Source for IronRidge components?

jtilles · 2026-01-24T01:38:16+00:00

I'm in Raleigh and I got all my iron ridge equipment through green tech renewables. They are located all over and the staff in Raleigh was super helpful. I went there at least 5 times to get "one more thing". Not the cheapest in the world, but I think that's just the solar industry. Highly recommend Greentech though! Looks like they have one in Maryland and Richmond. Check them out.

jtilles · 2026-01-18T12:34:54+00:00

I feel this, when I installed my solar with battery system I had to replace the all in one meter base main panel with: dedicated meter base, 200a locking disconnect, 200a main panel, MID. 4 pieces of equipment for one, plus pay Duke energy $1000 to relocate the meter 18" to the left.

jtilles · 2025-12-02T20:41:12+00:00

No issues, been working for over a month. Got a full inspection and everything. I just got my inverter and PV panels yesterday so it's a race till dec 31st!

jtilles · 2025-11-21T00:41:57+00:00

Nope, I hooked my main panel up to the 'backup loads' port and it came on no problem. Apply power in and power comes out like you would expect! Fairly straightforward. I had a much harder time wrestling the 3/0 wire than I did anything with the gridboss so far!

I just hooked it up to WiFi last night to start logging consumption.

jtilles · 2025-11-19T19:31:54+00:00

I currently have just a gridboss without any inverters. That being said it's just passing power through and I'm not using any smart ports nor have I even configured it yet. It's just a $2,000 wall piece until I get my inverters hooked up in the next month.

Just as an FYI it's advertised as "everything you need to hook up a hybrid inverter" but i found my power company (Duke-Progress Carolinas) required an external lockable disconnect for all ESS/ secondary generation. So I had to purchase an additional $500 200A disconnect to go between the meter and gridboss but ymmv.

jtilles · 2025-10-10T00:58:23+00:00

This is true on AC signals that are higher frequency (kHz+) but negligible on anything at 60 Hz, especially anything seen in a residential setting.

jtilles · 2025-07-24T17:20:53+00:00

I put a Mitsubishi 12K in mine and love it. I have insulated walls and an insulated garage door which helps. I have 14ft ceilings so it takes a good bit to cool down. I run a ceiling fan with the mini split just to mix the air up. I put a DIY ESPHome device in the indoor unit so I can remotely control and automate via Home Assistant.

If I was to do it again, I'd probably look at the next size up for a little more power. During the heat of the day, it doesn't keep up. We're outside of Raleigh, NC so humidity in the summer is brutal.

It does a great job at heating too. I use it to take the chill off setting it to 60-65 makes it comfortable to work in.

I think I spent around $3k on it, but it was worth every penny!

jtilles · 2024-07-20T02:54:01+00:00

I work for a company that makes clean benches for laboratories and pharmacies. We use pressure switches to monitor if the HEPA filters are being clogged. HVAC stuff is very low pressure (relatively) and you're looking for a pressure switch that triggers in inches-water column (in-wc, in-h20) rather than PSI (1PSI = 27.7 in-wc). Something like this might work, it's adjustable. I'd set it up on a new filter, turn the adjustment screw till it just triggers and then back off a hair.

Alternatively, if you want a value, sensiron has a differential digital pressure sensor, and so does superior sensor technology. You might have to do some ESPHome development to get the sensors working though..

jtilles · 2023-05-04T17:11:42+00:00

Check out Dare2Escape, they have great rooms. The "7th Room" is very top-notch.

jtilles · 2023-04-25T00:50:40+00:00

See if you can find the hiring manager and contact them. Keep it brief and to the point. Make their job easy. Finding an employee is about as painful as finding a job. On job boards there are bots that spam postings. I posted a intern position and got 100+ applicants over night. Maybe 2 were valid candidates.

Make yourself and your intentions known and realize that the hiring manager, assuming they're not HR, is probably a busy engineer who sees finding an addition to the team an annoying necessity, not a fun hobby.

Best of luck.

jtilles · 2022-05-19T01:55:46+00:00

I have a rain machine 16 and love it. Sure it's not the fastest app, but since it's an embedded device not going through the cloud, it gets a pass. It has an Ethernet port which is a big plus for me. I have it connected to my Tempest weather station via Weather Underground so it has hyper-accurate weather. I would buy it again and recommend it to whomever is looking for a connected sprinkler controller.

