how to set up Frigate NVR in proxmox including coral.ai
why If you see a need to save security camera video the Frigate NVR app will justify your having a ‘home server’. Frigate records, finds and plays the video whenever there’s motion in front...
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Frigate NVR and QuickSync on Intel Alder Lake-N: a guide to using Proxmox, Docker, Frigate
Target Hardware: Intel N100 / N95 / N305 / N355 The “driver gap” Intel Alder Lake-N chips are famous for QuickSync (QSV)—a dedicated slice of the GPU that processes video so your CPU doesn’t...
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camera setup in Frigate NVR: a guide with examples
Frigate NVR is a much-lauded security camera application with a huge following. Setting it up requires skills, knowledge and time. Frigate NVR – camera discovery and setup Camera configuration is one of Frigate NVR’s...
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how to set up secure local or remote https access (no Cloudflare tunnel) 🚀
This guide describes how to make a service (like Frigate; proxmox or portainer or a camera or synology or qnap) accessible via HTTPS using a domain name. You’ll want access to some services from...
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charging times and costs for an electric vehicle – EV charge calculator
Here’s a ready-reckoner to quickly compare charging methods and costs for an electric vehicle. It shows the value of home charging at peak or off-peak tariffs vs charging at a car park. It will...
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run your own image AI with StableDiffusion automatic1111
want to DIY? Because I have daily uses for image-AI, I’ll explain below how I set about installing it ‘for free’ on a pretty good PC made for gaming. AI is mostly not free...
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set up sonoff RF bridge to respond to 433MHz devices and send alerts via Home Assistant
it’s not hard to make use of old or inexpensive 433MHz RF devices so that you can use them with modern smart home devices. For example, a 443MHz bell push button on my desk...
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monitor home heating when you have multiple thermostats and smart radiator valves (TRV)
control all your smart thermostats from the Home Assistant dashboard When you have several thermostats there’s a need to see them at a glance. Home Assistant has a ’tile card’ that provides a compact...
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measure heating oil use (or water tank level) with a A02YYUW ultrasonic sensor
This tank level sensor produces surprising detail about my heating oil usage. It’s a bit like a smart meter for oil so I now know say, how many litres I burned each day for...
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Home Assistant … set up a Bluetooth proxy in the ESPHome dashboard
what you need to set up a Bluetooth proxy A Bluetooth proxy requires almost any of the ESP32 development boards you can find at maker shops or Amazon. You need an ESP32-based board not...
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use a Switchbot water leak detector without a hub in Home Assistant … set up a Bluetooth proxy in ESPHome
You can connect the Switchbot water leak detector with Home Assistant without the need for a Switchbot hub. The detector uses Bluetooth and wifi to send out its alarms which will be picked up...
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Google Nest can’t connect to Heat Link – ‘failed to connect to Heat link’
The Google Nest thermostat dial can have a wired connection and/or a wireless connection with the Heat Link base. A loss of wireless connection is a rare event and it usually fixes itself. In...
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adjust the room lights when the TV goes on and off – Home Assistant
Smart devices often find their best uses in Home Assistant ‘automations’. ‘Automations’ are better known as ‘routines’ and they make quite unrelated devices interact with each other as will be shown below. What follows...
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3D printing got more good – the ‘Creality K1C’ is fit for purpose and ticks many boxes
why the Creality K1C impressed can’t you think of any any negatives? For a critical reviewer, bringing more experience I’d point you to Daniel’s ‘CROSSLINK’ channel on YouTube. This is a search link for...
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connecting a second wi-fi router your home network
The situation: in addition to the router that serves your home with internet you’ve another router that could perhaps improve your wireless or wired coverage. The extra router could be any spare wi-fi router...
get water from a borehole – the electrics and control bit
visitors this year: 835 Remote homes and farms can get their water from a borehole – years ago the owner of my house drilled the garden until they found a water source. Today I...
how virtualisation and containers are useful: tips to start using proxmox
visitors this year: 1,032 why a server? what can I use a home server for? a vpn, a router, an ad-blocker, storage for backups, a photo library, a music server, a printer server, a...
receive a notification of your Home Assistant IP address
visitors this year: 1,280 TLDR: one morning too often I’ve woken to find that my ‘smart’ things has gone stupid and they haven’t turned on because the Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant has gone...
smarter home heating with thermostatic radiator valves (TRV) and a review of the ‘tado’ TRV
visitors this year: 1,266 With today’s energy issues it feels unnecessary to heat rooms we aren’t using. Back in the day we fitted thermostatic radiator valves (TRV) to radiators in central heating systems. We...
basic arithmetic in Home Assistant to calculate how much heating oil I need and when I need to order heating oil
visitors this year: 1,974 My boiler burns heating oil from a tank and unlike the ‘gas’ that most homes burn it’s finite – so when it’s gone I’m cold. Ordering heating oil is tricky...
