hardware-archived

[cold moon]

ooh better link

@twilit relic you might want this model dude^

[drowsy scroll]

lol, the eq12 is now 205 instead of 209

[twilit relic]

argh! i just checked out

[cold moon]

oh you did buy n100

[drowsy scroll]

yes

[cold moon]

the n200 link above for $249 **is nice

[drowsy scroll]

is there one?

where?

eq13 is n100 or n200

[cold moon]

https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-EQ13-3-7GHz-Computer-Desktop/dp/B0D5R6F4YL/ this one

altho then you jump from $160 to $249 @twilit relic

[drowsy scroll]

160?

where are you seeing 160?

[cold moon]

he bought the n100 eq12

[twilit relic]

should i cancel my order? i got this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C89TQ1YF?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

[cold moon]

err ya that one

[twilit relic]

well it was $200

[drowsy scroll]

160 isn't bad

[cold moon]

there was a $40 coupon

[twilit relic]

wait..

wtf

[cold moon]

all you had to do was click a box

did you not even look at the item?

lmao

ah fuck no that was yesterday - today it's 20% off making it $160.. cuz amazon be tricky like that

[drowsy scroll]

dammit, that link was 9 usd cheaper

259 - 60

bah

[cold moon]

yolo

[drowsy scroll]

damn scamazon

[cold moon]

so basically you'd go from $160 to $250 but get an n200 cpu instead of n100 and i think a better ssd

tbh prob not worth it for your use case

[twilit relic]

ok so, this is what is good for me then? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C89TQ1YF/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=AC2C0BRRGLY5X&th=1

[cold moon]

ye

[twilit relic]

phew, ok. i cancelled it anyway because for some reason the price went back up to $199 in the cart.

[cold moon]

ya easy fix

[twilit relic]

but now if i buy it's its back down to 159

fecking amazon

[cold moon]

i have the identical model it's a beastly little thing

[twilit relic]

nice, ty!

[tacit burrow]

Do you need to buy new? Can save about 50% buying used ex-corporate sff

[cold moon]

he's moving on from a pi let the man enjoy some freedom hahaha

[drowsy scroll]

you can get n100 used?

if you are attempting to run frigate, having a pretty recent cpu/gpu helps transcoding

[tacit burrow]

Used would be something like a i5-6500T or 7500T or similar

Roughly similar

But depends if you care about the price difference vs that shiny new feeling 😉

[drowsy scroll]

For me, old is fine, you should have seen the rack of computers I bought by the pound, but this I'm buying today is going in a business

I used to have a rack of old hp proliants, when I'd turn them on, I'd have to turn off the heat 🤣

[tacit burrow]

Those lenovo are like 6-10W, small stuff.

[cold moon]

We’ve been shouting mini pcs from the rooftops for a few years now- the n100 is still $50-100 more than the older intels but has a better igpu plus faster ssd ram etc

I’ve got one of each lol

N100 came into picture like a year ago or so

At least here

[tacit burrow]

Yup, neither option is bad

[drowsy scroll]

yeah, I'm a fan of QOTOM, but they don't make an n100 afaik, I have one of their celeron models as my router, has been solid

has a nice aluminum case with the fins

[cold moon]

I’m not sure there’s anything special with beelink but they’ve been reliable and go on sale on Amazon a lot so easy links

[drowsy scroll]

yeah, they seem to do a lot of business

[oak scarab]

Anyone know of a power monitoring plug for this? Looks like NEMA 6-15?

[deft copper]

I can never remember if (or which models) the Fire tablets are even suitable for HA dashboard use

[tired bridge]

@deft copper what do you think about this one?

Tbh...I'm not looking forward to replacing batteries..and from what I can see getting tablets to run on direct power sucks

So i'm still thinking about dashboards

[crisp latch]

@cold moon you can rest easy. HA is no longer running in wsl and is now on bare metal and running happily

[cold moon]

https://tenor.com/view/baby-jesus-dear-lord-will-gif-23054569

[oak scarab]

Is it possible that my Zigbee coordinator would work for matter/thread>?

anddd..how would I find out

[rose fjord]

SO, I am just getting into the bottomless rabbit hole that is Home Assistant. I just got all my Minisplits set up.
Next is Lights.
I have an older home so most of the lights on the main floor are on plugs. My house is also large, so would Zigbee or mwave be better? Would I need multiple hub/base unit/whatevers? I require 3 wifi APs to cover my house and yard with decent wifi.

I think I'm going to need 8 smart plugs, and 8 switches for simple lights. If I have a room with multiple switches, do I need to replace all of them with smart switches, or just one?

[worn adder]

You mean multiple switches that control the same circuit?

[rose fjord]

Yes. My kitchen has 3 switches that control the overhead lights. All the same lights. So I can walk in one door and flip them on, and out the other side and flip them off.

Similar for our bedroom hallway, but has 4 switches.

[worn adder]

4 switches for the same circuit? That must be one long hallway!

[oak scarab]

my living room has 3 switches

wild

first time ive ever seen it

its a single light too

[worn adder]

You are looking for a "3 way" smart switch, it wouldn't be your run of the mill smart switch. I can't make any suggestions on that though

[oak scarab]

Yeah but would you only have to replace ONE of those switches with a smart switch to control it? im pretty sure yes

[worn adder]

Well, there lies the problem...

[cold moon]

I like zooz zwave or inovelli blue zigbee switches

They can do physical or virtual 3 way 4 way etc (zooz will be model dependent)

[worn adder]

I was going to say, the Inovelli smart switches have "Aux (add-on)" switches that you can add to a multi-way switch system

[cold moon]

What do you mean by older lights are plugs? Like a lamp connected to an outlet?

[rose fjord]

Yes exactly. I could prob get a smart bulb, but they don't seem to be much cheaper than a smart plug, and I don't have to replace it when it burns out.
But that's just cost-wise. I don't know all the ramifications for functionality.

[rose fjord]

lol, it' a branched hallway. There is a switch outside of each bedroom. People who built it originally were stupid rich, so there is all kinds of interesting things about the house. The moulding is insane!

[worn adder]

LIFX bulbs are on sale on Amazon right now, connect to WiFi, and can be controlled locally. Only time I've had any real issue with them has been due to my Wireless AP acting up

[rose fjord]

My wfifi is solid 😄 That is one thing I am sure of.

[rose fjord]

Yeah, I was hoping to snag some stuff during prime day 🙂

[pure solar]

Hello friends! looking for an outdoor shade to smartify. anyone have product suggestions?

[oak scarab]

Philips Wiz bulbs from home depot work locally

$8

[worn adder]

I've only seen the Hue series, is the Wiz series WiFi based?

[rose fjord]

I have a couple Hue ones.

[oak scarab]

yes

wiz are wifi based

[worn adder]

Neat! I'm pretty locked into the LIFX ecosystem, but definitely good to know for others 🙂

[rose fjord]

Philips Wiz look pretty good. $12/bulb for the ones I want. Or $55 for a 4-pack

What marketing idiot priced that?

[oak scarab]

he hasnt had issues with them

https://www.amazon.com/Switch-HS200-Neutral-Certified-Required/dp/B01EZV35QU these seem suspicously cheap?

[worn adder]

I've heard good things about the KASA stuff

[rose fjord]

That's because it collects all your data and sends it to Microsft and Amazon

[oak scarab]

data such as: "light turned off" "light turned on"

:kek

[worn adder]

It is TP-Link, so it isn't some no-name brand at least

[rose fjord]

COMPLETELY making that up

[oak scarab]

i know this switch isnt a 3way, but couldnt you just grab 1 3 way switch, throw it in the same circuit as regular switches and it work just fine?

i dont see why it wouldnt

[worn adder]

No, because the smart switch won't know the state of the other switches

[oak scarab]

rip

maybe just a smart bulb for that spot then...

[rose fjord]

As my daughter would say, "womp womp"

[oak scarab]

cause i actually have 3 switches

so id need a 4 way

[worn adder]

Your typical switch is binary - on/off. A 3-way switch is more like A/B, and the on or off state depends on the status of the other switch

Also, I HATE that they call it a 3 or 4 -way switch... It isn't! They only have 2 positions

[oak scarab]

yeah thats stupid

[rose fjord]

It's the wiring 😄 Electrician took 4 tries to get the hallway right when we rewired the house

[oak scarab]

must not live in the us?

[rose fjord]

I do

[oak scarab]

Oh

[worn adder]

Are you using Matter, Zigbee, or Z-Wave, Nitro? If so, Inovelli has smart switches that can be added to multi-way switch set ups. You put the Smart switch in one place, then the rest use their Aux Switch... good for 3-way, or higher

[oak scarab]

zigbee

[worn adder]

Then you'd pick a Blue Series Smart Switch: https://inovelli.com/collections/inovelli-blue-series

And add however many Aux swiches you need for that circuit:
https://inovelli.com/products/white-series-add-on-aux-switch

I've read good things about them, but have no experience with them

[oak scarab]

fiddy dollars

sheeeesh..

[worn adder]

Yeah, big money but if they work reliably then 🤷

[oak scarab]

this is an apartment tho :kek:

god dammit

my emojis dont work here

this place is too restricted

[worn adder]

:LUL:

I'm not sure I'd replace switches in my apartment... doing the thermostat was slightly pushing it

[oak scarab]

😳

wasnt told i couldnt tho... 👀 LMAO

smart bulbs suck, if u flip the switch then boom its offline & useless

[worn adder]

LOL, well I guess I will replace that 10A breaker with a 20A

[oak scarab]

now THAT might be a little unwise

[rose fjord]

BACK IN MY DAY.... I had X10 all over my apartment. Took it all with me. I've also run Cat6 through my last two apartments. One I left, the other one (where I was given permission), the a-hole kicked us out with 2 week notice. So I pulled a much of the wire out of the wall and reach as far up into the wall as possible to cut the wires. But I left the wall jacks 😛

[worn adder]

installing a 10A breaker with a "living room" circuit that has all the outlets, the ceiling fan, AND the entryway light and overhead kitchen lights all on it was more unwise in my opinion

[oak scarab]

hell yeah lmao

[oak scarab]

i have a 15a breaker being shared by both bedrooms

[worn adder]

I'm in a 1br... my bedroom has a 20A breaker, my bathroom has a 20A breaker. My kitchen has 3x 20A breakers... Why TF is my livingroom on a 10A breaker? 😡

The conduit is definitely good for 15A, but I'd honestly be surprised if they ran 15A conduit just for this circuit, then 20A conduit for the rest of the apartment

I have a 12AWG extension cable running from my kitchen to my server rack because it can't be on the same circuit as my other stuff :kekw:

[oak scarab]

I got the LL special..look at all the paint seepage in there 🤮

[worn adder]

"LL special"? never heard of that one

[oak scarab]

landlord special

half assed

[worn adder]

Ah gotcha

[oak scarab]

also all the switches ive looked at so far are backstabbed

which afaik is a fire hazard

[sharp yoke]

hey folks, does anyone know of a device to power on/off USB ports?

