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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    Apr 26, 2026, 4:14 PM

    OK time for an update, so I've got an Ecoflow Delta Pro 3 in my basement, it is HUGE and HEAVY and obviously pictures and videos don't properly convey the mass and presence of this thing. I happened to be outside and saw the fedex guy coming and he was very very glad of that.

    It's 50kg of battery in a pretty small space, very dense and not very conducive to positioning your body in a way that makes 50kg easy, but if you have two guys then it's all fine and you can have the fore guy use other hand for opening doors etc. Once it's out of the box it's got wheels on the back and a loooooongly-extensible handle on the front that lets you get good leverage, but it's still a put-the-cats-upstairs kinda situation. Moving it around to mates during big-storm-aftermath will probably be a two-man job because although moving it is OK, lifting it into and out of a vehicle is gonna be a back-tweaker and this thing's all plastic on the outside, it can't take a drop of any distance at all under its own weight.

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    Apr 26, 2026, 4:17 PM

    Gonna have to have a ponder about the best way to protect this thing from dust 'cause I want it next to the rack with my projector/amp/computer/consoles etc in the workshop near to the table saw and it runs fans whenever the inverter is turned on. I mean hell I've been meaning to build a new media rack anyway

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 4, 2026, 3:49 PM

    ~~~ SOLAR UPDATE ~~~

    1. I don't enjoy drilling through brick. I also don't enjoy that there isn't, like, an Incredibly Standard Box That Literally Everybody Uses that goes on the outside of your house and takes standard MC4 solar connectors. Like, there's these things they call GLANDS that are supposed to go on RV's and some people put on their houses, or you can penetrate the wall with a standard L-shaped wire conduit guy, or you can just leave a window open and stuff a wire through it, but there isn't a Definitive MC4-outside-to-inside solution that everyone agrees on, so for the time being I'm using a gland. Which will work, but feels... inelegant. I don't like ambiguity, which leads me to:

    2. These panels use Tyco Solarlok connectors, which are obsolete and also wired up backwards to how you'd expect because of reasons. So to get these lads to go into normal MC4 connectors, I've gotta either cut off some original plugs and crimp new ones on (not a fan of that) or find some new Tyco connectors and use them to make up an adapter harness (not a fan of that either because electrically-speaking, more connectors = more troubles, but this seems the better option overall).

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 4, 2026, 3:52 PM

    MC4 connectors look like humongous chonk lads with like Incredibly Weatherproof gaskets and devices to grip the wire with monster-mouth-looking rubber flanges and torque specs and need-a-tool-to-disconnect features but that's all in the plastic, when you go to actually crimp a connector onto a wire the metal bit looks like a bog-standard round Molex and it's all very familiar-feeling. You don't need *special* crimpers, but you do need *big* crimpers.

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 4, 2026, 4:12 PM

    Little angel on my left shoulder telling me to find a source for these old obsolete connectors and make up adapter looms, little devil on my right shoulder saying CHOP THEM OFF JUST CHOP THE BASTARDS OFF WITH YOUR BIG CHOPPERS GET YOUR CHOPPERS ON THEM AND CHOP THEM OFF and the angel looks around the usual websites and thinks about the bridge connectors for parallel setups and goes yikes alright devil, jesus and the devil goes YAYYY CHOPPY CHOPPY

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 4, 2026, 4:41 PM

    I am glad that I figured out that these panels were from the "IDK LOL" era of connectors and polarity because honestly I thought there was something wrong with my brain

    Like "Alright this still doesn't make sense so let's map the whole thing out, so the female plastic has male metal and vice versa and people could be talking about the plastic or the metal when they say male or female, plugs marked positive containing sockets hook into sockets marked negative containing pins so there's potential for me to get confused there as well, hole flow is opposite to electron flow, what the hell do I have my leads backwards in my meter or something," no. Once I realised the panels were weird and needed to be corrected everything else made perfect sense.