Use Tailscale to remotely access your network – the zero-conf alternative to install at home and on your laptop; phone and more.
visitors this year: 2,844 I’ve been using the Wireguard or nginx to access my home network* securely and I’ve explained in other posts (links below) how they’re used and set up. Tailscale however is...
sound & motion activated LED light strip for a staircase
visitors this year: 813 WS2812B strip – INMP441 microphone – WLED SR software – ESP32 board shopping list for these motion activated stairway lights – see photos wiring diagram for a microphone controlled LED...
sound / motion activated LED light strip for a staircase #2
visitors this year: 145 An LED strip 2 metres long runs beside the staircase. A sensor detects movement which triggers a light pattern along the strip. But if the sensor is a microphone, rather...
use a TTGO TFT LCD to display temperature graphs and control a water heater
visitors this year: 6,308 You can graph temperature on this cute display and use buttons to turn on the heater as needed – the project works with Home Assistant and needs very little else...
network map, scan and traffic – setup nmap; webmap and ntopng in docker
visitors this year: 3,998 If you have curiosity and/or paranoia about what happens across your network there are tools which can gather information for you. This post will show how to install tools to...
set up moodle 4 in docker on a home server
visitors this year: 1,476 Moodle is a web-based platform where you can create learning activities, manage course assessment and pretty much run a school or sell courses. If your needs are small enough, you...
smoke alarm – 433MHz RF sensor for Home Assistant & Sonoff RF Bridge
visitors this year: 516 This smoke alarm piqued my interest as a way to create an smoke/fire alert when I might be elsewhere. It’s unbranded and labelled as “C50D/W (1527, can skip code)” which...
use your sub-domain to access your home server (eg Home Assistant) using a CNAME – plus nginx proxy manager
visitors this year: 5,302 your need for a (nicer) sub-domain: At home you access an IP camera, a router, Home Assistant, a wi-fi access point, a NAS drive (eg Synology or QNAP) or perhaps...
fix problems with TimeMachine backup on openmediavault – set up and troubleshooting
visitors this year: 7,764 Time Machine is a backup utility on the Mac. This can work for years and then one day it doesn’t. If you need a file you had an hour ago,...
calibrate and fit a Vl53L0X time of flight sensor to measure water or oil tank level (2025)
visitors this year: 3,391 Here is a tank level sensor that’s more useful than anything you can buy. This post focuses on my housing and the calibration for a basic sensor to measure oil...
measure heating oil usage with a sensor and display on an energy dashboard – easy
visitors this year: 2,603 how to make a heating oil tank level sensor that’s more useful than anything you can buy. This sensor… Background: homes like mine use oil as a fuel to keep...
measure heating oil usage with a Vl53L0X time of flight sensor and display on an energy dashboard (2025)
visitors this year: 5,074 how to make a heating oil tank level sensor that’s more useful than anything you can buy. This sensor… Background: homes like mine use diesel oil as a fuel to...
using outdoor IP cameras for home security and monitoring: PoE
visitors this year: 709 tips on choosing cameras and using POE / passive POE and waterproofing the connection. how do I record activity from cameras? Buying a security camera system isn’t just for professionals....
a DIY security camera system with object detection, recording and phone notifications – using Docker, Frigate and Home Assistant
visitors this year: 10,112 Let’s start with the suggestion that an easy route to a security camera setup is to buy a kit with cameras and a system box to record events on site...
use a smart switch to turn off a lithium battery charger
visitors this year: 1,947 I know that I ought not leave things powered on. Knowing that is easier than remembering that an e-bike or drone or laptop battery is still connected. Below I show...
this motion detecting night light tells Home Assistant when you pass by
visitors this year: 4,647 The very popular, but hardly-known Xiaomi nightlight, which lights up a dark space when you pass, now has a ‘smart’ version. A night light is nice on a dark stairway...