[worn adder]

Surprisingly, the National Electrical Code does not disallow backstabbing, despite the dangers.

[oak scarab]

interesting..

i cant tell if my lights have neutrals or if its just the white paint they slopped everywhere

[sharp yoke]

...something like a 'SONOFF Micro USB Smart WiFi Adaptor' but with more ports

[worn adder]

So you are looking for a USB hub that also has smart switching per port?

[oak scarab]

my lightswitch in the kitchen does this cool thing where if you hold it halfway on/off it freaks out and starts making a cool buzzing sound

[sharp yoke]

yep, thats it

[worn adder]

I don't think you are going to be able to find that readymade... how good are you with a soldering iron?

[sharp yoke]

so so, im def. looking for something readymade, at this stage

[worn adder]

I was going to say you could grab one of these and replace the buttons with relays controlled by an ESP or something: https://sabrent.com/products/hb-bup7

Gross, embeds. Stop that, Discord.

[oak scarab]

id say replacing a switch (responsibly & knowledgeably) falls under "use in a reasonable manner" 😉

[worn adder]

Does "mining cryptocurrency with 3 rigs" fall under "use in a reasonable manner" of electrical? 🤔

[oak scarab]

probably

[worn adder]

I had a flat rate power plan... $114/month.
After a year of mining the power company called me and said "We see you are using a lot of power, we can no longer allow you to use this plan but if you'd like to move to our commercial flat rate plan, it would be $400/month.

[oak scarab]

DAMN

[worn adder]

Needless to say... I no longer mine crypto.
It was also lowkey detrimental to my mental health, having all those fans running 24/7

[sharp yoke]

thanks for the suggestion

[worn adder]

funnily enough, someone asked about something similar on the reddits: https://www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/13mc5hk/smart_usb_adaptor_with_onoff_does_it_it_exist/

[sharp yoke]

i'm also looking for a generic zigbee 'smart switch' that plugs into a power outlet, does that exist?

[worn adder]

The SONOFF device must not have existed back then, because it is the perfect usecase for this poster, as long as USB2.0 is okay

[oak scarab]

Just texted the landlord asking for permission to swap out a few switches for smart ones

wish me luck bois

i work for the city, so i have electrical inspectors under my belt if absolutely needed lol

[worn adder]

Oh nice, I've just been an electronics nerd since I was like.. 3 years old and taking apart all manner of electronics. I've done plenty of 120v AC work, as well as some 240vAC work, but worry that doing anything myself in this apt complex will get me in legal hot water...

[worthy scaffold]

man if i was installing smart switches in my apartment i would totally just diy it

[oak scarab]

same, ive replaced plenty of switches/outlets in my day

[oak scarab]

the cool thing about doing it is you can still take them with when you leave

and install them elsewhere

they arent consumable

[worthy scaffold]

yup. im going with smart lightbulbs though

[oak scarab]

cheaper

theres just not much more that annoys me than when a physical flip is switched and now my bulb is offline and uncontrollable

[worthy scaffold]

100%. but i wanted to be able to change the temp also

[oak scarab]

fair enough

i have a couple innr bulbs im gonna put in the lamps in my living room

for mood lighting while watching tv

[deft copper]

I'm not the best person to ask, tbh. I haven't kept up with how much Amazon locks down or neuters the Fire tablets these days

As for power, wire the tablet to a smart plug

Turn on when battery hits 30%

Turn off at 70~80%

[oak scarab]

https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Android-Speakers-Upgraded-Graphite/dp/B0CLF3VPMV these are nice

[deft copper]

Yeah, Samsung A series is probably what I would pick

[oak scarab]

anyone else notice the number of items in ur amazon cart is blue rn

instead of yellow

why does amazon STILL not have a dark mode bruh

they should know most purchases are made late at night in bed

[worn adder]

Dark Reader.

[oak scarab]

it doesnt work well

on like 90% of sites

[worthy scaffold]

no reason nowadays to not just keep devices constantly charged, there is internal circuitry to limit battery degredation

[sharp yoke]

https://github.com/codazoda/hub-ctrl.c

^ ..perhaps, this might help me

just need to find a supported hub 😬

[limber elm]

In my case, I'd say it's a disability accomodation, due to mobility issues

[oak scarab]

I feel like theres only so much of that they'll take before just deciding ur too much work lol

but i have a "close" relationship with my leasing office

[limber elm]

Re-asking because it's been a day or two:

So I bought a few zigbee light switches today, thinking that the home I was going to put them in (being that it is only 2 years old) would have neutral wires. Turns out, not really. And the same brand does do a no-neutral version, but it appears to use a capacitor wired in parallel with a load, supposedly at the light itself.

Small problem. The fixtures don't appear to be resident removable (or they're at least stuck in stupidly hard), so I can't get to the wiring to put the cap there.

So the ask is: does anyone have recommendations for (relatively speaking) inexpensive US specced single gang zigbee switches? Very fine with Ali Express/Temu/Bangood

Hoping one that has the cap built into the switch so I don't have other spare parts dangling around (i have a Cync Wifi dimmer switch that does that, but ... ew)

[limber elm]

there's limits that they can do in the US because it's my responsibility to return the unit back to stock condition at the end. So as long as I put back regular switches or pay someone to, as long as I'm not making a safety risk ... (and no, I don't consider Tuya that much of a safety risk 😛 )

[oak scarab]

I'd return the switches and get this

No neutral needed and Zigbee: https://www.amazon.com/Aqara-REQUIRES-Automation-Compatible-Assistant/dp/B081ZQWX1F (was recommended this and considering them myself as well)

[limber elm]

As long as it doesn't need the capacitor, I'm fine with that idea

[oak scarab]

capacitor for what?

[limber elm]

some no-neutral switches require a capacitor across the lamp to keep the line just live enough to power the zigbee controller without turning on the light

[oak scarab]

havent heard of that before, but there are some reviews on this aqara one saying its a fire hazard..wtf

[limber elm]

and apparenly the area I live can have brand new buildings with switches that have no neutral wire

[oak scarab]

thats against code methinks

[limber elm]

I think there's a neutral wire in the wall, but the basic switches don't have a place to plug in the neutral, just line, load and ground

[worn adder]

Nothing hanging out behind the switch in the box?

[oak scarab]

just use the neutral in the wall with a neutral compatible switch

[limber elm]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duSFZDRzy6E but here's an example of a UK spec switch that has no neutral and needs the capacitor

I had to look at it to understand how some of the US versions are done

[limber elm]

I'm not -entirely- sure that the other bundle of wires in the box is neutral, but there are a few wires in a wire nut and aren't connected to the switch I was checking on

[oak scarab]

those would be neutral then if they are bundled together and attached to nothing else

should have a white jacket..

[limber elm]

And I'd rather do a drop in replacement if I can as opposed to replacing wiring. Not to mention that's my sister's house. My house is old wiring that has no neutral at all

[oak scarab]

is there a downside to using wifi switches vs zigbee? anyone know?

[limber elm]

coughs I think they didn't use standard colors, or painted over wires by accident. I didn't take a pic, but I seem to recall two sets of white and one black (plus the ground)

I have a cync wifi switch in my living room. It ... works.

That's the best I can say

The physical switch is just fine, but the wifi keeps dropping even though the access point is less than 10 feet away

[oak scarab]

rip

[limber elm]

so automations are going to be hit and miss. Not to mention wifi will most likely sync to the cloud for API, which makes response time slower than a purely local zigbee system (not to mention more points of failure from internet/server/hacker)

it's part of why I'm digging into finding a good option. Knowing Aquara makes what I need helps, just gonna look for pricing options. AliExpress carries a lot of aquara

[oak scarab]

yea im just kinda wary now seeing this on the aqara

[worn adder]

Looks good to me, I say send it!

[oak scarab]

i cant even imagine what happened there

[limber elm]

probably a board short or bad relay

may have been a QA fail

[oak scarab]

this dude said he has SIX of them fail..

:/

[limber elm]

odd

aqara is usually a recommended from people around here for lower cost parts

I've been using tuya, which everyone here hates, but ... as of yet I haven't seen anything like that

[oak scarab]

these seem to be like the only "decent" priced zigbee switches

looks like the kasa wifi switches it is

[limber elm]

but yeah, my next challenge will be that I have one switch plate in my house that has a dual gang box, and I'm not sure how to mount two smart switches (or cover up the rest of the box if I use a 2 gang switch)

[oak scarab]

wdym

[worn adder]

Are they switches that stick out, while your smart switches are the flat panel style?

unless they are two different styles... dual gang switches are literally just two single gang switches mounted side by side

[oak scarab]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EZV35QU $11.98 for regular, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079775ZZQ $14.99 for dimmer 🤔 hmmmm hard decision..

[limber elm]

right, but then smart switches seem to be designed to fully replace a single gang switch, plate and all. Meaning that the screw holes won't line up for the second switch

i can get a pic if i'm being confusing

[oak scarab]

get a pic cause my dad has smart and regular side by side in the same box

[worn adder]

Yeha, might be specific to the switches you have?

[limber elm]

give me a few, need to get props 😛

So the first picture is to single gang switches side by side over my original double gang switch box. Second picture the right switch has its hole lined up with the mounting hole on the right switch, showing how far out of the way the left switch is meaning there is no way I can mount the two of them to the same box

They do make switches that will handle both switches at the same time, using the same form factor as a single switch, but then I've got all that empty air and hole in the wall from what's not being covered because as far as I know I haven't seen any wall plates that would cover that hole unless I get something blank and basically cut my own which seems like a real pain in the butt

[oak scarab]

sir

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-Claro-2-Gang-Wall-Plate-for-Decorator-Rocker-Switches-Gloss-White-CW-2-WH-1-Pack-CW-2-WH/100035107

[worn adder]

What switches are those @limber elm ? Those look like low voltage switches that shouldn't be near line voltage AC

[limber elm]

which ones?

[oak scarab]

what are these circuit board things

[worn adder]

The ones with the exposed circuit boards kekw

[oak scarab]

y tho

[limber elm]

that's the wiring underneath the capacitace touch button

You take the cover off to get the mounting holes

[oak scarab]

oh..capacitive..

oh boi

[limber elm]

well, i guess capacticitave because they're glass

but the switches are supposedly rated for 120-240VAC, up to 800W per gang

[oak scarab]

they dont have like..wires?

