We have just installed solar panels on our house in London. We also had panels on our old house in Oxford. How do they compare? Oxford London Latitude 51.753738 51.486880 Panel Size 4000 Watts 5040 Watts Orientation South East/West Split Obviously, it’s hard to compare exact weather conditions – lower temperature makes for more efficient…
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WebP is the hip new image format on the scene. It offers unrivalled image compression at superior visual quality. But, in my opinion, it is deficient compared to JPG in one significant aspect. It doesn’t have a progressive mode. Progressive mode is useful because it can quickly load a low resolution preview of an image,…
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The good folk at Seeed Studio have sent me a Rock Pi S to review. Since the original Raspberry Pi came out, there has been an explosion in Single Board Computers – but this one is special. It is miniscule – almost dominated by the Ethernet port. And the specifications are ridiculously good – considering…
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We’re all working from home now, right? I got this specific monitor for two reasons only: It rotates to vertical mode It was within my employer’s home working budget There are no integrated USB hubs, no TV tuners, no gaming mode, no 4K, no HDR, no smarts. It is just a screen. That happens to…
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There are lots of celelbrities and famous academics on Twitter. Then there’s Professor Richard Feynman. Who died in 1988. Every so often, one of “his” pearls of wisdom is regurgitated into my Twitter feed. When you are dead, you don't know you are dead. It's pain only for others. It's the same thing when you…
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Mostly notes to myself. My solar panels have an open API. But it’s only available if I’m on the same network as the Fronius inverter. I can connect my system to https://www.solarweb.com/ so I can access it anywhere in the world – if I have the right password. SolarWeb has an (optional) guest mode. You…
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Inspired by my friend Meri’s WFH Setup Tips, I thought I’d share my home-working setup. We’ve moved house recently, so I’m still finding my feet – but as I work from home fairly often, and have a bit of RSI, I thought I’d show you what I’ve got and how I use it. The desk…
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How are you enjoying lockdown, gang? I think I’m coping well. Perhaps a little too well… I was having virtual-drinks with some friends, when one of them said “How many people just aren’t going to want to go back to commuting after this?” I’ve always been a bit of a homebody. I work from home…
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I have a new Smart Meter to measure my electricity and gas usage. It’s the Honeywell AS302P. It’s a SMETS2 meter, which means it has a number of interesting features. ALCS (Auxiliary Load Control Switch) – this means that a car charger can be remotely started and stopped based on network demand. DCC connection –…
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I have solar panels! The UK mandates that my electricity supplier buys the surplus energy off me. They set a minimum price, known as the SEG (Smart Export Guarantee). My supplier – Bulb – pay me 5.38p for every kWh I export. I pay them about 13p for every kWh I import. You notice the…
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