I must have thought there were not enough kinds/shapes/etc clocks in the world. Or maybe I thought: “I made one in the eighties, one about 10 years ago, so it is time for another one.” I’m not sure at this stage. What I do know is that I wanted to …
Are you as baffled as I am about Home Assistant installation? Got a generic Linux system and are not sure where to begin? Well, look no further, as i am setting out here the necessary steps, as i identified them through my recent research. Home Assistant is one of the …
Introduction Almost a decade ago I made a PIC micro controlled staircase light timer. It has been working really well ever since and now time has come to upgrade it. This time I designed it around the ESP8266 WiFi module as most of my other projects these days. Having WiFi …
Introduction Recently, I have tried a number of cheap WiFi smart bulbs. Usually, they arrive OK from China (although they are in serious need of weeding all the spyware in them), but this particular one failed to do more than a quick flash when I switched it on. No WiFi, …
Introduction A while back I got an offer from PCBWay to test their PB prototyping services. As I was at the time designing a couple of new circuits I accepted their offer and below I will give a description of the process and my impressions. Disclaimer: I have received these …
Introduction Recently I have come across some smart LED light bulbs that came in different sizes, shapes, functionalities and manufacturers. One thing they share is that they all do their “smarts” over a WiFi connection for which you need to use a smartphone and one of the many apps that …
Introduction The Sonoff Basic Wi-Fi Smart Switch is an inexpensive wireless smart switch for anyone who wants to remote control and/or automate electric devices around the house or workplace. Unfortunately, it suffers from the same privacy issues as many of the inexpensive consumer grade smart devices, like the one in …
Recently, more and more consumer devices are available to make your home “smarter”. While they can make our lives a bit easier, comfortable, most of these smart devices also give rise to a number of privacy concerns as well as usability/reliability issues: The mobile apps (i.e. Ewelink, Smart life, etc) that …
Introduction Although optional, having a central coordinator (ActoSenso Server) in an automation environment can open up new possibilities. Advantages of having an ActoSenso Server include more processing power, more mass storage (for historical data), easier to develop business logic, etc. Options for an ActoSenso Server Almost any computer can be converted …