[limber elm]

in this case, a single outdoor LED light on one and a single smart bulb on the second

back side

[worn adder]

LOL, the "2 gang" switches look like elevator call buttons

You going up or down?

https://www.amazon.com/LOCIUN-Neutral-Tempered-Control-Standard/dp/B0CN68RG4N

[oak scarab]

thats more normal looking

[limber elm]

I believe that's exactly what's in my hand, just the wifi version, not the zigbee version

also that one requires neutral, which is a non-starter

[oak scarab]

unfortunate

you picked the wrong switch type for that application

[limber elm]

I mean, these were for another application and testing

I have no idea the switch I would need in practice at the moment

[worn adder]

I wouldn't install something that is only CE rated... self certifications are meaningless with unscrupulous sellers

It is like the FBI investigating itself for wrongdoing 🙄

[limber elm]

fair, but to an extent this is also an issue of figuring out what parts I need, so I've been buying cheap for education and baseline building, then I replace parts with better ones as the chance arrives

[limber elm]

don't even start with me on that 😛

[oak scarab]

I’m from the government and I’m here to help

[worn adder]

If you move away from the capacitive "switch" you can get drop-in replacements that'll double gang without issue

[limber elm]

In fairness, until last year I had a Western Pacific braker box. They were known for breakers failing in the 'short' position. Only reason they weren't researched and recalled was becaause the company went bankrupt first

place was and is a deathtrap already

but grandfathered city code

[worn adder]

grandfathered safety codes should be criminal.

[limber elm]

and when you got a borerline slumlord ...

[worn adder]

"This is a death trap, but it is old and the materials are more likely to catch fire and not self-extinguish so we are going to 'grandfather' it in and claim it is safe" 💀

[limber elm]

"But fixing it is expensive!"

[oak scarab]

Grandfathered code should not exist

[limber elm]

If I can't make 95% profit, what's the point of being a landlord in the first place?

[worn adder]

Just going to file that away under "reasons I welcome the asteroid"

[limber elm]

I'm researching gravity generators. Pull the asteroid to us

[analog pine]

Quick dumb question but google has failed me: is there a good go to for a smart plug for energy monitoring for like, an air conditioner in the us?

I found a few on amazon that are hypothetically rated for that kind of current, but theres a lot of photos of ones that have caught fire.

[limber elm]

are you looking for HA integration? If so what protocol (Wifi, Z-wave, zigbee, whatever)

[analog pine]

A plug that works with HA would be nice. I don't think im particular on protocol but i'd prefer either wifi or zigbee

[limber elm]

Fair warning, I'm not a good person to ask since I use tuya for mine and everyone hates them

but figured the protocol would be good to know. country and desired cost range may be good to know

[analog pine]

I'm none too picky on brand as long as it works and wotn burn my house down

[limber elm]

https://amz.run/9QH8 I will say I haven't heard anything negative about ThirdReality, and the two temp humidity meters I bought from them a few weeks ago have been lovely

[analog pine]

i'm protocol agnostic but i'd have to learn zigbee if i go that route, which is fine. I'm pretty budget agnostic to an extent, i'm gonna prefer less burny if it means more money

[limber elm]

but that should do exactly what you want

[analog pine]

no photos of burned up units in the reviews, we like to see that

[limber elm]

https://amz.run/9QHA Not sure what they mean by 'Wi-fi' matter, unless they mean it's matter running over wifi (still not used to that protocol yet), but this seems like the exact part you'd probably prefer if US based

15A rating, and my window AC only pulls 3.6 when it's running right now

[analog pine]

the first one can do zigbee repeating which would be ace if i decide i need to stick door monitors around

[limber elm]

yeah, if you're starting with zigbee, it would be a good choice

if you don't have a controller I've been super happy with the SkyConnect ZBT-1 that they make for HA. ~$35 or so with shipping from California and about as plug and play as you can get

[analog pine]

oh yeah i was gonna ask about that too haha

[limber elm]

I tried to go cheap and use hardware I already had (Samsung hub) and half my zigbee stuff just refused to work and the plugs were reporting 100x the actual power draw

[analog pine]

lol oh no

[limber elm]

I still wanna spike it into the dumpster, just not sure yet if there -is- a use for it, since I do use samsung phone, watch and smarttags

once i got things working, I paired my smart plug with a $3 aliexpress temp/humidity sensor and the 'generic thermostat' helper in HA and made a smart thermostat to run the AC based on time of day and if I'm home and stuf

[analog pine]

its gonna be one of those things where it gets spiked and then you read online that one very specific device does extremely well with the samsung repeaters

[limber elm]

pretty much

[analog pine]

I should get an IR blaster so i can control my AC while i'm away

I wanna find one thats offline

[oak scarab]

My ac apparently didn’t come with a remote and doesn’t have IR capabilities sadly

[limber elm]

i'll probably need that for the living room AC

the bedroom is a 'dumb' one. As long as it's set to max cold, it runs when it has power, so smart plug does the job

[analog pine]

thats clever haha

the IR one is fun because I was able to setup temperature presets on my flipper so I mostly use that to control it when I'm home rather than the remote it came with

[limber elm]

they do make IR blasters, I think the recommended one is WiFi, but works well with HA

[analog pine]

I wouldnt mind a wifi one

[limber elm]

https://amz.run/9QHE This is the one I keep hearing good things about. 2.4G wifi, handles IR and RF, and a decent price

[analog pine]

oooo

does it require cloud connection or can it go offline

seems liek it can if you set it up half way

[limber elm]

that i don't know

at the moment i think the only thing i'd need it for is my living room AC. I thought I would for my sister's AC, but I'm pretty sure there's an ESP based USB stick that will make it smart

[analog pine]

Thinking about it i think my sisters AC is the one that can use an ESP usb stick as well

[sharp yoke]

i spotted this ... https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005006406053419.html

[worn adder]

Looks like that just switches power, but doesn't actually pass data. Were you just looking to turn power to a USB device on/off, without actually passing data to/from it?

[sharp yoke]

yep, just need usb power

[limber elm]

i plan to get some of those later

[worn adder]

Oh, I mean... I would have just gotten a smart switch and an Anker USB power supply. Just turn the whole USB power supply on/off 🤣

[sharp yoke]

i need to be able to power on/off individual usb ports

my $project is a grow box for fungi.. im looking to control a fan, heat_pad, and mister/atomizer

..hopefully i can power these, from this USB switch

[worn adder]

A USB powered heat pad?

[sharp yoke]

https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005004963420696.html

'Mini USB Charging Aquarium heating rod Fish Tank Aquarium Heater Submersible Thermostat Heater Adjustable Temperature 18-34°C'

[worn adder]

Input power: 5V 2A
Hope the fan and atomizer aren't more than 0.5A total, otherwise you are over capacity on that USB switch

[sharp yoke]

yeah..

its a work in progress, at this stage 🙂

[worn adder]

I have so many issues trusting electronics from Aliexpress, personally...
Individual components are one thing, but whole products worry me

[sharp yoke]

yep, agreed. i still find it useful for 'initial product research'

i could upgrade the heaters to a smart AC power strip

[worn adder]

I'd do something like this, then go with AC powered fan(s), heater, and humidifier: https://www.amazon.com/Kasa-Smart-Protector-Required-KP303/dp/B083JKSSR5

Then you get 2USB ports that can be used to run an ESP32 device or two that are sampling temp, humidity, CO2, etc

[sharp yoke]

very nice

https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005007210044525.html

looks like this power strip has controllable USB ports too

[sharp yoke]

i havent got to the sensor/sampling bit yet. thanks for the advice

[worn adder]

I think all the USB ports are on a single switch though

[sharp yoke]

aah, makes sense

[worn adder]

only one status indicator LED by the USB ports

Also makes me think the 2.1A rating is shared across all 4 USB ports

Almost 2AM my time 😬 I gotta get to sleep.

[rose fjord]

Anyone aware of any smart edison led bulbs?

https://inovelli.com/products/zigbee-blue-series-smart-fan-light-canopy-module?variant=42953039052965

Can anyone tell me the diff between the "Canopy 2 in 1 Switch Combo" and the "Canopy Fan Switch Combo"

[patent river]

About five bucks, by the looks 🤣

[rose fjord]

That's what I see too, I'm hoping someone smarter than me can see the diff

[patent river]

Yeah I can't figure it out either

As to the bulbs, Hue make some pretty decent ones

[rose fjord]

And it doesn't look like their button to figure out which to buy works

[patent river]

Even CCT (cold-to-warm) versions: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-Hue-60-Watt-Equivalent-G25-Smart-LED-Vintage-Edison-Tuneable-White-Light-Bulb-with-Bluetooth-1-Pack-563593/316378117

[rose fjord]

Bluetooth? Interesting, how do I get that set up in HA?

[patent river]

I don't think you do, generally. You'd set them up with Zigbee

[winged knoll]

Hue apparently do some Bluetooth only bulbs now

[patent river]

Oh good, muddying the waters. That one I linked at least has a zigbee logo on the side of the box.

[rose fjord]

Now what hub do I get for the Inovelli Blue ? Says Zigbee 3

[winged knoll]

No hubs

You want a #zigbee-archived coordinator

[rose fjord]

ty

[sonic raptor]

Hello all! I'm considering of buying cameras for my home.
I don't need to have recognitions or etc. at the moment

I have HA with rPI 4 + 500GB SSD
My idea is to be able to check my dog and have sever hours of video saved in the SSD

My only priority is for the camera to be only locally.

From what i see i can use Frigate (and later add Google Coral if i wan't to have recognitions), for this and my idea is to use this camera Reolink E1 Zoom (E340) 5MP 2K+ WiFi
supported protocols SSL, TCP/IP, UDP, IPv4, UPnP, RTSP, SMTP, NTP, DHCP, DNS, DDNS, P2P

I have a Deco X55 mesh at home that's why i'm considering WiFi camera and not PoE, but if there are no good WiFi cameras for my job i will add a PoE switch if needed

Thanks in advance!

[ionic terrace]

Can anyone recommend a zigbee cct controller that works with zigbee2mqtt? I’ve had the worst luck getting devices to work lately and I just want to add some cct cobs to the kitchen so I can see what I’m cooking

[winged knoll]

#cameras-archived can better help there

[winged knoll]

#zigbee-archived can better help there, but try the Gledopto controllers

[sonic raptor]

Thanks

[ionic terrace]

Will do, I thought that was specifically for issues with zigbee.. tnx

[strong idol]

Hiya! Could someone point me in the direction of a HA compatible budget cat feeder?

