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Tinkerer's corner

Majordennisbloodnok · 2025-12-22T09:41:17Z

When I was 18, it wasn't enough to own a car; I had to "improve" it. A bit of engine tuning, a better radio, the odd go-faster stripe down the side (understated - I was never the full bodykit type). Several decades on and it's now my home I'm tweaking, and I don't just mean redecorating or a bit of standard DIY. I've got a heat pump, solar PV and battery, and an electric vehicle and charger. However, I was always unlikely to leave each element as installed, running independently of the others. With each extra bit of kit installed, I was asking myself how it could benefit from knowing how everything else was running, hence my goal of a single integrated truly "smart" home. Personally, I'm not really interested in a smart home that senses when I enter a room and turns the lights on automatically - the bother of flicking a switch is not a big deal for me - but I'm well aware that may be a valuable function for others. Being able to show Evri or Parcelforce video footage of their delivery driver leaving my parcel in the rain propped up against the wheelie bin (on several occasions) most definitely is important to me, but I couldn't pretend it's as high on everyone else's priortities list. In other words, how the technology in a home is set up and configured should match what the occupants value most. Cue this thread. I've noticed numerous times on the forum that a simple discussion about fixing a problem or preparing for an install has elicited a throwaway comment about some little hack or pearl of wisdom that several others have pounced upon, wanting to know more. This thread is intended to pre-empt that and provide somewhere where any of us can either share tweaks we've carried out that have been unexpectedly beneficial or can ask if (and how) it might be possible to do something they'd like to achieve. All flights of fancy - big or small - are welcome and no configuration rabbit holes are off topic. If the thread becomes too broad, we may well split it into multiple narrower threads but that's a problem for another day. To get things started, here are a few things to ponder. I've come up with my own answers to them but you may want to consider how you tackle them or if you'd want to. The heat pump, the EV and the home battery are three potentially big consumers of imported electricity. If you choose to sign up to a time of use tariff, how do you balance the behaviour of each of those items against each other and against the prevailing import price to best effect? Do you gather information from t'interweb in order to make running changes to any of your kit based on the weather, the weather forecast, carbon intensity of the leccy you import, ad-hoc savings sessions etc.? Is there any single tweak you've made or would like to make that was or could be particularly effective? Is there any other smart kit you have or would like to implement and, if so, could it be (or has it become) something that interacts with your other big ticket items (e.g. if you're already getting a weather forecast, are you using that to do anything "smart" in your garden or greenhouse)? Given how much of this relies on internet connectivity, are you wanting to make changes to your home wifi and/or network in general to make it more reliable? My current quest - and it's most certainly not life-changing - is that I'd like to find a means of measuring the temperature of my wood burning stove's flue. I need that means to be surface mounted (no drilling of holes in the flue), be able to reasonably accurately report flue temperatures up to 350degC (but not break if temperatures exceed that) and be network-enabled so as to report back to Home Assistant. I'm happy with cobbling together with a bit of circuitry and solder but just as happy with a ready-made solution. I am not, however, happy with the £180 price of an Aduro Smart Response box that otherwise does exactly what I want. Over to you all. Welcome to tinkerer's corner and make of it what you will.

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Transparent

(@transparent)

Illustrious Member Moderator

Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 3466

13/11/2026 3:24 pm

I'm assuming that your heat-pump control electronics has only a single port for an OAT?
Please check that there's not an adjacent one for an optional humidity sensor!

2: You don't have to plug in the OAT to that temp-sensor port.

You could just as easily have a microcontroller module to which you connect the existing OAT and a new humidity sensor.
Then you can freely play with creating a bespoke algorithm which outputs data in the format which the HP Control board accepts for the OAT port.

Save energy... recycle electrons!

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Majordennisbloodnok

(@majordennisbloodnok)

Famed Member Moderator

Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 2209

Topic starter 13/11/2026 3:36 pm

Posted by: @transparent

↑

I'm assuming that your heat-pump control electronics has only a single port for an OAT?
Please check that there's not an adjacent one for an optional humidity sensor!

2: You don't have to plug in the OAT to that temp-sensor port.

You could just as easily have a microcontroller module to which you connect the existing OAT and a new humidity sensor.
Then you can freely play with creating a bespoke algorithm which outputs data in the format which the HP Control board accepts for the OAT port.

Frankly, I've no idea about the physical setup but then I'm not too concerned either. My adjustment of the various offsets is done by Home Assistant and with that setup I can have humidity and temperature sensors coming out of my ears if I want. Indeed, I already do have a Shelly temperature and humidity sensor in the sitting room so I can calculate the dew point ready for next summer where I try out some mild cooling of UFH slab to slow down thermal gain in the inevitable heat wave.

My point is that I'm not worried about experimenting; I'm interested in opinions from anyone who already knows better than me (probably everyone) how best to run a heat pump in coldish but very humid weather.

105 m2 bungalow in South East England
Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5 kW air source heat pump
18 x 360W solar panels
1 x 6 kW GroWatt battery and SPH5000 inverter
1 x Myenergi Zappi
1 x VW ID3
Raised beds for home-grown veg and chickens for eggs

"Semper in excretia; sumus solum profundum variat"

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