I just received a Zigbee garden moisture sensor – you might be interested – the short video gives more info – there is no branding on this device – but it works – uses a couple of AA batteries – is huge and works with Zigbee2MQTT – that’s a good…
Category: General
Sinilink XY-WFMS ESP8266 MOSFET Board Pool Heating
I originally did a simple writeup about this cheap board back in July 2020 without actually having a use for it. I have a couple of cheap Sinilink 30mm by 46mm boards based on ESP-12 modules which take variable voltage ranging 5v-36v DC and can supply several amps out. The…
The All-New Sonoff TX Ultimate and Wall Switch Cover
I have in front of me the new TX Ultimate Smart Touch Wall Switch from Sonoff as well as the equally impressive dark replacement cover. This recent trend worries me a little, the packaging on this wallswitch is just stunning – but are we paying for the aesthetics – Sonoff…
This morning’s mail – the ReoLink 4K DUO + Floodlight Camera
I’m referring of course to the Reolink Duo (2 lenses for ultra-wide-angle monitoring) Floodlight WiFi outdoor security camera that came in a large box for me this morning – just in time for more storms. Over the years I’ve said a lot of nice things about Imou cameras and my…
June Tech Goodness from Shelly
I LOVE getting stuff from Shelly (Alterco Robotics of Bulgaria) – my all-time favourite is their WiFi “Shelly Button 1” which sits on my desk and turns my office lights on and off if I don’t have the phone handy. So, today I received a new Shelly Blu Button1 and…
More Sonoff Zigbee Goodness
Around christmas 2022 I did a writeup on some new Sonoff equipment including the brand new NSPanel Pro WHITE. See Mini Extreme June 2023 Update at the end. Then I received two more Sonoff products (new to me at least) -the Sonoff ZBMINI Extreme (ZBMINIL2) and a very large Sonoff…
FriendlyElec NanoPi R6S Combo SBC
FriendlyElec just sent me their latest SBC – strangely I’m currently working on the R5S with FriendlyWrt (OpenWrt) and struggling a little with our brilliant idea of converting one LAN port into a second WAN port – worked for 2 weeks then stopped – my friend Antonio and I have…
New Sonoff SNZB-01P, SNZB-02P T/H Sensors + MiniR4M
You could well be thinking at this point “What’s he on about? Surely these aren’t new sensors, Sonoff have had the SNZB-01 Button and 02 Temperature/Humidity Sensor for ages?”. The MiniR4M is a development of the MiniR4 I covered here (not entirely sure why they didn’t simply upgrade the MiniR4…
New Goodies from SwitchBot – Indoor/Outdoor Thermo-Hygrometer
I’ve recently grabbed a couple of these new sensors from Switchbot and they come complete with two AAA batteries pre-fitted. The back comes off easily for replacement, no tools required. Model is W3400010. Don’t ask why the box is so dirty – no idea. Once set up in the Switchbot…
Linkind Powerful Solar Landscape Garden Lights
This morning, a package arrived for me containing a pair of decent-looking garden solar lights from Linkind (I’m a bit surprised their main website prefix as detailed in their manual is http, not https but the actual website is fine). Straight up I should say I’d never heard of Linkind…
TP-Link Archer MR600 AC1200 Dual Band LTE Router
Before I start this is in no way any kind of promotion of TP-Link – I just stumbled on the V2 version of this router originally and now own both the V2 and V3 and am very happy with the results with one caviat – see WiFi later in the…
Broadband or 4G / 5G mobile? That is the Question!
If you’re here for a quick look at 4G/5G for use as broadband – Skip to the end section 4G Routers – Revelations or my concluding article about the TP-Link MR600 4G LTE router, otherwise read on… For some years on and off, here in rural Spain, I struggled with…
And Now – MATTER
No puns please – and if you know all about MATTER this is not for you (unless you have some rock-solid corrections to anything I say). With that said, until this week, I had no idea what MATTER was – but now I do, I can’t learn fast enough. If…
Compact PowerVision S1 Gimbal for Smartphones – Update
The PowerVision S1 is a “smart” 3-axis smartphone stabiliser with wireless power bank and “PowerFollow” tracking. See the February 2023 through to May 2025 updates at the end of this article.The device and its website are now defunct. Original article: If you’ve read my blog entry about the new Hohem…
Tasmota and Node-Red Long-Term
Over the years I’ve seen IOT-related projects come and go – the latest, greatest home control APP at one time was going to be Imperihome (swiftly followed by Blynk). Unlike both Node-Red and Tasmota, both of which are today very popular, As far as I can see, the Imperihome website…
Smartphone Covers and Screen Protection Issues
I know – what an odd thing to write about. Well, over time I’ve had LOTS of smartphones either purchased or sent to me to review and hence lots of cases and screen protectors – so I have a little experience on the subject. Here I’m going to talk about…
Perlas De Gel Para Plantas
Something new! Well, not new to me, but they MAY be new to you? Plant Gel (water crystals) are a (supposedly) 100% non-toxic, biodegradable, and odourless super- absorbent Polyacrylamide crystal, that absorb up to 400 times their weight in water. In English, these are tiny capsules, available DIRT cheap from…
AliExpress and Athom Smart Bulbs Compared
A while back I wrote about a really cheap AliExpress Smartlamp – which had to work with the Smartlife App as it was (is) WiFi based. The lamp in question was the AUBESS lamp and I wrote about it here. All very nice – my comments were that this (fairly…
The Sonoff NSPanel Pro and NEW FEATURES
Firstly, what’s an NSPanel Pro? It’s like an NSPanel but newer – and – erm – different. In my photos below, you can see that this is a full screen display – there are also two holes near the top. One hole is for sound input, the other a light…
Tiny Remote for the New Hohem iSteady M6 AI Gimbal
The plan was to simply to produce a really tiny video to show you the new remote control (for the M6 gimbal) which arrived in the post yesterday from Hohem. That expanded out to this explanation, photos and a link back to my Hohem M6 entry as well as a…