I found a forum where someone asked about doing exactly what I’m trying to do, use a RAMPS board to drive stepper motors not for a 3D printer. They were directed to use this code example to get started. What great fortune, I don’t have to figure this out on my own! Unfortunately, it wasn’t […]
1x Cereal Dispenser 1x Ramps 1.6 Board 5x A4988 motor drivers 1x Arduino Mega Just a normal one for now, but I have one with an integrated ESP32 on order 4x Nema17 17HS4023 Stepper Motors The RAMPs parts came before the Arduino, so I designed and 3D printed a shaft for the auger and a […]
For a lesson in creating node.js projects in Docker, read on. If you want a quick and easy way to implement Assistant-Relay, skip to the Docker-Hub section. I want to setup Assistant Relay in my home automation system so that I can send commands to Google Assistant without having to say something. This opens the […]
Last post I walked through setting up Room Assistant and wasn’t super happy with it. I’m giving Find a try today which can work in 2 different ways: Passive Tracking This is similar to Room Assistant, except instead of Bluetooth it uses WiFi. This doesn’t require anything to be set-up on the device you’re tracking, […]
One of the key differences between a smart home and a home with smart devices is automation. When smart homes are done poorly, you can tell because people are using their smart phones to turn on a light when the switch is more convenience, or worse yet, if you use the switch the light is […]
With Google semi-recently closing down their APIs for Nest products, I was starting to look for a new Thermostat. This was unfortunate since the Nest thermostat is a really nice looking piece of hardware. Fortunately someone did some sleuthing and figured out what the new APIs are and published them in an unofficial HA integration. […]
My home automation system has evolved a fair bit since my last post, mostly it’s been a migration to a Docker container on my Unraid server. I’m now running Home Assistant version 0.103.3 and the only thing in common with my previous system is the z-wave system. Trying to jump from version 0.65.6 proved to […]
I’m trying to give MySensors another chance; I gave it a half-hearted attempt when I first got started with home automation, but never got very far. I’m going to demo this with an OG Raspberry Pi B and if it works and I like it, I might transfer it over to another Pi that’s already […]
This is my attempt at creating an open source controller for the LitterRobot3, a very expensive but incredibly useful addition to my house with 3 cats. Or at least it was very useful when it was working. It has been acting up for a while, and I’m not entirely sure what the problem is yet. […]
So right now, the Home Assistant Dashboard is interactive via the touch screen, but beyond that it just shows a page and nothing else. I have a few things in mind that could be added to this, but I think I’m going to need to break it into two posts; software enhancements and hardware enhancements. […]