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The New Sonoff CAM Glassview by Peter Scargill: Well, not for Sonoff anyway. Sonoff have always made inexpensive devices which generally work great – I think for a little while they went off the boil with that eWeLink APP but then I learned so much about Tasmota thanks to flashing early Sonoff devices as I was determined not to use the app – that’s a good thing – and now they’re back on track it seems – I still use the earliest Sonoff power controllers with Tsamota – I even have their original 4-channel and 4-channel Pro devices – Tasmota’d. Oct 7, 23:05
The New Sonoff CAM Glassview by MysteriousCane: At last Sonoff have learnt that people want local control of their devices and we no longer need to flash our own firmware like Tasmota or ESPHome to get local control Oct 7, 22:52
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by VictorCV: I forgot to attach the links 😅😅: HA Community: h***s://community.home-assistant.io/t/custom-integration-oukitel-power-stations-p2001-plus-p2001-p5000-bp2000-full-cloud-monitoring-control/1027025 Repository: h***s://github.com/VictorCV-DAM/ha-oukitel Oct 4, 19:17
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by VictorCV: Hi Peter, Thank you for trusting me and confirming that the integration is working correctly. I sincerely appreciate your feedback. I am trying to raise the project’s profile, so any comments or replies—whether on the repo or in the HA community—would be a huge help. Oct 4, 19:09
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by Peter Scargill: Hi Victor, Tested – working – wonderful – I hope others benefit from this new integration. Well done. Oct 4, 17:15
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by Peter Scargill: I missed this somehow – anyway see the comment from Victor above – and I’ve checked his integration – it seems the community has once again come to the rescue when commercial companies have let us down! Oct 4, 17:06
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by VictorCV: Hey everyone! If you own an Oukitel Power Station (P2001 Plus, P5000, etc.) and use Home Assistant, you probably know how frustrating the 30-60 second cloud lag was for solar automations. I reverse-engineered the local protocol over TCP/UDP and built a complete Home Assistant integration that gives you **real-time (~1s) local control**: – **Local TCP binary stream:** Encrypted directly between HA and the station via Wi-Fi. – **Automatic Discovery:** Finds your station on the local subnet via UDP broadcast. – **Dual Mode:** Choose between Auto, LAN Only (100% local, no internet needed), or Cloud. – **Full control:** AC 230V switch, DC 12V switch, USB switch, solar input telemetry, battery health, and temperature monitoring. Repository: h***s://github.com/VictorCV-DAM/ha-oukitel Hope this helps anyone looking to automate their home backup or campervan solar setup! Oct 3, 14:07
Seeed Mini-Display XIAO-nRF52840-Plus Boards by RoganDawes: Yes, ESPHome does support the nRF52840, the real question is whether it has drivers for the various peripherals. It also has support for Thread, Zigbee and Matter, which should do to get these boards speaking directly to Home Assistant via the pre-existing Zigbee2MQTT etc gateways Pete already has set up. These are much better for low power, battery operated purposes than an ESP32. Sep 29, 13:29
Seeed Mini-Display XIAO-nRF52840-Plus Boards by James Myatt: Remember that esphome does have an nrf52 platform. I don’t know if it supports these boards though. https://esphome.io/components/nrf52/ Sep 28, 14:58
Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C5 – first look by Andy: Nice little board! With the PSRAM it should meet the criteria to run tailscale in ESPHome as I mentioned in the M5Stack post. Sep 26, 15:09
Radxa Q8B “Flagship Edge AI SBC” by Walter: Hi Pete, very cool!! I have been running YOLO for long time now. Analyzing the images coming from my outdoor video motion monitoring system. Later version of YOLO are superiorI think, very accurate (I have actually captured some uninvited persons while checking if our cars were unlocked) In my setup I use two NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano (one xtra for redundancy) and they are really something! https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-orin/nano-super-developer-kit/ This site here, Ultralytics, is very informative and I have enjoyed & learned a lot from them. I simply use the docker variant, makes it so easy to get up & running https://docs.ultralytics.com/guides/nvidia-jetson#__tabbed_2_1 With kind regards, Walter Sep 23, 20:39
M5Stack M5Stick CPlus and ESPHome by Andy: “….putting Tailscale on the little ESP32 is asking a bit much….” Funny you should say that 🙂 I have a Tailscale client running on an ESP32 ESPHome device! OK, it wouldn’t run on the M5StickC due to memory requirements of the Tailscale client project but get the right ESP32 and it is possible. Here is the quite brilliant project -> https://github.com/Csontikka/esphome-tailscale The key hardware requirement is an ESP32-S3 with PSRAM, I have it running on an ESP32 S3 WROOM N16R8 which cost under £7 delivered. The github project lists a few boards which have be shown to work also. I’m using this with a BT proxy also configured on the same device to send BT sensor data direct to Home Assistant from my campervan when out on the road. The ESPHome device is configured to use the van Wifi router and it…just…works! If you try it, I thought it wasn’t working initially as there was no log output after the initial bootup logging from the ESP32 bootloader. But when I checked the tailscale console the device had appeared as a new machine! Once I’d added the ESPHome instance into HA then the logging started working as normal. Sep 15, 22:28
