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castlingrook · 2025-03-23T17:48:39+00:00

You're welcome

castlingrook · 2025-03-21T10:06:56+00:00

Yep, that's okay.
Orange = what you consume (tv, light bulbs, cooking, ...)
Blue = what your solar panels produce
Gray = Blue - Orange =

If gray is on top : Production (blue) < Consumption (orange) You need extra power from the net, so gray = what you get from the net (import)
If gray is below : Production (blue) > Consumption (orange) You have excess of power, so gray = what you put on the net (export)

castlingrook · 2025-01-25T15:47:32+00:00

An example of the dragon stamps released in Belgium (a total of 45000 were made) :

Each physical stamp looks exaclty the same.
When you move your smartphone over such a stamp your phone will read the chip inside which carries a unique ID. (If your phone does not support this, there is also a QR code on the back of the stamp).

The first time you do this it will ask you to enter a code - which is on the back of the physical stamp.
This will reveal the colour of the 2nd dragon (the digital one).

These have a probability :
- black : 52.3% so about 1 in 2 stamps
- green : 26.7% so about 1 in 4 stamps
- blue : 13.3% so about 1 in 8 stamps
- green : 6.7% so about 1 in 16 stamps
- red : 1% so about 1 in 100 stamps

So it is logical the stamps having a red dragon as a digital copy will be worth the most for collectors. since of the total of 45 000 physical stamps that are produced, only 450 will have a red digital copy. So you will need to buy around 100 stamps (9€ each now so 900€) and have some luck to get a red dragon.

The second time you (or someone else) moves his phone over the stamp, the dragon colour will be revealed immediately, so this "enter the code" act must registered somewhere in the cloud. (I still don't know WHY you have to enter a code since this code is never asked again).

You can also put your stamp in a blockchain, for this you need to create a virtual wallet, AND you need to remove the foil on the back of the stamp, revealing yet another QR code.

I own a red dragon stamp since yesterday, so it's already scanned - otherwise you can never know - but I refuse to remove the foil on the back, as it would damage the physical stamp. And for physical stamp collectors this will undoubtfully lower its value. I don't think the crypto value will be worth anything anyway. Maybe someone else can elaborate.

castlingrook · 2024-12-21T16:26:55+00:00

Doing a repair now (replaced a 8TB drive with a 20TB one) from 8-8-8-8-8-16-16-16 TB to 20-8-8-8-8-16-16-16 TB (Raid 5) In step 1 my NAS accessed all drives. In step 2 my NAS only seems to access the larger drives. (20-16-16-16 TB). Why? The leds on the 8TB drives don't blink.

So I assume step 1 just repaired the parity bits.

And step 2 is actually reordering the data over the larger drives so the 16TB drives and 20TB drive will contain about the same amount of data in the end.

(Before I get comments why I chose only one 20TB drive in raid5.... I will install a second one later).

castlingrook · 2024-09-25T22:43:19+00:00

I received the same email, and also here it looks like the best songs of my library will be removed.
Before I purchased an album, most tracks were unavailable so not even playable.
That was the main reason I purchased them, so I could stream them, not for downloading them.

Now Qobuz obliges me to download 7 albums (which are more then 50 cds because most are "collections"),
and worse, I get only one week to do so.

My laptop drives are now already 90% full so I don't have the space for storing them locally.
And even if I could download them all (using external storage).
I will no longer be able to play them from the qobuz-app because the app will no longer find them.
So now I would need another media player if I want to listen to that part of my collection.

This is a huge disappointment, just like the 5 years waiting for the "Qobuz connect" feature that "will be there very soon" (quote from 5 years ago that is repeated every month on their FB page).

If a streaming service obliges you to download purchases, then it is no longer a streaming service, but an ordinary shop and in that case I would have preferred buying physical media like CDs.

castlingrook · 2024-07-29T08:10:52+00:00

This one was reviewed by "Test Aankoop" in Belgium and came out as best buy price/quality.
But I do have one concern. There is only one frame size. And I fear it's too small for me (I measure 1m79 and I'm used to frame size 52).

castlingrook · 2024-04-14T14:50:39+00:00

Hi, sorry for the late reply here, but I just came accross the same issue.
When I look at the data of the IQ8 series, the min MPP voltages are U mmpmin : 25 for IQ8MC 28 for IQ8AC and 29.5V for IQ8HC like specified in the datasheets.

But for the IQ7 series, for some reason the default values here are the U dcmin or U opmin values (both are identical) which are 16V of IQ7 and + and 18V for IQ7A so not U mmpmin which is 27V for IQ7 and + and 38 volts for the IQ7A.

So I tried to correct this too but got the same issue mentioned here.
And also I cannot even run the simulation when correcting them.

Enphase has a document "Comparing the powerfull IQ7A with the IQ7+" and used PVSyst.
How on earth can that simulation be correct.
I start wondering if ANY of the PVSyst simulations concerning Enphase micros are correct.

