So I’ve been using an old repurposed tractor lamp as my bedside lamp. I wired it up to mains (EU 230V) with a well isolated alternative bulb and bulb holder (the original bulbs are impossible to find). This has all been grounded and done the best we could. Now comes the problem, we reused the original switch (as it looks good) which it turns out, does not really appreciate having to switch 230V instead of the 12V (or 24V?) it was designed for. I believe I can patch up the switch to work as designed, however I do want a better solution to switching the lamp on and off.

Do relays exist that provide their own low voltage power that I can hook up the switch to? There’s not a lot of space available in the lamp, so I was hoping for a compact, drop in solution.

Other ideas are welcome as wel. I’ve thought of converting everything to 12V, but that would mean finding a new bulb holder, and having a transformer to put somewhere.

I’ve recently moved and want to buy a tv and audio set up. TV is taken care of, however I am looking for better audio than stock TV speakers. I’m probably going to get an Apple TV and stay away from the “smart” features of the TV.

What would be the best price to performance audio solution?

I was looking at second hand AV receivers, but those are still quite pricy, and I will probably be satisfied with good quality L-R(-Center?) channels. I’m comfortable with jankier setups (more wires), but I am looking for better sound quality. So speakers, should I get older ones on the cheap (sub €100) or are newer speakers really worth their premium?

I’m curious what your setups are and based on experience what you would advise for.

My girlfriend has never really gamed. But she’s now forced to move less than she would like to (health problem) and she’s getting bored. I was thinking of introducing her to a game or two that we could play together. She’s not the real action game type, and seeing as she has no experience with controller/mouse and keyboard I was thinking starting simple.

I can’t think of anything else than Factorio, as she likes organizing/keeping track of stuff.

Would you recommend against that or have anything better in mind? Let me know!

When grinding coffee the vibrations slowly caused the portafilter of my Quick Mill to drift off the (admittedly not great) support fork of my new Eureka Mignion Specialita. In the nook of plastic top holding part sits a screw, so I had the idea to bend a piece of copper wire and mount it under the screw. The piece (image below) hold the sides the of portafilter protrusion. This way it can’t turn away and I don’t have to keep an eye on it constantly.