No OBD for you!

Well, this certainly will be interesting, depending how it will play out.

http://www.smart2zero.com/news/german-car-industry-plans-close-obd-interface?news_id=93237

Short version, some car manufacturers are not happy that OBD2 is used for things that it isn't really designed for, like having real-time vehicle data - such as speed, RPM, turbo pressure and all the other parameters one might be interested of - shown to driver via third-party OBD adapters (like ELM327-bluetooth modules everyone loves) and third-party software (like any suitable software you can install on your phone).

So they plan to limit "free" OBD2 access to stand still only. You could still get error codes and everything via third party tools, but only when car is not moving.

All other data would go through authorized (cloud) server, and you might still be able to access it via third party tools. It just won't be really free data any more, and certainly not real time.

If this really gains traction, I know a lot of people that won't be happy about this. Me, I don't really care (I don't use these features of OBD2, although I have considered it), but I do think that this is a step in very wrong (more closed) direction either way.

So you got a heavy load of hazardous cargo...

Some time ago I had some interesting time playing around with a fun problem that needed solving. That is, solving it was fun to me, but quite critical for customer.

In this problem, this company needs to transfer a very heavy load (something in excess 100 metric tons) through a sloped serpentine road. As the cargo is somewhat hazardous (so not just some raw ore), they obviously do not want to put any excessive strain on it or its attachment during the transit, where it is loaded onto a transport vehicle. In essence, they wanted to measure the front-back and sideways loads (strain) the cargo were to be subjected to during the transit and especially during turns.

If this sounds a bit vague, sorry about it - although I am not under any NDA, I do not wish to tell exactly about the application as a courtesy to customer's privacy.

As it turns out, I already had suitable hardware for this - our slope meter. It can measure acceleration over multiple axis, so I just had to work out suitable formulae to calculate the load - which I did, after some pondering (over pen and paper - but it also helped that I had already previously worked with similar problems, just in more limited circumstances). I did some preliminary testing and found out that my solution would nicely and with very nice accuracy over all the transit vehicle axis.

What I love about my situation is that I can actually work towards problems that do not necessarily pay out. I can do forward research - sometimes failing by not finding solution, sometimes finding a solution for specific problem but not getting any sales for it here and then.

This time, unfortunately for me, they chose a solution from another company, so I never got to see my finished solution in action. A pity, as it would have been very interesting.

So this problem falls to latter category. I did some work, but it didn't pay out. Nevertheless, I still did solve the problem at hand, and I never throw things like this away - it is still there, waiting for suitable client that needs something similar.

It is really surprising how often some research I did one time without reward suddenly finds a new client or even clientele, in a place I never expected. This specific one remains unsold, but I still have the solution in my tool kit.

One day a customer will come that desperately needs it. And then I can deliver just what they need.

Just like so many things sitting in the same proverbial took kit. Eventually, most of the research I do will pay out. Not all, mind you, but since you never know what will turn out profitable in the end, you just have to go by a hunch sometimes and take problems that might seem less than profitable at first.

But then again, sometimes it happens that I make things that never sell enough to make up the initial (monetary) investment. Such is life. Fortunately those things are in minority overall.

Solar project: general ideas

Before I mentioned my solar panel project, in general. The general requirements were simple:

• Supply additional heating to reduce electricity cost
• No grid-tie

If I were to go to simple solution, I'd go for grid-tie system, as electric grid already reaches the cottage. That doesn't really make any sense, however, since energy cost of electricity is around 4c/kWh now, and transfer cost (which essentially pays maintenance the electric grid) is around 6c/kWh (for total of ~10c/kWh).  As the grid-tie systems typically go, you get the energy cost you deliver reimbursed, but either way, the transfer cost is billed from you. In essence I'd be paying 2c/kWh for any excess energy I generate! Talk about insane proposition! Granted, there might be some lowered transfer pricing involved somewhere too, but I'm not fan of the idea either way.

