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Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for the ‘LifeHacker’ Category

Free Online Picture Resizer – Crop and Resize photos, images, or pictures online for FREE!

Posted by jpluimers on 2016/03/14

Resize, shrink, and crop your pictures online for free at [WayBackPicResize.com. Resize photos before posting them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, or blog!

Source: [WayBackFree Online Picture Resizer – Crop and Resize photos, images, or pictures online for FREE!

–jeroen

PS: note there is no  TLS available, so https://picresize.com/ fails. I have notified them about that.

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Cutting the Chai: How to Download Images from Issuu

Posted by jpluimers on 2016/03/07

Hopefully this keeps working: Cutting the Chai: How to Download Images from Issuu.

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

my ScanSnap ix500 has a box too…

Posted by jpluimers on 2016/03/04

So my ScanSnap ix500 has a box too (actually a Leitz Rotho Profiline 10 Schübe drawer). The ix500 scans double sided and takes like 2 seconds per sheet. Works through WiFi (or USB) on both PC and Mac.

This is the process:

  1. I scan and roughly sort the document by destination in a drawer.
  2. A Windows VM creates OCR PDF and puts them into the cloud.
  3. It gets synced to my Macs, where spotlight indexes them by content.
  4. Once a month I split off the parts for my bookkeeper, file important non bookkeeping stuff and shred the rest.
  5. I name files on a selective base (as spotlight is very good at finding the rest).

This is why I like it over scanning with your mobile phone any time:

My ix500 setup just works.

Now I need to optimise the S510 scanned files. Maybe linux – optimize PDF files (with Ghostscript or other) – Stack Overflow (from the same thread) works.

–jeroen

via: Hey everyone, we are currently preparing the next release.

Posted in Fujitsu ScanSnap, ix500, LifeHacker, Power User, Scanners, SpotLight | Leave a Comment »

Reloop RMX-40 USB – when your Mac doesn’t recognise it.

Posted by jpluimers on 2016/02/29

Reloop has posted the below for DJ controlers (like Contour IE, Jockey 3 ME and Digital Jockey 2 ME), but it also applies to their mixers, for instance my Reloop RMX-40 USB – Reloop (but not limited to Reloop audio equipment) in combination with either of my:

  • MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2011)
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)

All these machines have USB 3.0 ports. But the workarounds below work:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Apple, LifeHacker, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Parts for #Alulux and Benny 4.0 garage doors

Posted by jpluimers on 2016/02/19

Because of Repair of  #Alulux  AKS 2.0 (201237):

  • [WayBack] BENNY 4.0 (201250): Torsteuerung Benny 4.0; 230V, max Motorleistung 600 VA. Inklusive Anschlusskabel mit Schukostecker und Kabelverschraubungen, mit Totmannfreigabe über Schlüsselfunktion
  • HS2-M/868 (204052): Mini-Handsender; 868,5 MHz. 2-Befehl, für 868 MHz-Steuerungen (Benny 4.0), Detolux, Vertico
  • LSB/M (201467): Einweg-Lichtschranke; 2-Drahttechnik mit 10 m Kabel. Für Steuerung Benny 4.0, Detolux, Vertico. Als Durchfahrtsicherung.
  • EKL 2.0 (201230): Elektromechanisches Kontaktprofil, EKL, Widerstand 8,2 KOhm
  • AKS 2.0 (201237): Anschlußteile für elektromechanisches Kontaktprofil EKL, für Steuerungen mit Auswertung 8,2 KOhm (Benny 4.0, Logico 2.0), kabelgebunden
    • ANE 1: Anschlußstopfen
    • AB 82: Abschlußstopfen
    • KEM 206: Klemmkasten
    • KE: Spiralkabel
  • EKL/W: Bauteile für kabellose Wireless-Schießkantensicherung, in Anwendung mit dem elektromechanischen Kontaktprofil EKL, für Steuerungen mit Auswertung 8,2 KOhm (Benny 4.0)

All of the parts can be found in [locally archived: Planer_Garagentore.pdf] http://www.fricksonnenschutz.de/uploads/media/Planer_Garagentore.pdf

[WayBack] Benny 4.0 Anleitung

Alternatives via “Funk, Zubehör und Steuerungen für Rollltore: Handender, Empfangsteile und Steuerungen für Rollltore

Images below.

In 2019, I found a related repair at these links:

–jeroen

via:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Hooking up a Sunny Boy 2500TL to the net

Posted by jpluimers on 2016/01/22

Out of the box, the BlueTooth equipped Sunny Boy models (the non network connected ones) can be monitored from your PC using the SUNNY EXPLORER software. But that has quite a few drawbacks:

  • The software is Windows-only.
  • It is not network connected.
  • The Sunny Boy aggregates historical data, so after a short while you loose the details it aggregated from.

There are scripts and apps that to download data via Sunny Explorer or directly over bluetooth and even export it to PVOutput.org a site that collects and publishes PV statistics. They even have a nice region donut about world wide performance.

Some ways to do this:

Note: PV BeanCounter understands the Currentcost EnviR power meter, and the Currentcost Optismart works with Landis+Gyr ZME120ACd (and many other power meters too). Which means I can use PV Beancounter to watch my power consumption as well.

Cloud based Sunny Portal

There are two ways to connect to the cloud based SMA Sunny Portal. There are is an Android app and an iOS app connecting to the portal

Easy way:

  1. Get a SMA Speedwire network interface Webconnect module (Europe: model SWDM-10, USA: model SWDM-US-10)
  2. Connect to the Sunny Portal.
  3. Register your Sunny Boy using the PIC and RID identifiers on your network interface module.

