Humphrey

Early last December Jan purchased three items from Aliexpress.   Two were less than $20 whilst the third was moderately expensive.  The two cheap items arrived within a fortnight being delivered by the Australian courier company, Fast Horse.  They are very reliable and take a photo of the item at the postal address when the item is delivered.  They also send a text message immediately it’s delivered.

The Aliexpress seller of the third item has made a poor selection when choosing their Australian delivery provided.   Aramex is notorious for being very slow.  Our order was sent by air from China to Melbourne and collected by Aramex on 6 January for the final domestic leg of the journey. 

The Aramex estimated delivery date was 15 January.   Nine days to cross Australia.  The journey can be done in 5 hours by air; 21 hours by train and 48 hours by road.

My assumption is Aramex uses Humphrey; the blind, geriatric, three legged camel for delivery across the continent.  By today Humphrey had only covered half the distance and appeared to have stopped for several days.  He was likely exhausted.

Apparently I was wrong.  When I checked the Aramex website for the reason the delivery had been delayed I read it was caused by a rising volume leading to Christmas.  

As they received the package on 6 January I can only assume it’s the lead up to Christmas 2025!

My guess is Aramex business model is to be the cheapest courier.   They probably retain packages until they have a full shipping container before despatching it.  Melbourne to Perth is probably by rail.   The high number of complaints on various internet forums indicate significant delays with deliveries along with losses, damage and poor customer service responses to queries.  There is a price for going cheap!

I could be wrong and Humphrey might be slowly plodding west! .  

Bike Modification

A boring post about modifying the bike chain tensioner.

The Alfine 11 internally geared hub in the rear wheel came with a spring loaded chain tensioner.

You can see in the above photo the chain runs through two small cogs which form part of the tensioner.    Looking at the tensioner from a different angle allows me to explain the steel bushes in the cogs [A] have worn out.  The cogs now wobble around on the shaft of their securing screw.  As a consequence the chain doesn’t move smoothly and is noisy.  Moreover part of the tensioner is bent [B] and very close to the chain.  This probably occurred on one of the occasions when I either dropped or fell off the bike.

Buying a new tensioner is expensive.  Particularly as the only parts requiring replacement are two small steel bushes which are probably worth less than $0.01.  After searching the internet I found a supplier in Taiwan who claimed to be able to supply replacement cogs and bushes at an acceptable price.  However delivery may take some time.

I went onto Aliexpress looking to see if there was an intermediate solution.  Whilst doing that I decided to also buy a replacement pair of bike chain pliers.   My original pair are very small and my old hands are having problems squeezing them to break the chain link.  The new pair arrived today. Being larger are much easier to use.  I also ordered a generic single cog chain tensioner,

The first step was to test if the teeth on the generic cog aligned with the chain

They align

However when I fitted the tensioner to the bike the cog had insufficient reach to the chain.  Had I bought a lemon?

After thinking about it I modified the tensioner assemble.  This wasn’t a simple task as the tension spring inside the assemble initially worked in the wrong direction.  However once that problem was overcome the cog was able to be aligned with the chain.

 

I need to take the bike for a local test ride to ensure the tensioner is secure and works.  If it does I will probably cut off the surplus piece of the cog shaft with the angle grinder.  It sticks out and will likely bend or break the tensioner if the bike falls over.

Just my opinion

By nature I am curious. So when Paul (of Waterways Routes) left a comment regarding the recent breach of the Bridgewater Canal I started thinking about ownership of the canal and how much land was actually owned.

The Bridgewater Canal is approximately 60km long. Effectively a linear water park. But how much property is owned; apart from the canal bed and what is it’s value?

Peel Holding purchased the canal and they appear to have a very diverse and convoluted grouping of sub companies. The Bridgewater Canal website states:

“The Bridgewater Canal is owned and operated by The Bridgewater Canal Company Limited, part of Peel L&P, in conjunction with the Bridgewater Canal Trust. Bridgewater Canal Company Limited is a statutory body responsible for navigation and maintenance of the Bridgewater Canal.”

Interestingly Peel L&P appears to have been decommissioned as of 1 April 2024. What happened to the Bridgewater Canal Company Limited; a statutory body required by law to maintain the canal?

