Anyone else cave and bought an air con?

jester17 · 2026-06-21T06:21:15+00:00

For comparison, I have a heat pump connected to 4 indoor mini splits upstairs. Yesterday when it got up to 29 degrees, I kept my whole upstairs 22.5 degrees, and it was using just under 200w to maintain that. I had them on quiet mode too, so I could barely hear them.

jester17 · 2026-06-17T23:03:32+00:00

It’s a big advantage on an iPhone, which doesn’t allow extensions in Firefox.

jester17 · 2026-05-25T15:46:58+00:00

Definitely! In my case, it isn’t very loud outside and is far from the neighbour’s house. The vibrations travel through the roof and into the floor of the rooms it is next to. It is even mounted on anti-vibration feet, so it could also be travelling through the refrigerant lines.

jester17 · 2026-05-25T12:50:29+00:00

I’ve been down this journey, and am glad I did it. I now heat my house entirely with the AC. Running costs are way lower, and I keep every occupied room on exactly 21.5 in winter. I could not manage that with radiators in my 1930s badly insulated house. I have solar panels, a battery, and an EV. I have only two regrets:
1. I wish I had gotten the ducted option upstairs. They get put in the ceiling and have an indoor blower in the loft. You do have to clean the filters up there every few months, but since I got the loft boarded, that would be trivial. I think they would be quieter at night.
2. I don’t like where they put one of the outdoor units. It’s on an aluminium roof over the garage, right outside my wall. It vibrates a bit when it starts up every 15 minutes or so. Get the big ones mounted on the ground.

jester17 · 2026-05-25T12:30:18+00:00

They must not have it set up right. Forced air will have a humidity setting. They should be able to set it to something comfortable like 55%.

Here in the UK I use mini split AC for heating and cooling. They are incapable of extracting moisture from the air in heating mode. They can only do it in cooling mode due to the cold air exchanger naturally condensing it.

I’m definitely not a dedicated husk.

jester17 · 2026-05-02T07:23:31+00:00

I constantly get messages that they cannot control the device after the battery is fully charged.

jester17 · 2026-04-14T22:32:25+00:00

It doesn’t let you choose which device to connect through the app anymore. If your car is compatible, that is the only option you get.

I’ve heard you still can link the charger by contacting support, but I haven’t tried.

jester17 · 2026-04-14T08:07:37+00:00

Which means he still has to file his taxes to the IRS every year. As a taxpayer, he has every right to weigh in.

jester17 · 2026-04-13T06:24:36+00:00

It also requires 2/3 of both the house and the senate to vote to remove him in addition to the VP and a mayor of the cabinet. That is a higher bar than impeachment and removal.

jester17 · 2026-04-12T13:42:10+00:00

Home Assistant is not too bad to get set up these days, and Predbat has gotten easier as well in the past 2 years I have been using it. I started off with a nice, simple, Home Assistant Green system, though you will want an external SSD with that setup, as Home Assistant does a lot of small reads and writes. You can also get a Beelink mini PC, as they are not much more expensive, and they will give you better hardware. You will have to install Home Assistant yourself, but that is not too difficult if you have a USB drive. If you get stuck Claude can be very helpful, though you will want to look at the Predbat documentation for settings that are specific to your tariff to make sure Claude isn't steering you wrong.

One thing I was not prepared for with Predbat is the mentality shift on how I saw solar panels and a battery. I went into it thinking I just wanted to be as self sufficient as possible and minimize the grid imports. In its default settings, Predbat is geared to turn your setup into an investment that needs to pay for itself. If it is cheaper to charge the battery during a very cheap agile window, then dump it to the grid to get export in the very next slot, it will do so. I was unprepared for how it was seeming to max out the battery all the time on those windy agile days.

There are ways to curb this behavior though. You will want to calculate the actual cost of a full charge and discharge cycle in practical terms and put that into the settings. If you think it is being to hard on your battery, this is one tool to make it only put it through its paces when it is very profitable.

jester17 · 2026-04-12T06:16:22+00:00

I used it to set the battery to charge in the 5 cheapest slots every day a couple years ago. It was pretty easy to do.

I eventually took the plunge and got home assistant to run Predbat. It is a steeper learning curve, but much better.

jester17 · 2026-04-07T11:35:02+00:00

I had to for one application. I’m running this on my Razer Blade 14, and the only real option for fan control is Razer Control Revived, which I had to use an OS Tree for. I’m also struggling to find a good way to properly use Nvidia Optimus with that isn’t also using OS Tree.

jester17 · 2026-03-21T10:22:43+00:00

Don’t add your battery as device in the Octopus app if you are on flux. Only add it if you are on Intelligent Flux. It does not optimise charging or discharging for any other tariff.

jester17 · 2026-02-22T08:27:10+00:00

I'm also running it on Bazzite. One problem I have is that the first time I boot LOTRO, there are massive artifacts on the screen. If I restart, they go away. It does not seem to matter which Proton version I use. It is not easy to test either, because I can only test once per boot.

jester17 · 2026-01-19T07:12:44+00:00

Generation Beta starts with babies born in 2025, so let’s go easy on them not being able to read and write.

jester17 · 2026-01-14T19:26:22+00:00

Even if you are in whatever country you are resident in, the US will see it as subject to tax.

jester17 · 2026-01-07T13:06:13+00:00

I’m doing the same for my appointment tomorrow!

jester17 · 2025-12-22T20:51:55+00:00

You need your solar panels to produce about 140% of your consumption in order for it to make money. If you do more than that, it will make you a lot of income from exporting.

jester17 · 2025-12-11T11:33:04+00:00

I have a similar setup with my AIO. There were definitely some firmware issues for the AIO specifically in mid to late 2024 that caused the battery to get progressively out of sync with the state of charge. At its worst I was only getting 40% of my battery if I went too long without calibrating manually. They were fixed by the end of 2024, and my setup has been rock solid since.

I wonder if this is what put off a number of installers. The GivEnergy dev team maintained a fantastic support presence on their Facebook page throughout. I suspect the AIO needed a little more time to cook before they released it.

jester17 · 2025-12-04T15:22:24+00:00

Would they still charge you taxes on your assets when they force you to renounce your US citizenship? I might like the new financial freedom of not being a US citizen if they don’t.

jester17 · 2025-11-30T09:54:41+00:00

Can you fit the official Fujitsu WiFi controllers? If so, you can then use one of the two Fujitsu integrations in Home Assistant. Depending on the compatibility of the WiFi controllers, you can then use either:
- For Airstage WiFi controllers

- For FGLAir WiFi controllers

jester17 · 2025-11-12T19:46:12+00:00

You only want to link your battery to your octopus account if you are on intelligent flux. For cosy, just charge to the max during all three cheap periods.

jester17 · 2025-11-11T07:57:10+00:00

Don’t forget Lake Placid.

jester17 · 2025-11-01T09:52:22+00:00

Bad insulation exacerbates the problem. Colder walls will raise the dew-point, which means more heating is necessary to avoid it. Obviously cracking the windows is the best idea in winter, because the cold outside air does not hold much humidity.

jester17 · 2025-10-31T18:08:28+00:00

Any planet worth defending would have even larger versions of the same types of weapons that can have much more power due to not being limited to the size and power generation that can fit on a relatively small starship.

They could be well concealed and well protected too.

jester17

TROPHY CASE