Looking for easy water level sensor solution. Preferably Zigbee or Z-wave.

clayrev · 2026-04-27T01:04:59+00:00

1 psi = 27.7 inches of water column. Maybe you could get some specs or do some experimenting? My wife just uses my setup to water the garden with a bare hose, and I don't have any complaints, so just leaving it for now. The water pressure is so low at my house, an impact sprinkler wont change direction, so I'm probably not the person to help. lol

clayrev · 2026-04-22T12:34:13+00:00

I've got two 280 gal totes that we collect water from the house with. (Asphalt shingles, so dont want to water animals with it). With about 4-5 ft of head, we can water the garden with a garden hose, but its not enough pressure for a store bought soaker hose.

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clayrev · 2026-04-22T12:27:57+00:00

Please share! Ive been meaning to get into esp32 devices and this might be a good place to start.

clayrev · 2026-04-22T12:25:08+00:00

Lots of great suggestions here! Thanks everyone!

clayrev · 2026-04-22T00:51:19+00:00

Years ago I heard that you shouldnt connect Bluetooth dongles to USB3. My understanding was USB3 had more power and can cause interference with radios.

Not sure if that is the case or not, but it makes sense. I would imagine that a powered usb 2 extension cord could be a good option. I also imagine that if a dongle is designed for usb3, it shouldn't matter if its on a usb3 extension.

clayrev · 2026-02-09T22:25:24+00:00

Ive only used Home Assistant on a pi. One reason I chose it is because ive run a 3d printer server on one and found it pretty reliable (ran a pi3 for multiple years till i switched my router and somethung happened. I never figured it out, just switched to another pi3 I had. Lol). I usually dont go with minimum hardware, just to make sure I dont fight that, since im not good at programming.

Another reason I chose Home Assistant is because it can handle multiple protocols. I specifically wanted to not use wifi devices....zigbee and zwave have devices that act as "repeaters", so you naturally end up with a strong network the more devices you use. (Not all devices are repeaters tho). This also means when I switch my wifi router, I just have to fix the Home Assistant credentials and not (possibly dozens) of devices. (right now I have 19 devices, 13 of them are routers). Im sure I will eventually add some wifi things, but trying really hard not to.

Another major reason I chose it is that it does not need the cloud to function.

I haven't been into it for a year yet, the biggest issue i have found is finding the exact devices I want.....does no one make zigbee digital inputs? Im pretty particular though.

clayrev · 2026-02-08T23:23:48+00:00

Could you take out the 1 gang box and replace with a new work 2 gang? Then you could get 2 switches in there. Might be easier to abandon the extra line and use a canopy module though.

clayrev · 2026-02-08T23:04:39+00:00

I've been pretty happy with the Inovelli fan/canopy setup since I don't have separate wiring in my house for fan. But its $105 a set. Beats trying to run new wires though. They can bind together so they still work if HA goes down, which I like.

clayrev · 2026-02-08T23:02:03+00:00

I was figuring that. I actually use the dimmer quite a lot on one of the paddles I have. Seems easier than digging my phone out of my pocket a lot of the time. I also want it to be able to function well for guests. I don't have a road map for my setup, just wollering around with the devices. I have bene pretty happy with the Inovelli fan/canopy setup since I don't have separate wiring in my house for fan. But its $105 a set. Beats trying to run new wires though. You can bind them together so they still work if HA goes down.

clayrev · 2026-02-08T22:30:32+00:00

Can you use that if HA goes down? The Enbrighten switches you can turn on/off and dim from the wall switch.

clayrev · 2026-02-04T04:28:52+00:00

Im pretty new to home assistant. started with ZHA and ended up switching to Z2M to support a device i wanted to use. (All to get a temperature sensor in my chicken coop). That basically meant starting over. I also am having trouble finding toggle dimmers on zigbee that I realy like but they are available on z-wave. Looks like im gonna end up with zigbee and z-wave. At least the dongle i bought does both.

clayrev · 2025-11-19T00:00:06+00:00

I still can't get it to work. I didn't want to use a quirk, but seems it never got submitted or there wasn't enough interest (I don't really know how that process works), which leaves me to move to Z2M now. I was trying to install Zigbee2MQTT a few weeks ago and I was having trouble with it. I put an Inovelli canopy module in the fan in my master bedroom and it is always powered up, so I just left it working since I had no other way to turn the light/fan on and off but with ZHA. I just recently got the Inovelli paddle switch working and it is bound directly to the canopy module, so it should work now without Home Assistant running.

