With new products released every day, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the choice, so I’ll provide purchase links to products that I’ve either tested, or are recommended by the community for TV boxes, mini PCs, 3D printers, Linux development boards, MCU / IoT boards, and home automation products. To keep it simple, I’ll select up to 3 products in each category. TV Boxes I’ve already details some of the best TV boxes, and a list of criteria that are important when selecting a TV box in my post entitled What’s the Best Android TV Box (2017/2018 Edition)?, so I’ll provide purchase links to some of the best options. NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV for best Android TV and gaming experience around $200 on Amazon. MINIX NEO U9-H for a solid Android experience for 4K videos and audio-passthrough (not Android TV), around $150 on Amazon, GeekBuying, or GearBest.(MINIX NEO A3 air […]
ITEAD Studio very recently launched their Sonoff S26 WiFi Smart plug as a more compact and cost effective upgrade to their Sonoff S20 smart sockets, and which comes in 6 different versions for China, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe type F for Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Eastern Europe, and Europe type E for France, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Tunisia and Morocco. You can find the one that suits you most on World Standard website. I was interested in getting the device, mostly to check the hardware design, so the company sent me one sample to try out. Sonoff S26 Unboxing Sonoff S26 comes is a white package with Sonoff branding. I received the US type plug (S26B model) which includes a ground pin on both side, so it’s not suitable for most sockets here in Thailand that do not […]
One recurring issue with smart plugs / sockets is that they are often designed with a specific prong type, so if you want to use them in our country you may have to add an adapter, which may not be ideal, since the socket may fall off or have bad contact. Sonoff S26 WiFi smart plug solves that issue as ITEAD Studio made it available in six different versions for China, Australia, United Kingdom, Europe type F, Europe type E, and the United States. Sonoff S26 specifications: Standard – US/ UK/ CN/AU/ EU(type F/E) Power supply – 90V~250V AC @ 50/60Hz Max. Current – 10A Max power – 2200W Connectivity – 802.11.b/g/n 2.4G WiFi with WEP/TKIP/AES encyprtion, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK security Dimensions – 104 x 55 x 73 mm (Fire Retardant ABS enclosure) Weight – 130 grams Temperature Range – 0ºC-40ºC Humidity- 5%-90%RH, Non-condensing Certification – CE Just like other Sonoff devices, […]
Hey Karl here. I thought I would try and showcase some GitHub projects that I run into that seem interesting or fun. This week I will start out with 2 projects. Zigbee to MQTT bridge The first one today is a Zigbee to MQTT bridge. Previously we did a couple articles with 433MHz bridges for home automation, a diy RF bridge and one by Sonoff. This bridge is similar but with Zigbee. Unfortunately 433MHz typically have one way communications, and when a message is sent there is no response and the system has to assume the message is received. Zigbee is a 2 way protocol and an acknowledgement can be sent back. The code is moving fast right now and blowing up my GitHub notices. It is a little bit of a mystery on how this works right now with the parts list, but seems to be working for some […]
Automation used to happen in your local network, while the Internet of Things obviously relies on an Internet connection, but in recent years both categories merged in some ways, so I’ve gathered related links in this page to offer an easy access to those resources. ESP8266 & ESP32 Getting Started Guides Espressif Systems WiFi SoCs have become really popular in the maker community thanks to their low cost, and great community and software support around the platforms. Over the years, I’ve written a few tutorials showing how to get started on ESP8266 WiSoC or the newer ESP32 WiFI + Bluetooth LE SoC: Getting Started with NodeMCU Board Powered by ESP8266 WiSoC (Lua programming Getting Started with Wemos D1 mini ESP8266 Board, DHT & Relay Shields (Arduino firmware) Getting Started with ESP32-Bit Module and ESP32-T Development Board using Arduino core for ESP32 Getting Started with Espruino & JavaScript on ESP32 with […]
ITEAD Studio released several wireless switches / sockets with power monitoring capability over the years. Recently they company launched Sonoff S31 smart socket that plugs directly into your AC socket and does not require any wiring, but earlier they introduced Sonoff Pow that is meant to be connected directly into your circuit via terminals. ITEAD has now launched an upgrade to the latter – Sonoff Pow R2 – with many of the same features, including support for eWelink, but offering 99% measurement accuracy, overload protection defined by the user, and various other features like the ability to export data. Sonoff Pow R2 (Revision 2) specifications: WiSoC – Espressif ESP8266 (TBC) Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with WPA/WPA2 support Voltage Range – 90 to 250 VAC input Max Current – Up to 16A Max Power – 3,500 Watts Terminals – 6 terminal for mains and load’s ground, live and neutral signals. […]
Today we are looking at the Sonoff S31. It is another device in the Sonoff line by ITEAD Studio. Similar to the Sonoff POW, you can see power usage but on the S31 you can keep historical data up to 100 days. This time around I am using it with the standard firmware, and will not be flashing the popular MQTT Tasmota firmware. Specifications per ITEAD website: Max. Current: 16A Voltage Input: 90~264V AC, 50/60HZ Wireless Standard: 2.4GHz, 802.11 b/g/n Receive Sensitivity: 802.11b: <-84dBm(11Mbps); 802.11g: <-68dBm(54Mbps) Output Power: 802.11b:16±2dBm; 802.11g:13±2dBm Security Mechanism: WEP/WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK Encryption: AES/TKIP Working Temp: -20 °C ~ 75 °C Working Humidity: 10%-80% Product Dimensions: 75.7×39.7x32mm Gang: 1 Weight: 135g Certification: FCC (Download) Sonoff S31 Unboxing & Teardown Taking the S31 apart is rather easy but I did not take it fully apart for fear of breaking it. Just pop the power button off the left side. Then […]
ITEAD Studio has just launched another Sonoff Smart Home product with Sonoff S31 WiFi smart socket with energy monitoring. Just like Sonoff switches, light bulbs, and their other products, the device can be controlled using eWelink app for Android or iOS, and supports integration with Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant. It should be noted that the company only provide a US plug version for now, and so far, there’s no Wiki link, so while it’s likely based on ESP8266 or ESP8285 like their other Sonoff devices, it may not be designed to be easily hackable, although I suspect the electronics may be similar to Sonoff POW switch (TBC). Sonoff S31 hardware specifications listed by ITEAD: Voltage Input – 90~264V AC, 50/60HZ Max. Current – 16A Max. Power – 4200W (Note package above reads max load: 220V/10A) Gang – 1x US type with ground Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with support […]
