MobileWill

Google Home

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 18:43:54 -0800

This post was from a November draft. At last it has arrived - the Google Home! I have been anxiously awaiting this since I pre-ordered it in mid-October. In my opinion, Google Home is the missing piece to anyone’s home automation setup. Primarily it’s the voice control which has been the hardest to implement. In the past I have tried with a Kinect to control my smart outlets. This was before the openHAB days.

While OpenHAB does have voice built-in, you have to write your own rules. Creating rules that handle natural speech is a bit tough. With Google Home you can leverage Google AI for that. Google Home at launch is a bit limited but it supports just enough so we can get what we need done. All I need is

Blog Migration

Sat, 11 Feb 2017 21:16:43 -0800

Finally, the move has been made! Goodbye Blogger, hello Wrodpress! I have wanted and have tried to do this for quite some time. Mostly because Blogger is quite limited and you never know when Google will axe it. The main reason for this migration is that I simply wanted the flexibity of Cornerstone (https://theme.co/cornerstone/) which I have the pleasure of using over at https://learn.friedcircuits.us. Cornerstone is the missing piece to Wordpress. Without it, writing in Wordpress can be limited and a bit plain for my tastes. I started the process of setting up the new site and migrating all the posts last year. The trick is to make sure the old url structure still works to maintain page rank and not invalidate other links across the web. Thanks to a few guides on the web, I was able to make a smooth transistion. So here‘s to 2017 and the new MobileWill blog. I hope with this new setup I can bring my blogging to the next level with better content to help the makers and hackers! Links: Plugin I used: https://wordpress.org/plugins/blogger-importer/ Fix image locations: https://wordpress.org/plugins/import-external-attachments/ Main site I used: http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-switch-from-blogger-to-wordpress-without-losing-google-rankings/ Update: In the end, I realized that I would be stuck with the Blogger URL structure which isn‘t really SEO friendly with the .html at the end. So long story short, I used the redirection plugin to fix and redirect links to a proper SEO URL. I switched to %postname% instead of being proceeded by year/month. I would have rathered had the categorty in the URL but the Simply 301 redirect pluging wasn‘t working at all. The redirection plugin I ended up using supports regex and 404 monitoring which allowed me to fix invalid URLs as they come up. Redirection Plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/redirection/

IKEA Motion Lamp Hack Update

Mon, 26 Sep 2016 01:35:00 -0700

Back at it again, I decided to add a few more features before I deem this project complete and ready to be put into service. In case your are wondering, this is based on my previous work on the IKEA Motion LED Lamp Hack. This time around I just wanted to make a few hardware changes that will let me have full control of the light.

IKEA Motion Lamp Resistor Modification

USB HUB + WiFi Teardown

Tue, 13 Sep 2016 05:21:00 -0700

One day I come across an interesting product from Adafruit that I couldn’t resist getting. It will make a nice addition to the Raspberry Pi Zero. It’s a 3 port USB hub with inbuilt WiFi which takes the fourth port. Inspired by insideGadgets, here are some photos and part numbers.

USB WiFi Hub

Wish it was a bit more compact. I have a USB to OTG adapter in the USB plug.

IKEA Motion Lamp Hack

Sun, 11 Sep 2016 02:35:00 -0700

Last year while visiting a friend for the Portland Mini Maker Fair I became the owner of an IKEA STÖTTA, a battery powered, motion activated, LED lamp. I knew it was ripe for hacking. After arriving home, it sat on my desk waiting to be disassembled to reveal its secrets. I figured the only way to get it off my desk was to get around to tearing it apart and seeing what I could do with it. Over the weekend I spent more time trying to decide which direction to take since there are plenty of features I could add. At least I can get something going now and add to it later. Who ever said a project had to be completed?

Mooltipass

Fri, 09 Sep 2016 01:00:00 -0700

A year and a half ago I helped support the Mooltipass on Indiegogo. I originally heard about it on Hackaday.com, but what really captured my attention other than it being an offline password manager, is that it was going to be designed by the the community. Anyone could volunteer time to help with the project. Unfortunately I was unable to do so with the many other things I had going on. But at least I could support the project by backing it.

