You’re right – I’m bored – I’m waiting for a load of new toys to arrive to write about. I’ve just spent the day at the coast with an ex-Microsoft pal of mine, avoiding crappy weather inland and on my return home tonight, my Bengal cat was deeply involved in…
Month: October 2025
An Exciting Shelly and Sonoff Friday
It’s Friday (August 2024 – see October 2025 update at the end) and I got up VERY early this morning and in this entry I have new devices from SHELLY – a pair of SHELLY MOTION devices (about which I’m quite excited) – and a not-so-new but handy Shelly RGBW…
Cheap USB Cameras – any good?
I generally use a OBSBOT Tiny 4K Webcam – and lovely it is too. But today I was trying to download a manual for another product (Switchbot Smart Wall Panel) and as I could not on this occasion use my phone camera and the only way to get the user…
Dual Control Made Easy: Zemismart’s SRS01-P2TW
Zemismart is back with the SRS01-P2TW dual Wi-Fi switch. Easy to set up, packed with features, and fully compatible with Home Assistant—here’s what you need to know.
Just a Quick Reminder – Wemos D1 Mini and WLED
It is common today to dismiss the ESP8266 as old hat – much as I like the ESP32, I’ve read umpteen articles extolling the virtues of the ESP32 for projects that simply don’t need the ESP32. Lets knock a couple of incorrect notions on the head… firstly “the ESP8266 is…
LD2410C Presence Sensor – First Steps & Beyond
The LD2410C is a mmWave presence/movement sensor that is really cheap, widely available and with a little help and unserstanding, makes a GREAT alternative to infra-red and ultrasonic detectors – and at the price is suitable for everything from human presence/movement detection in farly large rooms right down to light…
And Now, the Reolink Duo 3v PoE Security Camera
This one’s a monster. The camera can run from 12v DC or Poe – i.e. a POE adaptor running power through an Ethernet cable – so it’s a wired camera – not WIFI – and high resolution with it. The Poe Adaptor is not supplied but Reolink make them as…
Sonoff SNZB-01P Button – A Brief Revisit
This will be brief but I want to showcase a button that has proven to be very useful in my Home Assistant based home control. Yes I have everything controlled by my phone and/or PC. I even have an ALL-OFF onscreen button for night-time – but in reality – it’s…
Switchbot Smart Video Doorbell
This new video doorbell has an indoor unit with 4.3″ (109mm) colour screen, a 2K camera with all the usual features you’ll see in the link below – along with in-depth specs. There’s likely a model number somewhere but I can’t find it. This new super-duper video doorbell is looking…
JETKVM – Useful tool or not?
I’m writing this blog entry using my spare Windows 11 PC connected via JETKVM – so I’m sitting at my normal fast PC (all hardwired) with the JETKVM at full screen hence I’m seeing my secondary PC full screen and accessing it to write this log. Slight key lag, actually…