how to set up Frigate NVR in proxmox including coral.ai
visitors this year: 66 why If you see a need to save security camera video the Frigate NVR app will justify your having a ‘home server’. Frigate records, finds and plays the video whenever...
Category: monitoring at home
Today we can flick a switch remotely and get numbers from thermometers miles away. Here are my projects that aim to connect devices so that we can save energy and gain security from knowing what’s happening around the home. Almost everything here is connected by ‘Home Assistant’ running on a Raspberry Pi and we’ll show how it’s configured and what there is know.
Frigate NVR and QuickSync on Intel Alder Lake-N: a guide to using Proxmox, Docker, Frigate
visitors this year: 22 Target Hardware: Intel N100 / N95 / N305 / N355 The “driver gap” Intel Alder Lake-N chips are famous for QuickSync (QSV)—a dedicated slice of the GPU that processes video...
camera setup in Frigate NVR: a guide with examples
visitors this year: 80 Frigate NVR is a much-lauded security camera application with a huge following. Setting it up requires skills, knowledge and time. Frigate NVR – camera discovery and setup Camera configuration is...
how to set up secure local or remote https access (no Cloudflare tunnel) 🚀
visitors this year: 177 This guide describes how to make a service (like Frigate; proxmox or portainer or a camera or synology or qnap) accessible via HTTPS using a domain name. You’ll want access...
charging times and costs for an electric vehicle – EV charge calculator
visitors this year: 94 Here’s a ready-reckoner to quickly compare charging methods and costs for an electric vehicle. It shows the value of home charging at peak or off-peak tariffs vs charging at a...
run your own image AI with StableDiffusion automatic1111
visitors this year: 985 want to DIY? Because I have daily uses for image-AI, I’ll explain below how I set about installing it ‘for free’ on a pretty good PC made for gaming. AI...
set up sonoff RF bridge to respond to 433MHz devices and send alerts via Home Assistant
visitors this year: 440 it’s not hard to make use of old or inexpensive 433MHz RF devices so that you can use them with modern smart home devices. For example, a 443MHz bell push...
monitor home heating when you have multiple thermostats and smart radiator valves (TRV)
visitors this year: 866 control all your smart thermostats from the Home Assistant dashboard When you have several thermostats there’s a need to see them at a glance. Home Assistant has a ’tile card’...
measure heating oil use (or water tank level) with a A02YYUW ultrasonic sensor
visitors this year: 866 This tank level sensor produces surprising detail about my heating oil usage. It’s a bit like a smart meter for oil so I now know say, how many litres I...
Home Assistant … set up a Bluetooth proxy in the ESPHome dashboard
visitors this year: 1,489 what you need to set up a Bluetooth proxy A Bluetooth proxy requires almost any of the ESP32 development boards you can find at maker shops or Amazon. You need...
use a Switchbot water leak detector without a hub in Home Assistant … set up a Bluetooth proxy in ESPHome
visitors this year: 536 You can connect the Switchbot water leak detector with Home Assistant without the need for a Switchbot hub. The detector uses Bluetooth and wifi to send out its alarms which...
Google Nest can’t connect to Heat Link – ‘failed to connect to Heat link’
visitors this year: 2,848 The Google Nest thermostat dial can have a wired connection and/or a wireless connection with the Heat Link base. A loss of wireless connection is a rare event and it...
adjust the room lights when the TV goes on and off – Home Assistant
visitors this year: 616 Smart devices often find their best uses in Home Assistant ‘automations’. ‘Automations’ are better known as ‘routines’ and they make quite unrelated devices interact with each other as will be...
3D printing got more good – the ‘Creality K1C’ is fit for purpose and ticks many boxes
visitors this year: 909 why the Creality K1C impressed can’t you think of any any negatives? For a critical reviewer, bringing more experience I’d point you to Daniel’s ‘CROSSLINK’ channel on YouTube. This is...
connecting a second wi-fi router your home network
visitors this year: 405 The situation: in addition to the router that serves your home with internet you’ve another router that could perhaps improve your wireless or wired coverage. The extra router could be...
get water from a borehole – the electrics and control bit
visitors this year: 817 Remote homes and farms can get their water from a borehole – years ago the owner of my house drilled the garden until they found a water source. Today I...
how virtualisation and containers are useful: tips to start using proxmox
visitors this year: 1,002 why a server? what can I use a home server for? a vpn, a router, an ad-blocker, storage for backups, a photo library, a music server, a printer server, a...
receive a notification of your Home Assistant IP address
visitors this year: 1,268 TLDR: one morning too often I’ve woken to find that my ‘smart’ things has gone stupid and they haven’t turned on because the Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant has gone...
smarter home heating with thermostatic radiator valves (TRV) and a review of the ‘tado’ TRV
visitors this year: 1,219 With today’s energy issues it feels unnecessary to heat rooms we aren’t using. Back in the day we fitted thermostatic radiator valves (TRV) to radiators in central heating systems. We...
basic arithmetic in Home Assistant to calculate how much heating oil I need and when I need to order heating oil
visitors this year: 1,913 My boiler burns heating oil from a tank and unlike the ‘gas’ that most homes burn it’s finite – so when it’s gone I’m cold. Ordering heating oil is tricky...
