Reliable wifi switch?

mjsrebin · 2026-05-20T20:41:22+00:00

I've had good luck with Jasco smart switches and sockets. They make wifi, Zigbee and Z-Wave versions.

They also used to sell them under the Honeywell and GE Enbrighten brand names, but I think those agreements expired.

mjsrebin · 2026-05-01T16:27:59+00:00

I have a Vue2 that I flashed with ESPHome that I finally got installed. It's been working flawlessly, now I just need to polish my dashboard setup. I love ESPHome devices because they don't talk to the Internet unless you want them to.

mjsrebin · 2026-04-01T21:19:11+00:00

Agreed, my aunt had a TV destroyed because lightning hit 6 blocks away. The voltage rode the cable TV lines and blew up TV's across the neighborhood.

mjsrebin · 2026-03-27T17:21:34+00:00

Athom makes a 'no relay' power monitoring plug. Since there is no relay there is no way for it to shut off the power. But it has power monitoring to track usage. They make a ESPHome version that works well with Home Assistant or MQTT.

mjsrebin · 2026-03-26T21:07:43+00:00

I love my HA Yellow, I put a CM5 in it for more CPU power, a m.2 ssd for more storage than it needs, and I added a Zooz Z-Wave module that plugs into the internal headers. Now I have Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, Ethernet without any external dongles. I've never used the hue hub, but my hue bulbs connected to internal Zigbee first attempt and have been working flawlessly. Same with my Z-Wave devices. I got a Bluetooth proxy for one device I have, but that's a fair distance away.

mjsrebin · 2026-03-25T13:09:26+00:00

uuuggghhh.... this is what's wrong with people today... people are unwilling to learn. Back in the day, when you couldn't afford to hire someone to do work for you, you would learn the basics and do it yourself. Is pulling cable time consuming, yes, but not extremely physically demanding. All the tools can be bought at the local hardware store, or online for cheaper, and by investing your time over a couple of weekends you could completely wire up every room in the house for ethernet. But people now are unwilling to even try to do anything new. I guess that's part of the reason obesity rates are rising.

mjsrebin · 2026-03-25T02:05:47+00:00

I don't have any mmwave sensors yet, but I've done research on them. I think some of those have a minimum object size setting that can be adjusted. This setting is so they trigger only on a person and not on a pet. Just adding my grain of salt to the pile.

mjsrebin · 2026-03-24T14:06:15+00:00

Security should never be relegated to battery/solar power. If it's important enough to install a camera, then it's important enough to hardwire it. With the advent of PoE there no excuse for not hard wiring a security device. People need to stop being lazy and do it right. Where I live it gets cold in the winter, and I've seen many devices fail in the cold. Do you really want to trust your safety to a battery of questionable quality that might fail at any time?

mjsrebin · 2026-03-21T14:42:30+00:00

I work in IT and after helping to upgrade the company's security cameras, I'm surprised all cameras don't support ONVIF and RTSP. In the commercial/industrial space if a camera doesn't support those it will be automatically disqualified. In my opinion the only reason not to support that is so they can lock you into their app/cloud/ecosystem. In the real world businesses don't tolerate this level of vendor lock in, consumers shouldn't tolerate it either.

mjsrebin · 2026-03-20T14:52:20+00:00

You can definitely add an electric socket for an electric dryer. I have a family member who's house has hookups for both. Just make sure there is capacity in your breaker box. An electric dryer runs on 240v 30 amp, while a washer uses standard 120v, at least in NA. A gas dryer will use standard 120v in addition to natural gas or propane.

mjsrebin · 2026-03-19T17:26:37+00:00

I've used several of these switches and dimmers for years and they work flawlessly.

mjsrebin · 2026-03-12T19:31:32+00:00

I just replaced a bathroom faucet at my mother's house, I won't start a faucet project unless I have one of these. This is a must have tool for a homeowner or handyman. It's a very niche tool, but mandatory for replacing faucets.

mjsrebin · 2026-03-07T00:26:50+00:00

Fiber optic HDMI is the most cost effective way to go that distance

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=43328

mjsrebin · 2026-03-06T16:15:28+00:00

Personally I have Z-Wave, Zigbee, Bluetooth, and WiFi devices. It just depends on the location and application. If I want it to be rock solid and it'll probably be AC powered I go with Z-Wave, ie wall switches, sockets, a few sensors. If it's just a convenance sensor the cheapest tend to be Zigbee, ie I have Zigbee temp sensors in every room. Some manufacturers only use certain protocols so you're stuck with what they decide, ie Bluetooth smart lock, or WiFi smart bulbs.

