USB something-or-other (complete with aerial) connected to storage heater???

danm14

Hi,
Moved into a new apartment today, and whilst taking a look around, I found the most bizzare thing... (This sounds like a joke, I know, but it's a 100% serious query/concern)

Two mains wires (brown and blue) come out of the bottom of each storage heater
These connect to a chassis-mount US power socket, which just dangles freely
Into the US power socket is plugged a US USB power adaptor (5V, 500mA, like the charger for a fairly old Android phone)
Into the power adapter is plugged a normal USB to micro USB cable
The other end of this is plugged into a (very heavy for its size) black box, around the size of a two computer mice on top of each other
Into the black box is plugged an antenna around six inches long on the end of a cable

What in god's name is this? It can't be to control the heater, as all the manual controls are fully functional, and it seems more like a very haphazard aftermarket modification than a stock feature.

Pete67

Sounds very odd, can you post a few pictures? Is there any text on the black box with the antenna?

Mech1

Sounds like a sender rather than a receiver, any lens hidden anywhere or mic?

danm14

I'll take some photographs tomorrow, but in the mean time I've done some further investigation (limited because I have no tools worth talking about with me, I'm in a student apartment)

There is no data link at all between the storage heaters and the black boxes - in one case there's a string of some sort holding the box to the heater, but no wires (apart from live and neutral, which go into the power supply in any case).

The USB port is being used for power only.

When you switch off the switch for the heater, the box loses power (indicated by a red light on the box). There is a note stuck to the wall above the switch for each heater, reading "DO NOT SWITCH OFF AT ANY TIME, USE KNOBS INSTEAD" - as far as I am aware there's no reason you shouldn't switch off a storage heater, especially if you don't intend using it for a while? The USB cable was hot-glued into place to prevent it coming out. The box was also bloody well hidden, with everything shoved in under the heater well out of sight - there's no way I would have found it only I happened to look under the heater for some reason.

You could easily get an electric shock from the US-style chassis mount socket, as the crimp connectors aren't insulated (although they are well separated, they're not going to short) - this leads me to believe this was definitely aftermarket, plus the fact that the USB supply is plugged into a makeshift socket.

There's a weird orange and white logo on the box, a white circle with orange lines that's vaguely like the Volkswagen logo. Inside the box (the screws are very hard to open without a screwdriver, but I got two of them open with a knife and prised it apart as much as I could) is an Xbee module, which is apparently used to send data wirelessly (although not over wifi or bluetooth, but some use of the 2.4GHz band) and while they cannot send live video, they are more than capable of sending live audio or still images at a rate of around one frame per second).

As an aside, quite a number of students have apparently been visited by the caretaker (a very strange man by all accounts who goes from threatening to "have people f***ed out on the streets for the night" for doing the most minor of things wrong to having the craic with other people in a matter of minutes) and fined very heavily (several weeks rent) for "having parties" despite nobody complaining. One of these "parties" took place tonight, consisted of half a dozen lads watching tonight's premiership match and drinking no more than two or three pints of beer. I know for a fact that in this case it could not be heard outside the apartment, apart from a brief cheer lasting a few seconds when Chelsea scored. Could this be the purpose of the boxes if they are indeed recording devices? (revenue generation, effectively)

Mech1

Read this and look at the pics: https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=367677.0

danm14

Mech1 wrote: »

Read this and look at the pics: https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=367677.0

No, it's definitely nothing like that. It does not connect to the heater in any way whatsoever, apart from the live and neutral wires which connect to the USB power adapter. There's no way of inputting data into the box and the heater is controlled with the factory fitted knobs. The boxes are most definitely some sort of a commerical product and not a project, they're all identical, in a properly shaped box with properly shaped cut outs for the USB plug, and all have a trademarked logo, but no text, printed on them.

danm14

Okay, after a little more investigation, the boxes are definitely nothing sinister, they have no microphones or cameras. They're made by a company called Vcharge, and are designed to reduce energy costs by monitoring temperatures, weather forecast etc... Not sure how they work, but they're obviously something that started being installed but weren't finished, because there's no clear way how they could possibly work without further connections to the heaters.

Stoner

danm14 wrote:

Okay, after a little more investigation, the boxes are definitely nothing sinister, they have no microphones or cameras. They're made by a company called Vcharge, and are designed to reduce energy costs by monitoring temperatures, weather forecast etc... Not sure how they work, but they're obviously something that started being installed but weren't finished, because there's no clear way how they could possibly work without further connections to the heaters.

I was convinced you were winding is up!!

atilladehun

Picture please.

dingding

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/vcharge-turning-hot-bricks-into-grid-batteries

Read down about half way. Are you in student accommodation in Dundalk.