Modern home materials & technologies discussion thread

[Kaido]

Ventless heat pump dryer:

https://www.lg.com/us/washers-dryers/lg-dlhc4002b-electric-dryer

* Uses up to 65% less energy than traditional vented dryers
* 7.8 cu. ft. mega capacity handles large loads and bulky items
* Direct Drive motor (high reliability + quiet), belt-less direct drive system = quieter and more efficient, 10-year motor warranty.\

 

[Greenman]

So all the water out of the laundry is dumped into your house? There are times around here that I'd want that, but a lot more time where it would be a major issue.

 

[lxskllr]

I don't feel like reading the description. I don't think I'd take an LG appliance if it were given to me, but does it have a reservoir like a dehumidifier?

 

[Kaido]

So all the water out of the laundry is dumped into your house? There are times around here that I'd want that, but a lot more time where it would be a major issue.

I don't feel like reading the description. I don't think I'd take an LG appliance if it were given to me, but does it have a reservoir like a dehumidifier?

Shares the drain pipe with the washing machine

There is an optional internal water tank like a dehumidifier, but that's a pretty rare setup (at least in America!)

 

[lxskllr]

There is an optional internal water tank like a dehumidifier, but that's a pretty rare setup (at least in America!)

Seems like that could be useful out west. Use it to water plants. Of course, at that point they could just buy the dryer I have...



Inexpensive to buy, and 100% free to operate. Probably outlasts anything from Korea, even if left in the elements.

 

[Kaido]

Real-time editing: (aka magic)

1. Paint what you want
2. Drag & drop
3. Write a prompt

https://twitter.com/x/status/2018006291973898558

 

[Kaido]

Pre-flashed Smart RGB LED bulb:

12W Color Bulb for ESPHome | AthomTech

Pre Flashed ESPHome With Bluetooth Proxy WiFi Smart Bulb Pre configed IOs plug and playPre flashed before assemblingBuild in ESP32C3 4MB This 12W smart LED bulb is powered by the ESP32-C3 chip and comes pre-flashed with ESPHome firmware for seamless integration with Home Assistant. Supporting...

www.athom.tech

* $15
* ESP32-C3 chip pre-flashed for ESPHome (cloud-free Home Assistant integration)
* 3000K – 6500K (Adjustable) with 5 channels (Red, Green, Blue, Cool White, Warm White)
* 1,000 lumens
* Wi-Fi 2.4GHz (802.11 b/g/n) & Bluetooth 5 (Bluetooth Proxy Support = works as a BLE extender)

YAML:

esp32-configs/athom-rgbcw-light.yaml at main · athom-tech/esp32-configs

ESP32 configuration for athom device. Contribute to athom-tech/esp32-configs development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Functions:

1. Great for standard E26-base bulb replacements & mood lightning
2. Alerts (I use these for remote site & serving monitoring lol)
3. Bluetooth extension (lets the bulb act as a BT hub via Wi-Fi, which is great for my Combustion thermometer)

I'm slowly moving off cloud-dependent equipment. Athom has a FANTASTIC outlet for $10:

https://www.athom.tech/blank-1/us-v2-plug-for-esphome

HUGE feature set:

* US 15A
* 2200w max power rating
* Power & energy monitoring
* ESPHome pre-flashed
* 100% local & offline
* Home Assistant auto-discovery

Catches:

* No Bluetooth (by design)
* Very wide
* Uses 2.4 Ghz wi-Fi

 

[sdifox]

2.4GHz has better penetration

 

[skyking]

Ventless heat pump dryer:

https://www.lg.com/us/washers-dryers/lg-dlhc4002b-electric-dryer

* Uses up to 65% less energy than traditional vented dryers
* 7.8 cu. ft. mega capacity handles large loads and bulky items
* Direct Drive motor (high reliability + quiet), belt-less direct drive system = quieter and more efficient, 10-year motor warranty.\

View attachment 137289

I am doing the combo washer dryer ventless unit.



https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Prof...IGhAcxSXdxZOF242TxvTLIr30eCaL_PEaAl3MEALw_wcB


To clarify the heat pump function, it uses that technology to condense and then send the bulk of the moisture down the drain pipe, not evaporate it into the house.

 

[Kaido]

I am doing the combo washer dryer ventless unit.



https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Prof...IGhAcxSXdxZOF242TxvTLIr30eCaL_PEaAl3MEALw_wcB


To clarify the heat pump function, it uses that technology to condense and then send the bulk of the moisture down the drain pipe, not evaporate it into the house.

I just saw that tonight at Home Depot! HUGE sale!! It actually makes sense at that price!

120V is pretty nice too!

 

[Kaido]

Open Home Foundation Device Database

A community-powered resource built from anonymized data shared voluntarily by Home Assistant users around the world.

