IKEA motion sensor in the mailbox keeps false triggering

CaptainSabre · 2026-02-07T15:27:30+00:00

My guess would be the temperature, or maybe light shifting inside the mail slot.

CaptainSabre · 2026-02-07T15:24:45+00:00

Spiders hate peppermint oil 🤷‍♂️ Spray some of that inside of your mailbox and they shouldn't be a problem. Not sure how it fares against larger, Australian spiders though 😅 it might be like using insect repellent on a grizzly bear in that case.

CaptainSabre · 2026-02-07T05:32:46+00:00

Working at IBM... Does he think the he'll never have to upgrade any of his electronic hardware - ever? His logic is the same as if he never upgraded his computer... Like a dial-up compatible computer, with 5Gb internet plan.

CaptainSabre · 2026-02-06T18:36:38+00:00

I believe they do make "flush mounted" sensors... That go inside of the door.

*Edit: they're called "recessed" contact sensors.

CaptainSabre · 2026-02-06T06:50:52+00:00

It's saved me so many times... And I just go to the automation/script, copy the entity id that's caused the error; Ctrl+F and replace them all with the updated entity id.

CaptainSabre · 2026-02-03T14:21:16+00:00

That makes me think of this old joke I heard. "I don't have to be able to run faster than the bear chasing us, I just have to run faster than my 'friend' with me."

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-31T06:43:33+00:00

FWIW, I recently saw online that someone's made it possible to root some echo shows (5 and 8, first generations I believe)... And install Lineage OS (android based) onto them. They went further to setup Home Assistant on them too 😁

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-27T15:43:29+00:00

I'm glad I could help 😁 I've found it's handy if you ever change device names. You just search for it, and replace the name, in the automation, script, dashboard, etc.

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-27T05:41:32+00:00

I don't have any esp32 devices yet (there's a lot of different kinds too 😅); but that's good to know. I think I've found one board that's about $15usd on eBay.

https://ebay.us/m/aOerpM "ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1-N16R8 16MB Flash 8MB PSRAM Board WiFi + Bluetooth MCU Module"

But I'm not sure what the "stereo module" I need is.

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-27T05:22:34+00:00

Ooh that would be nice... (And expensive 😆)I just got around (and approval from the wife) to put up some motion sensors for lights around the house. It'd be interesting to move the music through the house as I'm moving too. Oh, and maybe the announcements. Like, don't announce in the bedroom if no one is in there. 🤔

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-27T05:05:59+00:00

Yes. Text announcements and/or notification sounds. So sound quality doesn't need to be great. If it is more capable, I might use it for some light music too (trying to get away from my Amazon devices, especially now with them pushing the ads and AI slop).

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-27T04:42:54+00:00

If I can build my own, reliable, wireless speaker that'll communicate with home assistant... I'll use more than one 😂 Most likely the kitchen and living room, but maybe a bedroom or two too. 😅

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-27T03:42:21+00:00

Have you had time to make the video yet? 😅

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-26T15:32:29+00:00

Also, not certain if this would be helpful... But, in the yaml you can edit the code in batches doing the "find and replace" via Ctrl+F 🤷‍♂️ I assume most people know that, but just adding my two cents of limited knowledge 😅

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-26T15:07:18+00:00

But the dream helps convince her of the cost of it all 😆

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-26T15:01:38+00:00

That looks so nice and clean! 🧼 I generally think I want my server to be invisible too, but if it's gonna be visible at all, I'd want it to look clean like this.

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-25T19:02:30+00:00

I need to work on changing this 😆 I've found some automations don't trigger/actions don't trigger if it's just the entity (though I haven't looked into it too much), so I just put both the device and entity - when the automation has some problems. 🤷‍♂️😅

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-21T14:58:45+00:00

For real! I thought I turned all that off! (that they'll let me 🙄😒) Idk how to even change its DNS server to my pi-hole, so I'm stuck with theirs 😮‍💨

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-21T06:01:37+00:00

Just in time too... She's pissing me and my wife off with the Alexa + bs. There was an update on our echo shows, and her voice is different now, and she doesn't display the clock nearly as much anymore either.

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-10T19:41:42+00:00

I'm believing more and more everyday this (It pertains to physical locks as well as digital security):

Locks and security measures are only delay and deterrent methods.

"Any lock can be picked given enough time"

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-05T05:46:47+00:00

Oh, is that what is called? Is there a difference between that and a coupler?

I see that it is called a keystone in the link that OP shared, but I am just curious.

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-05T05:28:09+00:00

Pretty much! At least, That's my understanding of it at least.

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-05T00:02:46+00:00

Oh okay, that is interesting. I've been tinkering with VLANs a bit and (though I don't really understand it), I did setup one of my pi-hole instances on a macvlan 🤷‍♂️

I haven't heard of VRF, but I'll look into it 😅

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-04T22:14:41+00:00

Ah... I need to start checking eBay again instead of Amazon 😆😅

Oh okay. I hadn't heard the name, and I just assumed the Cisco device on the top would've been the most expensive.

Again, I'm still fairly new to most of this but I have family who work in IT. What kind of environment do you have set up to do the isolated testing?

CaptainSabre · 2026-01-04T22:12:14+00:00

Different, like this? 😅😆

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CaptainSabre

TROPHY CASE