dupersaurus posted:

I've got a motion-detecting light switch in my mud room, with two doors. It's about 8ft away from the second door, and triggering it from that far away is a bit of a coin flip. The device doesn't say anything about range, but it's obviously struggling. Is there anything I can do (like maybe stick something reflective on the door) to help it out?

floWenoL posted:

Nope, no lever! I took off the tub overflow plate a while ago and didn't see anything a lever would attach to, but I'll double-check.

Where are you seeing a plate? It looks [edit: and feels] to me that the drain pipe just makes a sharp bend right below the hole...

Edit: double-checked, there's nothing behind the overflow plate except the pipe.

floWenoL posted:

actionjackson posted:

Weird question I know, but is there any way to use a European light fixture (in this case a floor lamp) in an American home? Obviously it would be 230V and I would have 120V. Yes I have an actual reason for this question :p

Elviscat posted:

Probably/it depends, do you have a picture/description of this floor lamp?

Wasabi the J posted:

Yeah if it's a Lutron switch there is definitely a setting for high sensitivity, and also you may have it in the wrong mode; Lutron sometimes has a really dumb "daylight sensing" option that is supposed to only work after the sun goes down but in reality just makes the poo poo really inconsistent.

actionjackson posted:

https://www.dmlights.com/louis_poulsen_yuh_floor_dim___automatic_switch_off_black~12ZKZ

technical details are about halfway down

they also said it's not UL listed, is that a safety issue?

Elviscat posted:

So, it's powered by a 12V power supply, there's a good chance that it's a voltage detecting power supply, you'll have to look at the power supply to determine if that's true (should say something like input voltage: 100-240V), if it is true you can put an American plug on it and use it.

Flipperwaldt posted:

This is stated explicitly in the manual you can find on that page. Yes, 100-240V 50/60Hz compatible power supply. There's even a picture where it shows it comes with a set of pin adapter plates so you're fine buying this for the US from the EU, UK, Japan or Singapore. Buying from Australia, Korea and China would give you a different set of adapter plates that wouldn't include a fitting one for the US.

Elviscat posted:

Yeah, I found that and edited my post, they kinda bury that info.

actionjackson posted:

thanks guys, so I could use that lamp as long as I buy the adaptor?

the reason I asked is because that's quite a bit less than buying it from a US store, and there's no VAT or shipping cost. But there is still an import tax which might erase much of the difference.

Elviscat posted:

No, the adapter is included.

actionjackson posted:

Weird question I know, but is there any way to use a European light fixture (in this case a floor lamp) in an American home? Obviously it would be 230V and I would have 120V. Yes I have an actual reason for this question :p

PainterofCrap posted:

Assuming you have a standard threaded bulb socket: Put on a US plug and screw in a 110V bulb.

My family lived in Europe for seven years. We brought our lamps & put plugs on, and (in France in 1975) installed bayonet sockets.

actionjackson posted:

thanks - it's not standard. I don't even think the light itself can be replaced except by a professional, but they typically last forever.

I looked at the product info for the US and EU version, and in both cases it said "LED 2700K 10W" for the bulb, so maybe I would only need to change the plug?

PainterofCrap posted:

Sorry, thought you were referring to a standard light fixture until I saw the following replies.

The tech spec manual you posted shows the transformer is rated to handle 100V-230V so in a pinch, you could either stick a Euro ---> US plug adapter on it, or cut the Euro plug off and wire on a US plug as long as you preserve polarity - plus (hot) to plus, and ground/common to ground/common.

ToxicFrog posted:

How do I change the bulbs in these fuckers? Every set of instructions I can find for these sorts of recessed ceiling lights is either "grasp the inner ring and rotate it" or "press against the bulb and rotate it", but the inner ring doesn't rotate, it just swivels ~30° left or right (presumably, the mountings that let it swivel also couple it to the outer ring, so it can't be rotated that way), and the bulb recesses slightly when pressed but does not rotate either -- and even if it did, the inner ring is narrower at the front than the bulb itself, so I don't see how it could be removed that way. I can't rotate the outer ring either.

