IKEA Bäve dimmer hack II

Updated 2024-12-18 !

Dimming not dimmable LED, IKEA Bäve, produced before 2019-11 and a new idea for later products !

In former post I used a Fibaro Z-Wave RGBW controller but in this post I will use an IKEA original or an external dimmer ?!

Raspberry Pi OS install with Mac/Windows/Linux

Updated 2024-12-13 !

When starting up a new project with Raspberry Pi I like to start up fresh and with a minimal OS. Therefore i always use Raspberry Pi OS(ROS) Lite and then adding what I need. 

Doing it right You don't have to use an external display, keybord and mouse, just a "ssh" client.

Flash to a SSD ? Check this post.

Receive temperature, 433 MHz sensors, with RTL-SDR

 

Updated 2024-12-01 !

In my underfloor heating project, using Node-RED, I have to have one sensing thermometer per room/zone, seems to be 8 in total, so therefore it would be nice with a wireless battery sourced device with good resolution and frequent updates.

During the test phase I used a Z-way device but the resolution was pretty bad. Another device mentioned is the Ruuvi tag but since it's a bluetooth device the transmitting range could be better.

After some googling I went for 433 MHz devices.

Underfloor heating with PID controller, NodeRed

Updated 2024-11-14 !

In a former post I did some hacking/checking how our underfloor heating control system handled the valves, actuators, regulating the heat. 

Now it was time to do some tests with NodeRed(NR), with a PID controller, and a Shelly 1(S1) connected via WiFi and driving the actuator.

The actuators are in my case controlled by 24 VAC and the S1 accepts 110 - 240 VAC, 24 - 60 VDC and 12 VDC. So in this case it was simple to just add a rectifier and a capacitor, to the 24 VAC, to get approx 36 VDC to source the S1.

Matter bridge, with Shelly, or non Matter devices

Matter is a smart home standard currently being developed by a consortium of over two hundred companies, including big players such as Apple, Google, Phillips, Amazon and Samsung.

Many new devices have Matter implemented, from the beginning, but devices, such as most of Shelly devices don't. On the other hand many hubs can be upgraded to Matter support. For example an Apple TV.

With a Matter bridge you can solve the incompability. This post will use Matter bridge plugin Manager and the Shelly plugin but it could be other devices shown in the picture below.

CTC heatpump MODBUS interface

Updated 2024-11-14 !

The installation of a CTC heat pump(HP), EcoAir 600, and the indoor module, Eco Zenith i360, was not optimal from the beginning, so to monitor it closely I checked how to retrieve data. 

The newer CTC HP:s are always shipped with a MODBUS TCP interface, without any additional hardware, which solved the issue.

MODBUS was new to me but after some reading and checking I found that there is a NodeRed node which solves the interface dialog.

Shelly devices as "native" Apple HomeKit accessories

Updated 2024-11-09

I have been using Shelly devices for quite some time both on our boat, off grid, and also as HomeKit (HK) accessories via Homebridge (HB). 

I was really amazed when I found that some smart guys have created a software package that replaces the stock, official, Shelly firmware with the "Shelly-HomeKit" package which emulates a "native" Apple HomeKit accessory.

It's very nice done, really simple, and the flashing of the software is done over the air (OTA) with your ordinary WEB-browser.

Node-Red quick install

Updated 2024-11-06 !

Node-Red(NR) is Flow-based programming for the Internet of Things

This post isn't made as a complete install guide, there are several, just some links to the best information I have found.

The best thing is that even if you don't are a skilled programmer, but like logic flows, you can make really advanced things. It's pre-installed on some Raspberry Pi(RPi) distributions.

Running Node-Red with multiple instances ?

Swegon CASA, HRV (FTX), rotary heat exchanger and MODBUS

Fresh air at home is very important ! For more than 15 years ago, at a major renovation of our house, we installed an HRV or in Swedish FTX system. Since then there have been nice updates for FTX equipment so when one of the fans was a little noicy and when the motor for the rotor died it was time to do an upgrade instead of repairing the old one. So we purchased an CASA R7 Genius(R7).

For me its important to get as much data as possible, to optimize energy consumption in our house, so despite that the the R7 have a nice app we also added a SEM interface to get the data, via MODBUS, that is available.

AIS receiver and dispatcher ! The best ?!

Updated 2024-10-25

I found this amazing application, AIS-catcher, just scrolling around on Youtube and it includes "all" you need for an AIS receiver staying ashore or installed on a boat.

It is compatible with a wide range of Software Defined Radios (SDRs). These include RTL-SDR dongles (such as the ShipXplorer AIS dongle and RTL SDR Blog v4), AirSpy (Mini/R2/HF+), HackRF, SDRPlay, SoapySDR, and file/network input (ZMQ/RTL-TCP/SpyServer). 

