I’m a great believer in keeping things as simple and modular as possible.
Much easier to just dump files over FTP than have HA do the saving.
Plus, the camera can operate like a dashcam, and save before/after the event, while that would be tricker in HA, as you’d have to run a buffer.

MFF optiplexes: Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power.

Just in case you were not aware, most Reolink cameras can do “save a clip if you see a person” on their own, without involving HA.
And they can either dump it to local or network storage.
The detection is done at the camera, and just fires a notification over ONVIF.

Part of me also thinks that fediverse doesn’t need growth for the sake of growth.
That it’s primary function is to be an alternative if people want to use it.

Second lesson: Pi is around 3.

I am genuinely waiting for the grants to finish (or be updated), as it feels like all the installation companies just hiked their prices to take advantage of the grants. I’ve got the power run, massive radiators, and thick pipes, all ready to roll.

The big one that will really push HPs, imo, will be if gas starts to rise in price relative to electricity.
At the moment, it’s about level in cost to run, even though a HP is 3x+ more efficient.

Do you think it was a bit “mission accomplished”?

‘OK, we are recycling the cardboard and the plastics, good job everyone’
“We still need to address the use of fossil fuels, and renewable power generation, though?”
‘No, we have sorted everything, it is OK’

For anyone interested, you can pick a location close to you from this site: https://showyourstripes.info/c/europe/germany/frankfurtammain
(Credit Ed Hawkins)

If it helps for a future purchase, Focusrite’s external interfaces have been amazing for Linux support.

To the point where I didn’t even notice; It just worked perfectly out of the box.

I’m assuming you’ve already checked this, but is your interface set to the same frequency/bit depth between Linux and windows? Or if it uses optical, whether it’s set to the same word clock source.

I keep wondering if I should open a little non-profit shop, specialising in “cheap home assistant stuff that isn’t awful, that I’ve tested”.
Then I remember the absolute chaos involved in running a shop…

I’m currently eyeing up an Airgradient One, which uses the SHT40.
Unfortunately, I don’t have enough tinkering time at the moment to roll out much more kit.

In honesty, I use the relative humidity readings as more of a “it’s dry” “It’s OK” “it’s moist”, than expecting any sort of accuracy!
I’ve even considered mapping percentage ranges to “moist, normal, dry” in HA.

On the UK theory test, this question used to have an answer of “offer them a cigarette”.

I mean, that’s where all my sensors are, and they’re doing OK.

My outdoor sensors are classic 433mhz meteorology ones though, as I didn’t want to mess around waterproofing zigbee gear.

Have you considered mounting a door sensor (depending on the letterbox type).
If it has a shutter, you could mount the two parts on the inside, on the edge.
Do americans still use those flag things on mailboxes? As I guess you could also use a door sensor on the flag.

I swear it’s the blackout curtains. I’ll draw them tight on the first night, then have a surprise in the morning if I didn’t set my alarm.

I knew this would come up, which is why I threw in the “ok for consumer gear” line.
I don’t have any super accurate sensors at home to test against, but to be honest, cheap hydrometers are best for vague ranges. “It’s damp”, “it’s normal”, or “It’s dry”.
Which is actually what I use it for: It’s in the bathroom to send alerts to open or close the windows based on humidity and outside conditions.

Compared to the rest of the sensors in the house, when the windows are open and air in the house is normalised, it’s within 5%, which is about all I could really hope for.

Meeting summary:

• Synergy promoted by Gerald
• Fourth quarter prediction estimate forecasts brainstormed by Jeremy.
• Coffee situation update from Mark.
• Level 4 agility in KCD reached by GreatAlbatross

Some meetings, I wish I’d bought a steamdeck.

Yes.

Edit: More doing a lot of DIY to bring the project into a budget I can afford.
Which means getting specialists in to do smaller things between me doing the grunt work.

At least you’ve got people in to do it!

Glares at the half finished kitchen taking up my time too