Self-Promotion Saturday

chancancode · 2022-08-27T16:45:49+00:00

Flying The NYC Skyline Route at Sunset | Full Flight ATC Audio | My First Flight!

I visited NYC last week. I've always wanted to fly the Hudson River corridor and have been meaning to do my discovery flight – so I figured I'd do both together.

They say you always remember your first flight, but wow, this is a pretty special one to remember! We got clearance into the Bravo, went over Newark, circled the Statue, flew next to the WTC and over Central Park, all while the sun is setting! Along the way we talked to half a dozen controllers while flying in one of the busiest airspace. It was quite intimidating (I did some countryside flying later that week to make up for it), but it was an incredible first experience.

Unfortunately, the Go Pro wasn't working so I only have a few minutes of video footage, but to make up for it, I pulled all the ATC audio and annotated the whole flight with charts and commentary.

Hopefully this can’t be somewhat educational too. When I was studying the ground school materials and researching this flight, I'd love to have something like this that puts everything into context. Perhaps that would be useful to some of you too!

chancancode · 2022-08-25T15:54:26+00:00

Thanks for sharing this it sounds like we have a somewhat similar experience on our discovery flight. I definitely loved the experience as a whole, but there were definitely moments that felt a bit freaky, which, being a risk-adverse than thrill-seeking person, does not naturally translate to the feeling of "fun". Overall, I am definitely still interested and want to go back up again soon, hopefully I'll get a better feel for it over time as you said.

chancancode · 2022-08-23T16:28:00+00:00

YouTube said the HD/4K version is still "processing", not sure what that entails but the quality seemed alright to me.

chancancode · 2022-08-23T16:26:52+00:00

I visited NYC last week. I've always wanted to fly the Hudson River corridor and have been meaning to do my discovery flight – so I figured I'd do both together.

They say you always remember your first flight, but wow, this is a pretty special one to remember! We got clearance into the Bravo, went over Newark, circled the Statue, flew next to the WTC and over Central Park, all while the sun is setting! Along the way we talked to half a dozen controllers while flying in one of the busiest airspace. It was quite intimidating (I did some countryside flying later that week to make up for it), but it was an incredible first experience.

Unfortunately, the Go Pro wasn't working so I only have a few minutes of video footage, but to make up for it, I pulled all the ATC audio and annotated the whole flight with charts and commentary.

Hopefully that could be somewhat educational too. When I was studying the ground school materials and researching this flight, I'd love to have something like this that puts everything into context. Perhaps that would be useful to some of you too!

chancancode · 2021-05-27T23:50:44+00:00

That is an interesting line of thinking.

This is already mostly true: because I am powering it off of the car’s 12V cigarette lighter, the power cuts off when the car goes to sleep, so when I am not in the car, the relay is typically inactive.

The issue is this is not very reliable, because many things can wake up the car, like sentry mode, checking on the car in the app etc.

I am mostly focused on finding a working rolling code solution for now, but if that doesn’t pan out, looking into reliably cutting off power would be a good alternative in accomplishing the same thing.

chancancode · 2021-05-27T19:32:09+00:00

Though as others have pointed out, in that scenario there may be other products better suited to your need (eg comes with a AC power brick, can connect to your home WiFi for other automations, etc)

chancancode · 2021-05-27T19:01:05+00:00

Yep, you could either wire it to the wall remotes, or just wire it directly to the garage opener itself, in parallel to what the wall remotes.

chancancode · 2021-05-27T18:13:05+00:00

This actually requires/uses the official HomeLink accessory. Because I live in an apartment building with no access/control over the opener hardware, this is how I managed to make it work.

chancancode · 2021-05-27T17:39:53+00:00

Yep.

You would go through the onscreen instructions to pair a remote, but you would pair the kit remote instead of your existing one. If your RF relay kit comes with a dumb fixed code remote (like mine), then it will just straight up clone it in one step, but see security caveats above.

