My air conditioner is what jump started my adventure with Home Assistant last year and since then it has inspired several other projects along this journey. This time my goal was to get a peak behind the curtain and see some details that Lennox didn’t feel was necessary to share with the users. The AC system has a two stage compressor which allows it to more efficiently maintain the desired temperature. Also, the thermostat can cycle the system to meet…
I finally did it. After having a home automation system running in my house for awhile, giving another way to open the garage and adjust my thermostat, I finally automated something. Since I have an LED strip Home Assistant can turn on and HA knows when the garage door its open, I created my first automation. I still don’t get YAML completely but thanks to various examples online I now have part of my LED strip turning red when the…
I was getting tired of playing with the software side of home automation so I picked an item from my wish list that would let me play with some hardware. Time to control the garage door. Besides having the ability to open the door with my phone, I figured I could use the automation part of the system to notify me when the door opens and closes as well as change the color of my LED strip as a visual…
I had seen Adafruit’s Neopixels in many designs over the years but I never had an application that inspired me to buy some. Then the rope lights I use for ambient lighting in the living room died during post Christmas cleanup. They have been gone for some time now and instead of doing something simple like buying new rope lights I thought it would be cool to use Neopixels since they provide so many more options than just on and off. Adafruit’s…