Living Room Node Upgrade

Tue, 30 Aug 2016 01:43:00 -0700

For over a year now the living room node and La Crosse Gateway has been sitting atop a plastic bin next to my patio slider in a mess of wires. This is when you know you have too many projects lying around the house. So this summer I decided to design a PCB with a nodeMCU that will replace both projects and mount atop of a power brick. I went with the nodeMCU since there is power nearby, ease of connecting directly to the MQTT broker, and I can broadcast more often without the power limitations of a battery. This project frees up two RFM12B boards so that they can be used for the other window and the front door.

PCB Battery Clip

Mon, 22 Aug 2016 05:03:00 -0700

Just a small update to the battery powered nodes. Until now I had used a piece of tape to hold the PCB to the battery pack. It was always a pain when changing the batteries or accidentally hitting the node and watching it fall apart. I also wanted to try my hand at Fusion 360, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Fusion 360 sketch of PCB battery holder clip

C.H.I.P. by Next Thing Co

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 04:07:00 -0700

After a year of waiting it has arrived: the $9 computer from Next Thing Co. When it launched on Kickstarter, there was no reason to skip backing this one to at least see what it was all about. Now that it has arrived I am quite happy that I did. For such a large project it would hardly be worth calling it late. My reward was due May 2016 and I received it June 2016. Very good compared to most crowd sourcing campaigns. I selected the C.H.I.P. plus battery reward, but before it shipped you could add accessories. I added the VGA adapter and an extra C.H.I.P. That way I can use it on my desk attached to my monitor since the DVI input is already in use. With the Raspberry Pi I have to connect it to the TV if I want to mess with it directly. At this price it’s cheap enough to buy more than one that you can dedicate to a project and just fuggedaboutit.

nodeLED

Tue, 21 Jun 2016 04:26:00 -0700

As a hacker, I know all too well how much workbench space is vital. Alongside my three monitors, I have an extended desk that houses my soldering irons, compartment shelving, and countless projects, among other tools and devices. One constant that seems to get in my way is an old desk lamp. That’s where this project came to light, ha! I decided to design my own lamp using an analog RGBW LED strip. This board I designed will give you the tools to design your own WiFi controlled light source.

JeeNode to MQTT Gateway

Mon, 20 Jun 2016 02:40:00 -0700

It’s been a few months since I have worked on openHAB but that is mostly due to focusing on FriedCircuits, Hackaday Prize and the Maker Faire. Not a dull moment around here! I finally sat down while watching some tube (or rather crystals) to start work on the JeeNode to MQTT gateway. Up to this point if you have read my other posts I have still relied on DomotiGA to get the JeeNode data into openHAB. This is because DomotiGA has support for JeeNodes. I noticed the sensor nodes weren’t checking in again which usually is because DomotiGA is not running, this time I think it just needed a restart plus one node actually needs batteries. This prompted me to finally get around to writing the gateway. Once complete I won’t need DomotiGA and the desktop UI so I can use Ubuntu server for my rebuild of openHAB.

Switchmate

Fri, 10 Jun 2016 03:29:00 -0700

Last year my friend and I backed the Switchmate on Indiegogo. At the time I didn’t have much of a home automation setup - just two window nodes and the slider. Not even any connected bulbs and I was still on DomoitaGA so I didn’t have any of the fancy rules I now have in openHAB. Over the course of the campaign, they had different deals so I ended up with three rewards. I had actually forgotten about them, in part because since switching to openHAB and getting connected light bulbs, the need for these switches seemed diminished. But one day I was pleasantly surprised to receive a shipping notice. A few days later I received the package in the mail and boy was I surprised! The quality and presentation was excellent - not what I expected at all. Curious about them? Read on!

