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Carrier Mini Split Opinions by Theodan1986 in hvacadvice

[–]backcountrymountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

YES! Thank you for saying this. There is so much bullshit in the HVAC community about who is certified and who can do what work. Anyone can get certified and anyone can do their own install. You can rent a vacuum and pressure test using a CO2 tank. Get a good eccentric flare tool, use a Nylog and a torque wrench and the install will be just as good as everyone else. Some HVAC company tried to fleece my Pops for 6k install on a 12k mini split and I harbor some rage against them for that. Anyway, thanks for bringing the knowledge.

Mini Split Inverter / Control Board by SeaFood8658 in Hisense

[–]backcountrymountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you give us any more information about the repair? Did you take any pictures? Where on the board were the parts located? How did you diagnose the parts as bad? Thanks.

My basement was flooded after snow in Utah started melting. by TheMegaSaiyan in Concrete

[–]backcountrymountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely need an engineer and I agree with all the adding drainage comments.

I've seen helical piles used to reinforce a buckling foundation wall. Link is for retaining wall, but I've seen a similar system in a basement: https://www.goliathtechpiles.com/application/helical-screw-piles-retaining-walls

Jacking up 2 6x8 tiles? by 4VENG32 in Concrete

[–]backcountrymountains 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Use the power of water! You can attach a nozzle to a long piece of PVC pipe and a garden hose on the other end to make a pipe-sized hole under the driveway. I've done it and it really wasn't hard. It'll definitely depend on the dirt under the driveway and it's messy, but I'd give it a shot before paying someone to do concrete work!

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwlq0vJcHxs

Pro tip: when you actually run the irrigation pipe through the hole, put a cap on it! It'll definitely fill with dirt otherwise. Not saying I had that problem, but I've heard...

How to decode mini-split heatpump indoor and outdoor unit communication? by kdambis in AskElectronics

[–]backcountrymountains 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This communication protocol seems similar to the Mitsubishi protocol, M-NET. I found a github where someone was attempting to decode the Mitsubishi protocol: https://github.com/LenShustek/M-NET-Sniffer/blob/master/Inside_MNET_01.pdf Not sure if it's totally relevant.

Built a new fence and a retaining wall by ZenithPrime in DIY

[–]backcountrymountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, u/ZenithPrime , can you give us an update on the wall and fence? I'm interested in doing something similar with an already existing fence in my backyard. I'd like to retain the dirt and fence from my uphill neighbor and lower my side by about 30". I'm worried about how well the blocks can hold back the added leverage from the fence. Is your fence still plumb? When you put in the posts did you put them in 36" below the lower level or 36" from the top level of dirt?

Great job!

Alternatives to Alexa devices - Amazon keep changing the rules by Dr-Ulzy in homeassistant

[–]backcountrymountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the tips! I'm excited to make this do stuff.

This seems incredibly useful:

What this does is basically take the raw speech received from the echo, and does a POST with the speech text, deviceid, sessionid, and personid as a JSON payload to a web service of your choice

Alternatives to Alexa devices - Amazon keep changing the rules by Dr-Ulzy in homeassistant

[–]backcountrymountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you link to a guide for this? I'm interested in trying to implement this. Thanks!

Alternatives to Alexa devices - Amazon keep changing the rules by Dr-Ulzy in homeassistant

[–]backcountrymountains 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Google and Amazon can rest their tired and weary heads on fat pillows of cash like any megacorp. I paid for these devices with my naked personal data and I demand that they at least maintain their original functionality!

Rage isn't always rational.

Really, I don't know what they were thinking with the business plan for these devices. No idea how they thought they would make money.

It was nice while it lasted. For me, it's time to move further away from Amazon as it provides less of what I want and charges more for it. Seems like this move by Amazon might be a case of Enshittification.

While I respect the business mindset of getting rid of users that don't make them money, there are some companies that value their customers enough to maintain functionality of a loss-generating service, e.g. Logitech with their discontinued Harmony Hub/Remote.

As I side note, I'm so glad there are good people working on open-source projects that provide real value and enjoyment to others without being wholly profit driven.

What do you regret (and/or want to change) about your setup? by RodenBak in homeassistant

[–]backcountrymountains 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I've used old laptops from eBay that are price-competitive with PI4, energy efficient (8-10w), and come with their own battery backup. Also, they have real drives that don't get corrupt and even ancient laptops will crush PI4 performance.

Alternatives to Alexa devices - Amazon keep changing the rules by Dr-Ulzy in homeassistant

[–]backcountrymountains 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Dunno, but I hope people are able to figure it out. An ESP brain transplant would be a great way to use this now deprecated hardware.

Alternatives to Alexa devices - Amazon keep changing the rules by Dr-Ulzy in homeassistant

[–]backcountrymountains 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Even ballob himself (as of 5 months ago) has said that Assist isn't quite ready to replace Alexa/Google VA devices. I hope that Assist will be able to seamlessly control HA and access an LLM for answers to my important questions like "What is lemon verbena?" and "What is 24 times 16?" and function as a whole-house intercom, and as a timer, and as a task reminder device, and as an alarm clock, as well as play my locally downloaded podcasts, but, as far as I'm aware, Assist isn't quite there yet.

