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diy solar

CHINA kills all non Sol-Ark branded DEYE unit in the USA this morning.

I'm just a jack of all trades master of none. I do most of my own car repairs, can do some (very) limited coding, was a computer nerd building computers for a long while, I do basic plumbing and plenty of electrical, I can rough frame in things and hang drywall but can't do the finish work for the life of me, I got a welder recently and want to learn that, have an EET degree and know some electronics but rusty since I never got deep into it. Hm.

If I can find the time I want to get back into tinkering with my car.
 
Crowz said:
That's actually a key to owning a bmw. They have a reputation of being horribly expensive to keep on the road when in reality they are one of the cheapest ones to own IF you can do your own work.
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Clearly you've never had a BMW with bastard semi automatic transmission.
 
pone said:
Okay, but where is the Solar Assistant or Home Assistant app running and taking in that data? Is there some some local software that acts as a bridge to your inverter and then forwards it to the cloud services? Are the modbus adapters uploading data to the cloud? I don't see the big picture.
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Local Server running Linux and Home Assistant. No cloud involved. On my setup home assistant can be accessed remotely and the settings in home assistant can be changed. Right now the hooks to update modbus parameters aren't yet working (so no inverter parameter changes).

Solar Assistant runs on a tiny raspberry pi device and collects data, and can change inverter parameters and it can also forward data to home assistant.

Home assistant has multiple sensors (temperature/humidity for house and refrig/freezers) and controls my thermostat/humidifier and controls a number of lights.

A separate set of software runs the security cameras (also remotely accessible, no cloud involved).
 
OffGridForGood said:
and then the car-repair and computer fields merged into one and you could Really make money - doing automotive diagnostics ! ;)
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You should try it full time for a spell. Back in the day, I spent tens of thousands for diagnostic equipment and software. Then came the idea that hey, we could make all of this monthly subscription based. You got to spend hours tracing down a broken wire somewhere, meanwhile the overhead meter was ticking and you weren't selling squat for parts. Parts markup is supposed to cover the overhead.

Add some employees into the mix, new systems that you spend in your free time learning, dealing with network and security issues and the motoring public that doesn't want to or can not pay for diagnostics because "a computer tells you what is wrong."

That is Really making money.

I got smart real quick, sold off a bunch of diagnostic equipment and specialized in mobile air conditioning repair. They are starting to screw that up too with CAN or RING networked HVAC control, electronic temp sensors and host of other electronic parts destined for failure at some point. It was done to drive up profits. Case in point, CAT track loaders owned by a local company. One came in with no compressor engagement, system had a full charge. Raising the cab and gaining access to the evaporator reveals an electronic thermostat with green crud hanging all off it. Good place to put electronics/pcb's. Huge temps swings combined with moisture/water on equipment made to be in the dirt and the evaporator drains plug up with that dirt. That electronic thermostat was over $450. One model year older used a mechanical thermostat that has been used for years on systems. It costs $12. The mounting holes are exactly the same and the electrical connector is exactly the same. Guess which switch was installed?

I was watching a video last night about a light bulb that had been burning for over 100 years in England and how companies build products to fail otherwise their sales would drop over time. Everything today is made that way, it is just another subscription based way of taking your money.
 
Crowz said:
Funny part of that. I HATED the cars that had computers when they came out. The first electronic fuel injection (tbi) was JUNK. I did a good bit of fuel injector to carb conversions then :)

I was happy to get out of being a mechanic back then because diagnostics were non existent so to speak and nothing but a royal pain.
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funny thing is as retarded as I am, making more horsepower was the one thing that piqued my interest enough to study it... So I can program the snot out of an EFI controlled engine (I have three or four programs I am favorable to). but anything else is do not allow the mongoloid to touch level..
 
upnorthandpersonal said:
Most people don't know the second half of that saying:

"But oftentimes better than a master of one.”
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"Master of one" tends to be what I refer to as "well trained" in their specific task often with "old tradesman's tales" and often do not understand what they are doing nor the why, and are overconfident that their training gives them knowledge beyond their training (ie saying "I am an expert"). They often come up with explanations that on the surface (if you don't know any better) seem ok, but if you have any understanding of physics are obviously full of crap. The one I have heard was moving too fast and "the water does not stay in the engine/radiator for long enough to cool".
 
