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Unusual firmware change for the non-detachable Blow 72-070 socket for PLN 30

p.kaczmarek2 4446 27
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Treść została przetłumaczona polish » english Zobacz oryginalną wersję tematu
  • Two disassembled BLOW smart sockets with exposed electronics.
    I will show you a little interesting fact - a quite invasive but effective way to change the firmware of the cheapest WiFi-controlled socket. This socket is characterized by a low price (PLN 30) and a structure that makes it impossible to remove the board with the WiFi module from inside, which makes changing the insert very difficult. This is not a product like Blitzwolf sockets, where we have either a hidden screw or retractable pins, here everything is held together and there is really no way to get to the programming pads. Normally I wouldn`t touch it, but I received a request from a reader to change the insert of such a socket at all costs ...

    You can buy this socket really cheap and it`s not strange at all - it`s the cheapest option possible:
    Blow Smart Home WiFi socket with packaging and Tuya mobile app.
    The socket offers energy measurement:
    Smart Wi-Fi socket timer Blow with Tuya app.
    This is a variation of the LSPA9 socket, described here:
    Electrical socket with LSPA9 energy measurement - we program our own firmware
    but this version has a grounding plate whose rivet makes it impossible to remove the PCB .
    We`ll get to that in a moment, but first, photos of the packaging:
    Packaging of a Blow brand WiFi smart socket. Blow WiFi Smart Socket box on a wooden table. Back of the Blow smart WiFi socket packaging showing specifications and markings. Blow socket packaging with QR code
    Set:
    Blow smart socket with instruction manual in the background.
    Polish-language instructions:
    User manual for Blow WiFi smart socket. User manual for a smart Wi-Fi socket in Polish. Instruction manual for a WiFi smart socket with the Smart Life app. Polish-English user manual for using Amazon Echo to control smart devices. User manual for Blow smart socket with WiFi Declaration of conformity for the BLOW WiFi smart socket.
    Socket itself:
    Front view of a WiFi smart socket with visible prongs and technical markings.

    Interior and blow flashing
    At first, they are disassembled like LSPA9, but after a while we have a surprise - the ground plate holds the rest of the system:
    Open plastic electrical socket with visible interior components.
    I don`t know how to make sense of this:
    Interior of a cheap WiFi socket showing the PCB and electrical components.
    After consulting the reader, the decision was made - we cut:
    WiFi socket with open casing revealing the interior.
    Already then I tried to connect with the programmer:
    View of a damaged electrical socket with exposed wires and exposed PCB. Modified electrical socket with exposed interior.
    There is of course BK7231 inside, BK7231Flasher should be able to handle it:
    https://github.com/openshwprojects/BK7231GUIFlashTool
    but here is the problem, because the energy measurement system is probably on RX/TX... so you need to desolder the module:
    Damaged Blow socket with exposed circuit board. Image of a damaged electrical socket with visible electronic components inside.
    Outside the system, you can change the input normally:
    Image of a WB2S module with a BK7231T chip placed on a wooden surface. Printed circuit board with markings on a wooden surface.
    View of a disassembled Blow electric socket with wiring and a breadboard on a wooden table.
    This is what the socket looks like from above:
    Close-up of the inside of an electrical socket showing a circuit board.
    The module returns to its place:
    Damaged electrical socket with an exposed PCB.
    Flasher obviously detected the configuration:
    Screenshot of BK7231 Easy UART Flasher software with device configuration.
    Verbal description:
    
    Device configuration, as extracted from Tuya: 
    - BL0937 SEL on P24
    - Button (channel 1) on P11
    - LED (channel 1) on P10
    - BL0937 VI on P8
    - WiFi LED on P6
    - BL0937 ELE on P7
    - Relay (channel 1) on P26
    Device seems to be using WB2S module, which is using BK7231T.
    And the Tuya section starts, as usual, at 2023424
    

    JSON Tuya:
    Code: JSON
    Log in, to see the code

    OBK template:
    Code: JSON
    Log in, to see the code

    After changing the firmware, you still need to perform calibration, similarly to Tasmota - CurrentSet, VoltageSet, PowerSet commands.

    Finally, we protected the socket - first with a solder mask, and then (on the reader`s side) with epoxy or some form of filler, at our discretion:
    Two damaged electrical sockets with exposed PCBs. Two electrical sockets with visible damage and glowing blue light.

    Summary
    Nothing to be proud of here, terrible load changing device. Very problematic, especially since now the products are no longer susceptible to the exploit allowing the first OTA via WiFi. I have very fond memories original LSPA9 where it was possible to remove the entire PCB from the housing. In the case of Blow, this is not possible due to the previously mentioned rivet plate.
    It`s possible that something better could be invented, but I only programmed two pieces, so the method from the topic worked anyway.
    What not to do to have automation operating fully locally, without the Chinese cloud...

