Cable Management Cord Organizer

The JOYROOM Management Organizer for your nightstand is an ideal solution if you’re looking to streamline your space and keep your everyday essentials neatly arranged. Here’s why you should consider adding it to your home:

Smart Organization for Daily Essentials

  • Declutter Your Space: Designed with multiple compartments, it provides designated spaces for items like your phone, remote controls, reading glasses, and other personal accessories. This means no more searching around in the morning or at night.
  • Enhanced Accessibility: By keeping everything in one place, you’ll enjoy a more organized routine where your essentials are always within reach.

Sleek and Versatile Design

  • Modern Aesthetic: Its minimalist yet stylish design complements any décor, whether it’s on your nightstand, desk, or even as part of your living area setup.
  • Compact & Functional: The organizer is designed to be compact enough for small spaces while still offering ample storage, making it a perfect addition to both modern and traditional interiors.

Built for Durability and Ease of Use

  • Quality Materials: Constructed with durability in mind, it’s built to last, resisting daily wear and tear while maintaining its sleek appearance.
  • Easy Maintenance: The smooth surfaces and thoughtful layout make it easy to clean and maintain, ensuring your organizer always looks its best.

Perfect for a Streamlined Lifestyle

  • Simplify Your Routine: Whether you’re a night owl or an early riser, having a dedicated spot for your accessories can improve your daily routine, reduce clutter, and even help you stay focused.
  • Great Gift Idea: Its practicality and elegant design also make it an excellent gift for anyone who values organization and a tidy living space.

In summary, the JOYROOM Management Organizer is a smart investment for anyone looking to create a more organized and efficient living environment. Its thoughtful design, durable construction, and versatile functionality make it a standout choice for managing your nightstand accessories and beyond.

The Blink Outdoor 4th Gen 2 CCTV Camera

The Blink Outdoor 4th Gen 2 Camera is an excellent choice if you’re looking to enhance your home’s security with a reliable, feature-rich, and hassle-free outdoor camera. Here’s why you might consider making the purchase:

Easy Installation and Wireless Freedom

One of the standout features of this camera is its wireless design. Since it’s battery-powered, you don’t need to worry about complicated wiring or drilling holes in your walls. The setup process is straightforward, making it perfect for anyone who wants to quickly bolster their security without professional installation.

Robust Outdoor Performance

Designed to withstand the elements, the Blink Outdoor camera is built to perform in all weather conditions. Its weather-resistant construction means you can trust it to keep an eye on your property, rain or shine. Plus, with features like HD video quality and advanced motion detection, it reliably captures clear footage day or night.

Smart Home Integration

If you already have smart home devices, this camera fits right in. It’s compatible with systems like Amazon Alexa, allowing for seamless integration into your existing smart home ecosystem. This integration means you can easily access live views, control settings, or receive alerts on your smartphone, ensuring you’re always connected to what’s happening around your home.

Enhanced Security and Peace of Mind

The camera’s high-definition recording and reliable motion detection help capture important moments when activity is detected. Some models also include two-way audio, which can be a game changer if you ever need to communicate with visitors or even deter unwanted guests remotely. With these features, you gain not just a recording device, but a proactive tool to enhance your home security.

Long Battery Life

A major benefit of the Blink Outdoor is its impressive battery life. With minimal maintenance, you can enjoy extended periods of surveillance without frequently changing batteries. This efficiency translates to more consistent security coverage and less hassle overall.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Blink Outdoor 4th Gen 2 Camera combines modern convenience with advanced security features in a sleek, weatherproof design. Whether you’re looking to monitor your property more effectively or integrate it into a larger smart home system, this camera offers a compelling solution that delivers both performance and peace of mind.

Roku Voice Remote – TV Remote Control with Voice Control, TV Controls, Simple Setup, & Pre-Set App Shortcuts

This Roku Voice Remote is a fantastic upgrade for your streaming setup. Here’s why you might consider buying it:

Seamless Voice Control

The standout feature is its responsive voice command capability. Instead of fumbling through menus, you can simply speak the title or genre you’re looking for, and the remote quickly translates your words into action. This makes finding movies, TV shows, and apps both faster and more intuitive.