A perusal of the records for the Bridgewater Canal Company at Companies House allowed me to look at their latest Director’s Report for the year ending 31 March 2024. The first thing that caught my eye was the paragraph titled “Going concern”

The director’s report the company has net current liabilities. However the directors report Peel L&P will continue to support the company to enable it to continue to operate for the next 12 months. You may have realised Peel L&P was decommissioned the following day (1 April 2024). The Director’s Report was for the period ending 31 March and was submitted on 29 November 2024 eight months after the decommissioning.

[Definition of Net Current Liabilities

Net current liabilities refer to the current assets less current liabilities of an organisation. To have net current liabilities, the current liabilities must be larger than the current assets. This is usually because the company has very little inventories or does not give credit and therefore has no receivables. Alternatively it could indicate that the business is insolvent.]

Under fixed assets the company had as at 31 March 2024.

Tangible Assets £21,458

Investment property £17,480,000

Loans to group undertakings £5,879,250

Total £23,380,708

After Deducted Liabilities the total is £18,603,376

Cash in the bank £20,158

There is insufficient detail in the report to identify whether the company is self-insured, insured by Peel Holdings or has independent insurance coverage. Nor is there and detail regarding the scope of the ‘Investment property’. Is it the canal; or more?

My conclusion is the Bridgewater Canal Company Ltd continues to exist and is has a statutory responsibly to maintain the canal.   However one gets the impression their is insufficient revenue to support the business.  Hence the comment about Pell L&P support.  But Pell L&P apparently not longer exists?

It becomes slightly more confusing because their is a Canal Trust on the Bridgewater Canal website

“The Bridgewater Canal Trust. The trust meets twice a year and formulates the long and short-term policies for the amenity use of the Bridgewater Canal. All income generated by the Bridgewater Canal from pleasure craft, fishing, drainage and sales of water for cooling purposes etc is used to maintain and improve the canal and its local environment.”

The above paragraph makes me wonder whether there are any additional sources of income?

There appears to be Peel L&P (decommissioned) which owns (ed) The Bridgewater Canal Company Limited which has assets of approximately £23m and a Bridgewater Canal Trust which generates revenue from boating, fishing, drainage and sale of water. I also read separately the income in 2018 was approx £750,000

Interestingly; unlike other UK canal trusts; there appear to be no records at Companies House for the Bridgewater Canal Trust.

My assumption is the Trust will dam both sides of the breach which would allow some boating, fishing and drainage,etc allowing revenue to continue. But not meet the statutory obligations for navigation and maintenance.

Repairs would likely cost in the region of £2-3m and my guess is the Trustees will take their time deciding how; if; when; they will fund that.

More Maintenance

It seems I’m spending more time these days doing maintenance tasks.

The new security camera stopped working with the system reporting the camera battery was flat.  That was a revelation as it’s connected to a 5V solar panel which was purchased to provide enough power to keep the camera battery fully charged.  

Had the camera or solar panel failed?   Both were still within the statutory 12 month warranty period.

I plugged each of them into my USB multimeter. 

The camera battery was accepting a charge and the solar panel was producing power.

There is a pigtail cable connector between the solar panel and the camera.  It’s an adapter connector as the solar panel cable has a micro usb plug on the end of the cable and the camera has a usb-c socket.  The pigtail connection wasn’t fully home, so no power was going from the panel to the camera.  “Look for the simple things first”

I don’t ride the ebike wearing my hearing aids.  The sound of the wind whistling in my ears is too painful.  Not wearing them means I don’t hear any unusual noises from the bike.  Today was an exception as I could definitely hear something.

I must have ridden a couple of thousand kilometres since the last oil change in the rear wheel internally geared hub.  It’s a 30 minute job.   But the noise remained!

Thinking about it I realised I hadn’t checked the grease in the main gear of the electric motor since the period prior to my first trip to Taiwan.  That was many thousands of kilometres ago.

After removing the crank, chain ring and cover plate I was surprised to see almost no grease.

This was less grease than when I first inspected it immediately after it was delivered.  At that time I had carefully and fully repacked the entire housing with a good quality grease.

The reverse side of the cover plate looked somewhat worn.  Fortunately the area where it sealed against the main housing wasn’t damaged.

I spent another 30 minutes repacking the entire area with grease. 

After reassembly the bike was still making a noise.   Eventually I traced the source to the chain tensioner.  It’s the first time I’ve disassembled the tensioner and I discovered the stainless steel bearing bush was worn out.   Of course you can’t just buy the bush which is probably worth less than $0.01.  The entire tensioner has to be purchased.  It would be nice to have a lathe and make my own replacements.

