Musk ox invasion keeps Nome wildlife managers busy

Anchorage Daily News ^ | comJuly 2, 2014 | SEAN DOOGAN

[skeptoid]

Nome is used to rowdy residents, but some relatively new transplants are making a real nuisance of themselves -- although unlike the colorful characters of the early 20th century gold rush days, these visitors have four legs, not two.

Musk oxen are wandering into the city on the Seward Peninsula, and despite loud noises, water hoses and even a blow-up bear coated in ursine urine, they don't want to leave.

[Tax-chick]

If Dave, my classic-car friend, knows about electrical stuff, we can offer him beer and make him patient. Otherwise, I’ll settle for a recommendation to an honest and patient technician.

[NicknamedBob]

Oh, and by the way, make sure that the ground path to the bulb socket is intact and working properly. It’s the non-energized connection, (of which you need two), or sometimes called the return connection.

Sometimes all you need to do is loosen, and then re-tighten, the screw holding the ground wire to the chassis.

[Tax-chick]

Got it. I can copy it down and show it to Randy next door, and maybe he’ll understand it. I mean, I understand the words, but since I’m not looking at it, that doesn’t help right now.

It’s a good thing I was still up, though, because Elen phoned and said she doesn’t need to be picked up on Saturday.

[NicknamedBob]

I’ll be willing to let it go at that, but sometimes the “wire” connection for the ground path isn’t a “wire”; it’s just the way the metal housing connects to the frame or body panel.

Point is, you need an energy path for the light, and a return for the other side of the battery.

[Tax-chick]

Okay. I’ll add that.

We can’t get it inspected and licensed until we get the lights working, and I know my uncle would like to get it off his insurance, although it’s probably not costing him much since it was sitting in his barn not being driven.

[NoCmpromiz]

The turn signal works if you don’t have the brake on at the same time. The taillight is “dim,” according to my teen help.

That smells like a bad ground side... The light that lights is doing so because it is getting its ground through another bulb (putting it in series with the other filament.) When you try to turn on both lights, you lose the ground path and nothing lights. Troubleshoot that by trial/error or get an elcheapo DVOM from Harbor Freight/Wallyworld/AutoZone. Any ol' cheap one will do for most basic auto electrical troubleshooting (you only need a Fluke 87 for really advanced stuff. Or bragging rights. Or if you like yellow.)

Check resistance (without turning on the light/turn signal/stepping on brake - voltage will fry the resistance section of elcheapo meters - that's why they are so cheap, they're disposable) from the ground side of the bulb to some unpainted car body metal or bolt head. Should read continuity (0 ohms resistance or really close to it). Switch meter to DC voltage, have someone turn on light/signal/brake and check for your nominal 12 volts to the car body from the 'hot' side of the bulb socket pins. If you have 12 V to car body in the right places at the right time and the bulb doesn't light there's a good bet that if you install the bulb (and it's doing its lights/glows dimly/sometimes thing) and then check for voltage on the 'ground' side of the bulb you will see voltage - like close to 12 volts. Then you have to find out where the ground side is open. Or cheat and splice into the ground wire and connect it to the car body somehow...

A side note: Harbor Freight sometimes has elcheapo meters for sale in their weekly/monthly/whateveritis ad flyers for all of $2.75 or so. Of course, they fry easily also because there is no protective circuitry included at that price point (ya gotta pay for that Fluke if you want to abuse it.. ;-) but at that price you can buy a carload of 'em. Sortof.

[NoCmpromiz]

Might even be simply corrosion in the socket too and probably on the ground side...

[Tax-chick]

Copying all this down. We probably had a voltmeter, but that doesn’t mean we still do. Any electroniquey gizmo eventually gets found and deconstructed by Pat or Frank.

[Tax-chick]

Yes, it might. Six years in my uncle’s barn.

[NoCmpromiz]

Any electroniquey gizmo eventually gets found and deconstructed by Pat or Frank.

Not that I would ever have had offspring who would do such a thing...

[NicknamedBob]

"Any electroniquey gizmo eventually gets found and deconstructed by Pat or Frank."

Not that I would ever have had offspring who would do such a thing...

I'm not confessing anything. But I can say I have regrets.

[NoCmpromiz]

Six years in my uncle’s barn.

If it's the old standard 1153 type bulb (round brassorsomemetal sleeve with two bumpy things on the bottom for the 'hot' side and it pushes down into the socket and twists, just pop the bulb out, eyeball down into the socket and see if there's a whitish powdery crud in there. You can scrape that glop off with a pocket knife (after removing any possibility of anyone turning on the light/signal/stomping on brake, although I think the fuse would blow before the knife blade reached incandescence if a voltage source were somehow encountered... ;-) and stick a rag wrapped around a pen/pencil/screwdriver down into the socket to wipe the residue out...

I'd loan you my pocket knife but someone here insists that I have damaged it beyond all resurrection. Of course he says that everytime I have him sharpen it..

[NoCmpromiz]

Probably will produce the standard disclaimer...

[GeronL]

http://imgur.com/a/R8ykc?gallery

This guy needs to get out more. lol

[NoCmpromiz]

I don’t think I want to inquire of his fantasy life... ;-)

[GeronL]

probably better not to

[Tax-chick]

two bumpy things on the bottom for the 'hot' side and it pushes down into the socket and twists

Yes, that's it. You have a gift for accurate description, NC.

[Tax-chick]

[NoCmpromiz]

You have a gift for accurate description

Well...

Could have used the proper technical terminology but what fun is that.. ;-)

I spent the dark hours transfering my Beautiful Daughter's computer into a new brain. (Win7Ultimate from the original Win7Home and a 7200rph drive from the original 5400rpm.) Made sure her Firefox profile and email profile were properly transferred, and that permissions were correct so she could copy her documents off the original drive (which is still in the machine and once it is scavenged for all useful data it will be de-partitioned - HP has 3 partitions on that drive - and then reformatted for storage.)

I left her with the task of reinstalling all her precious junk, er, programs and reconfiguring her desktop. She is much better at it than Mrs. NoC, who would feed me to the passing pack of coyotes if I left that kind of work for her to do...;-)

A final thought on tail light bulbs. I think you said that you changed the bulbs and if so then this is spurious, but if not, another thing that happens to that type of bulb if it sits in the socket for an extended time - like six years in the garage - is that the two bumpy things on the bottom that should provide contact flatten out and no longer connect. If that was/is the situation, a bulb replacement should have fixed it, so this trivial info is offered for future retrieval when necessary..;-)

And on that note I'm off to horizontal land while Beautiful Daughter makes her display look pretty, reinstalls stuff, and finds out stuff that I need to address later.

[Tax-chick]

That business of replacing computers is so annoying. My brain is still working!