Intuitive Navigation & Ergonomic Design

In addition to voice control, the remote features traditional buttons for navigation, playback, and volume control. Its layout is user-friendly, with an ergonomic design that feels comfortable in your hand, even during long streaming sessions. The combination of voice and tactile controls ensures that whether you’re multitasking or relaxing, the experience remains smooth.

Quick Setup and Reliable Performance

Pairing the remote with your Roku device is typically a breeze, getting you set up in minutes. Users have noted its consistent performance and reliability, making it a dependable companion for your everyday entertainment needs.

Enhanced Streaming Experience

If you’re aiming to simplify your viewing experience, this remote integrates perfectly with your Roku device. It eliminates the hassle of manual searches and cumbersome button presses, letting you focus on enjoying your favorite content. The voice search feature especially enhances the overall experience, making your interaction with the device more natural and engaging.

Considerations

Before purchasing, ensure that the remote is compatible with your specific Roku model. While the voice control feature is a major benefit, there might be a slight adjustment period if you’re more accustomed to traditional remotes.

Overall, if you value convenience, speed, and an enhanced streaming experience, this Roku Voice Remote is a smart investment that can significantly streamline your entertainment setup.

Beginners guide to installing HA on Intel NUC (smart home hub)

After using Rasberry Pi for some time , it got too small to handle my needs. This occurs when you start using Home Assistant in real life. So I decided to use a spare Intel NUC i5 for the job, for having more horsepower than a Raspberry Pi.

I decided to install the Home Assistant OS official image for this.

Turn on automatically

In case of power failure and subsequent restore especially when you or no one is at home, you would want the NUC to boot up again automatically so Home Assistant can operate again.

  1. Boot NUC and press F2 on keyboard during start up to go inside BIOS
  2. Click Advanced > Power > Secondary Power Settings > After Power Failure
  3. Select Power On under After Power Failure
  4. Press F10 on keyboard to save the changes and exit BIOS

Installation
Create a Ubuntu Bootable Server Drive
To set up an Ubuntu server on a computer, go to the Ubuntu website and download the Ubuntu server image. Then, create a bootable drive using Etcher, which makes it super simple to flash the image to a USB stick.

Install Docker

To set up Docker, you need to install some additional packages. However, first, you want to get Root access so type the command: sudo -i. Then enter the following command to install the packages:

apt-get install \
  apt-transport-https \
  ca-certificates \
  curl \
  gnupg-agent \
  software-properties-common

NOTE: The Backslash ” \ “ is there to ONLY split the command into multiple lines.

Then, add the Docker’s official GPG key with the command:

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -

After that, you need to verify that you have the key with the fingerprint 9DC8 5822 9FC7 DD38 854A E2D8 8D81 803C 0EBF CD88. So search for the last 8 characters of the fingerprint with the following:

apt-key fingerprint 0EBFCD88

Next, you need to add the repository where you are going to get Docker from. There are 3 different channels, Stable, Nightly, and test. You definitely want to get the stable version so enter the command:

add-apt-repository \
 "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
 $(lsb_release -cs) \
 stable"

All right, everything is ready, so you can now install Docker with:

apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

Then, to verify that Docker was installed correctly, you can run the command:

docker run hello-world

The last thing that you want to do before installing Hass.io is to make sure that Docker starts when the server boots. So enter the following:

systemctl enable docker

Install Home Assistant Supervised

Docker is now up and running, and if for some reason the server is rebooted, Docker is going to start automatically. To install Home Assistant Supervised, you’ll need to first install a few more required packages so on the terminal enter the following:

apt-get install \
  apparmor-utils \
  avahi-daemon \
  dbus \
  jq \
  network-manager \
  socat

After that is done, you can install Hass.io with the command:

curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/home-assistant/supervised-installer/master/installer.sh" | bash -s

And that’s it. Give it like a minute or two and Home Assistant would be ready to go and you can access the frontend using the server’s IP address with the port 8123 at the end.

