Recent Posts

  • June 22, 2022

Making an Automatic Email Backup - Part 3

Repackaging the mbsync and Dovecot setup from Parts 1 and 2 into a pair of Docker images, configured entirely through environment variables.

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  • June 17, 2022

Integrating XMCOSY+ Outdoor String Lights with Home Assistant Locally

Running XMCOSY+ outdoor string lights fully locally with Local Tuya, template lights and Node-RED, keeping colors, scenes and brightness.

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  • November 26, 2021

Custom 3D Printed Mount for Fire Tablet (2015)

Designing and 3D printing a wall mount for a 2015 Amazon Fire tablet as a Home Assistant dashboard, with the cord hidden in the wall. STL included.

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  • October 18, 2021

UPDATE 2: A Wired Sonoff Zigbee Alternative

Pairing Zigbee devices caused the ZB-GW03 to reboot under Zigbee2Tasmota. The unofficial tasmota32-zigbeebridge firmware fixes it.

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  • October 15, 2021

UPDATE: A Wired Sonoff Zigbee Alternative

A pair of Tasmota rules that work around the ZB-GW03 failing to reconnect to Home Assistant's ZHA after a power loss.

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  • October 9, 2021

Making an Automatic Email Backup - Part 2

Adding self-signed SSL certificates to Dovecot and installing Roundcube, so the local mail archive is reachable from any browser on the network.

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  • October 4, 2021

Making an Automatic Email Backup - Part 1

Automatically backing up a remote IMAP mailbox to a home server with mbsync, then serving the archive locally with Dovecot so any mail client can read it.

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  • October 3, 2021

Controlling Home Assistant with an Old Remote

Using a Flirc USB IR receiver to turn old infrared remotes into Home Assistant controllers via keyboard events.

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  • October 2, 2021

Playing a sound directly from Home Assistant Operating System

Playing a door chime through a speaker plugged into the Home Assistant box itself, using the VLC add-on over telnet.

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  • October 2, 2021

How to Use Zigbee2Tasmota with Home Assistant

Using a Tasmota Zigbee coordinator directly with Zigbee2Tasmota and MQTT in Home Assistant, instead of ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT.

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