Yearly Archives: 2016

LED Turn Signals and the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee (WK2)

Posted by in Reviews > Hardware

One of the original turn signal bulbs in the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee (WK2) burnt out last week. While getting into the taillight assembly is not too difficult, it isn’t something I really want to do again. So replacing the fragile incandescent bulb with a LED based bulb seemed like a great idea. Luckily, there are several options for replacing the 3057 flasher bulbs. I picked the Sylvania Zevo 3057R, which contains red LEDs that match the lens cover.

LEDs happen to be a double edge sword. They are more efficient, so they draw less current, which is cool. But, that reduced current draw can cause problems with turn signal flashing circuits—typically referred to as hyper-blinking. In older vehicles the flasher module can be replaced with a solid module that supports LED and incandescent bulbs. However, in the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, this functionality is taken care of by the vehicle’s computer system. Now, this should not be a problem, except there is current detection circuitry to determine if the bulb is burnt out (and then emulates the hyper-blinking of traditional systems). While this is good for alerting the owner that the bulb needs replacement, its current threshold is set too high for LED bulbs. Thus, I get the hyper-blinking issue.

There are two potential solutions to this. One is a hardware hack, the other involves hacking the vehicle’s computer. The popular solution is to place a high wattage, low resistance resistor in parallel with the LED blinker bulb. This will fake out the current sensor and will result in the normal blink rate. The issue with this is the resistor needs to sit somewhere, and this is incompatible with re-installation of incandescent bulbs. The other option is more ideal, though it requires hacking the computer responsible for the current sensing. Naturally, I am looking into this second option.

As an interesting aside, the hazard flashers blink at the standard rate with the LED bulbs. Additionally, when set to accessory mode, the first three flashes will be at the correct rate. There appears to be a delay in detection or communication of the ‘burnt out’ state. These two behaviors could possibly be exploited to deliver the expected behavior with LED bulbs via a module plugged into the ODB port.

It would be nice if Jeep made available the source code for the module responsible for this, and provided documentation for it. Modifications for off-roading are an integral part of Jeep culture, why can’t this be extended to the software running on its electronic modules?

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]

Updated:

Seagate 4TB Expansion and Backup Plus

Posted by in Reviews > Hardware

This is the first in a series of posts regarding a new server build one is working on. The current local server, a HP Proliant Microserver (Gen 7 with a N40L) is four years old. While it can still handle print and file serving, it is having issues with its newer tasks. Specifically, transcoding Plex streams to Chromecasts and Fire TVs is a stuttering affair.

To start the build, one needs to have a case. Finding a good quality rackmount case, with hot swappable drive bays, at a reasonable price leaves just one option, the Supermicro SC216. The problem with the SC216 is it has 24 drive bays for 2.5″ drives. Most manufacturer’s only have 2TB drives in the 2.5″ formfactor. However, there is the ST4000LM016 made by Seagate.

Continue reading

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Order Bender 0.7.0

Posted by in WordPress > Plugins

Introducing Order Bender 0.7.0. This version adds code that takes advantage of new features in Breadcrumb NavT 5.4, allowing terms without parents to be the the preferred term for a post’s hierarchy as presented by Breadcrumb NavXT.

I know I said in the last release that Order Bender will make it into the official WordPress.org plugin repository so everyone will get update notifications. The truth is, it likely will not make it into the WordPress.org plugin repository. The Breadcrumb NavXT specific functionality introduced in this version will make its way into a Breadcrumb NavXT extension plugin. So, you’ll have to manually update (by first deleting and then re-installing).

Installation is quite easy:

  1. Download the Master branch zip archive from GitHub
  2. In your WordPress Dashboard navigate to the plugin uploader (Plugins > Add New > Upload)
  3. Upload the zip archive
  4. Activate and enjoy!

You can keep up with day to day development via the Order Bender’s GitHub Repository.

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]

Remove the Link in a Breadcrumb

Posted by in Guides

A topic that comes up time to time in support requests is how to unlink a breadcrumb. Typically this is due to having an empty page that exists to facilitate a logical hierarchy. Naturally, linking to this blank page in the breadcrumb trail is not useful. While it is bad form to have a breadcrumb in the breadcrumb trail that is not linked, there is a filter that can facilitate this behavior.

The presented solution is a simplistic example for a single page. However, it can be extended for multiple pages, or taxonomy terms. Finally, rather than being hard-coded, the IDs could come from a post_meta/term_meta field.

The Code (Breadcrumb NavXT 6.5)

Introduced in Breadcrumb NavXT 6.5, the bcn_breadcrumb_linked filter makes changing the linked status quite simple:

add_filter('bcn_breadcrumb_linked', 'my_breadcrumb_url_stripper', 3, 10);
function my_breadcrumb_url_stripper($linked, $type, $id)
{
	if(in_array('post-page', $type) && (int) $id === MYPAGEID)
	{
		return false;
	}
	return linked;
}

The Code (Pre-Breadcrumb NavXT 6.4)

Due to changes introduced in Breadcrumb NavXT 6.4, the below only works with versions of Breadcrumb NavXT prior to 6.4:

add_filter('bcn_breadcrumb_url', 'my_breadcrumb_url_stripper', 3, 10);
function my_breadcrumb_url_stripper($url, $type, $id)
{
	if(in_array('post-page', $type) && (int) $id === MYPAGEID)
	{
		$url = NULL;
	}
	return $url;
}

After placing this code into your site specific plugin, you will need to update one part of it. Just replace MYPAGEID with the ID of the page you want to remove the link to. That’s it. Simple, right?

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]

Breadcrumb NavXT bbPress Extensions 1.1.0

Posted by in Announcements

Announcing the immediate availability of Breadcrumb NavXT bbPress Extensions 1.1.0. This version add support for listing the current forum’s breadcrumb when viewing a single topic instance. Additionally, bbPress Extensions will no longer swap out the topics archive breadcrumb for the forums archive breadcrumb when on a topic archive. These two changes facilitate the generation of more accurate, and specific, breadcrumbs for bbPress resources.

You can grab the latest Breadcrumb NavXT bbPress Extensions on the Breadcrumb NavXT bbPress Extensions page. Also, checkout the GitHub repository for Breadcrumb NavXT bbPress Extensions for the latest development builds.

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]