I have been refining my algorithm for allocating power between charging the house batteries and charging Joulee the Free Salvage Tesla. On January 2nd, I fired up Home Assistant to work and got…
It appeared that something in the Home Automation update had killed Tesla integration. Well, that was only sort of true. What really happened is that, effective January 1st, Tesla has started charging for access to the APIs needed to access your car’s data (like many things IoT, you don’t really own your Tesla, you are allowed to use it at the pleasure of the corporation). They seem to be trying to be fair about it, and the first $10 worth of use each month is free, but just the fact that they need to track it and charge for it has added layers of complexity to accessing the APIs. Previously, the author of the Tesla integration just incorporated his own credentials into it (allowed under Tesla’s “open source” policy at the time) so that users of the integration wouldn’t have to create an account and an app interface with Tesla. Suddenly, though, poor Brett was faced with the possibility of having to pay access fees for everybody who used the integration that he makes available for free. Not a happy thought.
My load management system was stopped in its tracks. With the help of some Home Assistant enthusiasts, I’ve figured out what needs to be done but I’m still working on implementing and debugging it. Alas, it was a major detour on my way to getting my solar charging fully implemented, and a reminder why I’m now avoiding proprietary, server-based IoT products.
We’re still going to the laundromat to do laundry; the washing machine is still broken. Repairing the broken damper turned out to be trickier than the YouTube videos had suggested. A lot trickier. The good news is that the damper is repaired, and I’m on to re-assembling the washer. It’s been a slow process because I’ve had to take breaks due to fatigue, and I took a couple of days off to visit friends for New Year’s Eve. Now, I’m having a bit of trouble remembering how it all goes back together. It will happen, though.
Another thing we didn’t have the movers set up was our second bed. We weren’t sure where it should go: new garage or studio. Today, we decided to set it up in the loft of the new garage, and discovered that twelve of the bolts were missing. Yuck. We have guests coming this month, and they’ll need a bed. What was supposed to take 20 minutes has now turned in to an all-day project, further delaying the washing machine repair. First, we had to search high and low for the bolts. When that failed, I had to spec them (M8-1.25x16), and see if they were available online. They were, but not in time. We had to trek down the mountain to our amazing little local hardware store. They had 13 of the correct (or close enough) bolts in stock. But I was too tired and fatigued to finish the project when I got home.
So it is: things continue to progress, but on island time. When things go wrong, progress is slowed even more because of shipping delays and remoteness and the problems of being our own electric company, phone company, gas company, trash pickup, and wastewater processor.
—2p