Tesla Supercharging

 If you are planning to buy a new Tesla model S, 3, X, or Y follow my referral link and you could get 1000 miles/1500 km of free supercharging. 

What is with Aruba and all their different console cables?

So It used to be that Aruba WiFi used the industry standard RJ-45 rollover RS-232 cable that Cisco pioneered. Then they experimented a little with USB to RS-232 built into some of their outdoor APs so that you would just plug a, then standard, USB to USB Mini-B cellphone cable into it and wala! you had serial connection over USB.

Then there was the TTL pins in the low end equipment where 4 pins were exposed allowing them to cut the TTL to RS232 circuit out for cost savings.... and that bled into the 305 model, which replaced the 205 and 105 before it that had RJ-45 consoles, but you know, cost savings....

We recently got some IAP 335s and look! they have RJ-45 consoles again! sweet!

The IAP-335 was replaced recently with the cheaper to manufacture IAP-345.
I open up the box and to my surprise I see this:

What the heck?

Seeing that obvious warning sign with the ! exclamation point on it I knew this would not be a straight USB connection like the outdoor APs, so I googled to see if anyone else had asked about it.

Aruba wants people to buy their new proprietary USB to USB Micro-B adapter called the AP-CBL-SERU so, I googled that part number already guessing that what it would be is a TTL to USB adapter like the old AP-CBL-SER that the low end indoor APs and the IAP-305 used (which we used a trusty Adafruit TTL serial adapter for instead of buying the Aruba one for much more $$.).

So, I grabbed a Micro USB cell phone cable (from an old Blackberry) and hacked off the computer end of it, exposing the 4 wires inside.

Plugged in my Adafruit TTL adapter and crammed the ends of the black, Green and White leads into the Adafruit's sockets for the same colours and fired up the AP.


No dice. Didn't work. Knowing that Black is ground I figured I had the 2 data pins in reverse, so I swapped them, White to Green and Green to White.

Magic!

Can never be too safe

I just bought a few of these for the aquarium tanks that are not connected to an in-wall GFCI outlet.

https://amzn.to/2KSgsSs




UPDATE: I will not be using these for my aquariums because if the power goes off due to blackout/brownout the device switches to the OFF state, so when power is restored the aquarium would still be shut down even though nothing was wrong.

Cheap internet in Ontario, Canada

So a few weeks ago I found a nice deal on a cable internet provider, and last week had it installed. I had been dissatisfied with my upload speeds on DSL, but really not all that interested in paying the premium of about $10/ month to switch from DSL25 to Cable75 at TekSavvy just to get off Bell's infrastructure and onto Rogers where I knew I could get at least the 4-5Mbit upstream I wanted reliably, so I had resigned to the idea that live streaming (broadcasting) video was just something I would not be doing at any decent quality any time soon.... then I saw they Carry Telecom deal on RedFlagDeals. Now I have Cable 75/10 for less than my TekSavy DSL 25/10 that wasn't getting 25/4 most of the time because of the old phone lines in this area. (yes, we had Bell techs out to troubleshoot, there was nothing they could do about it) Let me be clear, I LOVE Teksavvy and their support has always been outstanding for me, but money in my pocket is better than in theirs. $10 less per month for 3x the download speed and easily 2x the upload speed that I was actually getting is a big deal. and no download limit, not that I had ever gone over my Teksavvy 200GB limit (night time downloads are free at Teksavvy) To be totally honest, if I was a gamer I wouln't get Carry Tel cable. Carry Telecom's ping rates are double what Rogers has on the same infrastructure and that is almost double what Teksavvy has on DSL... I don't know what Bell DSL is like I haven't got one to test, but If you are a gamer you probably want DSL. Me, I just wanted more upload speed. Anyway, if you are looking at switching I'll drop 2 promo codes here. DSL promo: $10 off DSL modem purchase: MA44761 Cable promo: $10 one time discount: MA44762 (cabe modems, at least in Rogers territory are free rentals so no purchase) Check them out, see if they can save you some money too. https://www.carrytel.ca

EV Charging - DC Fast Charging Stations... Why People Won't Adopt Electric Cars Soon Enough

I have been driving electric cars for a while. It started with the Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid EV, and now my day to day commuting car is a Nissan LEAF SL with Chademo DC quick charge. 

I often encounter confused people at the DC quick charging stations.  It's not their fault, I don't think any of them are dumb people, and I have had my share of frustrations too.  There is a lot of differences from one DC charger to the next. Some only work on a smartphone app that you may or may not be familiar with. Some of those apps use NFC tap, some QR codes, some ask you to punch in a charger ID number, some just ask you to find where you are on a Google map.  Some chargers take credit cards but the process is usually several steps longer than it should be, some require payment to be made at a separate kiosk somewhere nearby. 

Why? I don't know. I guess charger manufacturers have never bought gas before. Someone needs to make one that operates on the same workflow as a standard gas pump (the pay at the pump kind of course).  Just swipe your credit card (or dip the chip and punch in the PIN) add on the option to tap a membership card or NFC phone etc. to get a discount just like with the Esso PayPass and make big f@%king buttons for Chademo and SAE/CCS ala the high and low octane and diesel buttons on a gas pump... basically just clone an Esso pump.

Actually, screw the CHAdeMO and CCS buttons just start negotiation on both cords and power up whichever cord you get a reply back from the car on. The user doesn't need to select that, the machine can figure it out all on it's own. It could be... SHOULD be... easier than pumping gas.

You can still have it send stats to the phone if you tapped for payment and give membership discounts. Other than the live update charging stats Esso and many other gas Co.s already have this down pat. They've already done the 80 years of user interface research so that the EV charger folks don't have to but for some reason every company thinks they need to reinvent the wheel.

