Gadget Review: Windfall Energy Saving Plug (Beta)

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/03/gadget-review-windfall-energy-saving-plug-beta/

The good folks at Windfall Energy have sent me one of their interesting new plugs to beta test.

OK, an Internet connected smart plug. What's so interesting about that?

Our Windfall Plug turns on at the optimal times in the middle of the night to charge and power your devices with green energy.

Ah! Now that is interesting.

The proposition is brilliantly simple:

1. Connect the smart-plug to your WiFi.
2. Plug your bike / laptop / space heater into the smart-plug.
3. When electricity is cleanest, the smart-plug automatically switches on.

The first thing to get out of the way is, yes, you could build this yourself. If you're happy re-flashing firmware, mucking about with NodeRED, and integrating carbon intensity APIs with your HomeAssistant running on a Rasbperry Pi - then this isn't for you.

This is a plug-n-play(!) solution for people who don't want to have to manually update their software because of a DST change.

Beta

This is a beta product. It isn't yet available. Some of the things I'm reviewing will change. You can join the waitlist for more information.

Connecting

The same as every other IoT device. Connect to its local WiFi network from your phone. Tell it which network to connect to and a password. Done.

If you run into trouble, there's a handy help page.

Website

Not much too it at the moment - because it is in beta - but it lets you name the plug and control it.

Turning the plug on and off is a single click. Setting it to "Windfall Mode" turns on the magic. You can also fiddle about with a few settings.

The names and icons would be useful if you had a dozen of these. I like the fact that you can change how long the charging cycle is. 30 minutes might be enough for something low power, but something bigger may need longer.

One thing to note, you can control it by pressing a button on the unit or you can toggle its power from the website. If you manually turn it on or off you will need to manually toggle it back to Windfall mode using the website.

There's also a handy - if slightly busy - graph which shows you the upcoming carbon intensity of the UK grid.

You can also monitor the energy draw of devices connected to it. Handy to see just how much electricity and CO2 emissions a device is burning through.

That's it. For a beta product, there's a decent amount of functionality. There's nothing extraneous like Alexa integration. Ideally this is the sort of thing you configure once, and then leave behind a cupboard for years.

Is it worth it?

I think this is an extremely useful device with a few caveats.

Firstly, how much green energy are you going to use? Modern phones have pretty small batteries. Using this to charge your phone overnight is a false economy. Charging an eBike or similar is probably worthwhile. Anything with a decent-sized battery is a good candidate.

Secondly, will your devices work with it? Most things like air-conditioners or kettles don't turn on from the plug alone. Something like a space-heater is perfect for this sort of use - as soon as the switch is flicked, they start working.

Thirdly, what's the risk of only supplying power for a few hours overnight? I wouldn't recommend putting a chest-freezer on this (unless you like melted and then refrozen ice-cream). But for a device with a battery, it is probably fine.

Fourthly, it needs a stable WiFi connection. If its connection to the mothership stops, it loses Windfall mode. It can still be manually controlled - but it will need adequate signal on a reliable connection to be useful.

Finally, as with any Internet connected device, you introduce a small security risk. This doesn't need local network access, so it can sit quite happily on a guest network without spying on your other devices. But you do give up control to a 3rd party. If they got hacked, someone could turn off your plugs or rapidly power-cycle them. That may not be a significant issue, but one to bear in mind.

If you're happy with that (and I am) then I think this is simple way to take advantage of cheaper, greener electricity overnight. Devices like these use barely any electricity while in standby - so if you're on a dynamic pricing tariff, it won't cost you much to run.

Interested?

You can join the waitlist for more information.

Why do all my home appliances sound like R2-D2?

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/03/why-do-all-my-home-appliances-sound-like-r2-d2/

I have an ancient Roomba. A non-sentient robot vacuum cleaner which only speaks in monophonic beeps.

At least, that's what I thought. A few days ago my little cybernetic helper suddenly started speaking!

Download this audio file.

Not exactly a Shakespearean soliloquy, but a hell of a lot better than trying to decipher BIOS beep codes.

All of my electronics beep at me. My dishwasher screams a piercing tone to let me know it has completed a wash cycle. My kettle squarks mournfully whenever it is boiled. The fridge howls in protest when it has been left open too long. My microwave sings the song of its people to let me know dinner is ready. And they all do it with a series of tuneless beeps. It is maddening.

Which brings me on to Star Wars.

Why does the character of Artoo-Detoo only speak in beeps?

Here's how we're introduced to him0 in the original script:

                THREEPIO        We're doomed!The little R2 unit makes a series of electronic sounds that only another robot could understand.                THREEPIO        There'll be no escape for the Princess         this time.Artoo continues making beeping sounds

There are a few possibilities. Firstly, perhaps his hardware doesn't have a speaker which supports human speech?

Artoo demonstrably has a speaker which is capable of producing a wide range of sounds. So perhaps he isn't capable of complex symbolic thought?

This exchange from Empire Strikes Back proves otherwise.

INT.  LUKE'S X-WING - COCKPITLuke, looking thoughtful, suddenly makes a decision.  He flips several switches.  The stars shift as he takes his fighter into a steep turn.  The X-wing banks sharply and flies away in a new direction.The monitor screen on Luke's control panel prints out a question from the concerned Artoo.                LUKE            (into comlink)        There's nothing wrong, Artoo.        I'm just setting a new course.Artoo beeps once again.                LUKE            (into comlink)        We're not going to regroup with         the others.Artoo begins a protest, whistling an unbelieving, "What?!"Luke reads Artoo's exclamation on his control panel.

It could be that Artoo can't speak the same language as the other humans. C-3PO boasts that he is fluent in over 6 million forms of communication1 - so it is possible that Artoo can speak but just can't speak out language2.

Speech synthesis is complicated but playback is simple. Artoo can play recordings. His memory could be stuffed full of useful phrases which he could blast out when necessary. So perhaps he only has limited memory and doesn't have the space for a load of MP3s?

Except, of course, his memory is big enough for "a complete technical readout" of the Death Star. That's got to be be be a chunky torrent, right?

The only reasonable conclusion we can come to is that R2-D2 is a slave3. Sentient organics apparently hold some deep-seated prejudices against robots and "their kind".

The Star Wars universe obviously has a version of this meme:

Which brings me back to my home appliances.

This isn't a technology problem. Back in the 1980s microcomputers had passible speech synthesis on crappy little speakers. Using modern codecs like Opus means that pre-recorded voices take up barely any disk space.

The problem is: do I want them to talk to me?

• When I'm upstairs, I can just about hear a shrill beep from the kitchen. Will I hear "washing cycle now completed" as clearly?
• Would a manufacturer bother to localise the voice so it is in my regional language or accent?
• Is hearing a repetitive voice more or less annoying than a series of beeps?
• If the appliance can't listen to my voice, does it give the impression that it is ordering me around?
• Do I feel a misplaced sense of obligation when inanimate objects act like living creatures?

It is clear that the technology exists. Cheap home appliances have more than enough processing power to play a snippet of audio through a tiny speaker. But perhaps modern humans find something uncanny about soulless boxes conversing with us as equals?

0. Is R2 a boy? ↩︎

1. Including Welsh! ↩︎

2. The more terrifying thought is that Artoo can speak, but simply chooses not to speak to the likes of us. ↩︎

3. C-3PO and a few other droids are elevated - similar to the Roman concept of Freedmen. ↩︎