set up moodle 4 in docker on a home server
visitors this year: 21 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...
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.
smoke alarm – 433MHz RF sensor for Home Assistant & Sonoff RF Bridge
visitors this year: 40 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 a sub-domain to access your home server (eg Home Assistant) via nginx proxy manager using CNAME
visitors this year: 248 the need for a sub-domain: Your home network allows you access to ‘services’ such as an IP camera, the router, Home Assistant, a wi-fi access point, a NAS drive (eg...
fix problems with TimeMachine backup on openmediavault – set up and troubleshooting
visitors this year: 36 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 a ‘Vl53L0X time of flight sensor’ to measure water or oil tank level
visitors this year: 160 a tank level sensor that’s more useful than anything you can buy. This post shows my housing for a sensor that measures oil and water levels. The sensor is a...
heating oil tank level – Vl53L0X time of flight sensor version
visitors this year: 600 make a heating oil tank level sensor that’s more useful than anything you can buy can measure oil level in any unit – litres, kWh, gallons or days until I...
using outdoor IP cameras for home security and monitoring: PoE
visitors this year: 43 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: 1,707 Let’s start with the reminder 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: 651 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: 926 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...
diet: see your weight changing with a smart weighing scale
visitors this year: 298 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:...
microphone and tripod screw threads and GoPro fixings explained
visitors this year: 6 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: 594 when you want an e-bike and you don’t want another bike:
iPad LCD magnifier or microscope for SMD soldering or other close work
visitors this year: 132 , If you’re a casual electronics hobbyist like me, the idea of using a LCD magnifier or microscope may seem attractive. For example this music spectrum display kit requires soldering...
the Google Fit app helps record walking tracks, sleep, weight, bike rides and calories
visitors this year: 459 topics on this page: what do I eat? how does my weight change? do I get enough sleep? where did I go today? how does my body react to exercise?...
Huawei watch, Huawei watch fit new and Huawei Band 6 – useful, affordable smartwatches for 2022
visitors this year: 126 If you’re looking for a smartwatch, look at the Huawei Watch / Huawei Band 6 / Huawei Watch Fit New wearables If you’ve yet to get yourself a smartwatch I’ll...
sync Huawei Health watch data into Google Fit; Google Drive or fitness apps like Strava or Komoot
visitors this year: 5,504 … I can now see my Huawei health data in Google Fit and Google Drive. The Health Sync app acts as a go-between, and connects Huawei health to several other...
connect remotely to your home network using the WireGuard add-on in Home Assistant
visitors this year: 7,486 Why do this? At an early point on the journey to network heaven you may have a need to connect from some holiday location say, to a camera, your computer,...
how to stop a smart light and switch states getting out of sync
visitors this year: 231 what do we mean by getting out of sync: Scenario one: You’ve two table lamps which are controlled independently either because they’re smart lamps or because you’ve two regular lamps...
Robot arms reach out to the Raspberry Pi: this is art
visitors this year: 186 What’s going on? Hec, I’m in a room with robot arms and fingers twitching as they respond to social media. THIS can only be art but it’s art powered by...
upgrade your router firmware to ‘FreshTomato’
visitors this year: 5,775 The Netgear Nighthawk r7000 is a router, switch and powerful Wi-fi access point in one unit and even in 2021, years on from when it was made it still offers...
addressable LED light strips put to use
visitors this year: 141 There are LED strip lights where every LED can be doing something different with the result that you can create peculiar effects. You can start with a commercially available kit...
access your Home Assistant remotely using DuckDNS, Letsencrypt and the nginx SSL proxy
visitors this year: 3,466 The Home Assistant home automation hub is more useful if you can access it remotely. In addition to having anywhere access with a browser URL, there’s an excellent phone app...
use nginx proxy manager with home assistant to access many network devices
visitors this year: 11,274 If you need to access Home Assistant remotely away from home, skip this page and instead go to access your Home Assistant remotely using DuckDNS, Letsencrypt and the nginx SSL...
use the smart device app even if you use an automation platform
visitors this year: 166 Your smart bulbs, switches and door bell all come with a useful manufacturer’s app – over time you’ll accumulate many such apps. While Home Assistant might make them redundant, here...
Dim display problem on large LED digital clock
visitors this year: 279 The digits at one end of a large LED clock displayed much more dimly than they ought. I’d say they were about half the brightness – and it was quite...
how to know when the washing machine has finished
visitors this year: 424 If you need to know when a device, like a dryer or washing machine has finished working, get a ‘smart plug with energy monitoring‘. Amazon list many of them but...
automated fade up dimmer for analogue LED Strips – using a MOSFET and ESPhome
visitors this year: 2,680 This ceiling ‘coffer’ is lit by four 5m LED strips cut down to size fitted in 2017. If you wanted really, really bright light, these analogue white LED strips were...
see your sensor readings on a TTGO T-display ST7789V TFT LCD
visitors this year: 2,905 If you use Home Assistant you can show temperature, time and other sensor entities on this cute display. The inspiration for this mini-project came from a need to display my...
send a screenshot to your phone, instant message or email using cloud storage such as Google Photos – this really is the best workflow
visitors this year: 93 Without copying a screenshot to or using a USB stick (no!) All the day I capture useful or interesting images from facebook, instagram, desktop apps and web pages. I copy...
what is the temperature of your oven? how to cook reliably with an inaccurate oven
visitors this year: 611 Ovens may have digital controllers or analogue temperature controllers and cooks seem to have blind faith in their settings. In this household the cooks were burning food so I checked...
how much oil / electricity do I use in a day – Home Assistant or espHome
visitors this year: 1,446 The measurements that I take around the home provide two things: – a picture of a moment in time – a room temperature for example. – how something changes over...
how to integrate 433MHz temperature & humidity sensors with Home Assistant
visitors this year: 2,419 A home automation platform, such as Home Assistant, allows you to make temperature v time graphs using sensors that you might place around the home. Monitoring temperatures allowed me to...
can I integrate ‘HomeEasy’ 433MHz devices with Home Assistant?
visitors this year: 1,221 Yes. Below you’ll see how to control HomeEasy devices through Home Assistant and the RFlink receiver/transmitter. (This also controls other manufacturers’ wireless sockets). You’ll be able to create timers and...
use GitHub and Arduino IDE to create an ESP32 web camera
visitors this year: 1,668 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...
coping with 18650 batteries with and without button tops
visitors this year: 565 I discover my bicycle headlamp wasn’t working because some 18650 batteries have a button top. Oh my, that was embarrassing to admit The 18650 ‘battery’, like many batteries, is named...
use Google lens to search the Internet using a picture or photo
visitors this year: 377 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...
use one switch to turn on two lights – in any combination
visitors this year: 260 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...
T4EU1C and Home Assistant
visitors this year: 458 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...