Hacking Into The Iris Door Sensor, Part 4, Resolution
The previous post on this project is here <link>.Well, my partner in questionable activity in hacking the Iris Contact Switch and Key Fob has gotten his devices to work as well as mine, so it's...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My Newest Old Toy
I've gotten some flack, not a lot, but there have been a few people that seem to think all I do is huddle over a laptop and play with tiny devices ignoring the world around me. Most of that is true,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Pool Controller and Another Guest Speaker
Let me introduce Mike He's another one of us folk that wanted automation, but didn't want to pay unreasonable prices or be locked into the control of some system 'out there.' He's been working on a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Unexpected Electronics
I have a 2002 Jeep Wrangler that is  my everyday car. Living where I live I occasionally actually need the 4x4 and the winch I put on it has helped several people out of mud holes; nice vehicle. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Yes, I'm alive
I've been suffering from blog withdrawal, and folk have contacted to make sure I'm still alive. So, I thought I'd at least write a bit about what I've been doing recently.I've been doing things that...
View ArticleBattery Operated Temperature Sensor: The Batteries Died
The previous entry on this project is here <link>.I worked on this project earlier this year and put it into daily service back in April. The batteries died last night (this morning) at 4:00 AM,...
View ArticleHow Can I Possibly Be Annoyed at the Raspberry Pi
Yes, they're all over the place and my Google news feed keeps telling me about how wonderful they are, but I almost threw one across the room today. The story is that my weather station Pi lost its SD...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I Wanna Talk About My Neighbor and a Big Hole in the Ground
As I've driven you nuts with in the past, this is Arizona USA, and it gets hot here. That pushes our electric bills through the roof for about half of the year. Some of us are taking measures to lower...
View ArticleMy Weather Station is Back Online
Yep, I got it working. About a week ago my weather station Raspberry Pi died, and predictably, I couldn't get it back up without major work <link>. It's all better now running on a Raspberry Pi...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Woodpeckers and Destruction
I don't really hate woodpeckers, but it gets real close. These winged engines of destruction are everywhere here, and constantly work to annoy and dismantle things. It's early spring here and the males...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I Guess I'm not Really Annoyed at the Raspberry Pi
But, I just spent three days recovering another one. Almost exactly a month later than the last failure of one of my Pi's, the one serving as a house controller lost the SD card as well. Not terribly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sensing Temperature and Doing Something With It
A few weeks ago my defrost controller in my freezer died <link>. One of the two relays had just quit conducting current. These things are sealed, and I didn't want to just clean the contacts and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Unexpected Pest Control Problems.
If you've read a few of my posts, you know I have a few problems with critters out here. I love sitting on the patio watching the quail sneak around the yard trying not to attract the attention of my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Simple Temperature and Humidity Sensor
Anyone that plays with little computers has seen articles about the DHT11 or DHT22 sensors. They're clever little humidity and temperature sensors that don't require calibration and measure the two...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A New Web Interface for Desert-Home
Remotely monitoring and controlling my house has been part of the technical work on the house ever since I started. Like every other homeowner in the world I wonder if I closed the garage door ten...
View ArticleClik here to view.
OK, Now About UPS's and the Raspberry Pi
I have had a UPS for my NAS for a while now, but this season's storms caused me to seriously think about getting another one for my set of Raspberry Pi's. Every time the wind got over 20 mph, the power...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I Really, Really Hate the SD Card in the Raspberry Pi
so much so, that I tried the beta version of the Boot From MSD (mass storage device) changes the Pi folk blogged about recently.TL;DR version: It didn't work for me because I messed up, but I found...
View ArticleI'm Still Hung Up On Power Failures, but Suppose
OK, OK, maybe I'm a little OCD at times, but that can be a good thing. Folk have been making suggestions, and there have been some interesting pointers given to me, but none of them pass the test. But...
View ArticleRaspberry Pi, More About Installing a SSD
I just finished helping a reader get an SSD (solid state drive) running on his Pi, and realized that the documentation that the Pi folk provided <link>, while correct, left some things kinda...
View ArticleClik here to view.
So, My Raspberry Pi Web Server Was Running Slow
I was sitting on a bar stool showing off my Pi web server that controls my house and had to wait 15-20 seconds for each screen change. Loading graphs was painfully slow and would pause in the middle...
View Article