Tag: Home Automation

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.

Categories 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.

Categories 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.

Categories Electronics/Home Automation 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)

Categories Home Automation Comments: 5

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.

Categories 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.

Categories Home Automation 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.

Categories Home Automation Comments: 0

29 September 2022

Zemismart KS-811 with OpenBK7231N/OpenBeken

Recently a friend bought some Zemismart wall switches and they have a BK7231N chip rather than an ESP8266. This outines the OpenBeken project and how it can be used in the switch in a similar way to Tasmota/ESPHome.

Categories Home Automation Comments: 3

31 August 2022

Vehicle 12V Battery Monitoring with ESP8266 and ESPHome

Using the Analogue input on an ESP8266 and voltage divider to monitor the status of a 12V battery in a car.

Categories Electric Vehicles/Electronics/Home Automation/Vehicles Comments: 13

8 July 2022

WB3S replacement for Home Automation devices

More and more home automation devices from China are coming with no ESP8266 module, especially the TUYA based ones. Some are coming with a WB3S (which is different to the TYWB3S), but this can easily be removed and replaced with a cheap ESP12F (or similar) module.

Categories Electronics/Home Automation Comments: 6

14 October 2021

Kogan Smart Glass Kettle 1.7L and Tasmota

Notes on how to flash Tasmota to a $50 Kogan Smart Glass Kettle 1.7L Tasmota (Also available from the online retailer Dick Smith), and control it with Home Assistant.

Categories Home Automation Comments: 2

10 October 2021

Notes for Moes Zigbee Scene Switch

Notes for setting up “Moes” brand 1,2,3 or 4 button zigbee Scene switches with a Sonoff Zigbee Bridge

Categories Home Automation Comments: 0

30 August 2021

Tracking Pet Feeding with Home Automation

A method to track whether the cat and dog have been fed in a busy household.

Categories Home Automation Comments: 0

2 August 2021

Viewsonic Touch Screen for Home Assistant Display

Use of a pretty old Viewsonic All-in-One computer as a home automation display. I picked a couple of these up for around NZ$40 each, however found the touch screen didn’t work out of the box as drivers were missing from Linux.

Categories Electronics/Home Automation/Home Renovations/IT & Networking/Projects/Technology Comments: 0

27 July 2021

Home Automation of Rinnai Gas Heater

Our Rinnai heater is a wall mounted/flued gas fire. Current control is via a large LCD remote control that also acts as the temperature sensor, and thermostat. It has some auto timing capability via way of programming the remote, but it is a bit clunky and not intuitive. The goal was to enable a better PID control of the temperature, and switch off/on control (occupancy, remotely before arrival, voice control, better scheduling etc). This shows how I connected to it with Home Assistant.

Categories Electronics/Home Automation/Home Renovations/Projects/Technology Comments: 0

27 May 2021

zigbee2mqtt Setup in Docker for Home Automation

a setup to allow off the shelf zigbee devices to report to a mqtt server. Total cost

Categories Home Automation/IT & Networking/Technology Comments: 0

12 April 2021

Internet Speed test to InfluxDB & MQTT with Docker

Use of the Ookla speedtest cli to test the internet connection regularly, and push the results to influx db & MQTT.

Categories Home Automation/IT & Networking 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

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 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

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

4 February 2019

5 Steps to DIY Home Automation

You can spend thousands on home automation equipment. You could get yourself an ecosystem like Apple Homekit, Samsung Smart-Things, Control4 or many others, however with just some moderate techo skills you can set up or convert your home to pretty awesome home control with DIY. My take on home automation is that it should be pretty much invisible. Things should...

Categories DIY Projects/Home Automation/Technology Comments: 0