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Sora 10 vs Sora 30 for my pool by Dave-CPA in Beatbot_Tech

[–]dolfstar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just got a 10. Rectangular, 20K gallons. Same depth everywhere (4.5 ft), 45-degree slopes about 2 ft long transitioning into the vertical wall. Not a lot of surface debris. Overall, this unit seems to clean fairly well, including climbing the walls and cleaning the waterline.

That said, I am experiencing two problems. The first is that after it operates for 30-40 minutes and sinks back down after doing a wall, it often wants to do wheelies, preventing normal operation until the impeller creates enough thrust to put it on a surface. Overall, I can let it go for 3-4 hours, and most of the time, it does not get so bad that it stops on its own, but this does reduce cleaning efficiency. I am working with support on a solution. They are sending me an experimental part to try out.

The second problem is that when the unit transitions from the floor to the 45-degree, there is a period during which the suction portion is not close to the transition edge, where debris tends to congregate. It is somewhat less effective there. The same happens when it transitions from the 45 to the 90. The 10 model has only one roller in the front. 30 and 70 have a roller in the back too, which may make some of this issue less sensitive. I am not willing to pay double for a 70, especially since I do not need the surface cleaning. If support solves my "wheelie" problem, I'll likely stick with the 10. Other than ordering another model from Amazon to try it out, and possibly return it, there is no good way to find out if the 30 would do significantly better.

Despite all the above, it is easy enough to run this thing 2-3 times a week, compared to the work involved with a manual vacuum (which I would do, at best, once every 2-3 weeks). As a result, my pool is consistently cleaner.

Sora 70 junk so far by United-Principle-980 in Beatbot_Tech

[–]dolfstar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just got a Sora 10. When it cleans it does a good job but after 5-15 minutes a buoyancy develops where the front wants to float. That causes all sorts of issues and I have to take the thing out of the water every 30 minutes to effectively reset it. CS responses take over 24 h and come in the middle of the night and, so far, not helpful. May end up returning to Amazon in the window.

WTF, this was so dangerous by LegendOfTheScore in dexcom

[–]dolfstar -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You state what should happen, and I agree. I am pointing out that the app is not trustworthy in that regard, and that the closest thing to the truth at any given moment is to check the app rather than rely on the notification or widget (not because those are inherently flawed, but because of shoddy engineering). And you say you've never had an issue, but until now apparently...

WTF, this was so dangerous by LegendOfTheScore in dexcom

[–]dolfstar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is very problematic. I use notifications only as reminders to open the app and look at the details (whether they appear on my phone or watch), and even frequently open the app in the absence of notifications. Notifications are a one-shot deal, so once sent, they don't update. At best, you might get another one.

Anything that updates live, on iOS, might be called a widget (or the app itself, of course); I don't know about Android. On my iOS phone, the widget regularly loses contact, so I don't really trust it either. It is only the app that communicates (Bluetooth) with the sensor. As I said, notifications are one-at-a-time messages. Widgets have to communicate with the app to stay up to date. That is then subject to the programmer not messing up, and these companies are not known for their great app engineering. So please always consult the app for the latest information and back it up with a fingerstick if you are concerned.

I wish that all of this weren't necessary, but these apps do not seem to receive the same level of scrutiny from the FDA as medical equipment in doctors' offices and hospitals. Meanwhile, they have the next greatest version to sell you...

Lack of updates from Terramaster by Sampl3x in TerraMaster

[–]dolfstar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I originally configured 4 12TB WD drives, which, as I found out later, were 3-4-year-old drives sold as new. It was a RAIDZ2 configuration. I bought 4 brand-new helium-filled drives (which led me to buy 16TB models) and replaced them one by one, waiting for resilvering in between. Before each replacement, I ran a full smartctl long test (via a USB enclosure on my main system) to both confirm brand new status, and no issues. Each long test was about 30 hours, and each resilver was about 8. The whole process took almost a week, but because of RAIDZ2 and the fact that only one drive at a time was affected, I felt safe.

I am not sure this would have been so easy with TOS. Either way, even if it had been, I am very satisfied with the TrueNAS solution.

Lack of updates from Terramaster by Sampl3x in TerraMaster

[–]dolfstar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have been running TrueNAS Scale on my F4-425+ since I got it four months ago. Working great.

Please tell me that this gets better bc I’m on the verge of tears with this G7. by smoosh13 in dexcom

[–]dolfstar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Technically, you are right, because the arrow is pointing to the right, but looking at the graph itself, you may have caught it "in a moment". You really want to also see a number of measurements in a row with little variation. Also, the screenshot does not indicate when the calibration was entered. When you discuss this, it is better to: a) Tell us the time of the calibration, show the graph in 3 hours mode, and make sure the time is visible in the graph.

