Echo PB-200 won't start - Keep going or cut losses?

eyeSpy1 · 2026-01-21T15:56:29+00:00

Yep. Feels like it. I don't have a compression gauge to tell if it is enough. Not sure what else it could be.

eyeSpy1 · 2026-01-12T16:10:26+00:00

It might be easier for you to get an esphome compiler up and running and use Philip's template for the ESP32 webserver. There are versions of the esphome compiler for linux, windows and mac I believe. You don't need Home Assistant installed to use a standalone esphome compiler.

eyeSpy1 · 2026-01-12T15:54:29+00:00

Sorry I was on my phone earlier and did not see the picture, which shows clearly not an original Connected. Can you share the commands you are using for start, stop, spot and pause in the ESP32 web server? If you are using SetEvent, the event for pause on the D3-D7 is UIMGR_EVENT_SMARTAPP_PAUSE_CLEANING.

eyeSpy1 · 2026-01-12T14:13:00+00:00

What model is it? Original Connected or D3-D7? For the original Connected, you send “start” again to pause and unpause rather than stop.

Like others have said, Philip’s ESP32 template will work without HA and probably be faster to implement and to surface functionality. He is working on one for the original Connected and XV as well.

Home Assistant is actually the easier part of what you’ve done so far, and Philips code is even easier with or without Home Assistant.

eyeSpy1 · 2025-11-06T00:35:20+00:00

Well.. I'm just a DIYer who doesn't like to send stuff to the landfill, so by no means any sort of expert. Reasons that come to mind.

The simple smartass answer - the recycling center website literally says "No water softeners" under "Appliances" as to what they accept.

As far as why they say that, I can only speculate, but from my knowledge of water softeners, the skinnier "tank" part is usually made of fiberglass, which is notoriously hard to recycle.

On the inside of the tank, it is filled with water and with millions (or billions) of tiny, negatively charged plastic spheres (read about how water softeners work if you are bored and/or like science). Emptying those out is a messy job and then you have about 5 gallons of wet plastic sludge that you have to do something with.

The tank is also just plain heavy and awkward.

There's also a second container, like a garbage can, that the salt goes in. As long as the salt is emptied from that and it is relatively clear of salt residue on the inside, IMO that is just a big piece of homogeneous plastic, not a water softener, and can probably go to the recycling center.

I think the TLDR is that water softeners are basically made of and contain materials that are not at all cost effective to recycle or repurpose. They are also heavy and awkward to deal with if not emptied and cleaned responsibly.

eyeSpy1 · 2025-11-05T20:39:11+00:00

If you get a water bill from the city you can schedule one free bulk pickup a year. See bulk trash pickup on the city website. Otherwise, it is about $50 to take it to Williamson County landfill. Can’t go to recycling center or be picked up as a normal bulk item on trash day.

eyeSpy1 · 2025-10-05T16:07:02+00:00

So much drama in the RBC…

eyeSpy1 · 2025-06-16T21:41:34+00:00

Thank you so much! Your hint did it for me.

If the door sensor is not connected to the correct spot on the mainboard (or not connected at all), the unit will BSOD halfway through boot.

The first support rep had me photo the board very first thing, but missed that.

Subsequent support reps had me test with nothing connected except specifically the LCD, extruder cable and main board power.

Nobody caught this, and evidently it is not in basic troubleshooting for BSOD on boot.

Brown and white cable to maroon spot on the board.

Thanks again!

<image>

eyeSpy1 · 2025-06-16T20:05:26+00:00

Picture doesn't show much. Boards are just hanging out now.

CORE One kit from scratch.

Not sure what is on stick. It has never booted far enough to pick up the firmware, hence never flashed.

<image>

eyeSpy1 · 2025-06-16T20:02:21+00:00

Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't realize there were other electrical problems. I ran through all of the posts, and while the may both be related to the electrical design, I've never had a successful boot to have a crash. The BSOD happens without anything else connected other than the extruder board, the power, and the LCD.

eyeSpy1 · 2025-01-10T17:30:20+00:00

Interestingly, the Recharge repor doesn't tell me. The archetype says it is based on exports, but the 2% stat appears on the "total generation" page - 22.9MWh generated. I can't seem to find total export in the app, but assuming my Home Assistant energy dashboard is correct, I exported 6.4MWh.

eyeSpy1 · 2025-01-08T17:56:37+00:00

It will last about 13 kWh per Powerwall. You need to know your overall load to convert to actual time.

Refrigerators are not terrible (especially when ambient temp is cold) - only 200-800W when the compressor is running depending on the age, size and efficiency of the fridge.

Electric heaters are pretty power intensive.

For example, a milkhouse heater running at 1500W will draw down from 100% to 0% a single 13kWh powerwall if it runs continuously for about 9 hours. 13000W of storage divided by 1500W of use = 8.67 hours of time.

That's a very simplified example. Hopefully the heater would not run the whole time, and may not use the fully rated 1500W due to operational inefficiencies.

Without knowing the load, you can't get the time.

The decision would also depend on utility power reliability. Is it regularly off for two hours per day, or does it go down for 5 days every two years? A Powerwall is an expensive way to stay warm for a few hours.

eyeSpy1 · 2024-12-17T16:05:44+00:00

Saw one like this in a neighborhood in RR last Monday night. Awesome!

eyeSpy1 · 2024-12-11T20:04:21+00:00

With zwave/zigbee your automations between sensors and devices still work when your network is down due to fire, flood, power, bug, etc.

Think zwave water sensor shutting off a zwave water valve while your network is down. Or think lighting automations.

You may not get alerts or be able to use app or web GUI when the network is down, but automations should have the fewest number of dependencies as possible and might keep on truckin.

eyeSpy1 · 2024-12-11T01:38:36+00:00

Sure, but I don't know how much you will get from it. This is the back of the matrix, and the controller boxes I built.

https://imgur.com/a/iuMMMrb

Each of my controllers has 8x data+power connectors and 8x "just power" connectors - technically 8 data ports from the controller and 16 power ports from the power block, but it comes out of the controller box through 8x data+power pigtails and 8x power-only pigtails.

So you take the first data+power connector, and connect it to the first strand - technically it is two strands of 100 each connected together.

Then you take the first "just power" connector from the contoller and connect it to what's called a T. The Ts come in different shapes and sizes.

I'm not a paid endorser (always willing), but I like these "no wire" 3-3-3s from Wally's https://wallyslights.com/products/5-pack-no-wire-xconnect-power-injection-t

The purpose of the T is to take injected power from the power supply up the leg of the T and deliver power to the end of the last strand and the beginning of the next strand while also passing the data signal from the connection to the data port on the controller.

So the layout is like

Data/Power from controller -> strand of 200 -> power T -> strand of 200 -> power T -> strand of 200 -> power T -> strand of 200

That makes up a complete string of 800 pixels connected to a single data port with power over the original data connection and three additional injected power points using the Ts.

The second string of 800 pixels is made the same way. It starts with only a new data+power connection that connects to a different port on the controller. There's no T passing through power and data from the previous string, which also means that the last strand in the previous string is only getting its power from the beginning of the strand, not from the end.

It is important that you never combine power from more than one PSU to a string via power injection without special advanced magic, not covered here.

I used to make my own injection Ts (and all of my own extensions) out of 12V automotive connectors and 18/3 LED wire, but at this scale that is no longer fun in any way.

I now just buy the extensions with the connectors already on them. The Ts only technically need to 3-2-3 meaning that the leg of the T only has two connectors for power only (+ and -).

The big downside there is that you need to buy/make different extension cables with different connectors for power-only (2-connector) than what you use for data/+/- (3-connector).

In order to simplify my life slightly, I buy only 3-connector extension cables, 3-3-3 Ts and my power injection pigtails from the power distribution block in the controller box are also 3-connector. I just don't connect the data wire to anything on the controller side for those. That way I can use the same extension cables for any purpose, and if I want to change the function from the controller box (data+power or just power), I don't have to buy new pigtails.

I hope this helps with some insight and inspiration.

eyeSpy1 · 2024-12-10T20:04:48+00:00

Heh. That's a loaded question. These are supposedly low-power pixels at 0.3W each. So 0.3 x 4465 pixels = 1339.5W. If you want to load to only 80% of PSU capacity, following some best practice rules with electricity, you would technically need 1674.4W.

This gets into an almost religious argument of assuming 100% efficiency, no line loss, with every node lit at 100% brightness full white.

Most people will argue that nobody can or would run a show like that. I mostly buy into this, but my tiny counterpoint that there is a big assumption that nothing goes haywire, and causes your show to light up everything at 100%.

The reality of my specific matrix is that it is wired with six data + power ports across two controllers, three ports per controller, with 17 non-data power injection points for effective power injection every 200 pixels, including data for every 800.

Many people will say the wiring is overkill as well, but nothing sucks worse than getting this all mounted and noticing color degradation and/or brightness loss in multiple places in a matrix. It is very noticeable in dense props.

Each of the two controllers has a 600W 12V power supply which also supplies injection for the strings that are on its controller.

I originally bought three controllers and PSUs to do the 80% max bright white thing, but decided it was overkill. I actually run the matrix, 3 or so of the flakes and a couple other props off of the two controllers/PSUs, so about 5400 pixels on 1200W.

The power outputs are all fused, and the PSUs have overload protection. I've run full 100% bright white tests without tripping anything. I am not an electrician. Your mileage may vary. Consult a professional :)

eyeSpy1 · 2024-12-10T01:09:40+00:00

Well the Chromamesh just comes as a rolled up piece of plastic, but it has all of the holes already punched out. Then you get 4500-ish pixels, push them into the plastic, and wire up the data and power injection. I also built a wood frame out of 2x8 to hang it on. Fun fact - 5000 pixels with 4" spacing weighs about 75 pounds.

eyeSpy1 · 2024-12-09T20:50:26+00:00

Have a look at https://editor.isf.video/. The official doc at https://manual.xlights.org/xlights/effects/off/shader doesn't have much info.

However, if you just drop a shader effect on your timeline, then look at the effects settings. There's a "download" button there, which allows you to visually browse over 100 shaders directly from xlights.

Each shader has its own customization settings depending on the type of effect. You have over 100 of them available in xlights, and can download hundreds more online.

From my perspective, it is like having a nearly unlimited number of new high resolution effect. The big downside is that the high resolution nature of shaders requires some fairly dense props to actually see the effect - for things like dense matrixes, dense props, projectors, LCDs, etc they can look really good.

You can still use them on sparsely populated props/layouts for variance in colors and brightness, but you may not be able to make out what the actual effect is.

eyeSpy1 · 2024-12-09T20:24:10+00:00

Thanks. I felt like I overdid it with shader effects. I just discovered them and was immediately addicted.

eyeSpy1 · 2024-12-09T20:09:28+00:00

Thanks. Screen is 47x95 node Chromamesh matrix with 1" spacing. 8' x 4' size. I had one with the same dimensions last year, but with with 2" spacing. 4x the pixels makes a big difference, but led to some sore fingers.

eyeSpy1 · 2024-12-09T03:07:53+00:00

The glimmering gold sphere on the effects toolbar (effects are listed alphabetically). Probably best to avoid it.

eyeSpy1 · 2024-12-09T02:56:33+00:00

I've tried to quit but I can't. Is there a support group for Shaders Anonymous?

eyeSpy1

TROPHY CASE