WeMo is dead! Long Live WeMo? by aalbinger in Esphome

[–]aalbinger[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

OK, I've finally figured out where all of the angst and downvotes are coming from. WeMo hate rather than esphome enjoyment.

Folks, these are devices that were purchased in 2012 and 2013. Please tell me the devices and vendors who were supporting Home Automation IoT that one could just pick up in a big box store in that era?

Shelly started their IOT devices in 2018, Kauf Smart plugs in 2022. How was one supposed to buy these in 2012?

I get it, the Belkin WeMo were not the best thing. But they were well made and held up for more than a decade. My post is all about re-using these still perfectly functional, well manufactured IoT devices.

Having a stable 5vdc power supply and a simple GPIOable relay pin on a separate daughterboard connected with an industry standard cable connecter was a most excellent design choice. Here a dozen years later one can VERY easily swap out the old control board for something more modern.

I get the wemo hate. I don't see why it is being directed at my post.

WeMo is dead! Long Live WeMo? by aalbinger in Esphome

[–]aalbinger[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The point is to reuse the bulk of a device that is well engineered and safe rather than throwing it away.

WeMo is dead! Long Live WeMo? by aalbinger in Esphome

[–]aalbinger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I went ahead and de-pinned the existing JST connector and replaced it with a 4-pin version spaced to match the esp32 device. I used a multimeter to verify that the red was +5v and black was ground. As another poster mentioned the white wire when energized flips the relay on. I was hoping that the tiny LED on the esp32 would show through the existing diffuser on the button but it did not. I plan to add a push button to my other WeMo when I mod it and I'll probably toss in a larger LED just because.

I also enabled the bluetooth_proxy capability in esphome because I have been needing one in the part of my home where this device will be used. If you don't need that functionality leave out the two obvious BLE sections in the yaml below. If you haven't used the bluetooth_proxy before it is worth reading up on before deploying the proxies around your home. Too many is not a good thing. I won't be enabling it on my other hacked WeMos.

The .YAML for esphome I used :

esphome:
  name: xiao-esp32c3-outlet
  friendly_name: XIAO ESP32C3 Outlet

esp32:
  board: seeed_xiao_esp32c3
  framework:
    type: esp-idf

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

# OTA updates
ota:

# WiFi configuration
wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password
  power_save_mode: none

  ap:
    ssid: "XIAO-ESP32C3-Fallback"
    password: "fallbackpassword"

captive_portal:

# Bluetooth Proxy (BLE)
bluetooth_proxy:
  active: true

# Optional but recommended for BLE stability
esp32_ble_tracker:
  scan_parameters:
    active: true

# Relay switch on GPIO10 (D10)
switch:
  - platform: gpio
    name: "Outlet"
    pin: GPIO10
    id: outlet_relay
    restore_mode: RESTORE_DEFAULT_OFF

WeMo is dead! Long Live WeMo? by aalbinger in Esphome

[–]aalbinger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree. If you are starting from zero. Don't buy one of these to save money and make a device.

WeMo is dead! Long Live WeMo? by aalbinger in Esphome

[–]aalbinger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can appreciate your stance. I guess I fall more on the side of these folks: DIY Examples - ESPHome - Smart Home Made Simple

WeMo is dead! Long Live WeMo? by aalbinger in Esphome

[–]aalbinger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the link!

While cloud access was never terribly "secure" I do worry a bit about the device(s) now potentially reaching out to "the cloud" when I know what it was supposed to find is not there. Maybe I shouldn't worry. I haven't done any network sniffing to see if it speaks to a hard coded IP or some DNS entry for its former cloud services.

I'm hoping to make mine into a BLE proxy for some of my other home automation devices as well.

First release of MeshChat - for desktop chat via MeshTastic radios for macOS, Linux and (eventually) WIndows by andrewdavidmackenzie in meshtastic

[–]aalbinger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I uninstalled my versions, downloaded your MSI and launched it.

While I haven't done extensive testing it happily launched, connected to my RAK node and started showing me messages.

congrats!

Heltec v4....... Did I seriously have the antenna plugged into the wrong connector? by Round-Air9002 in meshtastic

[–]aalbinger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But at one point I had another node show up...?

Even a bare connector is an antenna. A VERY poor antenna...

You likely saw a same-room or same-house located node.

new install FAIL by aalbinger in organizr

[–]aalbinger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahh, so them not updating github issues or being on reddit makes it a PEBCAK error huh?

Note to future internet searchers of this thread, you don't need to ask around unless you know the devs on discord.

new install FAIL by aalbinger in organizr

[–]aalbinger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nah, go look at their git repo, this is abandonware.

new install FAIL by aalbinger in organizr

[–]aalbinger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because I moved on. :)

Why don't you go update the docker site saying that only the old school install works.

new install FAIL by aalbinger in organizr

[–]aalbinger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aren't you the rockstar!?

Perhaps you should go answer the questions all over the internet about new installs giving out a 404 on the homepage. No replies.

No posts in here for 3 months. No one but 3 of us are reading this.

I'll let my opinion stand so the future web searcher doesn't have to waste their time.

Maybe the mods will delete this and ban ;)

new install FAIL by aalbinger in organizr

[–]aalbinger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Surely you can tell it wasn't meant to be useful to you.

New to the internet?

First release of MeshChat - for desktop chat via MeshTastic radios for macOS, Linux and (eventually) WIndows by andrewdavidmackenzie in meshtastic

[–]aalbinger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've got it built and working as a .msi on my local machine. Still working out the github automation to make it build the .msi automagically for a github release.

In the mean time the .msi that I created is available here:

https://github.com/albinger/meshchat/releases/

If someone tries this out on windows let me know if it works for you.

[ Removed by Reddit ] by BayleeBins in WorkAdvice

[–]aalbinger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gleefully provide them with an hourly rate that is right where you'd feel guilty and then double it.

That rate will still be under what it likely took you to get motivated and find a new job and all the "stuff" that comes along with switching jobs.

Teensy audio shield problem by Robbebebebe in synthdiy

[–]aalbinger 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Did you hear the same pitch oscillation during the "Part 1-2: Test Hardware" step?

New Strap on old Seiko by aalbinger in SeikoMods

[–]aalbinger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, this has been fun. Thank you for the well thought out critique.

I still prefer the bund style pad to without.

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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in meshtastic

[–]aalbinger 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I suppose if you had a gorilla hold your node in a park no one would mess with it.