5 Jan
2024
5 Jan
'24
5:08 a.m.
👍
On Thu, Jan 4, 2024 at 9:07 PM Gary <saclug(a)garymcglinn.com> wrote:
Thanks!!
I found an Intermac 15 used on ebay. Bought it. I'll give it a try. I
knew things like this existed, but I couldn't find it.
-Gary
---- Forwarded message from bob r <bob.dev.oak(a)gmail.com> -----
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2024 18:03:33 -0800
From: bob r <bob.dev.oak(a)gmail.com>
To: Gary <saclug(a)garymcglinn.com>
CC: lug-nuts(a)bigbrie.com
Subject: [Lug-nuts] Re: A problem, a phone, and a solution
Found it. It is called an astronomical time switch.
Mine is the RT-200-I Made by Watt Stopper. But it is a few years old.
The -W version is available on amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Wattstopper-RT-200-W-Astronomical-Timer-Switch/dp/B0…
On Thu, Jan 4, 2024 at 5:40 PM bob r <bob.dev.oak(a)gmail.com> wrote:
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We have one of those switches you install in the
wall, instead of a
normal
light switch, and it automatically adjusts
changes to when the sun sets
and
rises and also accounts for the time changes. It
always goes on at sunset
and always goes off at sunrise. Once every 2 years or so, I have to reset
the time back a few minutes, but other than that you just program the
time
in once and you are good to go. Best thing ever.
I can't remember what the guy called it, but it sounded like an
"automatic
lightswitch" but that is not it.
I even have an extra one. Let me try to find it....
On Thu, Jan 4, 2024 at 4:07 PM Gary <saclug(a)garymcglinn.com> wrote:
> I hope you find this entertaining.
>
> I have a very simple problem. I have a secondary structure on my
> property some distance from my house. It has a light that I want to
come
> on sometime after sunset and turn off
sometime before dawn.
>
> There are a few issues.
>
> 1. The light is visible from the road, so it should look nice. Adding
a
> socket with a day night sensor isn't
possible. It won't fit inside the
> current lighting fixture.
>
> 2. The WiFi from the house does reach this structure, but it isn't very
> strong. My laptop can pick it up just fine, but the Shelly home
automation
> switch I bought doesn't see it.
>
> 3. I have an extra phone that I use only for 2 factor authentication and
> a few other minor uses. I have a $10/month plan for that phone.
>
> Note: The Shelly is installed. It can't see any WiFi, so it won't let
> me set up a schedule because it can't see a clock. Not withstanding the
> fact that I could tell it what the time is and even $0.20 chips have a
> reasonably accurate clock. We aren't flying planes or running nuclear
> reactors here. But it will let me tell it how long to wait after I
turn it
> on to turn it off. This uses a clock, but I
guess it slipped through.
> It's from Romania. I manually turn the light on every evening.
>
> Plan 1
>
> Move the second phone to the secondary structure and just use VNC to get
> any messages. Turn on the hot spot and have the Shelly get the time
from
> that.
>
> Result: I abandonded this plan when I couldn't VNC into the phone from
> the world. Lo and behold, this only works if you access the phone using
> WiFi. Since I want to use the hotspot, this means being connected to
the
> phone's hot spot. Which means I have to
be there, which defeats the
whole
> purpose.
>
> Plan 2
>
> Set up my rPi on the hot spot from the phone. Use a remote ssh tunnel
to
> access the rPi and then access the phone.
>
> Result: The remote tunnel is blocked. I only did some brief reading,
but
> you have to do some packet inspection to do
this.
>
> Plan 3
>
> Use the slow network from the house to contact the rPi on a second
> external and good antenna. Use the rPi's native antenna to contact the
> phone.
>
> Result: This works. But it is incredibly slow. The clock on the phone
> that I see when using vnc updates every 5 minutes. But despite this, it
> seemed pretty stable. Not really workable though.
>
> Note: Although an ssh remote tunnel won't work, sshfs apparently will.
> I wouldn't have guessed that.
>
> Note: Devices that are using the phone's hot spot can't see each other.
> They can only see the phone. This would mean that if I connected the
> Shelly to the hot spot, I wouldn't be able to see it from another
device,
> like the rPi that I can talk to from my
house. However, the phone can
see
> all of the connected devices. And the rPi
can VNC to the phone.
>
> Next plan
>
> Connect the Shelly to the hot spot. That should give it a clock and I
> should be able to schedule it using the phone. If I am away and need to
> make a change I should be able to use the rPi to VNC headlessly to the
> phone. Then I am thinking screen shots requested by the slow connection
> and forwarded to the sshfs share over the hot spot. I'll have to make
sure
> I set the Shelly up with a static IP, or
I'll never find it, since the
> phone, the only thing that could see it, won't nmap or tell me what is
> connected to it.
>
> Thoughts
>
> Having a few old phones and access to $10/month plans, it would be nice
> to just be able to access a phone from the world. It would be easy to
> monitor and perhaps control things at remote locations for cheap. I've
> used phones this way before, but they were alway on WiFi and so I had
> access. When they are the hot spot/AP, things get all jacked up. As an
> aside:I hate IoT.
>
> If anyone has any thoughts, comments, or suggestions, I would welcome
> them.
>
> If you read this far, I hope it was entertaining.
>
> Final thought
>
> After rereading this, I think I could just replace the Shelly with an
> X-10 light switch. Install the controller on the rPi and control it
with a
> cron job. I could make any changes using the
slow connection from the
> house. Or alternatively, I could use the native WiFi interface on the
rPi
> as an Ad Hoc/AP for the Shelly. I did try
this, but it didn't work.
But
> I've upgraded the OS on the rPi to
bookworm from stretch since then.
Maybe
> that will address some of the issues. I was
using my laptop to test
and I
think I
was having version compatiblity issues.
Thanks.
Full circle
-Gary
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