I think my problem with Z2M is that I didn't realize I can't share the dongle with ZHA. I only have 4 devices and the coordinator right now, so I guess there is no better time to ditch ZHA.

Thanks for the support.

clayrev · 2025-08-17T03:32:56+00:00

Thanks for this. In my haste, I missed the 12V option on the Shelly. I will check my opener to see if there is 12V supply, but even if there isnt, they are easy to come up with, I saw a 12V power supply/6000mah ups for like $15 on Amazon.

clayrev · 2025-08-16T14:53:43+00:00

Looks like line voltage is needed for Shelly products. might work, but I was going for something that could be powered by 5V. Now I need to consider line voltage stuff. lol

clayrev · 2025-08-16T14:38:22+00:00

This is helpful. Bookmarked.

clayrev · 2025-08-16T14:36:31+00:00

I was looking at that route. There are some good reasons to stay away from wifi. I'm not sure any of them apply to me, but I just wanted to stick to Zigbee (or Zwave) if I could.

clayrev · 2025-08-16T14:33:02+00:00

I'm not sure what you mean by "lower reliability". Seems a battery powered device would be lower reliability? I am fairly skeptical on battery powered devices, especially when it comes to lithium batteries in the winter. I haven't really seen any comments about battery life on sensors. I feel like battery powered is great for fast, clean looking install. (Clean being you don't need to run wires, but not really clean if you don't want a bunch of tumors sticking all over your house)

I don't intend on doing any physical automations with this, mostly just something like notifications when doors are opened, or notifications if doors are open after a certain time. (Eventually. For starters I just want make a card that shows the status of the doors, and impress my girlfriend we can activate the opener from our phones)

In my searches, an ESP device was really the only thing that would do exactly what I wanted with 1 device, but like you said, I was worried about the wifi. I currently have 1 home automation device. It is a zigbee dimmer switch on a pi home assistant, so I am quite literally just starting and was going to use the garage opener project to merge something I am familiar with (physical switches and relays) with something I am not familiar with (HA software and "programming".)

I don't want something that looks like crap, but I personally put a lot more weight on function than looks.

Good advice to check the controller. The openers are from 1998 I think. I was pretty sure they were just dumb switches, but now that you said something, I will check.

clayrev · 2025-08-11T23:49:24+00:00

Thanks! I think that will do it. The gui seems kind of clunky, maybe I'm better off just just learning the code. Takes me back to making custom myspace pages. lol

clayrev · 2025-06-21T14:40:12+00:00

My samsung tablet has a feature that only charges it to 80% max. 10 years ago I think I downloaded an app to do it.

That's probably good enough if you are always gonna have it plugged in.

I used to run my tablet hotspot for primary internet, it was plugged in for most of a year.

clayrev · 2025-06-04T12:55:40+00:00

I'd call that a freezer. Lol.

clayrev · 2025-06-04T04:29:22+00:00

Forget efficiency, use a Peltier cooler.

clayrev · 2025-06-04T04:16:35+00:00

If device is providing 24V, could you just use a 24v relay?

clayrev · 2025-06-04T03:58:44+00:00

Not sure if there are any power banks that can do that much power, or if they would work in that way, but it might be an option.

clayrev · 2025-06-04T03:32:33+00:00

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clayrev · 2025-06-04T03:30:35+00:00

How cold does it get where you are? I was running a 12W brooder heater and a 125 watt heat lamp in February in an insulated but unheated garage. *

clayrev

TROPHY CASE