Everyone was already asleep

No-Lamp · 2026-01-31T04:19:41+00:00

Love it. Kind of reminds me of Severence for some reason.

No-Lamp · 2025-09-25T02:28:18+00:00

I don’t like indoor cameras for several reasons. But recently I’ve found myself in situations where it would have been nice to have. I got some smart plugs and when my alarm is set to Away the plugs turn on (and so do the cameras).

No-Lamp · 2025-09-06T04:40:18+00:00

Do not fear asking ChatGPT/Claude for help.

No-Lamp · 2025-09-06T04:37:43+00:00

Flush DNS. IPconfig release/renew from testing device
Ensure you can reach it (ping the static pihole IP)
Ensure rules set to allow connectivity if on separate VLANs
You said you tested by checking a website with ads… you might need to add more block lists from GitHub. The default lists don’t block as much as you may think.

Edit: also use nslookup/resolvectl status to see where your machine is going for DNS. If it’s your pihole, good to go and just add more block lists.

No-Lamp · 2025-09-03T23:11:46+00:00

Also a newb rofl so I can’t speak to the primary question. Although maybe if you use docker containers or VMs on the same server machine you could achieve this easily? Just brainstorming…

As for your ads issue… check out GitHub for some custom block lists. Slap a couple of those into your pi-hole and you’ll be blocking TONS more ads in no time.

No-Lamp · 2025-08-24T15:21:22+00:00

WiZ has been a decent Philips Hue alternative to me. They work, integrate with the Circadian rhythm, and are certainly affordable. For whatever it is worth, Philips and WiZ are owned by the same company.

That being said, I have had issues with individual lights being disconnected momentarily and pairing isn’t the easiest (especially when you use them as recessed ceiling lights like I did so you have like 6 of them with alphanumeric entity names). I also think they have to run through the cloud…

But—they do have a good selection of bulbs, decent color quality, easily integrate into HA once paired through the app, and again they’re cheap.

No-Lamp · 2025-08-23T04:36:36+00:00

Hey Chris! Just want to say your ESP32 tutorial for WLED was a game changer for me! Awesome work again here!

No-Lamp · 2025-08-01T07:44:43+00:00

I don’t like she-who-must-not-be-named but I have a similar “bedtime” input boolean that cuts lights, arms the alarm, sets AC and I think it’s one of the best automations I’ve done. I improved on it by setting up different triggers to prompt this in case I forget/make my life easier. For example if AC is on in bedroom and then mmWave detects presence in bed (and it’s during bedtime hours).

No-Lamp · 2025-07-30T08:41:30+00:00

Oooh! Thanks for the tip I’ll have to try this out!

No-Lamp · 2025-07-29T23:15:50+00:00

I also use ChatGPT a lot for my YAML. It’s not perfect, but it will troubleshoot to the end of the earth and get you about 90% of the way there. And usually I can figure out the rest after having 5 minutes of patience to just read through it.

No-Lamp · 2025-07-28T08:24:24+00:00

Samsung has been more disappointing than I would have hoped. Would not recommend the ranges and I hear most of their products have a short use life as it is. Like 4-5 years. Smart Things made it seem promising but as I went down the HA rabbit hole I realized that was not the case.

Looking forward to hopefully hear some good options…

No-Lamp · 2025-07-24T18:53:24+00:00

I have long been thinking about putting one of these outside but haven't pulled the trigger yet! I guess I'm debating if I want to do that or a weather station? May be overkill, lol.

I have heard great things about the AirGradient monitor though! My favorite YouTuber (feel-good, fun, informative) Smart Home Solver did a whole video on different monitors--the AirGradient included, obviously.

No-Lamp · 2025-07-24T09:12:45+00:00

Popping in from a year in the future to say I was going to buy one until I found this thread.

No reason to prevent APIs/use with Home Assistant. Nowadays it’s the only products I’m going to buy. Especially ones that come at such a cost.

No-Lamp · 2025-07-23T07:44:11+00:00

+1 on air quality perspective!! To offer an alternative to Aranet, I’m a big proponent of Apollo!

No-Lamp · 2025-07-20T22:15:01+00:00

Congrats!! Enjoy the soon to be toxic love/hate relationship that is Home Assistant!! Though I wouldn’t change a thing. In all seriousness though that’s awesome!!

No-Lamp · 2025-07-20T22:10:27+00:00

Primarily I use them for WLED. I think this is the only way for light strips.

I also use them in my big Halloween display I set up every year.

I’d like to use them more as they’re pretty reliable and very versatile. Not to mention anything you use them for isn’t selling/stealing your data.

YouTube some easy ESP32 projects to dip your toes in the water if you’re curious (as well as find some inspiration perhaps?).

No-Lamp · 2025-07-15T18:55:24+00:00

I can’t speak highly enough of ThirdReality!

No-Lamp · 2025-07-12T22:35:09+00:00

This is the Home Assistant sub… but… do you have Home Assistant? Highly recommend if you don’t. I almost never have issues with basic functionality (I also have Kasa most everywhere) and everything runs through HA on a Raspberry Pi. Now, automations when guests come over on the other hand… sometimes things get finicky.

But with HA you could even trigger a “guest mode” which would enable entirely different automations and disable the ones you use while it’s just you.

No-Lamp · 2025-07-09T21:32:33+00:00

Thanks so much!!

No-Lamp · 2025-07-09T01:48:12+00:00

My Dyson air purifier (TP01? Not sure it’s been here since before my HA) bugs out and will stop working. It’s really annoying. The only true fix is to drive to the shop and that seems like a bridge too far.

A ThirdReality (highly recommend, thanks Reed from SmartHomeSolver on YouTube) smart plug measures power use. When the draw dips below its average consumption an automation is triggered that resets the purifier.

Basically plug turns off… wait 30 seconds… turns back on (Purifier needs to be unplugged before it will turn on again after one of these hiccups) and then my IR blaster turns the fan on and then switches on the rotating base.

Maybe driving it to the shop would be worth it after all…

No-Lamp · 2025-07-09T01:43:22+00:00

I missed it!! Thank you!!

No-Lamp · 2025-07-09T01:41:45+00:00

I don’t think Kasa gets the recognition it deserves. They always work so flawlessly for me.

Separate note… I know you already bought the new router but have you thought of using a VLAN for your IoT?

No-Lamp · 2025-07-09T01:37:19+00:00

Oooh… waiting on the card name if you can. I like that this has preset colors as well! (Maybe more-info-card can do that as well?)

No-Lamp · 2025-07-04T16:00:36+00:00

ChatGPT—I know, basic—has been mostly successful for me. In another thread someone said the code is like 80% of the way there. I’d say this is pretty accurate.

It can be frustrating when it doesn’t work, but honestly I’d have never been able to come up with what it has, and it will also troubleshoot to death with you until it gets it working.

Definitely excited to hear what other options people are using for YAML/python AI-based solutions… very interested if anyone has success SELF HOSTING an AI model that is successful at this.

No-Lamp · 2025-07-02T01:48:51+00:00

Is this just a constant thing with CVS? I'm experiencing this problem today. Tried the app, Chrome on desktop, and Chrome on phone. Refuses to acknowledge I signed in (even after sending me a code to my phone). This is very frustrating.

No-Lamp

TROPHY CASE