LK System, Floor heating

Updated 2024-08-15 !

Do You use a floor heating system from LK Systems ?

We had a problem that in some rooms, despite that the thermostat worked, the temperature was too high.

To check if it was the valve, or something else, I just took away the actuator and forced the valve to be closed. Cable ties did the work.

The valve was OK so what was the problem ?

Building your own floor heating controller,  PID controller ? 

Raspberry Pi OS Lite with GUI, RDP, VNC, Chromium

Updated 2024-07-01 !

I like the Raspberry Pi(RPi), with Raspberry Pi OS Lite (no Desktop is included), headless operation, and then adding the software You need. Until now I haven't had a use case where I needed a Desktop but now was time. 

Why don't use the Raspberry Pi OS with Desktop ?? In that package there is a lot of software I don't need and I really want to optimize the RPi. I think that the less software You install the happier RPi will be...

😉

Raspberry 4,5 USB SSD boot in 60 seconds !

Updated 2024-06-05 !

Yes, it's really true ! Thats the maximum time it takes to write the Raspberry Pi(RPi) OS to a bootable USB SSD and maybe read this post ?

If you have a RPi 4, 5 and a USB SSD or other USB drive, that works as a boot media, just use the RPi imager which can write the image direct to the USB  storage.

Having an older RPi ? Use this post instead.

If you already have a SD card with working applications and you want to "transfer", copy/clone, them to a bootable SSD use this post.

Bredbandskollen, Internet speed, CLI

Im using NodeRed together with Speedtest by Ookla but just the other day it wasn't showing the right data so it was time for "Bredbandskollen", the command line version.

Bredbandskollen has always been a reliable source when testing internet speed. I'm using their WEB-site and the iPhone app and it have always worked very well.

This post will show how to plot data in a graph according to the picture.

IVT, Bosch heat pump easy integration, Home Assistant

In search of the optimal solution on how to interface our IVT Heat pump, first try here, I stumbled over a nice integration for Home Assistant(HA). A first quick setup is shown at the right.

The first obstacle was that it was HA which I knew about but never used.  So it was "back too school" and doing a blog post about a HA Core install.

Home Assistant core install, Raspberry Pi and Python 3.12

The best way to start with Home Assistant(HA), and Raspberry Pi(RPi), is off course to use the ”Raspberry Pi imager” and in the menu select "Other specific-purpose OS => Home Assistant and home automation => Home Assistant". This will install the HA operating system.

It works very well and here are the install instructions. 

On the other hand if you want to add HA to a RPi which you already have up and running, without Docker, you need to install something which is called "Home Assistant Core".

Please check the "Remarks" below before you start.

IVT, Bosch heat pump easy integration, NodeRed

If you are running the IVT Anywhere or the Bosch Easy remote app you probably also can retrieve its data with for example NodeRed. 

With the nice application Bosch XMPP you can set up an integration with the cloud service supplied by your vendor.

Clone the Raspberry boot disk

Updated 2024-02-20 !

A very nice way to fix a backup is to make a copy, bootable, of the actual SD card You are using on the Raspberry Pi(RPi). This will be done even when the RPi is up and running !

This application can also be used to make a bootable SSD or USB drive !!

You clone from the command line so You don't need the standard GUI, Pixel, and the "SD card copier" function.

It is also possible to set up a a scheduled job, cronjob explained later, which for example makes a clone every night at 1 o'clock.

DMI forecast API for atmosphere, ocean and sea ice, free !

Updated 2024-02-10

DMI is the Danish Meteorological Institute and the Open Data API provides free and open access to DMI’s data.They are covering a pretty big area not just Denmark.

I'm maintaining the weather station for Domstens yacht club and have become really interested in weather "issues".

The actual use case for me is that I have to change the mooring, of our boat, if the water level exceeds 60 cm from normal. For several years I have been searching for a free forecast API so I can get an early warning when the water level rises.

Node-Red is used.

Teltonika RUT 240 as source for Mesh Network or router

I have used the TP-link Deco M9 for quite a while and it have worked very well.

Since almost 2 years I have used mobile broadband as a source for the Mesh network, at home, via a Nokia Fastmile(NF) with no direct flaws.

Getting a very nice offer, half the monthly cost, for mobile Internet from our mobile phone operator it was time to test something new.

Since I probably will have to return the Nokia receiver quitting the old supplier I had to test the new provider with some other equipment. Running the Teltonika RUT 240(TR) in our yacht, in the summertime, it was available for testing.