192.168.XX.XX:8123




References : https://community.home-assistant.io/t/absolute-beginners-guide-to-installing-ha-on-intel-nuc-using-docker/98412

Basic Network Terms

Wireless Access Points

Or WAP as they are abbreviated, are used to provide wireless access to your network via WiFi. You can deploy several of these devices throughout the home to provide full coverage of the area.

If you have an extra wireless router laying around, it may be possible to use it as a WAP.

Dual Band is a term used to identify devices that operate in two radio frequencies. The 2.4Ghz band is best used for long distances and the most commonly used. The 5Ghz band in contrast is much faster but it has trouble with wall penetration which hinders it’s range performance. But the 5GHz band is also less used and therefore preferable in saturated WiFi areas.

Wireless Protocols

  • 802.11G – Stay away from this. It’s old, it’s slow (54Mbps). Operates only on the 2.4Ghz band.
  • 802.11N – Most commonly used today. Maximum speed of 450Mbps. Operates in both radio bands.
  • 802.11AC – On the market since Q3 2013. Maximum speed of 1300Mbps. Operates only in 5Ghz band. To benefit from this standard, the client must also be AC compatible.

Ubiquiti offers great enterprise ready hardware that’s still easy enough for home set ups.

Routers

Routers are used to manage traffic between one or more networks. It’s worth mentioning that home routers today offer more then this. Most home routers are now manufactured to include a small Switch, and a WAP for convenience. Some will also include a Modem. Be aware that in many of these cases, the “jack of all trades, master of none” saying applies.

With that in mind, you can still buy a good home router that should satisfy most people’s needs. Asus has some great all in ones that have an extended feature set, with a very easy to use user interface.

If you want to buy a stand alone product, again check out the Ubiquiti light or the Mikrotik line of products.

Modems

Before purchasing a modem, please check with your ISP for a compatibility list. Some ISPs will not offer you technical support unless you have a device on their supported list. Some ISPs may not allow you to replace the modem at all.

Modems are used to translate an analog signal commonly used by cable providers, to a digital signal computers can understand. If your ISP offers a fiber connection, you do not need a modem since fiber is already carrying a digital signal to your home.

When shopping for a modem for a cable provider, look for a DOCSIS 3.0 device. This latest standard is given to devices that support the latest maximum speeds, 344Mbps/144Mbps.

Switches

These devices are used to distribute a wired connection to devices on the network. Switches come in a variety of sizes to accommodate the network needs, from a small 4 port switch like those in most wireless home routers, to large business class devices with fifty ports.

It is good to know that unmanaged switches are plug and play and usually recommended for home applications. A managed (smart) switch in contrast, can do a few functions a router does. These may include prioritizing traffic to a specific port, or creating additional virtual networks (vLAN).

We recommend that you stick with an unmanaged Switch. TRENDnet has some really great metal devices that fit the bill.

HUB

These devices are used to distribute a wired connection to devices on the network. (Wait, I’ve read that before!) Unlike switches however, HUBs cannot understand the traffic that it is handling. A HUB will receive a packet from one port and send it to all of it’s other ports. Whereas a Switch will send that same packet only to the port, where the device it is trying to reach is. This can result in unnecessary traffic being sent everywhere and potentially clogging the network. As a result, we recommend that you buy an unmanaged Switch instead. HUBs are now an old technology.

Buy a switch.

Powerline Adapters

Powerline Adapters are used to distribute a wired network connection, by using your existing electrical wiring. Typically you use this if you cannot run an Ethernet cable. You will need at least two adapters to complete the connection, one to send the data and one to receive.

Powerline Adapters depend greatly on the quality of wiring in your home. Therefore if you live in a old home, this may not be the solution for you. When shopping for these devices look for speeds advertised.

TP Link, TRENDnet and other manufacturers offer adapters with a max throughput of 600Mbps.

