It was a great day to be on the water, especially in Wellington. Photo taken on Ward island, we did a trip to Somes and Ward from Seatoun.
this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2023
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There's a tui flapping around outside making his presence known with whirring wings and landing on things with a thump. The other day there was a kereru sitting in / crushing the spindly kowhai tree by my driveway (that tree is not mighty enough for that bird). So I guess spring is here.
I have two knee-high kowhai. Are you saying that having them might entice a kereru to visit? I don't care if I have to wait a decade, it'll be worth the wait!
Yep, in spring Kereru feed on them.
The SO was offered a spot on a fishing trip so he's just left and I'm up and awake way too freakin' early. But I have coffee and heat pump and no plans so... win?
What's everyone's plans for today? (I may shamelessly steal good ideas)
I'm recovering from the lurgie (should really take a RAT), so I've got nothing but I've been re-reading the enders game series - it's a lot more emotional than I remembered!
How long ago did you last read it? So many of the books I remember liking in high school seem to hit so differently now that I've got some actual life experience under my belt and I'm finally starting to pick up on undertones that other people talk about that I've just never noticed before.
There's some Mormon dogma built in (like how Ender's a "third" which relates to mormonism directive to have kids till your uterus falls out but the evil state wouldn't allow it but then the extra kid saves the world (and we know the state is evil because they are using child soldiers and engaging in eugenics)) but a lot of the undertones are more in what's not in the books than what is. They're still quite readable in terms of prose and such. Definitely less preachy than some of his other series.
I've never read any of his books; what he does with his income seriously put me off and there are so many other titles to choose from but I know he's kind of a big deal in his genre. Have you seen the movie? Did it compare well?
Never bothered with the movie, and haven't read any of his more recent stuff. I also haven't paid for any of his stuff in decades.
I think it's worth reading Ender's Game just to be able to identify the impacts it's made on other things. The young man who wrote it hadn't yet decided to spend his money on abhorrent ideology.
Not nearly as good as the book and like the dune stuff, the rest of the story couldn't come fast enough (both span millennia). A good fun romp from memory - I don't remember enders pain and their over-bearing pressure much from the movie, but that was years ago and I've just read it, so...
Using one of my free power days, so I'm going to powerwash everything. Driveway, soffits, walls, paving, deck, the works. Do all the washing and tumble dry whatever can't fit on the wash line. Do all the, cooking, and probably leave all the lights on for good measure. Pity it's not a free water day.
Don't forget the before/after pics for tomorrow's thread!
In continuing yesterday's theme, does anyone have a suggestion for a Home Assistant/zigbee compatible smart plug that defaults to on?
If I plug something in to a smart plug, then someone else switches it off at the wall then on again, it's really not ok that when they switch it on it no longer provides power until I pull up home assistant and turn it on again.
Having it remember it's state might be better. But I'm not keen on it not working if it can't connect to home assistant.
I believe the Phillips Hue smart plugs default to on when power is restored or you can set it to remember it's state. They're pricey though and They don't have many features either for power monitoring etc. There aren't really any other options for zigbee smart plugs here. Otherwise you'll have to roll the dice with aliexpress ones which almost certainly won't be certified for our electrical regulations.
IIRC you can get them to work with other zigbee dongles without the hue bridge with Zigbee2MQTT or others, but I never got around to trying it out.
How about this one? Says it has energy meter, but not sure if it does what I want. Might buy one to test, though.
Do you know if I can use it with Home Assistant?
Wifi gives you a lot more local options. IF i'm not mistaken GridConnect uses Tuya. So if you don't use their GridConnect app and use the Tuya Smartlife app you can get it to work with with either the Tuya or LocalTuya integrations.
LocalTuya is a custom integration: https://github.com/rospogrigio/localtuya. Easiest way to add it is using HACS which is for community add-ons and integrations. Add it to Home Assistant if you haven't: https://hacs.xyz/
Here is a process on getting the local key and adding to localtuya: https://shafi.com.au/electronics/home-automation/how-to-connect-deta-grid-connect-tuya-devices-to-home-assistant/
I've used this process before to add a different Tuya based light switch to mine.
EDIT: the LocalTuya integration doesn't mention compatibility with smart plugs, however I did find a thread with someone getting it to work: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/energy-consumption-and-arlec-grid-connect-tuya-smart-plug/335508/50
Thanks, I'll get one and give it a go!
My Edit just in case: the LocalTuya integration doesn’t mention compatibility with smart plugs, however I did find a thread with someone getting it to work: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/energy-consumption-and-arlec-grid-connect-tuya-smart-plug/335508/50
Might just pay to double check if you absolutely want to communicate locally. I tested both using the Smartlife app and localtuya with my light switch and there was a noticeable delay with using the cloud based integration.
Thanks! I was heading to Hammerbarn anyway so have grabbed one, will give it a try and see if I can make it work. And will see how it handles power being turned off.
If you can't get NZ certified zigbee switches, what do you use for extending the zigbee range?
Edit: I see the Phillips Hue ones use zigbee. Might try one but am really keen for the power usage monitoring.
I honestly don't know. The only zigbee I use is Hue and all their lights/accessories work as zigbee repeaters. If I understand correctly the zigbee standard specifies for this.
I had grand plans for adding both zigbee and zwave devices, which is why I started using Home Assistant. I bought a Conbee II dongle to use for zigbee, but I haven't actually added anything to my system for quite awhile so I'm still using the Hue bridge.
I don't know if I would bother with the Hue plugs if you want power monitoring. The ones I have only get used for on/off functions. I was hoping there might be extra sensors exposed when added to HA, but it's not the case. For example the hue motion sensors can give you light level, motion and temperature in HA.
Thanks for the info. Sounds like the lights may be the best way for me to get zigbee through the house, it's good to know they act as repeaters. I just looked up the lights and they seem to mostly be around $100 each 😮. Some $50 ones, I'll have to see if they are suitable. Our house has a lot of lights, gotta weigh up some priorities 😆
We don’t have that many, mainly built up over time. A few of the white bulbs, sensors and plugs, ceiling light and the portable one for my eldest’s room. Our place isn’t that big though.
Bunnings/M10 both sell them so you can try for some price beats. Second hand bits can pop up in Trademe every once in awhile too.
Our place has down lights, 4 in each bedroom. And like a bazillion in the lounge/kitchen.
To actually use them as smart lights, I'd need a few. And half the lights are built in so only some rooms actually have sockets to put bulbs in. It's a 50s house that's been renovated and extended multiple times over the decades, so it's not very consistent in terms of lighting (or anything).
I'll probably try to come up with a better plan of what I actually want to do, rather than just adding things because they sound cool.
Ah i understand. We don't have as many, but our indoor downlights are all the normal sealed led type.
If you aren't adverse to using Wifi, Shelly relays are a good option. They get wired behind the light switch so it doesn't matter what you have on the other end. They have ones that have power monitoring too: Link
This is the wifi switch I'm using with localtuya to control my kitchen downlights.
Thanks! They sound pretty amazing. I've saved your comment for when I decide to go all out. For now I'll try to keep it to the level of not needing an electrician.