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 4, 2026, 4:48 PM

    pokey PLASTIC. Pokey plastic on posi. Ignore the metal where the pokey metal is on negative, pokey plastic positive

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 5, 2026, 3:31 PM

    You've gotta agree to the TERMS before you can use the ecoflow app and so there's a link to read the terms and it just straight-up 404's

    There's a button with an icon that looks like it's supposed to show graphs and stuff, press it, black screen

    Ya this is going local-only haha

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 5, 2026, 3:35 PM

    It's like this with all the smart-home shit because, like, fundamentally, when you get right down to it, you can be good at making lightbulbs or good at making apps and you can't be both, so the app is a thing you use so that you can get the thing onto home assistant and that's the end of it. I've got two things in my house with an app that works, an Aranet CO2 monitor and an Emporia clamp-on current meter - the lightbulbs and this ecoflow battery and my water heater are all also supposed to have apps but they all either fail halfway or straight-up crash on tryna launch them. So we end up with home assistant, a trap for dads

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 5, 2026, 9:26 PM

    I got a watts readout on my phone and charts and graphs and shit and one nice thing about that is MAN AM I HYPERAWARE OF THE WEATHER NOW

    Like I'm not usually this aware of the weather when I'm not IN the weather y'know, I feel like A Part Of The World and that's kinda nice

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 7, 2026, 3:55 PM

    Still only two pane up, also they're literally just propped up against the house lol, but it's nice and sunny and there's a hundred watts of free power flowing right now and it feels pretty damn good

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 7, 2026, 4:03 PM

    I've had two panels up since Monday but it's been pissing down with rain since then, today's the first sunny day. Excited to see how much it peaks at later on

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 8, 2026, 1:48 PM

    2026: 🦝 Every time something scary happens in politics I put up another solar panel

    2027: 🦊 Dude why are you smiling so big, did you not just see the news today
    🦝 I took some of those little panels out of calculators and I put them on my FUCKING TEETH

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 8, 2026, 2:56 PM

    I'm like this with everything tbh. Whenever the world gets scary I gotta go nuts-and-bolts and do Repairman Things With My Hands which is why lately I've been most enjoying working on, like, bikes, 20-year-old ereaders, solar panels, all stuff that's either low-power or make-power

    I've talked about this before on here but when I was teaching the new pinball techs how to not be scared of complicated machines I told them the most complex intimidating system you've ever seen is made up out of smaller and simpler systems that are connected together, and those subsystems are made out of yet smaller and simpler subsubsystems, and you don't fix an arcade you fix machines, and you don't fix machines you fix coils and switches and connectors, we work on the things that systems are made of because that's what we can reach with our hands and understand with our heads, and if all the little bits work how we want them to then the big thing has no choice but to work how we want it to

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 8, 2026, 3:10 PM

    When you were a kid did you ever go to a science museum with a hand-crank generator and a buncha lightbulbs?

    So how this works is you'd spin the crank and it'd rotate pretty freely y'know, you could feel magnets kinda resisting you a little bit but you'd take your hand off the crank and it'd carry on a bit, it wasn't hard to turn. And then you'd flip the light switch on and turn the crank again but this time you'd be trying to light up a little bulb, and it'd fight you. The same crank would give you hot biceps and a sweaty forehead. Some of these machines had more bulbs in parallel with switches between them and you could build up speed and have your mate flip a switch and you'd FEEL it! Not, like, understand the principles, not be able to rattle off Ohm's law or whatever, you'd really FEEL it, you'd KNOW it in your body

    I think that was a good machine and we really need more of them. We need to feel the burn in our biceps so that we understand viscerally what electricity means, what power actually is, what really happens when we boil a kettle

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 8, 2026, 3:49 PM

    I got Numbers for yesterday btw, the first day when I had 2 panels up and it wasn't raining literally all day long, but I'm not posting them yet 'cause there's a clown with an old freezer and a watt meter who I'm waiting to hear from first

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  • AlexisLexYeen@plush.city
    May 4, 2026, 4:08 PM

    @ifixcoinops If y'want my opinion as a solar nerd with no real hands-on experience? It'll probably cost less over time to crimp new connectors on, as much as that makes me nervous too, 'cause it'll make future maintenance, troubleshooting, and repairs easier from the lower complexity and higher compatibility. If there's not enough of a tail on the panels for the new plugs, I'd say NASA-splicing more length of identical-grade or better wire to 'em to add slack is well within your capabilities.