MoCA Bridge/Adapters

The MoCA protocol was created to use the existing Coax cables in your home to deliver data. Like with Powerline Adapters, you need to have at least two adapters to complete a single run, one to send the data and one to receive it. Essentially you are turning your Coax cables into much slower ethernet cables.

Aside from Actiontec, most manufacturers that used to offer these devices, have now stopped.

FiOS users who also subscribe to FiOS TV service will find that Verizon uses the MoCA protocol to deliver data to the Set Top Boxes. The Actiontec router provided by VZ includes this functionality. Some TiVO hardware also uses MoCA.

Not much choice here, Actiontec may be your only solution.

Ethernet Cable

These are used to physically connect two devices on the network. But you already knew that right?! So let’s talk about all the different types of cable and which to get.

  • CAT5e – Maximum speed is 1000Mbps (gigabit) at a maximum distance of 100 meters (~328ft). This is what you probably have in your walls. It’s that 5 foot cable that probably came with your router.
  • CAT6 – Maximum speed is 1000Mbps (gigabit) at a maximum distance of 100 meters (~328ft). This standard offers improved data transmission and reduces data errors when compared to CAT5e.
  • CAT6a – Maximum speed pf 10000Mbps (10 gigabit) at a maximum distance of 100 meters (~328ft). We recommend that if you are installing new wire in your home, to use this standard.

Amazon and Monoprice are great places to buy cable online.

I want to be future proof, can I install Fiber instead?

We’ve seen this question come up and it’s not really if you can, but if you should. Yes Fiber offers fantastic throughput unmatched by copper Ethernet cable. Unfortunately there is not a single home appliance that is Fiber ready. This means you’d have to buy adapters for every end of Fiber run to convert the signal to copper Ethernet. You’d have to purchase a very expensive Fiber Switch. In addition, it is highly recommended that you have a professional install Fiber. Lastly, today’s home connections and even small business connections are not fast enough to saturate a CAT6a cable.

If you want to be future proof, install Conduit instead.

I want to keep this simple so that the average DIY user can understand it. Hence I stayed away from what a layer 3 device is and all the other information that’s meaningless to average visitors. However I may have made some errors, if so feel free to post bellow or pm me. And by no means is this a definitive guide, if you think I’m missing something and would like to see it added, let me know.

Alexa turn off the light, Affordably please!

NB: If you don’t want to DIY you can try the Wyze Plug its a compact WiFi Smart Plug, 15A, also works with Alexa and Google Assistant : https://amzn.to/3fOR63C

Heard of the sonoff? Well this piece of hardware can turn any electrical appliance into an affordable Alexa / Google Home enabled smart appliance. Forgot to turn off anything before leaving home? yeah you guess it, consider it done. There are tons of other device controllers such as this wonderful power extension.

But the catch here is that , it allows you to run your own software(firmware). Why would anyone want to do that? well there are many advantages, such as when your internet service suddenly goes down, you maybe out of help, unless you pursue this path and also you want to avoid not having total control over your home appliances.

You can install lots of firmwares to flash the sonoff with, but i love esphome because its easy to use and especially if you are new to home automations it makes integration easier.

How to Flash Esphome to Sonoff Basic
You can use this guide to flash the sonoff with espurna firmware without “touching/soldering any wires” and then do an “upgrade” using the bin file generated from home assistant by the esphome dashboard.

Home Assistant Integration
If you’re using Home Assistant , once you’ve flashed it with the esphome firmware , it should will show up under notification, you name it accordingly and wait some few minutes and then add Alexa to discover new devices. Based on the name you give it in your alexa app you can then ask alexa to turn your light or appliance on or off.

DIY Window / Door Sensor Security System (wireless and wired version)

If you are like me , you would want to have a security system that you are proud to not only own but you setup from scratch so that you can customize it to suit your needs.
Well am not like you but i will love to “own my security system” so that i know exactly what its doing and am sure its working so i don’t get surprised when it doesn’t perform its duty! if you heard yourself saying yes, then lets go!

