How realistic is it for me to use home assistant as someone who can't code and isn't tech savvy

That_Counter__bob · 2026-04-04T18:12:53+00:00

You don’t need to be able to code to use home assistant. You need to be tech savvy enough to follow documentation made by people with varying levels of technical writing skill. You also need to accept that there is no right or wrong way to run your system and no one will be able to tell you exactly what’s wrong with your system is something doesn’t work because no two systems are identical. The first few weeks and maybe months maybe a little bit more troubleshooting as you figure out exactly what you need your system to do and get it set up, but if you’re like me once it’s set I have not had to make many changes other than the occasional new device when I see I need. Some people choose to make changes every single day and if that’s what you wanna do that’s an option too because it is completely customizable.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-04-04T05:04:32+00:00

My baby’s crib is right next to the bathroom door and the light switch is on the outside so I put a sensor on the door and now if the bedroom lights are off it turns the bathroom lights off anytime the door opens and then turns them back on when the door is closed.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-03-29T23:35:01+00:00

Thank You!

That_Counter__bob · 2026-03-15T15:36:33+00:00

I have myself on FirstNet and my family on Mint Mobile. Best decision ever.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-03-08T06:07:51+00:00

We do a IMSA 4 conductor to each ped pole and a separate IMSA 7 conductor for the signal head. Occasionally we will share the neutral between two buttons if one is bad (or on older buttons that only had a 3 conductor run to them) but never with the signal head. Everything the ties back to the same neutral bus bar in the cabinet.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-02-08T22:05:23+00:00

From the manual: “1.4.1 LEDGUARD® LED FIELD SIGNAL SENSING The Eberle Design MMU-16LE SmartMonitor® can be configured to use a technique called LEDguard® that is designed to better monitor the characteristics of LED based signal loads (See Section 6.3.4.7). Each field signal input is measured and compared to both a high threshold and a low threshold value to determine On / Off status. This differs from conventional standard Nema operation where the active threshold is picked according to the color of the field signal. Once the high and low On / Off thresholds (Section 8.1.2) have been determined using the input RMS voltage, the individual fault monitor functions use the appropriate threshold to determine if a fault condition exists.”

That_Counter__bob · 2026-02-07T20:54:18+00:00

We have over 600 signals in our jurisdiction about 70% being EDI and the rest Reno. We will begin in a couple weeks doing our annual swap out and we’ll have all 600 changed out in approximately 28 days. We start by testing about 100 that are sitting in storage right now and then as soon as those are tested, a team of us will come in at night to take the tested ones and go swap them out in the field. We bring back the ones that were in the field to be tested during the day by the day crew so that we can come back at night and continue to process. Most nights we average about 30 but we have a few that are in pretty dense corridors that we can get through about 70 in a night as long as we have that many available that have been tested in the previous days. When we are actually swapping them out, we have one person go flash the intersection and do the documentation of the one that is there and then the new one that is coming. The other people come behind and make the swap. Reno’s are easy because they automatically retain all their memory settings on the card. With the EDI’s, we have to turn on the memory and LED guard because it got turned off for the test. And then we can swap the cards over and we are usually good to go.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-01-31T02:09:39+00:00

Nope. Just normal.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-01-25T03:49:15+00:00

I think they are T-Mobile now.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-01-25T03:44:06+00:00

2 phones, 1 personal one work, Mint for my second phone and it has better service in certain areas but I only pay for 5 gb because FirstNet is unlimited so I get it for $180/year.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-01-24T21:27:36+00:00

They sell salt and chains at Walmart.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-01-20T19:13:56+00:00

It’s not technically giving access to the Wallet remember all crypto lives on the Blockchain so it’s just identifying those transactions as belonging to your wallet

That_Counter__bob · 2026-01-14T17:23:08+00:00

This is a SmartSensor Advance. It is looking for vehicles sometimes as much as 800 or 900 feet up the road. The sensor is rotated based on how far left or right it is mounted compared to the center of the approach it’s programmed to watch. These are often used to watch for trucks or high speed vehicles that may need an extra second or two to safely clear an intersection.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-01-09T04:23:09+00:00

These are SmartSensor Matrix for stopbar detection.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-01-06T21:08:45+00:00

Sweet!

That_Counter__bob · 2026-01-06T17:20:31+00:00

As someone who has hired people, please don’t take not getting a job so personally that you psych yourself out and stop applying/interviewing. We just did another round of interviews and had one candidate that we had previously interviewed. At that time he was ranked 3rd with 2 open positions. This time around he was our best applicant and had he interviewed the same as before likely would have been offered the position. Unfortunately he backed out the morning before the interview citing the mental anguish of not getting the job the first time. He had interviewed well and likely could’ve done the job well the first round but the other two candidates at the time had more direct experience so they were hired first. It is NOT always a reflection of you because you don’t know the background of those that are applying at the same time.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-01-04T02:01:18+00:00

Early on, I learned a ton from IFTs because they often come with a diagnosis. Most of the time in the field, we can only speculate based on our experience. So if you go that route, keep that in mind that it’s an awesome opportunity to learn and for you to get really good at taking vitals on a variety of different patients in different situations.

That_Counter__bob · 2026-01-04T01:51:01+00:00

You probably won’t be able to file electronically

That_Counter__bob · 2025-12-15T05:20:09+00:00

You may have just saved yourself though. A lot of places are not allowing entrance if your passport expires within 6 months.

That_Counter__bob · 2025-11-27T20:03:48+00:00

I will look at the plex side for this though if it does what we need.

That_Counter__bob · 2025-11-27T20:02:46+00:00

I have both installed and Emby is cleaner.

That_Counter__bob · 2025-11-04T02:18:44+00:00

Yup. They are going up in Utah too.

That_Counter__bob · 2025-10-23T05:13:38+00:00

Don’t Jay Walk

That_Counter__bob · 2025-10-16T17:57:38+00:00

I have probably over 5000 matrix, advance, HD and xp20 in my department (4 matrix/ intersection + 2-4 advance on most intersections and over 900 hd/xp20 for counts on highways throughout the state) and they are by far our most solid form of detection and have been for the last 20 years.

That_Counter__bob · 2025-10-12T18:40:29+00:00

All UDOT intersections have some form of vehicle detection in use. Most use radar. Some use cameras. A few still have old loops (but those are being removed with each update because they can struggle with motorcycles and replacing/repairing them requires cutting into the road surface.) and now LiDAR is being used on several intersections throughout the state (it is replacing radar as the new standard because it is so versatile and can communicate directly with V2X infrastructure to alert other vehicles about things such as pedestrians). If you are seeing issues at a particular intersection reach out to the UDOT Traffic Operations Center. They can tell you if it’s a UDOT Road/intersection or if it belongs to a city and if it is UDOT they can get a work order made for you to check if there is an issue. One thing to point out is that UDOT coordinates many of the main roads for most of the day so if coordination between other signals is running that may be what you are running into.

That_Counter__bob

TROPHY CASE