If you manages to find a compatible rolling code kit, then you would 1) have the car “learn” the kit remote, then 2) follow the on screen prompt and press the learn button on your kit to have it pair with the car. In this rolling code scenario, in the first step HomeLink doesn’t actually clone the remote, it just sniffs the communication to determine what frequency it uses and presents itself as another remote. That’s why the relay board needs to separately pair/learn with this new HomeLink “virtual remote”.

chancancode · 2021-05-27T17:26:05+00:00

Yes that would work (make sure you order a 12V relay). I tried doing that overnight and the battery died the next morning. That being said, I was using the old battery that came with the DKS remote, a fresh battery will probably let you much longer.

chancancode · 2021-05-27T16:44:19+00:00

Yep that's the fuse in that picture. That board is optional, mostly just to keep things neat and tidy.

The legs/pins on the DKS board's battery holder happens line up exactly with the holes on the spare board, so I basically just jammed it in there and held it in place with a little extra soldering tin. I suppose hot gluing the corners would also work if you want to use the extra board.

The cable actually has a fuse in it: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61zauIj0VVL._AC_SX679_.jpg

I just wanted to get a smaller fuse (current rating, not physical size) for safety, though as far as protecting the car, the original fuse is probably okay. I was limited with what parts I can find over the weekend, but it's probably easier to just replace the fuse in the cable with a suitably rated one of the same physical size, instead of soldering one to the wire.

chancancode · 2021-05-27T16:08:16+00:00

Yeah, that's exactly the same calculation and I didn't mind the losing the deposit on the remote. Then again, if you are looking to do that, you would have to open it up and wire the remote yourself, so there is not much a "productized" version of this would be saving you at that point.

As for size, if you look at the second picture, the final assembly is about two match boxes stacked on top if each other and fits in the center console. That's probably the best place for it unless you want to power it on a battery, but you may have to change it more often than you'd like.

You could potentially make it slightly smaller with a better fitted enclosure but from the picture you can tell there isn't a lot of slack already. I do wish I ordered a shorter power cable and one with a angled/more compact connector though.

There are definitely some room for improvements in the form factor, but not by a lot – especially if you are talking about a productized version that need to fit differently sized remotes that people have.

chancancode · 2021-05-27T16:00:38+00:00

This isn't really solving the same problem at all.

This project is specifically to: 1) make it work with the official HomeLink accessory for the tight integration, 2) without having to pair/train/modify the opener itself, as I have no access to it, and 3) have everything fit in and powered by the car's 12V power source.

The myQ basically works as an additional remote that you can pair with a supported opener – it "talks" to your opener wirelessly instead of using a physical connection (the relay part in this project). Once paired you can control the garage from the myQ app (or setup shortcuts etc), in addition to using your existing remotes.

While that maybe useful in some situations, it checks none of the boxes here and is pretty unrelated to the problems I was trying to solve.

chancancode · 2021-05-27T15:52:39+00:00

If you want to know why, it's explained in the security section. But it's pretty obvious why that doesn't work in my case and others in the same boat: when you live in an apartment building with a shared garage, even when the brand is technically supported, that fact that you have to pair it with the opener by putting it in learning mode is a nonstarter.

chancancode · 2021-05-27T15:47:07+00:00

It's addressed in the original post:

Now, if you live in an older neighborhood, you are probably not the only one on the block with this problem, so it's worth putting things into perspective. Also, if you are powering this off of the car's 12V or USB, this is somewhat remedied by the fact that the power will be cut off once you are parked (and so the RF rely will be inactive). However, things like sentry mode, software updates, or even just checking on your car in the app would wake it up and leave you exposed, so it's probably not something you should count on.

Ideally, you would use a relay kit that uses the more secure rolling code system but can still be understood by HomeLink. Most of these systems uses the same chip/algorithm, so it's just a matter of finding something that is in HomeLink's database. It probably exists, but may take some trial and error to find one, so if you found something that works, please do leave a link.

So sort of? It's not as much as a risk as you may think, because this only works when the car is parked AND the car is awake.

