Smart Home on A.J. Elsinga

A Cuckoo Clock, but Digital - Cuckoo in Home Assistant

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Since I absolutely detest the ticking of clocks, a cuckoo clock is not welcome in my house. That sound of gears turning, or even worse, the ticking away of every second, brrr. Fortunately, this is a cuckoo clock that can be switched off, as I’ve built it into Home Assistant. The clock has been cuckooing to my satisfaction for about five years now, without the need to wind it up.

How to make your kitchen smart - A practical guide

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

How can you make your kitchen smart? I’ll show you. It doesn’t mean you have to spend thousands of euros and replace all your appliances. No, it can be done with relatively simple means. It all depends on how far you want to go and what ‘smart’ means to you. For some things, I’ve included pseudocode, so you can also relatively easily incorporate this into your own smart home. You can do this with IFTTT (if-this-then-that), but you can also use Google Home, or Amazon Alexa. I do it with [Home Assistant].

3D Printing, Wi-Fi Wins, and Pi Clusters with Turing Pi 2

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In episode four of NTVN, AJ and Alex discuss their recent experiences with 3D printing, Wi-Fi setups, and the Turing Pi 2 cluster board. AJ had some failed 3D prints and ruined a build plate, but also had some successful prints, just like Alex. Alex printed a shelf support with a honeycomb design and a wall mount for a new device called “Homey.” AJ talked about his plans to upgrade his smart home system with a Loxone and LoxBerry setup and expressed his preference for wired connections over Wi-Fi.

Our smart home story — X10, Homey, Home Assistant & more

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Evolution of our Home Automation, X10, Indigo, KlikAanKlikUit, Homey Pro and Home Assistant

🔊 Tune in this week for a journey through home automation history with New Tech, Vintage Nerd! 🏠✨

Hello and welcome, tech enthusiasts and retro gear aficionados! In this episode, AJ and Alex delve into the evolution of home automation systems and explore their own tech-laden odysseys. 🤖🚀

My first steps with Home Assistant

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 19:03:24 +0000

Recently I (re)started with Home Assistant to get my home into tiptop shape.

I will update this site with my successes and my struggles on my way to make the term ‘Living in Comfort’ reality.

If you don’t want to wait until I have something (more) useful te wite, checkout my configuration at Github.

Adding 230V motion sensors to Loxone

Wed, 27 Dec 2017 11:10:52 +0000

During the construction of our house, we took home automation into account. All the wiring leads to a central meter cupboard, where even every switch has been installed separately. This also applies to the 230V motion sensors that have been placed in various locations in the house.

Now that I am ready to fully integrate Loxone into our home, the motion sensors also need to be incorporated. By default, the Loxone Miniserver does not support the use of 230V sensors. However, I still want to use these sensors.

Home automation upgrade: Loxone

Fri, 22 Dec 2017 18:34:41 +0000

It’s almost time: The Fibaro Home Center is replaced by a Loxone MiniServer. Not that the Home Center is no longer sufficient, but I want more options for directly connecting switches and devices.

Before that happens, there are of course a number of things that need to be configured, screens created, and so on. In the near future I will explain how I did the integration and what options we now have.

Protocols: What is ZigBee

Tue, 24 Oct 2017 19:49:04 +0000

ZigBee is a wireless protocol, which is used for remote control and reading sensors. ZigBee is an official IEEE standard, namely IEEE 802.15.4. It is intended for short-distance connections.

ZigBee is intended for monitoring and control of networks. It is a machine-to-machine protocol from the ground up. A practical example of this is: monitoring the water level in a large field.

Do you choose a wired or wireless home automation system?

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 19:48:07 +0000

I have previously written about a wired or wireless network. Just as this applies to networks, this also applies to home automation systems.

When you have a home automation system you can roughly choose from three systems: a wired system, a completely wireless system or a combination of wireless and wired.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both wireless and wired. Which ones are important to you depends on when you start using your home automation system. It also depends on whether you want to take the future into account.

