Building a custom network rack from steel box section
09 May 2026 11 min read
Upgrading Our Home Network Rack: Custom Steel Frame Build, 10Gb Switching & UniFi Setup
Home Automation
From prototype to production - home automation that actually works.
Monitoring Air Quality with the AirGradient Open Air Outdoor Monitor and Home Assistant
23 October 2024 4 min read
Using an open source air quality monitoring system from AirGradient, we have added outdoor air pollution data logging to Home Assistant and our long term data logger online.
New Smart Gas Meter Broke Home Assistant long term logging
13 September 2024 9 min read
New smart energy meters promised better logging, but it broke our Home Assistant install and long-term energy logging. Here’s what went wrong and how it’s affecting Home Assistant in our smart home
Amazon Echo Spot Teardown - Smart speaker with LCD
11 September 2024 31 min read
Welcome to a in-depth teardown of the 2024 Amazon Echo Spot Smart Speaker with LCD display. In this blog post, we'll be taking a closer look at the inner workings of this popular smart home device, uncovering the components that power its advanced features, and exploring its construction
Trooli Fibre Internet and a new UniFi Dream Machine Pro Network Upgrade
03 May 2024 9 min read
We now have much faster internet thanks to a new fibre connection and internet using Trooli and upgrading from our PFSense firewall to a Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro
Ikea Styrbar with Home Assistant as a Sonos Remote Control
04 March 2024 5 min read
Using the Ikea STYRBAR, four-button remote as a simple controller for Sonos Smart speakers with Home Assistant
Elgato Key Light remote control using an ESP32 Wi-Fi module
20 January 2024 15 min read
Building a simple remote controller for Elgato Key Lights using a low-cost ESP32 Wi-Fi module and a push switch
Home Server upgrade to an Intel N100 fanless ASRock N100DC-ITX
20 December 2023 8 min read
Upgrading our home Linux server again with a new low-power Intel N100 fanless system with 32Gb RAM and 1Tb NVMe storage.
Amazon Echo Pop Smart Speaker teardown
23 July 2023 13 min read
New teardown and looking inside the latest Amazon Echo Pop smart home speaker and Amazon Alexa smart home device
Air Quality in Your Home: Measuring using Home Assistant with Ikea Vindriktning and Netatmo
15 January 2023 11 min read
Using Home Assistant with Ikea Vindriktning & Netatmo to measure the air quality in your home or office.
Energy Savings and Solar PV Upgrade, Six Months of Data
27 December 2022 13 min read
After lots of small changes to our usage, device upgrades and replacing some old household appliances, our energy usage is around 45% lower
Amazon Echo Dot 5th Gen Smart Speaker Teardown
28 November 2022 9 min read
Taking a look inside the latest Amazon Echo Dot 5 smart home speaker and Amazon Alexa device, now with a new larger speaker and temperature sensor
ModBus to MQTT WiFi Bridge for a Solis 1.5kW Inverter
30 October 2022 7 min read
Using an ESP32 WiFi module to create a ModBus to MQTT WiFi Bridge for a Solis 1.5kW Solar PV Inverter to log data with Home Assistant
Nest Thermostat to Home Assistant via 1-Wire, Arduino and MQTT
22 September 2022 4 min read
Connecting our Nest Thermostat 3rd Gen to Home Assistant via 1-wire and an Arduino Uno to capture the 1-wire sensor data
myenergi eddi solar power diverter installation with WiFi
28 August 2022 7 min read
We got the new eddi V2.1 from myenergi with built-in WiFi and ethernet to add to our home solar system and Home Assistant.