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  • AlexisLexYeen@plush.city
    May 4, 2026, 4:13 PM

    @ifixcoinops Well then, congratulations on your future acquisition of a crimp tool and a bag full of far more connectors than you think you'll ever need. :blobyeengrin:

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  • AlexisLexYeen@plush.city
    May 4, 2026, 4:17 PM

    @ifixcoinops Hey, I figured it was a safe bet. Some connectors need their own crimp tools, it's impolite to ask for toolbox pics if you don't know a guy, and I'm out of the loop on modern solar connector specs. :blobyeengrin:

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 4, 2026, 4:21 PM

    @LexYeen I figured I'd need like a special crimp lad but, like, when people say "special crimpers" they mean "not the colour-coded automotive-style Dickhead Crimps that you'd use when bodging up a car stereo," like everyone already has in their toolbox, but just a standard set of like the same crimps you'd use for the big round high-current molex connectors in those massive square blocks coming off a pinball transformer. But the biggest hole in the set of three jaws, which I never get to use, so yay!

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  • Venya (he/him/dude) 🇺🇦venya@musicians.today
    May 4, 2026, 8:42 PM

    @ifixcoinops

    I have a Delta 2 (much smaller but still chonky) that we use for power outages but (more often) to run my laptop and amateur radio setup in the field (all day plus, if I want). I have been planning to get some solar panels for it to provide another charging solution. It wouldn't run our household or anything but it's a start. Have been following your journey with interest. Thanks!

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  • zimpenfishzimpenfish@social.rjp.is
    May 5, 2026, 7:03 PM
    @ifixcoinops This is why I've started moving everything to Zigbee which doesn't need apps (or you can use apps if you buy their stupid overpriced hubs but NO THANK YOU.)

    On the plus side, the apps don't suck. On the down side, half the devices won't expose their correct data to HA over ZHA and you have to faff around with Zigbee2MQTT and even then some of the devices are BONKERS (hello luminance sensors who only report 0lx or 3000lx.) On the other down side, there can be horrific lag between pressing a button and an automation completing which leads to people pressing the light switch twice and getting annoyed as it blinks on briefly.

    (But apparently you can write automations inside Zigbee2MQTT for ultra-low-latency happenings.)
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  • Mark Kruegermarkkrueg@treehouse.systems
    May 7, 2026, 4:48 PM

    @ifixcoinops Enjoying this thread a lot! I’m on a similar path…and going quite slowly. But eventually my workshop will have many free electrons flowing in. Hearing your journey inspires me to move forward more. Hope you keep us updated.

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 8, 2026, 3:16 PM

    @sinvega boiling a kettle is a whole class of schoolchildren grunting against a crank, I know this because I grew up in the North

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  • AlexisLexYeen@plush.city
    May 8, 2026, 3:17 PM

    @ifixcoinops That is highway fuckin' robbery for what's ultimately inside the cabinet. :blobyeensad:

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  • big ole spiderboxhumulus@mastodon.social
    May 8, 2026, 4:19 PM

    @ifixcoinops I was catching up with someone I knew from school and they said they got a job working at a museum.

    "Oh, doing what exactly?"

    "You know, making the big cranky sparky lightbulb machine and all the other kid stuff with arcade buttons and buzzers and all that. They let me build a laser bridge."

    So, at least some museums still know that you get these things by hiring a guy who makes them instead of ordering them from a catalog.

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  • smells of bikessmellsofbikes@mastodon.social
    May 8, 2026, 3:48 PM

    @ifixcoinops the local nuclear power plant had a version of this that had pedals and 12 100 watt light bulbs. You could get all the workout you ever wanted!