Jan was keen to tell me there was a breach in the Bridgewater Canal with boats being stranded.  The canal is owned by Peel Holdings, which has a sole family as the major shareholder.  Peel Holdings is very wealthy but the canal makes little money.   I suspect Peel Holding would like to divest themselves of the canal, but to date haven’t been able to find a naïve purchaser. 

My instincts are repairs are going to take a long time.  Peel Holdings won’t want to spend the money.  If the canal is insured, the insurance company will want to see evidence that Peel Holdings has been actively working to minimise potential risks.  There will likely be a stalemate and possibly a long legal battle prior to any repairs commencing.  I suspect the best stranded boaters can hope for is either being craned out. However my guess is Peel Holdings won’t do that unless there is plenty of negative publicity regarding their inaction.   Time will tell.

Steady Progress

A very quiet Christmas for the two of us.  No celebratory meal.   No doubt we will be early to bed on New Year’s Eve. 

I think my woodworking skill is slowly improving.  I’ve made a further two kitchen knife blocks.

They aren’t perfect.  But I am learning.

I ran more of the Australian Native Timbers through the Bench Saw and Thicknesser before gluing them together into one long plank.  I want to cut the plank on an angle, but it won’t fit through the table saw as the saw bench is too small.   My other options were the skill saw or the mitre saw.   I thought the latter would give me more control. 

In an effort to reduce ‘tear out’ on the underside of the plank I made a new blade insert for the mitre saw.  By lowering the blade down onto it I cut a slot the exact width of the blade

The mitre saw was set to a 25deg angle which was the maximum I could achieve with the width of the plank.

I clamped a timber stop to the saw fence in an effort to ensure each cut piece was exactly the same size.

Unfortunately tear out still occurred on the underside.

I’ve realised the saw blade is blunt. 

After cutting 12 pieces I flipped them in opposite direction.  The idea is to give the illusion the surface of the piece rises and falls.

However the tear out has resulted in rough vertical edges on the joins.  I’m going to glue the edges together and then run the piece through the bench saw down the length of each original join before regluing them  Hopefully that will result in no tear out and a flush joint. 

Oh…. It’s going to be a kitchen cutting board.

40+ and My Error

Today the mercury has exceeded 40C.   When we woke at 6:30 Jan immediately closed all the window covers and turned on two air conditioners .  The house is cool, but it’s a scorcher outside.

I checked the output from the solar array on the roof.  We are producing more solar than we consume.

 

Dark green is solar production and light green consumption

I made a couple of brief trips outside to work on projects.   Every day I managed to calculate the capacity of one cell from the salvaged e-scooter battery.   Using the battery conditioner I fully charge the cell.  Then it’s fully discharged to calculate its capacity.  I write this on the cell before fully charging it again.  The process is repeated with a new cell every day.

Waiting for processing

 

Processed

A new 18650 lithium cell should have a capacity of 2400mA.   Thus far mine range between 2247 and 1067mA. 

Earlier this year my brother gave us a sucker from his passionfruit vine.   I built a trellis and planted the vine.  It’s gone berserk and is producing fruit.   Jan is so impressed she bought a second vine.  A different variety.  The free vine is supposed to produce a yellow fruit  whilst her new vine is named Black Nugget.  No prize for correctly guessing it’s colour.  Of course that meant I needed to make a second trellis.

 

Black Nugget

Whilst buying the vine Jan decided to buy a Loquat tree.  We decide the only suitable location was the front lawn.  I didn’t want to damaged the buried water reticulation pipes and carefully examined the lawn before deciding on a suitable spot.   Yes…my first spade blow cut a pipe!

The last outdoor project was to work on a camera mounting system for the bike.

After looking at the 360 video recordings from my Europe cycling holiday several things are apparent.   I didn’t take enough footage.   There are probably two reasons for this.  First, I was too focussed on riding and physically seeing everything (ie; I forgot to record).  Second, it was too much effort to stop and move the camera around on the bike along with turning it on and off.  I need to learn how to secure the camera in multiple positions before my next cycling trip.  Remote control of the camera would be a major advantage.

Another issue is the quality of the recordings.  Whilst I managed to polish out the scratch on the camera lens this must have resulted in it being slightly distorted.  At certain angles in bright sunlight there is a halo in the recorded image.

