iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

My old PhD supervisor Dr Wim Melis has recently launched a podcast with other scientists examining the role of science in society. @scirltypod.bsky.social #science

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

One day I'm going to build something properly. But not today.

A home-made eclipse viewing platform consisting of a telescope, gaffer tape and lots of cardboard. A cat looks on disapprovingly.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

You've gotta love free energy. #off-grid

Process control page for my solar PV off-grid system. Shown are 5 banks of solar panels feeding a battery bank and 2 inverters. One of the inverters is shown charging an electric vehicle. Also shown, but inactive, are a wind generator and a water-wheel generator.

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Reposted by Peter Jones

Angela Jones @clutterbunny.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Watermelon is a great treat on a hot day 🍉🐔

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

The catch-22 is that when ambient temperatures are high - precisely when you need solar power most to run air conditioning day and night, along with everything else - the panels produce less. D’oh! bsky.app/profile/drof...

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Yesterday's solar graph illustrates nicely what happens when clouds clear and the sun actually hits PV solar panels. The cool panels initially produce a high current, but as they quickly warm up their efficiency degrades. 1/2

A graph of solar output for 4 sets of PV solar panels. There isn't much energy produced until midday when the cloud clears. The panels then appear to produce a spike in energy, which tails off as they warm.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

At the present moment in the SE, according to the met office (and the BBC) it should be bright, unoccluded sunshine.

Wide-angle view of a green field with trees in the distance taken at 11am on 23/06/26. The sky is covered in dark grey cloud having just dumped rain onto an area as far as the eye can see.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

One minor downside to the mass migration to renewables over the past couple of months is that PV panels and LiFePO4 cells are now at 150% and 145% pf their March prices respectively. I say 'minor' because if it means more people are off the black stuff, then I'm OK with that.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Did you know that in their language, cats have no word for "no"

My cat Fraxi 'helping' me code by sitting on my lap, relegating the keyboard to my chest

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Now regretting making the prototype the same size as the final product. #fatfingers

A stupidly small pcb packed full of spaces for stupidly small components. Also pictured are a pair of tweezers, an imaging sensor and a soldering iron tip that might as well be a 6 inch nail.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Recapping an old inverter. They'd had it.

Inside of an older type mains inverter showing one of the PCBs. The big electrolytic tank caps show signs of over pressure. A hand with two of the replacements is shown in the foreground.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

When you're off-grid and reliant on stored solar energy, do you install enough PV panels to cope with winter and waste the extra output in summer? Auto-charging an electric car with any surplus makes the car part of the Battery Management System, protecting my meagre 26kWh battery with a 90kWh sink.

A 7kW electric vehicle charger mounted to the outside of my solar power station. The station houses a 26kW battery bank, 3 inverters and control electronics. Part of a solar PV array is visible in the bottom-right.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

WindMonitor v1.0 A Darrieus VAWT mounted to a soil pipe mast on a wheeled IBC base, + long range telemetry and a PTZ camera. Cobbled-together it may be, but it has just completed 6 months' service providing daily wind data in the top field. Next, a version that might actually generate electricity.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Testing out a new 4kW array prior to loading onto a tracking mount. Now I just need to work out a tracking mount.

A 10x2 array of black 200w solar panels with clouds, sky and a tree reflecting on the faces.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

I wanted to see if electronics design is going down the same AI drain that way software engineering appears to be, so I tried flux.ai. Short story even shorter: We're fine. They did, however, get the engineering behaviour right in that it ignored what I was saying and did its own thing anyway ..

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Fed up with your cheap security camera's buggy, half-arsed software? Can't trust it not to P2P your images around the world? Then buy one for £18, rip out the electronics and replace them with your own. This prototype is plain ESP32-based, but the final design will be an S3 on a custom PCB.

A wifi outdoor camera lying on a workmat. The front face has been removed an placed to the side. The innards are on display, showing a hand-wired pcb and multicolour wiring.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Well, someone's enjoying the sunshine :)

My cat, Fraxi, lying down in the autumn leaves with her fluffy white belly in the air. A leaf has just landed on her and she's oblivious.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Washing machine gave up a few days ago. The BLDC Motor controller was to blame - 20 days and £160 for a full replacement, so decided to repair. Getting the thing out and removing the 3mm conformal coating on both sides of the PCB for diagnosing and H-Bridge replacement made me wish I hadn't.

Printed Circuit Board mostly covered in transparent rubber, but with some crudely removed so that I could remove a component.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

I've been meaning to get this little lot together in one place for some time now.

A weather-proof box shown open. It contains an MF286D 4G router, a barebones 2.4/5Ghz WiFi router, a Raspberry Pi 4 server and various power conditioning and ADC PCBs.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

What’s common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? Some computer Flash Memory relies on electrons 'magically' transporting from one side of an insulator to another via quantum tunnelling.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

I just found one of my original photos of the fingertip. Even in 2017 it was possible to squeeze a MEMS pressure sensor, temperature sensor, microphone, opamp and ADC onto this tiny PCB. Around the outside is wound a nichrome heater. The 'skin' is moulded RTV silicone.

Robotic fingertip sensor - electronics on the left, moulded rubber fingertip 'skin' on the right.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

I love it when I can re-purpose an old PCB for a new project. This is a prototype water quality (TDS) sensor. The electronics were originally part of a biomimetic robotic fingertip sensor that I designed nearly a decade ago. It has a nice low-noise op-amp and I2C ADC on it which found use here.