light up the staircase with an LED strip and tasteless light effects
visitors this year: 1,428 see version 2 of this project here My initial want was for the stairs to have soft glow lighting … but what the hec, LED strip lights do more than...
diet: see your weight changing with a smart weighing scale
visitors this year: 1,110 A ‘smart scale’ that records my weight to a phone might be seen as ‘gadgety’ and unnecessary but I’m now many months into this and think it’s fabulous. Almost fact:...
buy the correct screw threaded adapters to mount a microphone and GoPro on a tripod or stand
visitors this year: 685 GoPro, microphone and camera fittings are so ridiculously different, so here are some pointers to help buy the right bits to mount them. In all cases, even a GoPro (below)...
convert a bicycle to an ‘e-bike’ or electric powered bike
visitors this year: 1,283 when you want an e-bike and you don’t want another bike:
iPad LCD magnifier or microscope for SMD soldering or other close work
visitors this year: 368 , If you’re a casual electronics hobbyist like me, the idea of using a LCD magnifier or microscope may seem attractive. For example this music spectrum display kit requires soldering...
the Google Fit app helps record walking tracks, sleep, weight, bike rides and calories
visitors this year: 1,179 topics on this page: what do I eat? how does my weight change? do I get enough sleep? where did I go today? how does my body react to exercise?...
Huawei watch, Huawei watch fit new and Huawei Band 6 – useful, affordable smartwatches for 2022
visitors this year: 344 If you’re looking for a smartwatch, look at the Huawei Watch / Huawei Band 6 / Huawei Watch Fit New wearables If you’ve yet to get yourself a smartwatch I’ll...
sync Huawei Health watch data into Google Fit; Google Drive or fitness apps like Strava or Komoot
visitors this year: 16,480 … I can now see my Huawei health data in Google Fit and Google Drive. The Health Sync app acts as a go-between, and connects Huawei health to several other...
connect remotely to your home network using the WireGuard add-on in Home Assistant
visitors this year: 22,064 Why do this? At an early point on the journey to network heaven you may have a need to connect from some holiday location say, to a camera, your computer,...
how to stop a smart lamp and smart switch states getting out of sync
visitors this year: 752 two meanings of getting out of sync: Scenario one: You’ve two independently controlled table lamps which you’d prefer to turn on or off together. The lamps could be smart lamps...
Robot arms reach out to the Raspberry Pi: this is art
visitors this year: 392 What’s going on? Hec, I’m in a room with robot arms and fingers twitching as they respond to social media. THIS can only be art but it’s art powered by...
upgrade your router firmware to ‘FreshTomato’
visitors this year: 10,644 The Netgear Nighthawk r7000 is a router, switch and powerful Wi-fi access point in one unit and even in 2021, years on from when it was made it still offers...
addressable LED light strips put to use
visitors this year: 404 There are LED strip lights where every LED can be doing something different with the result that you can create peculiar effects. You can start with a commercially available kit...
access your Home Assistant remotely using DuckDNS, Letsencrypt and the nginx SSL proxy
visitors this year: 6,640 Home Assistant is more useful if you can access this ‘home automation hub’ away from home. You can then control Home Assistant remotely with a browser or an excellent mobile...
use nginx proxy manager with home assistant to access many network devices
visitors this year: 21,012 This page is for those who want to access Home Assistant from outside the home, and also want to access other devices, a router, a camera or a server on...
use the smart device app even if you use an automation platform
visitors this year: 337 Your smart bulbs, switches and door bell all come with a useful manufacturer’s app – over time you’ll accumulate many such apps. While Home Assistant might make them redundant, here...
Dim display problem on large LED digital clock
visitors this year: 1,513 The digits at one end of a large LED clock displayed much more dimly than they ought. I’d say they were about half the brightness – and it was quite...
how to know when the washing machine has finished
visitors this year: 981 If you need to know when a device, like a dryer or washing machine has finished working, get a ‘smart plug with energy monitoring‘. Amazon list many of them but...
automated fade up dimmer for analogue LED Strips – using a MOSFET and ESPhome
visitors this year: 8,976 This ceiling ‘coffer’ is lit by four 5m LED strips – each is cut to fit the space. When my kitchen lights turn on they fade up in a few...
