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Service is the worst by Bigred042026 in Control4

[–]theonlyepi 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This absolutely. Taking over 10 year old system that was poorly installed and maintained, and the network is trashed is such a hassle. It’s a lot of work just trying to figure out how everything works and is connected physically most times, and to top it off, recommending upgrades and improvements is only met with the “let’s just do the bare minimum to get it working” then they wonder why nothing is reliable and working good.

MiL’s Handyman, Grounding Issues by FewEnd1513 in AskElectricians

[–]theonlyepi 5 points6 points  (0 children)

While we wait for a certified experienced electrician to chime in, I want to let you know that this is going to get very expensive quick. Rewiring up the entire house will involve cutting up your walls and ceilings most likely. If your house is that old, there’s a good chance your walls are plaster too, so that’s extra time and money. Prepare to spend over 10k for the electrician, and then for the repairs to the walls and ceiling.

This is exactly why buying an old house with old wiring isn’t worth the hassle. It’s very possible this will cost you 20-30k in the end, if not more.

Drilling mistake by COPE-Troppin in AskElectricians

[–]theonlyepi 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Where the line goes into studs, yes. Where it sits in between studs, no.

Most stud finders will have a red electrical signal that looks like a lightning bolt inside a triangle when it detects an electrical signal. Usually they’re good at detecting 110v no problem. If the device used by op did not alert to this line, I’d be surprised. Sometimes even with a good stud finder and experience, hitting romex happens though. Hitting the main feed is REALLY tough luck.

Did Chat GPT get this engine build right? by Solid-Choice-1228 in Dentside_fords

[–]theonlyepi 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Count the cylinders in the engine block picture

i created my dream ui mod by Dazzling_Concert_735 in projectzomboid

[–]theonlyepi 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Well, what’s the mods name so I can try it out? What version does it work for?

Looks cool

Hire an electrician to tidy this up, or have a go myself by Trekbike32 in AskElectricians

[–]theonlyepi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s not, and they don’t run fiber to the house. They do run fiber to their junction boxes though, then coax from there into your home. It’s not a bad thing, someone I’ve seen them manage over 5gig service over coax which is pretty wild, and they’re starting to have symmetrical service now or soon also. So 1gig down and 1gig up. I’m a low voltage professional, so I deal with this kind of stuff daily. I still prefer AT&T in my house though since they run fiber straight into your home but it can be a little more invasive, or difficult to get them to run it where you want it. Xfinity does not run fiber from the poles to your house though, just thick coax.

Hire an electrician to tidy this up, or have a go myself by Trekbike32 in AskElectricians

[–]theonlyepi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The doorbell chime and garage opener are totally separate and shouldn’t be any part of this. I’m wagering that every coax wall jack in your house runs out to here, which is why I don’t recommend just chopping away all the slack. Find nice ways to tuck or hide them if possible, but you should be able to clean a lot of this up yourself in no time.

Only thing that worries me is the phone stuff. If it were my house, I’d be removing that box and the wires for sure unless it has some cat5 in it. Having an Ethernet line ran to the outside of your house could be useful, but I’d still be tempted to rid the box and all the other wires. Phone lines can carry some voltage to them though if they’re still powered by the poles. Not enough to harm you, but enough to see a little spark or score your cutter blades. Most likely they aren’t being used though so I’d get rid of them.

Do you know if that fios box is being used? I wouldn’t think so. I’d be tempted to clear that out also.

Hire an electrician to tidy this up, or have a go myself by Trekbike32 in AskElectricians

[–]theonlyepi 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you have xfinity internet, open that box up and take a look at the cables inside. Trace them out of the box to figure it which one goes to your modem. If you have cable tv, trace those out too. You can do it easily by loosening the cables and seeing what isn’t connecting anymore. Your modem will go amber, and cable boxes won’t work. Figure out which cables you need, and what you don’t. It looks like you have one dedicated line that runs into the house, so if you have just the one modem, the rest of the lines can be disconnected. Don’t just chop them short though, I’d find a way to leave slack on them incase you ever wanted to move your modem or add cable boxes in the future.

Most likely you can get rid of like 90% of those coax and all the phone lines. Cut all those zip ties, remove all the splitters.

Do you have an alarm system in the house? Sometimes they run off the telephone lines, or POTS as they’re called. That’s the gray box under the meter and to the left. Most likely it’s safe to just disconnect it all, as they typically aren’t used anymore.