On a more positive note I’m slowly learning how to edit 360 video recordings. 

We are three days from Christmas 2024.  It will be another quiet day for us.  I suggested to Jan we go for a drive and find a quiet shady spot where we can eat marmalade sandwiches for lunch.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you.  Stay safe over the festive holiday season!

More on the Darned Swimming Pool

After some long range communication I believe I have convinced the people who manufactured the swimming pool control system that the fault is in their control box.

I write ‘long range communication’ because they no longer have a presence in Western Australia.  Their nearest office is almost 4000km away in Melbourne.

The problem is the pool wasn’t making any chlorine.  It’s a salt pool and the salt in the water is split into sodium and chlorine by electrolysis as it passes through the chlorinator element.   They sent me a replacement chlorinator element ($451) to solve the problem.  However this created the opposite.  The pool was being over chlorinated.  So high in fact that it would be unsafe to swim in the pool.

I started to get tired of the long range communications and decided to dismantle the original chlorinator element.  It’s slightly more than a year old and therefore out of warranty.

On pulling it apart I found the following

Definitely stuffed!!!!

Now it shouldn’t be this bad.  The chlorinator element is supposed to last 3-4 years before needing replacement.  My guess was something had prematurely aged the element and it was now doing the same to the new element they had recently sent me.

I’ve been able to convince the pool company there is a fault inside the control box.  Probably a printed circuit board (PCB).   The control box isn’t controlling the production of chlorine and the element is running continuously.  They have agreed to send me a replacement PCB ($200). 

All the additional costs could have been avoided if they still had a presence in the State.  A site inspection and some testing equipment would have identified the root cause more rapidly.   

A Leak!

After a busy Saturday morning I was sitting anticipating a relaxing afternoon reading my eBook when Jan exclaimed “Water is pouring out of the Air-Con!”  That was a surprise as I decommissioned the water evaporative air-con system five years ago.  Our current systems (3) are refrigerated split-cycle units.

Water was indeed running out of the old 5kW air-con head unit in the dining room.  As there is no water connection to the system it was obvious the water was the waste product from the cooling mechanism.   The principle of the system is similar to a fridge.  The outside unit contains the compressor and a large fan.  Hot gas from the head unit on the wall inside the house is compressed to extract the heat.  The pump then sends the cool gas back to the head unit where it runs through a radiator.  A fan in the head unit sucks hot air from the room over the radiator where it’s cooled and recycled back into the room.  Moisture is captured from the hot air during this process.  It drips down the radiator blades into a horizontal trough at the base of the head unit and then piped outside through a drainage hose.

The drain hose must be blocked causing the water in the trough to overflow.

Getting the front cover off the head unit took some time as I didn’t want to break anything.  Now I know how it fits removal will be much easier in future.

The drain hose [C] connects to the head unit [B] at the left end.  The radiator trough runs along the front of the head unit [A]

Peering into the drainage hose I could see it was blocked with mould.  I squirted mould remover down the drain hose and along the trough.   After waiting 30 minutes I checked the drain hose and the blockage had gone.  A blast of air from my lungs helped it one its way down the pipe.

Reinstalling the cover and blades on the head unit was quickly done now I know how it is assembled.

Hopefully we have saved some money by not requiring the services of an air-con serviceman.

A Close Call

Reader you may recall that only two posts ago I mentioned I’d realised I didn’t have a spare wheel bearing set for the outback trailer.  I decided to purchase a set and used them to replace the trailer right side bearings, keeping the old bearings as spares.   Only 12 months ago I repacked the left side bearings so didn’t bother with them.

On Sunday I took the trailer down south on a fishing trip; collecting Ken on the way.  We were two thirds of the way to our destination (250km) from home and 40km south of Manjimup when the low fuel light on the dash illuminated.

Ken and I agreed we would stop and add two 20 ltr jerrycans of diesel.  Whilst doing this I walked around the trailer noticing a very hot smell from the left side.   The left tyre was hot and the steel too hot to touch.  Did we have a dragging brake? A check of the trailer handbrake cable indicated it was lose.  Obviously not a dragging brake!

I then walked 6 metres to the rear of the trailer and looked back underneath.  The right wheel was vertical but the left had a distinct lean.  Something was seriously wrong and the most obvious cause was a failed wheel bearing.

