Category: technology
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Idea collection: Electric wheelchair hacking
Just a quick brain dump: more and less useful things you can do with the components of an old electric wheelchair (usually two 24 V DC geared electric motors of 200-400 W each, a motor controller, and batteries). Telepresence robot for tele-farming. The robot would have a video camera and a high resolution still image […]
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Freedom as in free trash
So I just finished another little project: my new entrance ladder. Ok, let's say it's finished except for a layer of paint, as always. All paint jobs pile up for when I have no urgent needs and will start to care how things actually look 😛 This shows the truck's right side, with the door […]
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Not so normal living conditions
So this is my home now, a 4×4 ex-firefighter truck from 1976. Bit older photo, but from the outside it still looks like this. Except it has a licence plate, means it’s street legal now. It’s misssing some creative lettering though. I plan to write “UM” on it’s side in big black letters one day, […]
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What powerline adapter to use that can be fully managed under Linux?
Powerline is a technology for transmitting data over the AC grid. All devices provide an RJ45 Ethernet plug (and some also wifi and USB), so they support client devices of all operating systems. Basic configuration of encryption is likewise OS independent, as nearly all of them use a "pairing" button for that. However, to set […]
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How to dimension a stand-alone photovoltaics installation?
This applies for example when you want to add a photovoltaics installation to your campervan, expedition vehicle, garden hut, off-grid house or similar. For having enough electricity year-round from photovoltaics alone, battery size and module size have to be properly dimensioned. The best tool I found for this is the European Commission JRC's PV potential […]
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How to get low health insurance fees for self-employed people in Germany?
Disclaimer due to legal implications: The following is not to be understood as legal or tax advice. I just document what I found out by my own research for myself, not intending that you try to do it likewise. There is no warranty for adequacy, correctness, or anything else. As a practicioner of a voluntary […]
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How to get health insurance for Germans abroad?
This is quite some stuff to work through, because everything in Germany is complex 😀 Travel health insurance or the foreign national health insurance? This will depend on the legislation in that country, and on what type of job status you will have there. For example for Spain, when being employed or self-employed there, you have to […]