Crowz said:
The transmissions are not a problem IF you change the fluid. There is no such thing as lifetime fluids no matter what bmw or anyone else claims :)

Now if your referring to the smg thing they tried that one sucks.
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Yeah I'm talking about the SMG. Fortunately all replaced by previous owner before I bought it but looking at his receipts....jesus.
 
Zwy said:
You should try it full time for a spell. Back in the day, I spent tens of thousands for diagnostic equipment and software. Then came the idea that hey, we could make all of this monthly subscription based. You got to spend hours tracing down a broken wire somewhere, meanwhile the overhead meter was ticking and you weren't selling squat for parts. Parts markup is supposed to cover the overhead.

Add some employees into the mix, new systems that you spend in your free time learning, dealing with network and security issues and the motoring public that doesn't want to or can not pay for diagnostics because "a computer tells you what is wrong."

That is Really making money.

I got smart real quick, sold off a bunch of diagnostic equipment and specialized in mobile air conditioning repair. They are starting to screw that up too with CAN or RING networked HVAC control, electronic temp sensors and host of other electronic parts destined for failure at some point. It was done to drive up profits. Case in point, CAT track loaders owned by a local company. One came in with no compressor engagement, system had a full charge. Raising the cab and gaining access to the evaporator reveals an electronic thermostat with green crud hanging all off it. Good place to put electronics/pcb's. Huge temps swings combined with moisture/water on equipment made to be in the dirt and the evaporator drains plug up with that dirt. That electronic thermostat was over $450. One model year older used a mechanical thermostat that has been used for years on systems. It costs $12. The mounting holes are exactly the same and the electrical connector is exactly the same. Guess which switch was installed?

I was watching a video last night about a light bulb that had been burning for over 100 years in England and how companies build products to fail otherwise their sales would drop over time. Everything today is made that way, it is just another subscription based way of taking your money.
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planned obsolescence has been a thing since the 70's automotive scene and quickly ran to all "durable goods" do not get me started on that one.... I have to work on too many legacy systems where the only place making parts is china... and this is on so called american warships. where you cannot use any CHICOM parts...
 
upnorthandpersonal said:
This is why I'm happy I grew up in a time and place where we did all those things. Dad fixed TV's, dishwashers, etc. (I could hold a soldering iron before I could walk, so the story goes). I got into welding making go-carts in the workshop of family where I had a lathe, router, etc. and stuff and doing stuff with wood was just normal, and I picked up programming when I got a Commodore 64 for Chistmas when I was 12 and made a career out of embedded systems and software engineering.
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stop lying... you are busy licensing a moose for Frozen 4....
 
SparkyJJO said:
I'm just a jack of all trades master of none. I do most of my own car repairs, can do some (very) limited coding, was a computer nerd building computers for a long while, I do basic plumbing and plenty of electrical, I can rough frame in things and hang drywall but can't do the finish work for the life of me, I got a welder recently and want to learn that, have an EET degree and know some electronics but rusty since I never got deep into it. Hm.

If I can find the time I want to get back into tinkering with my car.
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Years ago I had 10 bucks in my checking account, the clothes on my back, the 66 VW bug I paid $200 for and rent to pay.

I had to learn how to do everything and master it. I grew up on the farm, my father never bought new equipment, he made his money fixing his own equipment often that was considered worn out by previous owners. We grew up tearing equipment down and rebuilding it. One learns to master everything as the time spent on the job once allows for time to do more.

Only reason I don't do drywall mud much anymore is my shoulders can't take it. Concrete work is another, I just can't find help to do it.
 
