#hardware-archived

1 messages · Page 28 of 1

zealous dune
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that's what i would've recommended depending on your budget

wooden ruin
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Any alternatives to Yellow since it looks like CM4 is impossible to order?

winged knoll
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Loads of them

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The channel history has a long long long set of recommendations (since this is asked about daily) - search for tiny and you'll find a load

cold moon
wooden ruin
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I have a 24 core server I am already running, might look into running it on that if possible

cold moon
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But you can easily run haos in a vm or just the container minimal install and it’ll work fine

wooden ruin
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Ya meant vm/container on that server

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With an external backup

uncut badger
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good 😉 24 cores would be a little overkill for HA

wooden ruin
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Lol

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Can the full HA setup be run from containers?

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I'll be digging into the docs here soon also

uncut badger
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There's a 'compare installation options' at the bottom

wooden ruin
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Are add ons more like applications themselves that can then integrate with HA? So if I went the container path, I would need to setup those manually?

zealous dune
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Exactly

wooden ruin
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Cool

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Thanks

next sigil
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Hi All - Just asked a sill question in General RE: hardware, not seeing the "hardware" channel (Im clever like that). So thought Id carry on here.

In short, ive just discovered HA while looking at ways to maximise my Solar Array and Storage with Grid Sellback, i come across this Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmeEd2ljXtQ

and have started down the rabbit hole. I have a fairly mature home-lab, 2 x HPE DL380 Gen 9s and a Dell R720XD, a mix of ESXi, Proxmox and Windows Server Core with Hyper V, I've started an install on my ESXi host and got the basics running, but all the servers are part of my development environment, so they get chopped and changed and rebooted, powered down etc frequently. I'm wondering if it's worth getting a dedicated box to run HA on so its "always on" but im not sdure of what sort of resources would be required.

I've got a lenovo M700 spare and an older Mac Mini that could both be used, I'd like to keep power usage to a minimum but want it to be capable, would either of these be more suitable than the other? presumably running as HA OS - Will it run as a base install on either bit of hardware? or will it nneed to be ontop of a hypervisor?

Any advice appreciated 🙂

zealous dune
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If they're as powerful or better than an Rpi4 they'll do just fine

next sigil
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The M700 is a 6th gen i3, and 4gb of ddr3, its a bit long in the tooth but its low power use

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I basicly dont want to be in the position of setting things up, then having to migrate to a "better" device in the future if it can be avoided now by spending a few quid

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Theres quite a lot more ive descovered since I started looking that are being added to the "I want to try that!" list 😄

uncut badger
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you might want to put more ram into that m700, cpu wise it'll work just fine

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even a 6th gen i3 should be beating a raspberry pi

zealous dune
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I run my HA on a J3455 with 20 docker containers, the M700 is fine

next sigil
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Thats good to know, it SHOULD take up to 16gb ram, its just got a single slot, so ill have to get huting on ebay for a module

zealous dune
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Unless you want to go crazy on video processing and encoding

next sigil
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i cant see there being a huge amount of video to be honest, I tend to use the R720 for most of my usual stuff, it runs Plex etc and my IP camera CCTVs record direct to a NAS and are decoded as needed when the 720 is powered on

zealous dune
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You're rine then, even the ram should be enough, you can always upgrade if it becomes an issue

next sigil
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I'm very torn between "I want all the toys" and "Why is electric so expensive?" 😄

zealous dune
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My server ran on 4 gb for awhile until I got container happy with it, now it's at 12

next sigil
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Fair enough, ill give the M700 a whirl then, thank you 🙂

zealous dune
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Low power use is more important than all the toys since it'll run 24/7 and probably won't ever utilise the toys

next sigil
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Yeah, thats what im aiming for tbh, most of my stuff can be switched off at night, or when im away, so i try to keep the 24/7 stuff as low power as possible, thus the cctv to the synology and looking at HA to its own device

sly dust
next sigil
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Thanks

tacit burrow
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yeah the m700 will be fine. either native, or via proxmox etc.

ocean wolf
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Any idea if there's any difference between ESP32-C6 and ESP32-H2 other than the WiFi in C6?
The H2 is considered a low power controller; if I do not use WiFi in the C6, should I expect the same power consumption?
Trying to figure out which of the two is better for me, considering that I do not intend to use WiFi, but the C6 is a bit cheaper than the H2 for some reason

zealous dune
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H2 has the wifi radio removed for lowest power consumption and it should've been the cheaper option

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Power consumption also depends on the firmware and the dev board components

ocean wolf
rich venture
oblique robin
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Anyone use water leak sensors tied into HA? Looking to throw a bunch under my sinks and by my water heater

ocean wolf
rich venture
olive jasper
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Hi!
So I have currently a few MiLight () Limitless led, miboxer) bulbs and both WiFi bridge and radio controllers for them.
They work great, and have been for like 4 years. Now a new room appeared that I need to set up for automation.
Currently Miboxer (the company that makes these lights) has a confusing amount of offerings. They still do their own 2.4ghz communication but they also seem to be adding new ones that use ZigBee for communication.

Miboxer offers a lot of different bulbs and there is an open source controller for them that can track the state of the bolbs when switching from the wireless remotes.
It is important to me that those remotes work without HA or internet access.
Mi boxers also seems to offer a combined ZigBee + 2.4Ghz bolb but I'm unsure if that can track state back to HA.

But in the meantime I have heard a lot of things about Matter and Thread as well but I'm not sure what those are for. Are they for complex smart devices like TV/Microwave etc that can have more processing power?

The devices I want to controll remote:

  • 2 lamp bulbs
  • 2 strips of LEDs
  • and a few other things that are gonna be DIY
    (Please ping if you reply)
midnight raptor
uncut badger
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zigbee tends to be far lower battery usage than wifi. and almost instant wakeup. (ditto with zwave, but I don't have personal experience with it.)

ocean wolf
ocean wolf
midnight raptor
cold moon
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All the protocols have issues. Wi-Fi is fine for certain things and a poor choice for others

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Same with zigbee, same with zwave

drifting ember
ocean wolf
midnight raptor
uncut badger
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Thread

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(Matter has ties to thread, but it's not all of it.)

orchid orbit
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For people running HA (and maybe Frigate) on a SFF PC: how bad is the power consumption compared to, let's say, RPI4? Looking at dell optiplex micro with i3-8100T and 8GB RAM. Specs mention a 65w power supply - but what would the average consumption be? Is it 20w? 50w?

zealous dune
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CPU TDP is 25-35W, average consumption depends on the load and additional components

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Rpi4 TDP is declared at 6W but that's not accounting the SSD and connected peripherals

golden thorn
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I expect the lows of a machine like this (pretty much all modern intels) to be able to reach 7-10w or so in idle but the ceiling is higher.
I'd expect less than 20w in mostly idle mode. If it's too much you can play around with the cpu governor and it'll still be faster than the pi

winged knoll
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Plus you have to factor the experience. If that Pi is running at 100% all the time your experience is going to suffer.

orchid orbit
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as in losing the SD cards all the time?

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valid point, at 10 euro a pop it can ramp up quickly

winged knoll
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Well, nobody should run on SD cards

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But any system running at 100% CPU all the time is going to be painful to interact with

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If you're thrashing the crap out of it with Frigate you may learn to hate it

orchid orbit
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Frigate is a distant dream, and right now I am on RPI2 so anything would be an improvement

zealous dune
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there's also the point of having a real computer or a toy

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how much do you expect to pay for that dell

winged knoll
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I'd 100% recommend some small form factor PC or old laptop over an educational toy

orchid orbit
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I see a refurbished one for 200 euro

zealous dune
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that's steep

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you can get a modern N100 for that money with 16GB memory

orchid orbit
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I am in NL, things tend to get expensive here

golden thorn
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I've seen similar machines for 50-60€ on eBay so I wouldn't pay more than this but that depends on location.
With your prices it might be cheaper to buy in another country

orchid orbit
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alright, I'll take that into consideration, thanks

south ridge
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hello i want to find a good siren and a good camera for my home assistant i am in greece and i use wifi and zigbee

pseudo flicker
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Wondering if anyone has found a 20A smart plug or outlet with energy monitoring capabilities? I bought some but they trip at 1,800w or so

winged knoll
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What country?

rich venture
uncut badger
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far far safer

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Especially as, I suspect, that draw is by something with a motor. which can be iffy. (if it's a heater, less so)

rich venture
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those are the most common ones

uncut badger
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Gotta be careful with the angry pixies.

rich venture
uncut badger
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Always nice to see people who can do more than regurgitate the warnings they've heard 😄 (I was regurgitating. I've got a vague idea of the problems, but that's it.)

rich venture
uncut badger
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😄 The internet is so useful for people with that kind of curiosity

raw thistle
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I have an RPi4. I'm currently powering it from mains, but I'm interested in instead powering it from a Baseus 100W power bank that I own. I'd want to have the battery receiving power from mains while outputting power to the RPi. I'm just not sure if this is sustainable. Will the RPi draw more power than the power bank receives? Will doing this cause damage to the power bank?

