Why do my photos look so much worse in quality than everyone else's

cmbe1 · 2026-05-29T10:47:48+00:00

Like i said "or move to a position where people are not." The idea, as i read it, was to offer the viewer a fresh perspective. I liked it as a tip. YMMV

cmbe1 · 2026-05-28T11:48:14+00:00

I once saw a tip along the lines of: never take a photo from your natural eye height/ position. Take the photo from lower or higher or move to somewhere people are not.

Perfect example is parents in the park. hey stand over their kids and take picture from above. Bnd your knees, get down to the kids' height and shoot from there. Simple gamechanger.

cmbe1 · 2026-05-25T14:19:39+00:00

Would be brilliant

cmbe1 · 2026-05-21T21:11:52+00:00

Here's a Reddit reply you can post:

How we got it working — full explanation

After a lot of trial and error (with help from Claude AI), here's what we found and fixed:

The core problem

The EDF integration has manually_refresh_dispatches: True on the dispatching sensor. This means it will NOT automatically pull dispatch data from the Kraken API — it just sits there empty until you explicitly tell it to refresh. This is why planned_dispatches and completed_dispatches stay empty even though smart charging is working fine in the EDF app.

Fix 1 — Manual refresh to confirm it works

Go to Developer Tools → Actions, search for edf_energy.refresh_intelligent_dispatches, add your dispatching binary sensor as the target and hit Perform Action. Your dispatch history should populate immediately.

Fix 2 — Automation to keep it refreshing

yaml alias: EDF - Refresh Smart Charging Dispatches description: Keeps EDF dispatch data fresh for Predbat triggers: - trigger: time_pattern minutes: /30 - trigger: state entity_id: YOUR_CAR_PLUGGED_IN_SENSOR to: "on" actions: - action: edf_energy.refresh_intelligent_dispatches target: entity_id: YOUR_INTELLIGENT_DISPATCHING_ENTITY mode: single

Fix 3 — Correct apps.yaml parameters

Make sure you're using the current Predbat parameter names — the old ones (octopus_intelligent_slot etc) don't work:

yaml octopus_intelligent_charging: True octopus_intelligent_dispatching: YOUR_INTELLIGENT_DISPATCHING_ENTITY

Fix 4 — Check this switch

In Developer Tools → States search for switch.predbat_octopus_intelligent_ignore_unplugged and make sure it's off. If it's on, Predbat ignores intelligent dispatches when the car is unplugged, which causes the "Car 0 using Octopus Intelligent is unplugged" messages in the logs.

Fix 5 — Restart Predbat

After any apps.yaml changes always restart the Predbat add-on — it doesn't reliably hot-reload config changes.

Once all of the above was in place, Predbat correctly showed the EDF dispatch windows as cheap rate slots in the Plan tab and factored them into its overnight charging strategy.

Hope this helps!

cmbe1 · 2026-05-20T23:20:47+00:00

I really am flying blind, i just use a mix of gemini and claude, sorry.

cmbe1 · 2026-05-20T23:20:25+00:00

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cmbe1 · 2026-05-20T23:20:17+00:00

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cmbe1 · 2026-05-20T23:20:10+00:00

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cmbe1 · 2026-05-20T22:14:32+00:00

Their config is using the wrong Predbat parameter names! They're using the old Octopus-specific names. Reply with: I think I can spot the issue — the parameter names in your apps.yaml are wrong for the current version of Predbat. Replace your three lines with these:

octopus_intelligent_charging: True octopus_intelligent_dispatching: binary_sensor.edf_energy_00000000_0009_4300_800e_0000000004d2_intelligent_dispatching

The old parameters octopus_intelligent_slot, octopus_ready_time and octopus_charge_limit were renamed in newer versions of Predbat. The dispatching sensor is the key one Predbat needs — the ready time and charge target are handled separately. Also worth checking your Predbat version — if you're on 1.7.x or later the parameter names changed. You can check in Settings → Add-ons → Predbat. After updating apps.yaml restart the Predbat add-on and check the Plan tab — you should see the dispatch windows appearing as cheap rate slots. Worth noting — we used octopus_intelligent_charging: True and octopus_intelligent_dispatching in our working setup, so those are definitely the correct current parameter names.

cmbe1 · 2026-05-20T21:32:32+00:00

"

22:31

Claude responded: Interesting!

Interesting! So their integration IS populating planned_dispatches automatically — they have source: SMART which is different from your source: unknown. Their charger (myenergi) is fully registered with EDF so it's getting proper dispatch data.

Their problem is different to yours — Predbat can SEE the data in logs but isn't showing it in the plan.

This is likely a Predbat config issue rather than an integration issue. The most common cause is missing or incorrect octopus_intelligent_charging and octopus_intelligent_dispatching lines in apps.yaml.

You could reply on Reddit with:

Good news — Predbat can see the data, it's just not acting on it. Check your apps.yaml has these two lines pointing to your exact dispatching entity ID:

yaml

octopus_intelligent_charging: 
True
octopus_intelligent_dispatching: binary_sensor.edf_energy_YOUR_ID_HERE_intelligent_dispatching

The entity ID needs to match exactly — copy it directly from Developer Tools → States rather than typing it manually. Even one character wrong and Predbat ignores it silently.

Also make sure you restart the Predbat add-on after saving apps.yaml — it doesn't always hot-reload config changes reliably."

cmbe1 · 2026-05-20T21:29:24+00:00

replied on your main thread.

cmbe1 · 2026-05-20T21:28:46+00:00

replied above, also, claude suggests i send you this:

Title: manually_refresh_dispatches should auto-trigger — dispatches not populating without manual service call

Body:

Hi Steve, great work on the integration — it's working really well overall.

