Category: House

DIY Light Up Cable Protector

written and updated 3/04/23

What: Outdoor rubber cord and cable protector ramp that lights up

Why: To charge a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) from a 120-Volt outlet by running an extension cord over a sidewalk. This is for very infrequent use (emergency charging in the event of poor memory or inclement weather). Not only is it a ramp which lowers the chance of tripping, but when placed at night, having it pulse-shine increases visibility. Couple it with a spotlight or porch lighting, should be plenty of indication of a hazard.

Supplies: Cable protector ramp, utility knife, razor scraper, battery powered/cuttable/outdoor-rated LED strip with light modes, double sided sticker dots, pliers (optional), paint scraper (optional), Shop Vacuum

Cost: 2-Channel Cable Protector Ramp ($54.19) + LED Strip ($11.99) + Double-Sided Stickers ($5.99) = $72.17

Time: 1 – 2 hours

Process

  • Gather Supplies (the rubber ramp, itself, is extremely smelly, so would recommend a few days of off gas unless storing in a shed our outside)

  • Test fit, measure, and mark
Permanent marker

  • Start cutting. Use of razor blades are the best for cutting through thick rubber. Make sure to use safety glasses and gloves. Be careful!
Cut wedges

  • After removing pieces in increments, use the razor scraper to clean up the bottom.

  • Test fit again. In this case, the battery case still doesn’t fit, so now to widen the side.
Doesn’t fit with the cord in there, too

  • Use pliers, the paint scraper, blades all together to remove the rubber

twist, pull, whatever it takes
levering
There it is!

  • Yay! It fits now!
This is a 10-gauge extension cord

  • At first, I thought I’d need to drill holes to make the light more visible, but I wasted time doing that because it works perfectly without the holes!

  • Sticky dots now, to hold the LED lights in place. I am aware that the LED lights have an adhesive, too, but for ease of removal/replacement I opted for the sticky dots
They were so annoying to stick, I needed something metal and thin to help me place them

  • Test time!
No porch lights

  • Yay!! It works! I was really, really nervous about it out there all night long, but it worked really well, and nothing bad happened according to the cameras I had trained on it. I also had the porch lights on, but without the lights, it looked really great, too. You can’t tell in these photos, but I left the mode on a fade in and out. Granted, this was winter, and there are typically very few people wandering around in the cold, dark, but I’m glad to see that in a pinch, the option is there to charge my EV overnight.

DIY: Replacing Ceiling Bathroom Exhaust Fan

What: Replacing an old Nutone exhaust fan (original to the 1989 house) that hadn’t worked for years.

Supplies: Flathead screwdriver, replacement fan (Broan-NuTone QuicKit 60 CFM 2.5 Sones 10 Minute Bathroom Exhaust Fan Upgrade Kit), Wet-dry vacuum, toothbrush (optional)

Time: 10-15 minutes (in theory)

New Cover
New unit, motor side
New unit, fan side
  • Old NuTone Cover
  • Pull it down from the ceiling
  • Squeeze the clasps to pull it from the ceiling
  • Repeat with the other clasp
  • Pull the plug carefully
  • This old one is so clean because I vacuumed it last weekend when I was looking at it, but it was disgusting!
  • Flathead screwdriver
  • Twist
  • Ew.
  • Old dust and grime
  • Vent with flapper
  • Wet-dry Vac
  • Vacuum out the nasty stuff (I also used a toothbrush and suctioned as I went)
  • 1 clasp hole on one side
  • 2 clasp holes on one side
  • Trying to fit it in. I’m doing it wrong in this picture, you should slide the double clasp into place first before pushing up the single side
  • After about 1.5 hours of warring with the fact that the ceiling housing thing was unsecure, I finally was able to snap it into place
  • The key here was to remember to push/fix/bend the metal of the slot towards the motor unit so that it can actually catch the tab. It should make a nice *SNAP* sound.
  • Place the clasps in the slits like the old one and BOOM, you’re done!

Helpful Hints:

  • I had the hardest time snapping the new unit into place because the housing wasn’t secured very well. I don’t have attic access, so it was hard to see up there (and I got stuff in my eyes, so wear safety glasses!). There was a lot of trying to strong arm. Since I managed to dislodge the entire housing from the screw it was sitting on, I figured that having control over keeping the housing still was an advantage, so I was able to snap the new unit into place while it was hanging out of the ceiling before turning my attention to re-securing the housing.
  • If loose housing is an issue for you, the best bet would be to try and attach it to a wood joist if you can get to it. That would have made this so simple. For that I would have needed a drill to get through the metal and screws.
  • Alongside having the housing free so that I could snap in the new unit, making sure that the metal slit where the unit’s metal tab is supposed to snap into place is pushing forward to catch it was really important.