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StromAmpel: An application using an AZ-Delivery ESP8266MOD 12-F to display the current electricity mix for Germany in a traffic light kind of way (codeberg.org)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Inspired by this Mastodon account, I programmed an ESP8266 microcontroller to act as a traffic light, indicating the current electricity mix. Check it out on Codeberg! It uses an API from the Fraunhofer Institute and the parts cost around 5€. In my shared flat we use it as an indicator on when to run demanding devices, like the washing machine.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

We don't need that around here, 10PM to 7AM electricity is half price. Sunday all day as well. That's about all I need to know.

Good project though 👍. See if you can make it completely free of charge (without paying those 5 euros).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

By saying that it cost around 5€ I meant that the material to build this cost me around 5€. I would happily set them up for free if one gave me the material for free, but the microcontroller and so on do cost some money.

The API and (of course) the source code are free (as in freedom, being AGPL licensed). And since I did my best to document it well and provide easy to follow instructions in the README, I do think I managed to make it free as in freedom.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Oh, sorry, didn't understand it like that 😁... thought that was the price of the license for the library 😁.

Of course, the parts come at a price, no surprise there 😂.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Free as in freedom, not free beer. Its understandable why a dev might do that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

That is what I was implying as well. If it's open source, it doesn't mean it's free (as in freedom). Make it free (as in freedom), which would imply that it doesn't have to cost anything, if you have the knowhow.