The "New Toys" Thread

[leviathan]

Some more smart home stuffs arrived:
View attachment 3570566View attachment 3570567
Sonoff MiniR4 smart relay for my outdoor light, and a Sonoff NSPanel and M5 for my living room.

The hardware to flash the NSPanel and M5 with ESPHome
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Cheap-ass FTDI USB to TTY adapter (Yes, that is mini-USB, in 2023...)

The result of the flashy flashies:
View attachment 3570569
Home Assistant home screen (nothing more to show yet due to not having configured the rest yet)

Neat! Do post updates on how this thing works out for you. With ESPHome, I may be interested in a couple of these as well...

 

[Adunaphel]

Neat! Do post updates on how this thing works out for you. With ESPHome, I may be interested in a couple of these as well...

Flashing was super simple once I got the wiring harness sorted (don't believe the youtubers who claim you can connect Dupont wires to the small header, or worse, people who tell you to stick a dupont pin into the plug of another one, just get a breadboard and use one of the bus bars on its side for common ground), and after some ill-documented workaround for firmware weirdness on newer NSPanels (you need to trigger a switch on the Home Assistant frontend to stop the firmware from tryin to load something that isn't there, and then manually tell the firmware to download the TFT file), it all just works. Sadly, while M5 and NSPanel look wonderful next to each other, they're too wide for a standard double wall junction box, so I will have to look into fabricating something for that using some spare blanking plates I still hava laying around. Oh, and I need to pull a blue N wire from the ceiling junction box to the wall junction box. I'm sure nothing could go wrong there. I might just start a home automation topic so we can discuss more in detail there.

 

[Perc]

I’ve been asked to film some shots while driving and i’m not one to turn down an opportunity to buy some gear.

A basic action cam suction cup mount and a decent (manfrotto) 1/4” phone clip.

 

[Perc]

I bought an more thing. Or two more things, rather. The phone mount stuff was out of necessity, this is just me trying to move my life to USB-C now that my phone manufacturer of choice finally switched. I spent some money at the Fenno-scandinavian Fenix store and ended up with a 3000 lumen PD40R V3.0 and a 600 lumen WH23R headtorch. They're replacing a micro-usb Led Lenser and a Scangrip mechanics' headtorch with a USB-to-round-plug cable used by nothing else.

The requirements for both lights were USB-C charging and a user interface that doesn't get in the way. I have very little patience for flashlight engineers that just discovered the possibilities of the microcontroller and can't keep it in their pants.

The flashlight has a ring you twist to switch between Off, Low, Medium, High, Very High, SOS and Strobe. The indent between Very High and SOS is noticeably harder to overcome, which is a Very Good Thing. Like I said, I don't have much patience for flashlights that end up in some silly blinky mode when all you want is to see what you're doing. Unlike my old Led Lenser with its side mounted button, this also won't accidentally get switched on when it's in the pocket or backpack.

The headtorch is mostly designed for working with your hands. There are other models for off-road cycling or running, hobbies I don't plan to ever take up. And if I do, that's just a reason to get another new toy, right? The WH23R has two leds, one for narrow and one for wide beam. Twist the knob on the side to switch between off, narrow, wide and both at the same time. Press the end of the knob to switch between low, medium and high. It will remember which mode you used last on each, and the mode with both LEDs is always full power. The "dad mode" in other words - no settings, just twist it all the way and there will be light. According to the specs it has a sensor so you can turn it off and on by waving your hands in front of it. Everyone that's ever used a headtorch with this feature know it will cause the light to turn off and on randomly while you're working in tight spaces. I'm very happy to say that I don't know how to turn this mode on, nor do I plan to find out, and most importantly, I haven't found it by accident like with my previous headtorches.

 

[evoWALO]

I got that UGREEN 130W car fast charger.

USB devices control how much power it inputs.

So no worries on overcharging.

USB-C1 port

- iPhone Pro Max fast charge at 25W
- iPad Pro fast charge at 30w
- DJI drone charges at 30W

USB-A port

- iPhone slow charge at 12W

USB-C2 port

- MacBook Air fast charge at 60W
- 2019 MacBook Pro 16" charges at 96W

 

[eizbaer]

I’d feel ever so slightly uneasy about pulling 11A from that shitty 12V socket

 

[Perc]

That shitty 12V socket was originally designed to heat the cig lighter coil until it glows white. It should be fine, though shitty it is.

My drone won't charge properly off of my Macbook charger or my 60W ugreen GaN power brick, by the way. I have a Huawei brick which works fine.

 

[eizbaer]

That shitty 12V socket was originally designed to heat the cig lighter coil until it glows white. It should be fine, though shitty it is.

Well yeah, but was meant to go hot af and in a very short time. That charger will probably sit there drawing high currents for a long time - and hopefully shouldn’t get as hot (although the contacts might, which is my worry).

 

[gaasc]

The whole circuit is usually built with a 15-20A fuse (YMMV, check your manual). Taking into account that's the bit that's supposed to pop before the car burns down and the rest of the cigarette lighter is designed to deal with quite a bit of heat, I think it's fine.

 

[evoWALO]

Thanks for the warning. This was bought to primarily charge two 30W smartphones & one 12W iPhone at most.

I am looking to buy any of these next.

 

[NooDle]

I like all these new "charge 12 things superfast at the same time" charger things but for me I see no need for those
Most of the time I charge my phone in the car and/or in the office, which are places where I am for hours on end, so I don't ever need a "fast"charge. Car car does have like 5 USB holes, so I can actually charge my phone, my laptop and 3 phones for passengers at the same time

Anyone really use ALL of the plugs at the same time?

 

[eizbaer]

I like all these new "charge 12 things superfast at the same time" charger things but for me I see no need for those

Ha, same here! I am honestly moestly fascinated by the size of the things and am constantly astonished that they don't just melt or blow up. Damn efficient stuff. But yeah, I don't need any of that... my phone charges at night on my nightstand, my laptop is connected to a power source for 10 (most days actually 24) hours every day anyway, only other thing really is my watch, which I just plonk down on its charger for an hour every second day while watching TV - and that can't take any power anyway (I think that's 2.5W or sth thereabouts)...
as it stands, I consider size much more important than power. hell, my laptop will happily run off of 35W and still charge (slowly), hence my choice to go get an anker 735 & 521 with considerably measly 65 and 40 W respectively.

 

[Matt2000]

It's tempting to get one so I can have a permanent charging station for my drone batteries, drone transmitter, camera battery (the new Nikon charger is 15W PD USB-C), iPad and somewhere other than my desk to charge my Airpods Pro. Currently all of these are charged ad-hoc, or not charged and I find out that they're low when I want to use them. Apart from the camera battery, all seem to drain themselves over time.

I wouldn't leave them permanently on charge though, that seems like a terrible idea. I currently have a couple of remote controlled sockets for my power tool chargers and for my AA/AAA battery charger so they don't run 24/7 and I can do the same for USB charging. I did actually try this already but the location I chose was poor, the PU leather case I have for the iPad still has a smell to it and it was doing my head in.

As far as the car charger goes, that does seem a bit high but it's not crazy. The MX-5 has a 15A fuse for the 12V socket, the Freelander has 25A. However, the Ring splitter I had mounted in Keely years ago only had an 8A fuse in it. I know this because I popped it the first time I tried to use the 120W inverter I bought.

 

[eizbaer]

It's tempting to get one so I can have a permanent charging station for my drone batteries, drone transmitter, camera battery (the new Nikon charger is 15W PD USB-C), iPad and somewhere other than my desk to charge my Airpods Pro.

apart from maybe the drone stuff, none of that can even take anything more than like 20 W (ipad?) or something? and even if it could, would you need it? if it's a more permanent thing you're planning, may be lower power is even better (for battery health or whatever)?

The MX-5 has a 15A fuse for the 12V socket

so it's quite close to that already but fair enough, the car won't burn down...

 

[kalf]

but fair enough, the car won't burn down...

But blowing a fuse everything you use a charger at full capacity would get rather annoying too .

 

[Matt2000]

apart from maybe the drone stuff, none of that can even take anything more than like 20 W (ipad?) or something? and even if it could, would you need it? if it's a more permanent thing you're planning, may be lower power is even better (for battery health or whatever)?

Yeah none of that stuff requires high power if it was on charge daily, the 50W Aukey USB charger I've had for years would do that fine. It's currently not being used so I should probably move it and set things up as I suggested.

so it's quite close to that already but fair enough, the car won't burn down...

Definitely closer than I'd like, but then there isn't really enough space in the car to fit all those items and charge them together.

 

[kalf]

I've got a 1000W inverter in my car, so I don't have any problems with charging stuff on the go anyways .

 

[evoWALO]

I like all these new "charge 12 things superfast at the same time" charger things but for me I see no need for those
Most of the time I charge my phone in the car and/or in the office, which are places where I am for hours on end, so I don't ever need a "fast"charge. Car car does have like 5 USB holes, so I can actually charge my phone, my laptop and 3 phones for passengers at the same time

Anyone really use ALL of the plugs at the same time?

I USB-A 12W slow charge my 15 Pro Max overnight for 3.5hrs.

When I neglect to charge the night before or need a top up before driving home from work I want to 0-50% fast charge in 30 mins drive with a 25W USB-C charger.

Also a multiport USB-C + USB-A charger is useful for frequent travelers who need to share 1 electrical outlet to charge their devices.

I've been to many airports and seaports where in I need a charge at departure but have to compete with other flyers for that access.

With a 200W charger with 4 USB-C + 2 USB-A ports I can fast charge 6 people 0-50% in 30 mins and another half dozen passengers the same way.

 

[Perc]

I’ve been asked to film some shots while driving and i’m not one to turn down an opportunity to buy some gear.

A basic action cam suction cup mount and a decent (manfrotto) 1/4” phone clip.

View attachment 3570654

The suction cup mount works as advertised. It can also serve double purpose as a slightly ungainly but very sturdy phone mount whenever I'm borrowing a car that doesn't have CarPlay.

But the Manfrotto clip broke today, a couple days after I got it. I was using it at the time (sadly not filming) and the spring inside broke with a BANG so loud I thought a big rock had hit my windshield or something. Bah.

 

[Eye-Q]

An AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT for 259 Euros, picked up locally, as replacement for the 5500 XT after I got a 4k monitor from work for free.