Page 24 – The DIY Life

Start Harvesting Rainwater for Use around Your Home & Garden

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January 5, 2020

Start Harvesting Rainwater for Use around Your Home & Garden

If you live in an area which receives a lot of rainfall, there’s potential for you to save some money and play your part in easing the strain on the environment by harvesting rainwater for use around your home and garden. While the harvested water won’t usually be suitable for drinking, it can be easily used for watering your garden and lawn as well as topping up your pool. If your home is designed for it, you can also direct this water to your toilets for flushing.

Before you start harvesting rainwater, make sure that it is legal in your area. While this might sound bizarre, there are some areas which prohibit the private collection of rainwater.

Know Where You Want To Use It

Rainwater is generally clean and pure and can be good to drink if harvested correctly, problems emerge when it’s been running over your roof and through your gutters. While the harvested water may not look dirty, it’ll most likely taste terrible and will be filled with dirt and toxins from your roof tiles as well as the dirt and leaves which have collected on and around it.

The best use for rainwater is going to be in and around your garden, it’s great for watering your plants, filling your pool and washing your car. You’ll be surprised to find that you can save around 20-30% of your annual water bill by simply using rainwater in and around your garden. The untreated water is also better for your plants and is great for growing your own organic vegetables.

Depending on how your home has been piped up, you may even be able to pipe some of the water into one or two of your toilets or to your laundry area for use with your washing machine or laundry basin.

Get The Right Equipment

Getting the right equipment up-front is going to save you a whole lot of time and money down the line and make sure that your water is safe to use. For a simple rainwater collection system, you’ll need a collection surface (your roof), a storage tank or barrel and a hose or pump to distribute it.

Choose A Collection Surface (Roof)

Most people dive into this aspect head first and assume that you need to collect water from your entire roof. This is not necessary and you can actually harvest a fair amount of water from a single unobstructed side of your roof. In order to save money and complication when getting started, look for a single gutter downpipe which has the largest collection area on your roof, bearing in mind that some gutters may divert water from multiple roof surfaces. This will be the easiest place to simply divert your gutter into your tank without having to run long lengths of additional piping.

A single 90 square meter (1000 square feet) roof can supply around 2500 litres (660 gallons) of water off of 1 centimetre (0.5 inches) of rainfall.

You can also add a diverter onto your existing drains to re-direct used water to your storage tanks.

Pick The Right Collection Barrel

It may be tempting to use an old cheap container for water storage, but many of these may leach dangerous chemicals and toxins into your water. Get a barrel which has been purpose built for rainwater collection. You may even be able to find some second hand ones available online for much cheaper than new ones. Don’t underestimate the amount of water you use and how much can be collected in a single downpour, also make sure that your collection tank is adequately sized for your application. You’ll want to get at least a 2,000 litre tank to get started and you’ll probably find that a tank of 5,000 to 10,000 litres is more suitable for a medium sized garden.

Decide How To Use The Water

You’ll also need a system to get the water out of your tank. If you’re just going to be using it to water your plants with a watering can or bucket then you may be able to get away with a simple tap on your storage container, but if you want to have proper water pressure for an irrigation system, hose pipe or washing your vehicle, then you’ll need to get a booster pump as well. This pump essentially pumps the water from the tank into your water distribution system at a similar pressure to your main water supply and usually has an automatic switch to turn it on and off as water is needed.

Get Started With An All-in-1 Solution

If you’re keen to experiment with harvesting rainwater without having to source the individual components and put the system together yourself, there are a few all in one solutions which can simply be installed onto a gutter downpipe and they’re ready to be used. Have a look at these compact home water booster pump and tank solutions for some ideas. You can also pipe a larger storage tank directly onto your downpipe and then feed the water into the smaller tank in one of these solutions.

Have you tried harvesting rainwater for use around your home? Let us know what you’ve tried and how it has worked out for you in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you.

10 Amazing 3D Printed Pegboard Accessories For Your Workshop

Michael Klements

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January 3, 2020

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10 Amazing 3D Printed Pegboard Accessories For Your Workshop

The combination of a 3D printer and a pegboard leaves you with infinite possibilities for storage and organisation in your workshop, garage or study. We’ve found 10 of our favourite 3D printed pegboard accessories to help you out with getting your work space organised and to inspire you to design your own pegboard accessories.

If you’re looking for some other ideas for your 3D printer, have a look at these 30 Useful Things to 3D Print.

Pegboard Pliers Holder

Keep your pliers and snips organised and easily accessible with these pliers holders by Ty Creek.

Tape Holder

Instead of keeping your rolls of tape lying around in a box or drawer, arrange them on this useful shelf made with 3D printed shelf ends by Rordaz and some wooden dowels.

Pegboard Tray

Perfect for storing your craft knives, pens and even screw drivers, these pegboard trays by Penomo are a must have.

Sunglasses & Safety Glasses Holder

Avoid getting your sunglasses or safety glasses scratched and damaged in your drawer by keeping them out of the way on a pegboard glasses holder by 5hp .

Universal Spool Holder

Great for a workshop bench with a 3D printer, keep your filament spools organised and ready to be used with these universal spool holders by Jterranella. You’ll be able to print straight off of the holder.

USB Cable Organiser

Organiser your charging cables with a USB cable organiser by Futur3gentleman.

Dremel Tool Holder

A nifty caddy by Swanny for your Dremel rotary-tool to store it permanently or simply as a temporary holder while using it to keep it out of the way.

Hex Bit Organiser

Instead of keeping your hex bits in a cup or box, keep them organised and ready to use with a pegboard hex bit holder by Idabkey.

Coffee Cup Holder

Keep your coffee, or your mug when you’re not using it, in a safe place and away from accidental bumps and spills which may ruin your next project by hanging it on your pegboard with this coffee cup holder by NerdAlert3D.

Screwdriver Holder

Screwdriver Pegboard Accessories — By: TyCreek

Free up some space on your pegboard by using these screwdriver holders by TyCreek to store up to 6 on a single holder.

Learn how to get the best, smooth finish on your 3D printed accessories with our detailed guide to finishing off your 3D prints.

Have you 3D printed your own pegboard accessories, storage or organisational tools and holders for use around your home and workshop? Let us know what you’ve made in the comments section below.

