2025-12-11 17:34:12 -06:00
5 changed files with 380 additions and 8 deletions
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+++
+categories = ["build","plants"]
+tags = ["plants"]
+date = 2025-08-08T08:00:00-05:00
+description = ""
+draft = false
+slug = "2025-08-08-plant-cart-upgrade"
+title = "🛒 Plant Cart Upgrade"
+author = "nicholas"
+++
+
+I need to upsize the plant cart. The current cart is undersized so I will replace it with a very large wire shelving unit.
+
+## Overview
+I use cable ties to affix the shop lights to the underside of the wire shelves. There are now three light units: 
+- 4 ft shop light (2)
+- 2 ft shop light
+
+The 2 ft shop light was meant for the old smaller plant cart. New lights are 4 ft long, matching the length of the shelving unit.The lights are powered by a power strip with a 6 ft cord. It is attached to the side of the wire shelf with yet more cable ties. I also removed the overhead EMT conduit-mounted spotlights since they have been replaced by a shop light. It is a cleaner look.
+
+
+## Images
+
+{{< image src="images/members-mark-6-tier-wire-shelving.png" >}}
+
+
+{{< image src="images/braun-10000-lumen-LED-shop-light.png" >}}
+
+
+{{< image src="images/shop-light-mounted.JPG" >}}
+
+
+{{< image src="images/plant-cart.JPG" >}}
+
+✅ Done.
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+++
+categories = ["food"]
+tags = ["reverse-engineer","arbys","sauce"]
+date = 2025-10-04T13:00:00-05:00
+description = ""
+draft = false
+slug = "arbys-bronco-berry-sauce"
+title = "🐎 Arby's Bronco Berry Sauce"
+author = "nicholas"
+++
+
+In this fast food reverse engineering post, I reference two documents:
+- [Arby's Ingredients](files/arbys-bronco-berry-ingredient-list.pdf)
+- [Arby's Nutrition](files/arbys-bronco-berry-nutrition.pdf)
+
+
+## 📋 Ingredient List
+Surpringly, the sauce contains absolutely no berries. In fact, it looks a lot like a basic **sweet and sour sauce**:
+
+{{< image
+  src="images/arbys-bronco-berry-sauce-ingredient-list.png"
+  caption="Arby's bronco berry sauce ingredient list" >}}
+
+```
+High Fructose Corn Syrup, Water, Bell Pepper, Distilled Vinegar, Modified Corn Starch, Jalapeno Pepper, Vegetable Juice Concentrate (color), Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate (preservatives), Onion (dehydrated), Salt, Spice, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Acetic Acid.
+```
+
+
+Compare this to *La Choy Sweet and Sour Sauce*. Curious....
+
+{{< image
+  src="images/La-Choy-Sweet-and-Sour-Stir-Fry-Sauce.avif"
+  caption="La Choy Sweet and Sour Sauce" >}}
+
+
+```
+Water, Sugar, Distilled Vinegar, Modified Corn Starch, LESS THAN 2% OF: Salt, Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Dried Red Bell Peppers, Oleoresin Paprika.
+```
+
+Just look at the overlap. It's essence is a sweet and sour sauce:
+
+| Ingredient | Arby's Bronco Berry | La Choy Sweet and Sour Sauce |
+|---|---|---|
+| Water | ✅ | ✅ |
+| Distilled Vinegar | ✅ | ✅ |
+| Modified Corn Starch | ✅ | ✅ |
+| Salt | ✅ | ✅ |
+| HFCS / Sugar | ✅ | ✅ |
+| Bell Pepper | ✅ | ✅ |
+| Jalapeno Pepper | ✅ | |
+| Pineapple Juice Concentrate | ✅ | |
+| Onion (dehydrated) | ✅ | |
+| Xanthan Gum | ✅ | |
+| Citric Acid | ✅ | |
+| Acetic Acid | ✅ | |
+| Spice / Oleoresin Paprika | ✅ | ✅ |
+
+
+✅ Good enough.
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 +++
 categories = ["build"]
 tags = ["bicycle"]
-date = 2025-08-07T08:00:00-05:00
+date = 2025-08-12T12:15:00-05:00
 description = ""
 draft = false
 slug = "bicycle-headlamp"
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Nighttime bicycle rides in the summer are ideal:
 - 🚘 little traffic
 - 🦝 nocturnal wildlife 

