June 25, 2020

Wiring OSD Audio 6.5″ High Fidelity Outdoor Rock Speaker with Sonos Connect

OSD Audio 6.5" High Fidelity Outdoor Rock Speaker

I recently purchased the OSD Audio 6.5″ High Fidelity Outdoor Rock Speaker which is a wired speaker so you have to run audio cable to both of these.  I already have Sonos connect installed and working on (2) other outdoor speakers.  I wanted these speakers to work so bad because I loved the look of them.  However just after a few weeks both speakers were very distorted and crackling.  The first day of testing them I didn’t notice a problem and they sounded very crisp and blended in very nice.  I wasn’t playing them at too high of a volume however.

A few days later I had some friends over for a cookout and had them playing about 75%-80% max volume.  About 10 minutes later I could hear a crackle and distortion coming out of one of the speakers.  So I just simply disconnected that one speaker and sent it back.  Now about a week later the same thing happened to the other speaker same crackle and distortion.  The reviews on Amazon were all mixed so I thought I would try them out for myself.

OSD Audio 6.5" High Fidelity Outdoor

Running the cable from the Sonos Connect Amp was a breeze and simple its just connecting the (2) audio cables to the Left and Right audio channels.  So if you are looking to extend outdoor speakers or just run multiple speakers off your Connect Amp you can.

Thoughts

So if you’re looking for something that looks nice and you aren’t going to play them that loud it may work for you.

I recently upgraded the speakers to the TIC TFS6-SL 8″ Professional Outdoor Weather-Resistant Coaxial Rock Speaker (Slate)

I’m still testing these and I will post an article about them in the future they are definitely a lot more bulkier then the OSD Audio Rock Speakers.

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June 4, 2020

Phillips Hue Calla Landscaping Lights & Hue Lightstrip

I’ve owned the Phillips Hue Calla lights for a little over a year now and I’m finally just putting up a post about them.  I love the lights and how smooth the installation went, the brightness and just the overall quality of the lights themselves.  In the video’s below you can also see that I’m using a Hue LightStrip for behind the brick.  I had a different plan for that but it didn’t go as planned.

So because of the distance that my shed and patio are from my house.  I had to purchase another Hue Bridge which is fine because it keeps the house and the outside separate from one another.  I already have Google WiFi, Power outlets and a switch tied into my shed so everything is connected on the same network.  I also purchased a Phillips Hue switch which I was able to mount under the eave of the shed so water won’t affect it.

I recently this week just purchased a Phillips Hue Motion and Daylight/Nighttime sensor.  Which I will write an article later on how that installation goes and plays with the Phillips Hue Calla lights.

I used an Android app called Hue Pro which is totally worth the money if your invested a lot into Phillips Hue.  That’s the application that I used to achieve the lighting effects in the videos below.

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May 29, 2020

Microsoft Office Access 365 Str Function Not Defined MSCAL.OCX Fix

I was constantly getting a Str Function Not Defined on the new 2020 Windows Update which broke references to my MSCAL.OCX.

String functions and how to use them
With string functions, you can create expressions in Access that manipulate text in a variety of ways. For example, you might want to display only part of a serial number on a form. Or, you might need to join (concatenate) several strings together, such as a last name and a first name. If you’re not savvy with expressions yet, see Build an expression.

If you have been using an old database for quite sometime the new update broke the reference to the MSCAL.OCX.  So if you have been using an old database you probably already have the MSCAL.OCX file already installed on your PC and you can skip the installation of the OCX step below.

If not you need to download the MSCAL.OCX

On 64bit you need to add the file to C:\Windows\SysWoW64\

On 32bit you need to add the file to C:\Windows\System32\

Next In Office 365 you need to access the Visual Basic Editor you can do this by :

  1. Open the database.
  2. Press ALT+F11 to start Visual Basic Editor.
  3. On the Tools menu, click References

Once you have the References opened click on Browse and locate your MSCAL.OCX.

Restart the Access 365 and your errors should be resolved.

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