I’ve just finished another little ESP8266 project, and although the result isn’t particularly complicated, the development experience was interesting enough to be worth writing about. The hardware is about as simple as it gets: an inexpensive ESP8266 NodeMCU board, a small (again inexpensive) 128×64 SSD1306 OLED display and a single…
Mikrotik MA53+HbeH Router
Remember this? I wrote about the old Mikrotik RB2011UiAS Router a little while ago. The router was given to me years ago by an old friend in the UK and sat around in a cupboard until this summer when I resurrected it from the grave and it works a treat…
More Goodness – The Apollo Cast-1
Another box that arrived for me this week contains a lot more that it seemed at first sight. The Apollo Cast-1 is a fairly boring looking 3D-printed box with 1 USB-C connector, 3.5mm socket (lead provided – 4 cores inside). It also has a pair of 0.1″ connectors… They didn’t…
New Toys from questwiseventures.com
I just received a package from California from a fellow called Michael Yim. He got in touch some time ago. I think I’d seen his miniature CRT monitor MS-DOS prompt toy available online, and I wrote to him. He said, “Okay, I’ll send you one to play with.” Here is…
Autumn Goodness from Apollo Automation
No, this is not an ad.. I was just grasping straws for a title 🙂 This morning a somewhat unexpected package arrived for me at the local tobacconist. Lots of bits and pieces from Apollo Automation – an American company I stumbled upon back in 2024 just as I was…
Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C5 – First Look – Revisited
A small package of Seeed XIAO ESP32 boards arrived here in sunny Galera for me late September (2026) and the first thing that caught my eye was the provision for a battery and an external RF antenna. In case anyone is wondering, XIAO is pronounced “SHYOW” or near enough. This…
MORE Meross – MS220 and MS420
Following on from my last article on new Meross devices (MS120 and MS700) here are the other two devices that arrived for me this week. Meross MS220 Smart Multi-function Door Sensor The MS220 is a neat if large door sensor but not like any door sensor I’ve seen to date.…
MS120 Thermometer and MS700 Multi-Function Button
Several new Meross devices landed on my desk today – here are two of them – firstly the Meross MS120 Smart Multi-Function Hygrometer and Thermometer. Before you start thinking… no I don’t take commission and I’m not in any scheme – people just send me stuff to play with –…
WiFi + BLE + BT Scanner using a CYD
By now you should maybe be aware of the CYD – or actually CYDs as there are several variations. Cheap Yellow Display. They range in size and capability… I only have one and it is down at the lower end… You can see the device in the image above…. yes,…
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution
This article is generally about the Horrendous Oukitel P2001E and it’s DIRE app WONDERFREE. But Note the HA image above and read the updates and comments at the end… read about a Home Assistant solution, Grid Tie Invertors and more… I’m using the Oukitel P2001E Lithium 2KW battery system and…
Aqara Thread/matter/Zigbee Multi-State Sensor
After a less than exciting start in which I took the new P100 out of the box and remove the protective strip that saved the battery during shipping, I started looking at the instructions for this new device, which mentions “Aqara hub required” or “built on Thread requires a router.”…
The Tiny New Sonoff Mini One Matter-enabled Smart Switch
Not that much I can say about this one at first glance – in reality the new Mini-1GS unit works locally with Sonoff’s OpenEdge – it LOOKS very similar to other current-generation Sonoff switches. This is a gen 5 device with one output and an input switch. It operates via…
A “Simple” Terminal with ESP32 and ST7789v Display
This is something of an experiment with sentimental value. Late last century I worked in a business partnership and my first one-man-developed project started off as a text terminal more for interest than anything else initially. At the time all I had to work with was the Z80 processor and…
Guition 4-inch ESP32-S3 screen + Tessera for HA
I’ve been experimenting with the Guition ESP32-S3-4848S040, a 4-inch 480 × 480 capacitive touchscreen based on the ESP32-S3, with 16 MB flash and 8 MB PSRAM with a view to using it as a display for Home Assistant (HA). I bought the board from AliExpress. It can become a surprisingly…
Seeed Mini-Display XIAO-nRF52840-Plus Boards
I’m going to touch VERY briefly on two boards I just picked up from Seeed Studio. Very briefly because I thought they’d be running on ESP32 chips – but they aren’t – I guess the giveaway is in the name (nRF52840) Here they are, the demos are very pretty indeed…
New goodies from Wrap-it-Solutions
Ok, Before anyone says anything, I received a package in the post this morning that I’ve been waiting for for quite some time from Wrap-it-Solutions. No, they’re not sponsoring this – they just sent me the kit – no conditions. DHL Gripe Jump straight to “The gear…” if you don’t…
The All-New Sonoff E-Ink Zigbee Temperature Humidity Sensor
A quick blog to go along with the video I’ve made on the new Sonoff SNZB-02UL sensor – released September 24, 2026. As I’ll be on the road, here it is a few hours early (depending where you live of course). Please watch the video which gives you an overview…
Radxa Q8B “Flagship Edge AI SBC”
In mid-August this year I took an interest in the Radxa Linkr KVM – and all I have to say on that is that it works perfectly over WiFi, offering KVM features in a slim stick. HDMI in, USBC out to the target machine – USB power. It’s just as…
Lora “Letterbox” Project – PART 2
No, Pete’s not regressing to a bygone age. I happen to have a bunch of LOLIN Mini D1 ESP8266 boards lying around, abandoned when I discovered the all-singing ESP32 – and I HATE to see waste – so I’ve had an idea forming for the LoRa Letterbox Alert for the…
Sonoff Zigbee Smart Thermostat
I’ve been writing about thermostat designs since 2016, at which point I was making my own because I found the thermostats on the market somewhat lacking, especially if you wanted to provide remote access including guest and holiday rental access. Then along came Google Nest, all very nice, but it…