-But it is not easy to see in the dark, so I bring a headlamp and okay, fine, this works. With my current head lamp I can see and be seen just fine. But there are some limitations. I see wonderfully directly ahead of me in the narrow cone of light provided, but at the edges of this light cone I see practically nothing at all, as though I am looking through a paper towel roll. The beam pattern is optimized for riding in a straight line, with little regard for what lies in the periphery. **I would like a greater field of view, so I will need a lamp with a wide beam pattern.**
+But it is not easy to see in the dark, so I bring a headlamp and *okay, fine, this works*. With my current headlamp I can see and be seen just fine. But there are some limitations. I see wonderfully directly ahead of me in the narrow cone of light provided, but at the edges of this light cone I see practically nothing at all, as though I am looking through a paper towel roll. The beam pattern is optimized for riding in a straight line, with little regard for what lies in the periphery. **I would like a greater field of view, so I will need a lamp with a wide beam pattern.**

 ## 🔦 Headlamp
 I start by selecting the headlamp. This is the most important component, and everything will revolve around it. My selection criteria is simple. The light must have these features:
@@ -36,11 +36,19 @@ I had to settle for the **OPL5 Motorcycle LED Headlamp**:
 | Brightness | 3000 lm |
 | Color Temperature | 6500K (Cool White) |

-✅ **This will have to do**.


 {{< image src="images/opl5-motorcycle-led-headlamp.png" >}}

+
+{{< image 
+    src="images/beam-pattern.JPG"
+    caption="OPL5 Beam against the wall" >}}
+
+Notice the sharp beam cutoff at the top. This is what allows me to have a very bright headlamp while also not blinding oncoming traffic. Also, the beam gradient at the bottom transitions from very bright to very dim, in a manner that maximizes usable light. It concentrates maximum light near the upper cutoff where it will disperse across a large surface area at long distances, while minimizing output in the near and mid field, where the illuminated surface area should be relatively small.
+
+✅ **This will do**.
+
 ---

 ## 🧰 Case
@@ -62,7 +70,7 @@ Since the headlamp consumes 48 W, I need a battery that can sustain this load fo

 - $t$ = run time (hr)
 - $E_\text{battery}$ = battery energy (Wh)
- $p_\text{load}$ = LED headlamp power (W)
+- $P_\text{load}$ = LED headlamp power (W)

 $$
 t = \frac{12.8 \text{ V} \cdot 16 \text{ Ah}}{48 \text{ W}} = 4.27 \text{ hr}
@@ -113,6 +121,10 @@ Now for final assembly. This is all very simple and I ran into no issues.
 - Sealed the power port and switch mounting holes with silicone
 - Removed the battery enclosure lid since the battery terminals were ≈ 1 mm proud of the battery box lid. The battery box would still close, but it was straining the plastic and the weather sealing would be compromised.

+{{< image 
+    src="images/battery-box-open.JPG"
+    caption="Battery box inside" >}}
+
 Here is a **wiring diagram** of the circuit.

 {{< image src="images/bicycle-headlamp-wiring-diagram.svg" >}}
@@ -124,16 +136,32 @@ Here is a **wiring diagram** of the circuit.
 | SW1 | SPST Switch |
 | LED1 | 48 W |

-I strap the battery box to the rear cargo rack with hook and loop straps. 

-That is all.
+{{< image 
+    src="images/battery-box-power-port.JPG"
+    caption="Battery box power port" >}}

--
+{{< image 
+    src="images/battery-box-switch.JPG"
+    caption="Battery box switch" >}}    
+
+{{< image 
+    src="images/battery-box-mounted.JPG"
+    caption="Battery box fastened to the rear cargo rack with hook and loop straps" >}}
+
+{{< image 
+    src="images/headlamp-mounted.JPG"
+    caption="Headlamp on handlebars" >}}
+
+
+---

 ## 🚴 Test Drive 
 All that remains is the test drive.

-{{< image src="images/headlamp-night-test-drive.jpg" >}}
+{{< image 
+    src="images/headlamp-night-test-drive.jpg"
+    caption="Wide beam width" >}}