[winged knoll]

Search pet feeder

[crisp latch]

Hrmm. I'm still having trouble finding a zwave switch or something to buddy with it to turn it off after N seconds. Iv got a switch that I can set to be off on power restore but that won't protect me from a dead zwave controller not sending it off to begin with and would like to have a lower tech trip mechanism to turn off a pump in that situation.

E.g. client side countdown timer, client side moisture probe for high eater level built into switch

An explicit external hardwired low voltage trip mechanism built into the plug would also work fine but then rewuire I find a suitable low voltage sensor

[crisp latch]

Looks like I need a sump pump controller. Zwave plug plugs in there and it's upstream plug will turn it off if the super-high water level gets hit

[terse pebble]

Aqara has a Zigbee 3.0 pet feeder

[cold moon]

My only real complaint is even the lowest feed setting feeds too much food if the kibble size is too small

I’m thinking about blocking one or two channels so it can’t feed as much as it does now

[oak scarab]

Damn. Got shut down, apartment said no replacing switches

[oak scarab]

Just let them eat. Cats don’t need portioned food like dogs do

[oak scarab]

Do WiFi bulbs have any advantage over zigbee or is zigbee just flat out superior

[slim lagoon]

Depends on what you are using for WiFi and how decent your Zigbee mesh is. Personally, I prefer WiFi bulbs over Zigbee bulbs.

[golden thorn]

But why? They specifically asked for an advantage.

[slim lagoon]

Duh. you're right. I forgot to answer that. It's been a morning.
So, for me, it was price and features. I found the Wiz bulbs to be able to do more than most Zigbee bulbs can and are also more reliable. Not that my mesh is bad by any means, but my WiFi network is more reliable.

[frosty mirage]

I'm looking to get a Reolink video doorbell. I think I've seen them recommended before, does anyone have any suggestions? As far as I can tell I should just be able to install + connect to wifi. It shouldn't need any additional hub or hardware right?

[slim lagoon]

I have the WiFi doorbell. No hub needed. There's a native integration into HA.

[frosty mirage]

Nice, that's the one I'm looking at. Been considering it for awhile but it looks like they're on sale right now so I'm gonna jump at it. I spend all day working in my home office, so I never hear when someone rings my doorbell. Which becomes a problem when my job also sends me lots of packages I need to sign for. 😂

[slim lagoon]

lol yeah, same. I have automations setup for when motion is triggered and/or the doorbell is pressed. Camera quality is pretty good too.

[sand mulch]

Did you ever solve this? I'm also looking for any solution that works with a 2-wire intercom (STR-HT40). Seems like all the commercial solutions like Nuki and Ring Opener don't work with it.

[oak scarab]

Bro my intercom also has the ability to open the bottom door on either side of the building but it’s gross and yellowed and old, buzzer is so loud and off putting

[oak scarab]

My dad has wiz bulbs and likes them, only real issue with them is they’re so freakin dim

[frosty mirage]

The real trick is going to be figuring out where the doorbell transformer is...

[slim lagoon]

They make ones with higher lumens, but generally the 800lm ones work fine for me. I rarely put them to 100%.

[cold moon]

Overload it and listen for a pop?

[sand mulch]

My intercom has an LED that lights up when somebody rings the bell, I was thinking that should be detectable somehow

[cold moon]

Either behind chime in wall or maybe breaker most likely

[sand mulch]

Then I could potentially use a switchbot to press the unlock button manually

[frosty mirage]

Yeah I might go digging. It can't be too hard to find because the previous owners (who didn't build the house) installed a ring doorbell for one of the doorbells.

[sand mulch]

https://www.pricelesstoolkit.com/en/assembled-pcbs/37-espbell-max-intercom-doorbell-module-0741049314467.html
This is kinda what I'm looking for but it requires 4+n wires and my intercom seems to be 2-wire

[cold moon]

Most transformers installed 1980 or newer can handle the amps needed for smart doorbell

They have a little boost converter that some come with iirc mine required it

[tall pulsar]

Unfortunately not. It bothers me to this day

[blazing hazel]

Anyone using energy monitors and noticing that the calculated watts don't seem to match up with the amp/voltage

I have some Zooz, Minostron, and Aeotc energy monitoring plugs, and clamp meters, and they all seem to to be off on the watts. If they report 10 amps, 120 volts, the watts will be like 1700 instead of 1200

[glacial oracle]

How could you possibly live with the darkness

[oak scarab]

Anyone using temperature sensors to notify when the dryer finishes?

[blazing hazel]

seems like energy monitor would be the easiest way to know when dryer is finished

[cold moon]

220v 30amp circuit

clamps are the only real option there arent any smart plugs we have as options for dryer

[blazing hazel]

yeah you'd need https://aeotec.com/products/aeotec-home-energy-meter/

[cold moon]

im not a fan of putting energy metering on zigbee but especially not zwave meshes

[blazing hazel]

the aeotec is pretty nice, you can configure automatic reporting groups and their interval

so you could set it to repor tjust the current, every minute, or every 5 minutes

keep the chatter down

[oak scarab]

Why?

[oak scarab]

Can’t do that. No way to clamp the wire

[cold moon]

low bandwidth meshes dont do well when you start throwing a bunch of traffic on them

[oak scarab]

Oof

[cold moon]

but aeotec has a lot of advanced parameters like he said above to tweak reporting intervals etc

[blazing hazel]

you do it in your panel

[cold moon]

https://github.com/zwave-js/node-zwave-js/issues/5471 if you want to read

[cold moon]

he's in an apartment larping about stuff he prob shouldnt do til he moves into a house

[oak scarab]

No can do.

[blazing hazel]

no access?

[oak scarab]

That’s why I was asking for recommendations dingdong.

[blazing hazel]

might be able to buy a split plug then

like that but, for 30amp

I can't find any though, so might hav eto make one

home depot will sell male and female ends like that

so you can make a 1 foot cable, get you some 10gauge thhn wire or something, then you can clamp

[oak scarab]

Sounds sketch

[blazing hazel]

not really

how would a temp sensor work?

where are you putting it? near the exhaust?

[oak scarab]

Putting it by the exhaust vent

[blazing hazel]

is there a flip on the exhuast?

[oak scarab]

Yea

[blazing hazel]

tilt sensor?

[oak scarab]

Wot

[blazing hazel]

like a garage door opener sensor

[oak scarab]

What for

[blazing hazel]

like if the vent is like that with a movable flap

you can put a tilt/vibration sensor on it

[cold moon]

the wind would trigger that for me way too often to be reliable

[blazing hazel]

maybe the vibration aspect of it but not the tilt

[cold moon]

i like the idea i just dont think it's a good solution tbh

[blazing hazel]

well you can try a temp sensor then

borrow one from another room get some foil tape and tape it to the exhaust hose

see what happens

[oak scarab]

Yeah I definitely can’t get on the roof of my apartment complex for that

[oak scarab]

Melted pool of plastic speedrun

[minor heath]

A window/door sensor with a magnet may be ?

glued on the bottom side of the flap... it's doable ... 😉

[shy sky]

Hi all, which camera would you recommend that works best with Hassio with no need to connect via internet, everything offline

Thanks in advance

[oak scarab]

I don’t have access to the flap my dude it’s on the roof of my apartment complex

[cold moon]

jump to #cameras-archived the guys who hang out there have the best suggestions

[tropic sluice]

Heyo, newbie here. Can anyone point me to any resources on choosing a machine to host homeassistant on? I was considering a pi 5 with m.2 hat for storage but saw on the reddit that that isn't a great choice. Someone in #general-archived pointed me to this channel. I'm UK based if that effects choices at all

[cold moon]

used mini pc market is crap in uk / eu so best to just spend a little more and get new gen mini pc like n100

in usa amazon prime has them around $160 right now https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-Pro-Desktop-Computer-1000Mbps/dp/B0C89TQ1YF find the uk equiv

will it just be used for home assistant or other stuff too>?

[gloomy spoke]

You could probably add your own on your side if you want. Like: https://www.amazon.com/neverest-Professional-Backdraft-Damper-Inline/dp/B011KJMCUU?th=1 or https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-4-in-Inline-Vent-Draft-Blocker-BD04HD/205046954

[oak scarab]

Holy crap that’s a good deal

[cold moon]

ur a good deal

also it's actually the historical low going back a long time

it's usually $200 with a "coupon" box you check off that goes down to $160

so prime day isnt really special for it

[tropic sluice]

home assistant, media server (I was thinking plex) and maybe a few small dockerised apps I've made to get/ store/ display various data

[oak scarab]

Wouldn’t the sensor have to go inside the pipe then

[gloomy spoke]

Could, or could be attached to the axle connection on the outside. I guess they're more like butterfly dampers that don't have a rotating shaft

[cold moon]

im not a fan of plex on a mini pc cuz i like lots of hard drives but sure to start out with it will be fine. that mini pc linked can do multiple 4k transcodes with its built in igpu

[minor heath]

I'm using an old HP G3 800 prodessk ( intel 7500T) upgraded to 32Gb of ram, and it works fine! I would stay away of PI solutions ( no virtualization, not expandable/upgradable, limited, expensive if you count power supply, power buttons, box, fan, enclosure, external enclosure for HDD.... at the end it makes noise, and you have a Frankenstein solution sometime unstable ...

[cold moon]

yes but are you in the uk where they are like $150 used and a brand new better n100 based mini pc is $160?

i like and suggest older 6th gen intel or newer mini pcs (well not hp cuz fuck hp) but the lenovo m910q or similar

[tropic sluice]

What would you suggest for plex? Could I just get a NAS and have the mini pc handle transcoding or would that not work? Sorry for the stupid questions!

[minor heath]

Plex can run on anything. It's just streaming. the problem are the devices. If they cannot play natively all formats, then u need a decent CPU

[torpid trellis]

Transcoding is the biggest issue, so long as it plays natively then as @minor heath says, it shouldn't matter too much. Even on a decent computer, transcoding can monopolize your CPU.

[minor heath]

I'm using Jellyfin on LXC container in proxmox ( amd 5600G ) . I can transcode some video. Hopefully my Nvidia shield handle 10bits, so no huge color mapping..

[cold moon]

i already mentioned above the n100 can do multiple 4k transcodes from igpu

[tropic sluice]

thanks for the help all - I just ordered an n100!

[cold moon]

no spend $90 more and buy the n200

[wheat jacinth]

hardware encoding is a "premium" feature in plex isn't it? requires a subscription?

[cold moon]

ive had my plexpass since like 2011 idk

maybe he tries jellyfin instead

[wheat jacinth]

jellyfin is the route I went. works great.

