How to make your your dumb device smart

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There are no shortage of Internet Of Things (IoT) devices in the big box stores that promise that their app or Alexa and/or Google integration will make your home smart.  There is no doubt you can walk into Walmart or Best Buy and walk out with a smart switch or outlet or LED strip or whatever.

Pretty soon though you end up with a multitude of apps and instead it is chaos instead of convenience.   Also if you add something to Alexa, and remove it then add it again you may have two instances in your Device log with the same name which will cause problems.

Another problem I have with these devices is that they are mostly all made in China, and so is the app.  A few years ago when I first started doing home automation there was a popular plug (which is still around) that one geekster used a packet sniffer and proved the device was sending your network credentials back to its server in China.  I won’t dwell here too much but if someone has a back door in the software of a device that resides on your network………..THEY ARE IN YOUR WHOLE NETWORK.

My requirements for a smart device are this:

  1. The ability to remove their firmware and flash it with Open Source firmware.  This is number 1 on my list for a reason.  Security.  Many devices with IoT chips are now blocking the ability to reprogram their devices.  Tuya, which makes about a zillion guts for smart devices has been doing this for a couple years.
  2. The ability to incorporate the device into my Home Automation.  I use a program called  HomeAssistant.  I don’t necessarily want the Googler or the foreign agent, Alexa running the whole show.  I want a web interface, dashboard that I can control from FAR AWAY.  Can’t tell Alexa to turn the thermostat down if you aren’t in the house.   And again this goes back to my previous point of having multiple smart apps = chaos and confusion.
  3. The ability to control it manually should automation break.. If it breaks 100% when the internet goes down………what good is it?

Now, lets get on with making dumb stuff smart.

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Home Automated Landscape Lights

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Decided to put some landscape lighting up at my new home and figured I might as well make it home automation friendly.  That means I want to control it from a browser or by Alexa or Google commands.

It’s actually not very complicated, as far as home automation goes.  The whole project is centered around a Sonoff 4 Channel Relay.  The device I linked is actually a newer model than the one I have.  I have the Sonoff 4 Channel Relay R2 Pro.

Sonoff 4CH R2 Relay

Figured I may as well use it.

It can control 4 different lighting circuits however I’ll probably only install 2 or 3 circuits, and this of course will give me room to grow.

These things come ready to roll but the device and smart app are Chinese and I don’t dig that at all.

So I flash mine with Open Source firmware called Tasmota.  At least I know my information isn’t being sent to some server in China.

NOTE: These devices are rated to 10 amps only.  If you use them on an AC home circuit breaker it is likely a 15 or 20 amp circuit.  Translation:  The Sonoff will fail catastrophically before a circuit breaker trips if something goes wrong.  We are powering this device with DC power and using low voltage DC landscaping lights that are 12 volt.  This will be safe.

So basically what we need to pull this off is:

  • Sonoff 4 channel relay
  • 12v power supply (I use a 360 watt)
  • Low Voltage Landscape Lights (from anywhere, Lowes, HomeDepot, Amazon, etc.)
  • Low voltage wiring. 2 conductor usually 14 or 16 gauge.

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Sonoff 4 channel relay bricked

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Sonoff 4Ch R2 Relay

I have an older Sonoff 4 Channel Relay (R2 Pro) which I had flashed with Tasmota firmware version 6.4.1.

In the interest of incorporating easily into my home automation I decided to upgrade the Tasmota firmware to the latest version (9.5.0 at the time of this writing). I want to use it for landscape lighting.

I uploaded the Tasmota minimal which did upload but when the relay rebooted the relay 2 light came on and the relay 1 relay began furiously clicking.

The WiFi was NOT connected as well.   No problem.  I’ll just put the device in boatloader mode and rewrite the flash memory.  You do that by holding down this button while powering up:

Enter boot loader mode (click pic to enlarge)

Great, except it didn’t work.  I was pretty sure it was bricked for all eternity and I was ready to throw it in the trash.   Holding the button down is supposed to short data pin GPIO0 (zero) to ground causing the device to enter boot loader mode.

I decided I would try to manually short GPIO0 to ground by using these pins while the FTDI controller was connected.

Continue below:

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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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