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Upgrade Your Child’s Room Over the Holidays

Michael Klements

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December 27, 2019

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Upgrade Your Child’s Room Over the Holidays

Your children probably have their own room or share a room with their siblings but how often do you give their room an upgrade? Children get bored quickly and it’s important to keep them stimulated and keep them actively engaged in taking responsibility for their area and keeping it clean and tidy. Here are some tips to help you upgrade your child’s room over the holidays.

Choose a Theme

Children love a themed room and it’s a great place to start to get inspiration for colours and furniture to pick out. Choose a theme together with your child and then pick out some bed sheets and a few pieces and pictures to match the theme.

Rather than paint the walls of the room in a colour to suit your theme, paint the walls in a neutral colour like white, light grey or gentle pastel colours. Then add furniture, colourful pictures and extra design elements to the room to complement your chosen theme. Children change their mind all the time and repainting a room can be expensive, while simply changing the bed sheets and a couple of shelf ornaments can transform the appearance of a room without much work at all.

Choose picture frames for the walls that can easily be taken down and fitted with something else, this way you can just print new pictures to match the next theme when you re-decorate instead of having to buy new ones.

You could also choose to refurbish an old piece of furniture, such as a chest of drawers, to fit in with your new theme. This usually involves giving the item of furniture a sand down and it can then be repainted to fit in with your new theme.

Create a Study Corner

Your children need a place where they can devote all their time to schoolwork and enjoying any budding creative pursuits. While they may enjoy doing their work in a more busy area of the home or in your study, it’s important to also give them their own private place to work if they feel like being alone or need to concentrate.

Get a small desk and chair, suitable for your child’s age, and stick up a few posters, frames or pictures on the walls around it to create their very own study area. You can also add things like a cup or bucket of crayons and some craft paper and colouring books.

Their Bed is their Best Comfort

Don’t underestimate the importance of a good quality bed for your child. Children love to climb and hide, so have a look at these mid sleeper beds available here for some options for a bed which allow them to do so safely. They can climb up the ladder onto the elevated bed area and the area underneath the bed can be used to create a sheet fort or turned into a play, study or storage area.

Add Some Colour

We’ve mentioned previously that you should stick to a neutral paint colour for your child’s room, but this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have some colour. Add colour to the room with brightly coloured bed sheets, pillows and wall decal stickers. A brightly coloured bean bag can make a comfortable reading corner. Also consider getting a coloured children’s rug to match your theme, there are loads of children’s rugs available in character or movie themes or with play roads on them.

Have a look at these DIY lighting projects you can do at home with your children.

A Chalk Board Wall is a Great Addition

I don’t think parents will ever understand the fascination with writing on the wall, but children love it. So get ahead of them by painting a wall or an area of the wall in chalk board paint so that they can draw freely and let their imagination run.

Now that you’ve got some inspiration for upgrading your child’s room, use some of the free time you’ve got with them this holiday season to upgrade their space. They’ll love it and you’ll get to enjoy the extra time spent with them.

Have you upgraded your child’s bedroom recently? What are some of the things you’ve done or included? Let us know in the comments section below, we’d love to hear from you.

10 Amazingly Easy Cleaning Hacks To Try This Holiday Season

Michael Klements

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December 17, 2019

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10 Amazingly Easy Cleaning Hacks To Try This Holiday Season

Nobody wants to spend a long time cleaning their home, the last thing you want to do during the holiday season is spend a day cleaning up. So we’ve put together a list of 10 of our favourite cleaning hacks to make cleaning up your home a breeze this holiday season.

The Dishwasher Is Not Just For Dishes

Your dishwasher should be your best friend when it comes to cleaning up the smaller things around your home, you don’t have to only use it for dishes.

Use your dishwasher to clean up your floor vents or air conditioner air vents

Use your dishwasher to clean air vents — Credit: Design Dazzle

Clean up and disinfect your kids toys in your dishwasher. You can even clean up smaller toys like Legos by putting them into a laundry or swimming mesh bag.

Clean kids toys in the dishwasher — Credit: Fun, Cheap or Free

Bonus, you can even cook dinner in your dishwasher while a cycle is on. Here’s how to cook the perfect salmon in your dishwasher.

If you liked these dishwasher home cleaning hacks, here are 7 more things you can clean in your dishwasher.

Clean Your Window Screens With A Lint Roller

Clean the dust and dish from your window screens by rolling over them with a lint roller, the sticky surface will lift the dirt and dust from the screens making for an easy clean.

Clean window screens with a lint roller — Credit: Cottage Notes

Get Rid Of Mould And Mildew With Bleach Gel

Use bleach gel to get rid of stubborn mould and mildew stains in your bathroom and kitchen. This works really well on the seals along the edges of the bath, the gel holds the bleach in place while it works on removing the mould.

Use bleach gel to get rid of mould and mildew — Credit: First Home Love Life

Clean Your Oven Racks In The Bath

You can easily clean your oven racks with a soak in the bath. Simply run a hot tub of water, dissolving in a scoop or two of laundry detergent. Put the racks into the water, fully submerged, and allow them to soak overnight. In the morning, they’ll be 90% clean and the remaining dirt will come off with an easy wipe or brush down.

Make A Crevice Vacuum Tool With A Toilet Roll Inner

Place a cardboard tube, such as the one from paper towel or toilet paper, onto the end of your vacuum hose for an easy to shape and mould vacuum tool. This is great for getting into the really tight to reach places along the edges of your drawers, on your window tracks and between appliances.

Make a vacuum tool with cardboard roll — Credit: One Good Thing

Clean Between The Oven Glass With A Coat Hanger

Clean up any drips or spots on the inside of your oven glass (between the two glass layers) by placing a piece of cloth around a coat hanger and feeding it into the hole near the top or bottom of the door, most oven doors have one at the bottom. This way you don’t need to remove the whole oven door to clean between the glass panels.

Clean between glass panels on oven door — Credit: Wildly Charmed

Keep Your Bathroom Mirror From Fogging Up

Keep your bathroom mirror from fogging up permanently by rubbing it down with a bar of soap and a dry cloth.

Polish Out Mug Rings With Toothpaste

Us toothpaste to polish out light mug and coffee cup rings from your wooden tables. Simply apply a small amount to the area and gently rub it out with a damp cloth before wiping it clean.

