calculate how long is the day
visitors this year: 1,555 … 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...
Category: monitoring at home
project: smart thermostat – nest and hive
visitors this year: 2,010 The Google nest thermostat (or its Hive equivalent) are devices which I’d be happy to pay for and recommend. A DIY person could make a thing to turn on the...
find the IP address of your things – introduction
visitors this year: 359 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...
add your own smart devices to Home Assistant using ESPHome
visitors this year: 1,650 what’s needed to start using ESPhome? option 1: an ESP32 development board with a micro-USB socket option 2: an ESP8266 development board – less power use, but no Bluetooth option...
starting with Home Assistant
visitors this year: 11,185 Home Assistant is software that connects smart devices. It enables them to have a useful life outside of the app that they come with. You will gain unusual flexibility where...
flash ESP32 or ESP32-CAM with arduino ide software
visitors this year: 18,791 These instructions may help you upload a fireware.bin file to an ESP32 dev board. You are not alone if you meet a problem uploading a firmware bin file to an...
use an ESP32 board with Home Assistant
visitors this year: 2,449 When a ESP32 device, such as a development board like the wemos D1 mini or ESP32-CAM, has been flashed and powered, it will use the password you added to the...
customise a Sonoff smart relay (esphome 3b)
visitors this year: 1,264 ‘own’ your own devices THE FOLLOWING PROCESS IS STILL USEFUL – HOWEVER SONOFF DEVICES CAN WORK WITHOUT MODIFICATION IN HOME ASSISTANT (SEE HERE) AND THE EWElink app. THE ADVANTAGE OF...
flash a ESP32-CAM to make a smart camera
visitors this year: 22,549 Costing less than £10 or $10, the ESP32-CAM board comes equipped with WiFi, a camera and a micro SD-card slot. It needs a little work to turn this ‘development board’...
comparing the cost of fuels for heating
visitors this year: 1,721 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...
an automation to make the immersion water heater turn off and waste no energy if the water is already hot
visitors this year: 769 The Sonoff POWR2 can replace the timer on a hot water immersion heater. This model also measures electricity as volts, amps and current. This feature provides the key to saving...
Dupont jumper wires & shells – introduction
visitors this year: 990 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...
project: an immersion heater that turns itself when the water is hot – using a Sonoff POW relay.
visitors this year: 1,223 Domestic hot water can be heated by a gas or oil central heating boiler or by an electrical immersion heater. I take advantage of half-price nighttime electricity and use an...
some uses for a raspberry pi computer – introduction
visitors this year: 614 A Raspberry Pi is a small low power computer that hopefully has a use that chimes for you. I don’t think you’d want to use a Pi for emails and...
which ESP32 did I buy?
visitors this year: 305 “… It’s an ESP32. Yes but which?” ESPRESSIF is the company that markets chips such as the ESP8266 and ESP32 and ESP32-CAM. Other companies buy those chips and fit them...
project: cameras around the house
visitors this year: 354 There are a variety of camera types to help monitor the drive, a pet, a baby, a device, a bird feeder – whatever. You might want to know what’s eating...
project: does my broadband speed vary?
visitors this year: 165 Here’s how to add a little functionality to Home Assistant, the automation platform. Do try this especially if you’re just starting to add features to Home Assistant. speedtestdotnet: scan_interval: hours:...
project: when is the next train from the station?
visitors this year: 1,268 Travel information can be one of the things you need easy access to. If you have Google Home or Alexa you’ll find it helpful to recall the exact way to...
a home dashboard with the information you need just now
visitors this year: 542 When you have a few smart devices you meet a need to be able to see them easily. We might have a camera pointed at the front door but it’s...
monitor temperature on graphs around the house
visitors this year: 1,572 The Xiaomi Mijia sensor runs for ages on a AAA battery and it can be stuck to a wall to show the temperature and humidity. It’s an attractive Bluetooth Low...
automation: turn on lights when I enter the room
visitors this year: 821 The LED striplights in a kitchen use 12v transformers and they are powered through smart plugs / sockets. The sockets are by TP-link – and they remember their on-off state...
project: smart electricity meter with historic energy use
visitors this year: 4,674 fit a sensor to the electricity meter for a minute by minute readout The UK electricity meter shows electricity use in kWatt hours, and a human sometimes pops by to...
heating oil tank level sensor – JSN-SR04T version
visitors this year: 7,508 make a heating oil tank level sensor that’s more useful than anything you can buy There is a replacement for this project – the latest project uses a DFROBOT A02YYUW...
some of us have a thing about units, data and graphs
visitors this year: 278 The Home Assistant sensor graph offers painless autoscaling with options to set detail and timespan. But how do I alter the data itself? A car fuel tank measures in gallons...
how much heating oil does the boiler use?
visitors this year: 16,017 how much heating oil do I use each year? Of course it depends but reckon on needing to order 1000 to 1600 litres a year for heating your rooms and...
project: desktop volume control with Arduino
visitors this year: 1,026 A volume control at hand and ready to turn. Bash the top and the video or track pauses. Double bash to skip to the next track. It’s plug and play,...