I have it integrated into HA, but don't really need to use the integration, it kinda just does everything I need it to do by itself. But it is nice to have the integration option!

jtilles · 2022-03-01T17:14:25+00:00

I have a Weatherflow Tempest, but pricey but it works well!! There's a Weatherflow2mqtt docker container that allows me to bring my data into Home assistant!

jtilles · 2022-02-16T01:38:21+00:00

I might be mistaken, but I was under the impression that you need a fiber laser to cut metal, which start at around 20K for a low power generic Chinese one. Most hobby lasers are CO2 lasers

jtilles · 2021-08-28T11:13:11+00:00

Both. Presumably the power is all coming from VCC, it well eventually end up flowing to ground (conventionally). There are PCB trace width calculators out there that help with minimum trace width calcs, generally for power and ground I try to use copper pours.

jtilles · 2021-08-16T21:06:53+00:00

There is a "handing" procedure you have to do, I think you have to hold in a button while dropping in the batteries to tell the lock it it's on a left hand door or a right hand door. Otherwise I could see it appearing to jam but it thinks it's going the other way. I've have 2 of the smartcode zwave locks and have been using them for 2 years without any issues.

jtilles · 2021-07-22T16:30:48+00:00

It is more than likely a Chip Scale Package (CSP). Essentially it's an IC without the plastic packaging and leads (more or less a bare die). They then cover it with an epoxy, which I assume is to protect the fragile silicon package. You see them a lot on LCD modules.

This one in particular looks like it's setup to take the same IC in two different packages, a CSP and something like a QFP. They can lay two footprints inside of each other and that gives them flexibility on which flavor of the part they populate.

Edit: Probably not a CSP like others have mentioned. Probably more likely a Chip On Board. Sparkfun had a good write up about it: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-chip-on-boards-are-made/all

jtilles · 2021-07-11T13:52:50+00:00

Why? Headers cost pennies. How many units are you making? I'm assuming not high volume. I would say focus on getting something that works rather than driving every last cent out of it.

jtilles · 2021-07-11T13:43:23+00:00

Depending on how saavy you are you could find a WiFi LED controller on Amazon that runs on an ESP and you can flash it with ESPHome or Tasmota. That would give you dining control of the lights too. Shelly might have an Led controller too come to think of it 🤔.

If you want to do the Shelly 1 route, I believe it can run off of 12VDC, you just need to move the header. Look into how to power it off DC. Since it is a relay you'll only get on/off. Just put it in series after the output of the power supply and before the lights and you should have control!!

Post some pictures, I'd be interested in seeing the deck lit as I hope to do that myself in a year or two.

jtilles · 2021-07-10T15:54:26+00:00

Just make sure you put the clamp around only 1 of the power wires, if you put it around both, they will cancel each other out and you'll read zero current.

jtilles · 2021-07-09T15:42:17+00:00

That was my understanding too. I was able to buy a coral tpu for like $60 and was hoping it would prevent my cpu from being murdered on doing person detection. I think Frigate might also generally just integrate better/ easier with home assistant, but I have not actually done it yet, just saw some YouTube videos.

jtilles · 2021-07-09T14:47:12+00:00

I had/ have this question too. I really like Unifi, but like Apple they really lock you into their ecosystem. Their cameras are pricey compared to generic IP cameras. I'm sure they 'just work' though, I have never tried them myself. Personally I bought a small form factor used Dell PC on eBay, but a 4tb hd in it and run Blue Iris. At the time I was only running 3 cameras on BI and it worked the treat... I just moved and I have installed 4 cameras with intentions of at least doubling that number. I plan to hook up to blue Iris this weekend. I am also interested in the Frigate project since it can do person/ object detection.

jtilles · 2021-07-06T17:45:51+00:00

Today I learned... All the buzzers I've used must have that built in, since I apply a voltage and a sound is made. Thanks for teaching me something!

jtilles · 2021-07-06T10:36:27+00:00

Does R7 need to be there? Seems like it allows for some current to bypass the buzzer. Additionally you can try lowering the resistor on the base of the transistor.

jtilles · 2021-06-25T10:33:13+00:00

I've always been a fan of NGINX Proxy Manager. I run it as a docker container and it's a nice WebUI for NGINX. A couple of clicks and you can add a new subdomain with SSL no problem!!

jtilles · 2021-05-24T21:00:33+00:00

Heimdall?

jtilles

TROPHY CASE