A small piece of 15mm plastic pipe with 6mm push-fit couplings at either end and stainless steel probes pushed through in the middle. The probes are connected to a voltage follower and ADC on the repurposed PCB and the I2C interface is bought out to a 4 wire ribbon cable at the top. It is shown next to a UK penny for scale.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Everything's getting smaller, except my fingers :(

Picture of a tiny TMP117 temperature sensor on a PCB that was the devil's own job to solder down.

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Reposted by Peter Jones

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 02/03/2025

I prefer my version, Elon.

A tweet by Elon Musk with the trolleycar Meme. Zelensky (spelled wrong) is depicted as holding a lever that could stop the tram from killing people.

The caption reads, "You can stop the tram at any moment, but you refuse because you need guarantees that it won't start moving again in a few years".

A remake of the same meme, except not it's Putin at the Lever and the caption reads, "It's your tram and you can stop it at any time, but you refuse because you're confident the US government is coming to help push."

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Eu-Can has a bit of a ring to it, don't you think?

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Good times. bsky.app/profile/drof...

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Thanks MapQuest! gulfof.mapquest.com

Referring to the idiotic and unilateral US renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, a map now renamed 'Gulf of Intellectual Famine' courtesy of MapQuest

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Bloody hell, Canadian Bacon (1995) was a bit prescient wasn't it? www.imdb.com/title/tt0109...

imdb.com

Canadian Bacon (1995) ⭐ 5.9 | Action, Comedy

1h 31m | PG

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

They may have had their wobbles in the past, but frankly I don't think the Nobel Committee are that dumb.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Feels like a slow-motion car crash being played at Benny Hill speed.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Quick and cheap ESP32 USB programmer made from an old NodeMCU D1 I had kicking around. Just remove the ESP8266 keeping the parts associated with the CH340. Only needs using for the original programming - all updates via OTA.

A printed circuit board with just the ESP32-WROOM-32E module mounted, together with its programming header. The mutilated, but newly functional D1 programmer lies ready to be plugged in..

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Reposted by Peter Jones

Gary Swergold MD, PhD @gs314.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

🧪 If I were Canadian PM I would immediately: 1. Create a new $15B science fund 2. Offer any credentialed US scientist funding for lab startup and replacement of NIH grants if they move to Canada 3. Immediate permanent residency 4. Citizenship after 2 years Overnight a science superpower

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Whoever thought USB-C was going to standardise anything other than power was a gaslighting bastard.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

3 years behind the curve, my new Rokid Air AR glasses arrived today (AliExpress £133 excl, although once in the UK they were given to Evri, so obvs lost, found & delayed for a week before they got to me).

A pair of Rokid Air Augmented Reality glasses sitting on a desk looking suspiciously like sunglasses. I like the look.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Deactivated my X account today. Can't I be on-time for anything? www.helloquitx.com

helloquitx.com

HelloQuitX - Let's Quit X together]

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

7 years later, and the Farm's IoT process controllers get a much needed upgrade.

A rendering of a bare-bones PCB from 7 years ago. It was used as an Intranet of Things Controller for various tasks around the farm. The design shows its age because the wifi and embedded processor are separate modules.

v2.0 of the IoT board 7 years later. The processor is now integrated with the wireless radios (Wifi & Bluetooth) on an ESP32 module. It now features a modern black PCB, instead of being limited to the green of the past. Connector layout is neatly organised right around the edges as before but now in the form of quick-release plugs.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

A someone who grew up alongside misaligned R,G and B guns, the TikTok logo is still triggering even now.

media.tenor.com

a tik tok logo with a glitch effect

ALT: a tik tok logo with a glitch effect

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

It's almost there, but I can't get the fluff just right.

My kitten Fraxi sitting in a 3D printer looking like she is just hot off the press.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

I had some spare ESP8266s knocking about so to take up even more of my non-existent spare time I decided on making my own tree lights. I know. Why, right?

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

#Evri - Thought I'd follow this up with what happened next: I did as they requested, sent the info and got a call back asking for exactly the same info as I'd sent. Then nothing. No advice, no communication, no difference, nothing. I now have 6 parcels outstanding .. :( bsky.app/profile/evri...

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Is there a way of getting #AliExpress to not use #Evri for UK deliveries? Thousands of miles of travel, and Evri consistently have problems with the last 5.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

QNED displays - Does the room get darker when you switch them on?

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

I found an old i386 mini laptop and thought I'd give it a new lease of life with Linux Ubuntu or Mint. I hadn't realised 32-bit images were discontinued in 2017.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

I can't wait for the EV interior design language to change. Bring back displays that look like they were designed in with the car rather than hot-glued in as an afterthought.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

I'd though about coding an application to control room lighting for the different phones used by my family. But it was easier to generate a web-page served by the local server that they could access via their phone's web browser.

A mobile interface for controlling room lighting. It has a couple of slider, buttons for power, favourite etc, all with a blue starry background.

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Peter Jones @droffgrid.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

I developed under Windows for more than 35 years until I had my Linux epiphany 2 years ago. I'm not saying that was time wasted, but I wish I'd given in earlier.

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