The wheel was too hot to work on and we decided to camp for the night giving the wheel a chance to cool.

I had spare bearings <phew> but what if there was damage to the stub axle?  That would be a more serious problem.

The next morning the wheel was cold.  After removing the tyre and rim we found the problem.  It wasn’t just a failed bearing.  The brake drum had sheared in front of the back bearing.

 

The new drum with an arrow pointing to where the original drum had sheared.

We had no mobile phone coverage to call for help.  It was agreed I would drive back to Manjimup and see if I could source a replacement drum and bearing set.   Eventually I found an auto parts store which was able to source the replacement parts from Bunbury.  They would arrive by courier at 3pm.

I drove back to Ken to wait the six hours until 3pm.

Meanwhile Ken informed me two vehicles had separately passed.  They had seen the parked trailer and turned back to have another look.  Only to then speed off when they noticed Ken.

By 4pm we were fitting the new bearing and drum.  The electric brake magnet was ‘cooked’ and the brake shoes badly worn.  I disconnected the brake wiring not wanting to cause a short and damage the rest of the trailer wiring.

There was no damage to the stub axle <relief>.

Worn brake pads

Worn backing plate

Cooked magnet with baked wiring

We were incredibly lucky.  If we hadn’t stopped to refuel it’s almost certain the wheel would have fallen off and the stub axle dropped into the road.  The trailer could have flipped pulling over the 4WD.

I’m now in the process of replacing the complete brake mechanism on both sides of the trailer.

An update and more projects

The Kipor generator is now working.   It had a spark and fuel but died after only running for a couple of seconds.   Logic suggested to me there might be an air leak somewhere in the fuel system so I removed the carburettor and smeared gasket putty on the gaskets before reinstalling the carburettor and waiting 24 hours of the putty to harden.  A simple fix!

The swimming pool equipment distributor sent me a new chlorinator element to see if that would fix the problem with the pool.   It was partially successful.   The system is now producing chlorine but the ORP reading (a measure for reading the level of chlorine) is blank.  Something is wrong with the system and the supplier doesn’t know why.   In the meantime I drained and refilled the pool which has removed the murky water.

The bike has started skipping when I place it under heavy load (eg, pedalling uphill).   It can’t be the chain as that is new.  I think there are three possible causes.  Either the front chainring or the rear sprocket is worn.   Something is  worn our out of adjustment in the internally geared hub.  The sprockets or clutch in the Bafang electric motor is worn/defective.

The hub would be the most difficult to identify and fix.   I already have my original hub in bits on the workshop bench as a jigsaw puzzle.  The motor would be the next most difficult component so I looked at the chainring and rear sprocket. 

I’m hoping it’s a worn rear sprocket.

The old and a new sprocket.  The teeth on the old sprocket appear to be worn on the leading edge.

Old

New

I’m guessing (hoping) this means the chain jumps off the worn teeth when the chain is placed under heavy load.  The rear sprocket has done 8000km so I should expect it to be worn.

I’ll go for a ride and test my theory.

More than a month

Yes, it’s been more than a month since the last post.  Not that I’ve been idle.  Rather, I’ve been very busy with outstanding projects.   Let me explain.

We took advantage of the West Australian State Government $400 grant to install a security system.  I didn’t want to pay for off-site data storage and eventually opted for a system by Eufy.  We bought their storage hub, external camera and video doorbell.

The Hub sits on a shelf under the coffee table beside my chair.  It’s linked to the cameras and our home network.  The Hub comes with 16GB of storage but a hard drive can be installed in it should more storage be desired.  I have it configured to provide an audible warning when either the external camera or doorbell camera detects motion.

The Hub

 

The doorbell has two cameras.  One looks towards the approach to the door and the other at the base of the front door where a parcel might be left.  It has a speaker and mic allowing us to communicate without opening the door.  Actually we could be advised there was someone at the door our mobile phone if we weren’t at home.

I’ve mounted the external camera in a box on a pole against our boundary fence where it has an uninterrupted view of the front of the house and the street.

Whilst watching a You Tube video of two men crossing the remote Anne Beadell Track (something I want to do) I noticed their trailer was the same make and model as ours.   Later in the video they showed how a wheel had come off the trailer when a wheel bearing failed.  They didn’t have a replacement bearing and had to abandon their trailer in the desert.