Toothpaste removes rings from wood — Credit: Charles + Hudson

Make Your Yellowed Sheets Look White Again

Get your old yellowed sheets to look brand new and white again by soaking them with OxiClean or borax, if that doesn’t work then try out a bluing solution, follow the image link for the full guide.

Have you got any tips, tricks or home cleaning hacks which you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments section below, we would love to hear from you.

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How To Upgrade Your Home’s Entrance & Increase Curb Appeal

Michael Klements

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December 16, 2019

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How To Upgrade Your Home’s Entrance & Increase Curb Appeal

Your entrance or front door to your home is the first thing people look at when they walk past, drive past or come to visit your home. Making a statement with your home’s entrance can really increase your home’s curb appeal and set the tone for the rest of your home. A bold and well decorated entrance will leave a lasting impression on your guests and passers by. So lets have a look at some ways you can upgrade your home’s entrance to create the most impact.

Go For A Minimalist Look

One of the first things you’ll notice when you look at home entrances in home decor magazines or online is that their entrances are not cluttered up with furniture, pots, plants or decor. You need to select a few key elements and let these become the only decor items for your home’s entrance, these can be in the form of a few simple planters, a bench, a chandelier or some other larger item or items which are immediately noticeable and are able to stand alone without any clutter around them. Get rid of any additional decor, planters and storage boxes.

Make sure that you main decor items are in good condition and that your door, door frame, walls and floor around your home’s entrance are well painted (if required) and maintained. A dark door on a lighter wall or a light door on a dark wall work well together.

Get Some Large Planters

Planters around your entrance — Credit: Instagram

Planters have long been a traditional home entrance decor element, often placed on either side of the door. Get two large planters and create a symmetrical entrance with a planter on either side of the door or go with three or four planters of varying heights and shades to create an equally effective asymmetrical entrance.

Try to choose planters which are manufactured out of a coloured cement or concrete mixture so that they’re low maintenance and you don’t have to worry about re-painting them in a year or two’s time.

You don’t need to fill your entire planter with sand or potting soil. Stuff the bottom half of your planter with packaging polystyrene or build a false bottom in your planter. You’ll then use less soil and they’ll be much lighter, allowing you to move them around if you need to clean underneath them or to change up your entrance every so often.

Add Outdoor Lights To Your Pathway To Your Home’s Entrance

Make use of outdoor lighting for your home's entrance — Credit: Homesuka

Lights are always an effective way to create an alluring garden in the evening and at night. Choose a few subtle lights along your pathway to your home’s entrance or along a perimeter wall to gently light up the outside of your home.

Make sure to choose low energy LED lighting so that you don’t spend a fortune on your electrical bill as these lights will be on for long periods in the evenings. A simple timer can also be a useful addition to switch them on and off every evening, or go with a smart lighting system such as the Philips Hue system to automatically turn your lights on and off with timers and location based settings for when you arrive or leave home.

Make Your Own Eye Catching House Number

Make your own house number — Credit: A Beautiful Mess

Your house number is the perfect item to turn into an artwork for your home’s entrance. You can do this through getting a local sign manufacturer to laser cut a stainless steel sign for you or get your hands dirty making your own house number like this original one from A Beautiful Mess.

Consider Some Outdoor Seating For Your Home’s Entrance

Add some outdoor seating — Credit: Vidur

If you’ve got a larger front doorstep or porch, consider putting in a bench or outdoor couch to make your home look more comfortable and inviting. This is only really suitable if you’ve got a larger area which won’t look cluttered.

Choose An Accent Colour

Add an eye catching accent colour to your home's entrance — Credit: Delta Contructions

If you’re a person who likes a bit of colour, go for an accent colour for an immediately eye catching entrance. Choose a bright colour such as red, yellow or green for maximum impact and then use it to paint either a set of planters, or your bench, or your front door – any item or two which is likely to be eye catching in contrast with the neutral background.

Have you got any tips or tricks for upgrading your home’s entrance? Let us know in the comments section below, we’d love to hear from you.

Practical Ways to Prepare Every Inch of Your Yard for Any Weather

Lilly Miller

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December 9, 2019

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Practical Ways to Prepare Every Inch of Your Yard for Any Weather

When browsing the internet for some ideas on what you can do with your yard, you may come across various tips on how to make your yard drought-proof, get it ready for winter or find out how to create the perfect fall vibes. However, rarely – if ever – you can find tips on how to make your yard ready to take on any type of weather.

From the plants you choose to plant to the overall layout of your yard, we’ll explore the best ways you can prepare your outdoor area for any weather conditions. Check them out.

Let’s Talk Plants for Any Weather

The plants you choose to welcome in your yard make up for a good portion of its aesthetic appeal. That’s why you need to be careful when choosing. Ideally, you should choose various plants that are suited for different weather conditions so that your yard always looks like it’s thriving. Evergreen trees are the perfect choice of trees as they stay vibrant throughout the year. Aside from them, Sedum – and similar perennials – is the perfect choice for a floor-height layer of plants as it blossoms year-round but the flowers actually become more lush and vibrant as the summer fades away. For the mid-tier, choose something like Japanese silver grass, as this is another beautiful four-seasons plant. On the other hand, if you have already planted some plants that don’t tolerate cold weather well, make sure you protect them from freezing with horticultural fleece.

What about other Backyard Features?

When choosing materials for your backyard, you need to keep in mind that they will be exposed to every weather condition you have in your area. That’s why you need to be smart about it and choose only the best materials to ensure that you don’t have to replace them too often. For instance, for outdoor faucets, you should always go with frost-proof alternatives to ensure that you can use them even when the temperature drops. Similarly, when choosing pavers for your yard, choose something that’s both functional and visually appealing. As an example, if you decide to go with high-quality permeable paving with Premier Pavers both the practical and the aesthetic aspect will be met. These pavers are an excellent choice, especially for areas that experience a lot of rain or snow, as they allow water to drain naturally, which makes them extremely sustainable as well.

The Landscape

In order to ensure that you created the best possible landscape for your yard, in particular, you must first understand the land itself. If you’re not very versed in this field yourself, don’t shy away from asking for some professional help. When talking about “understanding the land” you need to make sure that you know the characteristics of the ground in your yard as well as its position. If, for instance, your yard is sloped, you should try to position the plants that don’t require too much moisture at the top of the slope so that the ones that do can go on the bottom. This way, you will create a landscape that actually makes sense and will enable your yard to become self-sustainable in a way. Similarly, avoid placing seating areas, fire pits and outdoor kitchens – or any other outdoor structure for that matter – at the bottom of the slope.