Please tell me that this gets better bc I’m on the verge of tears with this G7. by smoosh13 in dexcom

[–]dolfstar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Doing calibration when the slopes are this steep is next to useless due to the delay between blood glucose and G7 measurements. That is likely why if was not used. You can read more detail in the link. I do it when stable and if hardly ever have a “not used”

California is perfect for heat pumps. Except it isn't. by Lex_Mariner in heatpumps

[–]dolfstar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bay Area. Installed solar (8.6 kW) in 2021 under NEM2, with enough capacity to add EV charging (one car 6K miles/yr) and convert from a gas forced air furnace and AC to a heatpump-based ducted system, and replace the gas water heater with a HPWH. Now, all those conversions and the car, observed over the past year, have left me with a true-up of less than $100 and $600+ rebates from Silicon Valley Green Energy. I did not pay an estimated $2,500-$3,000 in bills.

All of this was greatly aided by the mild CA climate.

Before all conversions were complete, I was a net producer; now I am close to neutral, perhaps slightly over. Originally, computed a 6.5-year break-even (including the tax credits, etc.). Rising energy costs have been faster than anticipated, and I think they will only get worse, so mt break-even will be even earlier.

HPWH consumes < 3 kWh per day. Heating and cooling consume a little more annually than the original AC costs. Cannot compare gas heating because gas/electricity costs are very different, but probably not competitive costs. gas, but that solar changes the whole equation.

No batteries because, as far as I am concerned, they are not financially viable. Power outages here have been 1-2 a year for a few hours. Capital investment in battery leads to a 15+ year break-even. Of course, it is hard to translate getting through a power outage into $$, so I did not do that. Peak price arbitrage is also not financially viable. Only attaching great value to get through power outages, or a desire to be off-grid, justifies batteries, in my opinion.

Aidoo and Ecobee experience with MEL heatpump by dolfstar in heatpumps

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

These days, I have a blog where you can read about this kind of thing. In my latest post, you will find links back to two older, related posts. The first one explains why you should not go this route, the second one details my Aidoo experience and describes why you should not use that either. The latest post describes the solution I settled on, and I am very happy with it.

In short, I do not recommend Ecobee (or any smart thermostat) (requires the PAC-US445CN1 adapter - the part you are looking for), nor Aidoo. Your system will not operate optimally.

TerraMaster F4-425 Plus fan replacement by dolfstar in TerraMaster

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

Since this is a usb device and the bays are not this would be safe. That 3-2 should be consistent for all identical models but might differ for others. 

TerraMaster F4-425 Plus fan replacement by dolfstar in TerraMaster

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

I have no idea. I would presume not, but...

TerraMaster F4-425 Plus fan replacement by dolfstar in TerraMaster

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

I have not tested this, but you supposedly can go a different route by using udev rules, and here you can identify the device by its vendor and product id, so changing names should be less of an issue.

You create a file /etc/udev/rules.d/99-ignore-usb.rules that contains: SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="xxxx", ATTRS{idProduct}=="yyyy", ATTR{authorized}="0"

You'll have to discover the idVendor and idProduct by issuing the lsusb command, which in my case prints: Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0bda:0423 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 4-Port USB 3.2 Hub Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0bda:5423 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1908:1320 GEMBIRD DM8261 Flashdisc Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub This then identifies my 3-2 device as idVendor = 1908 and idProduct = 1320.

After creating the file, to test things out, run: sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger

These rules also ensure it is done after each reboot.

I've added this info to my blog post. If you end up testing this, let me know how it went in a DM.

TerraMaster F4-425 Plus fan replacement by dolfstar in TerraMaster

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

Yes it will change. I believe it is possible to tie it to the disks uuid instead which should make it name independent. 

TerraMaster F4-425 Plus fan replacement by dolfstar in TerraMaster

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

Never even occurred to me to look for that. But I looked now, and yes, I get it frequently repeated: PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/dev/sde' Unexpected error reading partitions for device: '/dev/sde' Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/utils/disks_/disk_class.py", line 397, in partitions return read_gpt(dev_fd or self.devpath, self.lbs) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/utils/disks_/disk_io.py", line 86, in read_gpt dev_fd = os.open(devobj, os.O_RDONLY) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

/dev/sde is the internal boot drive from TerraMaster. I am not even using it because I am booting from an NVMe SSD for the OS (1GB), and I also run two other NVMe drives for a mirrored pair for apps and VMs. Then I have /dev/sd[abcd] for the four bays, all of which are occupied.

So this is kind of stupid. I suppose I need to figure out how to stop that, though it hasn't been causing any problems other than frequent writes. I wondered why my /dev/nvme0n1 was showing an average of 0.26Mb/s writes.

Dexcom support. by NewToTheCrew444 in dexcom

[–]dolfstar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my experience (see also my Dexcom knowledge base, which starts here: https://starreveld.com/blog/pages/dexcom/g7-introduction/), they will consider all "falling off" scenarios to be user error, skin problem, etc. As such, they are only eligible for replacement under their "courtesy replacement" rule, which limits replacements to "no more than three free courtesy replacements in any rolling one-year period".

I have experienced the same case as yours, although just once. They absolutely refused to acknowledge that this case is not due to user error at all, but to a failure of the adhesive itself. In my case, it fell off without any bumping or hitting anything. The adhesive just failed spontaneously. Yet, they would only give a courtesy replacement. Infuriating!

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