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I can provide a link to the power bank I'm referring to, but didn't want to do so unprompted.

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Yes, I realize that 100W is supreme overkill for an RPi4.

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Perhaps I could also power my router with it. 🤔

golden thorn
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Will the RPi draw more power than the power bank receives?
Depends how much current your PSU has, the charge the bank can handle, how full it is, etc.

Will doing this cause damage to the power bank?
Maybe. Depends how smart the charging circuit is but use like this will degrade it faster than what's it's designed to be used for.

rich venture
raw thistle
golden thorn
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Depending on how it's designed you'll pull the power directly from the PSU

raw thistle
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and I don't just want it as a UPS to prevent damage to the RPi. The goal is also to provide power for an actually meaningful period of time in case of a power outtage. At 20,000 mAh, I think this battery bank could provide power for a fair bit of time.

rich venture
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easy no mod option would be to just buy a commercial ups and save yourself some trouble

raw thistle
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Rather than spend more money.

rich venture
raw thistle
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Yes

rich venture
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then yes

raw thistle
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Longterm though? Like will doing this likely just kill the battery within a month?

rich venture
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depends on charge circuit used
best case: charges battery only when needed, bridges output ports and input port when plugged in
worst case: trickle charges battery, boost circuit always connected to battery, this can cause battery to expand and 🔥

raw thistle
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So basically, if I'm going to do this, I should keep an eye on the battery to make sure it doesn't start expanding?

rich venture
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yes

raw thistle
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Thanks

rich venture
raw thistle
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"polymer lithium battery". It also says it has a power conversion rate of >=75%, if that matters.

rich venture
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yikes
thats the most dangerous one

raw thistle
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So don't do this?

rich venture
raw thistle
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Okay. Thanks. I definitely don't want to risk an explosion. Power outages are rare, but I figured since I have this spare battery I'd check if it was a good use for it.

rich venture
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when power cuts off then its ok to use it to power your pi

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otherwise you dont need it nor want it there

raw thistle
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Got it. I'll probably get a proper UPS someday, but it's just not in the finances right now.

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Thank you

torpid dawn
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(please redirect me if there's a more appropriate channel)
How do you all have your wireless (BLE/zwave/zigbee/matter) hardware set up, especially if your HA machine isn't in an ideal location? My HA box is in the basement, and i worry about connectivity issues haveing 2 floors above it. Maye this is not an issue at all, ut if it is, how do i approach this? So far, the best solution i've gathered is maybe a minimal POE rpi with https://github.com/custom-components/remote_homeassistant, having all of the wirelss adapters on it?

winged knoll
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You can get PoE connected Zigbee coordinators

torpid dawn
zealous dune
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That's it

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Not that board but the general idea. Any ESP32 can be a proxy and you can have multiples

torpid dawn
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Sweet, way less complicated that i was imagining it. Thanks!

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(going to ignore matter since idk when that'll make its way into my home)

pallid prairie
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finally up to the software part of my life, installed HAOS, Sonoff thing, Zigbee2MQTT, added 50 lightbulbs before I realized I should name them room by room instead making a clusterfuck

mossy canyon
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Any suggestions for water shutoff valves? I have zigbee currently setup, but I have a zwave dongle if I... have to....

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The only ones I keep finding are tuya

uncut badger
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are you wanting one that gets plumbed in, or one which adds onto your existing valve? if the latter, is it one of the quarter turn handles, or a twiddly tap style? (I don't actually have an option I know anything about, but the answers are important for anyone else answering you)

mossy canyon
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Either plumbed in or the quarter turn ones are fine. I'm physically changing my plumbing around, so I can install whatever I need.

uncut badger
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I would suggest having 2. one entirely manual, one remotely controlled.

cold moon
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Zooz titan

mossy canyon
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Well if that's the case then I'd probably just go with one of the quarter turn ones, valves aren't cheap 🙂

mossy canyon
cold moon
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Ok

uncut badger
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(the manual one is in case something goes wrong with the remote one.)

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(I may be paranoid about water)

mossy canyon
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I really want to use a bunch of these for my floorboard heating in my cabin, so I'd have to buy like... 10-15 of them, hence why I don't want them to be SUPER expensive

cold moon
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Sounds like you’re talking about TRVs but that’s not what you asked for

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I’ve heard the aqara ones are pretty decent

mossy canyon
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TRVs are the valves on right next to the floorboard heaters right?

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Yeah, I thought about those, but the problem is that my floorboard heaters are wired... effectively in series. So if one of the TRVs ever closed completely, it'd stop the heat to every other room in the house

cold moon
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Used for floor heating etc I believe

mossy canyon
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not wired, plumbed

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So I was just going to re-do the plumbing and plumb in bypass valves

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I think I'd still need the TRVs as well

cold moon
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Out of my comfort zone I’ll let someone else jump in

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I’d probably ask on Reddit or the forums

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That stuff isn’t discussed here often

mossy canyon
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It's like 6 buttons in one? (not really buttons but can effectively do the same thing)

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And it's only 20 bucks?

cold moon
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The magic cubes are cool

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They do way more than 6 things

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There’s a newer blueprint for the cube you linked

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I have them in multiple rooms and toggle lights with a shake of the cube among other things

mossy canyon
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Do I need to worry about stuff like that? Shouldn't HA just automatically use the latest "software" for anything I pair?

cold moon
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Like twist left to dim lights or right to brighten

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What

mossy canyon
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You said the newest blueprint

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What's that mean?

cold moon
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Blueprints are templated versions of automations

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You linked the new cube t1 pro

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I linked the original blueprint made for the original cube

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A separate blueprint that does the same thing should be used not the one I linked if you buy the new gen of the cube

mossy canyon
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How do I choose which blueprint is used?

cold moon
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You find it online and add it

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It’s linked in the link I posted if you just read a bit

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Or just don’t use a blueprint but this is one of the few times a blueprint is very useful

mossy canyon
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It's so cheap, I'll buy one and play with it

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Right?

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just a smart one

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Smart input or physical input?

rich venture
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it can be smart if you use a relay board to actuate it

mossy canyon
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Ah ok, so a phyical input.

rich venture
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my brother has bunch of them mounted on manifolds to controll in floor heating

mossy canyon
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Yeah, I do need SOMETHING like that, but I ALSO need the valve actuators we were talking about above because of how my heaters are plumbed.

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Right now my heaters are plumbed one to another to another. So say if the room where the 1st heater is "too hot" I can't turn it off completely because it'd turn every other one off in the house as well.

rich venture
mossy canyon
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It's dumb the way it was plumbed

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Essentially just "series" but in plumbing instead of wiring

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I'm going to change it to be essentially in "parallel" instead. With one "bus" copper pipe and a valve to turn individual heaters on and off. (It's a normal way of plumbing them, it's just more expensive than the way mine are done.)

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I technically don't NEED the ball valves and actuators, but if I ever need to fix something it'd be much nicer to be able to isolate a single heater instead of draining the entire system

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Here let me find the wiki

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Here's a good explanation

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This is the way mine is plumbed currently

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The output of one heater goes into the input of another. So if you turn the first one off, no other heaters get hot water.

rich venture
mossy canyon
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It is VERY dumb

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But it is also VERY cheap

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No valves = less money

rich venture
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no valves = no controll

mossy canyon
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You got it!

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Hence why I want to change it

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My bedroom is the FIRST heater. Which means my bedroom gets VERY hot

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I guess technically I don't need smart ball valves to turn them on and off, just smart regulators like the ones you posted.

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I still want manual ball valves, but they don't need to be smart

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Maintenance, ability to isolate a heater from the system.

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Saftey (if there's a leak I can turn individual heaters off)

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Ball valves are like 10-15 bucks, no reason NOT to put them in if I'm doing something like this

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Yep! I believe those need to be installed on the valve side of the "bypass". Like, there is a bypass pipe that goes around the heater. If any particular heater gets turned off completely, the hot water will go through this bypass pipe, but you need to somehow make this bypass pipe "harder" for water to flow through so that the water will flow through the radiator when asked, so you install these balancing valves.

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They're basically just flow restrictors IIRC.

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You make a good point, I should really be asking like european forums because boiler heating is much more common over there

rich venture
mossy canyon
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since buildings are much older.

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We'll see, I don't really think it'd be an issue. Someone much smarter than me designed the pump and bypass valves lol

rich venture
mossy canyon
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What is the reason?

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Not as hot? No need for AC?

rich venture
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yea

mossy canyon
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Yeah heat pumps are popular over here because they can do both heat and AC

rich venture
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and my ac is not central air, its mini split

mossy canyon
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Mini splits are becoming more popular over here

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I'm still debating getting one installed

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Question: Does your mini split have a big air handler thing in each room that it goes to?

rich venture
mossy canyon
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And yes, that's what I was referring to

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The thing is, I believe mini splits exist with only a single air handler unit, and then they have like, pipes that come off of this unit that can fit in walls and push high pressure air out of them.