The Design for Any Weather

Finally, when designing your yard, make sure that you account for all the weather conditions you have in your area. Sure, you might be designing your yard in spring or summer, but try to come up with a design that will work in fall and winter as well. Simply put, make sure you can enjoy your yard year-round because it otherwise doesn’t make a lot of sense to put so much hard work into something you will only be able to enjoy at a certain time of the year.

So, if you’re looking for ways to make your yard work throughout the year, give some of these ideas a go. With them, you should be able to create a beautiful outdoor environment you will be able to enjoy year-round.

5 Ways to Set Up a Kids’ Study Corner on a Budget

Michelle Laurey

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December 9, 2019

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5 Ways to Set Up a Kids’ Study Corner on a Budget

Getting kids to study isn’t always easy. When your child gets home from school, they’ll be keen to enjoy time with their family, play, and engage in their favourite hobbies. While they might not like it, studying and homework are important in building their academic proficiencies and unlocking new opportunities for the future. Fortunately, parents can do a number of things to encourage a more peaceful and inspiring studying experience. Setting up a schedule and giving your kids access to the right studying environment, such as their own study corner, can make a huge difference.

Just as the design of your office will affect the way that you work, the design of a study corner or room can impact your child’s desire to learn. The good news is that designing a special space for studying in your home doesn’t have to be an expensive experience. The following tips will help you to build an educational oasis, without spending a fortune.

1. Choose the Right Area/Room

First, you’ll need to make sure that you’ve chosen the right space for your study corner or room. No child wants to be cramped in a broom closet learning calculus. Make sure there’s plenty of room for your child to move around if necessary, and there should definitely be space for a desk and chair.

The best room for a study environment is one that’s removed from other distractions. Keep your child away from the family or TV room where they might be distracted by noise. It’s also a good idea to avoid picking a room that might be overly exposed to the sound of traffic.

At the same time, remember that there are plenty of wide-open windows to allow for the flow of natural light into the room. Light is energising and inspiring, it will make your children feel more comfortable in their space.

Remember to pick colours for the walls that are light and simple too. You don’t want anything too bright that’s going to give your child a headache while they study, or anything that will suck the light out of the room.

2. Focus on the Essentials

Once you’ve picked the perfect space or room for your study corner, think about the furniture you need for your youngster. Furniture is likely to be the largest upfront cost you need to deal with for your new project. While it’s easy to get carried away, you can save a lot of money and space by focusing on the essentials.

Start by looking for a desk and chair that’s ergonomically designed to suit your child. Remember, children have different posture requirements from adults. It might be worth asking your child to come with you to find a chair that works for them.

Wall-mounted desks that fold down are ideal for small spaces too, so don’t be concerned if you need to fit your study corner into a segment of a room. Once you’ve got the desk and chair out of the way, you can begin to think about how much space you have leftover for things like cork-boards, calendars, and other accessories.

3. Be Practical

Remember, your home study space needs to be ready for studying at any time. That means that you need to avoid creating a space that just ends up accumulating piles of paperwork and endless pencils.

Make sure that the area stays organised by using pen pots and filing systems.

Some basic drawers where your child can store their homework when they’re done with it are always a good idea.

You can also add coat hooks onto the wall near the study area, so that book bags and sports bags aren’t just thrown into the corner to take up more space.

Keeping your child’s study space organised will help to avoid too much clutter in the environment.

Notably, studies have proven that clutter and mess cause feelings of stress and anxiety. That’s not the kind of atmosphere that your child needs when they’re trying to study.

4. Invest in the Right Educational Tools

A study corner rarely needs a lot of new investments when it comes to educational tools. Your child will often come home with much of the books and information he or she needs to complete projects from school.

However, they are going to need a few basic things, like a computer that they can use to type up documents and browse the internet.

To keep costs as low as possible, you could also consider using a tablet in place of a computer for kids that don’t need things like word processing tools. Tablets are packed full of computing power these days, and there are plenty of apps available in the marketplace that can contribute to your child’s education too. You can find apps for everything from building motor skills for toddlers, to developing a better understanding of topics like math and literacy for older children.

5. Make Their Study Corner Personal and Inspiring

Finally, you’re building your study corner on a budget, remember that you can still design something that’s inspiring and engaging for your youngster. Just because the only furniture in the corner might be a desk and chair, doesn’t mean that you can’t decorate the space with things that motivate your child.

Ask your child to help you choose pieces of art that they want to hang around their desk.

If you get report cards for your child or feedback from pieces of homework that they’ve completed before, then you can create a corkboard that tracks their progress over time.

Adding your own personal touch to the study space is important because it will help to keep your child in positive spirits when the time comes to study.

You can also add decoration to the corner that has nothing to do with study, in case your child needs a change of scenery. For instance, pictures of the family traveling together are a great option, as are artistic projects that you and your child have worked on together.

Build Your Study Corner

A study corner can be an excellent environment for encouraging educational exploration with your child. In this environment, your youngsters can discover the inspiration that they need to accomplish their academic goals. What’s more, you don’t need to spend a fortune to make your corner either! The tips above will help you to create the perfect space on a budget.

Have you created a study corner for your kids? Let us know your tips, tricks and advice in the comments section below.

The Five Most Common iPhone Repairs You Can Do Yourself

Michael Klements

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December 6, 2019

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The Five Most Common iPhone Repairs You Can Do Yourself

With iPhone’s becoming so expensive, people are holding onto their older models a bit longer than they used to. It’s not uncommon for someone to keep an iPhone for 4 or 5 years before considering a replacement. Unfortunately, because we use our mobile phones on a daily basis, you’re probably going to land up breaking something on your iPhone, either through a drop or just general wear and tear. Instead of having to get a new phone, we’ve put together a list of the four most common iPhone repairs which you can do yourself without having to spend a fortune on parts or tools. You could even look for an old damaged iPhone online and repair it yourself to get yourself a good deal on a newer model phone or to make some extra money on the side.

While you need to be reasonably competent with a screwdriver and have some basic DIY knowledge, you don’t need to be an expert with mobile phones to be able to carry out these repairs.

So lets have a look at the five most common iPhone repairs which you can do yourself.