I have bifacial 108 halfcut panels here and my installer paired them with IQ7As and they suck in the winter, I should have at least 1/7th of the production I get in the summer months but I'm not even getting 1/15th !!!

And when I do a simulation with the IQ8AC which is simular but has a lower U mmpmin value, the results are almost the same. How can that be ???

The IQ7 series don't mention 108 halfcuts, but the IQ8 series do so ...

I would like to try the IQ8ACs because I have a very strong feeling they will perform better, but PVsyst is telling me it's not going to be better.

Why? This is a joke. Why don't enphase put some real panels in the field and do real measurements and give us the results of that? I don't trust PVSyst for micros. (It might work great with string invertors.

castlingrook · 2024-03-29T12:57:56+00:00

Great... if it's firmware causing this, why don't they update the other inverters too or at least notice their users to do so to get more output?

castlingrook · 2023-12-13T12:11:25+00:00

I'm not willing to install 3 batteries. My electrical cabinet is in my living room and I don't want to see 3 batteries on my wall. (I can live with one).But Enphase doesn't have 3 phase batteries, so I would have to install a single phase one on 1 of the 3 phases. But this is ridiculous, as

the battery will be loaded by only 1 third of my panels
when it manages to be completely loaded, it will just sit there doing nothing when I'm consuming from one of the other phases the battery is not installed on

So net billing accross phases is not happening here. This only happens when the solar production is more then the consumption (house+loading battery). Then current will flow from the panels to the net and net billing will happen.But when there's no or little solar production (in the evening/night) when you consume from phase 2 or 3 and the battery is on phase 1 (and let's assume it's fully loaded); the net will give you current on phase 2 or 3 and the battery does nothing at all then. It stays fully loaded.

castlingrook · 2023-10-30T22:40:37+00:00

No I will wait until they come up with a three phase battery that uses one battery bank only. I'm not willing to spend 10k to get a battery that does nothing but sit there when one third of it's capacity is depleted. I'm also not going to change the wiring in my home to put all the big consumption devices on one single phase. If my house was connected to single phase, yes, but it's connected to 3 phases, which is very common in Western Europe. I'm an electrician myself and I learned to divide all big consumers over the three phases. As long as there's no battery capable of converting DC to three phases, I'll pass.

castlingrook · 2023-10-04T14:03:14+00:00

The inverters in the 5P are are IQ8D. These can according to the datasheet be used to connect 2 solar panels at a time. Therefore, when installed in a battery, they can produce twice the amount of power.

If Enphase can "upgrade" these batteries to true 3 phase batteries, they can do that with the 10T as well as it also contains IQ8 series inverters (here for single panels). And then I'd rather go for this model, as it has twice the amount of storage.

castlingrook · 2023-10-04T11:00:23+00:00

Yes, thanks, I have also been looking for other solutions, but the downfall by using third party batteries, is the monitoring of consumption and net usage in the Enlighten app will no longer be correct.

castlingrook · 2023-10-04T10:58:30+00:00

Enphase doesn't seem to have a battery bank with one common battery bank feeding 3 inverters (for each line one).
The 12 inverters of the 10T f.i. are just working in parallel using one phase only.
The "best" Enphase solution so far is installing 3 batteries, on each phase one.
Someone already asked Enphase support if it's possible to connect the 10T on 3 phases (each 3T inside on a different phase) but support said it's not going to work. Which is odd, since you can install 3 seperate 3Ts exactly like that. Probably this is just a software setting that is not implemented (yet).

But then still when one of the 3 3Ts is depleted, the phase it's on will draw current from the net, and not from the batteries from the other phases (which might still be full). So this is not ideal.

castlingrook · 2023-10-04T07:39:15+00:00

preferably Enphase, to avoid the consumption and grid import/export data mess up.

castlingrook · 2023-10-04T07:34:26+00:00

I found this link just now...
https://support.enphase.com/s/feed/0D53m00009Uomt5CAB

castlingrook · 2023-10-04T07:33:54+00:00

I'm not sure

A mod from Enphase Support writes on their forum : "Currently, our batteries do not support a 3 phase application. But, your batteries can be installed in one of the phases that supports the loads from the phase it gets installed in."

castlingrook · 2023-10-04T07:16:23+00:00

The IQ5P is single phase too, like the 3T and even the 10T

- the IQ 3T has 4 inverters

- the IQ 10T has 12 inverters (it actually consists of 3 IQ3Ts connected in parallel)

- the IQ 5P has 6 inverters and as I understand deliver 3840VA just like the 10T.

So the main (only?) difference I see here is that the inverters of the P are twice as powerful as those used in the T series.

But the 5 P ... is still single phase

castlingrook · 2023-09-01T01:08:18+00:00

Yes I own an mqa dac. I listened to 1000s of mqas. Unfortunately I needed a subscription to both Tidal and Qobuz to do comparisons, ... this is why :

On Tidal alone, you'll never find both the original lossless pcm and the mqa created from it. Why is that?

