Smart Plug For Home Assistant

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Smart Plug

Bought some of these plugs a few years back and never used them much because I put z-wave smart switches all over my house.

Well, I have a “new” house now which was built in the 80’s and it doesn’t have a dedicated neutral line which limits my smart switch choices a bit which leads me back to the smart outlets.

First of all, when you get switches like this that say “Compatible with Alexa or Google” just know  that that means they are made in China and the controlling software and app are made in China and that your smart device is sending info to China.  You can’t be sure because the software is proprietary,

Enter “Tasmota” which is a custom firmware with Open Source code which means you can see the code which makes you feel more comfortable when you say “Alexa, turn on Safe House, Safe Room lights”.  That of course is an exaggerated joke.

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Nest Thermostat Review

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When I lived in Japan I had a co-worker look up from his phone one day to an alert that his unoccupied house in Arizona was too hot. He called a family member and confirmed that there was an HVAC problem.  It was at that moment I understood the importance of a smart Thermostat.

As soon as I moved back to the US in around 2015 I had a home built and I immediately installed a 2nd Generation Nest.  Recently I bought a new home and installed a 3rd Generation Nest Learning Thermostat  ($249 but now reduced to $199) downstairs and a Nest Thermostat (4th Generation) ($129) upstairs.  A few weeks into the new home we opted to install a new upstairs A/C unit which came with a 3rd Generation Nest Learning Thermostat which I had them go ahead and install.

3rd Gen Nest Learning Thermostat

You might think a 4th generation product would be “better” than a 3rd generation product however I don’t really find this to be the case.  The 4th gen only works with the Google Home app whereas the 3rd gen works with the Nest app, the Google Home app, and a web browser.  Also the 3rd gen integrates with Alexa.  To voice command the 4th gen you need a Google Nest Hub.  Speaking of Alexa integration, when I added the 2nd Nest Learning Thermostat Alexa could not find it.  I had to disable the Google Nest skill in Alexa and re-enable it before the Alexa voice commands would work on both thermostats.   There is something very cool about just saying “Alexa, Set Hallway temperature to 74” in the middle of the night without having to get up.

4th Gen Nest Thermostat

So to me the 3rd gen Nest Learning thermostat has way more flexibility.  Also the HVAC installers told me that they did NOT like the 4th gen at all.  Let me preach on it…….

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NEST Thermostat for the Save

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This is pretty cool I think.  Bought a new house and we noticed the upstairs unit wasn’t cooling real well.   Fortunately I put a Nest Thermostat on it.

Sure enough, I got the below email from Nest telling me that something was wrong with my AC unit.  The email showed a graph of the temperature and best of all provided a link at the bottom to schedule an appointment with their “Handy Network” for roughly $50.

Click link below to see the email:

Urgent cooling system issue at Your Home Nest Thermostat

For $50, within 2 days I had a tech knocking on my door.   So their email indicates a problem, graphs the temperature increase problem, and asks the basic questions like “Did you leave a door open or something”, etc.

I’m a techie and even this impresses me.  The system doesn’t just tell you its not working good, it provides a solution for inspection and repair.   I won’t take this blog beyond this point but I strongly recommend Nest, which is maturing and getting better all the time.  Only thing that would make it perfect was if Google didn’t own it.

 

Lightburn USB Issues on Mac OS X

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Lightburn is the best software for laser editing, design and control, bar none.  But it always seems to have an issue on Mac OS X when you upgrade.  More times than not, when you upgrade Lightburn it simply will not output your design when you are connected via USB.

There seems to be an issue with the FTDI drivers on Mac OS itself which doesn’t like our Ruida controllers.  There are a couple of workarounds.  First is to take your file you want to engrave or cut and transfer it to a USB stick and upload it directly to the laser.  The other way is to connect your laser via its ethernet port instead of its USB port.  This works flawlessly ………. well almost.  I noticed that once I followed the directions provided by Lightburn that the laser was only recognized when WiFi was turned off.  I dunno about you, but I’d kind of like to use my computer on the internet while I’m sitting there watching my output and making sure nothing catches on fire.

The directions provided by Lightburn instruct you to get the IP address of your computer and then add that to the same subnet.  For example if your computer is 192.168.1.10, they advise you to add 50 or 100 to the last octet. (192.168.1.60, or 192.168.1.110).   This will give you wifi problems.  Let’s tackle this, shall we?

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Repair, Not Replace

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I’m a big proponent of fixing stuff rather than replacing it.  The “new” home I moved to has a built in audio system in a lot of rooms and on the front and back porches and even a speaker way out in the woods on a deck.

The speakers on the back porch are all fouled up and only produce sound from the tweeter.  The outdoor speakers are all Polk Audio Atrium55’s which are discontinued.

Polk Audio Atrium 55

So, as luck would have it, so are the replacement speakers ( Part Number RD0756-1).  Can’t find them anywhere.

The successor to these speakers seems to be the Atrium 5’s which cost $250 at Amazon, Best Buy, eBay……….everywhere.