    Cool? Ranking DIY
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    About Author
    p.kaczmarek2
    Moderator Smart Home
    Offline 
    p.kaczmarek2 wrote 11958 posts with rating 9995, helped 572 times. Been with us since 2014 year.
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  • #2 21004328
    Nargo
    Level 22  
    Wouldn`t it be easier to drill out the rivet?
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  • #3 21004588
    p.kaczmarek2
    Moderator Smart Home
    Well, I don`t know if I would be able to solder it solidly without melting the center of the socket. If I have some to destroy, I`ll try.
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  • #4 21004597
    acctr
    Level 38  
    If there was determination, it had to succeed.
    Alternatively, after drilling out the rivet, you can rivet it again or tighten it with an M3 screw.
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  • #5 21004660
    neo_84
    Level 15  
    acctr wrote:
    Alternatively, after drilling out the rivet, you can rivet it again or tighten it with an M3 screw.
    I would do that too. By the way, why change the load to something other than the factory one? I`m just guessing that the original batch doesn`t work with a given smartphone application, as we would like.
  • #6 21004737
    p.kaczmarek2
    Moderator Smart Home
    I wrote about why people want to change the load in the topic The electrode list of interior IoT devices has reached 500 entries
    p.kaczmarek2 wrote:

    Why change the batch of IoT devices?
    Motivation often varies from user to user, but the reasons I see most often are (in random order):
    - the desire to free the device from potential spying by the manufacturer (freeing from the cloud)
    - the desire to protect yourself in the event that the manufacturer goes bankrupt or changes the services offered (there have already been stories that the camera supplier went bankrupt and the cameras became useless)
    - the desire to develop the functionality of the device (we even have tutorials how to add missing button to led strip on the Electrodes channel), similarly you can add a temperature sensor or an IR receiver
    - desire to connect to Home Assistant ( tutorial here ), or with ioBroker ( tutorial ), or with your own HTTP server, etc
    - the desire to combine devices from different manufacturers into one ecosystem
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  • #7 21004854
    K
    Level 15  
    Why bottle it at all, what does it give? I`ve always wondered about this, and finally today I decided to ask.
  • #8 21004873
    jajacek44
    Level 25  
    Dissociating yourself from observation by Rice Brother, e.g. .
  • #9 21004955
    p.kaczmarek2
    Moderator Smart Home
    @K, there was an answer posted above.

    I will add that I also change the batch because I like to have the device available in the local network through a browser, normally by IP address, and Tuya etc. does not offer this. I find it more convenient to use a browser than a dedicated application.
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  • #10 21005197
    omaxp
    Level 10  
    p.kaczmarek2 wrote:
    @K, there was an answer posted above.

    I will add that I also change the batch because I like to have the device available in the local network through a browser, normally by IP address, and Tuya etc. does not offer this. I find it more convenient to use a browser than a dedicated application.


    but then you don`t have access to the device outside your home??
  • #11 21005198
    acctr
    Level 38  
    K wrote:
    Why bottle it at all, what does it give? I`ve always wondered about this, and finally today I decided to ask.

    The point is that if the user is sitting on the sofa and wants to close the blinds from the smartphone, the request should not go through the server room in Shenzhen but only through the home router. :D
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  • #12 21005209
    p.kaczmarek2
    Moderator Smart Home
    omaxp wrote:

    but then you don`t have access to the device outside your home??

    Access to the device is whatever you organize, i.e. after flashing the IoT device with an alternative firmware that works without the cloud, such as Tasmota and connecting the device to your WiFi, you do not have immediate access to the device from outside your home, but if you want, you can make your properly secured Home Assistant instance available via public IP (directly or no-ip services).

    You can read about this from the HA documentation:
    https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/configuration/remote/
    Related topic about securing Tasmota:
    https://tasmota.github.io/docs/Securing-your-IoT-from-hacking/
    Everything can be properly configured, but here you do it yourself and host it yourself, the cloud provider does not do it for you.

    To sum up, if you just want to be able to turn the relay on and off from anywhere in the world and you don`t want to configure anything and you don`t have any ideological prejudices about third-party clouds, you shouldn`t change the firmware.
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  • #13 21006100
    William Bonawentura
    Level 34  
    Quote:
    The point is that if the user is sitting on the sofa and wants to close the blinds from the smartphone, the request should not go through the server room in Shenzhen but only through the home router. :D


    Isn`t it enough to, for example, redirect the DNS router to your own service?
  • #14 21006167
    acctr
    Level 38  
    It may be possible, but you still need to support the original software protocol. I have never played with it, I prefer to move four letters, go to the switch and manually turn on the light.
    I only use the Smart switch to make popcorn and I don`t care if the Chinese knows that I`m making popcorn. :)

    In general, moving away from the original solution deprives us of the ability to check from the other side of the world whether the vacuum cleaner has finished vacuuming the living room or whether the door has not been opened, which we ultimately pay for by purchasing a device using a Chinese server room.
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  • #15 21006224
    tomaszlonski
    Level 36  
    Just invest in a router with VPN or simply run a VPN server on your router if it has one.
    With public IP, access to your home network around the world.
  • #16 21006244
    acctr
    Level 38  
    tomaszlonski wrote:
    Just invest in a router with VPN or simply run a VPN server on your router if it has one.

