Martin's corner on the web

Boxing vs product size. What a waste?

My introvert nightmare, at a concert

The Coral TPU is here, will add to my home assistant + Frigate tonight Setup complete. Only tricky part was to disable “protected mode “ for Frigate in order for it to recognize the TPU on my rPi4 running HASS OS 10.5; Currently running it on two cameras, CPU load is at 25-35%. Automations based…

Astronomical autumn starts today with a heat wave 🙂

I am not sure what this bug is, but it is huge and feeds on our flowers’ nectar

Stratification is clearly visible when heating the DHW with PV excess + electrical heating element instead of the heat pump. Might add a destratification pump to fully utilize the 300l volume, top reaches 80°C, the bottom remains at 30°C; This might also pose a legionella risk

Integrated IKEA’s DIRIGERA hub and few of their smart products in my home assistant setup. Oddly, there’s no native support for the hub, I had to register it as a HomeKit device. Anyway, all is working well now and automations are kicking in as expected

Ordered a Google Coral USB Edge TPU to use with Frigate NVR + home assistant. Seems quite overpriced, I hope it isn’t a disappointment

Useful paper on optimal water flow rate when using water fan coils with ASHPs https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1079&=&context=ihpbc&=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Furl%253Fq%253Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fdocs.lib.purdue.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%25253Farticle%25253D1079%252526context%25253Dihpbc%2526sa%253DU%2526sqi%253D2%2526ved%253D2ahUKEwie-KTRrpqBAxUR_rsIHXSNB-0QFnoECAsQAQ%2526usg%253DAOvVaw2pcuVvNGpbzC9GJPuL3RF7#search=%22https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.lib.purdue.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1079%26context%3Dihpbc%22

Checking the noise level on our Mitsubishi ASHP outdoor unit

Inverter and battery firmware update time..

Reduced the fluid flow rate in my ASHP running in cooling mode, for a healthier flow/return differential temperature. Seems to have worked, obvious COP increase is visible clearly:

In recent days, our heat pump's been battling outdoor temps up to 32-36°C in cooling mode. With an EER (think of it as cooling's COP) of 3.81, it's an efficiency superstar – and all this is running purely on solar power

Enjoying Greece for few days 🇬🇷

Relying less on the grid this month, as our own solar panels provided for 91% of our energy needs.

Got this in case an old Nissan Leaf battery decides to show up at home

Prepping for the installation of a new heat pump at home in the next week or so, but not exactly thrilled about the imminent entropy surge So it begins.. The external unit and the internal hydro box are now mounted and the refrigerant lines are pressurized with Nitrogen for a 24h leak test Progress on…

Tomorrow’s PV production estimate for our system is near 44kWh. We’ve sized it to support future EV charging. Currently, we can’t self-consume that much, and grid feed-in is complicated by local bureaucratic obstacles. Hate to see it go to waste.

It is temporary and perfectly safe, I promise. #WCGW

How many WiFi devices at home is 'too many'? We have between 35 and 45 depending on who's home and which devices are active. A mesh network of four routers provides the needed coverage.

Grid is down due to a storm, our @froniussolar emergency power switchover kicked in, so.. we have power again 🙂

Repurposing an ancient iPad mini 2 as a home-assistant dashboard. 3D printed a stand for it. #reuse

Thought I was done with solar system spending, but then someone develops a way to connect old Nissan Leaf batteries to a Fronius GEN24 inverter. Now remains to make a compelling case for this new budget dent to my better half. https://github.com/dalathegreat/BYD-Battery-Emulator-For-Gen24 Repeating in my head: "want != need"

My device de-zombification tool:

I'm uncertain about the thought process behind this battery manufacturer's brand name and logo. Both seem to have been deliberately crafted to raise eyebrows. Hack charging those odd-sized “UltraFire”s, hoping they don’t live up to their name and catch an ultra fire

Achieved 98% energy self-sufficiency today #solarpower

Just integrated the "Power Flow Card Plus" visualization into my #HomeAssistant system. Loving the seamless synergy with every aspect of my #Fronius ecosystem, from #SolarPV to battery, #EV, surplus hot water tank diverter, and grid usage.

The Sun's manufacturer is listed as "unknown" on my home assistant dashboard. Must be some sort of a covert operation of cosmic proportions?

Our DYI air-to-water heat pump has officially reached the end of its 13-year service life, conveniently at the conclusion of this heating season. We're grateful for the reliable warmth it provided and look forward to replacing it with a new system during the summer months.