tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84683762073785702742024-03-17T19:59:46.083-07:00Creation FactoryWhere Ideas and Creation MeetCreation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-31891379351334904742022-01-23T15:31:00.011-08:002022-02-24T11:11:45.163-08:00Rooting the Creality Halot One resin 3D printerI have finally decided to enter the 3D printing bandwagon. Having room for more hardware have always been the main inhibiting factor for not having done it longer ago. But with a little tidying up of the available space the impossible eventually became a reality. At least that was my reasoning, and the selection of a small resin printer seemed like an interesting choice in that respect, at least Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-28778748067092522962021-12-26T10:34:00.008-08:002021-12-27T14:11:18.557-08:00Making a deafening piezo buzzer is harder than it seemsSince I was a kid, when dissecting toys, I would find these disc shaped components called piezo transducers or speakers, which were responsible for producing the beeps, melodies and what not, emitted by the toys.I would often play with these, and try to connect to DC supplies or audio outputs from other devices, but was always frustrated with the sound never being nearly as loud as that produced Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-87231565886061419682021-12-14T13:07:00.007-08:002022-01-03T13:15:33.590-08:00Reverse engineering the Laotie Ti30 scooter LCD display - part 3 - Encryption Broken! In the previous post I had the chance of discovering and documenting most of what there is to learn about the communication between the LCD unit and the master ESC (speed controller) that drives the e-Scooter rear motor.This is interesting information for anyone willing to build something that interfaces directly with these components. For example if the user wants to write an app Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-30388927018521325122021-12-11T14:56:00.007-08:002022-01-03T13:15:02.177-08:00Reverse engineering the Laotie Ti30 scooter LCD display - part 2Most e-Scooters and other Electric Vehicles have some form of Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) which is responsible for delivering a power signal that will spin motors at the desired speed. The most common type of motors today are of the BLDC type (Brushless DC motors), which are typically driven by a 3-phase current.For these BLDC motors, the ESC needs to be able to generate an
accurately Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-29086754091451321232021-12-05T08:13:00.014-08:002022-01-03T13:24:23.879-08:00Reverse engineering the Laotie Ti30 scooter LCD displayOne thing about these types of electric vehicles is that there is very limited care for normalisation, when it comes to allow different components to interoperate. Especially in respect to the digital communication between the parts of the system, one cannot expect any baseline currently.This is not by any means surprising, as manufacturers are by nature resistant to seek normalisation when thereCreation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-91957448975108561362021-12-03T12:08:00.003-08:002021-12-11T14:21:28.112-08:00Exercising the right to repair - DYI fixing a Volkswagen Polo 6C windscreen wiper stalk (no parts replaced)I just went on holidays and did a road trip. Because Murphy is always lurking, I was taken by surprise with runaway window wipers. No matter what position of the wiper stalk, these would run in intermittent mode all the time, as long as the ignition would be on.In order to minimize the wear on the motor and brushes everytime it would not be raining, all I could do was to remove the fuse that Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-46111152424091373532021-11-22T14:09:00.003-08:002021-11-23T01:50:29.088-08:00Making a poor man DC/DC converter for E-Scooters by modifying a 230 Volt wall adapterIn these days where the exhausting of natural resources is an ever increasing concern, and the release of non-recyclable waste (which includes many electronic products) is a problem with no general solution in sight, being able to re-purpose devices that would otherwise be thrown to the garbage, can only be at all levels a welcomed idea. If we add to that the fact that in the current state of Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-1764464513161410882021-11-21T11:54:00.007-08:002021-12-20T02:27:32.953-08:00My experience with a grown man Electric Scooter - the Chinese 5600 Watt Laotie Ti30 - Part 3The Laotie Ti30 (and other similar chinese scooters) comes with a basic alarm device that is capable of locking the scooter via a remote control. These alarm boxes are usually dirt cheap and can be bought separately for 5 € on Aliexpress or similar seller.It also features some kind of vibration sensor (judging by the clinking sound when shaking the alarm box, it appears to be mechanical) so that Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-24197651380493882382021-11-20T02:29:00.004-08:002021-12-20T02:27:15.852-08:00My