An iroh powered smart fan

https://www.iroh.computer/blog/an-iroh-powered-smart-fan

by surprisetalk • 15 days ago

168 55 15 days ago

This is interesting as an example of just how complicated and elaborate a toolchain you can use to build something dead simple.

There’s a lot that comes for free by adding all these libraries and crates and steps. But from what I can tell it comes down to:

let _ = if fan_on { fan.set_high() } else { fan.set_low() };

klooj• 12 days ago

iroh is a peer to peer networking technology so the project example of controlling a fan isn't so much about the fan but rather that it's controllable from anywhere through an esp32 microcontroller that can maintain a resilient connection endpoint even through power cycles and so on. I think iroh was posted about on HN a few weeks ago and I had a similar reaction of like...what in the world is this blog post even saying haha. But I found their docs page and found it pretty fascinating learning! https://docs.iroh.computer/what-is-iroh

rwmj3• 12 days ago

I use a fan with an on/off button.

aquariusDue• 12 days ago

Works on Android too when developing Dart applications and making use of flutter_rust_bridge though it's a bit of an involved setup to be honest.

I really hope more people will play around with iroh and build stuff especially because in the last year some things have been renamed in the API to be more clear and other stuff has been simplified e.g. see this blog post https://www.iroh.computer/blog/iroh-0-94-0-the-endpoint-take...

miki1232112• 12 days ago

The hard part isn't controlling the fan, it's controlling the fan from anywhere, without a central server in the way.

Sure, you could probably make this much smaller if you invented a specialized p2p fan control protocol, but that's a lot of work.

quickthrowman2• 11 days ago

The simple way to do this is a dumb thermostat wired through a relay coil that enables a fan. It doesn’t give you remote access to change the setpoint but that’s all this setup does. Something like this has a setpoint you change once and then leave it.

For specific applications like transfer fans for a server room with a small amount of heat to react, you can buy an all-in-one thermostatically controlled fan: https://acinfinity.com/room-to-room-fan-8-with-temperature-c...

shermantanktop2• 8 days ago

Okay, I read up on iroh. It has some really interesting stuff in it but I see an uncanny valley here.

It’s not simple enough to debug a connection failure easily, but it’s not magical enough to guarantee connectivity. Straight tcp with dns can be hard to debug; and no magical networking stack can really guarantee connectivity. I guess iroh’s strength is connectivity but I don’t know what happens if you can’t find a path.

The third dimension is privacy and anonymity, and I can’t tell if the story there is stronger than other p2p+relay protocols.

So it’s in the middle but at a different point in the space.

skybrian• 12 days ago

It's unclear to me why they needed to compile Rust to WebAssembly to write a website. It looks like iroh has a JavaScript API:

https://docs.iroh.computer/languages/javascript

Edit: actually, that's a Node.js-specific API. For browsers, it seems like they should have a platform-independent JavaScript/TypeScript API that includes a WebAssembly file (if needed) instead of expecting you to compile WebAssembly yourself.

nine_k• 12 days ago

Not touching JavaScript might be a reason enough. (Though I bet it has a Typescript API, and Typescript is great.)

croes2• 12 days ago

Typescript is nothing without JavaScript

Teknomadix• 12 days ago

Why.

Frenchgeek• 12 days ago

Because Uncle Iroh needs more fans maybe? (should have been a tea kettle)

gurjeet• 12 days ago

In hacker culture, the correct question is "Why not?"

Somebody wanted to do something, and they did it; it doesn't have to be any more complicated than that :-)

Don't be curmudgeonly. Thoughtful criticism is fine, but please don't be rigidly or generically negative.

Sincerely, HN Guidelines Police :-)

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

kennywinker3• 12 days ago

To demonstrate the potential of iroh to enable accessing stuff across complex network structures for iot type use cases

Alien1Being• 12 days ago

I use a inexpensive 36 AUD Tapo infrared hub to control my fan reliably.

It links to my Google Home installation and responds to voice commands.

https://us.store.tapo.com/products/tapo-h110-smart-ir-iot-hu...

Someone with too much time on their hands might benefit from the iroh solution....

sunshine-o• 12 days ago

iroh is very interesting and in many way it could get traction for IoT.

Now I am not sure it is feasible but it would be interesting to have it available in esphome. I feel this is really where real adoption happens.

devttyeu• 11 days ago

Any plans to standardize Iroh IoT protocols, e.g. Matter over Iroh / Some other standard that would be plug-able to things like Home Assistant?

karissa• 11 days ago

Yes, iroh here. We are looking into projects who want to use iroh with matter or thread. If you have a project you want to collaborate with our engineers on, please get in touch! Send an email to support@iroh.conputer

Liftyee• 11 days ago

While this is neat, it strikes me as the software developer's idea of a "smart fan". The engineer in me says that an actual "smart fan" would be one whose blades are designed to produce maximum airflow with minimum noise (variable pitch? avoiding turbulence?)

lilhenry• 11 days ago

He’s using a noctua fan which are pretty much the quietest pc fans you can buy while still moving large amounts of air

pessimizer• 11 days ago

I think you're describing a "great" fan. A "smart" fan is one that thinks. e.g. smart TVs are worse (and therefore cheaper) than dumb TVs, but they do a lot more thinking.

MisterTea• 11 days ago

They're describing an efficient fan. A great fan would be one that offers the best attributes such as efficiency, quality and features. Though, I agree the term "smart" should denote some kind of CPU enabled automation and features.

unsolved73• 11 days ago

Iroh is probably one of the best shots we have at making IoT finally secure with the built-in endpoint-to-endpoint encryption. The only thing that is missing is an embedded QUIC stack, the setup described in this article sees a little bit too hacky (4 MiB of PSRAM, really?).

cold_pizz4• 11 days ago

drnick1• 11 days ago

In a heatwave, you need AC, not a fan. Moving hot air around without cooling it is pretty much useless.

Cthulhu_• 11 days ago

But a fan is nice in not-heatwave but still warm temperatures. I have a usb desk fan from a PC cooler manufacturer (Arctic I believe) and it's one of the best accessories.

embedding-shape5• 11 days ago

Anything helps, when you don't have AC. Moving slightly colder air to where you sit, or moving away generated from your body, does make a ever so slight difference. Helps to get rid of some sweat too, if you're sitting and sweating, which also helps a tiny bit.

basro• 11 days ago

A fan is better than nothing, even in a heatwave.

phoghed• 11 days ago

Lived in the California desert with no AC as a kid, fans definitely help. Especially if you are sweating or spritz yourself with some water

lookeey• 11 days ago

Fans increase the efficiency at which your body's own cooling system (sweating) works by increasing the amount of air that flows by your skin, be it hot or cold.

teravor• 11 days ago

there is a curve to it, up to a certain temperature it helps and then it starts making things worse (because it becomes a convection oven).

I believe it's around 35 Celsius.

if you are outside you can attach water nozzles to the fan, the evaporation will cool down the air stream. doing it indoors has humidity implications.

An iroh powered smart fan

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