Brucey said:
Yeah I'm talking about the SMG. Fortunately all replaced by previous owner before I bought it but looking at his receipts....jesus.
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Steptronic transplant if you want automatic or just swap in a stick shift. The stick shift swap is dead simple easy. I swapped my 3 series from a step tronic to a stick shift in 4 hours in the back yard from start to finish. Nice part about bmw is you can buy ever nut, bolt, trim piece and other part so when your done it will look like it left the factory that way. Cheap too.
 
Daddy Tanuki said:
funny thing is as retarded as I am, making more horsepower was the one thing that piqued my interest enough to study it... So I can program the snot out of an EFI controlled engine (I have three or four programs I am favorable to). but anything else is do not allow the mongoloid to touch level..
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Oh I love the 1996 or so and newer efi stuff. I coded my vettes and a formula firebird 6 speed manual myself.

The part I hated when they first went with this stuff was the tbi did not have a real oxygen sensor/fuel map. Remember this is pure 1st gen of the junk. It worked mostly off a map sensor and didn't have enough memory to hold a real fuel map curve. So its "stepped" badly thru the limited tables.

Things got interesting in the mid 80's. Port side injection was supposed to be the best thing ever. What no one told anyone was it was a tbi computer running the port side injection :)

So in place of running each injector it could only fire aka work 2 injectors. Didn't matter if it was a 6 cylinder or a v12. It was 2 injectors.

So they fired all of the ones on the left and then all of the ones on the right. Of course that meant 1/2 the time the valves were closed when the injectors fired. Not exactly "efficient".

Then we got sequential fuel injection. From that point forward each cylinder was handled separately and it achieved what they should of had from the start. Smooth running and POWER and gas mileage too!

Been hooked tinkering with it ever since.
 
Crowz said:
Oh I love the 1996 or so and newer efi stuff. I coded my vettes and a formula firebird 6 speed manual myself.

The part I hated when they first went with this stuff was the tbi did not have a real oxygen sensor/fuel map. Remember this is pure 1st gen of the junk. It worked mostly off a map sensor and didn't have enough memory to hold a real fuel map curve. So its "stepped" badly thru the limited tables.

Things got interesting in the mid 80's. Port side injection was supposed to be the best thing ever. What no one told anyone was it was a tbi computer running the port side injection :)

So in place of running each injector it could only fire aka work 2 injectors. Didn't matter if it was a 6 cylinder or a v12. It was 2 injectors.

So they fired all of the ones on the left and then all of the ones on the right. Of course that meant 1/2 the time the valves were closed when the injectors fired. Not exactly "efficient".

Then we got sequential fuel injection. From that point forward each cylinder was handled separately and it achieved what they should of had from the start. Smooth running and POWER and gas mileage too!

Been hooked tinkering with it ever since.
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Hmmmm... sounds like a GM or ford/chrysler issue... never had that even with the cheapest of Japanese programs.
 
Crowz said:
Steptronic transplant if you want automatic or just swap in a stick shift. The stick shift swap is dead simple easy. I swapped my 3 series from a step tronic to a stick shift in 4 hours in the back yard from start to finish. Nice part about bmw is you can buy ever nut, bolt, trim piece and other part so when your done it will look like it left the factory that way. Cheap too.
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All good it started shutting off on me as I'm crusing. Exhaust manifold leak I believe. Its been in the back with the rest of the dead fleet for a few years now, rust jacking is getting quite impressive around the wheel wells. Didn't pay much for it, it served its purpose.
 
Daddy Tanuki said:
Hmmmm... sounds like a GM or ford/chrysler issue... never had that even with the cheapest of Japanese programs.
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Ive done a good bit of coding and creating mods for people on the japanese stuff.

Here's one of my mazda miata pages covering the overpriced and not so well designed oil pressure sender I came up with a fix for :

Miata Oil Pressure Gauge | Crowz Nest

From notes on how the oil pressure gauge should work to how to fix it when it doesn't work this section covers everything related to oil pressure. This ended up being one of the most annoying problems our Miata had when we purchased it.
crowz.narmir.com

One of the projects I had the most fun at was turbo charging my 1984 300zx. I put a factory turbo on the non turbo motor. Actually was more fun to drive than a factory turbo version of the car. The factory turbo motor has turbo lag beyond belief. The NA motor turbo'ed responds instantly.
 
