Firstly the Aqara E1 Camera Claimed features – Accurate person tracking, multi-platform access, secure audio and video streaming: Well it does track me and puts a red box aound me – so that works but right now (latest firmware update as of 29/02/2024) the box seems to a lot of…
BigTimer
Node–RED is a fantastic and powerful yet easy to use programming tool for wiring together hardware devices, APIs and online services in new and interesting ways. For more information on Node-Red go to the Node-Red site. After all, you probably don’t turn the outside lights ON at 6pm!! You most…
Extended Gripe and Info – USB Leads
Like many of you, I have countless USB leads of various types – and more and more USB-C leads (USB-A at one end, USB-C at the other – or USB-C at both ends). This is not new but I’ve been getting increasingly annoyed with two things: (a) discovering – despite…
Shelly H&T – a Year Later
Back in early March 2023 I wrote about the Shelly Door/Window sensor and remarked on it’s use of twin CR123A batteries – I remember commenting about the size of them. At the same time I BRIEFLY mentioned the Shelley H&T – a pretty-looking but otherwise non-descript temperature and humidity sensor.…
Sonoff Basic CHEAP – Rip-Offs and 12V Operation
Updated February 2024 This original article has been followed in here by many other articles on Sonoff devices and is preceeded by original Sonoff BASIC and other Sonoff articles again on this blog – but I’ve just learned something (new to me) so I’ll refer to it here – 12v…
TUYA and the iHORN T3 (Zigbee) Smart Home Kit
Quick update: This article was written in September 2022 and the iHorn LH-961ZB movement sensor has been sitting on a shelf under my desk since then, seeing quite a few movements per day. Regardless of my comments below, this sensor has been working all this time, 100% with Zigbee2MQTT, not…
Protected: SONOFF POW RING – What’s THAT?
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Surface Pro 4 – Windows 11 or NOT?
Reddit and other locations are full of conflicting stories about the venerable Microsoft Surface 4 Pro concerning upgrading to Windows 11 – mostly from people who’ve not actually tried the conversion. I noted a number of writers saying they’d never trust Microsoft again and how betrayed they felt. Here is…
TOPGRO Mini Gaming PC i9-9880H NVIDIA GTX1650
I recently bought the above-named PC from Amazon.es (I see they are currently out of stock) to replace my Mini PC which has performed well but not a lot of use for games. The TOPGRO machine cost me €969 (no screen or keyboard, just the base unit) and came complete…
Cheap Sonoff-lookalike BASICs and Aubess Zigbee
No doubt I’m not the only one, despite being a long-term Sonoff BASIC user, who’s noticed that AliExpress and Temu have what look like cheap Sonoff knock-offs running as low on Temu as €2.00 on special offer and not much more on AlieExpress. Good deal? Well, for the sake of…
Aqara Smart G4 Video Doorbell and FP2 Presense Sensor
I just received my first packages of the new year, a duff screen protector from AliExpress, some USB shelf-lamps from the same (more on that later) meanwhile from Aqara, my eagerly-awaited Aqara G4 Smart video doorbell and their FP2 Presense sensor products. The G4 Video Doorbell After recovering from the…
Another Tasmota APP for Android
From time to time I get ESP8266/ESP32 control units for example Sonoff BASIC lookalikes – basic mains control boards – which I usually de-Smartlife and convert to Tasmota – also Tasmota-pre-fitted bulbs – and more often than not, I end up with more than I need. Sometimes, dirt-cheap Sonoff-BASIC look-alikes…
Christmas Already? SONOFF Goodies and WLED Lighting
Well, not quite and I always thought people put their lights up from December 1.. but, not to be left behind… thanks to WLED, Tasmota and my cheapy projector – it’s a start…. and if WLED interests you – check out the WLED MoonModules project. This post December 20, 2023…
Algolaser 5.5w DIY Laser Engraver Kit
Some months ago, Algolaser contacted me re: their 20w laser engraver – and while I still plan to progress this in the future, for now they asked me if I’d build and review their DIY Engraver KIT with the 5.5w laser. As you’ll see looking around the blog, I’ve reviewed…
Meross Product Update MSS315 Smart Plug
The Meross MSS315 Matter Smart Wi-Fi Plug with Energy Monitor (EU Version) is a handy smart plug, not a lot to differentiate it from other, similar products but over time I’ve found the Meross products to be good. Initially when my MSS315 arrived, I simply got no-where setting it up…
Chrome Create Shortcut or Not?
I’m trying to pin Google Calendar to my taskbar and I keep seeing references on the web to this: That sounds easy but my recently updated Chrome on my recently updated Windows 11 Pro PC no longer has that option: Here’s the thing: you can do this in Microsoft Edge…
The Brand New Sonoff iPlug S60TPF type F/E WiFi Smart Plug
You could be forgiven for thinking I just did a write-up on Sonoff – I did – but then realised I’d released it too early as two of the products therein are not released until December 20, 2023 – apologies for that – meanwhile, the new WiFi Smart Plug is…
The Ridiculous Windows 11 “Show More Options” and How To Bypass
I’m taking no credit for this one. EVERY time I go to right-click a Windows Explorer window, from as simple as DESKTOP to my SCREENSHOTS folder – I invariably want to COPY something… is it there? NOPE. I have/had to use SHOW MORE OPTIONS just to get a simple COPY…
Rechargeable Hoofun Air Duster from Amazon
No, not an ad, not expected to write about – my last air duster simply stopped working yesterday and so I had to urgently buy another – couldn’t clean out the vacuum without one and by this morning the filter was caked. Which vacuum – this one. Which old blower?…
ChatGPT BooBoos (guest appearance from Bard)
A pal of mine just messaged me to say he’d asked ChatGPT to write a script to check network drives for space and usage – and it worked. Brilliant I thought – so off I went to ask ChatGPT to write a python script to check for loss of Internet…