On March 10, 2006 at 17:39, Ted Wetzel said...
I installed a pair of speakers on the deck for
a customer and prorammed an MX-350 for RF control.
the client just emailed me to tell me that she
found her 14 year old lounging in the hot tub.
As she walks up she gets a "hey mom check this
out, this is cool" at which point she discovers
that her son has the MX-350 inside a zip lock
bag and it is now floating in 100 degree water.
Why didn't WE think of that? so much cheaper
than the alternative.
You could! The Patented TW1000 H20 Aqua Resistive H20 Inhibitor(Ted Wetzel designed)!!!
$19.95 P.O. box....
O.K. get this...A friend of mine has a Hot-Tub - Spa store... He called me in a total panic a couple weeks ago! "Stanley!!! Help one of my hot tub customers can't get his (Plasma 42) woking out in hot tub!"...He might return the whole thing!!! It'll bankrupt me!!!
I'm like... What are you talking about??? 42 inch Plasma in his hot tub???
So the next day as a favor (he's helped me out in tough times, so I was happy to return the favor), I go to this hot-tub customers' home... He bought this Hot Tub that has a 42 inch JVC Plasma that pops up out of it... For...$35,000!!! A P.O.S. Supreme!
It had (3) remotes, one for the TV, one for the DVD player, and one to control the Cable box non waterproofed or weatherised...!!! The Plasma was getting a composite only feed from the DVD unit, although the TV was HD, and the brochure said "High Definition Video"... blah blah blah.
I show up at the house & I meet a very frustrated guy at the door... He takes me around back to the Hot Tub...
Oh my god... THERE IT IS IN ALL IT'S WHITE TRASH WITH--MONEY GLORY!!!
In looking at this fine specimen of a product & design... The plasma housing was by no means really weatherised... at all! Poorly assembled aluminum box, with a 1/4 piece of plexiglass over the front... Plasma sitting behind... I mean... they used 8 sheet rock screws that were already rusting... and the Plexiglass had big gaps between it and the wood it was attached to!!!
No silicone or gasket material to fend of trickles of rain water... The side mounted Car Stereo DVD player was a brand I've seen at Car Auto Parts stores, for about $199 set into the side of the hot tub facia, behind a cheap, flip-down plastic cover... again - no gaskets or whatever... Held in place by 2 kind of stripped out sheet rock screws and some plumbers tape (And remember this was from the Factory)!
It was surreal - the poor design quality of this "thing"...!!! It was all I could do, to keep a straight face as I spoke with the owner of this Tub / Plasma combo... (I felt bad, cause this thing sits outside in the Great NorthWest environment! Rain, wind, moisture almost year around, and occasionally freezing)... I knew if I started laughing, or sounding negative, my friend would have to end up refunding this guy the $35,000 !!! No covered Cabana! No ventillation for the Plasma and I could already see hints of condensation on the surface of the Plasma screen...Little beads of water!!! I mean the whole thing was like the biggest piece of crap I've ever seen! So I told the guy, Hey! give me a couple days... we'll get try to get this thing taken care of for ya... (although at the time I didn't know what to do!!)... So I go shopping... Got some zinc screws, strips of weatherstripping an all that stuff...
Then I actually I found a waterproof universal at a Boating Supply shop for the guy (forget who makes it - but you can email me)... went back out, programmed it even loaded in a Macro for DVD & TV! --- For Kharmic purposes I decided to try my best to help out my friend & this poor guy that is the proud owner of this fine hot-tub "Theater"... God it was a sad pile of crap!!!
I cut in two small downward firing exhaust mini fans behind the plasma, and installed four 45 watt lightbulbs inside the plasma enclosure to add a little heat, and reduce condensation build-up... Mounted a Middle Atlantic t-stat for the fans... sealed every conceivable crack and crevice with clear silicone & suggested to the owner, to bag the Car-Audio DVD player-- give it to his kid to stick in his car, and I'd run some audio video & i.r. feeds into his Family Room so he could access his good DVD player and receiver etc, and I could mount some better speakers up under his home's soffit firing down at the tub. I also took off a skirting side panel and and installed 2 Boston Acoustic Car subs in an enclosure from the local car-fi store, and hooked them up with an old ADS power plate amp I had in my garage, that I've owned for years but was always to lazy to install it in my truck. I replaced the skirting panel...I fished down from his family room system, into the crawl and out to the tub the necessary audio line levels,Cat5e for i.r. & component video conversion via "baluns"(had to do a little digging, and buried PVC conduit). I used Muxlab Baluns for component video conversion from the Cat5e, and gooped up all exposed connections with silicone contact goo like the marine sparkies use..... I used clear "RTV" G.E> silicone to seal the woofers into the box and sealed (painted the box) with Marine paint, and ripped off the cheap gray carpet stuff.. and it placed it up off the ground so it wouldn't "wick-up" water and moisture, then I sprayed a fairly light coating of silicone boot spray on the woofer cones to help repel water... The outside and inside of the box was liberally coated with 3 layers of Marine Paint, and filled with Dacron filler.
Last, I repleced his Patio light switch with a remote light swithch dimmer for his Patio lights, and programmed that into the remote.
The Hot Tub owner is ecstatic... I feel bad though, because that Plasma isn't going to last long out in the elements even with my somewhat feeble attempts to tighten things up, and keep the plasma somewhat moisture free... and with all that chorline and stuff, or whatever crap they stick in hot tubs these days!
The lift will probably get rusty and noisy in time, although I douched it pretty well with the silicone spray also! It was well-coated!!!
I mean hell, it was just your basic $4,000 hot tub, with a kicked out skirting, hiding an (Auton-like) lift... and a JVC 42 plasma... Oh, and 5 car stereo speakers (4 inch coaxials) no-name brand - cut-into the top rim of the Hot-Tub facing straight up collecting rain water... I suggested we remove the 4 inch car speakers and substitute ash trays and cup holders... I found some cup-holder inserts at the Marine Supply Boat Shop. I epoxied a couple chunks of industrial velcro on the edge of the tub and on the back of the remote control as a holder when not using it... so it wouldn't get lost or fall into the bottom of the tub (I don't think they are ALL THAT waterproof)...maybe they are hell I dunno...
Hey it actually sounds pretty good!... no surround though... just three front Sonance Mariners (left, center and right )and with the powered subs it kicks pretty well
I'll have to figure out how to attractivley mount a pair of rear speakers later...
BUT... here is a thought...(and I don't mean to sound like Wesley)... Why not market a hot tub Cabana with a drop-screen - could even be a $150 100 inch 16:9 pull down manual?!, Add some great speakers & sub & a little weatherised & humidity / heat controlled box where a guy could slide a $900 projector into??? like a little screenplay, or Sharp XR1-S notebook projector... Add an I.R. eye or go (RF)... And he could slide the projector out when not in use??? Could install speakers into the four posts holding up the cabana roof, with center channel over the screen facing down... Hmmmm...
The whole package, including Cabana could SELL for oh... maybe $7,500??? Cost around $3,500 to put together then you'd charge for delivery, set-up and all that happy stuff... Could even go with wireless video transmission to the Projector with a Buffalo or HP product, so all you would need would be power???
Well, just a thought... Think of how many Hot Tubs are out there...???
Last edited by Mr. Stanley
on March 12, 2006 15:37.
