#Electronics

The RC2014 is a DIY Z80 based computer that talks to the outside world using serial comms. This means you need a serial interface to another computer in order to control it.

I replace the noisy fans in my hybrid solar inverter with quieter ones.

So I joined the Ryobi battery cult, but since their batteries are expensive I did the obvious thing and bought some off Amazon from random third party companies. The batteries seem to work well.

I use a Raspberry Pi Pico and turn it into a serial terminal for my RC2014.

Our energy prices are ridiculous and even taking into account recent “world events” I find it hard to understand why electricity is so expensive. So I figured I’d try to do something about it by installing my own battery and solar system on my shed. The idea being to power my servers from the sun.

Let’s make the Internet of Things a bit more useful, and less like The Internet of Turd by hacking some smart plugs so they no longer phone home to China.

This is an update to a [previous blog post]https://ncot.uk/blog-posts/freeing-smart-devices-with-tasmota/ I wrote about modifying [smart sockets]https://ncot.uk/blog-posts/hacking-smart-home-devices-literally/.

Picture the modern world, but without Windows, PCs or Apple. What would be on your desk?

I go eBay shopping and buy something that might be useful in future videos.

I think I’ve managed to make Home assistant tell me how much money the solar power I’m generating would be worth from the grid, and how much running things off solar/battery instead of the grid is saving me.

My workshed is mess, I can barely get into it and I have a bunch of projects that need starting. Let’s fix that…