How we'll build the device database, together

We're building a device database to help everyone make better choices for their smart home. Discover our plans and how you can help shape them.

www.home-assistant.io

Home Assistant | In case you missed it, take a look at the new HA Database | Facebook

In case you missed it, take a look at the new HA Database. It's growing by the minute, and it's really interesting to see what ppl use mostly. Also, don't forget to contribute with your stats, too....

www.facebook.com

Grafana

openhomefoundation.grafana.net

 

[Greenman]

My daughter gave my MIL a bird feeder foe Christmas that has a little wireless camera in it so you get a close up of the birds that come to dinner. Seemed like a fun little gadget until I tried to hook it up. Go to download the app and it requires a credit card number. They say it won't be charged, so why do they need it? I hate this crap with a passion. At this point the feeder is going on the fence and the camera in the garbage.

 

[skyking]

Open Home Foundation Device Database

How we'll build the device database, together

We're building a device database to help everyone make better choices for their smart home. Discover our plans and how you can help shape them.

www.home-assistant.io

Home Assistant | In case you missed it, take a look at the new HA Database | Facebook

In case you missed it, take a look at the new HA Database. It's growing by the minute, and it's really interesting to see what ppl use mostly. Also, don't forget to contribute with your stats, too....

www.facebook.com

Grafana

openhomefoundation.grafana.net

I'll be doing HA at the new house and giving it the lighting for the first task.
< Walks in the door>
"Jarvis Light it UP!"

 

[Kaido]

My daughter gave my MIL a bird feeder foe Christmas that has a little wireless camera in it so you get a close up of the birds that come to dinner. Seemed like a fun little gadget until I tried to hook it up. Go to download the app and it requires a credit card number. They say it won't be charged, so why do they need it? I hate this crap with a passion. At this point the feeder is going on the fence and the camera in the garbage.

What brand was it? There are often firmware jailbreaks & other workarounds available!

 

[Kaido]

I'll be doing HA at the new house and giving it the lighting for the first task.
< Walks in the door>
"Jarvis Light it UP!"

I suggest:

1. HA sells a turnkey Green box for $160, which is the same price as a Raspberry Pi 5 kit if you don't want to DIY. They sell add-on radios for connecting Zigbee & Z-wave devices as well:

Home Assistant Green

The official smart home hub developed and maintained by the Home Assistant team. It comes with Home Assistant OS pre-installed for a true plug-and-play setup and can be expanded to support Zigbee, Thread, and Matter via official accessories.

www.seeedstudio.com

2. They have their own version of the Amazon Alexa Echo microphone-speaker for $60 (USB-C with a lossless 3.5mm jack if you want to play music from it), which is pre-trained on "Hey Jarvis!":

Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition

The Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition, is the first voice assistant built to seamlessly integrate with Home Assistant. This open source, privacy-focused device has advanced audio processing all contained in a premium design that blends into the home.

www.seeedstudio.com

Wake words require a surprising amount of programming because they live in an "always-on" buffer using the edge device's low-power CPU. Note that this model runs 100% offline, so you own the entire ecosystem!

Out of the box, the device can listen for “Okay Nabu,” “Hey Jarvis,” or “Hey Mycroft” as wake words. This is provided by the on-device wake word engine called microWakeWord. Creating these wake words requires very powerful hardware and large datasets to train, which is not realistic for most users.

In time we will work with the community to create more wake words, but currently are focused on improving our current wake words to work for a large variety of accents and voice registers.

A wake word should be uncommon in everyday conversations at home or in media, such as music or TV, to minimize the risk of the device activating unintentionally. “Nabu”, “Jarvis”, and “Mycroft” are fairly unique words, as opposed to generic terms such as “computer” or “assist”. That makes these microWakeWord models perform well for most users.

 

[skyking]

I suggest:

1. HA sells a turnkey Green box for $160, which is the same price as a Raspberry Pi 5 kit if you don't want to DIY. They sell add-on radios for connecting Zigbee & Z-wave devices as well:

Home Assistant Green

The official smart home hub developed and maintained by the Home Assistant team. It comes with Home Assistant OS pre-installed for a true plug-and-play setup and can be expanded to support Zigbee, Thread, and Matter via official accessories.

www.seeedstudio.com

2. They have their own version of the Amazon Alexa Echo microphone-speaker for $60 (USB-C with a lossless 3.5mm jack if you want to play music from it), which is pre-trained on "Hey Jarvis!":

Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition

The Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition, is the first voice assistant built to seamlessly integrate with Home Assistant. This open source, privacy-focused device has advanced audio processing all contained in a premium design that blends into the home.

www.seeedstudio.com

Wake words require a surprising amount of programming because they live in an "always-on" buffer using the edge device's low-power CPU. Note that this model runs 100% offline, so you own the entire ecosystem!

