Just an update – today I was clearing out my office boxes and noted 4 old mains control blocks – the kind you buy at B&Q – the kind the cats lose the remote controls – these were a little bigger than some but I think the general principle applies…
Node-Red Thermostatic function
So – I was asked recently if I would go into detail about the Node-Red thermostat node I wrote some time ago.. I was at pains to point out that I’ve not developed this further because I’m finding FUNCTIONS to be more useful. With the latter it is easier to…
Updates
Just some minor updates… If you’re using Blynk server locally for your IOT there is a new update – a fix for crashing with Raspberry Pi 3 and some other fixes by the look of it – link is here. Incidentally I just rename the server file to server.jar and…
Imperihome Database
I’ve been asked to go into a little more detail about the database side of Node-Red with Imperihome So for example, let’s say you have a temperature sensor. My last blog on the subject shows you how to put the sensor up and show the current temperature. However, if you…
To Weather or not to Weather
That’s it – I’m giving up with OpenWeatherMap. I’ve been having trouble recently with it accepting Hexham,UK some days and not others and it is getting worse – when you look at it’s search list it says Hexham,GB (despite the fact that I have to put in UK and not…
Nextion WIFI Touch Display
This award-winning project ** is a development of previous (home control 2016) work on the Nextion touch serial displays and offers a WIFI-controlled (MQTT) touch display which can be used with the full range of Nextion displays from the little 320*240 display you see here, up to the 7” model. …
The Weather
I had a chat with my pal Jonathan today about the weather – and more specifically getting it into Node-Red. If you are building your home control with Node-Red at the centre then it is always nice to have information about the local weather to send off to your various…
Slampher unfolded
Just a quick one for those familiar with reprogramming the Sonoff devices…. the Slampher product.. you’ll have seen me ranting about Sonoffs – the incredibly low-priced mains control boards (no – I don’t work for them – but you cannot beat their price for WIFI controlled relay units) – and…
Putting it all together in Imperihome
This blog entry is about using the Imperihome APP with Node-Red to control IOT. This is looking like the best APP out there.. Read on.. Please note: 14/03/2016 Update thanks to vastly improved understanding of Imperihome – part of this is thanks to Peter Oakes and his homework (check him…
Imperihome
Imperihome is a well-developed App (Android and IOS) for controlling gadgets (there are some IOS limits). It supports a wide range of systems and has a good range of controls and graphs. Problem is… I don’t want to control any of these – Node-Red is doing a fine job…
Visual Interfaces for IOT
So much happening right now – the new Raspberry Pi 3 once again sets the bar with improved performance, Bluetooth and WIFI as standard. With up to 10x the speed of the original Pi we can do even more serious work with these devices. Please note before proceeding – apparently…
Raspberry Pi 3 Grand Opening
After a couple of tense hours, the doorbell rang this morning – the RS delivery guy with my brand-spanking new Raspberry Pi 3. So was it worth getting? Is this going to kill the competition? Should I have stopped in bed? The Pi arrived in the usual oversize box –…
The Onion Omega
The Onion Omega is described as “an invention platform for the Internet or things”. Mine arrived with a bunch of modules including Ethernet, OLED, relay and other modules but the basic setup is the Omega board itself and in order to do anything with it, the base board which features…
Raspberry Pi 3 Spoiler
While waiting for my new Raspberry Pi 3 board to arrive so I can blog about it – I thought I’d jot down some thoughts following a conversation with a pal of mine in Canada. Today, a new Raspbian release came out supporting the 64-bit Raspberry Pi 3. Hopefully it…
Raspberry Pi 3
So firstly, in case you’ve been on a desert island, what is a Raspberry Pi 3 and why do you need one right now? The Raspberry Pi is a general purpose tiny computer with USB, Ethernet, audio, HDMI etc and this works using an SD card to store the operating…
The Saturday Update
For those interested – I’ve been quiet the last couple of days as we’re ploughing ahead getting the new office up and running – got walls up and ceiling almost done – got power and Ethernet in last last night and today we’re off to get wall sockets and worktops.…
Nextion Progress
Things have come quite a way since my first stab at using the Itead Nextion displays with an ESP8266. I now have a fully working thermostat display running on MQTT – but I’m beginning to wonder if 56KBaud is pushing it a bit for the software UART. Now that I’m…
SUDO without Password
Sometime I wonder… So we have the SUDO command to keep everyone happy in Linux (Debian in this case) by not using ROOT – and on the Raspberry Pi that’s just fine – but every other board I’ve tested you seem to spend more time putting in the password. Then…
From Zero to Star Trek
Or controlling your IOT by voice. 2 days ago I was no-where with this – and today I “stand on the cusp” of having full voice control with just one minor issue bugging me – and as this subject has received so much attention I thought I’d better try to…
Coding the Nextion
At the risk of repeating myself (apologies to regular readers for this first para) the Nextion display is in fact a range of touch-LCD displays from small to large. The thing they all have in common is a a complete programming environment where, by downloading a desktop graphical tool, you…