[torpid trellis]

Yes, that is correct. But then again the Plex Pass is pretty cheap and worth it for all the additional features, hands down.

[cold moon]

plex is alienating their users more and more every update

as a lifetime plex user for ~13 years it's a matter of time til they scare guys like us away

i havent given jellyfin a fair shake i tried it like 2 years ago and apparently the only real downside lately is less polished client apps

[midnight grotto]

any know if Aqara Smart Lock U200 can get into home assistant without Aqara M2 hub?

[cold moon]

none of us use or suggest a chinese hub

[midnight grotto]

corrected xD without

[cold moon]

if it supports #thread-archived or #matter-archived ask in those channels but otherwise if it doesnt support zigbee/zwave/wifi and you cant find support information on the integration page then...

[torpid trellis]

How are they doing that? I have been with them since they were beta, I don't feel particularly alienated.

[cold moon]

then you havent been paying attention lol

[torpid trellis]

I don't see any reason to insult me personally, I asked an honest question

[cold moon]

that's not an insult but i wont be elaborating either it's easy to research on reddit

[winged knoll]

There's always rabid people for any platform. As a long time Plex user I don't at all feel alienated

I do feel that some of the complaints I can understand, but it does what I want

[slim lagoon]

I feel alienated as an Emby user. 😛

[torpid trellis]

I feel the same, they've been good to me and I've had a lifetime pass since the day they announced them. But to each their own, despite some random Reddit comments

[rose musk]

Is anyone aware of any way to get Home Assistant on a google os watch?

Just ordered a samsung watch ultra and would love to be able to lock/unlock my car from it

[wheat jacinth]

I can do that from my garmin 😜 Don't know about google os watch

[cold moon]

well last week i realized a new feature was enabled by default and a tv show i have on my plex server was ignored and instead i was fed a continue watching episode from plex and fed ads

[rose musk]

You can? well that's good news, what os is garmin?

[cold moon]

and when googling that turned out to be a pretty common issue that people didnt love

multiply that by about 1000 and that's what's happened with plex over the past 5-10 years (the first few years were just pure growing pains)

[winged knoll]

#android-archived has WearOS support

[rose musk]

thank you boss 🙂

[wheat jacinth]

@rose musk os is garmin's it's own thing. They have widgets you can add through their "Connect IQ" app

[minor heath]

Tomorrow, i should receive my 2nd Sonoff zigbee dongle. I'm wondering how to assign each of them to the right VM...mmmm
I think i will have fun 😉 😉
I'll first put a sticker on both... then....

[orchid escarp]

Random shit like this auto opt'ed in infuriates me

[cold moon]

dont get rabid on me dog

[orchid escarp]

accidentally hit enter instead of ' 😛

[drowsy scroll]

tuya isn't a manufacturer

[limber elm]

That's fair. I don't know who manufactures them, but I've seen like 30 different companies selling bulbs that appear to just be rebranded tuya

[slim lagoon]

That's what Tuya does. They license their name and platform to pretty much any manufacturer willing to pay.

[torpid trellis]

Throw a dart, a lot of chinese companies make "Tuya", it's the platform that sucks for me

[slim lagoon]

The platform, the lack of standardization, the lack of standards enforcement... D) all of the above.

[limber elm]

I totally get that. Part of why when I'm buying parts I try to keep track of the link that I used so that I'm at least going back to the same seller if I do it again

It doesn't mean that they're not going to source from a different company, but it's just a matter of personal preference

[torpid trellis]

"Tuya want it to work? If so get Zooz, Inovelli or pretty much anyone else..." 😛

[drowsy scroll]

For anything that controls high voltage, I prefer to stay with shelly if i can

[torpid trellis]

Shelly for the win for me, I'm a huge fan (been talking Shelly in another channel for like an hour now lol)

[oak scarab]

Hawk tuya

[cold moon]

https://tenor.com/wROh.gif

[limber elm]

You know, I ain't even mad bro

[cold moon]

the meme to unite nations

[hollow pier]

Do i need zigbee to be able to change my Philips hue smart plug from light to switch?

[winged knoll]

No

How have you integrated it?

[hollow pier]

just via the philips hue integration

[winged knoll]

Then check the hub and/or Hue #integrations-archived settings

[limber elm]

My experience with Hue bulbs is any changes to the base settings of how it's identified you would do through the hue app

Just for what it's worth

[hollow pier]

yeah it's identified as a smart plug

I'm trying to create a automation that charges my tablet when it's at 20% and it's stops when at 80%

But I also have a Tapo and that seems to work at least i was able to make the integration

I couldn't set my philips hue smart plug as condition device

[slim lagoon]

Well yeah, the Hue plug doesn't do power monitoring and where does power monitoring even come into play? You need to check the battery status on your tablet and then just switch the plug on or off. I'm so confused.

[cold moon]

try to use entities to automate off of not devices

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/why-and-how-to-avoid-device-ids-in-automations-and-scripts/605517 the tldr is dont choose device always automate on the entities OF the device

[hollow pier]

this is the only entity

I named it like that btw

[slim lagoon]

So, wait. You didn't integrate the tablet into HA?

[hollow pier]

yes yes i did

fully kiosk

And home assistant companion

[slim lagoon]

Then you should be using the battery_level entity of the tablet.

[hollow pier]

for this?

[slim lagoon]

That's the wrong device. And don't use device. Use entity.

[cold moon]

and it's harder to help posting pics in not english haha but kind of fun to see the silly words

[hollow pier]

Yeah well it's the language of the original maker of home assistant

[slim lagoon]

Focus. 🙂 Is that a condition?

[hollow pier]

yes

[slim lagoon]

You just need an automation that when the tablet battery is above 80% and below 20%, toggle the plug?

[hollow pier]

''Energie Meter computer'' thats how the tapo was named ootb

[slim lagoon]

Stop using that.

You don't need that.

[hollow pier]

yes i followed this guide from everything smart home

https://youtu.be/tb9Qe4fjt24?si=3w6ATbg6iDU_yrU8

Starts at 6:00

[cold moon]

Yes we understand but he unfortunately did not show you the optimal way to do this

[hollow pier]

Oh really?

Im using my tapo btw

[slim lagoon]

Damnit

[cold moon]

Bot: gottem

[slim lagoon]

Yup. Hate that... but whatever.

[winged knoll]

Cough code share site 😛

[surreal arrow]

Is Home Assistant available for the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W?

[slim lagoon]

lmao

[cold moon]

no

[slim lagoon]

No.

I wasn't even counting my lines... Bill failure

[winged knoll]

Pi3 or higher, or an actual computer

Pi Zero anything is a toy

[slim lagoon]

@hollow pier https://dpaste.org/bHaAp

Replace the battery_level entity with the battery_level entity from your tablet (you can find it in Settings > Devices & Services > Integrations > Mobile App). Replace the switch entity with whatever smart plug you are using. Call it a day. 🙂

Argh... I can't delete the bot message... Well, that's just gonna stay there then. lol

[gloomy elbow]

What bot message? 😇

[slim lagoon]

@gloomy elbow TYVM 🙂

[hollow pier]

And so this does also work with the smart plug?

The Hue?

[slim lagoon]

Yup.

You're literally just turning it on and off. No power monitoring needed 🙂

[hollow pier]

Without converting from light to switch? I think you need to

[hollow pier]

Oh no no no. I dont need power monitoring, i just bought this to power monitor a pc

[slim lagoon]

Show the device settings for that switch in the Hue integration.

[hollow pier]

Can i ask why this is not optimal?

[cold moon]

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/why-and-how-to-avoid-device-ids-in-automations-and-scripts/605517 the tldr is dont choose device always automate on the entities OF the device

[red olive]

Has anyone gotten a Windows tablet to work as a wallpanel. i currently have one but with windows 11 you have to wake the device, swipe up, press sign in, then get to the dashboard. seems like a lot of steps

[oblique urchin]

I am about to grab my first smart socket during prime day, I found sonoff S26 wifi or zigbee almost at the same price. Which you'd advise ?
I already have a zigbee controller so normally both are fine with me, but maybe zigbee would be best since they can be used to extend its range ?

[terse pebble]

There are tools like caffeine preventing Windows to go into screensaver mode.
But leaving the display on all the time and likely with the same dashboard shown might be bad.

[stuck shell]

Would you like a method to install the smart stuff inside the wall? Like a Shelly Plus 1 (just an example device, could change to a different shelly device depending on usecase) https://www.shelly.com/de/products/shop/shelly-plus-1-1

My personal opinion is that if you can do this that would be a much better approach because there is nothing standing out from the wall

[oblique urchin]

Good point indeed, I will keep it for later though. I think it makes more sense for ones own house, not a rental :>

[stuck shell]

Okay that's totally understandable

Then somebody else can possibly help because I got no experience in this field :o

[oblique urchin]

Thanks mate 🙂

[stuck shell]

I'll just insert my question to this channel:
I got an usb switch which can receive a signal via aux to switch between the connected devices. I would like to integrate this into homeassistant and was wondering if I could use an aux-to-aux cable and connect it to my raspberry pi (which runs haos) and could somehow play a recorded sound so that my usb switch would get triggered? Just tag me and thanks in advance

[stuck shell]

and this is a bump

[oak scarab]

The zigbee plug from sonoff doesn’t have energy monitoring so if that’s important don’t get it. I have the sonoff zigbee plugs and thirdreality zigbee plugs with PM

both work great

https://i.imgur.com/xngGKGj.png

[cold moon]

ah great z2m out here summoning demons

[oblique urchin]

what are those numbers ? consumption ?

[oak scarab]

signal strength

[oblique urchin]

Oh, I see

[limber elm]

Does anyone happen to have resources about a zigbee power strip that would have power monitoring? I like the end and if I can't do a per outlet monitoring then I can just run a regular zigbee plug on top of the power strip to monitor full power strip usage. Looking for US either AliExpress or Amazon or something like that, not looking at a price range because I'm just trying to get information at the moment

[restive peak]

The Nest thermostat works thru Matter!

It even provides the current temp. The only thing it doesn't provide is the humidity, but honestly I'll probably get separate humidity sensors anyways. I could just setup the cloud integration for Nest but I'd much rather have local control over it.

[vagrant vigil]

What’s a cheap way to create a LED status strip that can show notifications based on the lights?

I thought of making WLED but the cheapest would cost around $70 for 16ft; and not sure if Govee would work with HA but it is RGBIC so it means its in segments and not sure if HA can control each segment separately.

Anyone have any experience in this?