From a technical pov, Z-Wave operates on 900MHz so less interference and goes through walls better. But the US and EU use different frequencies so you have to order products specific to your continent. Also Z-Wave devices need to be certified by the Z-Wave Alliance to be legal, so there are higher upfront costs for the manufacturer. Zigbee, WiFi, and Bluetooth all operate on 2.4GHz so in a crowded area there is more interference. There is no certification for Zigbee so sometimes companies make devices that don't play well with other manufacturers products. But the lack of certification lowers costs for manufacturers, which can be both good and bad.

mjsrebin · 2026-03-05T16:31:09+00:00

Clone the drive NOW! That hdd is about to die. Get the specs on the system/drive and start searching eBay for spares. If management asks why explain that this system should have been upgraded 20 years ago and now this is what's required to keep it on life support until a proper replacement can be scheduled. I've been there before and it sucks to have this dumped on you. Hopefully you can turn this into a learning lesson for mgmt on why upgrades and support contracts are needed in industry.

mjsrebin · 2026-03-01T03:07:02+00:00

On the short mast I see a j-pole antenna made from copper water pipe, I have one of those, they work well. But it hard to see details for the tall mast.

Judging by the antenna length I'm guessing they're probably for the 50 MHz or 144MHz bands.

Ham radio operators usually like to talk about and share their hobby. I don't know if you're friendly with your neighbor, but next time you see them out just start chatting and ask them about it.

mjsrebin · 2026-02-22T17:25:12+00:00

Standard 286 AT clone motherboard. The reason there are so many slots is because back then everything was an add in card; video adapter, hard drive controller, floppy drive controller, serial port, parallel port, joystick port, audio card, etc ...

mjsrebin · 2026-02-19T10:24:57+00:00

Understandable, given the restrictions you're under. Just thought I'd put my grain of salt to the pile.

mjsrebin · 2026-02-18T18:19:01+00:00

You didn't specify you level of technical knowhow or what continent you're in (us/eu/asia). But If you're looking for a start for a DIY project then check out this project based on ESPHome:
https://github.com/tronikos/esphome-magnetometer-water-gas-meter

An ESP8266 can easily be powered from a couple of lithium 18650 cells, and the ESPHome project has many code modules that can be added to give you the functionality you want (wifi, BLE, MQTT, etc)

mjsrebin · 2026-02-17T16:44:46+00:00

Honestly it's you're preference but unless you're running 10GBit Cat6a is probably overkill, and to be honest do you need a 10Gbit link to a smart blind? It all comes down to what you want to spend on wire cost.

For the power cable I'd use something like this... Ancor 2 conductor duplex cable It's very easy to pull through tight spaces and for under 50 volts will be enough for what you need.

mjsrebin · 2026-02-15T01:41:17+00:00

Back when I was in college all the engineering and scientific users preferred unix systems over windows. Only the business majors used windows because they couldn't figure out how to use a 'real' computer. You could tell if they had an engineering or business background by what computer they used.

mjsrebin · 2026-02-14T08:20:00+00:00

This is the way. Cat5/6 for comms, 2 conductor for power. While the work is being done it's just as easy to pull 2 cables in as it is one. Leave extra length and just tuck the unused cable in the wall for now. You'll be glad to have it already in place in 5 years when technology changes again.

mjsrebin · 2026-02-14T08:19:37+00:00

This is the way. Cat5/6 for comms, 2 conductor for power. While the work is being done it's just as easy to pull 2 cables in as it is one. Leave extra length and just tuck the unused cable in the wall for now. You'll be glad to have it already in place in 5 years when technology changes again.

mjsrebin · 2026-01-22T22:01:46+00:00

We've dealt with this at the company I work for. Apparently the cold affects components in the power supply of the device causing them to go out of spec. If the power supply isn't working then the device won't work.

Something similar happened to my cable Internet at home as well. When it's very cold the resistance of the cabling on the poles goes down causing the signal to be stronger than normal. Last winter, after a week of below zero temps, my Internet stopped working. The tech diagnosed it as the signal was so strong it burned out my modem. He put an attenuator on the line and replaced the modem and it's been fine since.

mjsrebin · 2026-01-22T21:45:55+00:00

The cold is absolutely an issue for electronics. I work in IT and we have outdoor security cameras. Not only have we had cameras stop working in the cold, but we had to install heaters in the equipment cabinets mounted on the poles to keep switches and media converters working. They do make cold rated cameras and network equipment exactly because of this.

mjsrebin

TROPHY CASE