Just another tech blag
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.
Continue reading “Max7219 display in esphome”
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.
Continue reading “NfcDeck Backlit Key Notification”
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.
Continue reading “EspDeck w NFC: The NFCDeck”
I installed some new z-wave light switches recently and when working on one of them, I encountered a very peculiar problem, the light would turn on for one second, then flash off and back on again, repeating this constantly. I was unsure what was going on since I thought I had wired the switch correctly.
The switch box had 3 wires, 2 going up and out one side, and a third going up and out the other. This was in a closet with 2 lights in it, so I figured the two were for the lights and the third was for the incoming power. I was quite wrong. The two were for the incoming power (incoming power and the rest of that breaker) and the third was for the two overhead lights.
With it wired up correctly this time, the switch turned on and off correctly, no flashing on and off. I hadn’t seen a smart switch do this before, but now I know it was from receiving the line and the load.
I like to do some funny things from time to time, and I learned that adding XKCD to my home assistant dashboard is pretty simple. So what am I going to do, of course I’m going to add the current days XKCD to my home assistant dashboard!
Continue reading “XKCD in Home Assistant”
This is the first step in my home audio setup. I need an easy way to select music to play from my collection, and having EspDeck buttons for each choice would end up being a bit too clumsy. I plan on making some tag readers and a small collection of NFC tags for the various bands, playlist, etc available.
Continue reading “NFC Tag Readers in Home Assistant”I do small experiments from time to time to try out features or functionality before building them into a project (or project design even). In this case I wanted to try out the IR functionality in WLED for a project that may not have WiFi for access to the full fledged WLED feature set.
Continue reading “IR Remote with WLED”Since setting up my pair of Bambu Labs X1 Carbons, I’ve been itching to get the data off the onboard computer and into home assistant. I don’t need Home Assistant to control the machine, but being able to monitor it and notify me of anything is absolutely something I want (and maybe turn on air filters when they’re running or other actions).
Continue reading “Adding the Bambu Lab X1C to Home Assistant”While I built my Air Gradients a while ago, there was a bug with their wifi connections that I’ve been chasing for a while. They drop off the network and don’t reconnect, forcing me to hard reboot them by cutting power to get them to reconnect. I think I’ve finally figured how to get them to at least be mildly stable and keep them from disconnecting for days at a time.
Continue reading “EspHome Device Randomly Disconnects from Wi-Fi”In a drive to add more things to home assistant, I found the unRAID API. This container provides unRAID server information to home assistant via MQTT. I figured this could be interesting to add to my stack, and potentially pretty useful in the long run, so I decided to get it going.
Continue reading “unRAID API and Home Assistant”