• No batteries

No batteries clause is of course quite simple. Batteries large enough to contain sensible amounts of energy are huge and expensive and require additional investment later on, in form of replacements and maintenance. That would be pointless, so no.

• Monitor the temperature and grid supply in cottage

This is pretty handy for one's peace of mind when you consider that winters can be damn cold around here (-30 centigrade and below), and water and pipes tend to make really ugly mess when they freeze (or, really, when they thaw again). So knowing that temperature inside keeps above zero even during coldest nights is very nice. This would be in form of daily reports, with possibility of emergency reports thrown in if there is a problem - temperature inside dropping quickly, grid power going out for extended periods or something like that. So internet - or more to the point, cell network connectivity - is needed.

• Control connected (solar powered) heaters
• Monitor voltage and current of solar panels.

Now we're getting to interesting parts. First item here kinda requires the latter. If system turns on 800w heater and voltage drops, it's pretty clear the panels don't supply enough energy for that, so it's better to turn that one off and try some of the lower-powered ones instead. Current measurement isn't required here, but it allows system to calculate rudimentary power production figures. Just because I am engineer and such information, in form of tangible numbers is nice, no other reason.

• Supply mains-compatible AC power if requested

This is kinda extra alternative output for heater system. DC-AC inverters exists, so why not wire one up to supply extra power when heaters aren't needed but other power is, like for lights, laptop, fridge and so on during summers.

• Control grid-powered heaters

This is kinda an extra. The cabin will be empty for extended periods, and one can never know how cold it will be in the mean time - -10 or -40. So ability to turn off heaters when they are not needed due to warm temperature outside will be nice energy-saving bonus feature.

And, of course

• Do everything above safely

Whatever happens, this systems must not electrocute anyone, burn the cottage, cause electrical faults or anything else nasty like that. Everything else above is fairly simple stuff (but then again, I've been thinking about this quite a lot already so I have pretty good idea what the system will look like already), really, this is the line where design requirements get somewhat tricky.

So that is, in nutshell, my ideas of this project. More about the actual design later on when I start moving the ideas from my head onto the paper. Or CAD, actually.

Project: Auxiliary solar heating

I've mentioned this before, but here up north solar isn't exactly greatest energy source, no matter how much environmental nuts try to push it. Summers do offer lots of sun, but winters, when the power need is at its peak, the production is pretty much zero. Days are short and sun is very low at the horizon, at northernmost part of the country sun doesn't rise at all! Good luck with solar panels under these conditions.

I've also mentioned that I have this summer cottage with running water and grid power, and keeping it warn (due to water supply) is somewhat expensive. I'd love to reduce that expense a bit.

So I came up with auxiliary heating /power supply idea with some solar panels, say 6 or 7 250-watt panels, bringing DC voltage up to 220v or so (with variations up and down, depending on load and supply).

So the basic idea was controller box where can can measure incoming voltage and control loads - that is, resistive heaters and auxiliary DC/AC inverter that is not connected to main grid (used for other power needs, like fridge, in summers).

Say, four to six channels, each with varying sized heaters (for example 800w, 200w, 100w, 50w), that are toggled separately on depending on voltage and current supplied by panels, and with a user input power can be supplied to DC/AC inverter.

During the darkest part of the winter the production will be next to nothing, but by the time the days start to get longer (or shorter, during the fall) there still will be plenty of sun to supplement normal heating and hopefully cut down the cost of grid power.

Whether this will really ever be economical is separate issue. Panels aren't too expensive, less than 1000€ total (taxes included), and the controller box isn't too expensive either - PCB and parts will be make around 100€ total. Heaters will be another few hundred euros. Most expensive part is the DC/AC inverter to run equipment that expects normal 220v AC grid power, but that won't be used for heating anyway so it's kind of a extra. And since there will be no batteries and no grid-tie, there really aren't any other major costs.