I can side load it on the PI that is included with my lighting system. It uses Phillips Hue integration.
https://atx-led.com/pages/about?view=home-assistant

I may want another server, hard to tell. As it stands my lighting hub serves up a web page for full scene programming and control.
PI under a hat.


I will get that home assistant voice unit. Hopefully it can connect via WiFi and only need the USB-C for power. I need more than one.

 

[Kaido]

I can side load it on the PI that is included with my lighting system. It uses Phillips Hue integration.
https://atx-led.com/pages/about?view=home-assistant

I may want another server, hard to tell. As it stands my lighting hub serves up a web page for full scene programming and control.
PI under a hat.
View attachment 138122

I will get that home assistant voice unit. Hopefully it can connect via WiFi and only need the USB-C for power. I need more than one.

I've been an Echo fan for years, but the new Alexa+ update is super obnoxious. 99% of my usage is lighting, timers, and Spotify. We are READY to migrate!!

What Pi model does yourt system have & what OS is on it? Easiest way is just to have ChatGPT design a custom Docker YAML (config file) for you, basically runs as a VM on top of your Pi! My go-to build for family & friends is:

1. 8GB Pi 5 kit
2. OpenWRT Router OS with Tailscale
3. Various Dockers running stuff like HA, Telegram for control, file & print servers, etc.

This is the base setup:

https://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=182288047&postcount=21

 

[skyking]

What Pi model does yourt system have & what OS is on it?

No idea. It came pre-built and bundled with the lights.

 

[Kaido]

No idea. It came pre-built and bundled with the lights.

This is the basic layout I use. Just paste in the Slickdeals post into ChatGPT & have it build the whole thing for you lol. Creates a $5,000 Enterprise-grade router for the price of a $160 Pi kit & some $70 Mesh AP's haha!

 

[skyking]

sure, just like that. LOL. you lost me at "use ChatGPT."

 

[Kaido]

sure, just like that. LOL. you lost me at "use ChatGPT."

Let me zap that idea with a shrinkray to make it easier to digest! This is how I like to run things:

1. The Pi runs a free GUI-less Linux OS called Pi OS Lite, which I like to install to the MicroSD card. This can run virtual machines in the form of Docker. Home Assistant has a free Docker VM ready to go!

2. There's a RAM OS called Alpine Linux. I like to use this to install the Pi OS from a USB stick. Then it acts as a backup drive for the MicroSD. That way, if the Pi OS drive dies or gets corrupted, you have a bootable backup!

3. I use ChatGPT to create a Windows Powershell script to create everything. This would take me YEARS of programming (custom GUI, application integration, etc.); instead, ChatGPT will build the whole system for you, including a custom Web Interface with the theme of your choice, in about a minute!

You can literally just ASK it to make stuff! It's crazy!!

 

[skyking]

I'm used to downloading little boot images for debian or Ubuntu and doing a web install. Old school. I don't have a current windows machine to build a windows powershell on. I have not built a server since I started living on Chromebooks.

 

[Kaido]

I'm used to downloading little boot images for debian or Ubuntu and doing a web install. Old school. I don't have a current windows machine to build a windows powershell on. I have not built a server since I started living on Chromebooks.

I have a bunch of extra mini computers if you want a freebie! Just shoot me a PM!

ChatGPT will basically write a script to create a custom image with everything you want on it, including a custom interface. I had it write a custom-theme'd webpage for my HA setup, along with a Telegram app for remote control & Tailscale free private VPN for secure access anywhere on earth!

 

[Greenman]

What brand was it? There are often firmware jailbreaks & other workarounds available!

And that's pretty much the issue. I shouldn't have to do that, it shouldn't need any sort of internet connection beyond my local router.

 

[Kaido]

@skyking Here's a sample universal tablet wall-mount:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1767097469/invisible-low-profile-tablet-wall-mount

POE-powered tablet from China:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256810429458840.html

Or a cheap 10" USB tablet from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/SHARECLOUD-Octa-Core-Processor-Expandable-1280x800/dp/B0FPVRFKJH/

Internet browser kiosk lockdown app for Android: (to run the Web GUI for HA full-screen)

Fully Kiosk Browser & Lockdown - Apps on Google Play

Fullscreen Kiosk Browser and App Launcher for Kiosk Mode & Digital Signages

play.google.com

Then just stream Home Assistant interface or a custom ChatGPT webpage!

Dashboards

Powerful and configurable dashboards for Home Assistant.

www.home-assistant.io

If you like Drag & Drop, HA uses the LoveLace interface, which is SUPER easy!