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14 February 2025

ESPHome Towel Rail Timer, preparing for offline use

A good home automation system should at least fall back to being an intuitive basic dumb system if offline (as minimum), and some automation features remaining is a bonus.
This was the start of my mission to update a few of the remaining items in my house by giving them some offline functionality, and slightly better than ‘no function’ where I can (for the eventual new home owner).

Electronics/Home Automation/Home Renovations Comments: 0

5 December 2024

Wee History, a “Living Museum” in Edinburgh

On a recent trip to Europe I was in Edinburgh, and have the chance to stop by this interesting little spot called the Wee Museum of History, described as “Edinburgh’s Reminiscence Project” and a “hands-on museum”

Collections/Technology/Travel Comments: 0

3 December 2024

Shorts: Bosch… not bosch

I had a Bosch optiflow 26 califont installed in 2017 (7 years ago). It has been nothing but trouble, initially I got it because the specs looked better on paper, and it had a Bluetooth interface to an app (which ended up being pretty useless due to short range). I also had to additionally buy a wall controller anyway, as...

Thoughts Comments: 0

1 October 2024

Shorts: Marty’s VHS-C Camera (nearly)

I was gifted a GR-C7E for my video and camera collection – pretty amazing condition, in case with accessories… Doc and Marty in Back to the Future used the GR-C1 and that model is apparently pretty well sought after. The C7E was released in 1985/86 with the C7E being from the year before (1984… of course!). Popular TV programme Stranger...

Thoughts Comments: 0

7 September 2024

Flashing a Mi Home 1S LED Desk Lamp with ESPHome

I found that this Xiaomi Lamp had an esp32 in it and could pretty easily be flashed with ESPHome. I always like commercial products that can be reflashed, so thought it might be a useful addition to my work desk. This is a pretty low effort product to flash.

Home Automation/Lighting Comments: 0

1 September 2024

Shorts: Decent phone holder finally?

Had a bunch of phone holders in cars over the years, including magnet types and gel pads etc… I miss the phone specific car kits of the mid 90s 🙂 Discovered this type the other month… The best and most convenient I’ve had so far.

Thoughts Comments: 0

1 August 2024

Shorts: Back to the 80s in poor drinks taste

Look at this that my neighbour gave me… (she works for a liquor company) apparently Miami Winecooler has been re-released. In this case it has vodka in it which is a bit weird, but it does have wine in it and has a nice colourful box… Tubbs and Crockett would be proud

Thoughts Comments: 0

31 July 2024

My Polaroid Instant Cameras, 1969 – 2000

I have a bunch of still and movie film cameras I have collected over the years. The polaroid ones I’m most fond of, and have recently purchased some modern film for the Land Camera 1000. Here are some photos and descriptions of my Polaroid collection, with cameras from 1969 to 2000.

Collections/Photography/Technology Comments: 0

2 July 2024

Replacing ESPresense with Bermuda for BLE tracking

I really like using ESPHome, and the setup of ESPresense is similar in some ways, but focused on devices tracking. I had been hoping that ESPresense would eventually be fully integrated into ESPHome, but that has obviously not happened, or is a bit hard. “Bermuda BLE Trilateration” is a new project that could possibly replace my ESPresense setup.

Home Automation/Technology Comments: 0

5 June 2024

mmWave occupancy, ESP32 and LD2410 (UART)

An ESP32 running ESPHome to interface with a LD2410 (with UART/Serial, directly connected and not Bluetooth). Also using a BME280 and simple PIR for additional sensing. This was the second mmWave sensor I played with.

Electronics/Home Automation Comments: 0

16 May 2024

mmWave occupancy, ESP32 and LD1125H

Use of an ESP32 running ESPHome to interface with a LD1125H mmWave occupancy sensor, Also monitoring of room temperature, humidity and pressure via the same device.

Electronics/Home Automation Comments: 0

30 April 2024

MAME Cabinet Raspberry Pi 4

An old Taito standup arcade cabinet that I’d previously kitted out with MAME, came back from storage and I decided to refit it with something more maintainable. MAME and emulation should be a lot simpler now than it was back then shouldn’t it?

