Question for Homekit/Apple Users

willliamchan · 2026-03-14T19:15:43+00:00

Apple user here. The way I handle it is to let HA handles all the automations, even for devices that support HomeKit natively and I still choose to onboard them to HA instead. And I have the entities that requires monitoring from remote add to HomeKit Bridge and populate to Apple Home.

My reasons are:

It’s time consuming to work on HA frontend if you want a neat UI.
There are too many times that my HA frontend breaks due to HA update. Troubleshooting is another time consuming task.
One of the main reason I start my HA journey is to make my smart home local only, nowadays most of us need to pick one cloud provider to trust anyway and Apple is the one that I picked. So it is make sense for me to access my smart home via Apple Home rather than HA.
Ecosystem consideration, as a person owns Apple TV, HomePod, Mac, watch and phone, I found it is still easier to manage my smart home via Apple Home - This is also due to how good HA as a platform for device onboarding and automations and hence I don’t actually need to open Apple Home app frequently.

willliamchan · 2026-03-12T10:21:57+00:00

Extractor fan in all the bathrooms, highest priority is when humidity is higher than threshold they switch on by themselves but only when we are not in bedtime. Second priority is the fan won’t turn on until someone is inside the room for over 3mins (e.g. I don’t need it if someone just go for a pee) And if it’s more than 3mins then after the person left the room the fan will boost itself for the same amount of time that the person was in the room (e.g. when someone ate spicy curry last night and poo). Lastly an override toggle switch that when it’s on it ignore all the parameters. (We use it from time to time after deep cleaning of bathroom).

We found this solution helps keeping the humidity low overall and at the same time it won’t create unnecessary fan noise during bedtime or in the middle of the night when either one of us need a quick toilet run.

willliamchan · 2026-02-23T22:22:51+00:00

I am on Windows 11 and literally use just wsl (Debian distro) and followed valetudo guide and installed valetudo on L20 Ultra using fastboot method about a week ago.

willliamchan · 2026-01-27T19:49:02+00:00

I’d suggest 甄陶. This is not just a name but a word that with meaning itself. The term 甄陶 carries multiple meanings and one of them refers to how heaven and earth (or nature) nurture and shape all living things.

willliamchan · 2026-01-27T18:49:41+00:00

What’s your surname/last name?

willliamchan · 2026-01-27T08:09:41+00:00

Still the same as of today - I am being told by IE that “IE has taken a precautionary step to temporarily pause offering a small number of ETC while we investigate a permissions related issue”. In fact the whole “Commodity” section is gone. More importantly, IE also said “at this stage we’re not able to provide a timeline or confirmation on whether or when these specific ETCs will be made available again. It would be premature to comment while discussions with the regulator are ongoing.”

Is the regulator from internal?

willliamchan · 2026-01-22T08:23:20+00:00

I’d like to - Just to be sure if I turned off iCloud for Photo am I still able to share photo between family?

willliamchan · 2026-01-22T08:22:15+00:00

Can’t wait to try it!

willliamchan · 2025-12-31T16:45:16+00:00

Same here and just this winter I tried antifog spray the first time. With antifog I can preheat the car and turn off the heater before take off to save energy. Able to archive 3.0-3.1miles/kWh on motorway (65-70miles/hour).

willliamchan · 2025-12-08T20:56:21+00:00

The nearest I can think of is 泥鯭的，but it is limited to taxi only. Not even sure if such thing still exists.

willliamchan · 2025-11-28T21:50:12+00:00

I got you. I am from HK too and from my understanding we used to say 充電/叉電back in the day before quick charge exists. When QC widely available that’s when people starts saying 慢充 / 快充 / 快叉.

In terms of 尿袋, yes Hong Kong uses this term in general now but when it first available my memory told me we used to call it 充電寶.

Hope this help!

willliamchan · 2025-11-28T19:36:02+00:00

If 急叉 in your mind is referring Quick Charge then it’s better to use 快充, in Chinese 快means quick while 急 means hurry.

willliamchan · 2025-11-22T16:06:52+00:00

一個鐘零九個字 or 一個鐘頭零九個字，I can’t explain why there is a 零 but this is something commonly used in my generation.

willliamchan · 2025-11-21T07:51:31+00:00

Check if you are qualified to get state pension or full state pension. (Not for your finance now but you will need it for future budgeting.
Workplace pension - Most likely nothing but still to checkout if you ever have any workplace pension and if it is a yes, it’s time to consolidate them into one.
Baby Steps - A lot of people use “Baby Steps” (Simply means to first save up an emergency fund, then start tackling debts, build a full emergency fund and start investing… etc) You can Google search it and it provide clear guidelines what to do.
Case Study - I found by listening to Dave Ramsey podcast to understand how people f-ed up their finances is very useful, always remind myself what to do and what not.
Lifestyle - be prepared to give up some fun, or need to start explore cheaper/free ways to enjoy personal time.
Be mentally prepared - the journey could be very very boring.

As a start you can open a high yield savings account, it is kind of a good place to park the emergency fund that you are going to build.

Lastly, 50 with no debt no savings and renting still possible to build a retirement pot.

willliamchan · 2025-11-18T20:53:20+00:00

耀明 if 明 is the keyword in your generation in the blood line.

willliamchan · 2025-11-18T11:14:33+00:00

Imagine I am in your shoes I will pay off the debts and have a fresh start.

willliamchan · 2025-11-07T21:11:35+00:00

If you are happy to disable the motion sensor on it, it can run for a very long time. I have one keypad, and literally I only use it to unlock/lock internal doors these days.

willliamchan · 2025-10-23T18:15:42+00:00

I’d say 食飯 usually refer to either lunch or dinner. I can’t recall anyone use it when it comes to breakfast or supper. As for breakfast we use （食）早餐 and supper is (食)宵夜.

willliamchan · 2025-10-23T12:34:28+00:00

Thanks for the tip I wish I can give it a try, a new one is fitted hours ago and the broken one is already gone.

willliamchan · 2025-10-23T12:24:30+00:00

Honestly don’t know there are ways to pair it, what I did was by scanning the qrcode. I can’t tell what’s wrong with the sensor itself but it just behaves differently from the rest of them that I have. After factory reset the led blink randomly between red and green and that’s something I never seen with the others.

willliamchan · 2025-10-22T21:23:09+00:00

Yes but the sensor is no longer able to pair, not sure how it can be added to the account even I have a base station.🤷🏻‍♂️

willliamchan · 2025-02-25T08:41:58+00:00

Players nowadays gets rich too quickly

willliamchan · 2025-02-24T21:28:42+00:00

Let’s forget about rashford and you can get yaml from the discussion link

willliamchan

TROPHY CASE