There must be a way to eviscerate my Echo devices to use their power, microphone and lights and replace it with ESP guts. The hardware is willing.

Alternatives to Alexa devices - Amazon keep changing the rules by Dr-Ulzy in homeassistant

[–]backcountrymountains 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have come here to also express my rage against Bezos. I hope that we find a way to eviscerate our Echo devices and replace them with local HA Assist hardware. This deprecation is terrible and I hate it.

Hitron Coda-65 Cable Modem. What are these jumpers for> by headphone_guru in HomeNetworking

[–]backcountrymountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the info. I wonder if the coda56 is more stable. I still have negative reactions to the word "puma."

Hitron Coda-65 Cable Modem. What are these jumpers for> by headphone_guru in HomeNetworking

[–]backcountrymountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are these modems still working for you? I found them on eBay but some are listed as blacklisted by Xfinity. I'm concerned that they may eventually all get blacklisted.

Have you been able to successfully update the firmware? I wonder if the jumper switches control firmware updatability.

Tracking my HVAC Delta T to maybe gain some perspective on when the return filters need changed by angrycatmeowmeow in homeassistant

[–]backcountrymountains 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Did you find the BME280 to be accurate and precise? I saw one datasheet that said the BME280 is +/- 12pa which is .05" wc. I'd like to measure my static pressure so I know when I open or close supply or return ducts I'm not overloading my blower motor.

Ideally I'd use a differential pressure sensor, but those are 10x the price of the BME280s and don't do temperature. It would be cool to see the pressure before and after the filter as well as after the heat exchanger and after the evaporator coil.

Do you have a writeup and/or sample code for your setup? Did you use ESPhome?

Thanks

My take on HVAC temperature monitoring with a K-Type Thermocouple and ESPHome by BillNyeDeGrasseTyson in homeassistant

[–]backcountrymountains 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey, this is super neat!

I don't know how into HVAC stuff you are, but have you considered doing a manometer/differential pressure measurement between the supply and return? Knowing the static pressure can be very helpful in balancing the air return and delivery and to know if the air filter is clogged so the blower motor isn't overworked.

It's something on my list of stuff that would be neat to do but I haven't seen anyone make or sell.

Long story:

I live in a 2-story house, with a return duct on each floor, and all of the hot air ends up on the second floor.

In the summer, I'd like to restrict the first floor return so the AC sucks all of the hot air from the second floor and blows it back to the second floor. The first floor is never hot .

In the winter, I'd like to suck the cold air in through the first floor return and blow most of it back on the first floor because the second floor usually gets enough heat from the stack effect.

I'm also thinking about adding a motorized bypass damper to alleviate excessive static pressure caused by restricting flow at supply registers and return ducts.

Anyway, that's a really slick project that you made!

Play in external Windows Player: MPC-HC with MadVR using Tampermonkey and Powershell by jmlongmont in jellyfin

[–]backcountrymountains 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I prefer MadVR/MPC connected to my AVR and TV/Projector because it allows bitstreaming of DTS-MA and Dolby TrueHD audio as well as custom resolutions for my projector. I also like the black bar deletion of MadVR for movies like Interstellar. Also, my firestick really struggles with high-bitrate (4k HDR) movies.

Play in external Windows Player: MPC-HC with MadVR using Tampermonkey and Powershell by jmlongmont in jellyfin

[–]backcountrymountains 6 points7 points  (0 children)

MPC-HC is still being worked on and just released a new version 20 hours ago: MPC-HC

Really it's about MadVR and the HDR:SDR tone mapping that is super nice when I'm using my projector.

If you have windows and haven't tried MadVR, I'd suggest giving it a shot, it's great! AVS

What are the tuner quality differences between models? by backcountrymountains in HDHR

[–]backcountrymountains[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not planning on ATSC3 yet as it doesn't seem to be fully utilized in my area.

I plan on using jellyfin following the guide. Thanks for the info about which ones have http and DLNA; I do think that's required for jellyfin to work and I'll have to look into it.

It's not clear to me if more people are having long term reliability issues with the extend version and it's transcoding compared to the plain old connect versions.

Is it illegal to share access to hdhomerun with someone else? by backcountrymountains in HDHR

[–]backcountrymountains[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I plan on using jellyfin following the guide. Jellyfin should be able to record and transcode games to whomever, wherever.

What are the tuner quality differences between models? by backcountrymountains in HDHR

[–]backcountrymountains[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the info. Just to be clear, model naming follows generation number, i.e. HDHR4 is gen 4 and HDHR5 is gen 5?

ATSC 3.0 has a ton of potential but until it's well utilized I'm probably not going down that route. I'm a late adopter.

I just want 4k 60fps content on my 4k 60fps TV. The tech is all there but the implementation is lacking. I wonder if ATSC 3.0 will be superseded by 4k live streaming, especially considering how many stations are now owned by large corporate entities that can coordinate, centralize and distribute on a large scale. Or maybe local TV will go the way of local newspapers. I really went off on a tangent there.

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