EV Charger folks, YOU are the ones who are going to be holding back adoption of electric cars the most. You could make it really simple, but somehow none of you have yet (save Tesla, who only serve Tesla drivers. 

....Psst Tesla, I have an idea for you guys too. Since you seem to be keen on making yourselves into an energy company who just happen to make cars... make a smart adapter to go from Tesla Supercharger to CHAdeMO or CCS combo. When you plug the adapter in have it provide the VIN ID to the Supercharger to set who's account to bill it to, and translate the Tesla negotiation protocol to CHAdeMO or CCS. Sure it'll be an expensive gizmo to have in the trunk of my LEAF, but since no one else is building DCFC stations in some of the places I'd like to have them, I'd gladly pay for that adapter.

Goodbye EMET, dear old friend

Well, I knew this was coming, just not so soon.
Microsoft announced a little while ago that they were going to kill off MS Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET)  EMET is supposed to reach end of life on July 31, 2018. but since I am on the Windows Insider track I got an update this week and after the reboot Windows informed me that it had removed EMET as it is no longer compatible.

The good news is that MS has given us a replacement. The new application is called Windows Defender Exploit Guard. It is possible to convert existing EMET configurations from the EMET xml format to the new Defender format, so there is no reason that IT divisions will have to go with out protection as you should be able to install the latest Insider Preview and test the converted ruleset with your applications now, well ahead of the fall update that is expected to roll out this change to the general populace.

Electric cars and their effects on the local economy

I am on my 3rd electric vehicle.
First, when my wife was unemployed and still working on her drivers license I bought an electric bike. Not a motorcycle, that would be cool, but not as practical, but one of the Vespa scooter styled e-bikes. Basically a low powered (32km/h limited) electric moped. This got her to and from appointments and once she was licensed I started leaving my Jeep at home and riding the bike to work. The idea then was to have a cheap ~$1400 mode of transport that filled a need for something better than transit but less effort than a bicycle.

Next up, when she found a job in Toronto and needed a car we got a Chevy Volt. This let us benefit from overnight charging in the garage for pennies but still worked like a normal car for long distance travel. Originally I was going to drive this, so I was looking for something fun and comfortable for me to drive back and forth to work, and she would take the Jeep. She convinced me though that it made more sense for her to take the Volt as a daily commuting car, as she had a longer commute, so she should have the more efficient car. Plus, she had the opportunity to plug in in the staff parking garage at work to charge up for the return trip for free.

Now, this summer the Jeep hit 10 years old, and while I had upgraded the infotainment technology from AM/FM CD player and Aux input jack to an Android based stereo with AM/FM, Every type of Media file, Audio Books, podcasting, and of course GPS, it was time to give the old Jeep a new home and find something newer. I shopped around a bit and found a nice used Nissan LEAF from 2012. At first I was going to wait till next summer and get a Chevy Bolt or Tesla Model 3 or something, but I found that a used LEAF or Mitsubishi iMiEV could be had for a monthly payment of less than the Jeep's gas, so it was kind of a no-brainer to grab one of those as essentially a "free" upgrade to a 5 years newer car rather than continue to maintain the Jeep.

Anyway, on to the point of this whole post. As a new driver of a fully 100% electric car I've become much more of a user of PlugShare, and in thinking about how I might stretch the use of this low range EV to go places that are a little further away, I find that I am starting to feel like one of the early pioneers of automobile travel. You see back in the day when gas powered cars were kind of new, automobile associations popped up and started publishing maps and guides for travel in North America. These maps and guides brought people into small towns that didn't see a lot of outsiders, either for the sights, or for some good food that the travel guides recommended, or for a service station stop. PlugShare (and other similar EV charging map apps) fills the role of the automobile association maps and guides back then, but in a way that we are used to consuming info like that now. I find myself looking at routes to places I like to go that hit locations of Level 3 DC Fast charging stations. Then I find I'll hit Google Maps to zoom into a charging location and see what kind of restaurants and other things are in that area. Often these are areas that I would just drive on past in my previous gas cars, but because I'm a bit more limited in range and because there are not yet charging stations on every corner, it is interesting to see how my travel habits change and how it seems to echo those early days of car travel. Places I never would have thought to stop before are now destinations to explore. This is why small towns looking to boost their economy should invest in a 50KW or better charger or two. More and more people are hopping on the EV bandwagon, and with Tesla's Model 3 starting to come out and the blast of major manufacturers announcements that they are going to move seriously into EVs and plugin hybrids in the upcoming years, getting in on this now makes a lot of sense. The first wave of EV drivers are invariably upper middle class folks with a bit of extra cash to spend. The price of these vehicles has kind of forced that. Having these somewhat wealthy people stop in your town for a half hour or more on their way to somewhere else means that they are going to look around, at least grab a quick bite to eat, maybe explore some of the more unique shops your town has that they would never have noticed otherwise.

Forget the big switch from foreign oil to domestic electricity and how that effects the economy, there is a swing happening in how these new EV drivers think about travel and this more relaxed approach to it. Instead of driving like crazy along the fastest highway and only stopping if you have to at a highway rest stop to fuel up and maybe grab a sandwich, EV drivers are more likely to plan out a route that takes them down back roads and into small towns If you can get them to stop and fill up in your town you win. Unlike a gas station where the driver needs to stand watch over the pump while filling up, EV charging stations need the driver only to start the charge and then walk away and enjoy the sights and probably do some shopping for a while while the car fills itself up with power for the next leg of the journey.