So let’s see how I deal with this………

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Wifi Router as a Range Extender (Repeater Bridge)

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Problem.  2800 square foot home and 1.5 acres with a path into the woods and a deck.  No way one single WiFi router can cover all this turf.

The other day I saw a Netgear XR700 Router on Facebook Marketplace for $100.  The XR700 is a rebranded Netgear R9000 aimed at gamers.  It is also a LOT cheaper than the R9000 which tips the scales at about $450.  But again, except for the case…….it is the exact same router.

Netgear XR700

Believe it or not it does cover almost all the turf in my big home but there is ONE dead spot in the house that I suspect has one too many walls and doors in the way of the wifi signal.

And when I set on the deck in the woods the wifi signal is “seen” but simply not usable at all.

So I decided to pull an old trick out of my hat.

 

I used DD-WRT firmware on my Netgear XR700 and I installed it on my old router which is a Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router.  I used something called a Repeater Bridge on the Wireless Interface to extend the range of my current router.

Let’s go over how this is done:

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Network Security with PfSense

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I haven’t written anything for a while because I retired and sold and bought a house and moved at all the same time.

During setup of the new home though I had to redo my internet setup and start fresh with a newly mapped network.  If I’ve said this once, I’ve said it a million times………If you hook a store bought router to your Cable Company modem you are begging to be hacked.  Your security is non-existent. 

This is not just my opinion.  It’s a stone cold fact.  To have any element of actual security you need a hardware firewall or a router with custom firmware such as DD-WRT or OpenWRT.  OR BOTH.

This is where PfSense comes in.  It is a hardware firewall which routes all your internet traffic through its very capable interface.  And it is far from being just a firewall as well.  It is a full fledged network Operating System.

The easiest way to get some decent network security is to buy a pre-configured appliance.

Netgate 1100

This is the Netgate 1100 and it comes in at a cost of about $179.

Yeah, that’s a little bit of cabbage but do you really want to protect your network or not?

You can build your own appliance and there is no shortage of mini computers built just for hardware firewalls.

PfSense is a free download and there are several other firewall OS’s out there that are free and also Open Sourced.

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How To Tell Time In The Dark

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DOES ANYBODY REALLY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS.  DOES ANYBODY REALLY CARE?     

~ Chicago Transit Authority, 1969

HA!  Most  would tell you that famous line was from the musical group Chicago but it was actually their earlier name that it was released under.  You Are Welcome!

Why do we care about time?  And more importantly why would we care about time IN THE DARK?  I can think of a couple reasons.  I might care about seeing my watch face in these conditions:

  • Scuba Diving – I am a PADI certified Rescue Diver.  Seeing your watch face at 130′ under water is IMPORTANT.
  • Tactical  or Military – sneaking up on people and knowing what exactly what time to react without revealing your position.
  • Power Outages – They happen
  • Camping or hiking – this could extend to illuminating a compass dial as well.
  • Seeing the time without disturbing your spouse – possibly the most important on the list.
  • Seeing the time in the middle of the night without lighting up the room and fully awakening yourself.
  • Prepper Stuff –  If you fancy yourself a prepper and you are in a situation where the fecal matter hits the rotating wind movement device……..you aren’t going to be able to run to the store to get an SR41 watch battery.

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Seiko 5 Field Watch Review

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Seiko 5 Field Watch Review

Seiko 5 Unboxing

Not as many people wear watches these days but I am one of them.  And my style tends to drift towards the look of the military field watch.

I’m a big fan of Marathon, Hamilton and Bertucci Field Watches  and a real big fan of the Seiko 5 Series of field watches.

First and foremost the Seiko 5 offerings are AFFORDABLE.  They aren’t priced to the moon.

The Seiko 5 line was recently refreshed and I just picked up a new SRPG35.  It’s a beauty.  It is a 40mm watch face with a 20mm strap.  The movement is their bulletproof 4R36 Automatic. Right after that I’m not going to discuss specs.  There are videos and web pages galore that do nothing but repeat the Seiko specifications and I don’t find those particularly useful.  Here on my blog I like to talk about real world usage and obvious gotchas.

I first got hooked on the Seiko 5 series when I got the SNK803 Seiko 5 back in 2019.

Seiko SNK Series (click pics to enlarge)

Those are some beautiful watches, and best of all the watch snobs LOVED THEM. The tan one is the SNK803 and the black one is the SNK809.  I put custom straps on both of them.

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Sayonara Uncle Sam

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Well, here it is.  The day we all wait for.  Retirement.  My official work counter shows me at 37 years and 8 months and retiring as a GS-13 Step 9.

We’re quite a ways from 1982 when I went through the gates at Great Lakes Naval Training Command.  Imagine being 19 years old and departing boot camp and reporting to an aircraft carrier in dry dock.  I’m not scared of heights but when I looked down that dry dock at the USS Carl Vinson in its entirety I got a little bit of vertigo.   Not to mention the whole ship is a gigantic maze with no cheese at the end.

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