Would HA allow me to control each segment of this separately?
It’s only $10 so it’s cheap enough for my project, but not sure if HA. Can control it.
https://a.co/d/8iPrVTX

[red olive]

Just purchased a fire tablet 10 (2023) while reading XDA forums it states that the new models/fw is restricted and can't use Fire toolbox to tweak the device. Can anyone suggest and inexpensive android tablet that will run smoothly?

[oak scarab]

Thinking of the best way to automatically turn on lights as I walk around my areas... presence sensor or motion sensor? what can presence sensors do that motion cant?

[slim lagoon]

Motion sensors (PIR) detect motion only. mmWave presence sensors do motion, but they also can detect when there’s no motion as well. So, a motion sensor can tell when you walk in a room, but if you stop moving, they stop detecting you. Presence sensors will detect you even if you aren’t moving.

[oak scarab]

how do they tell the difference between a chair and a you

[slim lagoon]

Minute movements. Breathing, heart beat, etc.

[oak scarab]

creepy

you have presence sensors?

[slim lagoon]

PIR requires large movement. mmWave doesn’t.

Yup. I have both, but I’ve largely moved over to presence.

[oak scarab]

Recommendations for baby’s first?

I have a 900 sq ft apartment

[slim lagoon]

https://apolloautomation.com/products/msr-2

[oak scarab]

Oh nice

How’s they compared to like the ep1 and the aqara doodad

[slim lagoon]

The EP1 is comparable-ish. I’ve never used it, so don’t really have an opinion on it. The Aqara FP2 Is worse and way more expensive. The MSR-2 is the most configurable of the 3.

[oak scarab]

We love independent sellers

That’s why I got the tubezb zigbee coordinator

[slim lagoon]

Yes, yes we do.

[oak scarab]

Doesn’t there need to be like.. a radar dome thingy for the waves to come out?

Looks flat

[slim lagoon]

This is one that I have behind my couch. I’m not moving (aside from typing), but it knows I’m here.

Nope. It’s a tiny chip with two radar sensors on it.

The other neat thing about mmWave is that it can go through objects. PIR can’t and that’s why they have the small domes.

[oak scarab]

That’s creepy as hell LMAO

Can it go through objects??

Oh

I asked before seeing that

💀

[slim lagoon]

Hahaha no worries. Yeah. It allows for some neat things. I have another one mounted behind my headboard that detects when I’m sleeping as well.

[oak scarab]

Are there like different “zones”..? If I had one in my living/dining area, would it be able to tell if I’m in the living room vs dining room vs kitchen

[slim lagoon]

You would need the MTR-1 for that. It does up to three zones.

[oak scarab]

Is the MTR-2 single zone then

[slim lagoon]

Yup.

This is the MTR-1 I have in my kitchen.

[oak scarab]

Yo wtf

It’s the same price???

[slim lagoon]

I think so? Yeah.

[oak scarab]

So it’s detecting you but you aren’t in any zones?

Is the MTR-1 also mmWave? I ask cause the MSR-1 specifies

MSR-2*

[slim lagoon]

Nah, I’m not in there. lol

Yup. They are both mmWave.

The major difference besides the zones is that you can’t really tune the energy gates on the MTR-1. The MSR-2 allows you to do precise tuning of energy gate thresholds.

[oak scarab]

Energy gates? 😅

[slim lagoon]

Yeah, there’s 9 energy gates (kinda like zones, in a way). Basically distance from the sensor. But, say you want to exclude the middle part of a room but still capture near the sensor but also far away. You can tune it to basically ignore energy in the middle gates.

This one is under my office desk. I only want it to detect me when I’m sitting at the desk, so the top gates are set to 100% for the thresholds. That way, it only detects a small area.

[oak scarab]

So if I were to put one in that outlet on the other side of the room would it detect me in the kitchen rn?

[slim lagoon]

Most likely, yeah. It has a max distance of 6m.

But mine has detected me 20 feet away before.

[oak scarab]

sheeesh

[cold moon]

msr-2 does zones as well but it's zones like short medium far, mtr-1 does zones like couch or by stairs or by tv

[oak scarab]

https://i.imgur.com/iQdJ8Tn.png I dont need the back USBC port if I get the outlet mount addon right?

[cold moon]

right but you might want to get the gpio addon

[oak scarab]

https://i.imgur.com/whBd4ym.png do you have any of these issues..?

[oak scarab]

what for...?

[cold moon]

if you tinker for $5 you can add breakout gpio pins for w/e (external temp/humidity sensor, led strip, idk)

[oak scarab]

now im damn near the price of the aqara lol

[cold moon]

tbh i have heard this by a couple people but i personally and lots of others have tuned the msr-1/msr-2 without issues

err derp that's saying dont use mtr-1

yea i've heard that but maybe like 1/50 customers not something regular

[oak scarab]

drooling rn at the thought of never having to turn off a switch again lmao

are these wifi or zigbee

nvm

[slim lagoon]

It does get hot. I’ve also seen where it gets wonky with detection. The review is accurate, but it’s also choosing the sensor that best fits the situation. The MTR-1 in my kitchen does well because I’m standing in there. For places where I need better “still” detection, the MSR-2 is king.

[oak scarab]

the sensors this thing has are INSANE

For creating zones do you just walk to where you want a corner basically?

[slim lagoon]

Yup. There’s an app called HLKRadarTool that makes it easy to do zones.

[oak scarab]

wild

this is next level man

holy crap

[slim lagoon]

Yup. I’m telling you, once I went presence sensors, I’ve been HOOKED.

[cold moon]

some guys intentionally are placing them behind walls etc to hide them

[oak scarab]

could make it so if theres no presence in the living room for 5 mins, turn off the lights.. UNLESS the roku is playing a movie

[cold moon]

ye

[oak scarab]

im in your walls

i dont think the roku integration has play/pause detection

[cold moon]

also a good use case is in bathroom if there is an outlet facing the shower since they can see through shower curtain(msr-2 use case)

[oak scarab]

sadly..

[slim lagoon]

You were saying?

[oak scarab]

thats apple tv, not roku

[slim lagoon]

Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Didn’t see the Roku comment.

But, my point was, you can do some crazy shit. lol

[native pilot]

The obvious solution: buy an Apple TV

You’ll be happier

[slim lagoon]

LOVE my ATVs.

[native pilot]

Same. So so much more responsive than anything else I’ve used

[oak scarab]

my tv IS a Roku TV tho, TCL & roku collab

[native pilot]

Does not matter

Unless it doesn’t have an hdmi port

Then it does

[oak scarab]

it does

[slim lagoon]

No HDMI in 2024? lmao

[oak scarab]

https://i.imgur.com/j45Zs1t.png

👀

[slim lagoon]

NICE!

[oak scarab]

consider me...indoctrinated..

[slim lagoon]

You won’t be disappointed. Plus, we know all of them at Apollo. Really good guys and their support guy is kinda cool. 🤣

[oak scarab]

THATS WHAT IT WAS THIS WHOLE TIME

tryna support the homies

https://i.imgur.com/1c5tHUT.png

this better be good

[native pilot]

I just picked up 2 msr2’s and an mtr, having a great time so far

[slim lagoon]

Well, duh!!! lol but not really. If I don’t like their products, I wouldn’t recommend them. I’m very much a “if I believe in the product…” kind of guy.

[oak scarab]

based

[drowsy scroll]

beelink eq13 in hand, downloading latest debian install now after saving the windows registry codes (not sure why I'd ever want windows, but I'm surely not paying for it if I have a license)

so can these presence sensors tell the difference between a cat and a human?

[native pilot]

In my experience (with a dog) no

[drowsy scroll]

ugh

[limber elm]

Oh, so I got over to my sister's house today and looked back in that switch box I was talking about last night. There is no neutral in there at all, because the switches they installed don't have a neutral post. They do have a mile of wire in there which is nice to work with, but then you can also see where after they ran the wire but before they put the switches in they were a little liberal with the spray paint

[drowsy scroll]

cat would love that, total control

[native pilot]

I think inovelli and Lutron have no neutral switches available.

Also the paint thing is wildly common too.

[vagrant vigil]

..?

[drowsy scroll]

70 bucks, no way

I mean, maybe if you get a super dense led strip

not sure if the eq13 is just snappy because there's nothing installed on it, but it's pretty darn snappy

[limber elm]

Depending on the kind of strip that it is, I have seen on AliExpress controllers for different types of LED strips that can set up for controlling RGBW via zigbee. It's something I want to explore when I have more energy and time, but I have been thinking about the exact same thing you're suggesting.

[drowsy scroll]

I have two esp32 led controllers on my desk

actually one is an 8266

[limber elm]

As far as it being undressable RBG, I would honestly be surprised if it's okay is that nuanced, but even if it is you may run into problems with the govy light strip not having the addressable LED

I'm kind of wondering if an adafruit neo pixel would be able to get into some of those shenanigans. The idea that I had was just doing pulsing of different light colors to give a quick indication of what kind of system was throwing an error that I could then go and look at my HA dashboard or debug logs

[cold moon]

Looks like neutral in there to me

[limber elm]

I thought so originally, but I could only find three bundles of wire. I really don't know why there is all those wires put together in the same spot, but then again I've got someone close to me telling me that this whole thing doesn't look like it was wired to normal electrical code. He's thinking that the state that I live in is just that behind the times or something

I'm in the middle of trying to pick his brain to figure out what I'm missing

[native pilot]

How old is the house?

[limber elm]

The one I posted pictures of? It was constructed in the middle of the pandemic as a brand new building

So yeah, not that old

[native pilot]

Should absolutely have a neutral bundle…

[drowsy scroll]

there are different ways to wire switches

[oak scarab]

Are these not neutrals

[drowsy scroll]

for that switch, all the wires probably meet in the junction box for the fixture, the run to the switch box is just a pair of wires that switches hot

[limber elm]

When I tried to trace the wires I think that one connected as the load. At the least, the switch only has three wires

[vagrant vigil]

I want wifi not zigbee, but it costs so much. I was going to buy 16 feet with WLED controller and the power adapter; but it totals around $70 which is way too much for something like that.

[limber elm]

I totally get it. I did a quick look on AliExpress and the device that I was talking about is made in a Wi-Fi version. I totally get why people would recommend against using this particular item, but it might be a jumping off point for finding one you would actually like https://a.aliexpress.com/_mt8S8bS

From my understanding the way these things are designed is you buy the one that matches the wiring profile of your LED strip, replace the stock controller with it and then it would communicate in your case over Wi-Fi once it's been set up in a helper app. From there, you integrate into HA and then let it control from there

[vagrant vigil]

Well the one I was going to get was this
https://a.co/d/8mI2RR6
Or this
https://a.co/d/7BIhERo
They are both WLED which means it will be compatible with HA and can do individually addressable controls; however as I said it becomes too expensive at $70 with lights and power adapter.
Now if I can get an equivalent from aliexpress, maybe that would be cheap enough. Was linda hoping prime day would be cheap for those but doesn’t seam to be.

