This is the latest and hopefully final ever version of my ST7789v-based ESPHome-based BLE Proxy now turned general useful BT/IP tool – is there no stopping me? Well, I’m writing this for two reasons: But there’s far more to the story than this: Firstly, let me tell you – I…
Month: August 2026
Sonoff TRV Gen2
The Sonoff TRV Gen2 is a Zigbee thermostatic radiator valve. Straight up front, I can’t show you it running fully right now because I don’t have any radiators, but towards Christmas I shall install this on my livingroom radiator back in the UK. For now, I can tell you that…
TTGO T-Display – ESPHome BLE Scanner and Bluetooth Proxy
I’ve had a couple of these little TTGO T-Display boards sitting around for quite some time. They are cheap ESP32 boards with a surprisingly good little colour display, two buttons and USB-C. I originally found that one of mine was already running some very old firmware. It was displaying the…
Invaders on a single WS2812B strip?
I’m calling the game LED Ladder. A couple of days ago I saw a YouTube video from a guy who made a game gadget with some code using a ws2812b strip, an ESP32 – and some real buttons… arcade-style. No code available – then my friend Antonio spotted another video…
My Abrobot Bluetooth Proxy for Home Assistant
Just a few days ago this little project was the poor brother of the two projects that succeed it. But hey – things change and this is now a VERY useful tool – I hope you enjoy. The Abrobot is a cheap ESP32 board with tiny display, widely available on…
A Better ESPHOME Bluetooth Proxy and BLE Scanner
I won’t go through the entire workings of my latest BLE Scanner and bluetooth proxy here. It is all detailed in the previous blogs – this is a major functional development of my previous effort using a better processor with more RAM. Suffice it to say that marvellous as the…
DFROBOT LattePanda IOTA SBC My New H.A. Home
Some years ago, I owned the original LattePanda and at the start of 2026, the company sent me their new(ish) LattePanda IOTA as well as optional add-on extensions including a UPS board (minus batteries). M.2 4G M-Key expansion board, 4G board, active (fan) cooler and POE hat. All good stuff.…
Hands-On with the Sonoff SNZB-09P Senseguard Siren
This is an odd one. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like it would be smart, but it is. I plugged the unit in, left it plugged in for a while just to make sure it had some power. I then disconnected it from the USB connection and left it…
Brand New Shelly BLU Motion ZB
Described as a smart motion sensor with instant response and long battery life. I can’t argue that long battery life ifs very important – I do worry slightly that they used a CR2477 (thankfully included) which are not as readily available and cheap as CR2032 or CR2450. This seems to…
Sonoff Dongle Plus CC2674P10 – The New Zigbee Coordinator
I recently received the new Sonoff Zigbee Dongle Plus, primarily sold as a Zigbee coordinator. It’s a USB device – and you would plug it into a computer (Raspberry Pi for example) running for example Zigbee2MQTT. This unit would be the primary and only “coordinator” in a Zigbee network. Why…