This is easy to do. Trust me, you don’t need to own a soldering iron( maybe in the next life) at least for this setup.

Wired Option
what you will need
1. Door/Window Contact Sensors
2. Cat6 Cables
3. Nodemcu Esp8266 3packs ( get a regular android phone charger to power each)
4. Dupoint Cables

First label all the windows/doors that needs monitoring. Then run the cat6 cable to each window/door from your central location.label them as well. Now choose one color combination so it eliminates any form of confusion. I choose orange/orange-white for door/window sensors. ( side note- i choose cat6 cabling so i can run other sensors where needed such as led light controllers, temperature /humidity sensors later when needed)
Now the software that will run on the Nodemcu Esp8266 is the ESPHOME Firemware. You can get it installed using the guide here : ESPHOME firmware. am asumming you have a working Home Assistant(HA) installed on a raspberry pi with a reliable power supply ? if not comment below and let me put together a newbie guide to setting up the home assistant on a rasberry pi or nuc7.
From the ESPHOME firmware dashboard within the HA interface add a new device and give it a suitable name. Mine is below :

——————————————————-

esphome:
name: b2
platform: ESP8266
board: nodemcuv2

wifi:
ssid: ssid name
password: pass

ap:
ssid: ” Fallback Hotspot”
password: “pass”
captive_portal:
web_server:
port: 80
auth:
username: admin
password: pass

Enable logging

logger:

Enable Home Assistant API

api:

sensor:

  • platform: wifi_signal
    name: “Name Wifi Signal”
    update_interval: 10s
  • platform: uptime
    name: Name Uptime Sensor

ota:
binary_sensor:

  • platform: status
    name: “Name Board Status”
  • platform: gpio
    pin:
    number: GPIO10
    mode: INPUT_PULLUP
    name: “GPIO10 security DOOR 0”
    device_class: window
  • platform: gpio
    pin:
    number: GPIO09
    mode: INPUT_PULLUP
    name: “GPIO09 security DOOR 0”
    device_class: window
  • platform: gpio
    pin:
    number: D1
    mode: INPUT_PULLUP
    name: ” D1 security DOOR 1″
    device_class: window
  • platform: gpio
    pin:
    number: D2
    mode: INPUT_PULLUP
    name: “D2 security DOOR 2”
    device_class: window
  • platform: gpio
    pin:
    number: D3
    mode: INPUT_PULLUP
    name: “D3 security DOOR 2”
    device_class: window
  • platform: gpio
    pin:
    number: D5
    mode: INPUT_PULLUP
    name: “D5 security DOOR 3”
    device_class: door
  • platform: gpio
    pin:
    number: D6
    mode: INPUT_PULLUP
    name: “D6 security DOOR 4”
    device_class: door
  • platform: gpio
    pin:
    number: D7
    mode: INPUT_PULLUP
    name: “D7 security DOOR 5”
    device_class: door
————————————————

Each Nodemcu Esp8266 board takes 7 Doors/Windows, so depending on your needs you can zone all windows in a room and make it as one window or have them seperated.

Sensor connections marked in black

Now for the connections : Join all the “orange-white cable to be one single cable and using the dupoint cable connect it to the pin Labled GND.
Then using a single dupoint cable for each door sensor , connect the other side to each of the remaining pin marked above.

You connections should finally look like this

After uploading the sketch/program to the nodemcu esp8266 board, it will automatically showup in the HA notifications, add it to HA and rename the various labels to your heart desire.

Completely Wireless Option ( For Rental Properties especially)

Use the above for wireless option.

The only difference with this option is that you would have to use one reed contact sensor for one door or one window. Hey its still cheap , compared to the commercial ones available. Also you could use a case like this one to keep your work tidy.


In Summary
1. We connected simple door/window contact sensors to a nodemcu esp8266 board. 2.We then wrote a simple program using esphome to monitor the states of the doors/windows to home assistant. After uploading this sketch, everything should be up and running fine.

What Next?
You can do alot of automations such as turn off heating when the windows are opened or turn on light at night when front door is opened after a specified time, then sound the siren.