[limber elm]

I can't speak to the brands, but how much would the power adapter be? If it's $10 for the lights and $25-30 for the controller, depending on how much power you actually need to drive the system, it shouldn't be that expensive

my experience so far have been the short strips that can drive off a usb port and have the cheap 16 color remote controls, so I've never run the math for what larger strips would need power-wise

[vagrant vigil]

This
https://a.co/d/g4M0gwh
And this
https://a.co/d/5357uzZ
Is what I found for them; depending on if it is 12v or 5v

@limber elm I just found this video that says the controller is only $5; so not sure anymore. I’m confused at this point. 😅
https://youtu.be/dWds2HuoSoM

[uncut ridge]

any recommendations of a human scale that works with HA?

[limber elm]

at a quick skim of the vid description and what I know, it looks like they were talking about the ESP board being $5 (that listing is now $8) and that it would be something of a #diy-archived

there's an esp based OS that makes dumb things smart, and I'm going to presume it's a case of just making the ohter thing you were looking at yourself instead of a mass produced item

but unfortunately I'm getting very tired, and processing specifics will have to wait a bit

[tepid heart]

ESP32 + WLED + 5m WS2812B 60 LEDs/m = less than $30.

[vagrant vigil]

I think its $5 on aliexpress; but couldn’t figure out the LED lights I should get or good power supply

[tepid heart]

Opps. Plus a power supply for another $10 (5V 5A).

[vagrant vigil]

I would get a ready build system if it is cheap enough rather than $70. 🤦‍♂️
But if I can’t then I guess DIY. 🤷‍♂️

[tepid heart]

Well $40 is a lot cheaper than $70 but are you capable of building it?

[vagrant vigil]

≈$30 is good; but is it the type I need?
And where do I find them?

In the video he used a 5v 20a power supply

[tepid heart]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004289391906.html

[vagrant vigil]

If I have clear instructions I guess I can build it. 🤷‍♂️

[tepid heart]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005699997406.html

Sorry just fixed that first link.

Can you solder?

[vagrant vigil]

I have soldered before but not sure if I will over heat it and burn it. I have wires with connectors that might help.

[vagrant vigil]

Not sure how you found them so cheap; would you know which one is 5v or 12v..? And I don’t get the WS28** stuff. I think some have no break fail safe but that’s all I know.
Is the WS2814 5v and good? Is that what I need..? 🤷‍♂️

Also, what’s the difference between RGB and RGBW; is it better white color with RGBW then if it is RGB?

[native birch]

Anybody managed to reprogram the ikea zigbee devices? (i have the filter) i really hate that i need to buy its own bridge just for it to use the same protocol

[winged knoll]

Reprogram?

Just connect them to your #zigbee-archived coordinator

[tepid heart]

Dude. Come on. I gave you pictures that actually show you what you should select, and these are addressable LEDs not RGB. You should forget DIY and buy something off the shelf. There is no way you are going to be capable of DIYing this.

[vagrant vigil]

First of all, how did you determine that I need 5a not 20a; and why did you chose 220v input?
Also there are RGB addressable LEDs as well, so not sure why you would even assume that we need to have one or the other…

My questions were to clarify stuff; but I can do DIY if instructions are clear enough.

[proven girder]

I presume he chose 220v since thats what most of the world uses
You can select 110v if thats what your local region supports

[vagrant vigil]

Yes, I know that; I just pointed it out because he said I should choose everything he selected in the image. However I would rather know why so I learn and know why I do the things I do rather them blindly following.

This is a learning process not just follow the leader. 🤷‍♂️

[proven girder]

You select the relevant voltage, the rest choose as tom suggested. Just like Tom's screenshots show A$. You don't buy in Australian Dollars do you

Though if something goes wrong it is on you. You need to be sure of what you are doing

[tepid heart]

Read all the information section here: https://quinled.info/addressable-digital-leds/

[vagrant vigil]

What’s different between WS2814 and WS2815?
And how do we find out if we should use 5v or 12v for our project?
And is white better with RGBW vs RGB?

[winged knoll]

See the links Tom posted

That's a great site for all things LED

[vagrant vigil]

I’ll look into it now; but is there a direct answer for the questions I asked?

[winged knoll]

Yes

At that link

[proven girder]

RGB has no white LED, RGBW has white led
So yes RGBW has better white because a white led exists

[humble spear]

And RGBW uses less power to display pure white

[vagrant vigil]

But RGB is also able to give white; so how do we determine the quality of white?

[proven girder]

What do you think produces better white, RGB mixed together, or white

My bets are on white

[vagrant vigil]

Not sure as I don’t know the science behind it, maybe the white LED does the mixing within it. 🤷‍♂️

[terse pebble]

You can say your nickname without r - it will be recognizable, but still not the same quality as if it is spoken with that r. It is similar with white quality - RGB or RGBW (RGBWW)

[proven girder]

If I asked you to paint a white wall, either from mixing red, green, and blue, or giving you a tin of pure white paint
What would produce a better white on the wall

[vagrant vigil]

So the difference is that great? 🤔
Does it also give more light as a result?
Also; won’t it change everything in my setup as it would require more wires for the white?

[vagrant vigil]

Paint works different; it will produce black. 😅

[proven girder]

You're looking at addressable LED strips
They have 3-4 wires, +, -, and data are the most common 3
You're looking at extra wires if you go for a plain RGBWW strip (which needs a wire for each colour)

[vagrant vigil]

So that RGBWW is warm white and cold white?

[terse pebble]

Yes, but I don't know if those exist as individually addressable strips What Tinkerer says later.

[vagrant vigil]

I’m thinking if I want to keep it cheap I probably have to stick to RGB without the white; as it makes things more complex and the $5 controller might not work with more complex things such as RGBW or RGBWW, right?

[winged knoll]

WW is warm white

CCT is Warm + Cold

[proven girder]

Why not just get something that can do everything and is simple, when the cost difference isn't overly huge

[vagrant vigil]

Well, as I said I’m trying to make it cheap so from the video above he uses $5 chip. And it is only a status strip not a main light source.
I’m worried that adding more colors like white adds more wires and more complexity causing more things to not go right.

It would probably mean the power supply would cost more, and it might use more power to light up all of that, and plus more advanced controllers to handle the extra wire…

[native birch]

Oh. I was used to philips hue having a closed protocol and for some reason i thought the same was going ok with ikea and the tradfri hub

[proven girder]

Hue isn't closed? You can connect it to a zigbee coordinator too

[winged knoll]

Almost all Zigbee stuff works with any #zigbee-archived stack (in HA)

I have Hue, Ikea, Gledopto, Innr, Xiaomi, and more in mine

[native birch]

But you need the hue bridge right?

[proven girder]

No

[native birch]

Oh damn

Well in my defense i just started

[proven girder]

Not needing propritary hubs is one of the great things from zigbee

[sand mulch]

Is there any way to detect which person is in the room with a presence sensor? Or is the only way to do that to check the WiFi connection of their phone?

[slim lagoon]

You can with BT proxies and something like the Bermuda integration or espresence.

[sand mulch]

Interesting, I'll look that up, thank you!

I'm trying to automatically press the buzzer of my intercom when I'm not in the apartment, but close to it. So I could use bt proxies to check that I'm not in the apartment and my iCloud location to know I'm at least close to it. Or is there something better than iCloud location for iPhone users? I can't do WiFi connection detection here because I already got a Wifi signal when in front of the building's door.

[cold moon]

If you’re feeling frisky you can do person detection with cameras and extra levels of fun with compreface/doubletake to identify a specific person but cams inside aren’t ideal

[slim lagoon]

BT would be best as the iCloud location detection can be slow to update in HA. You could also do something like a zone check that you'd have to be very precise with (like within a meter) and the HA companion app. The proximity integration might work as well. But, again, that relies on having your home zone very precise.

[sand mulch]

I think I'll just try proximity first. My idea is, that everytime the bell is ringing, there is a check if I'm close to the apartment but not IN the apartment, it will automatically open the building door. If I'm in the apartment or further away, then just notify me somebody rang the bell

[slim lagoon]

Yeah, that sounds doable. You'll need to be pretty precise with your zone size, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

[sand mulch]

Nice, thanks for the help!

[minor lichen]

Hey guys I'm trying to figure out which led controller to get for my project. In short, I'm looking to run about 1.5m of cob strip and trigger it with a wireless zigbee reed switch. Ideally with a subtle fade in/out. Will any 12v ZigBee led controller work? Should I prioritise a WLED controller or is that only really necessary for more complex animations?
Ty 🙂

[winged knoll]

Gledopto do some great controllers

I've got a couple of https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/devices/GL-C-008P.html and have been really happy with them

[minor lichen]

Ty! Would this one do the trick for this job?
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKPk5q4

[winged knoll]

Probably

I don't have one, so ...

[sly blaze]

Is there a z wave dongle? Or do these zigbee dongles also work with z wave?

[winged knoll]

#zwave-archived can help with that, if you tell them your country

[drowsy scroll]

Internal pic of beelink eq13

M2 slot for wifi, also extra 1x slot for additional ssr / nvme

anyone have questions while I have it open?

[cold moon]

that m.2 e key used for wifi/bt should be swappable with another m.2 e key option like a coral or a 2.5GbE NIC

[drowsy scroll]

yeah, there's actually room for 2 coral adapters, one a+e and one B+m, I think

I guess the question is, do I want to run 2 nvme cards or just one, because if I run just one nvme, it's probably better to get the b+m coral for the better cooling, there's a quite large heatsink over the two m key slots

Running the a+e under the first nvme might have some heating effects

[cold moon]

As if the Wi-Fi and bt chip aren’t putting off a lot of heat tho..

[drowsy scroll]

I assumed they weren't, but I could be wrong

At any rate I pulled it out, don't need wifi or bt in this box

[primal geyser]

Recommendations for an outdoor ha-controlled power on/off outlet? Not a dimmer. LED light gets weird if going through a dimmer

[serene falcon]

Hey guys, I've found a decide I think I want to try to use. It says "Tuya" on it, but is it true that this doesn't necessarily mean that it's flashable to Tasmota? Apparently they've switched to some other microcontroller?