Brucey said:
All good it started shutting off on me as I'm crusing. Exhaust manifold leak I believe. Its been in the back with the rest of the dead fleet for a few years now, rust jacking is getting quite impressive around the wheel wells. Didn't pay much for it, it served its purpose.
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Ive never had rust problems with them but we don't salt the roads in Alabama so that's probably why.
 
Crowz said:
Ive never had rust problems with them but we don't salt the roads in Alabama so that's probably why.
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Its rare to see rusty bmws here as most owners traded in before their warranty expired or were just leasing and they are in a landfill somewhere. An old working bmw up here in upstate ny is quite rare.
 
Zwy said:
Years ago I had 10 bucks in my checking account, the clothes on my back, the 66 VW bug I paid $200 for and rent to pay.

I had to learn how to do everything and master it. I grew up on the farm, my father never bought new equipment, he made his money fixing his own equipment often that was considered worn out by previous owners. We grew up tearing equipment down and rebuilding it. One learns to master everything as the time spent on the job once allows for time to do more.

Only reason I don't do drywall mud much anymore is my shoulders can't take it. Concrete work is another, I just can't find help to do it.
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Sounds familiar. I had 20 bucks to my name and needed tires, and the car broke something again - I HAD to figure out how to fix the $#@^% thing. That car was a "bad" buy because it had been clearly abused and I paid out the nose the first two years of ownership fixing it all the time (including an engine!) but all the money I spent fixing that thing also taught me a lot how to fix it, and I've since done most of my own work with only a few exceptions. It also showed me why car repair bills can cost what they do - fighting daggone rusted fasteners, stuck bolts, and all sorts of other stupid crap on an old car after 10+ years of road salt can be a pain.
 
Brucey said:
Was going to say none of that is going to slow down the Kia/Hyundai thefts which are rampant.
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I don't think you could pay me to buy a kia after the tik tok vids showing people how to steal certain models.

The problem is the morons that watch the videos don't take to the time or simple can't figure out that it only works on certain models.

So they go and break into any kia thinking it will work. The "lucky" owners of the non steal-able ones don't get their car stolen they just get a broken window and damaged steering column.....

Not winning either way :)
 
Agree on the early pre OBD1 stuff. OBD1 was no picnic either.


Back on,
DEYE/ Solark and Bricking, I doubt any of the Alibaba Solark 15K's advertised are for real or will be shipped. If DEYE bricked non Solark branded units can imagine the SolArk labeled ones being on the radar even quicker.

The two sellers looked really sketchy with no real history -one out of Alaska the other Arab Emirates. If the Inverter does actually arrive and a dongle is plugged in probably not long until these Solark "Branded" units are shut down.
 
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Crowz said:
I don't think you could pay me to buy a kia after the tik tok vids showing people how to steal certain models.

The problem is the morons that watch the videos don't take to the time or simple can't figure out that it only works on certain models.

So they go and break into any kia thinking it will work. The "lucky" owners of the non steal-able ones don't get their car stolen they just get a broken window and damaged steering column.....

Not winning either way :)
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No need to break windows or bust the columns anymore on many models. Just pull the bumper cover loose by the wheel, grab the CAN BUS wires that go to the headlights, clip on your hacking tool, unlock the doors with it, start the engine and just get in and drive off. Less than 2 minutes.

This has now created the Auto Authority registration where you pay each year to have a scan tool registered, have to pay each month to keep the software updated (subscription based) and an internet connection is required the entire time the scan tool is connected. When accessing any comms, the scan tool will check the registration at Auto Authority and also ensure the software is up to date.

The OE manufacturer, scan tool companies and the government came up with this solution. I have a better idea, either quit running CAN wires to the headlamps or run the wires so access is difficult. Just another way to get into someone's pocket.

 
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