1) Replacing A Broken, Cracked or Shattered iPhone Screen

This is by far the most common repair which you may need to do to your iPhone, and also one of the most expensive to get done by a repair shop. It’s actually a relatively easy repair to do yourself and it has become even easier on the newer model iPhones, as there are fewer components mounted onto the screen since they’ve done away with the touch ID sensor.

All you need for this repair is a replacement screen kit, available online from sites like E-Bay and Amazon. These replacements are often sold with a small toolkit to help you out with the repair and while these are not the best quality tools, they’re usually good enough to do the repair once or twice.

Here are our guides to replacing the screens on some common iPhone models. Depending on your iPhone model, this repair should take you between 30 to 45 minutes to complete.

2) Replacing Your iPhone’s Battery

The second most common iPhone repair is a battery replacement. While this one is not usually due to a drop or misuse, your iPhone’s battery slowly degrades with time and charging to the point where it only lasts a few hours before needing to be recharged or dies completely. In iOS 11.3 or later, you can find information on your iPhone’s battery health under settings, we’ve put together a guide on understanding what your iPhone’s battery health means.

A replacement battery is relatively cheap to buy online and its one of the easiest components to replace. The battery in your phone is held in place by two thin adhesive strips between the battery and the back (body) of your phone and simply plugs into the logic board with a small ribbon cable connector which snaps into place.

Here’s a guide to replacing the battery in an iPhone 6. The procedure very similar for other iPhone models as well. This replacement should take you around 10 to 15 minutes depending on how difficult you find it to remove your old battery.

Once you’ve replaced your iPhone’s battery, make sure that you prolong your replacement battery’s life by charging your iPhone battery the right way.

3) Replacing Your Home Button (Touch ID Sensor)

On older iPhone models, especially the iPhone 5 and 6 models, it was fairly common for the home button to eventually fail. The touch ID sensor still worked but the button behind it, used to return to the home screen and close apps, stopped working. This can be really frustrating to work with and is quite a common reason for people getting rid of an old iPhone.

This repair unfortunately offers a choice between two options, keep your touch ID sensor or keep your home button. The touch ID sensor is paired to your iPhone’s logic board for security reasons and therefore can only be officially changed by Apple. This doesn’t stop you from replacing your home button though, so if you’d prefer to keep your home button functioning (at the expense of losing touch ID) then this is a worthwhile repair.

The replacement home button is really cheap, often a couple of dollars and it’s quite a simple replacement to do, taking around 15 minutes to complete.

4) Replacing Your Lightning Charger Port

The last two repairs are a little bit more complicated and you’ll need to be careful with surrounding components and patient in carrying out the repair. You’ll likely be charging your iPhone almost every day, and with music docks, Apple Carplay and wired headphones, your lightning port gets a fair amount of use and may eventually stop working, leaving you unable to charge your phone.

A replacement lightning charger port assembly is relatively cheap but it is quite a bit more complicated and takes a lot longer than some of these other repairs. That said, it can still be done at home and you may find it worth it to keep your old phone going a bit longer.

Here’s a guide to replacing the lightning charger port assembly on an iPhone 6.

5) Replacing Your Volume and Mute Button Assembly

The volume buttons on your iPhone usually last for the full life of the phone, but the mute button tends to eventually wear loose and doesn’t stay in the muted or normal position. A cheap volume and mute button replacement assembly can be bought online which replaces the three buttons behind the physical buttons you see on the outside of the phone. This is one of the cheaper repairs on the list but probably the most difficult and the one which takes the longest as you’ll need to remove the battery from your iPhone as well in order to get to the bracket which holds the buttons in place.

Here’s our guide to replacing the volume and mute button assembly on an iPhone 6.

There are a couple of other less popular repairs which you can do on your iPhone, have a look at our iPhone repairs section for a full list of repair guides we’ve done.

If you enjoyed reading about these repairs, you may be interested in these 5 Secret iPhone Codes You Didn’t Know About or find out how to Charge your iPhone Battery the Right Way.

Philips Hue Play Light Bars Unboxing and Review

Michael Klements

-

December 4, 2019

0

Philips Hue Play Light Bars Unboxing and Review

I got into the Philips Hue lighting system around two years ago, mainly because I was looking for a way to add a timer system to some lights around my home, which would also allow them to be controlled remotely. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how well they’ve integrated into my home. I found myself buying a couple more bulbs shortly after getting the first ones, and my Philips Hue ecosystem has steadily been growing from there. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and I decided to try out the Philips Hue Play Light Bars to bring some colour to my living room, so here’s my experience unboxing and using them, including some great features and a couple of frustrations.

I picked up the Philips Hue Light Bars from Amazon for $85 on a sale, they typically retail for around $130. As with the other Philips Hue lighting equipment, they are quite expensive for what they are, and there certainly are cheaper options available, but I’ve found that the system works incredibly reliably, is really easy to setup and use and I’ve yet to have a bulb or switch fail.

Let have a look at the Philips Hue Play Light Bars…

Where To Buy Philips Hue Lighting

I’ve found that Amazon seems to stock the widest range and at pretty good pricing. They’re only usually beaten on their pricing if a store is running a good sale or special offer.

Here are some affiliate links to the products I’ve been using:

Play Light Bars 2 Pack – Buy Here
Philips Hue Bridge – Buy Here
White Bulb Four Pack – Buy Here
Starter 3 White Bulb Pack with Bridge – Buy Here
Dimmer Switch – Buy Here

Unboxing the Light Bars

The Philips Hue Light Bars come in either an individual bar or as a bundled pack of two. I got the pack of two, which seemed like the best solution to be mounted behind my TV. I feel like it’s important to mention that while I bought them to mount onto my TV, they are primarily going to be used for ambient lighting and not for their TV sync capabilities. I’ve discussed this in more detail further on as it is one of the downfall of these light bars for the time being.

The box is a typically colourful Philips Hue box about the size of a shoe box with a couple of different lighting scenes on the back along with some technical information.

Technical Specifications

Power: 6,6W Each
Voltage: 100-240V, 50-60Hz
Illumination: 530 Lumens Each
Lifespan: 25,000 hours (Philips equates to 25 years of use)
Switching Cycles: 50,000
Colour Range: 16 Million Colours
White Temperature Range: 2000-6500K (Warm White to Cool Daylight)
Requires A Hue Bridge to control

What’s In The Box

Opening up the lid of the box reveals a basic set of instructions which should be sufficient to get a tech savvy individual up and running. They also provide links to more information, which help out if you run into trouble.