Routing High Speed Signals and USB

Mon, 25 Apr 2016 03:12:00 -0700

Eventually in most hobbyists’ path, one will end up working with high speed signals. These days so many microcontrollers support USB and even ones that don’t can use software USB. Of course using a microcontroller is the answer to every engineering problem, right? Most of us just work with USB 2.0 connected directly to a microcontroller for uploading and serial communications. With advent of the USB Tester, I have learned more about USB than I ever thought I would. Recently I have dived into USB 3. Which compared to 2.0, is so much more sensitive to your PCB routing as I found through trial and error. I have seen many projects on the various blogs and for sale on the usual sites that don’t follow or even try to route correctly. With USB 2.0 for the most part you can get away with it and it will still work. To help save you some time, I would like to share my findings that should help prevent PCB re-spins just due to USB not working. This is by no means an exhaustive guide to high speed routing as there are plenty of application notes across the web for that. I will list a few at the end of this post that I found helpful.

Quest for a Logic Analzyer

Mon, 21 Mar 2016 17:26:00 -0700

Since I started this adventure in hardware I have wanted to get an logic analyzer. I have an older but good oscilloscope that only goes so far when it comes to digital logic signals. I could go for the Saleae, but if I am going to do that I would rather sprint for the higher end model which is an easy $400+. In the mean time I was on a quest to find a low cost option. Upon my travels of the interwebs I found a few options. There’s Dangerous Prototype’s bus pirate (which I have) or their openbench logic. There are also the microcontroller options using, say, a Teensy or STM32. Then when I came across the BeagleLogic, it seemed like it fit what I had in mind. And actually, if I remember correctly, I saw it during the Hackaday Prize 2015. Funny how you end up somewhere on the Internet you’ve been before but have long forgotten.

openHAB Last Sensor Update

Mon, 21 Dec 2015 02:21:00 -0800

A few of the sensor nodes are battery powered so it is important to know if they have stopped transmitting. My previous system (which is still feeding openHAB) tracks last seen time stamp. In openHAB you have to set an item and a rule to handle that. This is one of the items at the bottom of this post that is required to remove my reliance on DomotiGa.

openHAB Proximity Update

Mon, 21 Dec 2015 02:20:00 -0800

Just a quick update to the proximity tracking. The original post was just using Bluetooth which tends to not be completely reliable. So we need a backup such as WiFi. OpenHAB has a binding that can check for network devices. Between this and the device scan script for BT, we are set.

Just need to add an item for each device you want to track on the network. This can be used to see if a laptop is on or even check to make sure a sensor or something it alive.

openHAB and Fireplace Rules Part 5

Sun, 20 Dec 2015 18:53:00 -0800

Now that everything is humming along we can make some fancy rules. This includes creating a flexible timer and auto mode based on room temperature. I went through a lot of iterations but ended up with some nice rules that work well. I will post the current version here but any updates will be maintained on Github.

Timer
#

Items

openHAB the Fireplace and Rules Part 4

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 05:45:00 -0800

If you haven’t read part 1, part 2, and part 3. Start there and I will wait for you here. Welcome back! Now we get to do all of the fun stuff now that we have software control of the fireplace. We can have some real fun adding features. The original remote does have a set point and scheduling options but we never used that and of course you couldn’t trigger remotely or based on other triggers. The features I had in mind are listed below.

openHAB the Fireplace and Wiring Part 3

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 05:41:00 -0800

Now that the relay works we can do the final wiring. Read part 1 and part 2 to see how we got here. It’s been a rabbit hole for sure, but don’t fret, we are on our way out! Compared to everything else, the wiring is the easiest part. The fireplace uses a simple switch to control it as it is a millivolt system which generates its own power (from the heat of the pilot) to trigger the gas valve. Ripe for hacking. In the end for safety (and for long term vacancies), I decided to wire the local override switch as a hard disable. That way if we are gone for the weekend or during the Summer months, I can disable it. Just in case there is a network glitch or something the fireplace can’t turn on even if the relay does. Turns out this is also useful during testing of the rules so the fireplace isn’t turning on and off consistently.

openHAB and our Fireplace Part 2 and OpenZWave

Tue, 08 Dec 2015 07:22:00 -0800

Finally, the MimoLite replay has arrived. Even though it was Amazon Prime, it look about five days to land in my eager hands. At least it was free shipping! In Part 1 we looked at a solution to control the fireplace via our openHAB network. Now the fun part of actually installing it. I set aside an evening after work for the installation. Of course when projects seem simple, they end up taking a lot longer.