Category Archives: Hardware

Everything related to physical devices/objects

Planned Obsolescence or Happy Accidents?

After I’ve now had the second device with some design flaw that causes it to fail just slightly outside of the warranty period, I wanted to write down my experiences. Synology DS415+ and the Intel Atom C2000 clock signal issue Back in January 2015, I’ve bought a Synology DiskStation DS415+. It came with 2 years… Read More: Planned Obsolescence or Happy Accidents? »

ISDT C4 EVO battery charger firmware downgrade

A while ago, I’ve bought the ISDT C4 EVO USB-C-powered battery charger to replace my MAHA C9000 (of which there seems to be a new “Pro” model available). The ISDT charger gets regular firmware updates which add new features and optimises the charging modes for different battery chemistries. Up until firmware 1.0.44, everything worked fine.… Read More: ISDT C4 EVO battery charger firmware downgrade »

ConBee II firmware update via Home Assistant / ZHA

I’m using a ConBee II Zigbee stick by Dresden Elektronik but switched from their own Phoscon/deCONZ software to the Home Assistant ZHA integration. While I didn’t have any issues with my few Zigbee devices, today, I’ve noticed that there’s a newer firmware available for my ConBee stick. Usually, the firmware update is handled by the… Read More: ConBee II firmware update via Home Assistant / ZHA »