Folding this instruction panel away reveals the two light bars, which were a bit smaller than I was expecting. The packaging of the bars is neat and I understand what they were going for but it can be a bit frustrating to unpack. The bars are pretty well held in place, with the thin power cords wrapped into the backing sheet and no pull tab to lift them out or pull the cardboard insert out of the box. You kind of have to fiddle around a bit to pull them out enough to get the rest of the packaging out without pulling too much on the power cables. Maybe I’m just being overly critical, but a simple tab or lift here/pull here arrow or sticker would have made unboxing a bit easier.

Inside the box are the two bars, the power adaptor (which can power up to three bars), two vertical stands, two horizontal stands, an allen/hex key and screws, two double sided stick on discs and two information guides.

The information guides are typically brief with links to more detailed information. I had no problem setting up the bars and pairing them to my bridge, app and switches. The app and interface is really intuitive but I can see how someone who’s not too familiar with technology may struggle a bit.

I also think they could have included a second set of double sided adhesive discs. If you change your mind about the positioning, get a new TV or move home then you’ll need to buy another set of discs to stick the stands on with, and given that they claim that the lights will last around 25 years, this seems pretty likely.

Installation & Pairing To The Hue Bridge

The installation of the light bars is quite easy as well. You’re given two sets of mounting stands, one vertical and one horizontal.

The vertical stands could be used to place the light bars upright on a shelf, behind a tv or in the corner of a room, facing a feature wall and are best suited for directing the light across the length of the wall.

The horizontal stands would be better suited to mounting on the back of the TV or lying them down on a TV stand, shelf or counter and directing the light up the wall and a little onto the ceiling.

Once your light bars are on their stands on a shelf or stuck to your TV, plug them into the adapter and power them on. Just like any of the other Hue products, they immediately turn on. They automatically switched on to a default warm white colour at around 70% brightness.

You then need to pair them to your Hue Bridge.

If this is your first Hue Bridge then you’ll first need to set it up by plugging it in, connecting it to your router (via Ethernet cable) and then following the prompts on the Hue app on your mobile phone. This shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes, although it often requires a firmware update as well.

If you’ve already got a Hue Bridge or you’ve now got your new one up and running, you can open up the Hue app on your mobile phone and head over to the settings tab at the bottom and then click on light setup. This allows you to either enter the light’s serial number or wait for the app to automatically detect any unpaired lights. I usually just wait for it to automatically detect them and I’ve never had a problem with a light not being discovered, although I’ve never used the system in a really large house where I’d imagine you’d start running into signal strength issues. Your app should pick up the two light bars, after which you can name them and they’ll be ready to add to a room or zone.

Zones are a fairly new feature to the Hue app which allow you to merge multiple rooms or individual lights into a single zone. This is a useful addition to control larger areas of lighting, such as all of the lights downstairs or all lights upstairs or in an open plan living and dining room like mine.

You can then also pair additional switches or dimmer switches to control the newly created room or zone. While you don’t really need to have these dimmer switches, as all of the functionality is available through your mobile phone’s app, they do play a big part in making the lighting system feel more integrated into your home. Having a physical switch or remote control on the wall or available in a room when you don’t have your mobile phone around makes it a lot easier to adapt to having a wirelessly controlled lighting system and not revert back to flicking the switches on the wall.

I’d like to see Philips come up with a solution to stick these switches over an existing light switch, as this would lessen the chance of someone turning the light off manually which would require a physical switch back on to get the connected lights running again. I have seen a couple of third party options available online though.

Using The Philips Hue Play Light Bars

Now that your Play Light Bars are set up and paired to a room, you can start playing around with the colour options and creating scenes.

Scenes are effectively different colours and colour combinations displayed by the different lights in a room, saved under a pre-set with a title and image/icon. They make it easy to set your lighting up quickly for different moods or tasks.

You could set a scene up for watching TV which could involve turning off or dimming the main light and setting the play light bars to 60% brightness or create a scene for reading which turns all lights to a bright warm white. There are a number of built in scenes with pre-set lighting combinations which can be used by themselves or used as a base to create your own customized scene.

Scenes are set up by dragging the icon for each bulb around a colour pallet. You can also overlap bulbs to make them the same colour by dragging them onto each other, they’ll then show up as a number, representing the number of bulbs displaying this colour.

Philips Hue Bars One Blue and One Turquoise

If you’ve got one or more of the dimmer switches, you can also use the “on” button to cycle through up to five different pre-set scenes and dimming options, a nice addition if you often do a few activities in the same room; like reading, watching tv or having drinks with friends all in the living room.

One of the feature’s which I use most often with the Philips Hue app are the routines. Routines enable you to create automated functions for your lighting based on timers or locations. This enables you to turn on certain rooms or zones at a particular time of day, simulate a sunrise or sunset or use location based services to turn off lights when you leave home and turn them back on when you get nearby your home again.

There are two particularly useful features to the routine timers which I think are useful addition. The first is the ability to turn lights on or off based on sunrise or sunset times. This prevents the usual problem with fixed timers turning your lights on well after dark or before sunset when used without adjustment over a longer period of time. The second is the random timer option, which is more of a security feature, allowing you to create a time window in which to turn the lights on or off and the Hue Bridge will then randomly switch the lights during this time frame. This create the impression that a person is home and the lights are not just on fixed timers.

Lastly, the Philips Hue lighting system pairs pretty well with Amazon’s Echo devices to allow voice controlled lighting around your home. You can ask Alexa to turn certain lights, rooms or scene on and integrate Hue lighting options into your Alexa apps routines as well.

Using Hue Sync For Immersive TV Back Lighting

One feature which is sort of fundamental to a lighting system which is designed to be mounted onto the back of a TV is the ability to synchronise the lighting with your movies, games or music. This feature, which is probably the Hue Play Bar’s greatest potential, is also the primary reason why I wouldn’t recommend getting them just yet.

