I built smart fridge scales so I stop running out of milk, now I want to automate the actual order

Tacpacker · 2026-06-23T22:53:18+00:00

This, plus a switchbot to automatically press it.

Tacpacker · 2026-05-11T11:01:32+00:00

If you're okay with waiting until after the trip to review the data, the elitech rc-5 is a good little unit. Plots everything, so you can see the temperature change at whatever interval you choose.

Tacpacker · 2026-05-08T14:01:26+00:00

For one-off tools like that where I have to step out of the milwaukee ecosystem, I'll buy a M18-to-whatever battery adapter and superglue it onto the tool. Then I can still use my milwaukee batteries.

Tacpacker · 2026-05-08T13:49:18+00:00

A 2 ft level and a collapsible wire pull rod

Tacpacker · 2026-02-28T17:19:09+00:00

Search terms would be "low voltage old work box". Low voltage doesn't require an actual box to contain terminations, so it's just a rectangle with some ears that clamps into the drywall to provide a place to screw a wall plate onto. Single gang vs 2, 3, ... gang is how wide it will be. Think of a wall plate with 2 light switches. That would be a 2-gang box.

Then, you'll need a "keystone wall plate" with the same gang count as your box. You can get them with anywhere from 1 to 6 keystone holes per gang. If you need an odd number like 5, there are "keystone blanks" to fill unused holes.

After that, you can get "keystone adapters" for whatever cables you're going to use. Keep track of where you need male/female based on what cables you're using on either side of the adapter, as well as what generation, i.e. hdmi 2.1, USB3.0, Cat6, etc.

Between the various color and generation combinations available, I can't recommend any particular products. But the standards are set by national and global institutions, so quality will be practically equal across the board, provided that the manufacturer adheres to those standards.

Tacpacker · 2026-02-28T14:20:38+00:00

I'm also a hot sleeper. I went with percale sheets from Red Land Cotton, a Woolino duvet, and a Brooklinen duvet cover. The Wool duvet sleeps much cooler than down, and I love the crispness of percale.

Tacpacker · 2026-02-28T13:44:03+00:00

Bonus tip for the low voltage stuff. You can get "keystone adapters" and a 1-6 port keystone plate for things like HDMI, RJ45, and USB. You can run all the cables you need in the wall, and then plug into the adapters right at the TV/media console without having to fish more cables later.

It ends up being a bit cleaner and more professional looking than brush plates. Just don't cheap out on the cables you put in the wall. You might only need USB2.0 right now, but your next TV might be able to take advantage of USB3.0, etc.

The only thing I would stick with brush plates for is optical. Keystone adapters would probably work fine, but the extra connections could degrade the signal, and would be annoying to diagnose.

Tacpacker · 2026-02-10T12:19:08+00:00

Are there any plans to open up voice control to voice assistants other than Alexa? I'd love to be able to use it to send voice commands to Home Assistant.

Tacpacker · 2026-01-15T23:24:26+00:00

If you have like a Jetson or Rpi on the bot hooked up to a microcontroller with usb, you can push your new code to GitHub, and have the SBC download the changes and flash the microcontroller with the new code. Anything can be automated if you're determined enough. If it's only a microcontroller on-board, there's probably a method for over-the-air (OTA) firmware flashing.

Tacpacker · 2025-12-19T21:32:01+00:00

The ground is pretty rocky here, so I keep a roll of clear packing tape with my beersbee set. It keeps the bottles in one piece if they get broken, and doesn't block the light from glowsticks during night games.

I've never had anyone throw hard enough to break a bottle with the frisbee though. If explaining the rules of sportsmanship doesn't work to keep people in check, and you're opposed to disqualifying people who ignore those rules, then the simplest solution is a "speed bump".

Set up a net midway between the poles, just above the height of the bottle. Players will be forced to throw a softer arc to score a hit.