Sonoff Zigbee Smart Thermostat by Peter Scargill: That’s certainly another way of doing it. In my case, it would be Google. I gave up on Amazon a long time ago.But I use Google via Node-RED because I’m determined not to pay a subscription. I also only ever use Google as a backup because where I live, the broadband to the outside world just simply isn’t 100% so I wouldn’t want to be relying on it. I have my stats and my various controls. If Google’s working, that’s fine. I’ll use it. If not, I’ve got that backup. I use Wi-Fi internally and, of course, Zigbee. Since I discovered the magic of BLE proxies, I’ve been looking at using a little bit more Bluetooth Especially as Zigbee lights have gone up in price, yet Bluetooth lights appear to be still quite cheap. On the other hand, I’ve failed to find any significant volume of smart switches like Sonoff Basic etc. in Bluetooth, or if they are there, they’re no cheaper than Wi-Fi. Changing world 🙂 Enjoy 🙂 Sep 15, 08:09
Sonoff Zigbee Smart Thermostat by Ian: I gave up on thermostats when gas prices in the UK went through the roof. My combi boiler is turned on by a 230v ‘send’ signal which I provide from a TP Link smart socket (£7.50). Originally I controlled this from another TP Link device – a temperature/humidity sensor which usually stays in my living room. I’ve changed my MO. Now I turn on my heating for an hour if I feel cold. It’s linked to my Amazon Echo devices (& HA) & voice controllable from anywhere in my house. If I still feel cold after an hour I turn the heating on again! I find this regime to be much better than a thermostat & it’s more economical too. If I’m out in the evening I can switch on my heating remotely before I get home. At a philosophical level, a thermostat has no way of ‘knowing’ if I feel cold! Sep 14, 23:25
Lora “Letterbox” Project – PART 2 by Peter Scargill: Likewise I’ve used a LOT of D1 units and now they have the USB connector and now I’m confiedent teh 3v connection is not going through regulator, I’m going to sue more. I’m afraid the days of 1.50 from AliExpress are gone thanks to silly tariffs. Likewise I was given the Lora units to review and had absolutely no use case – but things change and our posty simply will not come out the shared driveway beween us and our mostly absent neighbour hence the postbox at the bottom and the desire for a postbox alert.. TODAY took the receiver WAY down the road and got partial signals back (I can check the base unit on my phone thanks to Tailscale and mobile data) – its all a great way to learn about battery limits. So this afternoon I hit on the idea of having the base send a LoRa ACK and have the remote keep sending for a few seconds until it gets the ACK – I might even get down to the village with that – who knows. Gosforth Park – at one point my wife and I lived there before moving out to Newcastle, then Hexham, then Wark and finally Bellingham. We keep our base there to visit grandkids etc but most of our time now is here in sunny Spain. I’ll have a look at the Seeed units… I’m about to get some new stuff from them so it won’t hurt to ask. 2-3km would be nice. Sep 14, 22:51
Lora “Letterbox” Project – PART 2 by Ian: Hi Peter I remain a big fan of the Wemos D1! Cheap as chips & very straightforward next to many ESP32s. My esp32s always cause me more grief! LORA was always on my ‘to do’ list but I’ve never had an actual application. I was tempted by the Reyax devices but the cost put me off. I appreciate you already had these but they’re definitely not cheap! Recently I took the plunge & bought a pair of Xiao devices. These come with either a ESP32S3 or a nRF52840 device plus a SX1262 RF ‘shield’. Cost is around £10.50 & £13.20 respectively at the PiHut. I got the ESP32 variant as I wanted WiFi. With hindsight I should have bought one of each. They come with Meshtastic installed which seems a little pointless as the first thing to do is install a current version! If you’ve never used Meshtastic (I hadn’t) you might think of it as the LORA equivalent to Tasmota. Maybe. They work well. You might be familiar with where I live which is close to Gosforth Park. I can reliably connect with another node in Great Park which is 2 or 3 km using the included patch antenna & it’s certainly not line of sight. A nice feature of these devices is an onboard LiPo charger. This could be handy for you? Add a USB solar panel & it’s almost plug & play. I still don’t have a real application so I became bored fairly quickly. I tried it with a BME280 & it just worked. Apparently Meshtastic plays nicely with HA but I didn’t try it. I think for your application the nRF option might be better? I don’t know. Meshtastic has low power schemes for ESP32. Sep 14, 22:20
LoRa Letterbox Alert – At LAST by Dave: Consider using the Moteino boards based on Atmel CPU and with onboard LORA. Very low power and there are several post box sketches available. I have several of these doing jobs around our rural property. Highly recommended. Sep 10, 23:18
LoRa Letterbox Alert – At LAST by Peter Scargill: I was thinking about that when I got up this morning. I’ve no restriction on a box on the side of the letterbox – can’t put it inside as it’s metal. However, the ESP8266 has it’s WiFi turned off.. I guess the USB connector and regulator won’t be helping. I remember a company ThingsOnEdge.com, now defunct who made ESP8266 gadgets that were VERY low power – so it can be done… Here – https://tech.scargill.net/the-iotcricket-from-thingsonedge-com/ – I wrote back in 2021 in that blog entry something about 0.5uA – of course there is also the LoRa module to consider… Using an ESP32 doesn’t automatically mean low power because there is still USB.. Just as an example of an ESP32 board which can apparently go as low as 28uA standby in deep sleep – but then waking it up to respond to the microswitch is another conversation – I’ve been pointed to this – the ESP32-C6 ePulse Feather C6 by ThingPulse – I’ve no experience of it though – https://thingpulse.com/products/epulse-feather-c6/?srsltid=AfmBOop2MubPA6Z4lv3u8RcE317UMIaAZnO-LXxNQ4jYjHGl2btzAUhf However, generally – using an ESP32 is no big deal – the code for the remote end (as you can see in the listing – Arduino code) is quite short… the effort went into the base end (ESPHOME).. Now you’ve triggered me off – an Arduino Pro Mini for the remote end would likely solve any power issues while keeping cost right down (Lora module consumption notwithstanding). Once my unit is boxed up and tested – that could make for a decent follow-up.. Sep 9, 09:59
LoRa Letterbox Alert – At LAST by Rogan Dawes: One thing to consider is power at the mailbox. Ideally, you want something as low power as possible, and the ESP8266 is not that. The ESP32 has better deep sleep capabilities, but you may also want to consider a super-simple low power microcontroller without wifi, etc. The other aspect to consider is ESPHome’s packet_transport: component, which can run over LoRa directly (driving a Semtech transceiver module), or over UART (which your modules provide). That lets you use ESPHome on both ends of the LoRa link, exposing entities from one node as entities in the other. And of course, ESPHome also supports deep sleep modes in the ESP32. Sep 9, 08:37
Mikrotik RB2011UiAS Router – From the Grave by Peter Scargill: As neither are standard, no-one will buy. Sep 8, 14:04
Mikrotik RB2011UiAS Router – From the Grave by DrFragle and MrShark: sell them both, you can buy normal switches and access point and have spare money, too 😀 Sep 8, 13:44
Mikrotik RB2011UiAS Router – From the Grave by Peter Scargill: All working perfectly on stable. And now, resurrected the black Xiaomi.. Got wan as lan.It had dhcp on, now off. Wrote about that too. I’m on a roll now, new Gl-iNet soon. Sep 8, 13:36
Mikrotik RB2011UiAS Router – From the Grave by DrFragle and MrShark: i left you on the LTS version instead of stable, as that was enough… you’re not using it as router, we set up that with all the ports in bridge mode, included wifi, no dhcp, nothing… it’s actually acting as an expensive switch 😀 Sep 8, 12:26
Mikrotik RB2011UiAS Router – From the Grave by Peter Scargill: I shoiuld have included that information – v7.24 it is – also it’s for internal use only sitting behind a Gl-iNet main router which sits behind a 5G router:-) Well, the version’s in here now. Keep reading – I’ve just resurrected another old router – showroom shine… Sep 7, 21:24
M5Stack M5Stick CPlus and ESPHome by Peter Scargill: Hi Well, I do have HA on the phone – not ideal for a quick check on for example a tank. I’ve so much stuff in there and its so easy to press the wrong button on the move. HA deliberately is sealed off from the outside world, accessible only by Tailscale and though you can (and I do) have Tailscale on the phone so it can access HA, it doesnt seem posible to connect the phone’s hotspot feeding the ESP, with HA as the hotspots are completely isolated. It’s entirely possible that I’ve missed something however and of course putting Tailscale on the little ESP32 is asking a bit much. Sep 6, 20:58
M5Stack M5Stick CPlus and ESPHome by Jeff Jackson: I was going to ask, “Why don’t you have HA on your phone?” As that might’ve made it a bit less circuitous… Then in the last part, you mentioned that you didn’t want to try checking the app while driving…. Good call. But, couldn’t you accomplish the same thing without the webserver? Have HA output a json file that the ESP reads? (I don’t know how to do that, either.) 👍 Sep 6, 20:24
Mikrotik RB2011UiAS Router – From the Grave by Albert: Make sure you don’t open it too the internet and please update there is a very nasty security bug seems to be with ssh and is not disclosed official , update to the latest 7.23 or 7.24 Sep 5, 10:46
Mikrotik RB2011UiAS Router – From the Grave by Peter Scargill: Thanks Walter. And now I get to play with Winbox. There are so, so many controls and options and features in here. It’s going to take me ages to get to grips with them but what fun! Sep 3, 12:23
Mikrotik RB2011UiAS Router – From the Grave by Walter: A wonderful story about re-use before considering re-cycling!! Love it! Sep 3, 10:37
NOUS – A Name to Remember – Part 2 by Peter Scargill: Is this automated? Looks like your previous comment? If so please don’t. Aug 18, 13:05
HamGeek Zigbee Gateway V1.5 by Peter Scargill: Indeed it does – I have my SMLight coordinator centrally located because again it is Ethernet rather than WiFi. Aug 18, 13:04
HamGeek Zigbee Gateway V1.5 by Viska Clanella Nugroho: The HamGeek gateway highlights how the physical placement of a Zigbee coordinator can have a major impact on network reliability, especially when USB and Wi-Fi interference are nearby. Moving the coordinator to Ethernet allows it to be positioned centrally, which can improve mesh coverage while reducing the need for additional routers. Aug 15, 15:15
NOUS – A Name to Remember – Part 2 by Viska Clanella Nugroho: The Nous devices show how affordable IoT hardware can become much more flexible when the underlying firmware and communication options are explored. What makes this kind of setup interesting is the ability to integrate off-the-shelf devices into a wider automation system instead of being limited to the manufacturer’s original ecosystem. Aug 15, 15:04
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by Francisco: One more h***s://github.com/bordeux/ha-oukitel-powerstation Just tested this one, worked instantly 😀 Aug 11, 13:07
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by Peter Scargill: Thanks Francisco. Aug 10, 11:17
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by Francisco: Thank you for your efforts, here is a github of someone that did some integration for Petron power stations which seems to use the same backend as Oukitel/Wonderfree. h***s://github.com/jsight/ha-pecron Maybe your AI quest will get some more info from that? Good luck! Aug 10, 10:33
Seeed Studio reTerminal E1003 Paper White Display by Peter Scargill: Thanks Walter – my entire setup used Tailscale – on the routers in Spain and the UK, so I have one Home Assistant here in Spain and it talks to the devices in the UK via the WIFI etc thanks to tailscale on the two routers (and of course on my phone so I can access the lot while away from home). Safe place, yes, relatively though last weekend a huge area of dying bushes etc set fire – too close for comfort..thankfully by the time the fire services arrived, all the neighbours had clubbed together to put the fire out with hoses and endless buckets of water. WAY too close for comfort. I’m sure others who are not up to speed on Tailscale will enjoy your links – thanks a lot. Jul 30, 10:33
Seeed Studio reTerminal E1003 Paper White Display by Walter Krämbring: Hello Pete, I did some similar experimental play with a display based on the same tyoe of processor(ESP32-S3). I created a display to be used for displaying some useful information from my summer house. To be able to achieve this in a simpe way, I have a Tailscale network and just added it to it. Very cool I must admit, now that there is a ESPHome module that makes it so easy! Basically you could have one of yours white paper panels in each of your locations; one in UK that provides info about your house in Spain and vice versa Here is a link to the ESPHome module: https://github.com/Csontikka/esphome-tailscale Here is a link describing my experimental work: https://discourse.nodered.org/t/remote-sensors-via-tailscale/101543 The image is from my display, in Swedish, but you get the idea Best regards, Walter PS Hope you are in a safe place considering those terrible wild fires Jul 29, 21:00
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by Peter Scargill: Well, we don’t have a tiny fraction of the issues you have any you have my full sympathy re: the evils of Russia’s government. I deal with SMLight and how they just keep going amazes me. Meanwhile back in Spain we don’t need foreign aggressor issues as we have enough incompetance of our own – here in rural Anadulusia (well, my little village of Galera anyway), the electriciy reliability is shall we say in the dark ages. The power drops for a second or so pretty much every day (never an apology), maybe more and it affects my 5G broadband and equipment reliability (the routers are on the Oukitel). Over the years I’d hate to think how much life-shortening it has done to various household devices… and the local 5g mast (where I get my broadband) goes down for a minute or two at least once a day. Annoying. I got up this morning and two or three of my Zigbee lights are offline for reasons I can only attribute to power. If I could go completely off-grid I would – but at my age I’d never recover the investment in doing the job properly. ChatGPT and I are still working on reverse engineering the Oukitel communications – third day coming up. What fun. Update October 2026 – Not to overstate the matter – but in here are now at least two HA integrations which do the job – I’m using one of them. Goodbye Wonderfree – good riddance. Jul 14, 09:31
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by Oleksandr: Bluetti indeed handles all of this much better, and I wouldn’t mind buying a Bluetti, I already own two of their power stations. However, these Oukitel ones were available at a really good price, so I grabbed one because there’s no telling how much prices might spike. I’m in Ukraine, and power stations are extremely valuable here (due to blackouts caused by Russia’s shelling of our energy grid, and so on). In any case, thanks for the reply, I’ll be keeping an eye on your blog! Jul 13, 20:16
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by Peter Scargill: Well now that’s interesting as I’ve just spent 2 solid days with chatGPT – there is no chance of getting any information out of Oukitel or the Wonderfree writers. We spent ages looking at Bluetooth protocols but it seems anyway that the Oukitel is talking to an Amazon server in Amsterdam somewhere. I know the address of the unit and its MAC address on my network and we’ve managed to decode three packages which show that if you turn USB on and off we know where that is in the code. It’s still very very vague. What I really want is to know: – the battery percentage – the power out – the power in – maybe turning AC on and off Without using their app so I can get that into Home Assistant but we’re not there yet. A friend of mine has a Bluetti and their app works and they are helpful – Oukitel dont give two hoots and the App writers don’t care – their app is generic and talks to lots of devices – not just Oukitel – and is utterly unreliable. At the time I knew ZILCH about battery packs – mind you the Oukitel was on special at AliExpress for around 500 Euros – the same size Bluetti is a lot more expensive. ChatGPT and I got no-where. Update October 2026 – look in here, at least TWO Home Assistant solutions – I’m using Victor’s. Jul 13, 19:58
Oukitel P2001E + the Rubbish WONDERFREE – A Solution by Oleksandr: I just recently bought this model and got interested in how to integrate it into my Home Assistant; I also have two Bluettis, and there were no issues with them. So I’m very interested in this topic, please keep me posted on your progress 🙏 For now, I’ve stopped at purchasing a Nordic nRF52840 Dongle for reverse engineering the Bluetooth codes. Jul 13, 18:17
Shelly Presence Gen4 by Kartik Sharma: Im experirncing exactly similar issues wherwin the presence.shows null. Did you find a solution to this? Jun 23, 15:04
TOMLOV HDMI Digital Microscope Model DM9 MAX by Peter Scargill: digital… Jun 21, 17:54
TOMLOV HDMI Digital Microscope Model DM9 MAX by Denis: Hello Norman, I have the same problem. did you respove the problem. I have emailed Tomlov Support just now. CheersDe Jun 20, 22:19
