Repaired my Alpha Smart 18EP instant shower water heater

Few days ago, the Alpha Smart 18EP instant shower water heater in one of my bathrooms failed its start-up test. All its LEDs were blinking in red colour.

This water heater has different warranty period for different parts as follow:

• Heating element: 5 years
• Brushless DC motor: 5 years
• Brushed AC motor: 1 year
• Anti-leak tank: 10 years
• Other internal parts: 1 year

My unit has already been used for more than 1 year. I tried my luck and called the company to send technician to my house for inspection and repair, which possibly cost much cheaper than buying and replacing with a new unit.

Alpha customer service supports reporting via Whatsapp, which I found is very convenient. You can find their Whatsapp / SMS number in this webpage. Alternatively, you can also report a problem using email or direct phone call too.

Since my water heater lifespan has already passed its 1 year warranty period, it cost me RM53 (including 6% GST) for them to dispatch a technician to my house for checking and repairing.

After the checking, a circuit board inside the water heater was found faulty and need replacement. That cost me another RM68 (including 6% GST).

So, the total cost of repair is RM121 (including 6% GST). This is indeed much cheaper than buying a replacement unit and get someone to change it for me.

Overall, I am pretty satisfied with their service, particularly the availability of Whatsapp as one of the customer service channel. Their respond is fast, and the repairing cost is reasonable. Now, my water heater is up and running again.

Converting video files to be playable from USB drive in Sony XAV-W650BT double DIN player

Sony XAV-W650BT is a decent double DIN (Duetch Industri Normen) car head unit with DVD player. It has all the functions you need: radio, USB, AUX, Bluetooth, NFC, DVD/VCD player, steering control support, reverse camera support, etc.

It is able to play 3 types of multimedia files in a USB thumb drive: MP3 music, JPEG photo, and XVID/MP4 video.

Playing MP3 music and viewing JPEG photo is pretty straightforward, but playing video file might need some conversion work done to its compatible format, as it will face difficulty playing video that exceeds its maximum supported video resolution of 720x576. It also requires the video to have compatible codec and frame rate.

The conversion can be performed using a free software called Freemake Video Converter.

You need to convert the video file into MP4 format, with the following custom settings:

• Frame size: 720x576
• Adjustment: Auto
• Video codec: MPEG4
• Frame rate: 30 fps
• Audio codec: AAC
• Bitrate: maximum 4096 kbps

Even if your source file is already in MP4 format, it might not work well with the head unit if the setting is different from the above. Therefore, conversion is still required to ensure it will work well.

Now, you can run your conversion and put your favourite music videos, movies (MV), recorded TV programmes, etc. into a USB thumb drive that can be played in your Sony XAV-W650BT or similar head unit in your car.

New 2017 formula to determine amount of EPF Account 1 money that can invest in Unit Trust funds

If you want to diversify the money in Account 1 of your Employees Provident Fund (EPF, a.k.a. KWSP) by taking it out to be managed by local Unit Trust fund managers and invest in EPF approved unit trust funds, which then invest in various markets locally or globally or both, depends on the funds' prospectus, the first thing you need to know is: what is the maximum amount of money you can take out from your EPF Account 1 to invest in those approved unit trust funds?

Begining 1 January 2017, EPF has enforced a new formula for this calculation, and the old formula used before was no longer valid.

While the old formula only allowed you to take out a maximum of 20% of your (Account 1 - Basic Savings) for unit trust investment, the new formula allows you to take out more. The maximum is now 30%.

The new table to calculate your Account 1 Basic Savings is as below:

For example, if you are borned in 1982 and your EPF Account 1 has RM100,000, your Basic Savings is RM50,000. Maximum amount you can take out for unit trust investment is (RM100k - RM50k) x 30% = RM50k x 30% = RM15k.

Same as before, you can withdraw your EPF Account 1 money for unit trust investment once every 3 months.

To make the case simple, assume that your EPF money does not increase.

Amount in Account 1 after the withdrawal = RM100k - RM15k = RM85k

3 months later...

Available amount for unit trust investment = (RM85k - RM50k) x 30% = RM10.5k.

You can continue the process every 3 months until your available amount for unit trust investment become zero or negative.

Note that:

• Normally, there will be around 3% one time charges by the unit trust company for this kind of investment. Subsequent years' management fees of around 1.5% are reflected in the fund price.
• Make sure at the end of the year, you are confident your fund can give you return higher than your EPF dividend. Otherwise, it is better to let your money stay in EPF.
• You are not necessary to withdraw the maximum amount. Any amount less than the maximum allowed is OK.
• You are not necessary to withdraw every 3 months. You can adjust the timing based on market conditions.
• You are not necessary to invest into the same fund for each withdrawal. You can choose different fund to invest, as long as approved by EPF.
• Once you sell out your unit trust, the money will go back to your EPF Account 1.