30 March 2021

Caravans at Beach Hop, 2021

Beach Hop rolled around quickly for 2021 as the last one was just in November. Some awesome new vans on view, and the usual suspects back with there fantastic renovations, displays and creations. I’m looking forward to next year’s Caravans & Classics sponsored light show – it was organised at short notice this year and not a lot of vans...

Categories Photo Gallery/Retro Caravans Comments: 0

20 March 2021

Controlling a Computer Remotely with MQTT

I was looking for various ways to control my computers via home automation, and my method of choice MQTT. I found mqcontrol by albertnis to be the best option and simplest for my use case.

Categories Home Automation/IT & Networking Comments: 0

30 November 2020

Lilliputs at Beach Hop 2020

Lilliput Caravans at Beach Hop 2020

Categories Photo Gallery/Retro Caravans Comments: 0

27 November 2020

Caravans at Beach Hop, 2020

Beach Hop in Whangamata was supposed to be in March this year but was rescheduled to November due to the Pandemic. These photos were mostly taken on the Friday. The winning caravan this year was Kate & Tony Bartlett with their show set-up 50s styled caravan Frankie-Jo and matching vehicle. Runners up were Greg and Kaylie Vine. If you would...

Categories Photo Gallery/Retro Caravans Comments: 0

3 November 2020

Using an SDR and RTL_433 in docker with MQTT

Mainly to grab weather station data, but also useful for other 433MHz data, this is the setup I use in Docker. It uses a cheap Realtek USB SDR, and pushes data received straight to an MQTT server.

Categories Home Automation/Weather Comments: 0

31 October 2020

Tasmota Flash of GLD110HA Smart Globe

Flashing a cheap Wifi connected smart light bulb with Tasmota (attempting to use Tuya Convertmethod, but reverting to a hardware flash)

Categories Home Automation Comments: 0

21 September 2020

Using nsupdate to update a DNS server using docker

Summary This sets up a continual check (using cron) to obtain the current external IP, and if it has changed from the last check, update the remote dns server (that you need full access to). Notes do not as yet show how to set up the dns server and certs. Suggestions for simplifying welcome, maybe holding the current IP address...

Categories Home Automation/IT & Networking Comments: 0

13 August 2020

Smartphone screen protector UV cured

I have had various phone screen protectors over the years, floppy and solid and preferred the solid glass cover I had on on my Note 8 for over a year I paid NZ$30+ for the last one including install by someone at a ‘phone shop’ but really it wasn’t a nice install, and I re-seated it not long to try...

Categories Mobile Phones & Android Comment: 1

29 July 2020

Tasmota Energy Meter Pulse Output Counting

Summary This monitoring was built as part of my whole house 3 phase monitoring project. I had a couple of kWh counters (often called Check Meters) on my main and a sub board. Not as accurate, and can’t monitor V or power factor etc, but useful to look at targeted areas of power use as well as having their own...

Categories Home Automation

26 July 2020

Whole House Surge Suppression for 3 Phase

Summary Common in Europe and other locations around the world, but not really in NZ is the use of surge suppression modules in a main DB. I have a few servers and sensitive equipment so thought it might be a good idea as I was building a small power monitoring switchboard anyway. Standard install practice is to use an MCB...

Categories Home Automation

21 July 2020

Whole House 3 Phase Power with PZEM-004T

A robust, accurate, low cost and safe whole house electricity monitoring setup, using PZEM-004T modules. These use current transformers (CTs), and send data as TTL Modbus-RTU. Recently Tasmota has added support for up to 3 of these directly (on the same data channel) so there are fewer hoops to jump though to get them working (previously my testing involved sending serial commands)

Categories Home Automation

11 June 2020

Secure the Chocolate: Simple Cupboard Security

We have created a self contained area of our house that we still use a lot ourselves, and part of the need is to be able to store and use spaces for our own stuff… without guests having access. One of the bedrooms and a full sized cupboard can be locked with a key when needed, but what do you...