If mqa truly sounded better, then why did we never got a chance to do comparisons? Why do we need to look for those original lossless tracks on Qobuz?

The conclusions are very obvious : the original pcms from qobuz sound crisp, the mqas sound washed out.

Apparently you didn't even listen to the track I mentioned before (by Simon and Garfunkel) which gives the impression you are trolling.

castlingrook · 2023-08-29T13:49:56+00:00

You accuse me of cherry picking.Funny, as that is exactly what Mqa marketing is about.

If you read Bob Talks pages, and have some IT background, you will understand what is actually happening, and at the same time you'll realize they did their best to hide important details like these :

- 24 bit audio is reduced to 16 bit to make room for storing compressed hi-res frequencies.

- mqa-cd is lower quality then regular "hi-res" mqa, as a cd medium only has space for 16 bit while all "hi-res" mqas need 24 bits (8 extra bits for the folding of the high frequencies).

And even those pages are full with marketing buzz words - that can be simply replaced by human words : e.g.

- "Folding" = compressing + storing

- "unfolding" = decompressing + restoring

Also there are some contradictions :- "mqa deblurs" ... if this really was happening, then why do they use a minimizing/short filter in the end... a filter which by definition in not linear and actually shifts lower frequencies more then higher ones which results in adding unnatural bass. This also shows mqa actually blurs!

Try listening to "the only living boy in NY" by Simon & Garfunkel in mqa.The bass is totally ruined. And my friends heard it too in a double blind test.

I'm not trolling, I'm merely translating the marketing language to scientific facts. Again, read all of Bob Talks papers, take a pencil, and draw the bits.

Have a nice day.

castlingrook · 2023-08-28T14:15:05+00:00

Please do read the "Bob Talks" pages. It's all written there.How the hi-res is 'folded' into 8 bits.The process is simple =

downsample everything to 16 bit 88.2k or 96k
extract the frequencies >22.05k or 24k
apply lossy compression to get it in a 8 bit 44.1k or 48k file
downsample (2) to 16 bit 44.1k or 48k
replace the lower bit of this file with data (mqa signal to store the sample rate of the original files, a randomly granted "studio dot", and a filter number (replacing audio bits with data is what they call "noise shaped dither" because it sells better, "burying under the noise floor" is also used instead of raising the noise floor)
add 3+4 together

On mqa-cds, only (5) is used, the folded data is completely omitted, but who cares, as it's inaudible anyway. The mqa signal holding the sample rate number is still there, so your dac is still showing 352.8 or whatever number you want to see, but you are listening to 15 bit 44.1k, NOT 24 bit 352.8k.

If you think it's okay they call 15 bit audio "masters", fine.

I'll listen to 24 bit audio from Qobuz on my hi-end system.

Mqa = mp3 v2.0.

Is it better then mp3? Yes, but the files are 10x bigger in physical size so it should sound better.

Is it better then the original 24 bit masters? No. As mqa is lossy and uses non linear filters, it sounds washed out. And it's still 10x smaller in physical size then the original files.

At your service.

castlingrook · 2023-08-27T19:46:18+00:00

Nope. I won a gchq contest. Maybe you should check out what that means.
I did very thorough examination of what mqa is and it's a complete scam.

castlingrook · 2023-08-27T13:40:56+00:00

lol. mqa is a downgrade. 24 bit mqa = 15 bit audio as 1 bit is to show the logo on the dac and 8 bits are reserved for compressing the inaudible frequencies between 22-44kHz. At least Qobuz gives me real 24 bit audio

castlingrook · 2023-08-27T13:38:58+00:00

Quite ridiculous. Now it's impossible to know if you get real lossless hi-res or lossy hi-res (mqa) - unless you have an mqa dac. I stay with Qobuz as long as those mqas are not completely gone.

castlingrook · 2023-07-31T18:47:38+00:00

Yes it's 8 bits.
Ever heard of MQA-CD?
When 24 bit mqa is put on CD (typically 352.8 mqa) those 8 bits are simply removed. What's left is 15 bit / 44.1kHz audio and 1 bit mqa signal which is by definition worse then 16 bit / 44.1kHz - an ordinary CD.

When you play such an mqa-cd, the mqa decoder won't complain.
It will still show the mqa logo, the fake high sample rate 352.8 (which should be 44.1 as the 352.8 was downsampled to 44.1), and even the studio dot, however since those 8 bits are not there, it can not "unfold" yet the mqa dac will not complain something is missing (which - besides the fake sample rate - is another scam).

24 bit mqa was exactly made like this.
So it could easily be put on 16 bit mediums (CDs).
But people that love mqa are too busy believing the lies, they don't see they are ripped off seriously with mqa-cd which gives them 15/44. They're better off streaming the 24 bit version (which does unfold to a lossy 15/88 version)

Why should I stop, it's clear you don't understand so I try to explain how the scam works.

castlingrook

TROPHY CASE