There is some functionality provided out of the box, but it’s really not that practical and the best option for synchronisation is really expensive. You’re given the ability to install the Hue Sync app onto a PC or Mac, which allows the lighting system to sync up with the colours being displayed on your monitor and this seems to work pretty well. This is fine if you’re using your computer to watch TV or play games, but in the era of smart TV’s, having to pair your TV to your computer or cast content to your TV is a little cumbersome. Philip’s answer to this is an HDMI Sync Box, which essentially passes the HDMI signal through and uses the signal to sync the lighting, it looks like a great product online but it retails for $230! From what I’ve found, it’s their most expensive product. For a simply HDMI box. Just to get your lighting to sync with your TV, it seems like a heavy price tag for this functionality. And there isn’t any way to sync lighting if you’re using one of the apps on your smart TV and not an external box or consol.

If you’ve got an app for PC or Mac, why not expand this app to work directly on Android based TVs and gaming consoles? A simple free to download Xbox app would be able to drive the lighting and save me $230, it seems like a no brainer. From Philip’s Q&A platforms, it seems like this development is in the pipeline, so it may become available in the future. Until then, I wouldn’t recommend getting these lights for their syncing ability, unless you’re happy to fork out the extra $230.

You can learn a bit more about how the Hue entertainment syncing works on their website.

Should You Get The Play Light Bars

I think the decision shouldn’t be whether or not to get the Hue Play Bars, but rather the Hue Lighting System. If you’ve already got a Hue Bridge and a couple of lights then the Play Bars are a great way to add some colour to the room and create more dynamic scenes.

The TV back lighting synchronisation needs a bit more work to be really useful. If you’re just looking at getting the Play Light Bars and you’re not planning on expanding your lighting system then I think there are cheaper options available which have more functionality solely for TV back lighting and offer better value for money.

Philips have really gone a long way in making a broad range of good quality, easy to use, smart lighting products which work together really well together but they really need to be used together in order to really make use of the features and see the benefit in having a smart lighting system. It’s one of these systems where the more you buy into it, the better and more usable it gets.

Connect A 4×4 Keypad To One Arduino Input

Arduino Tutorials

Michael Klements

-

December 2, 2019

12

Connect A 4×4 Keypad To One Arduino Input

A 4×4 keypad is a really useful Arduino project component, particularly for security access projects or projects requiring code inputs. One of the problems with using the keypad however, is that you’re going to be using up 8 of your Arduino inputs just to read all of the buttons. This is obviously more efficient than connecting the 16 buttons individually but it’s still using up the majority of your Arduino’s IO. If you’re using one of the smaller Arduino boards such as the Uno or Nano, you’re not going to be able to connect something like an LCD display, TFT display or Ethernet shield to it as well, making it difficult to display the code which has been input and really limiting the functionality you could bring to your project. So, in this guide we’rd going to be looking at a way in which you can connect your entire 4×4 keypad to a single Arduino input and still read each button individually.

This project assumes that you know the basics of Arduino programming, otherwise follow our guide on getting started with Arduino.

Here’s a video guide, otherwise read on for the step by step instructions:

What You’ll Need For This Project

Arduino (Uno Used Here) – Buy Here
4×4 Keypad – Buy Here
LCD Display – Buy Here
or LCD Shield – Buy Here
Resistor Set (10 Different Value Resistors Required) – Buy Here
LCD Contrast Potentiometer – Buy Here
Breadboard – Buy Here
Jumper Wires – Buy Here

How To Connect Your 4×4 Keypad To A Single Arduino Input

When working on Arduino projects, people often overlook the 6 analogue inputs and start working with the digital IO, especially if they’re not using “measurement” sensors in their project. The analogue inputs can actually be quite powerful and versatile and although they require a bit more code, they can be effectively used to free up some of your digital IO.

This project draws upon a concept used in a previous project, connecting multiple push buttons to a single Arduino input, it is however a little more complex due to the way the keypad is internally wired. There isn’t a common ground and 16 outputs, one connected to each button. Instead, the buttons are wired into a grid matrix in rows and columns and you’re given a connection to each row and each column in order to identify which button is being pressed.

The overall concept is to connect a different set of resistors to each button so that you generate a different voltage on the analogue input for each button, thereby enabling your Arduino to identify which button is being pressed without actually having to connect each button individually to your Arduino and clog up your IO.

Connecting Your 4×4 Keypad

We’re going to ignore the LCD connections in this project and assume that you know how to connect an LCD display to your Arduino, if you don’t, follow the link and we’ll show you how. The LCD display in this project is just used to display which button is pressed and demonstrate than it is possible to connect a keypad and LCD display to your Arduino and still have 8 free digital IO pins! As I’ve done in the video, you can also make your project a bit easier by using an LCD Shield, which has the potentiometer, resistor and LCD connections all done for you already.

What we are going to be doing is turning the keypad into a selectable voltage divider circuit, with each button selecting a different divider configuration, resulting in a different voltage being measured by your Arduino, enabling it to identify which button is being pushed.

The voltage divider circuit consists of two resistors in series, with the Arduino’s analogue input measuring the voltage at the mid-point. We have a fixed resistor in the top half of the divider, which is the 5.1K resistor shown by itself on the top right in this example, and then a selectable group of resistors which are activated in different combinations by the keypad in the bottom half of the divider.

You can use any combination of resistors you’d like to, the actual resistance isn’t that important. What is important is that each resistor is a different resistance so that the ratios between the resistors create enough of a difference in voltage for your Arduino to detect each button combination.

Lets look at the circuit:

We can see that each row and each column of the keypad has a resistor connected to it, and the whole keypad and resistor circuit is connected as the “bottom” or second resistor in our voltage divider circuit. When we push a button, a connection is made between one of the resistors in the left group of four and one of the resistors in the right group of four (one row and one column) to create an overall resistance, which is unique to each button.

You’ll notice that all 8 of these resistors are different and it’s important that no combinations can produce the same resultant resistance. For example, an 8K and 4K resistor together in series would have the same resultant resistance as a 7K and a 5K resistor in series.

The easiest way to do this is to create a quick spreadsheet with your resistor values along the top row (4, one for each row) and the first column (4 , one for each column). Then sum up the resistance of each row and column in the cells and make sure that none of them are the same or similar (one above or below is usually too similar).

We then have a single resistor on the top right which forms the “top”or second resistor in our voltage divider circuit.

Lastly, the centre point of our voltage divider circuit is connected to one of our Arduino’s analogue inputs.

I used an LCD shield for my test setup so I don’t require the additional connections to the LCD display.

That’s the circuit complete, we can now have a look at how to code your Arduino to identify each button from the single Arduino analogue input.