DIY Projects/Electronics/Entertainment/IT & Networking/Projects/Technology Comments: 0

24 November 2023

Automating “should be the bins be out… and are they?”

Use of ESPresense, BLE iBeacons, Node Red and Home Assistant to tell if it is rubbish day, which bins need to go out (and only if the bins haven’t been put out yet)

Home Automation Comments: 5

25 September 2023

700km Drive in the Atto 3

We drove our BYD Atto 3 from Auckland to Wellington, and this was the first long distance trip we have taken it on. So how was the charging and how much did it cost?

Electric Vehicles Comments: 0

20 August 2023

Dual Dashcam for the BYD Atto 3

Installing a front and rear dashcam in a BYD Atto 3. Although the Atto 3 has a dashcam, it doesn’t record when parked.
Dash cameras are great, and I like having them in all of our cars. The first one i installed was around 9 years ago and they have saved us a few times when involved in a fender-bender that wasn’t our fault, and really helped a couple of times when there has been a carpark ding.

CCTV/Electric Vehicles Comments: 5

7 August 2023

Home EV Wallcharger Setup & Installation Tips

Having had electric vehicles for a few years now, I thought I’d share a few tips and photos regarding our current EV charging setup. We currently have 2 EVs (both that live outside) and 2 charging points, one beside the other.

Electric Vehicles/Home Automation/Security Comments: 0

6 August 2023

Appliance Completion Notification with Node Red

Use of Node Red and Javascript to monitor power to an appliance and notify when complete. It also can log to a csv file and do calculations based on total power used and the cost of that power, with peak/offpeak rates taken into account.

Home Automation Comments: 0

4 August 2023

Tasmota Rules Examples

Below are some rules for Tasmota that I’ve used over the years, including doing basic standalone automations (no Home Assistant, no Node Red, or other additional tools). Standalone automation can be handy, and in simple cases you don’t need any working wireless for basic functions. If you install smart devices, you can safely disconnect your networking (eg if you sell your house) and still have some basic smart functions.

Home Automation Comments: 0

28 April 2023

Cheaper Sodastreaming with bulk CO2

We like our bubbly water, and although you can get fridges that carbonate… they are horrendously expensive. The next best thing is a sodastream machine, but again… this can be a huge cost if you stick to the sodastream brand cartridges. So, what options are there to DIY ?

DIY Projects/Projects Comments: 0

21 March 2023

BYD Atto 3, 2023

I have had a 2014 Nissan Leaf for 5 years, and it is possibly the most sensible car I’ve ever had. We needed a vehicle to replace our aging Mazda MPV which we tow a caravan with and wanted another EV. After much searching, we discounted overall towing performance, (I bought an American Ute for this). The Atto 3 started to become popular and a small dealership opened at our local shopping centre so we bought one.

Electric Vehicles/Vehicles Comments: 0

24 December 2022

Oven Reminders with Node Red & ESPHome

Use of Node Red and Javascript to monitor power to my oven and give regular announcements that is is still running. It also can log to a csv file and do calculations based on total power used and the cost of that power, with peak/offpeak rates taken into account.

Home Automation Comments: 0

19 October 2022

Small CCTV Monitor for RTSP Display

This project allows the use of an old raspberry pi (V1), plus a basic automotive 7″ analogue LCD screen to display streamed CCTV images.

CCTV/Home Automation Comments: 0

14 October 2022

30 Years, and my Digital Mobile Tour

It seemed like I’d owned a few mobile devices in my lifetime and a while back I gradually built up a list. The list showed that it was around one per year starting in the early ’90s, although there were times I had a work and personal phone or tablet at the same time. I thought I’d jog my own nostalgia a bit more by writing a bit of history of the cellphones in particular, and why I had them.

Mobile Phones & Android Comments: 0

6 October 2022

NZ Retro Caravan Awning Guide

In 2016, we had a custom awning manufactured for our New Zealand made, 15″ 1965 Zephyr Deluxe caravan. A few people have asked about it, so I have documented a bit of the process.

Retro Caravans Comments: 0