After a set of eye correction surguries, I’m currently inbetween tech projects, soon to recommence. Meantime – no doubt many of you will either be actively using AI in your jobs or like me tinkering with it to find out what’s useful and what’s not. I recently fell into the…
UGREEN USB3.0 to Giganet Ethernet Adaptor and GL-iNET
This is absolutely not a push for any product – I’ve been using my GL-iNET FLINT router for ages and written all about it in here. I have pretty poor broadband here in the UK attached to an OPENREACH master socket using a broadband modem/router I bought second hand for…
DS101JL triple Smart Wall Touch Switch
Don’t ask the brand, these came with a box from a friend – but it turns out the box was the wrong one, including stating the wall switch (UK size) was MOES brand, Zigbee – it’s not the latter – it’s WIFI + BT for setup. The DS101JL device hooks…
Smartphone Lavalier USB-C (or IOS) Wireless Microphones
As you’ll see elsewhere, for some time I’ve taken to creating short videos on my Smartphone and more recently with my DJI drone – especially as we travel – the “Lavalier mic” set was initially purchased because one of my then new AI phone Gimbals seemed to be intermittently affecting…
Candle with LED lights – no Battery
This one kept me going for 24 hours.. We were at a friend’s for dinner and she lit the candle at which point the LEDS lit up and stayed lit up all the time the candle was on (several hours). I was convinced there had to be a trick like…
Reolink RLC 1224A UHD PoE Camera and Merry Christmas
I’m slightly overdue to review the Reolink RLC 1224A 12MP UHD PoE Camera with colour night-vision but please bear with me. I’m in the UK over Christmas to visit family and in the beginning to get cataracts removed – for the uninitiated, a cataract operation involves making a hole in…
EARU EAMPDW-TY-63 WiFi Smart Energy Protector Device
If, like me, you’re up for replacing your home breakers (power breakers and earth leakage) you may have come across the EARU Electric EAMPDW-TY-63 on AliExpress. I just came across a couple of these with no manual or box. I just HAPPEN to know they are (not uncommonly) Tuya-compatible –…
1NCE SIMS – SOMETHING NEW
December 2024 update Do you have an IOT setup and maybe no WiFi – do you want a SIM card so you can attach it to a cheap 3G/4G modem (or an old or new phone for that matter) to do nothing but send a small amount of data (and…
Sonoff Zigbee Smart Water Valve (SWV)
Just as I was pondering starting this Sonoff BSP review early July 2024, I saw Matt’s video (NotEnoughTech). Matt had a slightly different take on the SWV to what I’m about to share. He noted that the Zigbee2MQTT is not quite ready for the SWV (or vice-versa) (but see the…
PAJ 4G GPS Tracker
This morning a package arrived in the post from PAJ UG (Halftungsbeschrankt) of Windeck in Germany. It’s the PAJ 4G GPS Tracker. I also noticed the device is designed in Germany and assembled in China. Do I have a clue how this is going to work? No. Thankfully I have…
Home Assistant Editing, Styling, Colouring and Charts
It’s not that long since I wrote this article about the use of colours in Home Assistant (HA). Essentially since first learning how to make use of HA to replace my ageing Node-Red home automation setup (including lighting and air-conditioning, presense monitoring etc). I’ve recently become fascinated with the job…
Apollo PLT-1 Garden Moisture Sensor
Apollo Automation have 2 versions of this new PLT-1 sensor for use with Home Assistant, a small USB-powered version and a larger battery-powered version. I knew about this sensor before it arrived thanks to one of several videos out there. I think videos are popular because you don’t get a…
Aqara Dual Relay Module T2 – Wet and Dry
I LOVE getting new stuff from Aqara. About the only thing I’ve had from them that was slightly disappointing was the G4 Video Doorbell. Don’t get me wrong, it works well, but I can’t get it integrated into Home Assistant. Other than that, it’s great – I’d check the battery…
Home Assistant Progress – Colours
As a died-in-the-wool Node-Red fan of several years for my home automation, earlier this summer, my Italian friend Antonio began trying to convince me that Home Assistant was the way forward. When I first looked at HA it was pretty basic but a lot has changed in the last year…
Reolink Atlas PT Ultra, Solar Panel and More
NEW! Officially launched October 1 October 1 but available from late September when I originally published this blog entry. If you read this blog regularly you will know that I’ve reviewed several ReoLink cameras and loved every one of them – in the end however the only one I’ve kept…
Motion sensors – and human memory
You’ll not see too many blog entries like this I would imagine as they end up binned for fear of embarassment – as I don’t work for anyone else – I could care less about making a fool of myself. In my home office I have a motion sensor attached…
First World Problems – “Need Adminstrative Account Permissions”
I’m prepared to guess that a good half of my Windows-using blog readers are either home users, self-employed or otherwise simply do NOT have an administrator other than themselves. In order to rename a drive on my Windows 11 Pro machine, I’ve just had to bypass a warning telling me…
Sonoff Cam Slim 2 WiFi Smart Security Camera
Regular viewers may recall, back in August 2022 I reviewed Sonoff’s Cam Slim, described as an FHD Smart Security Camera, a neat little job I’ve since called Cat Cam as it watches our cat litter tray. It’s worked perfectly and talks to Home Assistant – that’s how I use it.…
NSPanel Pro 120 USA
Haven’t I already written about the NSPANEL PRO? Yes I have here.. but this is slightly different, instead of the square form factor – this one is LONG. For the USA (why the USA, no idea, I’d have thought we in Europe would be just as keen – but what…
SEEED Wednesday
I didn’t get any delivery notices yesterday yet we arrived back from the market to find a package from China with SEEED written all over it. Inside, a SEED “Mono Enclosed Speaker 4R 5W” – not sure what any of that means – 5W in a tiny speaker with the…