At this point my best guess is "remove an adjacent ceiling tile and dismantle the entire light fixture from behind", but that can't possibly be how you're meant to do this, can it?

Meow Meow Meow posted:

If they're like the lights in my ceiling you grab the outer ring and pull it out. Both the outer ring, inner ring and bulb will come down, from there you can easily separate the rings from the bulb, swap the bulb and reattach everything. The outer ring is friction fit in a can, a bit of twisting can help loosen it if it's too tight.

actionjackson posted:

thanks, I don't have electrical skills behind plugging in an adaptor, but it sounds like just doing that is fine, since it covers 100-230V?

edit: I'd also be curious why there would be such a big price difference between the US and EU versions of a light fixture. Does it have to do with electrical standards required?

Elviscat posted:

You can't cut the plug off, because it's molded into the power supply case, it most likely comes with the adapter, if not it's fed by a little LED power supply, google "LED Power Supply" and you'll get your choice of a billion cheap power supplies with a 5.5mm DC cannon plug that should work with the light as-is.

yippee cahier posted:

Just check that the current matches.

Elviscat posted:

You can't cut the plug off, because it's molded into the power supply case, it most likely comes with the adapter, if not it's fed by a little LED power supply, google "LED Power Supply" and you'll get your choice of a billion cheap power supplies with a 5.5mm DC cannon plug that should work with the light as-is.

FogHelmut posted:

Does your drain have a black/grey plate at the bottom inside, or is that literally raw sewage?

floWenoL posted:

So I was inspecting the faucet supply lines in the bathroom, and I noticed that they were copper pipes:





Is there any reason to keep them, or can I just replace them with the usual braided stainless steel ones, e.g. these?

(I was planning on replacing the shutoff valves since one of them won't even turn anymore, so I figure I may as well replace the supply lines...)

Elviscat posted:

You can, but that malleable copper tubing is superior to any braided (SS over rubber) line and it's pre-bent for your application.

You should be able to find new valves that will accept the compression ferrule on the end of those copper lines.

You can, of course, replace them with the type of valve that accepts a braided hose if you want, it's all standard stuff in the plumbing section.

floWenoL posted:

Ah, thanks, good to know! I'll keep them then. Is there any reason why they're not more popular? Cost and convenience, I'm guessing?

Professor Shark posted:

We moved into a house where the owner took the bathroom mirror (it had been made for them by a loved one), leaving this:




This is the back of the mirror I bought to put in:



Am I correct that I'll need to buy a ~24" French Cleat in order to mount this thing?

floWenoL posted:

That's not a plate, that's a sharp bend in the drain pipe itself (AFAICT). I'm guessing it's a fairly old pipe, which is why the texture is so rough and the color is so dark. I've verified that it's not raw sewage. :P

For comparison, here's a pic of the overflow pipe:

life is killing me posted:

Not certain but that doesn’t look like a French cleat to me, it looks like those eyes hang on anchors and screws

Not relevant but how are those light bulb color temps not driving you up the wall?

redbrouw posted:

Hey, we need to paint over an ugly darker beige colour in our entire home quickly. Are there any recommended brands of primer you guys can think of?

Final Blog Entry posted:

What color is your new topcoat going to be? My opinion is that priming previously painted interior walls is unnecessary* unless you're going to or from something really extreme like a really dark or bright red, blue, orange, etc. If you prime, best case you're painting the wall twice. One prime coat and one topcoat. If you need two coats of topcoat now you're painting the wall three times. If you use a high quality paint and you're not changing to a crazy color, then most likely you'll easily cover the existing ugly beige with two coats of paint and no primer.

*Not including scenarios such as priming to block stains, seal new texture or drywall, or any number of other reasons.