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And that's the type I want, but I can't... find them, or even see if they exist.

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So you just have to run like... what is effectively a vacuum cleaner hose in your wall.

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Hm

rich venture
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you would have to run refrigirant lines to each room

mossy canyon
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For the multi splits you have to do that

cold moon
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they're still called mini splits you're just referring to ductless vs non-ductless ones

mossy canyon
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Non ductless lol

rich venture
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or another option is to use heat pump monoblock and have fan convector in each room/zone

mossy canyon
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Are they actually called "non ductless"?

cold moon
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nah i just derped

mossy canyon
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ducted?

cold moon
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ductless vs ducted w/e

mossy canyon
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interesting, thanks, I'll look

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I'd prefer that kind (becuase I really don't want to run refridgerant lines to all 5 zones I want cooled.)

cold moon
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if your ducts are in an uninsulated attic then ductless mini split is the way to go

mossy canyon
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Nope, they'd all be in insulated walls.

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My house is small, most of them would be running through the basement

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Pretty much, yes

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Yeah, the issue with the refrigerant lines is that I don't have the tools to purge them (and cut them/flare them), and I don't want to have large coils of lines outside each air handler. So if I get a ducted system, that's not a problem. 🙂 And I want to install it myself obviously because contractors are a ripoff.

rich venture
mossy canyon
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True enough, I'll look into it 🙂

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Honestly, I just really don't want the air handlers in my rooms 🙂

rich venture
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understandable

mossy canyon
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The rooms are just really small and all the wall space is pretty much already taken up

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I could put them high up on the wall in some of the rooms, but in other rooms I have tall furniture

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Unrelated question: All of my wireless sensors are reporting super high battery usage, do they just use terrible batteries from the factory or am I doing something wrong?

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I've had them installed for like a week and many of them are down to nearly 50%

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I'm not replacing batteries every.... month. I'll find other solutions if that's the case

rich venture
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what kind of sensors?

mossy canyon
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aqara temp/humidity

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zigbee

rich venture
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model

mossy canyon
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uhhh

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2 YEAR BATTERY LIFE????

rich venture
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maybe they shipped with old batteries

mossy canyon
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Ugh, I need to search better before I buy.

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Any suggestions for replacements?

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I'm going to put zigbee hubs near all of them so the mesh is stronger, maybe that'll help

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Will do

rich venture
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and bulk packs of cr2032 are cheap, dont buy them one at the time

mossy canyon
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That link you posted says one thing, but then most of the comments are saying "Mine are good for 1-2 years."

cold moon
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zigbee battery reporting, especially zigbee 1.2 aqara stuff, cant really be trusted

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plus they often ship with shit batteries

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Ahhhhh ok, yeah I just saw a comment saying that the reported battery percentage is often bad

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I'll see how long it takes for them to die

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I hope they're good because I definitely didn't just buy like 6 of them....

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lol

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Another question: Thoughts on zigbee vs zwave? I have both dongles, but so far I've only connected zigbee. I've tried to stick with just zigbee devices for now. I was wondering if there were any reasons one would choose zigbee vs. zwave.

cold moon
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there are lots of reasons to pick one or the other or use both

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zwave has the zwave alliance that products must pass checks for

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and has "s2" security which confirms packets get received which is very useful for certain things like sirens

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water leak sensors

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etc

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usually people say "zwave just works" but tbh both do

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also depends on the hardware choices

mossy canyon
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So zwave is fancier, got it 🙂

cold moon
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zwave basically has no rgbw-cct bulbs that are worth buying

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and zigbee basically has one manufacturer that isnt a chinese company designing+making light switches for the U.S. market (inovelli blue is the exception)

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so if you want dumb bulbs and smart switches/dimmers you buy zwave or pay double for inovelli blue to do the same w/ zigbee

mossy canyon
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Ahhh, interesting. Yeah I was thinking about looking into smart switches, because lots of the lights in my house are in fans, and they aren't normal bulbs so therefore can't be smart.

cold moon
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well fans are another beast

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and if the fan doesnt have a traveler wire / separate controls for the lights and fan then you basically just get a switch that turns the fan+lights on/off only with no speed control or individual control for light/fans

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some people buy rf bridges or ir bridges and mimic button presses on remotes

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and the smart switch needs to be able to support a fan, most dont and cant handle the inrush current

mossy canyon
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Yeah so funny story right

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I have two identical fans in my big room. One is wired with separate switches for lights and fan. The other is wired with one switch that turns power off completely, one switch for the light, and you have to turn the fan on with a remote

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Whoever built this house was an idiot

cold moon
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houses are built like shit in the us

mossy canyon
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I almost wonder if the one switch that turns the power off completely was supposed to be a switch for the fan, but they screwed up the wiring.

cold moon
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unless it's a custom builder and you have fuck you money

mossy canyon
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Yeah, I used to frame houses when I was younger, I'm well aware of the corners cut

cold moon
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gross

rich venture
mossy canyon
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Yeah my whole extended family are contractors. (I don't talk to them anymore cause they're not great people lol)

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I really wanted to build my own house but I was forced to move when house prices were just ginormous.

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I am very happy that this home automation stuff is still relatively cheap. At least the DIY stuff is. The purpose built, "smart" apple homekit stuff always seems to be more expensive

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Oh I just figured out why the batteries all look like they're dying. They're just calculating battery percentage as a linear correlation to voltage.... which.... is not great. Especially when you set 100% to be what the battery ships with, which will immediately nosedive as soon as you use it at all.

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The battery voltages are very much leveling off

devout parrot
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fans are a whole situation. 3 of mine are on RF remotes and one of them is a pull chain. Single wall switch for all of them. I haven't bothered to smart-ify any of them yet tbh.

mossy canyon
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The contractor who built my mom's house installed two switches for the fans, one for lights one for fan, but the fans themselves don't have pull chains, and he THREW AWAY the remote controls, so the fans are stuck on "super turbo mode"

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I haven't been able to find replacement remotes :/

devout parrot
#

I think the wiring is always a mess because they want to cut corners and have the electricians do as little as they can get away with.

mossy canyon
#

Just FYI, I think they have devices you can install ABOVE the fan to make the fans remote controlled

#

Even if there is only one switch controlling it

rich venture
mossy canyon
devout parrot
#

Yeah you can add remote modules and it's actually pretty easy.

mossy canyon
#

Maybe with a smart remote as I have an iPhone and it doesn't have IR like that

rich venture
#

my redmi note 9 pro has it

mossy canyon
#

Yeah a lot of the android phones/tablets do. A smart remote could do the same thing but I'd have to figure out the right codes to make them work..... hmmm

#

Related question: How do the HA ir blasters work? How do you program them with the right codes?

#

Do they "learn" like other smart remotes? Or do you just say "hey I want to control X or Y device, go lookup the codes"

devout parrot
#

Fan remotes are pretty cheap and shouldn't have to be the original brand, typically they run on 315 or 433 MHz, you'd just have to mess around with the dip switches to find the right combination.

rich venture
mossy canyon
mossy canyon
#

generic fan remote

rich venture
mossy canyon
#

Uh, yeah let me go find the reddit post where I asked online and someone found it for me

#

(I'm not kidding.)

devout parrot
#

I have a Broadlink RM3 and I'm pretty sure the only way to get the codes into HA is manually via "learning", so I haven't messed with that yet because half the reason I have it is because the kids keep losing the actual remotes.

mossy canyon
#

ah crap all the reddit search websites are going to be dead because reddit killed the API 😦

mossy canyon
#

Any suggestions for weather stations?

#

zigbee or zwave, doesn't matter (if these exist)

devout parrot
#

Ecowitt. WiFi, integrates with HA, local push. If you want to you can even forgo the WiFi connected base station and just integrate the station directly with rtl433.

mossy canyon
#

Yeah it seems like weather stations are a bit of a pain

#

so ecowitt stuff can directly recieve RF transmissions?