Categories Home Automation/Home Renovations/Security Comments: 0

11 June 2020

Bike Cover Sail

Photos of a simple cover made to protect bikes stored outside.

Categories DIY Projects/Home Renovations/Photo Gallery Comments: 0

2 June 2020

USB Weather Station & Weewx using Docker

Use of a Low cost WH1080 USB Weather station, connected by USB to an intel NUC running docker.
Weewx pushes data to a local MQTT server (on the same NUC) and also uses SFTP to push graphs and displays to my commercial webserver.

Categories Home Automation/Weather Comments: 0

17 May 2020

Sinilink USB XY-WFUSB Tasmota Flash

Summary Pics and notes for flashing a Sinilink USB Stick XY-WFUSB with Tasmota This is a USB A Male to female stick, with an esp8266 in it to switch the output. It can be flashed with Tasmota, but has annoyingly small 1.27mm pitch headers. I used the ‘sewing pin’ method suggested in a couple of places. If I was doing...

Categories Home Automation Comments: 0

13 May 2020

Setting up Alt-f Firmware on Dlink DNS-320L NAS

These are cheap 2-bay NASs with replacement open Firmware install.

Categories Electronics/IT & Networking/Technology Comments: 0

24 April 2020

Tasmota based Equipment Cabinet Fan Controller

More an exercise in playing with Tasmota & documenting how Tasmota Rules work, this overly complex fan setup is a standalone fan controller/thermostat for my equipment cupboard.

Categories Home Automation/IT & Networking Comments: 0

28 February 2020

Yunshan HW-622 Network Relay Module

Setup of a HW-622 Relay Module from AliExpress and other places. Approx NZ$6 with free shipping at the time (end 2019)

Categories Electronics/Home Automation Comments: 0

6 December 2019

Large TV Recessed Mounting

This was a setup in our rumpus room to house a TV. I made the recess etc probably 8 months before I even thought about getting a TV for it, and I sort of ‘estimated’ the size I’d need. The back of the recess is 12mm MDF and it is set 100mm back from the Gib. There was heaps of room behind this wall due to how this area under the house is constructed. Using a sheet of MDF meant I didn’t need to worry about what I was going to do with a TV bracket later – it could be screwed anywhere.

Categories Home Renovations Comments: 0

5 December 2019

Over Stair TV Cabinet + Hall Storage

Because I hate unused space… I decided to plan a storage unit for above where our stairs go from our lounge to the lower level. There is decent ceiling height here, and the back of the area is accessible from the hallway. We thought of the concept when we were renovating the hall about 12 months previous, and so cut...

Categories DIY Projects/Entertainment/Home Renovations Comments: 0

13 November 2019

Home Automation: Future Thinking

So, home control with your own setup is great, but you have to think about what happens in the event you sell your house, get hit by a bus or someone needs to work on it in the future. Home Automation should add value to a house, not turn people off a sale. This is part 2 of some of...

Categories DIY Projects/Home Automation/Projects/Technology Comments: 0

13 November 2019

Home Automation: Electrical Safety

This is part one of some of my notes regarding Home Automation concepts. Part 2 is about planning for the future and house resale value. Electrical Isolation/Safety Electrical safety is very important obviously for home automation, and as well as my tendency to over-engineer, I’m often thinking about ‘what could possibly go wrong‘. One of the things I want to...

Categories DIY Projects/Home Automation/Projects/Technology Comments: 0

27 July 2019

Used EV Payback, Should I buy one? (Part 1, Estimates)

How much do you save buying a used EV, and is it worth it? How long is the payback? This is the story of my original conservative payback estimates for buying a Nissan Leaf, but plot twist… the actuals are much, much better.

Categories Electric Vehicles/Opinion

8 July 2019

Conversion of Ceiling Attic to Storage

In 2019 I converted a ceiling space atticin our current house to storage (on a budget). You can never have enough home storage. This is the 5th type of install I’ve done like this (Similar in 4 previous houses), and as well as being useful, home buyers love it (if done well).

Categories Home Renovations/Projects Comments: 0