This of course completely excludes all the labor needed to actually design and build the system, but then again, this is a hobby project (at least right now) so that doesn't really count. Being hobby project doesn't mean that I don't take this seriously though - there are large current at high voltages involved, so I am taking the safety of the design very seriously indeed.

Let's see what I can cook up here...

Politics: This may turn ugly

News of the date. Truck drove in the crowd in Stockholm. This, being our neighbor country, is the main headlines now here (some six hours after the fact). Nevermind that there is almost nothing but guesses and speculation going around, no real facts. So I'm not really interested, not yet. Tell me some facts, news men!

What is more real is that USofA just earlier spent several millions of dollars by bombing Syrian air base (news just speaks of cruise missiles without specifying the type, and I'm taking (probably way too low) estimation of some $500'000 each, times 50 or so). The company that provided these missiles must be lovin' it.

What happened just before this is that there was chemical weapons involved, with many civilians exposed, many seriously wounded or dead. Now, I have no idea whose chemical weapons those were but I find it to be unlikely that rebels of Syria suddenly managed to manufacture large amount of chemical weapons. Not impossible, mind you, just very unlikely.

Was it government then? In that case Bashar al-Assad either got very, very cocky, or just stupid. Attacking population center with chemical weapons? Even if it were just rebels they hurt ir would be really, really stupid move, as he was bound to know that such move would draw some really unwanted attention.

Be it either way, it happened, and the president (with very, very small p there) of US deemed it fit to retaliate by bombing Syrian army base. Where there very likely were Russian troops. They did warn Russians first (AFAIK), which was kinda nice, but nevertheless, this was bound to raise some serious issues between these two major powers.

What did happen was that Russians chose to drop out of their agreement with US to inform each other of what they were doing. At the moment I heard of this, I went 'uh oh, this won't be good'.

I would not be surprised if Russians were to attack some US troops now. Purely by mistake of course, they just happened to be where rebels were as well. Maybe few times over, before they re-neg their previous tell-then-kill agreement.

Or possibly it will turn out worse. Both of these major powers will benefit if Europe suffers, so what if they turn this conflict into a proxy war? Russian supporting government (ie. al-Assad), US supporting rebels. No direct contact between nations (I'd guess they'd try to avoid that as much as possible, otherwise they'd run a risk of turning this into real WWIII), but that would mean even more refugees and unrest within Europe, potentially being of benefit to both of them. And then there is the possibility of situation turning turning into "whoever controls the region controls the oil".

I just hope I am being paranoid. Because these scenarios sure aren't fun.

I killed the drill

Wife asked for seemingly simple thing; a board where she could place small mason jars so they wouldn't move during the use when training the dog (course is called 'nose work' I think.)  I didn't really have much to do right now, so I got to it immediately. First checking what would be needed - as it turns out that I'd need pretty much everything, as we were fresh out of suitable pieces of wood, not to mention hole cutting drill bits and everything. Except the drill.

After a brief visit to local hardware store (and grimacing of the cost of seemingly simple hole-cutting drill bit) I got back home and got to work. I noticed pretty much immediately that my cheap 550w Skil drill isn't happy about this job - guess hole drilling is a bit too much for it. Not to mention six holes that were needed.

I never got the sixth hole made - the drill died. I was hoping to get the sixth done with it, despite it's smoking calls for rest (or help), but alas, it wasn't to be. Dang.

This drill was not my first, going against my self-imposed tool-buying guidelines, but then again, I bought this drill before these rules (or guidelines) were really set in my mind. Although I kinda think the first drill doesn't count - it was extremely shoddy 20€ thing that promised a lot in its specifications - and actually broke the very first time I pressed the trigger. I got it almost as an afterthough from some store. Too bad I lost the receipt, I would've returned the damn thing otherwise for refund...

So now I got a half-finished dog training ... thingamajic and no drill. Guess I need to get a new one pretty soon - this time a quality brand one.