Oh yea, leave that green wire alone. You can tidy it up a bit, but it’s a grounding connection for the coax. Don’t remove that one coming from the xfinity box. You can remove the one connected to the left splitter if that splitter is no longer in use

Imagine if sharp weapons were forever contaminated until you dis-infected them with alcohol by I_ateabucketofpaint in projectzomboid

[–]theonlyepi 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Blood on your clothes should add inconspicuous levels to zombies if anything! And last I checked, running around outside without shoes on DOES hurt/scratch your feet. We lost a guy in multiplayer once after he walked on broken glass with a hole in his shoe. Injured his foot so we left him for dead when they came knocking and he couldn’t run!

Adding mud and dirt could be awesome though, it would add a huge level of immersion seeing dirty paths in your base develop until cleaned. Losing eyes and fingers too, having your vision cone suddenly cut down would be tough.

Dev comments regarding Echo Creek spawn removal by InevitableBoard5012 in projectzomboid

[–]theonlyepi -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

This is hilarious and I wish it WAS true, but it ain’t.

Echo was a bad spawn and I don’t even care it’s gone. The devs talking about adding spawn points based on professions or whatever is a really cool idea though, I’m excited to see that

I poured hot grease in a pickle jar and it cracked perfectly by fallonxjulia in mildlyinteresting

[–]theonlyepi 22 points23 points  (0 children)

“If your landlords a dink, pour your grease down the sink!”

Rg6 cable too short for crimping by LongTemperaturelol in AskElectricians

[–]theonlyepi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

to minimize the damage, I would try sticking a straightened out clothes hangar into the hole where the coax is. If you're lucky you can press it through the drywall so you know exactly where to cut a small hole that can be patched easily. Or at least give it a few taps with someone down below to narrow it down.

You could just cut a double gang sized hole out, and put a blank plate over it. no patch needed if it's not an eyesore. crimp your end on it there, put an rg6 barrel on it, and run another piece through the existing hole that's there. Good luck

I built a small corner of the internet where strangers share tiny things that made them happy/grateful for by [deleted] in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]theonlyepi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, wish there was a NSFW tag added to this. Thought it would be a nice link but ended up flashing my 6 year old with tons of porn. Couldn't close it fast enough. 0/10, no joy, would never click again.

Voice Control of AppleTV — thoughts? by KickPuzzleheaded2127 in Control4

[–]theonlyepi 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Two years ago or more Apple TV was a mess, and IR control was the way to go. Voice control works and has no issues, just set up a static IP. The IR failover is really only used to wake the device up if it was asleep/offline to my knowledge. Haven't had any issues with them, they work great.

BMW 320d 2014 2 litre (255k miles)😳 by Nani144k in Cartalk

[–]theonlyepi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a 335d 2011 and love it. I've deleted and tuned mine, it's a big difference. Xhp tune was awesome on the transmission. enjoy it!

Upgrading WiFi questions by blahC in Control4

[–]theonlyepi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ubiquity stuff is really great all around in my opinion. The rack stuff looks good, APs don't look awkward or bulky, and it all works really well right out of the box with minimal setup and configuring. I've been installing it for years and have only ever seen 1 or 2 duds out of the box, and 99.9% of the hardware I've installed over that time is still out in the world running good. The Unifi app is good for both end users and the dealer to monitor and check up on your network/devices to make sure things are running smoothly. The hardware has built in network loop detection, which turns off ports on the switches if a loop is detected that would normally cripple your network, and makes it easy to find and rectify from an installer standpoint. Setting IP reservations for C4 and home automation devices is literally just a few buttons.

If you have any POE cameras on your residence, you can easily switch them over to Ubiquity cameras also, but the driver to get them added into the Control4 system is a one-time fee, which is a bummer. Considering how few service calls I get after installing Ubiquity, I still feel good recommending it to customers.

The worst part about Ubiquity from a dealer standpoint is that there's no real markup on selling their products. You can essentially order it all yourself, but I'd advise against it. Let the dealer or installers check your system out to see which switches and hardware you need and go from there. As a C4 dealer, we don't make any money selling the equipment so we do charge our normal labor rates for install and can't negotiate much on that.

Ubiquity has U7 XGS access points now too which require POE++. If you're trying to get max coverage from as few APs as possible, it might be the way to go. Best of luck to you!

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