburettor


• Dead battery


• Failure of the 4 bolts that hold the sprocket to the rear wheel (not fun when trying to overtake - whoops, no power to the wheels)


• Ignition failure - it just fell apart


• Exhaust pipe weld failure (pretty sparks at 90 km/h)


• Pushrod failure (hey, at 2700 km?)


• 3rd neck bearing failure (not fun in traffic when the stearing locks because of a smashed bearing


• For some reason all the light bulbs in the bike have also failed. Main headlamp and sidelamps are inoperative at the moment.

Admittedly, the importers are quite friendly and have extended every curtesy, however, no amount of friendliness and willingness to please will make up for this amount of aggrevation. In the first 6 months that I owned the bike I had the bike in a working condition for maybe 2 months - most of that time it was in the shop.

Because of this bike I narrowly escaped 3 accidents. Maybe more since the tail light and main lamp went out a number of times for no apparent reason. The first two almost occurred when I had to wrestle for control when the steering locked in peak hour traffic. The first time I could literaly hear one of the bearing crack when I yanked the steering to the center.

My lovely Ice-bitch

On another front, the only real problem with my gorgeous car is the left front central locking unit. It's been somewhat erratic for a while now, but I just couldn't get myself to fork out two and a half grand for a new one. The best price I found recently for a new unit is R 1500. Not too bad. Second hand from the scrap yard is bout R 800.

Still, aside from that she is a pleasure. We recently spent a weekend hiking at Kaapsehoop neer Nelspruit. The first day was a 14.5 km hike from Barrets coaches to Kaapsehoop hut. We ended up leaving camp at 12 because two of our companions could not get themselves out of bed. A rushed hike it was, but spectacular nonetheless. Of course the Ice-bitch was there two escourt us to the pub in comfort afterwards. Only one complaint... Apparently the previous owner dropped the suspension slightly so the poor girl made seriously unpleasant contact with the ground on more than one occation.

Anyway, back to work...

I have no idea how to title this - General update :-)

Once again a long time since the last post. Not much happened though, except maybe for the girlfriend (yup, no longer single).

The holiday, if one can call it that, was quite uneventfull. I spent most of my time at home (alone for a change) and spent my evenings with my lady friends (how come only my lady friends stayed in Pretoria this holiday?) drinking wine, loads of it, and watching dvds.

That's when it happened. Before I new it one of the ladies made a pass at me and from there on it all happend so quickly. And yes, as much as she'd like to deny it, she started it. I would never have bothered, and would never have known what I was missing. As most of my friends know I am, or rather was, very happy to be single. In fact I cherished my single life and occationally to satisfy the hormones indulged myself, never allowing myself to become attached. However, this one decided on something more permanent, and for some reason I did not feel the urge to run and hide. It felt safe, unlike all the others, and I like it.

Yes, I know. It's way too soon to be optimistic, and I'm not. Cautiously optimistic is more appropriate. I don't trust this yet, but maybe one day I will. At the moment I expect nothing from her, but still get everything. After only 2 weeks I can honestly say this is the longest I've let a relationship last and it's way more fun than I anticipated.

A note from a biker

So I'm not really a biker in the true sense, but still, I like to think of myself as a biker in the rough... I'm still thoroughly enjoying the bike. My buddies bike is now fully repaired after my accident. I've learned a valuable lesson with that. As much as I trust myself and my abilities, I cannot allow myself to be so careless, that's not really the right word but hey. All those other people who have no idea what they're doing, or the person who thinks she can multitask with a phone and driving (yes, I meant she, not he), they're the ones who cause the accidents. It's not the rest of us who pay attention.

OK, now I'm bored and tired. I need sleep...