I realised I also didn’t have a spare wheel bearing!

The prudent thing to do would be to buy one before my next trip.  But what size were the Chinese bearing?   I’d need to remove one set and measure them.

Tarzan must have tightened the wheel nuts because removing them was a challenge.  Thanks eldest grandson!

I don’t have any fancy tools to remove wheel bearings but I do know your shouldn’t punch a bearing shell out using steel against steel.  The cost of a bronze or brass punch seemed excessive so I ordered a 250mm length of brass rod from eBay.

The rod enabled me to remove the bearings and measure them.  They are standard Ford trailer bearings. 

I bought one set for the side I had removed.  Greased the new bearings and reassembled the wheel hub.  The old bearings will be my spare set.

Jan ordered some new kitchen knives.  German and apparently high quality.  Not wanting to throw them in a kitchen drawer where they would rather rapidly get blunt she asked about a knife block.

I rummaged around in the shed and garage looking for suitable timber offcuts.  Some pine that previously been repurposed twice and some Jarrah left over from the display cabinet.  There was also some Australian Ash and Spotted Gum.

I bought some water resistant food grade wood glue and started cutting, planning, gluing, cutting, planning, gluing, etc

Jan was asked which face on the block she wanted to the front.  This enabled me to cut a bevel on the top.  There was enough left over to make a second block.

I started thinking about selling the Kipor generator.  It’s been run once in the last six years which is a good indication it’s not needed.

The first thing to tart up was the pull cord hole which has been torn.  I glued a large washer on one side and added more adhesive to the rear.

There exterior was given a thorough clean and then I started it.  Except it starts on the first pull and promptly dies.  I think it has a carb issue.

The project has gone to the bottom of the list.

The repaired Shimano Alfine hub was installed back in the wheel rim and then fitted to my bike.  The gear return spring wasn’t working.  Bugger!

The hub would have to be disassembled.

I’ve never disassembled the hub to this depth.  Eventually I discovered the gear return spring was in the axle which is the final part of the disassembled hub.  Then the hub went “sprong” and components ricocheted all over the workshop.

Double Bugger!

After scrambling around the workshop benches and floor for several hours I think I have all the components.  However disassembling the hub doesn’t form part of the Alfine Workshop Manual.  I appear to have a jigsaw puzzle with no picture.   Another slow project.

My friend Ken, gave me a 36V lithium battery he had obtained.  A check of the voltage suggested it was either flat or had an issue.  The number of external pins suggested the battery required an external Battery Management System (BMS).

It’s off an e-scooter

I decided to pull it apart.  Easier said than done as the retaining screws had a unique head.  I had to drill off the screw heads to open the case.

This is where I discovered the steel outer case contained an inner plastic case

And the battery cells were then encased in a rubber compound.  It’s actually well made but a right bastard to disassemble.

Underneath all that rubber I found a BMS.

Eventually I got it down to the cells .  At this point I moved on to the next project.

The Swimming Pool

We’ve been having problems with the pool for most of this year.  Unfortunately for us the pool equipment manufacturer no longer has a retailer or distributor in the State. 

Our pool problem became worse after the new patio was extended over it.  Swarf (small pieces of steel) from the construction made their way into the pool despite us laying a protective cover over it.  The swarf has now rusted and embedded itself into the walls and floor of the pool.

Whilst we wait to have the pool equipment problem diagnosed I decided to drain the pool and remove all the rust.

Searching for a method to drain the pool I settled on the outback camper trailer 12V shower pump.   It took two days but eventually the pool was empty.

 

Rust Spots

Once the water level was below my nether regions I jumped into the pool and started grinding.

My technique was to use a small wire brush in the portable drill.

Three days (my back confirms that) later the work was complete and I could start refilling the pool.

Are you getting bored with all this???

I’ve made a start on our eldest grandson’s yacht autopilot system.  There have been too many issues to write about at this time (the post is getting too long!)  However I did solve a problem with the 7” touch screen monitor which was purchased from Aliexpress.

It didn’t work.  After careful examination I came to the conclusion the likely fault was the ribbon cable on the back.  It didn’t appear to be correctly inserted and the retaining clip was unlatched at one end.

Fitting the ribbon correctly was easy as the two ends of the ribbon were offset.  However with some patience and perseverance I managed to correctly secure it and the monitor works. 

Phew…. leave the rest for another day!