I've finally worked out how to load the Tasmota code into NodeMCU devices, or probably any other for that matter - sadly, I had to re-do it before I realised what I'd done the first few times, which was actually follow the instructions! >Sigh< . Anyway, I really like mDNS, the multicast DNS mechanism whereby service providers advertise their services using multicast. This is an ideal mechanism for local services on one's own home network, and is a part of Apple's OS X and iOS, Linux distros, and (even!) Windoze. Sadly not Android. Tools. It was known as Bonjour, and is more usually known as Avahi in the Linux world. Basically, you use a DNS name of the form " yourhost.local ", where " local " triggers the special magic, and your application finds the service without needing to know the IP address. Pretty much like standard DNS eh? Except it's a completely separate code base and specific applications or OSes have to make separate calls to...
OK, so the SonOTA stuff didn't work, time for Plan B - use FTDI USB-Serial adapter and some wires to connect the ESP8266 to the Mac and have at it... To make sure everything happened cleanly, I thought I'd follow the instructions (blimey) . Removed current Arduino IDE install, and re-installed 1.8.5, the latest. Then I installed the Espressiv 2.4.0 board code, as per instructions. I compiled the sonoff code, minor glitch when the MQTT buffer was apparently too small. This was due to some old libs from my previous attempts - I hadn't deleted everything Arduino because I wanted to able to do some of the things I'd been doing previous to this escapade. I just deleted the old (differently named!) versions of ArduinoJSON and PubSubClient. Things then compiled ok. All good so far... At this point I had to connect the board via the FTDI adapter. I used a breadboard for this, and reckoned I could avoid soldering the pins onto the board by using male/female jumper wires, ...
My 5 year old Dualit Espressivo broke on Saturday - disaster!! I was in the throes of making a coffee when the pump stopped, so no steamed microfoamed milk... Off with the back, check of voltages etc., taking extreme care because 240V + H2O is a Bad Thing. I located what seemed to be the pump, and there were volts on the terminals. Hmm. It’s an Ulka EP5FM according to the label. Google... Many people offering to sell me one, but the guys at ulka-ceme.co.uk aka Scintilla Pumps are the UK distributors. They sell a whole range of this type of pump, and the documentation shows that the crucial points are voltage/power, pressure (15 bar) and duty cycle (2m on/1m off). I can buy one online but I call them... they’re about 15 miles away, and are happy to sell me a replacement. We reckon it’s worth a lunch trip, so bowl over and it’s only £16 direct, vs £19.60 mail order. Done. The expensive part was lunch - £50!! Planning to skip dinner though... New pump fitted - looks like the old...
Comments
Post a Comment