[glacial oracle]

Depends on how much current you try to switch on it

(and kinda also on the load)

Theoretically you can use any ZigBee relay or in wall socket with zigbee

But they may or may not enjoy being switched under load

[primal geyser]

Just 2-4 amps. Going to have wifi/ethernet connectivity only. ZigBee requires its own wireless hub nearby, I think. This will be far outdoors

[drowsy scroll]

There's a new branch for non esp mcus, but there could be others also

[serene falcon]

Well, I guess it's only $15, I can buy one and experiment.

Though, eventually, I'll need another half dozen if they work.

I've got a stupid idea in my head that I'd put a Shelly Dimmer in my ceiling fan, but only hook it to the light.

Then, that Tuya module for the fan, claims to do variable speed.

Hell, if there's a switch in the dimmer, I was even going to try to hook that up to the reverse switch inside the ceiling fan.

[sharp yoke]

does anybody know of a USB powered temp/humidity sensor?

ooh, i discovered 'USB Battery Eliminator'. so i can use this as a workaround too

[drowsy scroll]

Yeah there are a few zigbee ones on Ali. Not more than a few though

Really not a fan of coin cells which seems to be common for zigbee

[sharp yoke]

yeah, me too... will go for a 2xAA type sensor, i think

[drowsy scroll]

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806209673929.html

Here it is, I'm back at my computer, found the link.

Power supply:Micro USB 5V/1A
Battery type:1*AA(NOT INCLUDE)

usb or battery AA

I haven't tried it, so not a vouch, but it's in my cart for my next order.

Now if I could only find one with an external antenna so I could stick it in a fridge

[cold moon]

inkbird bluetooth ones work well

[drowsy scroll]

or remote probe I suppose

[cold moon]

in fridge/freezer

[drowsy scroll]

long probe, nice

there's surprisingly few of these

[sharp yoke]

hi folks, i have some newbie questions, i'm looking to buy a handfull of HA items, and have the option of WIFI or zigbee flavors - (AC smart plugs, USB smart plugs, temp/humidity sensors)

• are there any advantages to getting zigbee versions? - lower power use? better tooling?

• are there problems communicating between WIFI and zigbee HA devices?

reading this now... https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/kmok40/zwave_zigbee_ha/

[cold moon]

basically you pick your poison but ultimately certain devices are best and you buy them and use w/e protocol they are

i.e. if you want good light bulbs you buy hue zigbee bulbs, if you want good smoke/co detectors you get first alert zwave etc etc

[cold moon]

this is 4 years old and has like 4 comments idk if i'd take it as gospel

wifi and zigbee both live on the 2.4ghz band https://www.metageek.com/training/resources/zigbee-wifi-coexistence/

[sharp yoke]

its possible to use a combination of zwave, zigbee and WIFI devices in an HA system?

[cold moon]

yepperz

it's encouraged

[sharp yoke]

😍

[cold moon]

there's new protocols like thread and matter but myself and a lot of others have chosen to wait for them to mature and stick to lots of other good hardware choices without what i'd consider being a beta tester

[sharp yoke]

thats great, i was a little anxious about choosing the wrong device flavour, and being commited to it

[cold moon]

nah you're pretty free to buy whatever but i strongly suggest asking here to figure out what to buy not buying what "technically is supported by the protocol"

like you can buy bad zigbee or zwave devices that actively make your mesh worse just by being on them

[sharp yoke]

https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005006859951460.html

'There are two protocol versions: WiFi Version and Zigbee Version.'

what protocol would the WIFI version use? ^^

'Zigbee Version requires Tuya Zigbee Hub to work together, Other Zigbee Hubs and Zigbee2MQTT are not supported.'

^ that seems like a big fail :/

[cold moon]

if you see tuya dont buy it 🙂

also what they say on the box or on aliexpress doesnt mean it's true

[sharp yoke]

gotcha, avoid tuya

[cold moon]

like hue bulb says hue bridge only but they work great with zha or z2m

[drowsy scroll]

Zigbee you likely won't have to refresh, is not proprietary like many wifi implementations

[sharp yoke]

i'm guessing this info is incorrect. seems bizarre that a device could be zigbee compat, but only work with certain zigbee hubs

does TUYA stuff work offline - or require an internet connection?

[drowsy scroll]

Some hubs don't forward zigbee messages from other manufacturers

[sharp yoke]

wow, thats terrible

can anyone recommend some good cheap functional zigbee hubs?

[drowsy scroll]

https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/guide/adapters/

I have the sonoff dongle, no issues

[sharp yoke]

😍

[sharp yoke]

this one? ... https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/devices/ZBDongle-E.html

[drowsy scroll]

Yeah, bought off Ali around 20 bucks

That's in my main ha machine. Otherwise, if you need repeaters, they say to get sonoff plugin switches since they are always connected to power and can also forward

But I'm just regurgitating what I have read, I'm in the early stages of implementation myself

[sharp yoke]

many thanks! sonof dongle will be fine for my basic project (at this stage)

[drowsy scroll]

Yeah I get reception clear across my house with it

[midnight salmon]

For ESPresense, is it possible to use an ESP32 for a beacon and another ESP32 for the base station?

[crisp latch]

@cold moon FYI https://www.support.getzooz.com/kb/article/616-zen15-power-switch-advanced-settings/ documents params not in the manual and allegedly has an auto turn off. Will abusively test this evening.

[slim lagoon]

I had one of those... I can confirm the auto-turn off does work.

[cold moon]

Parameters are a common feature for zwave devices

[crisp latch]

No seconds option but 1 min granularity is fine for my use case

[burnt ether]

I've got 4 walloutlets (grouped together) that I'd like to control with zigbee.

Any advice for in-wall modules that don't need to have a physical switch connected?

It's going to be mounted inside a wall, still easy to get to.

[strong kayak]

I've posted this elsewhere too but hoping for some insight from any knowledgeable HA users. I have an Aqara FP2 presence sensor that was connected to HA via the HomeKit Device integration and working flawlessly. I removed an unused presence detection zone via the Aqara app, and a day or two later the device can't be detected in HA. Its on my network, ping-able from the HA host device, and can be seen in my G Home app. I've tried reloading the integration, resetting the HA YAML and then the host device (a RPi 4B 4Gb model), resetting the FP2, removing the FP2 from HA, G Home, and the Aqara app, but nothing has changed. Now it doesn't detect the FP2 at all in the HomeKit integration, so its no longer in HA, but can still ping and see on network. I didn't change any network settings so I have no idea what happened unless it was an auto-update. Any advice? Thanks in advance!

[slim lagoon]

Did you also remove it from HK?

[nocturne tree]

Tuning my MSR-2 with radar engineering mode... Zone 1 is 0 to 3m, Gate 4 is 2.25m to 3m. Gate 4 still threshold is 40%. Zone 1 still shows "Clear" when g4 still energy is 70%. What am I missing? Thanks!

[strong kayak]

I don't have any HomeKit controller/hub outside of HA, it didn't seem to need one. I don't own any Apple devices at all.

[slim lagoon]

Yes, but you still need to setup the FP2 in Homekit. Did you remove it from there as well?

(Well, set it up initially at least.)

[strong kayak]

I'm not sure I understand, I didn't need to download an app besides the Aqara one for setup

Once it was on my network through there, it was detected in the HK integration

[slim lagoon]

Ohhhhhh, ok. I see what you mean now. Gotcha. What does your Homekit Device integration screen look like?

[strong kayak]

hopefully this is what you meant

thank you by the way for responding

[slim lagoon]

Yup! That's exactly what I meant and no problem! Happy to try to help.

So, for mine. I had to set it up/reset it like 3 times initially. Plus, I had one that had a faulty wifi chip as well. Given that you've had it setup before, I don't think it's a hardware problem so much. How many times have you tried setting it up?

[strong kayak]

really? so you went through the Aqara/manufacturer's setup multiple times before it showed in HA? I've only removed it from HA, Aqara, and Google Home once each and tried re-adding it once, except in HA I've clicked Add Entry/Add Device probably about 20 times. It doesn't detect any new devices. 😔

[slim lagoon]

Yeah, I went through this guide A LOT: https://www.derekseaman.com/2023/04/home-assistant-setting-up-the-aqara-fp2-presence-sensor.html

Thankfully, he keeps it fairly updated with changes and such..

[strong kayak]

awesome, I'll give this a shot when I get home. I'd seen his article but didn't go through it since he was on iOS. Hopefully it's just being buggy. Thanks!

[slim lagoon]

Yeah, you'll have to fudge some of the stuff to work with Android, but the basics should be the same. If it still doesn't work, Aqara has a REALLY good RMA program if you reach out to them. I got both of my sensors replaced after about 4 months of having them for various issues.

[strong kayak]

Hardware replacements are what I was worried about. Hopefully I don't have to go that route but its good to know if I do that they'll probably take care of me.

[fallen cedar]

thinking about hue bulbs for my place

amazon has 3 for $75

[slim lagoon]

Yeah, I'll stand behind Aqara's support. They've been good over the past couple of years.

[slim lagoon]

Hue bulbs are the top of the line. That's not a bad price for them.

[fallen cedar]

what specifically makes them better. Just color temperature consistency?

and like responsiveness

I'm moving in a few weeks to my new place

so I'm thinking about what I'm gonna want

[slim lagoon]

They are rock solid Zigbee routing devices. Their colors and brightness aren't the best, but def passable.

[fallen cedar]

well the color and brightness are the whole thing imo

what has better color and brightness

[slim lagoon]

So, top of the line (at least from what I know) are LIFX bulbs. Best color and brightness, but often flaky (and not Zigbee).

For Zigbee, Hue... then Ikea... and then Innr bulbs.

[native pilot]

I have 7 lifx bulbs and they've been great

as long as you set a static IP for them

[fallen cedar]

are they cloud bound?

[opaque briar]

I’m looking to add a keypad to control the electric strike for my gate and was recommended the INOX Smart Controller from local lock store, which seems to have all the capabilities I need. The device is BLE and the I think the gateway bridges to WiFi (for remote app access) and possible zigbee.

However I was wondering if I’d be able to connect to Home Assistant, but can’t find much about them online

https://www.inoxsmart.com/access-control-in-a-box

[fallen cedar]

I wouldn't really want cloud dependent bulbs

[slim lagoon]

LIFX are local.

[native pilot]

local with the integration.

[fallen cedar]

w

[native pilot]

the transitions work great, the color blending in effects is exceptional, they are really responsive. As long as your 2.4ghz wifi doesn't stink you should be happy with them.

[fallen cedar]

I'll try em out

if they suck I'll return em

[drowsy scroll]

if you are not in the us, I have heard that shelly make a zigbee module that is sold in the rest of the world

[fallen cedar]

is there much of a delay?

[native pilot]

who are you asking this to?

[fallen cedar]

you

lol