26 February 2013

Heaven Singles Arrived

Depeche Mode - Heaven
We are a month away from the release of Depeche Mode's thriteenth album.  I just received my CD singles of Heaven.  I had ordered these over a month ago, the single was release on 25 January.  Why did it take a month for me to get them?  Because I ordered these from Germany.  I get imports of all my Depeche Mode music.  Funny thing is, I cannot tell they are 'imports'.   I may have paid import prices and they just sent me something from North America. 

The album Delta Machine is already on order from the UK, so I will get that much later than the release date.  Good thing I have it pre-ordered on iTunes, and it will automatically download to my iPhone. 

“Heaven” CD SINGLE:

1 - Heaven
2 - All That’s Mine (b side bonus track)
“Heaven” CD MAXI:

1 - Heaven
2 - Heaven (Owlle Remix)
3 - Heaven (steps to heaven rmx)
4 - Heaven (Blawan Remix)
5 - Heaven (Mathew Dear vs Audion Remix)

13 February 2013

LED Lights for the DeLorean

I finally got some LED 'bulbs' for the car.  This is another easy install/modification that even I can do.  The hardest part was getting the bulbs themselves.  In the past, I have ordered through superbrightleds.com for the lights in the interior.  While these guys have everything you could ever want in LED replacement, they are on the pricey side.  I decided to get some 'direct from factory' LED bulbs from China, via eBay.  In the end, I saved about 75% on my order.

The set of LED bulbs for the DeLorean
The bulbs I needed are for the tail lights and the front indicators.  The tail lights are 1156 in white (x2), amber (x2), and red (x6). The front indicator are 1157 in amber (x2).

LED bulbs installed on the PJ Grady circuit board
Installation is very easy.  For the tail lights, all you need to do is remove the lens from the car, disconnect the cables, and pop out the circuit board.  Luckily, one of the previous owners had updated my circuit board with a PJ Grady board. 

Top:  LED Bulbs  Bottom:  Incandescent bulbs
Then, simply swap out each bulb with an LED, making sure that the correct coloured bulb is in the right socket.

Placing board with LED bulbs back in to lens assembly
Once the board is back on the lens assembly, the cables get connected, and entire assembly gets mounted back on the car.  Super simple.  I should get a different bulb for the center red lights as these are on when your lights are on.  For now, I will leave it as is.  I do not do much driving at night and these are really easy to change if I ever get a burnt bulb.

The front installation is even easier.  These take 1157 in amber (x2).  Just one bulb to deal with, no chance of putting in the wrong colour.  Remove the front indicator lens, swap out the bulb, remount the lens.  Simple as that.  So simple, I did not even take a break to take pictures.

The LED's are brighter and draw less juice from the battery.  Anything the puts less stress on a DeLorean's electrical system is a good modification.  Now, my car is pretty much running all LED's.  Only the head lights and the battery light in the dash remain incandescent bulbs.

Next up, planning on making the side markers blink with the front and rear indicators.  Stay tuned for more upgrades happening in the next few months.

Update:  I got a question regarding which seller I got my 'direct from factory' LED's from.  It has been a few months, and I do not have records of that.  The good news is, there are only a handful of sellers, all with at least 99% feedback.  Looks like 'vision-technology' has a lot of LED bulbs for sale.  Not sure if this is who I got mine from, I think they are all the same

Just do a search for "1156 LED" and "1157 LED", many options will pop up.  Make sure you get the right number of bulbs and in the right colours.  I went with SMD (surface mount) bulbs, I think mine had 30 surface mounted LED's per bulb.  They are bright enough for day time use, and noticeably brighter than incandescent bulbs.

LED Flasher Relay
Note:  You will need an LED specific flasher relay, if you upgrade your front and rear amber bulbs.  Make sure the configuration is like the picture above.  An easy way to remember, from left to right, ELB...Emmet Lathrop Brown.  These can easily be found at your local auto parts store or online. 

More (and better) information on LED's can be found on Ozzie's site, HERE.  Lots of DeLorean information there, good idea to bookmark his site for future reference.

As far as I know, the PJ Grady boards are no longer made.  There are some vendors out there that may have some in stock. I would contacting any DMC branch or Josh at DPI.

I hope that helps and answers your question.  Good luck.

11 February 2013

FUCK YOU, STOP CALLING ME - February 2013

Barely have way through the month and I get a call.  This might be the call the opens the flood gates to a 2013 full of calls that I will naturally ignore and get to write about, here in this blog.  Oh, how fucking exciting.

11 February 2013
   801-877-5855  Provo, UT  Utah?  Fucking Utah?  There is a Mormon joke in here, but it is way too easy to offend the religious groups.  I do not want their magic underwear to get up in a bunch.  So, I will just give them a nice "fuck off", and wait for the next call to ignore.


15February 2013
   402-982-0721   Omaha, NE  So it begins, fuck me.  Fuck me?  No, no, no...fuck you!  I knew the 'once a month' calls were not going to last.  It is a slow start with two calls in the same week.  But I know how this shit can ramp up. 

19 February 2013
  331-205-8765   Aurora, IL  Listed as "Unknown", but a quick search lets me know that the call came from Illinois.  Google also tells me that this is a telemarketing number...well, no shit.  It does not take a genius to figure that out.  I can only think of one person from Illinois that would call me, and that person has a specific ringtone.  "Unknown" calls, or unassigned callers have a good ringtone, also.  It is a pretty good one.  So, all is not lost when an 'unknown' calls.  I like the look on people's faces when they hear my ringtones.  Too bad there are too many telemarketer numbers to assign...this would also mean I would have to clog my contact list with telemarketer numbers.  Who the fuck wants to do that?  Fuck these guys.

21 February 2013
   239-322-3403  FL, USA  Oh, a call from Florida.  Well, it looks like the telemarketers are back in full swing.  Fuck these guys, fuck all telemarketers.

25 February 2013
   402-909-5728  Fremont, NE  Monday calls fear alert me.  This only backs up my theory that I am back on telemarketers' lists.  While they are ramping up to fulfil their February quota, they will surely bombard me with calls in March.  On the up side, this has been the busiest month since June of last year.  Fuck you, Fremont.  And, fuck you, Nebraska!