The Code

Let’s now have a look at how to get your Arduino to recognise which button is being pressed in the code.

Note – In the above example breadboard layout with a wired LCD, I have used A0 as the keypad input. In the photos, video example and code below, I have used an LCD shield and have therefore used A1 as A0 is used by the shield.

Here is the code:

//Michael Klements
//The DIY Life
//5 April 2020

#include <LiquidCrystal.h>

int keyIn = 0;                        //Variable for keypad input
int keyVals [16] = {423, 454, 503, 562, 429, 459, 507, 565, 451, 480, 525, 579, 462, 487, 531, 585};    //Array to store keypad numerical values
char keys [16] = {'1','2','3','A','4','5','6','B','7','8','9','C','*','0','#','D'};   //Key characters corressponding to each numerical value
int range = 1;                        //Tolerance above or below the numerical value

int buzzerPin = 2;                    //Buzzer used in video for key sound
LiquidCrystal lcd(8, 9, 4, 5, 6, 7);  //Assign LCD screen pins, as per LCD shield requirements

void setup() 
{ 
  pinMode(buzzerPin, OUTPUT);
  lcd.begin(16,2);              // columns, rows.  use 16,2 for a 16x2 LCD, etc.
  lcd.clear();
  lcd.setCursor(0,0);           //Display some text on LCD then clear it
  lcd.print("Keypad");          
  lcd.setCursor(0,1);
  lcd.print("One Input");
  delay(2000);
  lcd.clear();
}

void loop() 
{
  keyIn =  analogRead(A1);      //Read in keypad input
  String temp = "";             //Create a variable to store the key character
  for (int i=0; i<=15; i++)     //Run through the array of button values
  {
    if (keyIn >= keyVals[i]-range && keyIn <= keyVals[i]+range)   //If the measured value is in the range of one key
    {
      temp = keys[i];     //Set temp equal to the character for that key
      digitalWrite(buzzerPin, HIGH);  //Sound buzzer
      delay(100);
      digitalWrite(buzzerPin, LOW);
    }
  }
  lcd.print("Button: ");
  lcd.print(temp);             //Display button character on the LCD
  delay(1000);                  //Wait one second
  lcd.clear();                  //Clear the display
}

There are four variables used for the keypad input, the first is keyIn which is used to stored the value read on the analogue input. The second is an array of 16 values used to store the raw button input values which you’ll need to update once in the beginning for each button using your Serial Monitor or LCD. The third is a character array which stores the key symbol related to each button. The fourth is an allowable range, you may see that when you push a key it displays 512 and the next time 511. If your inputs vary slightly then this range allows you to accept values slightly higher or lower, this usually only needs to be 1 or 2 and can cause problems with overlap if higher.

The initial functions in the setup loop are all related to the LCD display, you can read up on these in our guide to connecting an LCD display to an Arduino.

In the loop function we read in a value from the analogue input, then cycle through the button keyValue array looking for a value which corresponds to the measured value within the range allowance and if one is found then the corresponding key character is saved to the variable temp which is then displayed on the LCD for 1 second before being cleared.

I’ve also added a small buzzer in the video and code to provide audible feedback when a button is pressed, similar to a security keypad.

The only challenging part of this code is determining what value is measured for each button pressed on your keypad. In order to do this you can either use the Arduino IDE serial monitor or you can simply display the measured value directly onto your LCD (Use the line lcd.print(keyIn) right after you read your analogue input) and make a note of each value displayed for each button pressed. You’ll then need to update the input array keyVals with these numbers corresponding to each character in the array keys.

Once you’ve found and set your button values, upload the final code to your Arduino and try it out, your LCD should display the character corresponding to each button you press.

Now you’ll be able to create better keypad based Arduino projects with more available IO!

Have you used this method or a similar method to connect your 4×4 keypad to your Arduino more efficiently? Let us know in the comments section below.

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If you found this tutorial useful, please share it to help others out as well.

The DIY LifeTech & Electronics

The DIY LifeTech & Electronics

Know Where You Want To Use It

Get The Right Equipment

Choose A Collection Surface (Roof)

Pick The Right Collection Barrel

Decide How To Use The Water

Get Started With An All-in-1 Solution

Pegboard Pliers Holder

Tape Holder

Pegboard Tray

Sunglasses & Safety Glasses Holder

Universal Spool Holder

USB Cable Organiser

Dremel Tool Holder

Hex Bit Organiser

Coffee Cup Holder

Screwdriver Holder

Choose a Theme

Create a Study Corner

Their Bed is their Best Comfort

Add Some Colour

A Chalk Board Wall is a Great Addition

The Dishwasher Is Not Just For Dishes

Clean Your Window Screens With A Lint Roller

Get Rid Of Mould And Mildew With Bleach Gel

Clean Your Oven Racks In The Bath

Make A Crevice Vacuum Tool With A Toilet Roll Inner

Clean Between The Oven Glass With A Coat Hanger

Keep Your Bathroom Mirror From Fogging Up

Polish Out Mug Rings With Toothpaste

Make Your Yellowed Sheets Look White Again

Go For A Minimalist Look

Get Some Large Planters

Add Outdoor Lights To Your Pathway To Your Home’s Entrance

Make Your Own Eye Catching House Number

Consider Some Outdoor Seating For Your Home’s Entrance

Choose An Accent Colour

Let’s Talk Plants for Any Weather

What about other Backyard Features?

The Landscape

The Design for Any Weather

1. Choose the Right Area/Room

2. Focus on the Essentials

3. Be Practical

4. Invest in the Right Educational Tools

5. Make Their Study Corner Personal and Inspiring

Build Your Study Corner

1) Replacing A Broken, Cracked or Shattered iPhone Screen

2) Replacing Your iPhone’s Battery

3) Replacing Your Home Button (Touch ID Sensor)

4) Replacing Your Lightning Charger Port

5) Replacing Your Volume and Mute Button Assembly

Where To Buy Philips Hue Lighting

Unboxing the Light Bars

Technical Specifications

What’s In The Box

Installation & Pairing To The Hue Bridge

Using The Philips Hue Play Light Bars

Using Hue Sync For Immersive TV Back Lighting

Should You Get The Play Light Bars

What You’ll Need For This Project

How To Connect Your 4×4 Keypad To A Single Arduino Input

Connecting Your 4×4 Keypad

The Code

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