experience with a grown man Electric Scooter - the Chinese 5600 Watt Laotie Ti30 - Part 2Moving along with the range of improvements that this scooter requires - of which some are practically essential, the parts I needed for doing a few more improvements have conveniently arrived.One of the things that have been identified by some as a weak point, are the boxes that are used for connecting the 3 phases coming from the ESC's, which provide power to the motors.While the boxes and Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-91707237564850063732021-11-18T01:58:00.006-08:002021-12-20T02:27:02.554-08:00My experience with a grown man Electric Scooter - the Chinese 5600 Watt Laotie Ti30 - Part 1For a couple of years I have been playing around with the popular Xiaomi M365 which I bought back then. In spite of a few nitpicks it is an okay scooter, and good value for money for those looking for a small vehicle that can cover moderate distances (about 20 km per charge) while still being carriable (it only weights about 12.5 Kg). It does have some known reliability issues, such as the Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-33325599108286874572021-08-29T15:41:00.009-07:002021-08-31T09:07:03.808-07:00Going after radiosondes with a Portapack H2 / HackRFFor those who know me, it is nothing new that among other things I am somewhat of a radio technologies enthusiast as well.In the current state of affairs, it is an even more interesting field, considering how much it can be done without a significant financial investment. Radio technologies have evolved tremendously in a short time span. Some of that evolution can be directly attributed to the Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-47447861075085364622021-03-29T08:34:00.008-07:002021-03-30T06:35:24.663-07:00Reverse engineering and "unlocking extras" in a Hantek 1832C LCR meter For some time I've felt the need to have a piece of equipment allowing me to measure inductance, impedance and a broader range of capacitance values. For the rest of the relevant types of measurements I've already had a digital multimeter and an oscilloscope, which have proven sufficient so far.The device in question is named LCR after the symbols that represent the quantities that is capable of Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-30002111585938096742021-03-19T12:52:00.008-07:002021-03-20T08:52:10.305-07:00Reverse engineering of an Aircraft TransponderSome time ago I obtained from eBay a transponder control head. You may start asking what is such thing, and what does it have to do with a blog where most frequently, home automation topics are discussed.Well, for starting, while home automation is the main focus, I always look forward to cover technology in a broader sense, and whenever possible find the links between different domains where Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-33005664617004356242021-01-17T16:07:00.011-08:002022-08-03T02:59:19.190-07:00Redundant Internet access for your mission critical Home Automation setupIntroductionWhen you decide to setup your own infrastructure in order to depend less on cloud providers, whether it be for saving money (depending on what you will be doing) or just for the sake of improving the technical knowledge, having more control, or both, you know you will be flying solo, at least to some extent. But regardless of whether you decide to build your own infrastructure orCreation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-83732329005249939662020-12-07T12:17:00.001-08:002020-12-07T13:12:00.082-08:00Turning a doorbell switch into a home security camera...and still retain its original functionToday there is an off-the-shelf solution for practically every average-Joe-grade idea one may have. There is always the chance that when one thinks of something that could have a practical purpose and cover a specific need, that there is already a product in the market that will do that function.Even though home automation may still be in its infancy, today we see a market practically flooded of Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-83294146400886384422020-12-05T13:05:00.003-08:002020-12-07T05:27:22.594-08:00Reducing the bill of materials of my Hardware Watchdog timerOne nuance of the first few iterations of any new design is that rarely comes optimized in every important aspect from scratch.It is very difficult to cover everything, when we are creating something new from the ground up. The creation process is by itself a very good sink of our cognitive energy and focus, leaving little room for a more pedantic mode of thought.But once we stabilize a design Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-22929100594227379482020-11-22T09:28:00.004-08:002020-11-22T14:26:29.865-08:00Continuing with the Kiosk projectIt is fairly interesting that just as with other "things" that I have equipped my house with, this Kiosk and other IoT gadgetry proved to be of relevance not just for my geek person, but for my family as well. For example