And in respect to nofications , get an alert on your phone when a door is opened/closed whilst you are away from home , such as when the kids arrive or a thief breaks in, then trigger the siren and get neighbors or police to take action. You can even take it a step further by having a picture taken via your front door camera and sent to your phone.

DIY Smart Extension Cord

So i had bought these smart switches from amazon.com . I had an extension cord to power a few things I wanted to remotely control. Using the setup seen below i had a “smart extension cord” i could remotely control , monitor and set time on how long it should stay on.

The sonoff smart controller is smart enough to not blow up if you reverse the cable, it will just not work unless its in the right connection. It has no neutral point so i just skipped it as shown above. and it worked just fine!

Networking Basics

Basic Router Setup

*You should get assistance from the router’s manual for this.

  • Connect modem with ethernet cable, to the WAN port of the router
  • Connect LAN port from the router to a computer’s ethernet port
  • *Open browser, navigate to 192.168.1.1, possibly 192.168.0.1
  • Default gateway: 192.168.1.1 possibly 192.168.0.1, please consult your manual
  • Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
  • To enable WIFI, set up Wireless Network, it’s recommended that you set up WPA-2 Personal Security.

Some routers to look at
Unifi routers
DDWRT Routers

Wireless Setup

*It is recommended that use a wireless scanner for this step. WiFi Analyzer for Android. Sorry iOS, Apple has banned these basic networking tools. NetSureyor for PC. iStumbler for OSX.

-How to determine what settings to use for your wireless network:

  • 2.4GHz, use it for range and device comparability
  • 5GHz, use it for speed/bandwidth, minimize interference with other signals
  • After scanning your area with a WiFi tool, determine what channels are being used by neighboring networks
  • You want to set your WiFi on a different channel as to minimize interference, while at the same time choosing the highest channel available. For instance if you see someone on channel 9, you want to set your WiFi on channel 10 or 11.
  • Higher channels offer slightly better performance. If there are no other wireless networks, choose a high channel number.*

Additionaly, and as pointed out there are only three channels on the spectrum that do not overlap. These being channels 1, 6 and 11. Therefore it is also suggested that if possible, to simply choose these channels. Unless of course these are overused where you live. For more information on this topic, please read the comment referred.

Advanced Setups

Terms to keep in mind:

  • DHCP Server- this is used by the router to automatically assign addresses to the various connecting devices.
  • Static IP- an assigned address that does not change.
  • QoS- used to prioritize network traffic.
  • DMZ- allows all traffic to bypass the router’s firewall. Do not enable this unless you know exactly what you’re doing.
  • Port Forwarding- specifies what port to allow traffic through. Please check out portforwarding.com for extensive help with this, including hundreds of router guides.

Connecting Two Routers to Expand Your Network

There are several ways to do this, and there are several goals to keep in mind when doing so. Here’s the run down to the most typical set ups.

Keep in mind that some routers offer “Routing Modes.” This can make configuration easier. Please refer to your user’s manual.

Wireless Access Point

This is used to connect two routers with a cable. All connected devices can see each other on the local network, regardless of what router they are connected to.

  • Connect ethernet cable from the primary router(default gateway) LAN port, to a LAN port on the secondary router(Access Point)

On the secondary router:

  • Disable DHCP, your primary router will handle this task
  • Subnet Mask must be the same as Primary Router


Repeater Bridge

Used to connect two routers wirelessly. Recommended only if you cannot run a wire to the second router. Devices connected to either network can see each other on the local network.

You can follow a similar set up as a Wireless Access Point. However your second router needs to be able to connect to the primary router via WiFi.

  • Assign a Static IP on your primary router, to the secondary router, usually 192.168.1.2 or 192.168.0.2 (must match the primary router’s subnet). This becomes the local IP on the second router allowing you to connect to it’s configuration page.

