USB Power from a Switch?

USB Power from a Switch?
Ever need to power or charge a USB device from somewhere that has no outlet, but does have a light? I had that issue recently. We have a shelf in the living room that has switches for the overhead fans and lights. I wanted to wire in a 3-gang box to add an outlet, but the existing box is in a brick fireplace structure that I did not want to modify. I was stuck until…

Kasa Smart Devices and Home Assistant

Kasa Smart Devices and Home Assistant
When I moved into the new house, I decided I wanted to leave Philips Hue behind. The lights were too expensive and I wanted to incorporate more kinds of devices like switches into the system. At the same time, I wanted to reduce the number of Home Assistant integrations as much as possible. I chose Kasa because I saw a lot of people having success Kasa and Home Assistant. I have been here over 3…

Google Coral TPU Card

Google Coral TPU Card
Today I added some AI processing horsepower to my Frigate server. This little chip can handle object detection on 15 cameras without breaking a sweat. I am using the m.2 variety, but you can get a few variants from Google. I originally experimented with the USB version before adding the PCI one.The PCI-card adapter is the Ableconn PEXM2150E PCI Express x1 Adapter Card with M.2 Key E Socket available from Amazon.

Home Automation Server – Tower 1

Home Automation Server – Tower 1
With the Frigate server complete, Tower 1 is officially out of space. Top to Bottom Home Assistant & Frigate Docker Server Ryzen 9 5900X, 64GB RAM, 8TB SSDs (2x2TB nvme, 2x2TB SATA), 16TB HDD RAID, Coral m.2 dual TPU Home Assistant Frigate Netdata Dozzle UPS Power Supply Cisco 24-Port Switch with PoE and 10GB SFP (10Gbps between house and shop, main PC and main NAS) Go bag HD for critical files Punchdown Patch Panel Keystone…

Pond BI

Pond BI
It started with "I should know the temperature of the pond I guess."

Dedicated Frigate Server

Dedicated Frigate Server
I've decided to use Frigate as the platform for AI object detection using my existing Amcrest IP cameras. It's working as a sidecar to Synology Surveillance Station as detection only. frigate-server 12-core Ryzen 5900X, 64GB RAM, 8TB SSD & 16TB HDD storage, Google Coral TPU, nVidia RTX3050GPU. Hosts Frigate and Home Assistant.

NESDR Smart HF/VHF/UHF 100kHz-1.75GHz Software Defined Radio

NESDR Smart HF/VHF/UHF 100kHz-1.75GHz Software Defined Radio
This one gets a bit nerdy. I have a driveway monitor system that uses magnetic frequencies to detect cars in the driveway. The problem is that it runs at the same frequency as a lot of garage door openers causing a lot of false positives. I have an extensive camera setup, so I was more interested in using it as a way to log events than the loud chime in the house. That led me…

Home Assistant – How Did I Get Here?

Home Assistant
I am absolutely horrible at turning off lights. That's how it began. The color changing aspect of Hue bulbs was cool, but adding motion sensors was when I saw the power of automation. I expanded Hue and added Amazon's Alexa for voice control. Then I tried Samsung's SmartThings to integrate Hue with other things, but that was flaky. Next I tried Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi. That was enough to introduce me to what…

Earthquake Data

Earthquake Data
I get asked about Rainier and volcanos a lot. I decided to integrate some seismic data into Home Assistant today for information and future notifications.

Shelly Garage Door Hack

Shelly Garage Door Hack
Turns out my garage doors are dumb. They make smart ones, but I don't really want to give up privacy on my locks. Enter 2nd buttons triggered via Shelly over WIFI. When I looked into my garage openers, it was clear going smart with their tech wasn't an option. I did a little more research and realized that they did support second remotes. I found cheap compatible buttons on Amazon for about $10 each and…