Use Tailscale to remotely access your network – the zero-conf alternative to install at home and on your laptop; phone and more.
visitors this year: 2,805 I’ve been using the Wireguard or nginx to access my home network* securely and I’ve explained in other posts (links below) how they’re used and set up. Tailscale however is...
sound & motion activated LED light strip for a staircase
visitors this year: 803 WS2812B strip – INMP441 microphone – WLED SR software – ESP32 board shopping list for these motion activated stairway lights – see photos wiring diagram for a microphone controlled LED...
sound / motion activated LED light strip for a staircase #2
visitors this year: 142 An LED strip 2 metres long runs beside the staircase. A sensor detects movement which triggers a light pattern along the strip. But if the sensor is a microphone, rather...
use a TTGO TFT LCD to display temperature graphs and control a water heater
visitors this year: 6,288 You can graph temperature on this cute display and use buttons to turn on the heater as needed – the project works with Home Assistant and needs very little else...
network map, scan and traffic – setup nmap; webmap and ntopng in docker
visitors this year: 3,950 If you have curiosity and/or paranoia about what happens across your network there are tools which can gather information for you. This post will show how to install tools to...
set up moodle 4 in docker on a home server
visitors this year: 1,450 Moodle is a web-based platform where you can create learning activities, manage course assessment and pretty much run a school or sell courses. If your needs are small enough, you...
smoke alarm – 433MHz RF sensor for Home Assistant & Sonoff RF Bridge
visitors this year: 503 This smoke alarm piqued my interest as a way to create an smoke/fire alert when I might be elsewhere. It’s unbranded and labelled as “C50D/W (1527, can skip code)” which...
use your sub-domain to access your home server (eg Home Assistant) using a CNAME – plus nginx proxy manager
visitors this year: 5,268 your need for a (nicer) sub-domain: At home you access an IP camera, a router, Home Assistant, a wi-fi access point, a NAS drive (eg Synology or QNAP) or perhaps...
fix problems with TimeMachine backup on openmediavault – set up and troubleshooting
visitors this year: 7,689 Time Machine is a backup utility on the Mac. This can work for years and then one day it doesn’t. If you need a file you had an hour ago,...
calibrate and fit a Vl53L0X time of flight sensor to measure water or oil tank level (2025)
visitors this year: 3,357 Here is a tank level sensor that’s more useful than anything you can buy. This post focuses on my housing and the calibration for a basic sensor to measure oil...
measure heating oil usage with a sensor and display on an energy dashboard – easy
visitors this year: 2,594 how to make a heating oil tank level sensor that’s more useful than anything you can buy. This sensor… Background: homes like mine use oil as a fuel to keep...
measure heating oil usage with a Vl53L0X time of flight sensor and display on an energy dashboard (2025)
visitors this year: 5,034 how to make a heating oil tank level sensor that’s more useful than anything you can buy. This sensor… Background: homes like mine use diesel oil as a fuel to...
using outdoor IP cameras for home security and monitoring: PoE
visitors this year: 703 tips on choosing cameras and using POE / passive POE and waterproofing the connection. how do I record activity from cameras? Buying a security camera system isn’t just for professionals....
a DIY security camera system with object detection, recording and phone notifications – using Docker, Frigate and Home Assistant
visitors this year: 10,068 Let’s start with the suggestion that an easy route to a security camera setup is to buy a kit with cameras and a system box to record events on site...
use a smart switch to turn off a lithium battery charger
visitors this year: 1,939 I know that I ought not leave things powered on. Knowing that is easier than remembering that an e-bike or drone or laptop battery is still connected. Below I show...
this motion detecting night light tells Home Assistant when you pass by
visitors this year: 4,602 The very popular, but hardly-known Xiaomi nightlight, which lights up a dark space when you pass, now has a ‘smart’ version. A night light is nice on a dark stairway...
light up the staircase with an LED strip and tasteless light effects
visitors this year: 1,417 see version 2 of this project here My initial want was for the stairs to have soft glow lighting … but what the hec, LED strip lights do more than...
diet: see your weight changing with a smart weighing scale
visitors this year: 1,101 A ‘smart scale’ that records my weight to a phone might be seen as ‘gadgety’ and unnecessary but I’m now many months into this and think it’s fabulous. Almost fact:...
buy the correct screw threaded adapters to mount a microphone and GoPro on a tripod or stand
visitors this year: 665 GoPro, microphone and camera fittings are so ridiculously different, so here are some pointers to help buy the right bits to mount them. In all cases, even a GoPro (below)...
convert a bicycle to an ‘e-bike’ or electric powered bike
visitors this year: 1,278 when you want an e-bike and you don’t want another bike: