Using the Google Charts API with Xively (Pachube -> Cosm -> Xively)
It's actually getting a little tiring having the old Pachube change names and interfaces every year. However, they have programmers there and they have to be doing something ... right? I decided,...
View ArticleHoly Cow, I've Got Competition
As this blog can attest, I've been shifting my power usage to non-peak periods for a few years now. I didn't realize what an accomplishment this was because I did it out of GREED. Yes, greed. I got...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Waterco Multicyclone Filter for My Swimming Pool
I have had nothing but trouble with my pool since about a month after it was installed. Sure, it's fun to laze about in it on the hot summer days; it makes desert life bearable, but darn it's hard to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Waterco Multicyclone Filter for My Swimming Pool part 2
Part one of this is here <link>.It's been a week with the new pre-filter on my pool and I can actually say that I'm satisfied. No leaks and it works as advertised; nice device. Here's what it...
View ArticleFinally got a Raspberry Pi
OK, I broke down and took the plunge to a different kind of little computer; I went out and bought myself a Raspberry Pi <link>. Nice little machine. It wasn't an easy decision on my part since...
View ArticleRaspberry Pi and XBee
The continuation of this post is here <link>.So, since I have the little Pi working with the internet, how about getting an XBee hooked to it and start receiving data from my home network? Well,...
View ArticleRaspberry Pi and XBee Asynchronous Operation
In my last post <link> I whined a bit about using the Python XBee library on the Pi; it's complicated, but I made it work. This is not actually too hard to understand, but it is more complicated...
View ArticleRaspberry Pi and Xively Part 1
Frankly, I've been disappointed in Xively since it changed from the old Cosm. Remember, before that it was Pachube. Once upon a time it was a group of ambitious programmers that were working on a...
View ArticleRaspberry Pi and Xively Part 2
Yesterday I was annoyed at Xively after spending hours trying to get their library to work with the limited documentation, well if I had written this earlier today, I would have been totally livid. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Raspberry Pi and Xively Part 3
I ran the python script I posted previously overnight <link>. Here's graphs I picked up from Xively:The little downward spikes in the temperature chart are an artifact of the way I measure...
View ArticleRaspberry Pi and Sqlite3
If you got here through a search engine looking for a tutorial on Sqlite3 on the Raspberry Pi, that's not what this is. I've been setting up a new Raspberry Pi to control my house and decided to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Raspberry Pi and SQLite3 and a Web Server
Remember when I thought it would be easy to get something out of an SQLite3 data base and put it on a screen with a web server? I don't care how old I get, I'm still way too naive. This turned out to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Raspberry Pi, XBee, SQLite3, and a Web Page
It's been raining on and off, so I thought this would be a good chance (excuse) to experiment with reading XBee packets (in python), and saving them in a database. It would be cool to also send the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Raspberry Pi, Now it's actually getting somewhere
So, when I started trying to put things together, it got so darn complex that I changed a ton of stuff to make it somewhat simpler, at least for me. Here's the current display:The buttons don't do...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Raspberry Pi, Getting Control Of The Devices
Still making progress on this thing. There's a little pressure to get it finished since I want it to take over the house control functions. I managed to get the buttons working to control the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Raspberry Pi Home Automation Process Architecture
Don't you dare make fun of the title of this post. Yes, it's a bit presumptuous, but I couldn't think of anything else. After a lot of experimenting and trying to overcome various problems, I finally...
View ArticleRaspberry Pi and ThingSpeak
As I was continuing to program my Raspberry Pi, it came to me that I don't just update Xively, I also send data to ThingSpeak and emoncms. They're both good services and I don't really want to drop...
View ArticleRaspberry Pi and emoncms
In the previous post <link> I described how I set up a separate process for logging to the cloud servers at ThingSpeak and Xively. This removes the code from my house monitor process and makes...
View ArticleSending Mail From a Raspberry PI
Remember, one of the reasons I got the Pi was to be able to send mail to myself when something bad happened? Finally got around to looking at that. What a royal red pain in the butt! First, regular...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Look at the Thermostat I found at Home Depot
A friend of mine was looking for a new thermostat. He's not a techie, and didn't want to build his own so he was prowling around Home Depot seeing what they had. He called me from the store and told...
View Article