 🎉 **It works!**

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+++
+categories = ["build"]
+tags = ["electronics","hoverboard"]
+date = 2025-08-10T11:00:00-05:00
+description = ""
+draft = false
+slug = "hoverboard-battery-salvage-replacement"
+title = "🪫 Hoverboard Battery Salvage, Replacement"
+author = "nicholas"
+++
+
+I came into the possession of a malfunctioning hoverboard, volunteering to attempt a repair -- at the very least a diagnosis. The nature of the malfunction was not known, but my initial guess was that the battery died. I took it home to see if I could fix it, hoping that I would be lucky and need only re-connect a loose connection.
+
+## 🔍 Troubleshooting
+I open up the electronics enclosure to expose the wiring to confirm my suspicion.
+
+- ✅ AC-DC power supply produces correct 42 V
+- ✅ 42 V was being applied to the battery pack
+- ❌⚠️🚨 **Correct battery pack voltage (36 V)**🚨⚠️❌ 
+
+The battery pack was reading ~ 30 V, far too low to be caused by an otherwise functional but depleted battery. Bad news, the whole pack will need to be replaced (I *could* replace the offending batteries with working ones, but this would require an effort beyond what I can justify to myself).
+
+{{< image 
+    src="images/hoverboard-inside.JPG" 
+    caption="Inside the hoverboard" >}}
+
+## ♻️ Salvage and Scrap 🗑️
+Presumably, I thought, some of the batteries in the pack would still be functional and may yet have a purpose, so I carefully broke them out of their assembly for testing. All but 4 were usable. Two were totally dead, giving voltage readings of ~ 2 V, and another two had a layer of oxidized metal at the terminals, but gave otherwise normal voltage readings. I disposed of all four, leaving me with **six (6)!🙂** working batteries.
+
+{{< image 
+    src="images/salvaged-batteries.JPG" 
+    caption="Salvaged 18650 batteries" >}}
+
+These batteries are not especially good quality. In fact, they are dirt cheap, low capacity (2000 mAh) and it is no mystery that they died. I don't care, I'll keep using this garbage anyway. My flashlights use 18650 batteries, and it will be good to have them around. I discharge them to storage voltages, record it in my battery management spreadsheet, and say goodbye for now.
+
+## 🔄 Replacement
+I was intending on buying a replacement **battery pack** but I was instead gifted an **entirely functional replacement hoverboard**, at a price I am told was less than the price of a new battery pack alone due to strange shipping prices for batteries. Many such cases.
+
+{{< image 
+    src="images/hoverboard-new.JPG" 
+    caption="Replacement hoverboard" >}}
+
+🔋 Done. 
@@ -0,0 +1,207 @@
+++
+categories = ["software"]
+tags = ["router","opnsense"]
+date = 2025-08-27T18:30:00-05:00
+description = ""
+draft = false
+slug = "router-build"
+title = "🔀 Router Build"
+author = "nicholas"
+++
+
+My router (**Netgear R6400v2**) lacks many of the features I would like to use and become familiar with:
+- VLANs
+- Advanced routing, firewall
+- Monitoring, logging, alerts
+- etc.
+
+**I need a new router.**
+
+I have a few options from here:
+
+1. ❌ **Write custom firmware to existing router** (*DD-WRT, OpenWRT, Tomato, etc.*)  
+    - ➕ Fun
+    - ➕ Free
+    - ➖ Too much jank
+
+2. ❌ **Buy new hardware**  
+    - ➕ Very easy setup
+    - ➖ Boring
+    - 💲 Could require expensive/high-end router hardware
+
+3. ✅ **Repurpose existing hardware**  
+    - ➕ Fun
+    - ➕ Makes use of an unused **Dell OptiPlex 5050 Micro**
+    - ➕ Can run proper router OS **OPNsense**
+    - ➕ Repurpose router as wireless access point
+
+---
+
+## 🪵 Router-on-a-stick (ROAS)
+My VM host (where I will build my router) has only a single NIC, with only one physical port. That means I cannot replicate the exact behavior of ordinary consumer routers, which are typically configured with a dedicated WAN port, and several dedicated LAN ports. The router simply routes between the two. Very simple. I need to find a way to replicate the *function* of such a router without the same *hardware*.
+
+I have a couple of options:
+
+1. ❌ Configure the **virtual switch** on my VM host to perform 802.1Q VLAN tagging for router VM.  
+    - ➕ Free, no additional hardware required
+
+2. ✅ Configure a **managed physical switch** to handle 802.1Q VLAN tagging and trunking to the router
+    - ➕ Gain additional physical ports
+    - 💲 Addtional hardware required
+
+I want the extra ports! I got a **Netgear GS108E-400NAS**. For no other reason than it was available at my local *Best Buy*.
+
+---
+
+## 🖧 Logical Network Topology
+This diagram describes approxmiately what I my network will look like:
+
+```mermaid
+graph TD
+    isp["🌐ISP"]
+    modem["📡Modem"]
+    switch["🔀Switch"]
+    subgraph vm-host["VM Host"]
+        router["🛡️Router (OPNsense)"]
+    end
+    wap["🛜WAP"]
+    nas["🗄️NAS"]
+    workstation["🖥️Workstation"]
+    subgraph wireless["Wireless Devices"]
+        laptop["💻Laptop"]
+        phone["📱Phone"]
+        printer["🖨️Printer"]
+    end
+
+    isp --- modem
+    modem --- switch
+    switch --- |"🪵 Trunk (VLANs 10,100)"| router
+    switch --- wap
+    switch --- nas
+    switch --- workstation
+    wap -.- wireless
+
+```
+
+---
+
+## 🔀 Switch Setup & Port VLAN Assignment Table
+- First, I need to choose a subnet for my network and assign my switch an IP accordingly. I chose 10.0.0.0/8 subnet. It just looks good.
+
+- Next I cofigure my switch with a **trunk port**. This port will link to the router and carry multiple VLANs: **VLAN 10** (LAN), **VLAN 100** (WAN). This allows my router to distinguish between WAN and LAN with just one physical port. Instead of a phyiscal port to ditinguish WAN and LAN, the distinction is made virtually using VLAN tags.
+
+- This means I will also need to configure a separate port for VLAN 100 (modem/ISP uplink), so that all traffic on that port is tagged and forwarded as WAN traffic. 
+
+| Port | Device | VLAN Mode | PVID | Tagged VLANs |
+|-|-|-|-|-|
+| 1 | Router | Trunk | 10 | 10,100 |
+| 2 | Workstation | Access | 10 | - |
+| 3 | NAS | Access | 10 | - |
+| 4 | WAP | Access | 10   | - |
+| 5 | - | Access | 10 | - |
+| 6 | - | Access | 10 | - |
+| 7 | - | Management | 1 | - |
+| 8 | Modem | Access | 100 | - |
+
+---
+
+**Switch VLAN tagging**
+```mermaid
+flowchart TD
+    lan["🏠LAN"]
+    modem["🌐Modem/ISP"]
+    switch[🔀Switch]
+    subgraph router["🛡️Router"]
+        wan_interface["🌐WAN Interface"]
+        lan_interface["🏠LAN Interface"]
+    end
+    
+    lan -- "`
+    *🗅untagged*
+    🔵access port **VLAN 10**
+    `" --> switch
+    modem -- "`
+    *🗅untagged*
+    🔵access port **VLAN 100**`" --> switch
+
+    switch -- "*🏷️tagged* VLAN 10" --> lan_interface
+    switch -- "*🏷️tagged* VLAN 100" --> wan_interface
+```
+✅ Done. Now I configure a VM for the router.
+
+---
+
+## 🖥️ VM Configuration
+I need to configure a VM to serve as a router:
+- COnfigure VM specs:
+    - 20 GB vdisk
+    - 3 GB RAM
+    - 1 vCPU
+- Install OPNsense OS
+- Configure VM network adapter with static MAC address (spoof old netgear router MAC, keep current DHCP IP)
+- Configure host OS network adapter to carry VLAN ID 10 only
+- Configure VM network adapter to carry VLANs ID 10,100
+
+✅ Done. Now I can configure OPNsense.
+
+---
+
+## 🛡️ OPNsense
+
+{{< image 
+    src="images/OPNsense-dashboard.png" 
+    caption="OPNsense Dashboard" >}}
+
+##### Interfaces
+According to the plan, I need to configure OPNsense with an interface for each VLAN I configured:
+- VLAN **10** for **LAN**
+- VLAN **100** for **WAN**
+
+##### DNSMasq DHCP
+Since I want most of my devices to be assigned IPs dynamically, I enable DHCP on the LAN interface.
+- Start address: 10.0.10.3
+- End address: 10.0.10.100
+- 10.0.10.100 - 10.0.10.200 are reserved for static / wired devices.
+
+##### Unbound DNS
+I also want to use my router as a DNS server for local DNS resolution, so I enable **Unbound DNS**. This is where I can configure A records (host override), and CNAME records (alias). 
+
+**For example:**
+
+| Record Type | Name | Value |
+|-|-|-|
+| A | proxy.internal.domain.com | 10.0.10.100 |
+| CNAME | git.domain.com | proxy.internal.domain.com |
+
+##### Query Forwarding
+Now that I have given my wired devices static IPs, I can do query forwarding to Pi-Hole. This will enable network-wide ad blocking.
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart LR
+    client[💻Client] --> router-dns["`
+    🛡️Router
+    (Local DNS)
+    `"]
+    router-dns --> pihole[🕳️Pi-hole]
+    pihole --> upstream["`
+    ☁️ Upstream DNS 
+    (e.g. 8.8.8.8)`"
+    ]
+```
+##### Firewall - GeoIP
+I use [MaxMind GeoIP database](https://AccountID:LicenseKey@download.maxmind.com/geoip/databases/GeoLite2-Country-CSV/download?suffix=zip) to create a firewall alias. Then I configured a firewall rule on WAN interface which blocks any IP that matches those configured in the alias. I am blocking IPs from most countries. 
+
+This nearly eliminates unwanted traffic from annoying and/or malicious bots scanning and scraping my network
+
+**MaxMind GeoIP database**:`https://AccountID:LicenseKey@download.maxmind.com/geoip/databases/GeoLite2-Country-CSV/download?suffix=zip`
+
+
+🎉 It works!
+
+{{< video
+  src="videos/router-traffic-graph-live.mp4"
+  width="100%"
+>}}
+
+
+✅ Done.