On the secondary router:

  • Disable DHCP, your primary router will handle this task
  • Subnet Mask must be the same as Primary Router

Client Bridge

The goal here is to connect a second router and therefore create a second network. Devices connected to either router, cannot see devices on the other router on the local network. The keyword here is “subnetting.”

  • Connect ethernet cable from LAN on the primary router to WAN on the secondary router.

On the secondary router:

  • Default gateway is the primary router’s IP address. (192.168.1.1 for example)
  • Local IP must be a different subnet. If the primary router’s IP is 192.168.1.1, then this secondary router must be 192.168.2.1. You can further subnet routers down the network to further create more and more networks.
  • You must enable DHCP. Since this is a new network, the new router needs to assign addresses on the new subnet.
  • DNS can be let up to the default gateway/primary router.

FAQ

  • How can I improve my router’s performance?

You may want to consider installing 3rd party software on your router. A popular solution being DD-WRT. Check out DDWRT BASED ROUTERS

Be aware that this may void your router’s warranty or possibly brick it if incorrectly done.

  • How to I set up Port Forwarding?

As mentioned above, please check out portforwarding.com. They have hundreds of guides specific to hundreds of router models.

How to DIY your own Bluetooth Smart Home Hub

So you have wondered how to create your own Bluetooth Low Energy Tracker Hub to integrate into your home automation system? Worry no more!

Using the ESPHome firmware together with the esp32 board you can create a bluetooth tracking component that allows you to have your personal diy hub so that you can track as many( i have lost count of the number of devices its currently tracking) bluetooth low energy devices using your ESP32 node. An example is tracking the location of your mobile phone( with your bluetooth turned on) to know the exact location of a phone in your house at any time.

Check out this : Setting up devices for information on how you can find out the MAC address of a device and track it using ESPHome.

CCTV IP CAMERA Setup

In setting up a POE IP Security Camera installtion, i use the Reolink Range of Cameras . In my opinion they are the best range of CCTV IP cameras available.

There is a vast range of POE switches to choose from . I use the Unifi brand.

They are robust and rugged design makes them perfect for all condition outdoor weather conditions. It also has the following features as well :

  • 4K Ultra HD Night Vison: Record real-time live video with 4K Ultra HD (8MP, 3840 x 2160) and by a wide margin, outshines 5MP Super HD. The 18pcs powerful infrared LEDs emit invisible lights that pierce the darkness up to 100 feet. Plus, advanced 3D-DNR technology dramatically reduces noise levels.
  • 24×7 Surveillance with 8MP Reolink cameras: The 4K security cameras system supports simultaneous live feed and 24/7 recording. Detect motion and send an instant push notification, email, and buzzer sound alerts to you. Customize the recording mode and motion zone to better serve your specific security needs.
  • Multi-Screen Live Streaming and Playback: Support up to 8 Reolink cameras recording simultaneously. You may add an internal or external hard disk (up to 4TB) to it for 24×7 recording. Live view and playback locally by connecting to a monitor or a HD TV, or via free Reolink App and Client on your mobile devices and computer or a web browser remotely.
  • Easy Setup: The B800 4K PoE IP camera passes power supply and video signal transmission via a single Ethernet cable. A real plug and play security system! Even just a beginner can install it within several minutes. No wiring hassles.
  • 24/7 Customer Support and 2 Years Warranty: We provide 24/7 email support replied within 24 hours, chat service is available at Reolink official website: UTC+8 8:00AM to 18:00 PM. Users can enjoy a 30-day money back guarantee, 2-year quality warranty

DIY WIFI Temperature and Humidity sensor

With a nodemcu or WeMo d1 you can build your own Temperature and Humidity sensor for yourself.

I installed it using the ESPHOME firmware.

What you need: – NodeMCU – DHT22 temp sensor (about $1-2) – USB charger and USB cable.Funny enough the usb the charger and cable were the most expensive among the whole setup! Once you have that, you install ESPHOME (using the HASS.io addon) and follow the instructions on this page .

By the way, on that page it says that you need to use a resistor – I have not found that to be necessary in my case. ( most dht sensors comes with their own resistors )

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