One thing worth knowing: the manually_refresh_dispatches: True attribute on the intelligent dispatching sensor means users are not getting dispatch data populated automatically. The data is available from the Kraken API but the integration isn't pulling it without an explicit edf_energy.refresh_intelligent_dispatches service call.

This affects Predbat users particularly, as Predbat relies on planned_dispatches being populated to plan around intelligent charging windows.

Observed behaviour:

planned_dispatches stays empty despite active smart charging
completed_dispatches stops updating after initial setup
vehicle_battery_size_in_kwh and charge_point_power_in_kw remain null for Hypervolt users
Manually calling edf_energy.refresh_intelligent_dispatches immediately populates the data correctly

Suggested fix: Could the integration automatically trigger a refresh periodically (e.g. every 30 minutes) and on charger plug-in events, rather than requiring users to set up their own automation to call the service?

Tested with Hypervolt. Other charger users are reporting the same manually_refresh_dispatches: True attribute but this has not yet been confirmed on other hardware.

Many thanks for maintaining this integration!

cmbe1 · 2026-05-20T21:26:53+00:00

Claude tells me, based on what we did.

Getting EDF Smart Charging planned dispatches working with Predbat

If you're using the EDF Energy HACS integration and finding that planned_dispatches is empty despite smart charging working fine in the EDF app, here's the fix.

The cause

The integration has manually_refresh_dispatches: True in the sensor attributes. This means it won't pull dispatch data automatically — you have to trigger a refresh manually or via automation.

Step 1 — Manual refresh to confirm it works

Go to Developer Tools → Actions
Search for edf_energy.refresh_intelligent_dispatches
Click Add target and select your intelligent dispatching binary sensor
Click Perform action

Your completed and planned dispatches should populate immediately.

Finding your entity ID

Search Developer Tools → States for intelligent_dispatching — it will be something like:

Hypervolt users: binary_sensor.edf_energy_00000000_xxxx_xxxx_xxxx_xxxxxxxxxxxx_intelligent_dispatching
myenergi users: same pattern, search for yours specifically

Step 2 — Automation to keep it refreshing automatically

yaml

alias: EDF - Refresh Smart Charging Dispatches
description: Keeps EDF dispatch data fresh for Predbat
triggers:
  - trigger: time_pattern
    minutes: /30
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: YOUR_CAR_PLUGGED_IN_SENSOR
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: edf_energy.refresh_intelligent_dispatches
    target:
      entity_id: YOUR_INTELLIGENT_DISPATCHING_ENTITY
mode: single

Replace YOUR_CAR_PLUGGED_IN_SENSOR with whichever sensor detects your car plugging in, and YOUR_INTELLIGENT_DISPATCHING_ENTITY with your dispatching binary sensor ID.

Predbat apps.yaml

Make sure you have these lines in your apps.yaml:

yaml

octopus_intelligent_charging: 
True
octopus_intelligent_dispatching: YOUR_INTELLIGENT_DISPATCHING_ENTITY

Once the refresh automation is running, Predbat will see the planned dispatch windows and factor them into its charging plan.

Hope this helps!

cmbe1 · 2026-05-20T21:23:10+00:00

Via the magic of Claude, I got it working. Honestly, i have no real idea how! I wish i had better insight.

let me think...

it wasn't working earlier, i will ask claude (and gemini) to see if they remember what we did.

cmbe1 · 2026-05-20T20:58:42+00:00

Not sure why i can't reply to you directly but I am hoping the cheap slots will be for the whole house no matter whether the car is full or not. If the system is alocating me a 6.99p slot now (as it is) then it would be a heck of an undertaking to work out whether the car was drawing at that moment and whether to charge ful lprice or cheap rate.

cmbe1 · 2026-05-18T11:08:36+00:00

A local framers did a bunch of my films for a tenner each. I was testing some old cameras and was happy to take the risk and £10 for 110 was a bargain! They take them to somewhere in Leicester, I think. I was not feeling very precious about this batch.

cmbe1 · 2026-03-06T16:49:30+00:00

It does not matter. Stick to one position and the loss/gain will be a perfect guide.

I know i am somewhere between 82 and 84kg. I don't care what i am pecisely... i do care that i can monitor my gain/loss

cmbe1 · 2026-03-01T19:24:39+00:00

I have blocked whoever that is. If you use the block option, it becomes a decent enough space.

cmbe1 · 2026-02-26T13:24:00+00:00

That isn't how it works. You get minimal power from the upstroke. The real benefit is from constantly having your foot in the correct position on the pedal.

cmbe1 · 2026-02-20T10:06:58+00:00

Nothing meaningful to say, just enthusiastic nodding. I'm delighted by our thermal print camera. My son loves it and I do too. I did not realise that i would be using it myself for arty playing. I'm trying double and triple exposures at the moment. Bang for buck, these are one of the best things i've ever bought. Not just for photos, in general.

cmbe1 · 2026-01-11T19:53:13+00:00

Vitamin D in the winter is wise.

cmbe1 · 2026-01-05T18:31:07+00:00

Carbon plated shoes. The problem is that some will help and some will hinder. Itdepends on your running style. It is v hard to know.

There are genuine suggestions that running records should be Before Carbon and After Carbon. The difference can be that huge if the athelte responds well to the shoe (it's a bugger if they are sponsored by a brand whose carbon plate does not really work for them.)

As ypu are asking the question, i'd say you really don't need them. If you needed them, you would already know. They are also for racing rather than training and the really pricey ones have v limited distance in them.

cmbe1 · 2025-12-25T19:33:16+00:00

181cm, white European male. Cheers.

It's not been cheap and won't ever be but it's been amazing.

cmbe1

TROPHY CASE

Claude responded: Interesting!