Cheap AliExpress 4-Button Scene Switch by Peter Scargill: Rosalba – for the sake of it I followed your lead and today received the Loratap device as you described – exactly the same operation and exactly the same HOLD output for Home Assistant. See updated blog. Jun 15, 22:42
Two New Products – Sonoff Airguard and SenseGuard by Brian Williams: Incidentally, HA has a specific integration for Switchbot. Once installed, it alerts you to add new devices as it detects them over bluetooth. They are really nifty. The 2 AAA batteries seem to last forever (rated at 2 years) and the price is comparable to the airguard depending on the deal (currently 3 for £32). Unlike many zigbee sensors, the switchbot reports an accurate %age battery remaining, which you can use with HA / Alexa / Telegram to send alerts in critical use scenarios (eg Hall thermostat). Jun 10, 17:57
Two New Products – Sonoff Airguard and SenseGuard by Brian Williams: Pete, the Switchbot sensors work over bluetooth to a home assistant server, and also an esp32 device running as a bluetooth repeater under esphome. I use the M5Stack Atom Lite for this purpose and have the switchbot sensors scattered all over my home. To clarify – no hub required! See here: https://esphome.io/components/bluetooth_proxy/ Also this gemini overview: https://share.google/aimode/uvJ3WUEdSiMSSwpK7 Jun 10, 16:35
Cheap AliExpress 4-Button Scene Switch by w00dst0ck: For me this was a gamechanger for the use of switches in HA. Hope U find it usefull aswell. Jun 9, 21:17
NOUS – A Name to Remember – Part 2 by Leif: Actually, I have to correct my post – after I did the power calibration, I still get a weird reading but it’s different: Active Power 59.8W Apparent Power 78.96W Reactive Power 51.8W Power Factor 0.76 An incandescent bulb is a pure resistive load and should have a power factor of 1 and zero reactive power. I suspect something is incorrectly programmed in the firmware and I have asked a question about this on the Tasmota github. Jun 8, 10:27
Cheap AliExpress 4-Button Scene Switch by Peter Scargill: I didn’t – do now – will try it this morning. Jun 8, 08:31
Cheap AliExpress 4-Button Scene Switch by Peter Scargill: Ok, I’m going to give the Loratap unit a go. The 3-button EU unit is slightly more expensive but I’m happy to try it to see if we agree. Meanwhile, since resetting my unit in the kitchen to force it to use a nearer Zigbee “router” i.e. a nearby Zigbee light – it’s been perfect. Jun 8, 08:22
NOUS – A Name to Remember – Part 2 by Peter Scargill: I’m still getting to grips with APPARENT POWER and REACTIVE POWER myself. Jun 8, 08:14
Cheap AliExpress 4-Button Scene Switch by Rosalba: I had this and it was totally unreliable.. switched to Laura Tap and no issue in a year https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005007048362396.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.29.4fc95e5b7cHHG4&gatewayAdapt=glo2nld Jun 7, 09:16
Cheap AliExpress 4-Button Scene Switch by w00dst0ck: Do you know Switch Manager for HA? https://github.com/Sian-Lee-SA/Home-Assistant-Switch-Manager Jun 6, 12:40
NOUS – A Name to Remember – Part 2 by Leif: Hey, thanks for some great content. Since you mention the Nous products, I wanted to ask: I have the A1T and it is giving me a strange reading when testing with a 60W incandescent bulb (the last one I keep packed away specifically to have a resistive load for testing). After calibrating the Tasmota for voltage and power against my Fluke true RMS multimeter, it is showing the correct voltage but the following slightly strange values: Active Power 76.00 W Apparent Power 78.66 W Reactive Power 20.30 var Power Factor 0.97 Have you seen this with your various Nous devices? Jun 4, 13:39
Mains Extensions and Modern Smart Plugs – Problem by Mike: Its not only UK and EU plugs! We have the same problem here in Australia. However, you can buy extension devices that have increased space between the sockets to allow wider devices next to each other. Of course, they are more expensive, and larger! You do have to wonder why the developers cant get it right (and the AU standard is used in parts of Asia, too) Jun 2, 08:23
Switchbot Standing Circulator Fan (Smart) by Peter Scargill: Hi – well I can answer that easily Garry – the pellet burner is an Estufa Italia brand (Italian obviously) Marmalada (model) 14KW and after we discovered that our wonderful new open fire was a complete waste of space due to suffocating backdraft when the wind gets up. We managed to get the pellet burner up and running a new weeks ago – it lasted maybe a week or so before breaking down – motherboard. It turns out that pellet burners tend to be sensitive to power spikes – and we’re on emergency power – battery backed up by petrol generator and for the last week, sunshine. The manufacturer offered a new motherboard without question and mentioned that we should use a mains suppressor which we do now (I question why they don’t put such a suppressor in the burner itself – but hey)… anyway since getting the replacement motherboard it has been perfect – heating up the (large) living room in no time… there’s a warm up period of maybe 10-15 minutes and a cool-off period somewhat longer – no smell, very little noise except when it’s in cool-off mode) but it’s all very simple and controlled by WiFi – the app is called “stufe a pellet Italia” – and as I use a VPN I can turn it on while walking back uphill from the local pub (10-15 minute walk). Such pellet burners use a bag a day depending on heat level you need and bags here in Spain cost between 4 to 5 euros. May 19, 20:53
Switchbot Standing Circulator Fan (Smart) by Gary and Jenni: Hi Peter. I have scrolled back through your blog hoping to see a review of your new heater in the pic? I presume seeing the powerful hoover alongside, its a pellet burner? ps, Happy new cueva. May 19, 19:35
The Aqara Hub M100 Compact Thread Border Router by Peter Scargill: Crumbs.. thanks for that. I’ll fix it right now. May 5, 14:33