#

does RTL-SDR do the same thing (as I've seen someone recommend that to do similar)

#

I'm not interested in having my weather station's data broadcast to the internet and sold, so yeah, local integration is a must

devout parrot
#

I mean you can always firewall it off from the internet, but yeah.
The station uses 433 MHz to send data back to the base station. Rtl433 is a software that you use to interpret the 433 MHz data from a compatible SDR. And then I think you use mqtt to bring that data over into home assistant.

mossy canyon
#

So, if I choose to use ecowitt, do I need one of those recievers? If so, could you suggest one?

devout parrot
#

This works with most other weather stations too, including plenty that don't come "smart" in the first place.

mossy canyon
#

I found one weather station that people are saying works with HA via ecowitt. So, by saying that, they're saying they're nabbing the communications out of the air using a reciever?

devout parrot
#

There's a proper Ecowitt integration, they're probably talking about using that since the unit is manufactured by Ecowitt.

mossy canyon
#

So how are they getting the info locally?

devout parrot
#

Via the integration. It's local push, means that the Ecowitt device can push data directly to home assistant over LAN.

mossy canyon
#

ahhhhh ok that's fine

#

I was just confused

#

I thought I needed those recievers to intercept the communication between the station and the display/base unit

#

Although, TBH, that would be nice since I wouldn't need the base unit

devout parrot
#

there's a station outside, that station transmits to the base station over a 433 MHz signal, the base talks to home assistant.

mossy canyon
#

Yes, but what we were talking about before is a reciever (plugged into HA) that talks to the outside station directly (or rather, just listens.)

devout parrot
#

Right.

#

Both of those are valid ways to set it up.

mossy canyon
#

Ok, I understand better now. I can use the reciever likely on most weather stations, even some non smart ones, but some stations, specifically ecowitt ones, I can just grab the data from the base station over wifi

#

or ethernet rather

devout parrot
#

Right. And yeah there are also probably cheaper options if you just go the rtl433 route.

mossy canyon
#

Yeah but then I need to figure it out. That is the option I WANT to go though because the inside base stations for the cheap weather stations are always just... awful

#

Cheap, light, terrible

#

Ok, so now, can you point me in the direction of a reciever for the rtl433 route?

cold moon
#

you can make your own too

mossy canyon
#

Making it sounds cool but I'd likely spend more money on the little project boards than just buying a purpose built one

cold moon
#

the project i did above was $7 in parts

mossy canyon
#

I did just buy like 15 of those d1 mini boards. Or at least some clone on amazon

sleek bay
#

im looking to integrate a SIM900a module, tried ESPHome, it does not have support for it
for some some reason i must use software-serial but the module works
have all the commands listed, writing the code is basically copy paste...
question is, how would i integrate that into home assistant? do i need to write custom devices in home assistant?
i need bidirectional communication between the ESP and home assistant

any tipps would be good (my cpp knowledge is limited however im excellent at js and py)

#

here is the flow
run serial read, send (and parse) all data to home assistant
on home assistant request run serial commands

thats it

rich venture
sleek bay
rich venture
sleek bay
#

also no call support

sleek bay
#

looked on fiverr if someone can do this but meh, cant find

cold moon
#

fiverr etc are a fuckin joke

#

preying on poor people desperate to try to make a living

sleek bay
worthy horizon
#

Hey guys, did anyone install ha on homey hardware already?
I starten with ha few months ago, needed 433hz support and thuis bought homey pro.

I am not impressed. Yes its sleek, polished, but no dashboard, needs internet for many tasks, and only supports things it supports really, not much tweaking.
I'm pretty sure there is a market for it, but it's not me.
So since the hardware is decent enough, did someone install ha on homey pro box already?

cold moon
#

What lol

devout parrot
#

Yeah I don't know that that's even possible. You'd be better off returning it or flipping it.

gentle fossil
#

You get far better ha machines for that money 😂

devout parrot
#

Yeah for $400 you could get a decent SFF PC, every dongle you could ever need, and have enough left over to make a nice start on buying up whatever smart home hardware you're into.

balmy merlin
#

I am looking for light switches. I need a few that are motion or occupancy and light switch. I've been looking for some with bathroom vent fan timer, but I can work around that if I get good occupancy sensor in the switch beside it.

kindred kiln
#

Don't suppose anyone has messed around with Ultraloq "U-Bolt Pro" models? Comes with 6-in-one unlock options including Z Wave.

I have support ticket open because it initially worked (with the app), but while trying to get Z Wave going, the lock no longer shows up on their app and I literally can't do anything. Factory Reset doesn't work... Reinstall of app doesn't work. Etc.

Anyway. If others happen to have experience with this and found a solution would love to know!

cold moon
mossy canyon
#

Does zwave need a good "network" like zigbee does?

gloomy spoke
#

Yea

#

They are both mesh networks

mossy canyon
#

That's unfortunate

#

Some of my devices I could only buy in zwave (my front door lock) but everything else I have is zigbee

#

Eh, whatever, more smart outlets for me

#

On zigbee or zwave surge protectors, can you control each plug individually?

gloomy spoke
#

There's no generic answer to that

mossy canyon
#

Hm, interesting

cold moon
#

Mostly no

gloomy spoke
#

Did you have products in mind?

mossy canyon
#

No, I just saw one and was wondering

cold moon
#

I think the zooz zwave one does individual

mossy canyon
#

That's literally the one I saw

#

Unsure why I'd need that many smart controlled plugs in one place though

cold moon
#

Hopefully you didn’t buy a Schlage zwave lock

mossy canyon
#

I didn't but why is that?

#

I was looking at that one for a possible replacement for my basement door, should I not consider it?

cold moon
#

August and Schlage zwave locks are to be avoided per the zwave js maintainer

#

They don’t follow the spec and are generally really bad at joining a mesh / have communication issues

mossy canyon
#

Good to know, thanks!

cold moon
#

Kwikset are the most well liked

#

They also include smartkey aka you can rekey them all to match without needing a locksmith

mossy canyon
#

Wonder how that works

#

Rekeying locks isn't typically super hard, you just gotta have the pins which is expenstive to buy a set (of security pins)

cold moon
#

I have three but I’ve never tried

#

I put all the keys in a bag and just use smarts

#

It’s on the list

gloomy spoke
#

I got one of them stuck in a state where no keys worked. Luckily, I found a video that shows how to disassemble it and fix it

mossy canyon
#

There wasn't a manual reset on the pcb somewhere?

gloomy spoke
#

For the key?

#

No. It's a physical tumbler

mossy canyon
#

So how did it disable your physical key then?

#

How does the smart key thing work?

cold moon
#

there isnt a youtube video of someone doing it?

gloomy spoke
#

Yes, there is

#

You put the key in, turn it, stick the little tool into a slot, remove the key, stick in the new one, turn it back the other way

cold moon
#

hint hint

#

so it's like a premade lockpick resetter all in one

mossy canyon
#

Question: Why are people reflashing zigbee smart plugs to work with HA? My zigbee plugs just... worked... out of the box?

cold moon
#

they arent

mossy canyon
#

Did I get lucky and buy the right ones the first time?

cold moon
#

are you talking about sonoff s31 wifi plugs?

mossy canyon
#

the s40s, yes

cold moon
#

and confusing them with sonoff s31 zigbee plugs?

mossy canyon
#

uh

cold moon
#

same thing with the s40 variant

mossy canyon
#

NO i would definitely not ever do that ever nope that's not what I was doing

cold moon
#

those are worse tho

mossy canyon
#

hits back back back

cold moon
#

the best thing to do with smart plugs with energy monitoring (which the s40 dont do) is buy wifi s31 plugs and flash them to esphome

#

my reasoning for that is: why add a bunch of traffic on your zigbee mesh when its throughput is 192kbps*2

mossy canyon
#

OH that's why people do it

cold moon
#

with that being said, you can get away with energy monitoring plugs on a zigbee mesh and seems they work fine for most people without flooding the mesh

mossy canyon
#

Can you disable energy monitoring on plugs that have it?

cold moon
#

however with zwave it's much more common to shoot yourself in the dick and fuck up your mesh adding energy monitoring to it

#

you ask sweeping generalizing questions that are crazy for IoT hardware

mossy canyon
#

lol

cold moon
#

there is no specification that lets you make these assumptions

mossy canyon
#

I'm new, it comes with the territory

#

There should really be a guide of "common pitfalls with HA" somewhere on this discord 🙂 Pitfalls such as "don't use energy monitoring on zwave networks."

cold moon
# 

Even with a strong mesh, badly configured devices can be the death of a Z-Wave network. Unfortunately, many devices come with a pretty bad default configuration, which can quickly be a problem in medium to large networks. Z-Wave is not made for high throughput, yet it is possible to generate a constant network load of 5-10+ messages per second, which is absolutely devastating. A message flood like this can cause the controller to get jammed, preventing it from responding/acknowledging commands. However, many devices handle a missing acknowledgement by re-transmitting their last command, making the issue even worse.```
#

i think you just never go to other channels

mossy canyon
#

Well I am in the "buying hardware" stage of my network 😉

cold moon
#

ok i'll bite

#

Questions about a hardware device (not their ⁠integrations with HA, and not the thing that HA calls devices)? Someone might have the same device and be able to help you out! If you've got a Z-Wave or Zigbee devices, see ⁠zwave and ⁠zigbee, ⁠cameras for cameras, and ⁠diy for making your own stuff (or if you're asking about Tasmota or ESPHome).

