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GreatAlbatross

@ GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

Posts
16
Comments
237
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • Control light without 3rd party app

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  • A little late to the party, but yes, I can confirm that Hue bulbs can be controlled directly over zigbee. You will need a zigbee radio if you haven't already bought one (£20-ish). They literally just appear like a zigbee device inside that integration.

    You may need to reset them before they will pair. I forget the pattern, but iirc it's on 2s, off 8s, repeated until you see an acknowledgement flash. Sometimes, you'll get one that takes forever, then the next bunch will just hop right on. I have several Hue hubs I still need to offload, as I sometimes buy the combo packs that include another hub.

    I also found that the response time was a lot quicker over direct zigbee than farting around with Signiant/Philips' API.

  • Logitech will brick its $100 Pop smart home buttons on October 15 - Ars Technica

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  • The trick is to buy reasonably open devices, then provide the smarts yourself. If it can talk to / be configured by HomeAssistant, and doesn't require internet to work, it'll probably be fine.

  • Wet underfloor heating controllers

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  • That's indeed useful information! My boiler control for the central heating has the very useful function of a 30 minute button. Which means even if I torpedoed HA in the middle of winter, I could still get the house warm.

  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    Wet underfloor heating controllers

  • Best camera and doorbell setup for home security?

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  • I love my Reolink one. It's powered by PoE, which means running an ethernet cable, and either using a PoE capable switch, or injecting the power just for that cable with an injector. If you're planning a few cameras, a switch is worth it, as you can power them all easily. Basic ones are £20.

    Because it's powered, it will stream all day/night without worrying about batteries. It stores video locally on a microSD, and dumps clips to FTP happily. The clip capture is pre-rolled too (30s, I think?), which is always nice.

    Currently, I have the feed in dashboards, and I have an automation that flashes the lights and sends a picture to my phone when someone presses the bell. Eventually, I'd like to integrate it directly into HA so I can speak to people without using the Reolink application.

    I like Reolink's other cameras too (they do quite a few). I have an 810A, and a 510, if you wanted any feedback on them.

  • Sengled's servers are dead again, so I'm finally taking the plunge

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  • One of us, one of us! Reach out if you have any issues. The dashboards are basically one step away from the configuration, you'll probably have one sooner than you think!

    Also, when you start playing with the light, check out grouping. Very swish having one button to turn all the lights in the house off.

  • What is the best Power Outlet, and why?

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  • And the thin pins means that with any weight (wall-wart, etc.), it starts to come out. Doubly so if it's set into thin plasterboard that already wobbles.

  • OK, not to be runde or anything, but why is your banner AI generated

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  • Lemmy honestly tends to run on the ideas of "be the change you want to see in the world" and "well volunteered". Stick a post up, see if people are interested. You could message the mods. While they don't seem to have posted for a while, there are mod actions happening still. And if you don't hear anything back, put it as a suggestion to the admins.

  • OK, not to be runde or anything, but why is your banner AI generated

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  • Honestly, it's because it went in early days. When ML generated art was a novelty, and people hadn't had a chance to sit down and go "wait, actually, no". And it's an absolute arsepain to replace, because you'll get 1001 prompt engineers defending slop. feddit.uk banned generative AI content to make this process easier, and still needs to sweep through and commission new art for a few communities.

  • Featured

    Show off your dashboards!

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  • Home Assistant as security camera PVR??

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  • I'm a great believer in keeping things as simple and modular as possible. Much easier to just dump files over FTP than have HA do the saving. Plus, the camera can operate like a dashcam, and save before/after the event, while that would be tricker in HA, as you'd have to run a buffer.

  • rule

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  • MFF optiplexes: Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power.

  • Home Assistant as security camera PVR??

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  • Just in case you were not aware, most Reolink cameras can do "save a clip if you see a person" on their own, without involving HA. And they can either dump it to local or network storage. The detection is done at the camera, and just fires a notification over ONVIF.

  • Dual Booters be like

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  • If it helps for a future purchase, Focusrite's external interfaces have been amazing for Linux support.

    To the point where I didn't even notice; It just worked perfectly out of the box.

    I'm assuming you've already checked this, but is your interface set to the same frequency/bit depth between Linux and windows? Or if it uses optical, whether it's set to the same word clock source.

  • Long-term feedback: SONOFF SNZB-02D humidity/temperature sensor

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  • I keep wondering if I should open a little non-profit shop, specialising in "cheap home assistant stuff that isn't awful, that I've tested". Then I remember the absolute chaos involved in running a shop...

  • Long-term feedback: SONOFF SNZB-02D humidity/temperature sensor

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  • I'm currently eyeing up an Airgradient One, which uses the SHT40. Unfortunately, I don't have enough tinkering time at the moment to roll out much more kit.

    In honesty, I use the relative humidity readings as more of a "it's dry" "It's OK" "it's moist", than expecting any sort of accuracy! I've even considered mapping percentage ranges to "moist, normal, dry" in HA.

  • Long-term feedback: SONOFF SNZB-02D humidity/temperature sensor

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  • I mean, that's where all my sensors are, and they're doing OK.

    My outdoor sensors are classic 433mhz meteorology ones though, as I didn't want to mess around waterproofing zigbee gear.

  • Long-term feedback: SONOFF SNZB-02D humidity/temperature sensor

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  • Have you considered mounting a door sensor (depending on the letterbox type). If it has a shutter, you could mount the two parts on the inside, on the edge. Do americans still use those flag things on mailboxes? As I guess you could also use a door sensor on the flag.

  • Long-term feedback: SONOFF SNZB-02D humidity/temperature sensor

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  • I knew this would come up, which is why I threw in the "ok for consumer gear" line. I don't have any super accurate sensors at home to test against, but to be honest, cheap hydrometers are best for vague ranges. "It's damp", "it's normal", or "It's dry". Which is actually what I use it for: It's in the bathroom to send alerts to open or close the windows based on humidity and outside conditions.

    Compared to the rest of the sensors in the house, when the windows are open and air in the house is normalised, it's within 5%, which is about all I could really hope for.

  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    Long-term feedback: SONOFF SNZB-02D humidity/temperature sensor

  • That's a work of art

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  • I considered this, but was forbidden: The limescale would leave it looking manky.

  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    How do you handle image hosting?

  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    Energy usage clamp meters

  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    (Someone else) Built an LCARS based doorbell!

  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    Battery/Chargeable e-ink displays integration

  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    Show us your dashboards

  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    Recommendations for robot vacuum cleaners

  • British Archaeology @feddit.uk
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    ‘Britain’s Pompeii’ reveals Bronze Age village frozen in time | CNN

    edition.cnn.com /2024/03/20/europe/must-farm-bronze-age-britain-pompeii-scn/index.html
  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    I was wrong to ignore Zigbee and Z-Wave. They’re the best part of my smart home.

    arstechnica.com /gadgets/2024/02/i-was-wrong-to-ignore-zigbee-and-z-wave-theyre-the-best-part-of-my-smart-home/
  • UK Nature and Environment @feddit.uk
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    'Pirate of the seas' Great Skua in big decline after bird flu

    www.bbc.co.uk /news/science-environment-68276680
  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    MetOffice integration is currently incompatible with 2024.2

    github.com /EJEP/datapoint-python/issues/183
  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    Air quality (Co2) monitoring options

  • Patient Gamers @lemmy.ml
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    Should I continue waiting for Cyberpunk?

  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    Zigbee sensors and batteries: Some rambling.

  • homeassistant @lemmy.world
    GreatAlbatross @feddit.uk

    What trick am I missing with rtl_433 and MQTT?