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

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Archive for the ‘LifeHacker’ Category

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Slightly more difficult way: more expensive, superseded by the easy way.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

Everyone over the age of 40 has a drawer full of these somewhere. What to do with them…

Posted by jpluimers on 2015/12/21

On scanning film negatives and dias (slides): Everyone over the age of 40 has a drawer full of these somewhere What do you….

Since scanners get better over time, when do you scan them, and how long do you keep the originals?

–jeroen

Dia slides.

Dia slides.

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Index of /materials/haxpo2015ams

Posted by jpluimers on 2015/11/27

It feels like yesterday, but haxpo2015ams was already six months ago!

Session materials index:

Index of /materials/haxpo2015ams

[ICO] Name Last modified Size Description

[PARENTDIR] Parent Directory
[ ] D1 – Frank Breedijk – Help my Security Officer is Allergic to DevOps.pdf 2015-05-28 07:19 6.7M
[ ] D1 – Lisha Sterling – Hacking Humanitarian Project for Fun and Profit.pdf 2015-05-27 18:27 6.1M
[ ] D1 – Marc Newlin – ReDECTed.pdf 2015-05-27 16:56 1.7M
[ ] D1 – P. Mason, K. Flemming A. Gill – All Your Hostnames Are Belong to Us.pdf 2015-05-27 16:03 2.8M
[ ] D1 – Wouter van Rooij – Future Privacy.pdf 2015-05-27 16:16 715K
[ ] D2 – Bob Baxley – Privacy and Security in the Internet of Things.pdf 2015-05-28 17:00 7.1M
[ ] D2 – Edwin Sturrus – Data Security and Privacy in the Age of Cloud.pdf 2015-05-28 15:24 1.2M
[ ] D2 – Jessica Maes – Privacy in Digital Society.pdf 2015-05-28 12:18 4.1M
[ ] D2 – Jimmy Shah – BYOD is Now BYOT – Current Trends in Mobile APT.pdf 2015-05-28 15:55 3.6M
[ ] D3 – Jaya Baloo – Crypto is Dead Long Live Crypto.pdf 2015-05-29 17:17 4.4M
[ ] D3 – Jeroen van der Ham – Responsible Disclosure in The Netherlands.pdf 2015-05-29 16:37 1.7M
[ ] D3 – Oliver Matula and Christopher Scheuring – Evaluating the APT App Armor.pdf 2015-05-29 11:55 3.9M
[ ] D3 – R. Schaefer and J. Salazar – Pentesting in the Age of IPv6.pdf 2015-05-29 16:22 1.8M
[ ] D3 – Ruben van Vreeland – New Attack Vectors for Exploiting Web Platforms.pdf 2015-05-29 11:55 816K
[ ] HAXPO HIGHLIGHT – Andrew Tanenbaum – MINIX3.pdf 2015-05-28 15:19 9.2M
[ ] HAXPO HIGHLIGHT – Eleanor Saitta – Designing Security Outcomes.pdf 2015-05-29 15:15 1.4M
[ ] HAXPO HIGHLIGHT – Reuben Paul – The A-to-Z of CyberSecurity.pdf 2015-05-28 15:19 17M
[ ] HAXPO WELCOME – Richard Thieme – Too Much to Know.pdf 2015-05-27 13:37 6.3M

Apache/2.4.7 (Ubuntu) Server at haxpo.nl Port 80

–jeroen

Posted in *nix, *nix-tools, Encryption, Hashing, https, LifeHacker, OpenSSL, PKI, Power User, Public Key Cryptography, Security, Signing | Leave a Comment »

DIY: How To make a Grid-It Organiser – YouTube

Posted by jpluimers on 2015/11/27

Great: DIY: How To make a Grid-It Organiser – YouTube.

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

[NL] Voedingsmiddelen ontcijferd: blog over wat er in voedingsmiddelen zit

Posted by jpluimers on 2015/10/30

Voedingsmiddelen ontcijferd laat zien wat er in voedingsmiddelen zit, en classificeert zowel de componenten het totaal resultaat in drie groepen:

  • Veilig
  • Verdacht
  • Onveilig
  • Onbekend

Daarnaast voegt het soms een opmerking toe (zoals gemodificeerd).

De blog is vrij strict (bijvoorbeeld E251natriumnitraat – wordt als onveilig beschouwd), uit het oogpunt “beter voorkomen dan genezen”.

Gezien het grote aantal voedingsmiddelen dat al uitgezocht is kom je toch op een behoorlijke lijst met veilige middelen uit.

Een interessante blog als je meer over je voedsel wil weten.

–jeroen

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

LG Nexus 4 Screen Repair & Disassemble – YouTube

Posted by jpluimers on 2015/10/19

I needed to perform a LG Nexus 4 Screen Repair & Disassemble – YouTube.

Thanks FixEz.

Tools needed – see also the PDF Nexus 4 Disassembly Guide or Nexus 4 Motherboard Replacement – iFixit.:

Note that something SKU# 5-0721: 16-piece repair toolkit is a good start on this: it contains all but the blow dryer or heat gun.

–jeroen

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Google, LifeHacker, Nexus 4, Power User | Leave a Comment »