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  • theothertomtom@epsom.social
    May 8, 2026, 5:11 PM

    @ifixcoinops That's pretty much the vibe of Spintronics (clockwork/chains/gears simulating electrical circuits). It's pretty amazing to adjust the value of a resistor by touching it :)

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  • A Flock of Beaglesburnitdown@beige.party
    May 8, 2026, 5:29 PM

    @ifixcoinops the Canada Science Museum in Ottawa used to have tons of stuff like that. a whole room full of buttons to push, cranks to turn, levers and ropes to pull. it wasn't very well maintained and a lot of it was falling apart after about 20 years. they took out that whole room of stuff and replaced it with a walkway with info boards, stuff you can easily walk past and feel no sense of having a time well spent. there was still some interactive stuff deeper in the museum last time i was there, but it was also poorly maintained so barely working. it's really depressing to think about that decline. that was the whole reason to go there.

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  • Ell 🏳️‍⚧️c9a@cathode.church
    May 8, 2026, 7:50 PM

    @ifixcoinops I have a whole-ass degree in Electrical Engineering and even so I was floored when I accidentally set up one of these with the snap circuits kit when I was nannying a 6yo.

    They've got a lil handcrank unit you can snap in, and if you hook up a light bulb (even a teensy one!) and it gets harder to crank, just like the demos! Very cool, especially to stumble upon by accident!

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  • nflux back in exilenflux@gts.exile.social
    May 16, 2026, 12:48 PM

    @ifixcoinops oh wow this is dope. i had theorised about using this method (even down to switchable parallel lightbulbs) to apply varying load to my motorbike dyno but it was only theory. finding out that not only does this mechanism exist already, but that it works exactly as id hoped is super helpful 😎👌

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  • Fried Chickena_phlaming_phoenix@mastodon.social
    Jun 24, 2026, 12:15 PM

    @ifixcoinops I did this experiment with AI the other day and encourage others to, also. I installed LocalAI on my laptop, installed a coding model, and asked it to perform a relatively simple task (formatting some data into a markdown table with some minor time calculations). It took 10+ minutes of my laptop's 12 cores to get a response (which produced an HTML table, not a markdown one). My battery dropped from about half to about a quarter. My leg hair almost melted. I *felt* the cost of AI.

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  • ersatzmausersatzmaus@mastodon.social
    May 12, 2026, 11:05 AM

    @ifixcoinops That last bit is the lie we tell newbies so they don't realise before it's too late, right?

    "And now that we've fixed the last broken…"

    *KCHONK*

    "… huh. That's weird. Anyway, not a problem, we'll just…"

    *FWOOMPH*

    "… just… pop down to stores and fetch a long weight for me, would you? Cheers."

    *waits for intern to leave earshot and gets the bell, book, candle and stake from the toolbox*

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  • Zack Weinbergzwol@masto.hackers.town
    May 8, 2026, 4:08 PM

    @ifixcoinops i also just got solar panels and a battery hooked up to my house and i'm now mildly obsessed with trying to pin down what's drawing 200W all night long

    it's not the fridge, i can see the bumps in the graph where the fridge turns on and off

    but there's not a lot of other things it can be

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  • Ari "Two Elements" Jacksonarisummerland@beige.party
    May 8, 2026, 7:38 PM

    @ifixcoinops

    I started with an eco-flow and moved to something else bigger later. I blew out my River 2 when I needed to keep my fridge on it bc it kept tripping the gfi (which it should not have been on, but it took ages to get the electrician out to drop a dedicated line).

    I am enjoying this entire narrative, however! I always learn from you. I haven't had the guts to try to figure out if I can actually wire panels or my Jackery 3K into the house. I just keep things cycling and charged for bad weather season.

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  • C.cazabon@mindly.social
    May 4, 2026, 7:04 PM

    @ifixcoinops

    Are these connectors after the inverter? Or is it still dealing with low voltage at a whole lotta amps (when fully working)?

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  • Dan Fixes Coin-Opsifixcoinops@retro.social
    May 4, 2026, 7:17 PM

    @cazabon these are everything, from the panels to the gland sticking outta my house to an adaptor to make it xt60i into the solar generator, one of those all-in-one lads

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  • Mark Reidmdreid@mastodon.social
    May 8, 2026, 11:36 PM

    @ifixcoinops Can’t you ask a couple of the guys peddling to run your kettle to hop off and give you a hand?

    (Really enjoying reading these posts BTW – love that you were able to resurrect the old panels that were sitting out in the woods. Very “solarpunk”).

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