Today switches can be touched remotely and thermometers send numbers over any distance.. When things are so easily connected we can monitor things around the home to know what’s happening or how we can save energy.
Almost everything here, in my local Internet of Things, is connected by ‘Home Assistant’ running on a Raspberry Pi. There’s space for you to share your perspective.
or how to selectively expose Home Assistant entities to Alexa with emulated hue Home automation platforms like Alexa, Google Home and Home Assistant show major differences in the devices that they can discover and...
This insanely bright headlamp / flashlight is excellent for hobbies, camping and cycling. Here are a few instructions to use it well This flashlight (aka torch) requires 2 x 18650 Lithium cells which have...
If you want to use a GitHub project with Arduino software follow this step-by-step guide. We’ll make an ESP32 camera web server using the Github code from ‘easytarget’. An ESP32-CAM module consists of a...
Just when I thought I knew enough … I discover why a bicycle headlamp wasn’t working. It was because some 18650 batteries have a button top … The 18650 battery, like many batteries, is...
Here’s what to do when a restaurant asks you to scan a QR code for their track and trace (written in 2020). And here’s how to identify a plant, an animal and lots more....
The need: you use a table light for watching TV and a main (wall) light at other times and you want a coffee table button to switch between one or the other or have...
a 3-gang wall switch for your home automation – using eWelink, T4EU1C and Home Assistant I got to a point where I had plenty of ‘smart’ lights and gadgets but few switches. But then...
In this project we integrate inexpensive ‘old’ 433MHz devices with modern smart devices see also: 433MHz smarter letterbox how to set up RFlink so that it will read your RF sensors The easiest ready-to-roll...
In a previous project I set up temperature sensors in my room and sent the data via Bluetooth to Home Assistant, the home automation platform. Home Assistant is software that can record measurements and...
The touch light switch on the wall lies in wait for someone to press it. When it’s on a press turns it off and when it’s off it turns on. That’s toggling a switch....
I wouldn’t especially recommend the D-Link DCS-D150 motion sensor but it does have some features that had me buy it. Firstly it plugs into a wall socket above a worktop so it can sense...
If you could look inside an old replaceable laptop battery pack like this you’d find 4 or 6 cells. Usually the cells are 18mm diameter, 65mm long and are called 18650 lithium batteries. Each...
‘Smart meters’ and metering devices usually measure the electricity used by the whole house*. However I prefer to pay attention to the electricity used by individual devices, such as a combination oven, fan heater...
In this project I control a Sonoff light switch using Home Assistant. You can do the same with other Sonoffs. The switch shown here is the T4EU1C wall plate switch. It works over wifi...
The regular way to switch a Sonoff relay is to use the official ewelink app – however Home Assistant doesn’t* work with ewelink. Other ways require you to ‘flash’ the Sonoff device with Tasmota...
The Home Assistant dashboard (aka ‘Lovelace’) is very good at displaying live sensor data and sensor data from the last several days. As you can see below you can display a ‘just now’ reading...
How to make inexpensive, ‘old’ technology, 433MHz devices work with today’s smart devices see also: 433MHz smarter letterbox RF sensors and receivers If you’ve used any of the following examples you probably own some...
smart sockets have uses. A smart socket adds a little cleverness to a table lamp or electric heater. The printer upstairs takes five minutes to warm up so switching it on by remote control...
How does one house an electronics project? Is there a neat way to house a smart doorbell and camera? I don’t relish the effort to design a 3D model. Maybe I was looking for...
they work together but not everything is possible As an early adopter I’ve come to feel that Philips Hue lighting system gains more praise than it needs. Dozens of other makers now do pretty...
see also more about 433MHz devices The letterbox is five doors and fifty metres from my desk. The uncertainty of the post lady arriving in the afternoon means that I make wasted journeys to...
This quick post is for anybody wondering how much money they need to put aside for energy. If you don’t use electricity for keeping warm, your summer and winter electricity bills will be similar....
smart bulbs and sockets have select uses. A smart socket adds a little on/off cleverness to a table lamp, electric heater or the printer upstairs that takes five minutes before it’s warm and useful....
When you look for home automation equipment you find many systems. They turn on lights and plug sockets; water the garden; unlock a door, turn up the heating; record a security camera, open the...
Even if you’ve no need for as much as a smart bulb, you do need to be impressed or surprised by the variety of smart gadgets on sale. There are smart door locks, garage...
… and see how to add features to the Home Assistant display An interest in solar energy is a possible reason to record the sun’s azimuth and the time of sunset. Home Assistant can track...
The Google nest thermostat or its Hive equivalent are items which I’d be happy to pay for rather than make. A first reason is that we rely too much on warmth, and a second...
When you set up a gadget or device you’ll sometimes be asked what its IP address is – and gosh – becoming at ease with that question is good for you. Every gadget connected...
If you want to make your own smart measuring device or presence detector or dog watching camera or tea bag lifting robot, the ESP32 and Arduino circuit boards make the gadget you need. A...
what you need to run your own home automation server Raspberry Pi – a kit with Raspberry Pi 3+ or later with the recommended power supply, 32Gb SD card, heatsinks and/or cooling fan. A...
Arduino IDE is software that lets us develop code for a writing on a chip. Explore its menu and we soon see it’s made to transfer a great many capabilities to a great many...
When a ESP32 device has been flashed and powered, it will use the password you added to the code to connect to your wifi. The ESPhome interface in Home Assistant (pic below) will show...
‘own’ your own devices THE PROCESS BELOW IS STILL USEFUL – HOWEVER SINCE I WROTE THIS MOST SONOFF DEVICES WORK NATIVELY IN HOME ASSISTANT – SEE HERE ESPhome can be used to reprogram a...
ESPhome is software that can add a program to (or “flash firmware to”) an ESP chip. This chip is at the core of many automation projects. The software connects things up inside Home Assistant...
I am the person who wants to know if using an electric fan heater in one room costs less than heating the whole house using gas*. At parties I can keep a sofa to...
The Sonoff POWR2 can be used as the timer on a hot water immersion heater. This model also measures electricity as volts, amps and current. I’ve flashed its wifi chip with different firmware so...
Dupont leads connect up projects. They come as male to male pin / female to female / male pin to female types. You can solder the male ends to a headless board to make...
Domestic hot water can be heated by a gas / oil central heating boiler or by an electrical immersion heater. I choose to take advantage of half-price nighttime electricity and use an immersion heater....
ready dec 2020
A Raspberry Pi is a small inexpensive low power computer that has numerous uses and hopefully there’s one that chimes for you. I don’t think you’d want to use a Pi for emails and...