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Reprogramming a $13 consumer wifi-enabled outlet

rluckom.github.io

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Re: Reprogramming a $13 consumer wifi-enabled outlet

#31

Post by janekm »

IgorPartola wrote: post #27
janekm wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From looking over their schematics and layout, they are fairly well designed, and they have gone through CE certification so fine for European consumers. No UL certification could be an issue for US consumers though.

I understand CE to basically be self certified. It’s good but mostly meaningless when compared to bring UL listed or higher, which require equipment tests as well as frequent drop in visits from UL people to your manufacturing fascilies.

They have undergone testing by a third-party test house for their CE certification. While you're right that in many cases CE can be self-certified, this is not (really) the case for mains equipment, the testing required by the European standards are such that it would be difficult to perform yourself.

Re: Reprogramming a $13 consumer wifi-enabled outlet

#32

Post by unixhero »

Robotbeat wrote: post #25

I've noticed a big market gap, ever since I got an electric car. Every EV owner has a 120V AC charger that they can plug in almost anywhere with an outlet, however getting permission is a challenge. Owners of the outlets rightfully want compensation. But a full commercial charger rig is like $1000 at least. That's way too much! What I'd like is for outlets to have wifi or bluetooth connectivity on them. I just tell t…

So a blockchains driven monetization approach for n, in this case electricity.

That is comimg. For sure.

Re: Reprogramming a $13 consumer wifi-enabled outlet

#33

Post by [deleted] »

StavrosK wrote: post #15
luma wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the ESP8266 brings a WiFi radio and 32bit microcontroller for < $2 on your BOM I think this sort of overkill is warranted. 433mhz provides no mechanism for link-layer security which seems irresponsible in this day and age.

ITEAD do make a 433 MHz version of this stuff, but yes, that's just asking for trouble, given how trivially I can sniff and replay those codes.

[deleted]

Re: Reprogramming a $13 consumer wifi-enabled outlet

#35

Post by amelius »

janekm wrote: post #23
nitrogen wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I remember right, some very low cost ways of converting AC to DC for small electronics leave those electronics at high voltage relative to ground. So the device itself sees +5V relative to its "ground", but the device "ground" might actually be at, say, 115V and the supply at 120 to make 5V. Thus the UART pins might also be at high absolute voltage. This is fine for devices that are fully isolated.

The "POW" device is one example of a device which has GND at live potential, so should not be connected to anything else while plugged into the mains. Not that I would recommend plugging any of them into the mains with the case removed, or while plugged into other wiring, to be sure!

> The "POW" device is one example of a device which has GND at live potential

Is that even allowed by the FCC?

Re: Reprogramming a $13 consumer wifi-enabled outlet

#36

Post by detaro »

amelius wrote: post #35
janekm wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "POW" device is one example of a device which has GND at live potential, so should not be connected to anything else while plugged into the mains. Not that I would recommend plugging any of them into the mains with the case removed, or while plugged into other wiring, to be sure!

> The "POW" device is one example of a device which has GND at live potential Is that even allowed by the FCC?

Yes, that's a quite common design. It might be forbidden if you expose that outside the device, but in electronics internal to the device you can do that no problem.

Re: Reprogramming a $13 consumer wifi-enabled outlet

#37

Post by sonium »

peterburkimsher wrote: post #17

A few months ago there was a similar post about Edimax power sockets and the Raspberry Pi. I commented that I'd like to automatically reset my WiFi router/modem when the Internet connection fails. Someone commented to tell me about the ResetPlug, which does just that. I'm now the very happy owner of one. I don't mean that as a advert, but as an encouragement that when you comment useful links to products that already…

I would be interested in the internals of the Edimax plug - any chance the firmware can be modified?

Re: Reprogramming a $13 consumer wifi-enabled outlet

#38

Post by joelhaasnoot »

luma wrote: post #11
kogepathic wrote: post #7

This looks quite similar to the Sonoff S20. [1] Although they opted for the ESP module instead of designing a custom PCB around the ESP8266 chip as Sonoff does. According to the S20 schematic, uart is routed to a header, so it should be easier to flash. [2] The Sonoff S20 is the same price as the mentioned model, and is supported by espurna. [3] Espurna is great, it has MQTT, Domoticz, Home Assistant, an HTTP API, an…

I'm also a fan of the Sonoff products for random use cases around the house. One thing I think should be noted - you no longer need to solder in a UART header to get your own firmware on Sonoff devices with the SonOTA project [1]. This project uses the factory OTA mechanism to load your own custom firmware on the device. The result is an IOT device that is cheap, readily available, and fully under your own control wi…

Perfect, just used this to hook up my Christmas lights. Had an opened Sonoff device laying around that I had yet to flash. Put screws in and 5 minutes later had my lights working. Much easier than the 4 pin serial flash solution

Re: Reprogramming a $13 consumer wifi-enabled outlet

#39

Post by amelius »

detaro wrote: post #36
amelius wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The "POW" device is one example of a device which has GND at live potential Is that even allowed by the FCC?

Yes, that's a quite common design. It might be forbidden if you expose that outside the device, but in electronics internal to the device you can do that no problem.

It sounds to me like the ground level is exposed outside the device in this case.

Re: Reprogramming a $13 consumer wifi-enabled outlet

#40

Post by tonyedgecombe »

peterburkimsher wrote: post #17

A few months ago there was a similar post about Edimax power sockets and the Raspberry Pi. I commented that I'd like to automatically reset my WiFi router/modem when the Internet connection fails. Someone commented to tell me about the ResetPlug, which does just that. I'm now the very happy owner of one. I don't mean that as a advert, but as an encouragement that when you comment useful links to products that already…

The existence of that product says so much about our industry.
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