The Aqara Hub M100 Compact Thread Border Router by Marco A A de Oliveira: Looking forward to your full review. Appreciate your reviews and blog entries. Hopefully the hub will show up at a reasonable price in Brasil, though it more likely may not be submitted to the Brasilian spectrum authority for approval (common issue, small market). BTW, there’s a duplicate “multi-platform integration” section. May 5, 14:17
Whatever happened to everlasting solar garden lights? by Peter Scargill: The best ones I’ve seen recently are those ones with the orange flicker lights, multiple lights but even then the batteries on those tend to go. I can’t really blame the Chinese. I think it’s the importers. The only criteria is the lowest possible price. It’s about time that governments insisted that these things had proper warranties on them. If they insisted that they had to last two years, they’d spend a little bit more and probably charge us a little bit more but we get things that actually last. That would be nice. I remember a long time ago my Maplin stainless steel and glass lights lasted well over a decade. I had two, two or three of them ( £6 each on special closing down offer) but they just don’t make them like that anymore. Ultimately I guess the public are to blame because they just throw them away when they don’t work instead of going back to the store and insisting on replacements. Wouldn’t that be good for the government’s green credentials? Imagine how much stuff like this lands up in landfill. Having said that I’ve just recently discovered that here in Spain it’s not the responsibility of the store to take returns on the warranty. It’s the manufacturer. I just had that with a generator and it took me a lot of convincing to get the store to take pity on me and give me a replacement generator. They simply didn’t want to do it and said, ‘Oh that’s the manufacturer’s responsibility.’ For me it’s not so much the battery packing in. Really it’s more the switch is corroding or the contacts on the battery are going or the simple circuit board is getting corroded. You would think it didn’t rain in China! May 5, 13:38
Whatever happened to everlasting solar garden lights? by Brandon Brennan: Honestly this is something I’ve noticed myself as well 👍 solar garden lights used to feel like a “fit and forget” solution but nowadays many of them stop working properly after a short time. I agree that battery quality and cheap build materials seem to be the main issue. It would be interesting to see if newer LiFePO4-based designs or better sealing against weather can actually make them last longer. Good topic—feels like there’s still room for real improvement here May 5, 12:34
Mains Extensions and Modern Smart Plugs – Problem by Keith Tomlin: Hi Peter Yes, I’ve seen this, and yes it’s annoying. Have you tried the ones with individually switched outlets? I think the sockets are further apart to accommodate the switch. I haven’t tried the usual smart switches, but I’ve got a ENERGENIE switch next to a large power brick which would not go together on a non-switched extension lead. Keith May 5, 00:41
Home Assistant – a Quick Thank-You by Walter Krämbring: I can agree that RPi’s are a bit limited, especially when coming to analytic stuff where you really will benefit from having GPU’s Myself, still having a small farm of distributed RPi’s for dedicated tasks, I am using a really nice little thing; the NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer kit! Runs my home automation main system, still NR however. So powerful, so great also doing fast & accurate YOLO analyses of video from my cameras. Running really cool and can do a lot more without any notable effort. A real master piece! Best regards, Walter Apr 23, 17:51
LD2410C Presence Sensor – First Steps & Beyond by Kane: Fantastic, well thought out post. Thank you! Apr 7, 01:57
Aqara FP300 Presence Multi-Sensor by Peter Scargill: Yes but it’s not a presence sensor, it’s a HUMAN MOTION SENSOR. The Ali Ad claims HUMAN SENSOR and the entity in Q2M says PRESENCE but the actual box says correctly HUMAN MOTION detection. As (for example) the Shelly ad doing the rounds right now correctly says “Lights off while you’re still in the room? Not anymore. Shelly Presence Gen4 utilizes advanced technology to detect actual presence, not just motion. Waving at sensors and wasting energy are things of the past” I took one of these AliExpress ZG-204ZV sensors (I bought 2 and have just requested a refund) and it seemed to work with Z2M perfectly, no hassle – but then I looked at the box which in capital letters says “HUMAN MOTION SENSOR” – so the Ali ad is misleading as is the name of the sensor in Z2M which says “presence” – I’ll expand on this in the blog. Apr 2, 16:43
Home Assistant Mutually Exclusive Buttons by tony: Hi Peter Have you tried the The Unofficial and Awesome Home Assistant MCP Server (https://github.com/homeassistant-ai/ha-mcp) yet? It has been an incredible transformation to my HA system. I have had it fix bugs in other peoples github repositories, build dashboards, work out some really complex automation logic. It has been the biggest quality of life improvement on HA. I use it with Claude.AI Mar 31, 12:00
Switchbot 13.3 inch AI Art Frame – What Fun! by Peter Scargill: Yup, good fun. Mar 31, 09:32
Generators and Lithium Power – A Cautionary Tale by Peter Scargill: Some updates to the blog and we are on our way to the coast (Murcia) to buy the invertor-generator. Mar 20, 15:56