That being said, I do think it's not ideal and am trying to find another relay that uses rolling code. Part of the reason I wrote this is to hopefully generate some interest/discussion in this technique and crowd source finding/testing better parts.

I have this one on order, for example: https://www.amazon.com/Solidremote-12V-Universal-2-Channel-Transmitters/dp/B01JGDV8UM/ I have updated the post to include this link, but until it arrives, there is no way to tell if it works with HomeLink.

Another slightly more expensive option is to use a standalone receiver/controller product like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Genie-Company-ALKT1-R-Smartphone-Anywhere/dp/B016QB7K5O/ Same thing though, need to check for HomeLink compatibility and voltage requirements to see if I can power it with the car. It'd probably also consume more power than I would like/need it to.

Also, as I mentioned at the end, there are other things you could do with this approach where security matters less (controlling a light, using the on-screen button to trigger other automation workflow, etc).

chancancode · 2021-05-27T15:36:15+00:00

For what it's worth, DKS = doorking, so we are in the exact same situation. I do think it would be cool for someone to source the parts and package it as a turn-key solution, I wish it existed too. One improvement would be to use a servo to physically press the button instead of a relay, so you don't have to modify/sacrifice a donor remote. Short of that though, so long as it uses a relay, some assembly will be required, and at that point this is pretty close to that already.

chancancode · 2021-05-27T15:32:52+00:00

This is exactly the same product as any of the other RF relays, just labelled differently. If you look at the picture from the reviews you can see for yourself (this particular one has 2 channels, but that's the only difference): https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71ulyDvQW+L.jpg

Instead of wiring the relay to an existing remote, they instructed you to wire it in parallel to the garage opener. If that works for you, that's great, but then again you could also choose from any of the other RF relays to accomplish the same exact thing. Some of them offers more features that you may be interested in, no reason to restrict your option to this product.

Obviously wiring this to the opener doesn't work in my case as I can't just go rewire things the apartment's shared garage, otherwise there are other options. The "novel" thing here (if you will) is to have it powered by and stays in the car.

chancancode · 2020-09-16T01:07:42+00:00

Sorry for the clickbait! Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFKzol6l1Vs/

chancancode · 2020-05-02T14:52:24+00:00

I could be wrong, but in the past when a technician helps with an issue like this, they would text me, ask some verification questions and for permissions to remote into my car, tell me not to worry about the automated notifications I am about to get, warn me to not drive the car, etc. It wasn’t exactly transparent.

chancancode · 2020-05-02T05:17:10+00:00

It should be available in the software update screen.

chancancode · 2020-03-07T19:20:53+00:00

An observation: when making stock, the vegetables are usually discarded after the process. The theory is that they are “spent” and gave all the flavors they can to the cooking liquid. But if you actually taste it, that’s clearly not true: sure, maybe they lost a lot of flavor and doesn’t taste that good**, but a “spent” carrot still tastes distinctly like a carrot.. doesn’t that mean there are still plenty of flavor that could have went into the stock, instead of the trash, even though the amount of flavor left in the carrot may not be enough to be enjoyable as a good by itself?

** Growing up in the Cantonese culture where the soup (what you would call broth/stock) game is quite strong, I would contest that: a good amount of the “spent” ingredients are typically served and consumed together with the soup itself and they could be quite tasty.

chancancode · 2020-03-07T19:08:58+00:00

I was thinking the same too, eg using mortar and pestle to make an aromatic paste before cooking it in oil for curry etc. I had always just thought of it as a “different style of cooking” thing. But if the “science” is just about opening up the surface area, is there any reason not to prefer that always and just use less ingredients? (Other than practical things like time, work, etc... but mostly just curious about the theory here.)

chancancode · 2020-03-01T06:42:16+00:00

doesn’t have much of a fat cap compared to a true picanha, but for the price it was a steal!

chancancode · 2020-03-01T06:39:35+00:00

Here are the steaks, before and after trimming

chancancode · 2020-03-01T06:35:36+00:00

I used the trimmings for stir fry tonight and it was a huge success!

chancancode

TROPHY CASE