Category Archives: Electronics

Home Energy Management System Part 4: Characterising the Hypervolt Current Transformer

Posted on October 9, 2022 by davidcrocker

The Hypervolt EV Charge Point is a UK-manufactured 7kW single phase unit. It is one of the smartest looking EV chargers on the market. It has no controls on the unit and can only be controlled via a smartphone or similar via the cloud server. Continue reading →

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Home Energy Management System Part 3: Planning the hardware

Posted on October 9, 2022 by davidcrocker

In order to meet my objectives without running wires from one part of my house to another, I will need at least the following WiFi-connected units for control and monitoring. Continue reading →

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Home Energy Management System Part 2: Hacking the iBoost+ protocol

Posted on October 2, 2022 by davidcrocker

To monitor and control the iBoost+, one option would be to fake the sender current transformer input, and add a current transformer to measure the power being fed to the immersion heater. But if we can decode the RF protocols, it would be simpler to fake the sender RF transmission, and read the messages sent by the main unit to the Buddy. Continue reading →

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Home Energy Management System Part 1: Objectives

Posted on October 2, 2022 by davidcrocker

This series will record my adventures in building a home Energy Management System, to monitor and control solar PV generation, battery storage, EV charging, hot water heating, and grid import/export. Continue reading →

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Dangerous failures

Posted on December 21, 2019 by davidcrocker

Sometimes, equipment that is supposed to be designed with safety in mind turns out to be unsafe. Here’s an example I came across a few years ago: a mains-powered smoke alarm installed in a top-floor flat:

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Five things I never use in Arduino projects

Posted on October 16, 2011 by davidcrocker

I’ve been using Arduino for a few months now, and designing electronics and embedded systems for a lot longer. In reading the Arduino forum, I’ve seen a few areas that Arduino users often find difficulty with. It seems to me … Continue reading →

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Prototyping small embedded projects with Arduino

Posted on August 9, 2011 by davidcrocker

Recently I needed to design and build a small battery-operated device with 4 outputs sequenced at a variable rate. After playing with a 555 timer IC and some CMOS flip-flops, I realised that the modern way would be to use … Continue reading →

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