#

this is the channel topic for this channel where it points users to other channels for specific questions about hardware

#

including what to buy

mossy canyon
#

Ah, I didn't know zigbee and zwave channels existed!

atomic marsh
#

Anybody know if american WiZ bulbs work with 220v?

timid ether
#

Hey guys, does anyone else have a Mitsubishi A/C (acquired 2014+)? I am wondering which WIFI-Extension to buy as there seem to be a variety available

nimble furnace
#

Hi, does someone know if there is a integration for iopool (EcO Start)? It's a hardware smart solution to monitor pH, temperature etc.

atomic marsh
#

Hey, I'm getting one of these from your recommendation, but could I ask you a couple of questions ☺️

devout parrot
atomic marsh
devout parrot
devout parrot
atomic marsh
#

I looked through the fcc and eu reports etc. but I can't tell if they're the same internals or not

#

Same thing with the Ikea Tradfri, they use the same model number for 110v and 220v bulbs, but on the sites they only claim either rating

mossy canyon
glossy prism
#

Disabling the entity would just make HA ignore it. It wouldn't disable it on the plug itself

sand pier
#

Hey all, can someone recommend me some hardware to replace my Dell Wyse 5020? It was great but starting to notice a bit of a slowdown with Frigate, maybe because I cant use hardware acceleration. Not sure.

Something with quicksync, similar form factor, I guess I would run Unraid on it and install HA via that.

Ideally low power as it will run 24/7

cold moon
atomic marsh
#

I'm comparing them vs the tradfri and the nanoleaf essentials or matter

empty whale
#

This may be a silly question, but does anyone know what search terms and/or brands I can use to look for lamps/light fixtures that plug directly into an outlet? I want to use an outlet quite high up on a wall in conjunction with a Zigbee (e.g. Hue) light bulb, but I'm going crazy trying to find a search term that doesn't just return either kid's night lights or lights that literally just light the outlet itself. I'm referring to something like this, but obviously a little prettier preferably.
https://i.imgur.com/cOiSx5d.jpg

atomic marsh
#

The wiz are by far the cheapest per lumen

devout parrot
atomic marsh
#

@empty whale why can't you just use a smart bulb + any e26/27 whatever receptacle

empty whale
empty whale
#

Btw, I know this is only tangentially related to HA, so I appreciate you guys helping a lot

atomic marsh
empty whale
#

That's a good one, thanks

atomic marsh
#

Just put in the socket type and your country plug or whatever

devout sequoia
#

Looking to dip my toes into the HA world. I have several tp link kasa devices and also Reolink cameras. Anyways I'm looking at a T730 Thin client as a piece of hardware to try it out on? Or are there other devices one may recommend in 2023. I'm not a fan of PIs and would prefer something x86

#

It'd be ~$100 for: HP T730 Thin Client - AMD RX-427BB / 8GB RAM/128GB SSD

sudden minnow
#

That looks to have Windows Embedded, at least the one I found, You would be better with something you can install HAOS on. I have a Dell 3040 from ebay and that works really well.

wooden reef
#

i want to control the fan regulator from home assistant what will i need? I saw a youtube video and it said i can use relays to control switches on off, but can't find anything for fan regulator

devout sequoia
sudden minnow
#

Probably be fine then.

wooden reef
winged knoll
#

I have no idea what "fan regulator" means

#

The fan in a computer, in a car, in a house?

wooden reef
#

the fan speed controller

sudden minnow
bitter shale
devout parrot
# wooden reef the fan speed controller

So you want either an RF remote kit and some kind of smart RF blaster you can integrate into HA, or something like the Sonoff ifan04 flashed with Tasmota.

atomic marsh
# bitter shale yes of course.

Okay, they're just about performance difference between the models:

  1. Single/lightly threaded performance between n100 and 1235u/1260p

  2. DDR4 vs DDR5 on the 1235u and 1260p

#

I'm mostly wondering if the p-cores are worth it, otherwise I'd get an eq12 pro with an n305

bitter shale
#

@atomic marsh Depends on what you will be running on the host. In my case, the host CPU utilization is about 2.5% steady state. That's with HAOS VM, Plex, InfluxDB, Scrypted, HomeBridge, Grafana, tailscale, etc. Even with a Frigate VM (with coral TPU) with one camera feed, the host CPU was about 3%. So CPU, in my case, is not even a remote bottleneck. RAM, though, was. I upgraded my host to 64GB as 16GB wasn't enough for everything.

#

I don't think DDR4 vs DDR5 makes much any difference. CPU/memory performance for my workloads isn't even a remote issue.

#

I like the i5-1240P model for the 2.5GbE and other internal upgrades.

#

If you will be running Frigate with a ton of camera feeds, then CPU would be more of an issue

#

The lower end Beelink models like the N100 have much less robust cooling. So I might have concerns about pushing the N100 CPU into throttling due to the cheaper cooling. The higher end models have much more robust cooling.

atomic marsh
#

My use case is almost exactly like yours, file server/Plex, home assistant, seedbox (constantly >200mbps), backup

#

I won't have cameras, but I just had the thought of running discord on the server and streaming my audio/webcam to it; saves 1gb ram + 5-10% cpu utilization on the gaming pc

#

And I'm developing an embedded device + app server so I have several containers I'd run on it, plus I keep coming up with ideas

#

Being constrained by ram is my 2nd biggest surprise, Should I go for 32gb single stick with 2 slots

#

@bitter shale can I ask, what took up the most memory

silver kayak
#

weird I was just looking at your beelink post online @bitter shale and debating if beelink is right for me.. My first setup (other than playing around on a VM on my main gaming rig)... Can't decide if its worth the money for my first setup.. I want to do frigate and coral with probaby 4-5 cameras... Was trying to decide do i go cheap to learn and upgrade or just get the better stuff now.. Opened discord and saw you and Jess talking about the same models hah.

#

that timing was really bizarre

cold moon
atomic marsh
cold moon
#

kind of a problem

atomic marsh
#

Is this router dependant or do they just suck

cold moon
#

if you want smart bulbs and you want the best get hue not wiz

atomic marsh
cold moon
#

then dont buy the rgbw-cct ones

atomic marsh
cold moon
#

the ikea bulbs seem okay but they are basically slightly worse in every way

atomic marsh
#

Cause I've heard better things

atomic marsh
cold moon
#

not as good of colors, worse overall life expectancy, less lumen options

atomic marsh
#

Also philips hue's cri is 80, the ones I picked are all 92-94

cold moon
#

plus generally hue are gold standard in terms of being a part of the zigbee spec

cold moon
atomic marsh
cold moon
#

i personally buy white+ambiance or just white hue bulbs due to cost

#

and use rgbw led strips for bias lighting and colors

atomic marsh
#

There's worse variation on these bulbs, and also some smart assistants set weird colors on them

#

But I can calibrate them, and control will be standard with HA

atomic marsh
#

In any case, I definitely can't afford hue's price

cold moon
#

i'm speaking from personal experience + what i've read here from way too many people

#

not what is on the box

atomic marsh
#

Don't know what to look for tbh

cold moon
# 
[1:08 PM]Jess: Also philips hue's cri is 80, the ones I picked are all 92-94
[1:09 PM]Smart Home Sellout: plus generally hue are gold standard in terms of being a part of the zigbee spec```
atomic marsh
#

Oh I thought you were talking about the wiz

cold moon
#

ikea likes to fuck up the firmware on devices it seems

#

so there's lots of quirks / custom configs to override their issues

#

compared to the.. zero of hue

atomic marsh
#

Life expectancy won't be a problem, I'm gonna run two bulbs at reduced power most of the time

cold moon
#

but people generally seem to like them for the price vs perf

atomic marsh
#

And only rarely at max

cold moon
#

i still will point back to saying that rgb(w) led strips are the way to go

#

for rgb funziez

atomic marsh
#

Won't work 😦

#

Can't light all this with stripts

cold moon
#

the strips are in addition to, not replacing existing lighting options

atomic marsh
cold moon
#

correct

atomic marsh
#

Hmm

cold moon
#

i do this in every room

#

plenty of color and your eyes will thank you

atomic marsh
#

I'll have to see where I'd put thdm

cold moon
#

you ever walked into a fully blue room?

#

or red?

atomic marsh
#

It's just a bedroom/office with not many surfaces

cold moon
#

it fucks with your eyes

#

and everything looks off due to the color

atomic marsh
cold moon
#

mostly they're just warm white but i have the ability to go full disco lol

round bone
#

I will choose gate motor to open / close car gate for yard soon. Gate is already there, but need to buy gate motor which will move gate left / right.

Do I correctly understand I can buy almost whatever gate motor and later on plug some device into it which will connect with Home Assistant and send signals?

Or is it a bad idea and I should choose right gate motor instead of buy extra plug-in device later? The second options sounds better, but I can be wrong.

What is the name of the standard? How to choose? Any hints?

PS I am buying gate motor first time and I know nothing about it right now.