Generators and Lithium Power – A Cautionary Tale by Peter Scargill: You;re right about the fuel – right now in Spain it’s up maybe 25%. Before TRump started this war, I was paying As little as 1.29 euros/litre – now it is heading to 1.90 euros/litre. Meanwhile I found a company (BT-Ingenieros) selling an electric-start 5KW invertor/generator for 750 euros which I figured would be ideal – not cheap but ideal. I emailed them (translated to Spanish)- no reply…. so I rang them, no English – so I asked the assistant to confirm their email address -I was using the right one – but 4 more emails over 3 days – STILL no reply. At this point I was desperate but if they can’t answer a sales message, what hope for support… then I hit lucky yesterday – the big hardware store in Murcia (Spain) has what even amazon doesn’t – a 4.5KW electric start invertor-generator (again Genergy – like our big generator but not producing rough electricity for construction site- and with specific claims of producing clean sine wave output for sensitive electronic equipment – and an economy mode – I have high hopes – this afternoon we’re off to get it. Mar 20, 11:36
Generators and Lithium Power – A Cautionary Tale by Mike: Oh dear! What a tale of woe! Thanks for being – well, the guinea pig, I guess, and making sure we do our research first. Of course, soon we wont even be able to get fuel to power a generator, let alone afford it…..but that’s another dis….erm story! Mar 20, 03:30
Switchbot 13.3 inch AI Art Frame – What Fun! by crypto cobra: That SwitchBot AI frame sounds like pure joy—zero-power static art that crushes sunlight readability? Game-changer for cavehome vibes. Love the unboxing thoughtfulness (spirit level FTW) and ChatGPT hack dodging subs. Wife-approved too—mount it and watch the BBQ area glow. What’s your first custom AI art prompt for it? Mar 19, 15:21
Aqara FP300 Presence Multi-Sensor by Peter Scargill: I’m going to try that AliExpress device for the sake of it. Did you test it on Zigbee2MQTT? I assume you did. AliExpress are always an unknown quantity – sometimes stuff is utter crap, other times you wonder how they do the price.. a bit like Temu really – I use both far too often. Mar 16, 17:12
Aqara FP300 Presence Multi-Sensor by Ciubotaru Ion: Hi Pete, Try https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010114187645.html – Type 3 for Z2M – I tested it and works like a charm. Ion Mar 12, 08:26
(Almost) Random January Thoughts by Kevin Fonda: Just a quick heads up, but I’m in the US and just checked AliExpress. I found several listings like this “ESP8266 D1 Mini WIFI Development Board ESP-12F CH340G CH340 V2 Usb Wemos D1 Mini Nodemcu Lua Iot Board 3.3V Met Pins” This listing is $15.81 for 10 pieces with free shipping. The listing says that price includes import charges. Only other charge is $1.78 for local NJ state tax. Many of them have US warehouses and shipping is less than 1 week. Are they really cheaper where you are? Mar 2, 14:50
Even More 4G Modems – The ZTE MF286D by Hugh: Thanks! I might take a punt with the ZTE, if only to try it out and see what performance it delivers for my location (and I think performance will be very sensitive to location, not just geographic but location in the house, digital feng shui if you like!) Appreciate your double router setup, but that will be beyond my simple means and needs – I’ll be happy if the router + ethernet to iMac gives me more than the 6.5mbs I’m currently getting through old landline b’band! I’ll let you know how it goes. Feb 26, 20:18
Even More 4G Modems – The ZTE MF286D by Peter Scargill: Quick comments (I’m still in the process of moving home).. ZTE I still like – now use ZTE MC801A for 5G (bought on the off-chance our Spanish village might get 5G one day and guess what – we have it) – can’t comment on others but on a good day I can get over 800Mbps download. The original ZTE 4G+ router I sold to a pal and he’s happy. I don’t use the WiFi on my 4G/5G routers – I just use them as modems to pass on Ethernet to my main routers – right now both in the UK and Spain i use WiFi 6 GL-iNet routers (original Flint – I should have Flint 3 soon). Feb 26, 18:44
Even More 4G Modems – The ZTE MF286D by Hugh: Thanks for this very useful insight into the ZTE modem. I’m finding myself in a situation of needing improved BB speed, but FTTP hasn’t arrived where I live and FTTC is still pricey. 4G covergae is good here, so I thought maybe to go down the mobile BB route. I’m not very techy, but have done enough browsing to gather the basics and compare some of the routers – the TP-Link MR400, Sercomm Lte2122GR, Zyxel 3316, and Huawei B535-232 (and also a D-Link G416/B Eagle Pro, but one review I read said it has pretty awful wifi transmission). All these routers are available on eBay (UK) at reasonable price, and an unlimited SIM for £20 month. Two years on from your excellent ZTE walkthrough, how do you feel about it now? And how might it stack up against any of the routers I’ve mentioned (which I realise you probably haven’t used!…but you know your onions!) Appreicate any thoughts you might have on my possible choices. cheers! Feb 26, 17:59
BigTimer by Martin Stein: So, I would have simply used two timers: one that switches on at, say, 3:00 and off at sunrise, the other that switches on at 6:00 and off sometime around noon. I would add these two values together, and only switch it on if the result is 2. It always switches off at sunrise. Feb 25, 18:32
A sometimes-forgotten reason to use Tasmota by Peter Scargill: WELL. that’s made my day to know someone is still using my ESP-GO. “Hackitt and Bodgitt” refers to myself and Aidan ruff, long time friend and business partner, who died last year completely unexpectedly (not old, just a missed heart condition despite him being very health-aware).. Thanks for that – and another one successfully using ESP8266 despite claims that it’s dead. I have a mix of ESP8266 and ESP32 these days, running ESP-HOME and Tasmota.. wonderful stuff. Incidentally in case you’re wondering why I’ve gone quiet – lots of stuff to write about but a badly timed visit to the UK followed by a much more complex than expected house move, still in progress. I should be back up to speed in the coming weeks. TTFN Feb 16, 19:38
