smart home – Page 2 – Systems Lab

September 16, 2024September 14, 2024

Squeezebox ESP32 Multi-room Audio System

I finally came across a speaker setup that I could try out for relatively inexpensively, that also uses open source software, and can be used for multi-room audio. I found the ESP32 A1S audio kit that is supported by squeezelite-esp and has a simple web installer. On top of that, there are a decent number of forum posts using it and providing details on configuration. This gives me a potential holy grail, open source, locally based, multi-room audio speaker. The main problem I will end up having is putting something together with good audio quality, and appliance level ease of use and stability, but thats a future problem, for now, lets check out squeezelite on the ESP32 A1S.

September 2, 2024August 29, 2024

Actionable Notifications with Home Assistant

I hooked up my front door lock to my z-wave network recently and wanted to setup some automations around it. One of the automations was to be a notification from home assistant if the lock was unlocked for more than some time period, with two actions on it, one to immediately lock the door, and the other to do nothing.

August 26, 2024August 18, 2024

Installing Music Assistant on Home Assistant

I’ve been going down the route of researching and building out infrastructure for a home audio system, and the next stop on this is installing music assistant and checking out some of its features.

August 21, 2024August 21, 2024

Updating to HACS 2.0

HACS just released a new major version, with a large redesign using help from the Open Home Foundation. The install process for some major updates can have potential hiccups in it, however this one is very nice and easy to do. This is how I went about installing the update on my home assistant instance along with initial impressions of the new version.

August 18, 2024August 18, 2024

Home Audio Plan

I’ve had an itch for years to get a whole home audio setup working, but I’ve always wanted to avoid the large cloud in the room thats normally there around these systems. I’m finally feeling to start working things out piece by piece to try and build a system intuitive to use and just works™.

March 18, 2024February 4, 2024

Playing Music on a Tag Reader

The tag reader, and it’s relative the NFCDeck have piezo buzzers in them. These can be used to play monotone music via PWM signal from an ESP. As an addition to this, there’s a simple music file format from the early years of cellphones that’s also supported by this system. Combine these together and we have an interesting little music box.

March 11, 2024January 27, 2024

ESP32 Bluetooth Proxy and BLE Tracking

I recently started using ESP32s for my projects, mostly out of necessity for the flash sizes and GPIO capabilities, but they do bring in another interesting feature I haven’t made use of yet, Bluetooth capabilities. Each ESP32 can be used by home assistant as a Bluetooth proxy and BLE tracker. It should be a simple addition to the ESPHome yaml too!

February 19, 2024January 17, 2025

Max7219 display in esphome

I saw a really cool blanking panel for a server rack recently that used a bunch of LED displays to show information powered by an ESP and home assistant. I thought the displays were pretty cool and decided to get some and try them out. I may also have some ulterior motives with a project I’ve started working on as well.

February 5, 2024January 27, 2024

NfcDeck Backlit Key Notification

Since I just finished my new EspDeck model that has backlit keys. I always intended on using these for notifying me of some state in my house so I can take action on it, ideally using the EspDeck itself. This is the first use case I had for the features so I’ll be implementing it so we can start making use of my fancy new NFC Deck to it’s fullest.

January 29, 2024January 29, 2024

EspDeck w NFC: The NFCDeck

The time has come for a new iteration of the EspDeck. This time it’ll include a few new features, and a new form factor. The new version will include all the features of the Tag Reader, original EspDeck, and a rotary encoder.