my wife likes to keep track of the vacuum cleaner progress. Having its map and progress show up automatically when it starts cleaning, proved to be quite useful in this sense:Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-35629078563799526592020-10-25T16:22:00.003-07:002020-10-25T16:22:55.093-07:00Attempting to repair a Vorwerk TM31 Bimby / Thermomix At the beginning, when in my house we decided to purchase this kitchen food processor/blender almost 10 years ago, I considered it to be somewhat of an overpriced consumer asset in spite of the multiple features that it enclosed. Still I went with the hype and gave some credit to how much it could make life easier, in particular when it came to cooking meals and otherwise more complicated Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-83492978414245280442020-10-19T15:18:00.001-07:002020-10-19T15:22:01.817-07:00Configuring Home Assistant to run off of a USB drive in a incompatible Raspberry Pi A problem with the earlier generations of Raspberry Pi's, especially the Pi 1 and the Pi 2 up to version 1.1, is that these cannot be configured to boot from an external USB storage device.This is a particular relevant limitation for a number of reasons, including the fact that relying on an SD card for most of the storage needs is a solution that may have limited endurance.The later Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-82775404589360110222020-10-18T16:55:00.002-07:002020-10-19T11:57:20.704-07:00Improving an RPI 2 based Home Assistant server for reliability and performanceFor some time I have been using the same Raspberry Pi 2 v1.1 as the infrastructure for my Hass.io instance. It proved to perform quite reliably over the approximately 18 months I have been using it 24x7. From that time during approximately 1 year I used the same SanDisk Ultra XC I 64 GB MicroSD card:Just for precaution I have later switched to a similar card, a SanDisk Ultra HC I 32 GB, and movedCreation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-86965139115282872172020-06-20T15:36:00.002-07:002020-06-21T03:31:39.100-07:00Building a hardware watchdog timer for a kiosk or other system that needs to run 24x7 - version 2.0My previous post covered a first version of a watchdog timer that I used in the past for another project. You may check it here.As I mentioned there, I suspected that a somewhat different design would be necessary, because the target device could not have either GPIO pins available for allowing a keep-alive signal to be sent to the watchdog timer, or even if it had, it would be unlikely thatCreation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-69247059828326829982020-05-02T13:52:00.004-07:002020-05-02T15:49:31.048-07:00Building a hardware watchdog timer for a kiosk or other system that needs to run 24x7
It was proven by Alan Turing back in 1936 that the halting problem applies for computing in general, and our contemporary computing machines are no exception.
Would predicting the crashing of an algorithm or program be a possible function, and we would be able to know the edge cases that cause an application to fail or enter a loop, without having to explore the actual scenarios to find theseCreation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-15042138669629817862020-04-27T16:36:00.004-07:002020-04-28T01:36:45.069-07:00Building a kiosk for Home Assistant from scrap parts - Part 2
With a project of this type, the hardware preparation is just the tip of the iceberg. It was thoroughly explained in the last post, despite one last change still being pending. What lacks is basically the addition of a resistive touch panel to the front of the screen, in order not to depend on the mouse as a pointer/input device. The panel is still somewhere between China and my location..
Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-17972673061190100852020-04-04T11:20:00.002-07:002020-04-04T12:13:57.418-07:00Building a kiosk for Home Assistant from scrap parts
It is great to have automation in the house providing increments of comfort such as eliminating manual tasks like cleaning the floor, or to aid in managing the energy consumption by turning off lights and appliances which are not in use, or in the safety side, by providing intrusion detection or monitoring the presence of gas leaks or other hazards, and executing the adequate actions.
Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468376207378570274.post-60555789170395768652020-03-22T10:59:00.000-07:002020-03-22T11:15:59.258-07:00Tasmota-based multi-channel air quality sensor station
The sense of smell is an amazing function in vertebrate animals. Even the human nose, which is not particularly notable in comparison with other animals, is fascinating in its sensitivity to trace amounts of a large variety of substances. It has a level of selectivity and capability of distinguishing between different kinds of smells, which is very difficult to match by even the most Creation Factoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298955544861946750noreply@blogger.com2