[PLUG-TALK] Emporia VUE 3 boo hoo

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

Keith,

For $80 you can buy a cheap refurb cell phone off Amazon then associate it
to a wifi signal in your basement, then run the Emporia app on that.  It's a
common mistake people make to assume that a cell phone must be associated to
a cell tower with a telephone number and all that, to be useful.  Nowadays
there's a ton of apps people have written to repurpose cell phones into
security cameras, TV remote controls, etc.

For example, I have 40 of these phones at my employer all lacking SIM cards,
all on the wifi at a location, being used as walki-talkis, essentially CB
radios.  Except that of course they are 1000 times more reliable than an
actual hand held Radio Shack plastic piece of junk/white noise source....

I forsee in the not too distant future that custom-manufactured handheld
electronic gadgets devices such as automobile key fobs, TV remote controls,
garage door openers, etc. - will all be replaced by cell phone smart phones.
If you can bring yourself to overcome the automatic assumption that they
must have cell accounts, they are an amazingly cheap and powerful handheld
computer.

And, another thing to overcome is the battery replacement fear thing.  Cell
phones are incredibly easy to open and replace batteries in.  All you need
is a hot pad, and an assortment of plastic crowbars, pry bars, and specialty
screwdrivers - all of which are included with the replacement batteries,
which are quite cheap off Amazon - and patience and gentleness.  There are
even specialty tools that are not that expensive that are designed to split
the case without prying.  You just lay the phone on a hot pad at 80c for 10
minutes, pick it up, insert it into the vice, close the lever and reopen and
the phone is apart and you can replace the battery.

Ted

-----Original Message-----
From: PLUG-talk <plug-talk-bounces at lists.pdxlinux.org> On Behalf Of Keith
Lofstrom
Sent: Tuesday, February 3, 2026 9:35 PM
To: Plug Talk list <plug-talk at lists.pdxlinux.org>
Subject: [PLUG-TALK] Emporia VUE 3 boo hoo

After clearing many non-maskable-life-interrupts (second eye surgery for
wife on Monday, great outcome), I spent Tuesday attempting to configure the
stock Emporia VUE 3 that I purchased in December.

The hardware looks good, installing it in the basement load center went OK
--- BUT there's no "smart" phone radio signal reception down there. 

Configuration (and seemingly long term usage) requires a "smart phone" ...
which I cannot use (proprioception and privacy and closed-source issues). 

When I need power monitoring most in the future will be when the grid is
down and internet is disrupted.
Allocating limited home generator kilowatts and finite generator fuel should
be data driven.

Emporia's "we own your data" business model also SUCKS.

I hoped I could get it working the EMPORIA WAY, then reverse engineer the
packet stream ... there are hints online that others have done so, without
encryption barriers.  Perhaps that's an earlier version of the VUE.

----

So - I either remove the VUE and attempt to return it ...
or I reflash it, void the warranty, and possibly brick it, after way too
much time learning what to do.

Other PLUG adepts have reflashed their VUE 3 successfully.
Is anyone willing to reflash mine and explain the new features, perhaps in
return for my "fix ancient electronics"
tools and skills?   Or I write a document clearly explaining
the reflash procedure and new features and behaviors for the rest of PLUG
and the world?

Keith L.

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com
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