Blog

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Write-ups on home automation, Kubernetes side projects, and things I've taken apart or reverse-engineered.

September 23, 2026

Introducing OpenZEV

If you share one grid connection with your neighbours — a “ZEV” (Zusammenschluss zum Eigenverbrauch) or “vZEV” in Swiss terminology — someone has to work out who owes what for the solar that was produced and consumed behind that single...

September 22, 2026

Reverse-Engineering My Ökoboiler's Internal UART Bus

My Ökoboiler heat-pump water heater is an older generation with zero connectivity — no WiFi, no app, no API. Inside, two circuit boards, a display/operation panel on the front and the main control board, talk to each other over a...

September 21, 2026

Three Small Kubernetes Tools Born From Real Annoyances

Not every project needs a grand plan. These three came out of specific problems I ran into — some in my homelab, some during my day job as a Platform Architect — and each one just solves that problem and...

September 20, 2026

Bridging digitalSTROM to the Rest of My Smart Home

digitalSTROM is a Swiss home automation system built around smart relays wired directly into the electrical installation — solid for switching and metering, but an island on its own unless something bridges it to everything else. That bridge is a...