diy Top @Kew Drive

[Harriette 42]

Hi Xaleysan,

How do you find the irobot? Which model are you using? Any issue with its battery? I'm thinking of getting one. Thanks.

[Ks Toh 74]

Nice that some of you find the information here useful. Here is another piece of information which is more than a year old but i hope it is still relevant.

Buying KDK Fans from JB

Many of you must have read that KDK fans are selling in Johor at about half the Singapore price. As I was intending to put many fans at my new place, I thought I could save some money buying the fans from JB.

So, I went to YES Electrical Supply in JB. Some other people mentioned going to a Tampoi Lighting but i think YES is nearest.

Address is 22 Jalan Serampang, Taman Pelangi, 80050 Johor Bahru. Off Tebrau Highway just after Plaza Pelangi. Not difficult to find. It's shown on Google Maps. You can call them at 07-3339900. Open 8 am to 5 pm Mondays to Fridays. Close at 1 pm on Saturdays. You should call before going to ensure that they have ready stock.

Price is indeed half the price in Singapore. Sensa 4 - K14Z9 (V56VK) was RM470 while Sensa 5 - K15Z9 (V60WK) was RM550. That works out to only S$188 and S$220 based on my exchange rate of 2.505. The hook was not included in the KDK box but the shop supplied it free. The shop will sell to you but will not deliver to Singapore. They are not allowed to.

Warranty is not valid for Singapore. In the unlikely event of problems, the shop says to call them and they will determine if it is product or installation problem. If product, you can take down the fan and bring it back to them.

Design and specifications wise, there appears to be no difference between the Malaysian and Singapore models. The shop says they are identical

Except for one thing which nobody seems to have mentioned or have a problem with. Colour. The Malaysian models come in different colors. For the above two models, they come only in Titanium Silver and no White. The blades looks grey to me. Not sure if the colour is the same as Singapore's Grey. Anyway, my better half wants only white, so I returned home empty handed. My friend bought one as he wanted Titanium Silver.

Edited February 11, 2014 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

The main difficulty when you drive there is just after you exit Johore customs. It is very confusing to me. When I went there, I took the wrong exit and ended up on the elevated Eastern Dispersal Link. Sort of like you want to go to Suntec City but you forgot to exit at Rochor and ended up on the Sheares Bridge. You can see Suntec City down below but you cannot exit.

Anyway, these are the instructions from some website to get to Tebrau Highway:

Upon exit of the Johor CIQ/ Custom Complex, there is a 3-way spilt; JB Sentral (Left Exit), Jalan Tebrau/Kota Tinggi (Middle Exit) and Stulang Laut (Right Exit). Take the Middle Exit (Jalan Tebrau/Kota Tinggi). You will pass by a Shell Petrol Station. Take the left exit shortly after that (Jalan Tebrau) and turn right immediately after exiting. You will go down a slope and see Plaza Pelangi on your right. Congratulations! You are now on Lebuhraya Tebrau.

For a video, look at this (not by me):

Edited February 9, 2014 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

Upon your return, please remember to drive into the Red Channel and declare your purchase. GST is payable at Singapore Customs for goods exceeding S$150 if you are away from Singapore for less than 48 hours.

They will check your passport to verify this. We drove into the Red Channel to declare the fan and went to the customs office. The customs officer explained that if the travelers are a family unit and the goods meant to be shared, she can allow the value to be split amongst the family members. However, in our case, she said we were not related and how can the fan be shared between the two of us? But Anyway, as the amount was just above the limit, she let us off without having to pay GST. If in doubt, it is better to declare and maybe pay just the 7% rather than risk a $10,000 fine and jail.

[xaleysan 2]

Hi Xaleysan,

How do you find the irobot? Which model are you using? Any issue with its battery? I'm thinking of getting one. Thanks.

Hi Harriette,

mine is the Roomba 520. It should be obsolete now since we bought it about 3 years ago I think.

Battery life is not as good as before, expectedly. It takes a longer time to fully charge.

We can get a new battery but we did not as it still cleans the whole flat in a single charge.

We are very happy with it. When I first bought it, I tested a few times by vacuumming and mopping the place thoroughly and under all the furniture, and then let the robot work.

Still, it picked up a lot of dust each time.

I only wish mine comes with scheduling like the newer models.