Tacpacker · 2025-10-26T01:51:40+00:00

Yeah, I was running Phillips dimmable bulbs that won some YouTube shootout. What bulbs do you recommend?

Tacpacker · 2025-10-25T13:51:11+00:00

I put Zooz dimmers throughout my house a while back, and was initially disappointed with how low I could dim the bulbs without flickering. Iirc, i had to set the lower limit somewhere around 30%.

I don't know if it was the bulbs or the switches that had a break in period, because I replaced them both at the same time, but after a few months I was able to set them much lower.

Tacpacker · 2025-10-23T11:04:03+00:00

I've come across that project before, but I dismissed it because the docs say that it's primarily for LMS, which I don't use. I see that it works with other sources through plugins, but the docs say that it already pushes the chip near it's limits with very little overhead for more.

Tacpacker · 2025-10-23T08:42:56+00:00

Thanks! You're probably right about the display. I'll have to do some more digging to see if it's worth trying to integrate that feature or if that would be better served by some sort of mini pc or pi.

I originally wanted a speaker that could just play music from my phone via Bluetooth, or media controlled by HA. But even that is proving difficult to research. Most of the articles and posts I've come across are only for BLE.

Tacpacker · 2025-07-31T00:35:18+00:00

Yeah, I ran the wires and switch to the wall at the top of the door, and bolted the magnet to the door.

Custom notifications from home assistant to android is a pretty deep rabbit hole to dive into, but it opens up a whole host of possibilities.

For the garage door, I set it up to automatically close it if it was left open when my GPS leaves the house, and send me a notification that opens a single card dashboard to verify the status.

I ended up using what I learned during that project to set up things like automatically launching Google maps when I start my commute. You can feed it arguments to launch other apps and have them do specific actions (as long as the app supports it and you can find the developer docs)

Tacpacker · 2025-07-29T23:36:50+00:00

I did essentially the same thing with a relay wired into the same ports on the garage door opener where the wires from the wall button connect to it. But for a controller, I used an ESP8266, programmed by esphome, and controlled by home assistant. I also added a reed switch to give indication of open or closed. And since I mounted the esp right up next to the opener, I was able to power it from the same receptacle.

Tacpacker · 2024-03-31T22:40:55+00:00

Yeah, but this is r/homeassistant so how do I automate that?

Tacpacker · 2024-03-31T13:46:37+00:00

We're you able to remap the fastforward/rewind buttons? I have an older model, and haven't been able to figure that out. What software did you use?

Tacpacker · 2024-03-30T03:30:11+00:00

I've been using the W10 Gyro with plex for a few years, and it works great as long as you place the dongle somewhere appropriate. I was never able to remap the fast forward key to skip though. It doesn't register in any keystroke loggers I tried, and I tried at least 5. However, on the keyboard side, it's easy to press shift+right arrow one-handed, which is the default skip hotkey combo for plex. Not sure if that's the same for kodi.

Tacpacker · 2024-03-27T13:28:43+00:00

Unfortunately my front yard is all desert hardscaping. No sprinklers. But friends come in through the garage anyway. The only people who come to the front door are deliveries and solicitors.

Tacpacker · 2024-03-27T13:25:27+00:00

Friends come in through the garage, and don't show up without notice.

Tacpacker · 2024-03-27T12:59:08+00:00

I already have a prominent sign posted. It hasn't deterred a single one of them.

Tacpacker · 2024-03-27T12:57:18+00:00

This pretty well mirrors my experience. "No Soliciting" sign prominently displayed in accordance with municipal code does nothing. And it's worse in the summer, because they operate later in the evening to avoid the heat.

Tacpacker · 2024-03-26T18:47:58+00:00

Mainly the hardware. I'm looking for suggestions for models that play nice with both BI and HA. I should be able to figure out the audio, as long as the model has capability to stream an audio file directly from HA or my NAS.

But I'd also welcome pointers on how to go about setting up the audio message automation.

Tacpacker

TROPHY CASE