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Comment by MostlyStable | Hacker News Reader

I've been using this on my Dreame Z10 pro for over a year now, and it's been great. I will never buy a robot vacuum that doesn't have valetudo compatibility (or similar in case an alternative ever shows up I suppose).

While I haven't done much with it yet, I also appreciate the relatively straightforward HomeAssistant integration.

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I also have the Dreame Z10 Pro. Valetudo and https://dontvacuum.me/ are wonderful resources! I can't speak highly enough of them. Really appreciate all the hard work that went into making rooting robot vacuums with privacy-preserving firmware possible.

A question for both of you. Did you make your own Dreame Breakout PCB, or did you buy one from someone, or did you wire in directly?

When I did it, it just required plugging wires into the port. The only difficulty I had was that it was a slightly unusual spacing so I struggled slightly to stick the jumper wires in, but after that it worked fine. Have subsequent Z10s changed this?

Ok after reading the docs, it looks like that board specifically fixes the non standard pitch. I managed without it, but I did have some difficulties with poor connection that the board would have avoided

Yeah, that was my same experience. It was a tight fit, but certainly doable.

I just poked wires in.

I currently have the same problem, I would like to root my dreame roboter, but unfortunately I can't get the components for the dreame PCB, or nobody sells me a ready soldered dreame PCB. Too bad there is no alternative, but that makes it really hard for people with a dreame robot to use the project.

Also chiming in that wiring in directly is easy. There are two types of Dreame rooting:

* Connects to robot's serial port. You'll need a USB-to-TTL cable if you don't have one around to connect to your computer. Z10 Pro uses this method.

* Connects to robot's USB port (still via the debug header). You'll need three of the four wires from a USB cable. You can literally cut open a USB cable here, or get a breakout board. L10s Ultra uses this method.

Plus misc jumper wires to connect it all. The boot button is connecting a wire to boot select, a wire to ground, and touching these wires together (really, the PCB is all three of these things: boot button + serial + direct USB).

I've used it on my Roborock S5 for at least 4 years now and love it. It used to be a little unstable (something like it uninstalling itself if the battery dies for too long) but hasn't had any issues in years. I, like you, will never buy an unsupported vacuum again :)

I almost pulled the trigger on the Z10, then got worried I’d just brick it and backed out. Now it’s not even available. Hopefully there will be another no-solder option soon.

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