Not to be confused with PIR sensors, human presence sensors have been available for quite some time but have generally been priced out of reach of the average home user and have mostly been used is commercial settings. Recently, a flood of mmWave human presence sensors have become available at very reasonable prices, ranging from DIY boards for only a few dollars, up to more plug and play Wi-Fi and Zigbee solutions ranging up to the sub $100 mark. In this post I am going to look at a mid-range Zigbee mmWave sensor from Wenzhi / Tuya that I found on AliExpress known as the WZ-M100-W.
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Category: Reviews
Install and Review of Frigate Beta 0.12
The post is a follow-up to my previous post about my installation of Frigate. In case you missed it, Frigate is an open source network video recorder that has some smart AI detection of cars, people, pets, boxes etc. All the processing of the AI detection is done locally, this and the fact that this was an open source project that integrates well with Home Assistant is what drew me to install it in the first place. The Frigate project is fairly young, having its first release in 2019. Several versions have been released since that time, with each version improving on the last. In this post, I will install and check out what is coming up in version 0.12.
Yale Unity Screen Door Lock Review
I recently needed to use up some Bunnings gift cards, so I decided to splurge on a smart lock to help beef up my home security. What I ended up buying was Yale’s Unity screen door lock, this lock is designed to retrofit in place of the standard screen door lock like I have had installed at my house since the 1980s.
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SmartThings Vs Home Assistant Review
Regular readers of my blog will know that my smart home is powered by Home Assistant, what I have not mentioned before is that I have been a closet user of a SmartThings hub. Below, I will document my experiences of using it with Home Assistant and my thoughts about the SmartThings platform. Continue reading “SmartThings Vs Home Assistant Review”
Kogan LX10 Robot Vacuum Review
I recently acquired a fairly new Kogan LX10 robot vacuum cleaner. How I came to receive it was via a mate who received it as a Christmas present. After a few uses, he decided it was not for him, and he told me if I didn’t take it away it was going in the bin. I took him up on the offer to see if it was as bad as he thought, and to review it for this blog.
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Build and Review of the Ender 3 v2 3D Printer
When you get into a hobby like Home Automation or electronics, you inevitably are drawn into the world of 3d Printers. My first experience with one is my friend’s Creality CR10, which I made good use of and have fixed up along the way. I recently had decided to purchase my own printer and decided on the Creality Ender 3 v2. I decided on this model as it was the new kid on the Creality block that improved on the CR10’s shortcomings a fair bit despite its smaller print bed. Continue reading “Build and Review of the Ender 3 v2 3D Printer”
Arlec PC191HA Smart Energy Meter Socket Review
Since Home Assistant introduced the energy dashboard, I have been playing about with the odd energy monitoring smart plug that I had in use and decided I needed to try a few more. I previously used TP-link sockets, but since this Alert I decided against using this brand again. When browsing the Bunnings website, I saw that they have a new range of cheap Tuya based Arlec Smart Plugs. Known as the Arlec Grid Connect Smart Plug-in socket with energy meter, this seems to be a smaller, upgraded version of a previous Arlec plug. At only $17.50 the price was too good to resist, so after stopping by a few stores, I eventually found one in stock, and proceeded to purchase it to try it out.
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8582D 2 in 1 Soldering Station Review
My workshop soldering iron recently died, and it was time for a replacement. Nowadays, it gets used only a few times a month, so I was not willing to spend a huge amount on a replacement. There seem to be several sub $100 units available from the usual cheap Chinese sources like eBay, Aliexpress, Banggood and even Amazon. What kept coming up under several brand names was a unit known as a 8582D 2 in 1 soldering station, which is what I ended up buying for around $80 from Banggood. Continue reading “8582D 2 in 1 Soldering Station Review”
Sonoff GK-200MP2-B Camera review
A mate recently asked me to set up a cheap IP camera for his new man cave. This is not his first IP camera, with him using a combination of a D-link Omna WiFi camera and two Xiaomi Dafang cameras with hacked firmware. All of these existing cameras connect to either Apple Homekit, Home Assistant, a Synology Surveillance station or a combination of both. The brief was he wanted something cheap that is simple to use with all his stuff. This was a good opportunity for us to buy and test out the new kid on the block, the Sonoff GK-200MP2-B. I will share my thoughts on it below drawing some comparisons to the other similar devices we have used before. Continue reading “Sonoff GK-200MP2-B Camera review”
Ford Pass Review
Ford has begun rolling out a new technology to all its new vehicles that will offer connectivity to smartphones and smart devices with some cool features that help keep track of the vehicle’s information, service and warranty and even financing and roadside assistance programs. Continue reading “Ford Pass Review”