I also bought during PC/IT show and there was a discount.

The distributor John Ackerman seems to always have a small booth (usually at the back of the hall).

Hope these helps!

[OceanEleven 203]

Battery life is not as good as before, expectedly. It takes a longer time to fully charge.

We can get a new battery but we did not as it still cleans the whole flat in a single charge.

Pardon me, whole flat is including rooms? 4/5room?

[Ks Toh 74]

We are very happy with it. When I first bought it, I tested a few times by vacuumming and mopping the place thoroughly and under all the furniture, and then let the robot work.

Still, it picked up a lot of dust each time.

Seems to me that your vacuuming and mopping was not a very good job.

[xaleysan 2]

Pardon me, whole flat is including rooms? 4/5room?

Ya, entire 4-room flat including kitchen.

Seems to me that your vacuuming and mopping was not a very good job.

If it was the Mister doing that, I would say you are right!

But seriously, I brought Robbie (as I affectionately calls my robot!) over to clean my mum's place, which she had just vacuum and mopped the night before, and lots of dust was picked up too.

My mum and me are fussy cleaners, we clean well!

It was my mum's friend who was first raving over it and I was skeptical.

I would say after using it, it had performed better than I expected.

Now, my MIL is thinking to get one too, so that cleaning is less tiring for her.

In case I sound like I work for the company, I'm just a happy customer.

Edited February 13, 2014 by xaleysan

[OceanEleven 203]

One tip I would like to share is the shower area. If you have a kerb or drop (to keep water from coming out of the shower area), this must be OUTSIDE of the shower door. I find many workers these days simply doing the kerb or drop directly below the shower door, or worse, inside the shower door. Then they use a rubber seal (not sure what you call it) below the door to try to stop the water from coming out. The seal does not work.

Bro, can illustrate a little more on the tip??

[Ks Toh 74]

I thought my picture above is clear? This picture taken from inside the shower.

There is normally a kerb or drop in floor level at the shower area to prevent the water from flowing out. When you close your shower door, this kerb or drop should be outside the door.

[creative_vitamin 3]

Bro, can illustrate a little more on the tip??

if i am not mistaken, reading "Back to the West" reno-blog, the drop cannot be done for EM ( some restriction e.g. cannot have drop ? only concrete kerb concept will be applicable)

-http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10324p.nsf/w/HomeRenoGuidelinesBuilding?OpenDocument#Bathroom )

Edited February 24, 2014 by creative_vitamin

[Ks Toh 74]

For my mum's HDB flat, there is a significant drop from the room floor to the toilet floor. I am sure it should be possible to lay the tiles such that there is a small drop from the room to the toilet floor, and a further drop from the toilet floor to the shower floor. Only 1 cm drop should be sufficient. Surely, this is not against HDB guidelines?

If both the toilet and shower floors are of the same level, instead of building a kerb (which is ugly), I saw at Gold Coast Australia that the tiler gently sloped the floor upwards up to the edge of the shower, creating a drop there. A bit like a sand dune. I thought that was nice and immediately messaged my ID for my last place. But the local contractor did not know how to do it (or was too lazy), so he still build a kerb for me.

See whether you can do it.

Edited February 26, 2014 by kstoh

[OceanEleven 203]

if i am not mistaken, reading "Back to the West" reno-blog, the drop cannot be done for EM ( some restriction e.g. cannot have drop ? only concrete kerb concept will be applicable)

-http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10324p.nsf/w/HomeRenoGuidelinesBuilding?OpenDocument#Bathroom )

The work part = Drop can be achieve if only re-tiling and not overlaying (unless originally there is a drop).

The restriction part = Do whatever you want provided the HDB officer never get to use your toilet.

[guojiawen 101]

The work part = Drop can be achieve if only re-tiling and not overlaying (unless originally there is a drop).

The restriction part = Do whatever you want provided the HDB officer never get to use your toilet.

Hmm not sure if I recall rightly, but if we eventually want to sell the house, HDB will do a valuation or something? Will they then notice the reno is against HDB guidelines?

[OceanEleven 203]

Hmm not sure if I recall rightly, but if we eventually want to sell the house, HDB will do a valuation or something? Will they then notice the reno is against HDB guidelines?

Nope, they will not note such things. They value base on reno done, fixtures, materials etc.