[chbot] ESP8266 Modules & solar load management

Volker Kuhlmann list0570 at paradise.net.nz
Fri Apr 17 08:37:30 BST 2015


On Sun 05 Apr 2015 10:28:59 NZST +1200, Richard Jones wrote:

Thanks Richard for posting such a thorough reply. I decided to sink $25
into the fun, which arrived yesterday.

The seller included a travel adapter freebie. It doesn't even have an
earth pin underneath. Ho hum, one more bit for the junk pile. Amusingly,
it's labelled "for export only", so even the Chinese know how crappy it
is, they just don't give a toss about electrocuted foreigners...

The smart gimmick itself has an acceptable multi-socket on the top, the
earth pin is connected (though I can't see the contacts). The AU plug on
the bottom looks as in the photos and has no pin insulation. As it
presumably has passed Chinese safety testing (from a company of Xiaomi's
size caring about its reputation, as you say) it would now be legal to
sell here. So much for the government bollocks "The EEEMRA will not have
any detrimental effect on New Zealand standards for electrical and
electronic equipment." Hahaha.

The plug follow Chinese convention and the plug is upside down. The
little leaflet in the box is 100% in Chinese (wouldn't be legal to sell
in Europe, might be now here). mi.com does not have a lot of anything
much useful in English. I can't even find basic principles of operation,
or the app. I bugged the aliexpress seller for the download location,
which is

https://home.mi.com/download

If you click on download you get an apk file which is entirely named in
Chinese (with Latin version numbers). It's not in google play, but
they're happy for you to sign up to their app store instead (don't
expect too much English UI). I don't think I'm yet game to install black
box apk files on my phone.

I'll bring it along on Monday.

> During the last 10 years I have had two electrical devices blow up on me.
> One was bought in Bunnings NZ and came from China. The other was
> manufactured by Philips in Holland and bought in the UK. Both had dramatic
> failures in mains connected capacitors. Based on my small sample I can't
> base an electrical safety argument on country of origin or country of
> purchase.

It's not country of origin (everything is made in China), it's design
and methods of manufacturing that matter. We all know the aliexpress
bazaar and how manufacturing works in China unless some really big
company really kicks a.

Volker

-- 
Volker Kuhlmann
http://volker.top.geek.nz/	Please do not CC list postings to me.



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