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September 12, 2017September 25, 2017 by Karl Johnson - No Comments

Review of Sonoff RF Bridge, Sonoff 4ch Pro, and Sonoff POW with Sonoff-Tasmota Firmware

Karl here. Today we are going to look at 2 new and one older Sonoff devices. Sonoff RF Bridge – $9.90 433MHz RF to WiFi Bridge Sonoff 4ch Pro – 4 Gang WiFi RF Smart Switch Sonoff POW – Wireless switch with power metering capabilities I spent very little time with the stock firmware on the device. I don’t like the fact that an Internet connection is needed, and I am not in control. As of the time of this writing I found the Ewelink was not configurable enough to meet my needs. There is one feature that is really nice that I could easily see keeping stock firmware. It is the Alexa Skill. It worked. I am also currently reviewing Vobot Smart Alarm Clock with Alexa integration and had no trouble controlling the Sonoff devices with Alexa. But unfortunately I am lazy and want everything automatic so I can’t […]

March 27, 2017April 22, 2017 by Karl Johnson - No Comments

Karl’s Home Automation Project – Part 3: Adding Light Detection to a Motion Sensor

This is the 3rd part of my Home Automation light project. In the first part, I wrote about basic setup with basic Sonoff Wifi MQTT switches and setting them up. In the second one, we added some 433 MHz motion sensors and a 433 MHz to MQTT bridge. And finally in part 3, we are going to modify the 433 MHz motion sensors to only work when it is dark in the room. Motion Sensor The motion sensor I linked in part 2 is run by a common chip called a BISS0001. We are interested in pin 9. If voltage is below .2v it will not trigger a motion. This solves the problem discussed in part 2, when we have a gloomy day or if blinds are closed etc. By adding an GL5537 LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) shown as R3 in the diagram above, you will achieve the desired effect. […]

March 2, 2017June 18, 2018 by Karl Johnson - 11 Comments

Karl’s Home Automation Project – Part 2: 433 MHz / WiFi MQTT Bridge, Door & PIR Motion Sensors

Karl here again for part 2 of my home automation project. We will be looking at how to automate your lights based on time of day and motion. In the first part we setup Home Assistant and uploaded firmware to basic Sonoff Wifi switches. Today we will setup a 433 MHz to MQTT bridge and some sensors. 433 MHz Depending on your country 433 MHz is an open frequency to use to communicate with. There are hundreds of different types of devices that use 433 MHz to communicate information. We will be focusing on 2 today from Gearbest: WMS07 motion sensor (left) and WDS07 door/window sensor (2 parts, right). I am not taking the door/window sensor apart, since it is super basic, but I’ve included some photos of the PIR motion detector. 433 MHz Bridge While contemplating how to get presence on a per room basis I ran across this […]

February 27, 2017April 22, 2017 by Karl Johnson - 30 Comments

Karl’s Home Automation Project – Part 1: Home Assistant & YAML, MQTT, Sonoff, and Xmas Lights

Karl here. I am here to write about my home automation project. First thing I want to say is that I am very cost conscious and I don’t mind putting in extra effort into the setup of things to keep costs down. I did invest a lot of time and had to do a lot of reading to get my project going. It took while and I received a lot of groans from my wife while testing. I am still in the process of tweaking things. I started watching a series of videos on YouTube from Bruh Automation. He introduced me to Home Assistant. It got me really excited. He uses a Raspberry Pi as a server but I already had a Wintel Pro CX-W8 Smart TV Box which I use as a server. I run 3 Minecraft Servers, Emby Server, iSpyConnect DVR (2 IP Cameras), Unifi wifi controller, and […]