I LOVE getting new stuff from Reolink – their WiFi, powered video doorbell takes centre stage on my front door here in Spain and as I’ve recently discovered, integrates into Home Assistant via the Reolink plug-in no problem. It also works on their Android APP, their PC APP and a…
Category: General
mm Wave vs IR vs ESPresense – Big Decision?
As some of you know, I have a number of radar detectors including those shown here in the form of the Sonoff SNZB-06P, Aqara FP2 and many others. I also have endless simple IR detectors from AliExpress and elsewhere. One of the latter sits next to Alexa in our living…
More Aliexpress Zigbee lights
This week I received a package from AliExpress – some dirt cheap Zigbee E27 lights I ordered on impulse. I instinctively order 12w as minimum as anything lower than that is going to have vrey dim colour LEDs. Ok, you take a chance with AliExpress offers and you have to…
Sonoff SNZB-02D Zigbee LCD Update
Update June 2024: The article below about the SNZB-02D LCD Smart Temperature and Humidity Sensor was originally written in March 2023 – It’s now over 15 months later and the sensor has been sitting on my shelf along with many others on test. A lot has changed recently including my…
The New GL-iNET MARBLE WiFi 6 Router (updated)
I LOVE getting new stuff from Gl-iNet – I’ve been writing about them since the original OpenWrt-based MANGO GL-MT300 router (which recently gave up on me after being dragged from house to house, country to country over the years). For years I was a Draytek fan but once Gl-iNet started…
MORE Home Assistant Learning – Restart Mode
For one of my first automations in Home Assistant (starting to replace my Node-Red home control code) I picked a new Aqara no-neutral switch I’ve just fitted to our just-redesigned bathroom wall – to turn the bathroom light on and off – manually or remotely. I wanted a 20 minute…
Home Assistant June 2024 – Alexa, Google Home and more
I wrote earlier this week about Home Assistant – sorry this isn’t going to be a linear set of articles as I’m not learning linearly – and of course the HA product is changing by the month. Last week I had a pretty boring set of dashboards – still LOTS…
Quicky – iHORN Window/Door Sensor HO-031ZB
Back in 2022 I wrote about a bunch of iHorn products then took it no further as I didn’t get very far integrating them into Zigbee2MQTT and hence my Node-Red-based home control. Well, today I noticed in a spare moment, the iHorn HO-031ZB sensor pair in a box – wasting…
Remember “The Last One”? Now we have ChatGPT !
I remember “The Last One” well (with a little DATE help from Wikipedia)… the 1981 program which would render all programmers redundant? The Last One was released over 40 years ago by the British company D.J. ‘AI’ Systems and took input from a user to generate an executable program in the…
The Aqara E1 Camera and New H1EU No-Neutral Wall Switch
Evey now and then I get the urge to update blog entries as I find out something you might find useful. My latest piece of info is about the H2EU switch below – original article March 3 2024… Firstly the Aqara E1 Camera Claimed features – Accurate person tracking, multi-platform…
Shelly H&T Generation 3 and Much More
I’ve had lots of Shelly products in my time – I recall trying out MQTT on them and even got some partially integrated into Node-Red (I hate using lots of APPs) but now as I begin to feel my way around Home Assistant – I have my first couple of…
More AliExpress cheapness – T34 Smart Plug+
As you do, I was looking around AliExpress having just parted with a couple of smartplugs to help out a friend in a hurry, when I discovered some specials – generic Smartlife plugs – 16A and 20A, with power monitoring. I think Ali had a limit of 3 devices so…
Ugreen Nexode GaN Fast Charger
A couple of weeks ago I received an email in German (no, I don’t speak German) from Ugreen who offered to send me a charger to look at. I’ve had stuff from Ugreen before and no problem so – why not! So yesterday I received the new U green Charger…
The Move to RPi5 – Upgrading the RPi4
Elsewhere I’ve written about moving from Raspberry Pi 4 and legacy 32-bit Bullseye (Pi OS) to Raspberry Pi 5 and 64-bit Bookworm (Pi OS). So I thought, having backed up my RPi4 and 5, I’d take the RPi4 and do a from-scratch installation of Bullseye on the latter. Armed with…
Sonoff ZBMicro – Zigbee USB Smart Adaptor
Last week this turned up in the post here in Spain by CTT courier so I thought I’d write a few lines about it. Typically, mains powered USB Zigbee devices act as routers (I’d call them repeaters but never mind). As regular readers know, I use Sonoff a LOT –…
Rpi5 and the Transition from The Script to Docker
After several years of compatibility concerns and linear, incremental development of my RPi-based node-red/mqtt/Zigbee2mqtt home control system which started with RPi2 and worked all the way through RPI4 while not EVER starting from scratch – and hence many articles in here, I’ve made a transition. Here is some detail: So…
Orange Pi Plus 16GB Version
When I say 16GB, I mean 16GB of RAM. In the world of single-board computers (SBCs), it isn’t unusual to focus on the Raspberry Pi as probably the most well known SBC but in some ways, the Orange Pi Plus stands out as a compelling choice for hobbyists and makers.…
256 Colour Editing in Linux
For many years I’ve been using SSH sessions on my PC to talk to headless SBCs such as Raspberry Pi. I HATE monochrome editing and almost as badly hate 16-colour editor. Be wary before going further that 256-colours is not for every situation. Disclaimer out of the way – with…
Tasmota Autonomous Auto-OFF, Solar Troubles and RPI5 WIN
Tasmota and Autonomous Turn-off Thoughts Right now I’m in the process of review writing some of which can’t be released until product launch dates – meantime – one of the main features of the free, open-source Tasmota device control firmware is it’s ability to control various devices and monitor various…
Reolink Argus Track – Twin-Lense 4K WiFi Security Camera
This new Reolink solar IP WiFi pan/tilt camera features 2 lenses. One normal, one 2 optical telephoto. The website claims “4K 8MPX, pan-tilt and 6* hybrid zoom”. I took the Argus Track out of the box, plugged in the supplied solar panel (in the house so no actual sun) waited…