#

if this matter I am in EU

mossy canyon
hexed galleon
#

Any suggestion on what hardware (no pi4) I can purchase for HA

I would purchase it on the US so it can be Amazon or eBay it's ok

I got recommended a USFF not sure which one

cold moon
hexed galleon
#

Seems good gotta try that

cold moon
#

It be like that

#

I bought from that exact link and it was new old stock never been used even tho it says refurb. Not sure if that’s their entire stock or if some is actually refurb

tacit burrow
#

if you only plan to run HA, you can probably get a cheaper SFF machine, with only 8gb of ram, and smaller disk maybe.

#

I have two of those SFF and love 'em

vocal lava
#

Does anyone know if its possible to use an raid reader to tell if a person wearing a ring with a raid chip is in the room or not? Playing around with the idea of locking certain features/commands unless an "authorized user" is in the room and this seems like it may be cheaper than using cameras with facial recog.

devout parrot
#

You mean RFID?

vocal lava
#

Yes that

#

Looks like the autocorrect got to my post lol

rich venture
cold moon
#

Espresense is probably a decent option

#

Or tie an ibeacon to a shoe

vocal lava
#

I was thinking of trying to mount a reader to the doorway and basically having it set a bool on if I was in the room or not. Think that would work?

rich venture
devout parrot
vocal lava
rich venture
vocal lava
#

Issue is anything on my wrist gets in the way at work so I don't wear a watch as I would end up taking it off consistently.

round bone
sand pier
#

What are some good intel nuc alternatives?

rich venture
#

any of those machines

round bone
#

I would say not expensive too

limpid vector
#

Afternoon everyone - I'm going to start by saying I'm sorry...

I've been scrolling the internet over the last few days to find the "perfect" motion sensor. I keep reading conflicting articles. Does anyone have any personal recommendations regarding Motion Sensors and Smart Switches (No neutral)?

The second thing I want to ask..., what's the deal with Zigbee products? Is this still the right path to go down? Currently, all my devices are working using wifi.

outer knotBOT
#

Looking for advice about a device to buy? Remember to provide guidance on:

  • Which country you're in
  • What your budget is
  • What protocols you prefer (eg Zigbee, WiFi, Z-Wave)
  • Any features you want (such as power monitoring, dimming, etc)
winged knoll
#

For Zigbee motion sensors the Linkind and Aqara (P1 and OG) are good

#

For Zigbee mmWave Aqara is good, and some of the Tuya are too apparently

#

Zigbee is more mature than Matter/Thread

cold moon
#

mmWave technically Wi-Fi too cuz fp2 is Wi-Fi not zigbee

limpid vector
limpid vector
winged knoll
#

If you're going to use ZHA it's fine

limpid vector
#

Don't know where I'm going at the moment! 😂 Trail and error. Honestly, thanks for your help! I'm sure I'll be back!

winged knoll
pallid mason
sand pier
upper wave
#

Hi, I'm looking for a reliable smart uk power strip with 6 sockets that works either over wifi or zigbee, integrates with nome assistant and tracks power consumption of each devices. Anyone knows something like that?

#

I'm based in HK (hence the uk plug requirement but to be honest, I'd be fine with any type of plugs as long as it's 220v)

#

The TP-Link Kasa HS300 would fit the bill perfectly but it's US only with 110v and the uk version only has 3 sockets instead of 6

teal badger
#

Hi guys, i have a old IPAD2, With IOS 9, someone already reused it to do a HA panel ?

sterile forge
#

Hey, did you ever find out? Looking to get one myself

cold moon
#

ipad2 will work decently well as a frisbee

drifting grove
cold moon
#

oh you rich rich

teal badger
drifting grove
cold moon
#

yeah lol

#

geothermal is $$

#

and multizone units arent cheap either

drifting grove
#

bro im 16 lmfao im just thinking about building a shed house

cold moon
#

although seems they are more common

#

i see

drifting grove
cold moon
#

a shouse if you will

#

you should be able to make your own with esphome and some relays

#

and electronic dampers

#

but you'd have to do some math to make sure you have the right duct size etc you cant just start closing ducts willy nilly

#

fancy units will have multi speed motors but older or cheaper ones just have one speed and it will kill the motor if you have it pushing air through too little ducting (like when using zones)

#

so you cant just yolo it.. do some research and see what options you have

drifting grove
#

ill be talking to some architects about fancy stuff

cold moon
#

16 years old talking to architects?

#

are your parents adopting?

#

i've got a few good years left

drifting grove
#

bro we aint rich

#

its gonna be a couple years

cold moon
#

i'm just messing with you dude

drifting grove
#

my grandpa knows about house stuff ill ask him about it

cold moon
#

cool

normal frigate
#

Hi you all, is this the right place for questions regarding ESP home ?

gloomy spoke
normal frigate
#

thanks !

#

@gloomy spoke the ESPHome is not a chat one is it ?

gloomy spoke
#

What do you mean?

#

It's just like this server

normal frigate
#

like this one with public chat options

gloomy spoke
#

Just like this one

winged knoll
#

It's all Discord

#

You join, you read the rules, you do any required onboarding, you chat

normal frigate
#

thanks

sleek apex
#

Anyone migrate from a Zigbee usb dongle to the HA skyconnect? Is it difficult?

golden thorn
#

You make it sound as if the SkyConnect isn't a Zigbee USB dongle as well. #zigbee-archived might be a better fit, btw

winged knoll
sleek apex
#

Gotcha. Didn’t mean for it to be wrong place or have a specific sound 🤣

#

Thank you!

kindred sail
#

Anyone here using zigbee Xfinity xhs2-ue door/window sensors successfully? I'm having issues where If the door stays open, it becomes unavailable until reset. My other one just straight up stopped reporting, but HA is reading everything the same, like it's online.

cold moon
#

that's using rf shit right?

kindred sail
#

Zigbee

cold moon
#

interesting

kindred sail
#

Perhaps it's interesting, but I'm sad.

cold moon
#

It’s probably interference related

tacit burrow
cold moon
#

I think guys are using the new wireless charging fire tablet

#

But the older or cheaper models with a PoE to usb splitter / adapter work fine

#

They go on sale for $75 on Amazon

#

I have the 2022 model iirc

tacit burrow
#

Can’t get fire here

cold moon
#

Then you use fire toolkit to remove amazon bloat

#

And install play store

#

Well

#

Find a way.. probably double for a google equivalent

#

Maybe those Samsung tab A?

#

Either way some android tablet with fully kiosk browser to remotely manage and automate

#

Like screen on when motion detected etc

#

There’s some aliexpress options

#

But don’t buy one with some old ass android version and shit cpu

tacit burrow
#

My fridge has touchscreen . I wonder if I can root it

cold moon
#

Fire tablets have mounts ready to print

#

No idea

tacit burrow
#

Is kiosk mode HA an app, or just a browser in fullscreen with escapes locked down a bit?

cold moon
#

It’s also an integration in hass providing all kinds of sensors and entities

#

I’ll pm screenshots

tacit burrow
#

yeah my phone app does that, kindof useful. googling for a tablet.

#

Looks like geo-locking fiire hd is a super pain

zealous dune
#

when they don't list the CPU model it is not good

tacit burrow
#

buying a fire hd 10 here in AU is at least double that price

#

even from fleabay reseller

zealous dune
#

look for teclast or lenovo tablets

cold moon
#

there's lots of reddit posts with links to the tablet they used too

#

there are some really neat 20inch+ giant touchscreen ones

#

if you're gonna spend $$ might as well get something fun

tacit burrow
#

Nah, too big = poor wife acceptance

#

is Lenovo Tab M10 HD (2nd Gen) 32GB Tablet ok?

cold moon
#

eh

tacit burrow
#

my wife hates tech

cold moon
#

it doubles as a calendar, camera feed, etc

#

still time to find a new wife

tacit burrow
#

and tablet on the wall will be pretty visible

cold moon
#

they can look very nice on the wall

tacit burrow
#

I'm already on second wife, that's enough for a lifetime! 🙂

cold moon
#

you can DIY with an old screen but really needs an IPS display for side angle viewing which is $$

#

still cool but hass is next level these days

gloomy musk
#

Hi! I just replaced the recessed lights in my living room with hue lights, and am looking for a good light switch that i can use to control them, to replace my current switches.

Not a fan of the look of the aurora, but it does do what i want.
The runlesswire click seems okay but expensive for what it is
inovellis look really nice but unavailable
Lutron divas seem like they would be good, IF i could get them to work with the hue lights. (Connect the wires so its always on, and then power the lutron? Would that even work?)

Ideally though I don't want my switches to break if HA or my internet dies, so im kind of leaning towards the runlesswire since they just directly control hue lights.

