new tech warcrime

ppl always complain that the clock on my microwave never shows the right time bcs i cant be assed to set it manually

so now i have an unfuck-microwave.sh cronjob which briefly kills its power every day at midnight
@snow why not hack the lcd to have ntp
@snow This is definitely the right way to solve this problem 👍
@snow Due to how fast and far my microwave clock drifts, this might actually get it to keep better time
@snow
That's wonderful!
Cursed and unholy, but wonderful.
@silvermoon82 @snow Definitely cursed, definitely genius.
@snow yooooo I got to do this, that's genius

(mine has the same problem)
@snow some day you're going to be reheating some midnight snack and click
@sijmen @snow Maybe the plug has a power meter? If so, you could skip power cycling it if it's drawing nontrivial amount of current.
@sijmen
The type of smart home I wanna have some day
@snow

@snow I think you mean that you invented a nonstandard clock synchronization method that keeps your legacy appliances in sync via a novel NTP-based wireless signalling method.

Patent that shit!

@varx @snow since snow already publicly posted about this, it can't be patented anymore 
Language. If you want linked in, you know where to find it. @snow @varx
@BenAveling @snow 🤔 can't tell if you object to the cursing or the corporate jargon.
@snow I love this solution
Big shame that my microwave will show a different state for unset clock
@snow beautifully genius thing to automate. i love engineers

@snow make the sleep 10 instead of 5 and push the cron back a minute

now it's not gonna bother you that it's 5 seconds behind everything else

@snow at my mum's house, the breaker will trip if you turn on the kettle and microwave at the same time
So I have a power monitoring smart plug for each, and when one detects a spike, it turns off the other until it goes away
the microwave beeps a lot and never has correct time 
@izzy @snow people would do anything to avoid paying electricians 
@snowy @snow $35 smart plugs vs $15,000 to re-wire the house 
@izzy @snow australian prices are terrifying
@izzy @snow @snowy You could use one of those circuit adapters cords for the oven plug. Of course cords & extensions in that wattage cost a fortune but still at least two magnitudes less than the re-wiring.
@snow zayumm what smart plug thing is that?
Nous A7Z control via MQTT | Zigbee2MQTT

Integrate your Nous A7Z via Zigbee2MQTT with whatever smart home infrastructure you are using without the vendor's bridge or gateway.

@snow I do this with my raspberry pi because it loses WiFi after about 24 hours of running straight 
@[email protected] I discovered I could just cancel out of my microwave's requests to set the time, and now it doesn't show the time at all!

@snow

This gave me a big laugh. Thank you.

@snow HAHAHA OMFG I LOVE THAT IDEA  
@snow oh btw thanks for the recommendation for the zigbee plugs. they are great! i have already 6 of them 
@snow this is the closest we have to microwave-ntp
@snow *equal parts horror and admiration*
@snow this is brilliant
@snow “we have home automation at home”
@snow @jonathonschuler Cool. Is the next step to check if the microwave is drawing power before cycling, in case you're is making a midnight snack?
@snow Lol, that's genius. 😂

@snow The network gateway of our central heating only had Wifi (Vaillant enshittified its LAN port away because who doesn't have Wifi in their basement /s), and fell out of the network every couple of days, without reconnecting.

So until our plumber found a pre-enshittification box for us, I had the gateway on a similar setup, just that my script triggered the power cycle whenever the gateway wasn't reachable for 6 minutes

@ysegrim oh yeah this is such a common problem that there are entire product lines for it, like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keep-Connect-Connectivity-Required-Necessary/dp/B0CG1542V5/ref=sr_1_2
Keep Connect Router Wi-Fi Reset Device, Monitors Connectivity and Resets When Required. No App Necessary. If you enter a phone number it will send texts upon resets.: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Free delivery and returns on eligible orders. Buy Keep Connect Router Wi-Fi Reset Device, Monitors Connectivity and Resets When Required. No App Necessary. If you enter a phone number it will send texts upon resets. at Amazon UK.

@snow @neil
The thermostat on my refrigerator failed.

There are so many models of 'stat that I can't find a proper replacement.

My solution was to hardwire it closed circuit (so the compressor runs continuously) then use a smart switch (much like yours) to switch it on for 15 minutes every hour.

In the summer I extend the time to 20 minutes every hour.

Two years on, it still works, the fridge thermometer is steady around 4C, and we've not got food poisoning yet ...

@sheddi @snow @neil Ditto mine.

Thermostat failed on, though, so nothing needed doing internally; just an external smart switch (Sonoff TH16) with a DS18B20 temperature sensor stuck in through the fridge door seal. ESPHome code to turn the fridge on and off at reasonable temperatures.

Only downside: fridge light doesn't come on when it's not running.

Using a temperature sensor, rather than just timing, is a plus when putting a load of shopping in to get it back down to sensible temperatures in a reasonable amount of time.

@sheddi score one for open-loop control! :D
@snow Brilliant. Utterly brilliant. 😆
@snow next is software war crimes: microwave that syncs time over radio frequenz or some ntp shenanigans.

Also its so funny to me that you would do this this instead if just setting the fucking time manually. Truely hacker miss "Oh I am no real hacker" snow. Just stop lying to yourself lol.

gg this is too much fun still.