My workshop soldering iron recently died, and it was time for a replacement. Nowadays, it gets used only a few times a month, so I was not willing to spend a huge amount on a replacement. There seem to be several sub $100 units available from the usual cheap Chinese sources like eBay, Aliexpress, Banggood and even Amazon. What kept coming up under several brand names was a unit known as a 8582D 2 in 1 soldering station, which is what I ended up buying for around $80 from Banggood. Continue reading “8582D 2 in 1 Soldering Station Review”
Author: Gary
Replacing D cells with an 18650 Battery Cell
A quick post today to show off my latest 3D printed design, a battery box to replace three D cell batteries with one 18650 lithium-ion rechargeable cell that is charged by a cheap onboard charger and step up circuit board. Continue reading “Replacing D cells with an 18650 Battery Cell”
Using the QuinLED-Dig-Uno PCB with WLED
I have previously posted on some of my LED strips before. All of these have been RGB strips, where you can choose a single colour for the whole strip. They are relatively cheap and easy to set up with controllers that can be purchased off the shelf and used as is or flashed with Tasmota. Continue reading “Using the QuinLED-Dig-Uno PCB with WLED”
Connecting your Landline to Home Assistant for CallerID Notifications
When going through my box of old unused tech gear the other day I found a USB 56K modem that I purchased off eBay a few years back. I instantly thought maybe I can use this with Home Assistant. I checked out the Home Assistant websites integration page and sure enough you can. Below I outline what I did to get the modem up and running on my Home Assistant install that is running on Proxmox, along with an automation I used to announce the caller id feature that my landline provider supplies.
Continue reading “Connecting your Landline to Home Assistant for CallerID Notifications”
An ESP32-CAM Adaptor PCB
I started playing around with the ESP32-CAM PCB recently and soon discovered what a pain it is to program seeing that it has no onboard USB. To remedy the situation I decided to create my own custom PCB that will allow for easier programming and powering. Continue reading “An ESP32-CAM Adaptor PCB”
Sonoff GK-200MP2-B Camera review
A mate recently asked me to set up a cheap IP camera for his new man cave. This is not his first IP camera, with him using a combination of a D-link Omna WiFi camera and two Xiaomi Dafang cameras with hacked firmware. All of these existing cameras connect to either Apple Homekit, Home Assistant, a Synology Surveillance station or a combination of both. The brief was he wanted something cheap that is simple to use with all his stuff. This was a good opportunity for us to buy and test out the new kid on the block, the Sonoff GK-200MP2-B. I will share my thoughts on it below drawing some comparisons to the other similar devices we have used before. Continue reading “Sonoff GK-200MP2-B Camera review”
IR beam break sensors with Tasmota and Home Assistant
I recently have been adding a few more features to my smart home seeing that I have some extra free time at home while my state is in lockdown. One thing I have always wanted was an IR beam break detector like you see in secure commercial yards. Traditionally these have been used via an alarm system and have been outrageously expensive. While browsing BangGood’s website one day I came across a set of IR beam break sensors on sale for around $10, so I knew I had to have them. Continue reading “IR beam break sensors with Tasmota and Home Assistant”
Converting a Cisco Aironet AP to Standalone Autonomous Mode
My day job see me working for a few large corporations who generally love Cisco network gear. On the odd occasion I have been asked to swap out a Cisco Aironet 2600 WiFi access point. These solid looking devices are very common around corporate offices and shopping centres etc. In these applications the devices run a lightweight firmware that is all controlled centrally by the Cisco wireless LAN controller, so these devices are useless by themselves unless you upgrade the device to Cisco’s autonomous firmware. Continue reading “Converting a Cisco Aironet AP to Standalone Autonomous Mode”
Ford Pass Review
Ford has begun rolling out a new technology to all its new vehicles that will offer connectivity to smartphones and smart devices with some cool features that help keep track of the vehicle’s information, service and warranty and even financing and roadside assistance programs. Continue reading “Ford Pass Review”
Flashing the H801 LED controller with Tasmota firmware
Another follow on to a few earlier posts today. I previously documented flashing my Arilux/Magic home LED controllers with Tasmota and also did a comparison review of the Arilux vs the H801 controller. Today’s post is a quick update on a few gotchas I found when flashing the H801 with Tasmota compared to my previous effort of flashing the Arilux/Magic Home device. Continue reading “Flashing the H801 LED controller with Tasmota firmware”