The cool thing: all Sunny Boy equipment produced from October 2014 up come with Webconnect; too bad by SB 2500TL ST-21 was just a few months too old. If you live in the USA, the even younger and one model bigger models 3000TL and up have now have Secure Power Supply.

Slightly more difficult way: more expensive, superseded by the easy way.

  1. Get an RS-485 interface (for Europe: model DM-485CB-10, for USA: model DM-485CB-US-10).
  2. Get an SMA WebBox module (for Europe: model SWebBox-BA, for USA: model SWebBox-BA-US).
  3. Connect the SMA WebBox to the Sunny Portal using the Sunny WebBox Assistant (now called SMA Connection Assist).

Note: WebBox should be able to do ModBus too.

Do it all yourself without the cloud

Then there is the do it yourself way that gives you more insight (not just multi-string aggregates).

It’s also the hard way using the built-in BlueTooth and a stack of software to do it yourself.

There are a couple of choices to get started software wise:

I got most of the above from Best way to monitor SMA SunnyBoy inverters? – Solar Panels – Solar Panels Forum.

For instance you can use SBFSpot for connecting to PVOutput.org on PV generated power:

PVOutput.org – share, compare and monitor live solar photovoltaic output data

Source: PVOutput

PVOutput.org supports WebBox out of the box, but for WebConnect you will have to do a bit more work.

SMASpot Monitoring in Domoticz – Domoticz explains how to use SBFSpot with Domoticz.com

Domoticz is a lightweight Home Automation System

Source: Domoticz

–jeroen

Sunny Boy 2500TL that's just 4 months tool old to include WebConnect Sunny Boy 2500TL that’s just 4 months tool old to include WebConnect

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User, Solar Power | 1 Comment »

TomTom RDS-TMC Antennas FAQ

Posted by jpluimers on 2016/01/08

Too bad my TomTom XXL IQ 540SWE won’t work with a model 4V00.014 RDS/TMC FM antenna (which sits in-between the USB charger cable and the TomTom)

That would have been a really nice way to get rid of some of the cabling in the car.

Model 4UUC.001.01 does work (but has a 12V plug).

These models should work:

3. The USB version :

More recent version, but slower than the jack version. Note also that there are 2 versions available depending on your location :
– 4V00.014 or 9V00.101 which is the Europe-Australia version working on FM band.

4. The combined car charger with traffic receiver :

– 9UUC.002.00 (part number on box is 9UUC.002.00 and part number on item is 4UUC.001.01) which is the part number sold in Europe-Australia.
– 9UUC.052.02 which is the part number sold in North America.

7. Alternate solution, non TomTom : The GNS Traffic box.

I might resort to cutting open the 4UUC.001.01 model and get rid of the 12V plug.

See this video:

Inside the TomTom RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver

Here is information about how you can modify your TomTom RDS-TMC traffic receiver for a hardwired installation. Use this information at your own risk. Have fun.

–jeroen

Source: TomTom RDS-TMC Antennas FAQ

Posted in LifeHacker, Navigation, Power User, TomTom | Leave a Comment »

Any ideas for a good text to direct anonymous and blocked numbers too?

Posted by jpluimers on 2015/12/31

Any ideas for a good text to direct anonymous and blocked numbers too?

I’m thinking along these lines:

You are calling with a blocked, or anonymous number. We get too many of those, mostly from marketing or sales persons. Call back with your real number and you might get to talk to a real person.

–jeroen

via:

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User | 1 Comment »

HowTo: Configure Low Battery Duration and PCNS to Shut Down with an APC SmartUPS

Posted by jpluimers on 2015/12/27

Great post: HowTo: Configure Low Battery Duration and PCNS to Shut Down with an APC SmartUPS

It explains how to configure automatic shutdown of machines upon UPS battery low events.

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

De @SVB_PGB foutmelding mag kennelijk ook niet langer dan 60 karakters zijn… #neuland

Posted by jpluimers on 2015/12/21

Briljante foutmelding: “snaam, inclusief extensie, mag maximaal 60 tekens lang zijn.”

Ja: precies de laatste 60 karakters van de foutmelding.

De SVB heeft iets met 60.

Iets als “20141119 – Martijn – Zorgkantoor – AWBZ beoordeling zorgbeschrijvingen zorgovereenkomsten – SVB trekkingsrecht.pdf” mag dus niet als bestandsnaam. Een duidelijke foutmelding ook niet. Dat zou te makkelijk zijn.

Het is op een andere manier slecht dan de foutmelding “Er is een algemene fout opgetreden. Probeert u het later nog eens.”. En dat je later weer dezelfde foutmelding krijgt zodat je on-line geen PGB declaraties van urenbriefjes kunt indienen:

Beste @SVB_PGB: de online declaratie PGB WMO HH gaat fout bij het klikken van “Bewerken”: het maakt niet uit welke maand en week. 1/2

De melding @SVB_PGB is “Er is een algemene fout opgetreden. Probeert u het later nog eens.”. Helaas geen verder log of details. Wat nu? 2/2

En daarom ben ik gistervavond een paar uur bezig geweest met opnieuw proberen en daarna PDFjes van de declaraties te maken. Die ik nu weer mag renamen omdat de bestandsnamen te lang zijn.

Zucht.

–jeroen

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in About, LifeHacker, PDF, Personal, Power User | Leave a Comment »