I enjoy learning new things, especially about technology. This has caused my hobby to become building a smart home with all sorts of cool tech. Often not needed, sometimes just annoying, but often just cool. This blog will have some explanations and thoughts. I am by no means an expert, just a tinkerer in my free time. I will also from comment about theater and what I am doing in it. I will try to keep focused on the tech but I am sure I will do at least one rant about some

Electrical Closet - Verizon Cable Modem - Rachio Sprinkler Control -  Aeotec Energy Meter ​ - Cable TV Distro - Telephone Distro - UPS Network Connections - 30 1g Wired Network Connections - 2 10g Network Connections  - Unifi U7 Pro - Unifi U6 In-Wall - Unifi U6 Mesh Smart Home & Home lab Electrical Closet - Verizon Cable Modem - Rachio Sprinkler Control -  Aeotec Energy Meter ​ - Cable TV Distro - Telephone Distro - UPS Server Rack - Unifi Pro Max 24 POE Switch * Un

The newest addition is Elgoto's Stream Deck run by Bitfocus Companion . At my desk and at each of the night stands will be a unit that will allow fast button control of various devices. It will also allow us to quickly bring cameras up on our TVs or change the settings of our Heating/AC. The units will connect via Elgoto's Network Dock to Bitfocus Companions running in a VLX in Proxmox . That will then talk with Home Assistant to complete the requested actions or create

After using Homeseer for a few years and not being very happy about its cost I stumbled on Home Assistant. When I started using Home Assistant I was impressed with it power and sheer number of device it could talk to. And as the last few years have gone by I have been impressed with how much better it gets each month. It is defiantly not the easiest software to work with. There are many things I have had to spend hours researching to get parts of it to work but it can do a

When choosing the equipment to use I try to keep the following principles in mind to guide my decisions. Unfortunately the devices do not always exist to fit these principles but it is at least a starting point. Devices are preferably local control and stay within the homes network. (When the internet is not working it should still work withing the house) Devices that work even when all network fancy stuff is down (A light switch will still turn a light on and off) Avoid wall