Any other ideas/recommendations?

cold moon
#

inovelli blue is the answer man

gloomy musk
#

would they be able to control my lights with HA or my internet down?

cold moon
#

are you using hue hub or zigbee2mqtt/zha?

gloomy musk
#

hue hub is all i have right now, if i need a zibee/zwave hub i can get one

cold moon
#

if you are using zha/z2m you can "bind" lights to a switch so they always work whether home assistant is down or not

cold moon
#

the downside to binding is you cant override the binds

#

so like.. say you want the switch to turn lights to 30% after 10pm or w/e you cant do that

gloomy musk
cold moon
#

because the switch is bound to the lights to always go 100% or w/e you set it to

#

so you could still use a motion sensor to trigger lights dimmer at a certain time

#

or whatever

#

but not the switch if bound

#

so you have options

gloomy musk
#

is that specific to the blues/zigbee?

cold moon
#

i wouldnt touch the aurora it's a silly device and decora style paddles are much nicer

#

and the runlesswire thing i literally have never seen used or suggested

cold moon
#

luckily all hue devices support all zigbee things (maybe one outlier or two but they are the gold standard for adhering to zigbee spec so you chose well with your lights)

#

and the inovelli blue also supports binding

#

if other zigbee light switches existed that werent random chinese designed + manufactured questionable quality devices then i'd suggest those as alternatives

#

for the us - zigbee has a wide range of bulb options and a complete lack of options for light switches sans inovelli blues

gloomy musk
#

got it, then dang maybe ill just put an order in and wait, it would be fun to use the light bars for garage/lock/etc status

cold moon
#

you can pay scalper pricing to get one i guess

gloomy musk
#

even if they are bound would i still be able to control the light bar/scene button in HA?

cold moon
#

$65 vs $50 isnt terrible

cold moon
#

no other limitations

gloomy musk
#

got it cool!!

gloomy musk
#

thats the same price as the runlesswire anyway

cold moon
#

idk shit about that reseller or whether they're selling the old generation that was recalled

#

i assume no but buy at your own risk

#

the recall was for poor reception / antenna design iirc not like fire hazard

#

so worst case you send it back to amazon

gloomy musk
#

got it, yeah amazon is good with returns

cold moon
#

well it's a third party seller so not really

#

but yeah

#

if defective they'd prob work with you

#

anyways

#

you cant just add that to the hue hub

#

you'll need a zigbee coordinator

gloomy musk
#

also, i have two switches for the same light. since its all hue lights can they both be invovelli blues? Or does one still need to be the white one?

cold moon
#

you can either buy a usb one plugged into your server or haos box or you can buy a PoE one

#

are you asking about a three way setup?

#

w/e the manual says man

gloomy musk
#

yeah fair ill do some more research

#

thank you!

cold moon
#

yep

#

@gloomy musk in case you walked away

gloomy musk
#

oh thanks! tho dont have POE set up anywhere ATM

cold moon
#

okay then a usb coordinator plugged into a usb extension cable then into your haos box / server

#

assuming you arent runnning synology and a docker container cuz i think they have issues with usb passthru

gloomy musk
#

unraid -> vm, usb passthrough should work fine there

cold moon
#

reason for extension cable

#

unraid usb passthru is fine

#

the electrollama and slaesh are popular too

#

or tube's from the link i sent before but non-poe version

gloomy musk
#

damn theres a lot to this stuff

cold moon
#

not really i just like giving people enough info to make an informed decision

#

i can make the choices for you

keen charm
#

Need to upgrade from a rPI-3. Do I go for a NUC 12 i3, or an Asus pn64 i3?

cold moon
#

post the stats dont make us google

gloomy musk
# cold moon i can make the choices for you

nah i really appreciate the info, ill do some reading and learn more about zigbee, like i said ive only ever just use the hue hub, and my other devices connect to HA in different ways

cold moon
#

a lot of the info, especially from youtube videos, is either outdated, wrong, or both

#

so idk the best way to actually suggest making an informed decision between zha vs z2m without just dumping a bunch more info on you

#

i've helped people with zha and i personally use z2m and i can definitively say that z2m is easier to use although harder to setup / onboard

#

at least in terms of automating off of button presses, entities, and zigbee groups and the overall ui/ux of it

keen charm
#

The nuc & asus have the same cpu, but the asus is ddr5... In many respects they are the same, I'd use the same drive for both. But I am not familiar with the two platforms, so I don't know if one is better supported than the other

gloomy musk
cold moon
#

not really

#

some say z2m supports more devices or gets support for new devices faster but it really just depends. if a person goes into #zigbee-archived and talks to one of the devs of ZHA (which they are very active) and submits the proper shit on github / works with the devs then sometimes devices actually end up with zha support before z2m (this was the case with the aqara pet feeder around xmas)

#

although technically z2m had beta support at that time

#

the actual... does a light or switch or sensor work reliably thing doesnt matter whether zha or z2m tho.. that has to do with whether or not the device is shit

#

there is a z2m product page for devices and zha doesnt have that at all and that is a big selling point

#

tells you how to pair it, factory reset it, control it, advanced config options

cold moon
#

iirc ddr5 is damn near still beta (from a mobo bios/uefi firmware perspective)? maybe that's more for high end ryzen builds etc though

keen charm
#

I want to try proxmox, but it's likely to be primarily HA running on it

cold moon
#

i see

#

and ram frequency and everything else are identical same as cpu?

#

i suppose i'd buy the nuc if price was the same over the asus just in terms of nuc being pretty damn reliable and asus hardware kind of getting worse every year

keen charm
#

That's fair. The nuc is actually cheaper, but the asus has better networking

cold moon
#

if you're using haos you're not gonna be going >GbE for anything that it uses

#

or at least you shouldn't be

#

it's not meant to be an all-purpose hypervisor/nas type OS like some want to use it for with plex etc

keen charm
#

I work with large server deployments for a living, so at home I just want something that works, so NUC sounds like a good match

cold moon
#

cool

keen charm
#

There was some software I saw a while back that could do object recognition in video streams. I was tempted to try that

cold moon
#

i just started playing with it myself

keen charm
#

Frigate was the name yea 🙂 figured if I get a nuc, there will be spare cycles for something like that

cold moon
#

it uses the igpu / quicksync stuff

#

or at least it can

keen charm
#

Is there some spec for that I should look for?

cold moon
#

Frigate docs just say i3 6th gen or newer I think

#

For openvino

left hound
#

is this thy right channel to ask about smart light switch choices?

rich venture
rich venture
cold moon
left hound
#

I'm looking to replace some wall switches with smart but I want to add some "virtual switches" so I can say turn a two gang two switch physical into a 4 smart switch 2 gang plate where the extra 2 would control another smart switch like an outlet..

rich venture
cold moon
#

that would be a key that no one wants

#

is what that would be

rich venture
#

doesent that fit in the same slot nvme drive fits?

cold moon
#

actually maybe i'm wrong

#

if so then damn you found a unicorn

tacit burrow
#

That would fit in your m910q too 🙂

cold moon
#

yeah usually it's just the e key in stock that needs an adapter for most people

devout parrot
#

Shelly 1 or Sonoff Mini EXTREME

left hound
#

ok ty

primal geyser
#

Hardware for doing paging / intercom?

cold moon
#

why phrase it like we're a search engine 😦

primal geyser
#

Trying to be brief and to the point. For starters, does HA have any capabilities that would allow me to press a button and record something that could then be played back immediately as a page?

#

I guess I could playback to any media device

cold moon
#

yep

#

whenever my mailbox is opened all the homepod minis in the house play the old "you've got mail" AOL sound bite lol

primal geyser
#

Right. I’m aware of that. Was thinking of a scenario where I press a button, say something, and the audio devices play it back when I release the button.

cold moon
#

you're aware of my automation to play aol's you've got mail? burn the witch . jpg

primal geyser
#

Lol, I’m aware that you can have a static recording (mp3, etc) and play it back with an automation

#

I’m asking if you can have a device (tablet, etc). that records a clip and then makes it available for playback instantly rather than pre-recorded clips

devout parrot
#

Looks like people have done something kind of like that with SIP clients, but that wouldn't be like a broadcast message, someone would have to answer on another tablet or something.
The other way to do that that I can think of would involve recording the clip, saving it to a location on your HA server over nfs or something, and then running a script that would play it back, which is too many steps.
I just use the tts service for that kind of stuff.

primal geyser
#

TTS might be my best option for now. Thanks!

wise vector
#

Will a 2010 MacBook Pro run hass fine?

cold moon
#

Probably

#

What gen intel is that?

#

I’d definitely swap to an ssd if there isn’t one tho

wise vector
tacit burrow
#

2.4GHz or 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

wise vector
#

Can you run off a usb stick?