A sometimes-forgotten reason to use Tasmota by Michael Hambly: Funny seeing you reminisce about Tasmota reminds me that I am still using the ESP Go software you wrote way back (2018 I think). I even still have a Hackitt and Bodgitt printed handbook somewhere. It works so reliably that I had completely forgotten it. I developed a Node-Red automation to run my ASHP, which developed arms and legs and ultimately controlled the heating throughout the house. Your software runs all of my hand-built room thermostats. Over the years I have tried to update my Node-Red automation with a newer version that runs with zigbee but nothing is as reliable. Cudos to you. Feb 16, 18:37
Reolink RLC-823S2 IP Camera – it’s a MONSTER by Peter Scargill: Thanks for the feedback. I’m sure that will be useful to others as well as Raoul. Feb 13, 10:28
Reolink RLC-823S2 IP Camera – it’s a MONSTER by Brendan: I have two of these S2’s and they’re fabulous. Mounting the camera upside down is a huge no-no, as least-of-all the top dome protects the horizontal motor and water will pool and leach. Feb 13, 10:19
Switchbot Smart Video Doorbell by Peter Scargill: I should say that Switchbot generally have been very good for years… Feb 6, 00:12
Switchbot Smart Video Doorbell by Peter Scargill: In time I’ll clarify that. For now, moving home, so stable electricity is the priority of the moment. Soon. Feb 6, 00:11
Switchbot Smart Video Doorbell by EJ Ford: This is more informative than anything else I’ve seen & that includes the maker’s manual. One thing I’m not clear about is: will it actually work as a doorbell using just the doorbell itself & the monitor? Or is it essential to also use their app on some 3rd device & go through that rigmarole? Feb 5, 22:16
Switchbot Smart Video Doorbell by EJ Ford: This is more informative than anything else I’ve seen & that includes the maker’s manual. One thing I’m not clear about is: will it actually work as a doorbell using just the doorbell device & the monitor? Or is it essential to also use their app on some 3rd device & go through that rigmarole? Feb 5, 22:16
NEW – Sonoff Airguard PM3.5 and Airguard CO2 by Peter Scargill: That’s helpful advice.. I’ll follow that up in the blog once Im finished moving home. Right now all my sensors are still in moving boxes somewhere. We’re in our new home but operating on limited emergency power while waiting for the electricity company to get a move on. Within a week Ive learned more about what backup systems not to buy than I ever dreamed of 😊 Jan 31, 08:16
NEW – Sonoff Airguard PM3.5 and Airguard CO2 by Dan Hunter: Since Sonoff states that AirGuard C02 utilizes a Swiss made sensor, we know it is Sinsirion. Why not ping Sonoff and ask which sensor they are using? I have used various SCD4x sensors and yes they vary, but within spec. I have evaluated Sinsirion vs Infineon C02 sensors and each technology has its pros/cons. Bascially it comes down to cost and availability. Appears that, according to the FAQs, the AirGuard supports calibration and that may help. Jan 24, 22:51
A sometimes-forgotten reason to use Tasmota by Peter Scargill: Absolutely. Jan 21, 09:47
A sometimes-forgotten reason to use Tasmota by Peter Scargill: Indeed – take a look at the new ESPHome Release notes – they specifically mention automatically picking up the best of multiple access points… the 2026 release notes make for very interesting reading – for that reason and for their decision to stop minimising the usefulness of the ESP8266, rather, to embrace the fact that millions of ESP8266’s are and will remain in use for years to come. https://esphome.io/changelog/2026.1.0/ I have a LOT of ESP8266 devices running Tasmota as in the past, ESPHome use on these DIRT CHEAP devices seemed to be discouraged – not any more. Jan 21, 09:47
A sometimes-forgotten reason to use Tasmota by DrFragle and MrShark: as specified in that page, better using secrets than explicit info in yaml… this way, if you change them, you need to just recompile without touching each yaml again… Jan 20, 10:43
A sometimes-forgotten reason to use Tasmota by Peter Scargill: That’s handy. I didn’t know that. Good – now I do.. wifi: networks: – ssid: FirstNetworkToConnectTo password: VerySafePassword – ssid: SecondNetworkToConnectTo password: VerySafePassword # Other options # … Jan 20, 10:40
A sometimes-forgotten reason to use Tasmota by DrFragle and MrShark: esphome supports that, too: https://esphome.io/components/wifi/#connecting-to-multiple-networks Jan 20, 10:25
Apollo R Pro-1 mmWave Multisensor by Peter Scargill: Agreed. Personal contact gives them many plus points. Jan 11, 21:45
Apollo R Pro-1 mmWave Multisensor by Herbert Smith: Update on the above. The problems with the LD2412 were because it was bad device. I put in a ticket with Apollo because of the issues. They were very good. (Much better than most support teams). All via e-mail, efficient and reasonable. Suggested replacing the component and they were right. Had the replacement installed and tuned for my environment in about 90 minutes. (After days of screaming and cursing this was a relief). Apollo support gets a big A+, Bad chips happen, but quick replacement makes it all better. Jan 11, 20:34
Another Year, Another Thermostat by DrFragle and MrShark: if you talk with them with any protocol, HA supports them… mqtt is the passpartout… Jan 7, 15:56
Another Year, Another Thermostat by DrFragle and MrShark: Pete started migrating to docker from the script, here (my project is now archived): https://tech.scargill.net/the-transition-to-docker/ then i succeeded to convince him to try HA and he fell in love 🙂 https://tech.scargill.net/espresense-and-home-assistant-the-saga-continues/ Jan 7, 15:53
Another Year, Another Thermostat by Peter Scargill: Yes, of course. I’m using a large number of ESP32 and ESP8266 devices with home assistant. I’m also using Node Red within the HAOS environment to allow use of Google voice comands. Timing in Home Assistant is more powerful than I achieved in Node Red. No brainer really but certainly a large learning curve initially. Jan 6, 11:11