Do you want to see the house of the future?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 18:32:06 +0000

The House of the Future, a project by Chriet Titulaer, was opened in Rosmalen in the summer of 1989. The aim of the House of the Future was to give ordinary citizens an idea of how smart technology, called home automation, could be applied in the daily living environment.

The focus was on how the use of and interaction with a house could change in the future.

The house, which was located in the Autotron in Rosmalen, was equipped with the most modern architectural and technological innovations, including a central vacuum cleaner system, solar cells and voice recognition. But apparently we have already arrived in the future, because many of the houses of the future have already closed.

How much does home automation cost?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 09:12:23 +0000

It is difficult to give an answer to what home automation actually costs. The best answer in this case is: It depends. Home automation can cost a lot if you go for a top brand and if you also want to fully automate your home.

To determine exactly what home automation will cost you, I have prepared some questions:

What type of home is this? New construction or existing, own home or rental home? Are you going to renovate?
And how thoroughly?
Do you want a wired or wireless home automation system?
What do you want to do with your home automation system?
Are you someone who goes for the top brands? Or are you not sensitive to that?
Are you going for ready-made? Or do you want to build it yourself?

What type of home

The type of home ultimately determines which system you can use. Are you going to build a new home, or are you going to thoroughly renovate? Then you can work well with home automation solutions that require cables. On the other hand, are you stuck with an existing home that you don’t want to do too much to, or a rental home? Then a wireless solution might be a better fit.

Your help in your search for comfort

Mon, 18 Sep 2017 20:09:38 +0000

You no longer have to go to an expensive hotel or a spa to experience comfort for yourself. If you search the internet you will quickly find a number of definitions of comfort:

“What is comfortable and pleasant”
“A feeling of ease and satisfaction of physical needs, completely free from pain or anxiety”
“Comforting, strengthening”
“State in which one is without anxiety, fear or shyness”

But what does this actually mean?

What is home automation

Sun, 03 Sep 2017 08:00:33 +0000

You regularly see the term home automation on TV in programs such as “Eigen Huis en Tuin” and “House Vision”, but what exactly is home automation?

When you analyze the term you arrive at an electronic house. The term “home automation” is a combination of the words “domus” and “electronics”. Domus means house in Latin. Literally it means the control of electrical appliances in a house/building by electronics and IT.

Home automation: gadget or essential?

Sun, 30 Jul 2017 12:37:45 +0000

For another project of mine, I have already written a text in the past that is actually home automation. To avoid directing you elsewhere, I’ll just post it here again.

What is home automation?

You regularly see the term home automation on TV in programs such as “Eigen Huis en Tuin” and “House Vision”, but what exactly is home automation?

Coming Soon: Microsoft Kitchen

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:00:00 +0000

I found the following on techcrunch.. Can’t wait until all my devices are hooked up on my LAN.

“

Coming Soon: Microsoft Kitchen

1

: “Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet has the scoop on Microsoft’s next best thing since sliced bread: Microsoft Kitchen.

According to Foley, Microsoft Kitchen will extend Windows to the kitchen with a tailored product that will include family calendar, recipe center, entertainment features and a shared bulletin board.

Home Automation for -real- people

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 22:00:00 +0000

I don’t want to fall in a habit of plugging certain companies, but this one does seem to have a lot of answers for people who want to automate their home.

Their products include lighting, audio/video, climate, touch screens and much more.
The whole product line just seems to fit. Now I only have to (re)design my future home around it 😀

http://www.control4.com/products/components/complete.htm

New era of (digital) interaction

Thu, 31 May 2007 22:00:00 +0000

Not that I want to praise Microsoft into heaven, but this time they promise us a product that has the ability to change the way we interact with information and each other.
You probably already seen it on TV or on other sites, but I’m sooo flabbergasted by this device I just have to repeat it again :)

The thing I’m talking about is the Microsoft Surface, a salon table in which has a 30″ screen fitted.
You can interact with pictures right on your table, flipping through your CD collection and play some music, copy phone numbers between two phones you place on the table, and more nifty stuff.