    Or set up your own server with a public IP.
    Or subscribe to AWS or Azure and write your own applications with all the benefits of possibilities.
    There are many possibilities - it`s just a matter of price.
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  • #17 21006493
    tomaszlonski
    Level 36  
    But why, since VPN is the simplest and relatively safe way to access your home network. Most new routers are supported, configuration and launch on any device takes 5 minutes without any additional costs.
    The only problem is the public IP, but in most networks it is usually always available.

    It works for me without any problems, I check cameras, alarm statuses, temperature sensors, I use shared music or movies on the home network, I watch terrestrial and satellite TV programs while away from home. All this without the need to change configurations, just turn on the VPN client on your laptop, phone or connect your router with the VPN client to your home and your device is already connected to your home network.
  • #18 21007156
    Oddawajsanki
    Level 7  
    You could have reached the arrangement in a simpler way
  • #19 21010127
    Jurek_I
    Level 10  
    @tomaszlonski
    tomaszlonski wrote:
    I watch terrestrial and satellite TV programs while away from home

    How did you achieve this?
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  • #20 21010956
    tomaszlonski
    Level 36  
    I described only have a router with a VPN server (not with the client because that`s different).

    And at home I have two Vu+ Uno 4kSE tuners, one with satellite and the other with terrestrial.
  • #21 21011419
    Jurek_I
    Level 10  
    @tomaszlonski
    tomaszlonski wrote:
    I described that you should only have a router with a VPN server (not with a client because that is different).

    And at home I have two Vu+ Uno 4kSE tuners, one with satellite and the other with terrestrial.

    I understand that, I have such a router and I connect to my network from the outside. I meant watching Sat TV from outside. I don`t know the tuner you have (I have a standard nc+), but I understand that your equipment can be controlled (turned on, changed channels, etc.) via the network, and what it receives can also be streamed on the network?
    As a user of this equipment, can you recommend a good website where you can read about the capabilities of this tuner?
  • #22 21011703
    tomaszlonski
    Level 36  
    You don`t need to control it, although you have full access via www, ftp or SSH to the tuner, you can also use the application on your phone or tablet.

    The stream from the tuner is based on a program list like in IPTV, someone can watch and record on the tuner normally and at the same time someone else can stream up to 8 SAT programs from the tuner.
    In terrestrial TV there is a limitation to programs with 2 muxes because it only has a twin tuner.

    There is information everywhere on forums related to satellite or satellite TV, e.g. the Polish sat4all forum.
  • #23 21011858
    Jurek_I
    Level 10  
    @tomaszlonski OK. Thanks for the info.
  • #24 21013029
    m2teusz
    Level 11  
    >>21004173
    Hello, my identical piece could be made without disassembly ;-) using Tuya CloudCutter so it was done without disassembly.
  • #25 21013100
    p.kaczmarek2
    Moderator Smart Home
    Unfortunately, only older batches of devices can be flashed via WiFi. The vulnerability used for this has been removed in a newer version of Tuya software. Details here: https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/topic3979215.html
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  • #26 21014176
    divadiow
    Level 34  
    >>21004737

    and people like me who just like to fiddle and understand things. taking stuff apart because they can!
  • #27 21448604
    jbackk
    Level 10  
    >>21014176 >>21004173 Why does the flasher have a trojan?
  • #28 21448674
    p.kaczmarek2
    Moderator Smart Home
    False positive, after all you can see that the compilation is done directly on Github from source:
    https://github.com/openshwprojects/BK7231GUIF...Tool/actions/runs/13401503819/job/37433177355
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Topic summary

A discussion revolves around modifying the firmware of a low-cost WiFi-controlled socket (PLN 30) that lacks a detachable board, making it challenging to access the programming pads. Users suggest various methods for disassembly, such as drilling out rivets, while others question the necessity of changing the firmware. The conversation highlights the desire for local network access and control without relying on cloud services, with mentions of alternative firmware like Tasmota. Users also discuss the implications of using VPNs for remote access and the trade-offs between convenience and privacy when using cloud-based solutions.
Summary generated by the language model.
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