#

I don’t have a ssd

#

The computer has no storage drive

#

The hdd died

cold moon
#

Eh core 2 duo

#

I thought those all went to heaven

tacit burrow
#

It's crappy. Only ~2 times rpi4 (single thread), and maybe a little wose for multithread

cold moon
#

Sounds like a not great hardware option

tacit burrow
#

Not great. I wouldn't buy one for HA. But if you have one lying around, meh.

cold moon
#

I wouldn’t

#

I wouldn’t run off a usb stick either

tacit burrow
#

Nah, ditto.

cold moon
#

So by the time he buys an ssd and a usb to Sata adapter it’s even less worth it

tacit burrow
#

Go spend $50 on a used PC bro. Or $150 and get something good.

cold moon
#

$130

wise vector
#

Oh it’s not 2010

cold moon
#

That m910q went down

tacit burrow
#

incooooooming.

wise vector
#

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)

Processor 2.9 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

cold moon
#

Fancy

#

What gen is the cpu

wise vector
#

It doesn’t say

#

That’s a pic I had saved

tacit burrow
#

That would be totally fine to run HA. Overkill even. I ran it on something like that.

wise vector
#

Don’t have the MacBook in front of me

cold moon
#

Yea I’m sure it’s fine

#

You can google that and see what it shipped with

tacit burrow
#

The MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012) is a Mac laptop with an Intel Core i7-3520M processor. The MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012) with an Intel Core i7-3520M

cold moon
#

I don’t want to do it for you lol

#

Derp

#

Still no ssd I’d imagine

#

2012 was a dark time

tacit burrow
#

Or solid state option

cold moon
#

So get a cheap Kingston a400 or better ssd to use

tacit burrow
#

he MacBook Pro uses a pre-installed MacOS X 10.7. 3 (11D2097), 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 3615QM “Sandy Bridge” processor, which is the second generation of Core processors.

cold moon
#

2nd gen damn

tacit burrow
#

They are absolutely a great option if you want to spend $130 (and especially if you want to run proxmox etc). Otherwise you could probably get something a little cheaper with less ram

cold moon
#

All the ram

tacit burrow
#

If you were a brokeass student or something, you could probably get something for like $90. But don't.

cold moon
#

The thin clients aren’t terrible but I hate to suggest them when mini pcs aren’t a ton more

tacit burrow
cold moon
#

That is cheap

tacit burrow
#

That seller looks like they've got lots of decent stuff, and 99.2% positive feedback across 75K items.

cold moon
#

The market is getting flooded with these

#

Prices are going down quite a bit over the past few months

devout parrot
#

Gotta go for the maximum ram. You probably won't use it but you just have to.

tacit burrow
#

They're probably getting EOL from lots of offices

cold moon
#

Idk why we’re stuck getting 8th gen tho

gloomy spoke
#

I wonder how much of a driver the home automation market is for those things

cold moon
#

I’d think 10th or newer would be out there for cheap

tacit burrow
#

We're so small compared to hundreds of office bots

cold moon
#

All the YouTubers made videos on them

tacit burrow
#

yeah, but you remember there's tens of thousands of office drones

cold moon
#

For homelab and smart home

#

There’s a lot of homelabbers too

tacit burrow
#

Yeah. I really like being able to power up/off the m910q remotely via intel management. Super handy because mine is on a shelf I can't reach without a ladder, or a blind reach from a chair.

gloomy spoke
#

they're awesome and 100000 better than a Pi or equivalent for someone who just wants to have a Linux server

cold moon
#

Yea

tacit burrow
#

like 5 times the speed/usefulness at about the same price

#

and only ~10W at idleish. Not enough to worry about.

drifting grove
#

Hey guys, so after yesterdays fun filled mess with my pi400, you got me on a mission to find an alternative to raspberry pi to install and run my HA. I was looking at things like orange pi, zima board and all those single board pc. Any advice on what I’d be best to go with? Also, budget is necessary, cheaper the better.

tacit burrow
#

or $130 for one with 16GB if you plan on running more on the box. HA itself doesn't need much.

#

tip" make sure you've got a displayport cable

drifting grove
#

So running it on something like that one won’t matter that it’s an older wifi antenna or the Ethernet not being gigabit?

#

My setup will be ethernet, so wifi wouldn’t matter anyhow, but I’m more curious about the Ethernet and if it’ll be sufficient for years to come

tacit burrow
#

The ethernet is gigabit, and you can remove the wifi if you want (I replaced it with a second (2.5gbe) ethernet). It's m.2 a+b

drifting grove
#

Ok cool. So I can do something like that one or a dell wyse, dell 3040 etc then

#

I’d imagine it would be a smoother performance then raspberry pi’s

tacit burrow
#

My onboard is "Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-LM"

root@pve1:~# ethtool enp0s31f6
Settings for enp0s31f6:
    Supported ports: [ TP ]
    Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                            100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                            1000baseT/Full
#

I've got both a 6500t and 7500t (4 x Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7500T CPU @ 2.70GH)

drifting grove
#

That should work great. I just want to sorta set it and forget it for years. And like you mentioned yesterday, an sd card isn’t the best option

tacit burrow
#

And my cheapo m.2 2.5gbe worked fine too

root@pve1:~# ethtool enp1s0
Settings for enp1s0:
    Supported ports: [ TP     MII ]
    Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                            100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                            1000baseT/Full
                            2500baseT/Full
drifting grove
#

Wow, that’s awesome. This is a far better option it seems

tacit burrow
#

AFK now, cook dinner.

drifting grove
#

Ty

tacit burrow
#

np

#

I run proxmox, and a few things, it's lovely. I actually have two of them, and can live-migrated VMs or containers between them. Mwahahah

drifting grove
#

Nice

potent seal
#

Why isn't there a nice UI to add a extra local drive and mount it as media like it is for the network storage?

winged knoll
#

Feel free to help develop such a feature 😉

potent seal
#

How is it not supported when you have the option to move data drive? (which moves a lot, but not everything)

winged knoll
#

Because ... it isn't

#

Moving all the data is relatively simple compared to supporting random mounts

winged knoll
#

Englsh please @drifting grove

potent seal
#

@winged knoll What do you mean with random mounts? Network Storage only define about 3 specific ones. Same could go for "Local Storage"

winged knoll
#

If you think it's so easy, please make it so 😉

potent seal
#

Easy for someone who knows it for sure 😂 That someone is not me. I have many ideas i want to implement, but to hard to understand how it all is glued together

winged knoll
#

Pretty sure you'll find a few stale PRs as it's turned out to be harder than you think to do it in a way that doesn't enable people to shoot themselves in the foot

winged knoll
potent seal
#

Put it behind a new "advanced" toggle. "Shot yourself in the foot" toggle

winged knoll
#

And then people will, and will come here to complain

#

If you want freedom to do what you want, don't use HAOS

potent seal
winged knoll
#

Baby steps...

#

Nothing is built in a day

potent seal
#

Rome was, wasn't it? 🏛️

frozen rapids
#

Is rpi4 2g enough to run HAOS?

#

I just started using it with HAOS and not sure it will be powerful enough in the long run

winged knoll
#

Yes, to start with

frozen rapids
#

okay thanks

mossy gulch
#

Hi Guys, I have a question relating harware but also OS i think, im trying to get some bios information, and see that you can use dmidecode to see if its avaiable, so ultimately i am trying to get it from node red, and am after the serial number of the device if possible, but dmidecode is not installed natively, is there another way to achieve this, i have tried to search the OS git, but there is just one referecen saying that it wouldbe cool to include, but nothing furhter, seaching serial brings a bunch of unrelated issues :p anyone with any direction that i can look at?

#

I am running the Generic X86-64 build

uncut badger
#

I mostly control my bulbs (zigbee). and have a switch (zigbee) beside the actual switch (which I've stuck a cover on. can be used, but the zigbee switch is a lot easier) A large part of this is due to a lack of a neutral in my wall boxes. But also allows for, for example, night time "get to the bathroom to pee without being blinded" lighting. turning on only one of multiple bulbs, at a low level.

cold moon
#

Adding motion sensors or other sensors to automate lights on is so much better than only relying on switches

uncut badger
#

😄 I'm using motion sensors and the like too. The buttons are mostly for overriding.

cold moon
#

Nice

uncut badger
#

some people like turning lights out when they leave the room, for example. or for task lighting

cold moon
#

I looked at my switch automations the other day.. I haven’t touched most of them in months

uncut badger
#

(the FP2 is neat 😄 )

cold moon
#

You misspelled expensive

uncut badger
#

main button I use is the "switch everything off while I'm in bed" button.

cold moon
#

I have two fp1 I’ll upgrade one of these days

#

I think I want one above my stairs

uncut badger
#

it is pricy, yes. but it's nice.

#

the home kit integration isn't perfect, but it mostly does what I need

cold moon
#

It replaces a normal switch and gives me a bunch of buttons

uncut badger
#

I've got the old ikea 5 button for that

#

just stuck to my bedframe so it's where my hand would naturally fall

cold moon
#

Yea I’m not a fan of the battery powered remotes replacing real mains switches

devout parrot
cold moon
#

My sleep routine plays a Plex playlist on top of all that

#

Feels like magic