I got 99 problems but my WiFi ain't one

I still need to terminate four ethernet cables and plug them in :)

Connect a DS18B20 (and a 4.7k resister) to the Raspberry Pi

@fox I've got a few of those sensors going spare. Happy to pop one in the post to you. Mine have the resistor built in.

I don't know if they have actually gone, or user error. I had a press button widget bar to trigger different scenes

Ah, I think this is what has changed. Instead of a widget bar you can now only create single icons per room and action. Tbh it's the same functionality but it's much more fiddly to set up initially. Works well though.

Edit: I use Android. Perhaps people who are saying there are no widgets are using IOS

https://hueblog.com/2021/06/05/why-the-new-philips-hue-app-doesnt-offer-widgets-on-iphone-and-ipad/

Can recommend Hue Essentials for people who want more widget functionality for Hue.

Moving into new place that has been wired up with Ethernet. Virgin cable goes to the cupboard under stairs so was gonna backhaul 2 or 3 mesh points. I already have 1 Google WiFi router so was thinking of getting a couple more of the old ones or splashing out on 2 nest routers. Are the newer nest ones worth bothering with or shall I just save the cash? 200MB connection so the old one is plenty fast enough. Small 3 bed house.

Stay with the old ones.

I might even have a spare one kicking around…

That’s the way I’m leaning… the old ones also have Ethernet on each point which the newer ones don’t.

I have 360mb fibre and four of the old ones. On the one at the top of the house that has a wired backhaul, I get a steady 340-360mb on my MacBook or iPhone over WiFi.

I have a vague plan of doing this in mine if I can get ethernet and power up there (I need to drill a hole in the chimney breast and see if I can get some wires all the way from the loft to the lounge).

The loft does get pretty hot though so think I'll just stick a temperature sensor up there to start

Just upgraded to the 1gb virgin package. Was at 350mb before. Can't really tell the difference TBH. My life has not got immeasurably better. I think back 5 years ago and I was on a 10mb package coming down the phone line.

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Do you have stats of your usage? Seems a lot of bandwidth for one household.

I have an 80Mbps FTTC line and on a 5 minute sample we don't use a quarter

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Nice! Yeah I’ll stick with the old ones in that case.

I only need two more pucks but they seem to be very cheap on the used market.

I have a draytek AC wifi router, was thinking if replacing the power line wifi extenders with Draytek POE access points. Would I be better off disabling the router's wifi and plugging in a newer mesh system? I have or can have wired Ethernet, but not power in one position, and I need 2x RJ45 ports in another spot for iot stuff. Not a massive house.

Still not sure I understand the difference between a 'mesh' setup and more traditional router with access points plugged in.

I don't really want understand what you are trying to do but don't forget that if you have Cat5/6 somewhere but not power you can use Power over Ethernet to power an access point.

Yeah, that was plan A: Extend the wifi reach with 2x POE Draytek Vigor AP902s and sack off the crappy powerline things. This would also require buying a POE switch, or just using injectors.

But wondering if a Google Wifi type 'mesh' would a cheaper and simpler route. Downside being possibly not enough RJ45 ports on APs and more boxes / interfaces. Think I'll just stick with plan A actually.

Is there some Deco deal from TP-Link at the moment?

The app said something, but when I clicked on it, it took me to an update for the Decos.

Cheers.

Also anyone interested in a Netgear prosafe GS110TP?

Sorry @Stonehedge don't know how I missed this!

That would be great if you've still got it, very kind of you. Will PM.

The loft does get pretty hot though so think I'll just stick a temperature sensor up there to start

While I don't have a general air temperature sensor I do have two Raspberry Pi's running in there at the moment. One is in an Argon One M.2 case with a little fan running Home Assistant and using the Argon One Active Cooling Addon. It was configured by default for the fan to come on low at 54 degrees, I dropped this to 53 and it has come on low a few times during this recent hot weather (on low you can't hear it in the bedroom, so that's cool).

The other is running a Unifi Controller and Pi-Hole in one of these metal cases I bought because it looks a bit like something Unifi would make :)

I haven't got round to fitting a heatsink to it yet but plan to fit a big one which will butt up against the case so heat transfers. Even without a heatsink I've not seen it get hotter than about 60 degrees yet, so basically I think I'm good.

I'll be able to confirm this if @Stonehedge has still got that temperature sensor going spare but my working theory is that my eaves are generally cooler than places the kit I'm using will end up being used in hot countries, plus Unifi kit seems to be designed to run as hot as the sun anyway, even in a cooler room, so I think it can take it.

Cool, no problem. Have put a sensor, interface board and a couple of cabling options in a post bag. Will put in post box when I have an address.

I've put a sensor in my loft and it seems to be getting up to about 40 degrees which is hot but not too hot.

It's all a bit moot at the moment though as I can't get a cable down the chimney breast to do power and network cable, there must be some kind of blockage somewhere.

PM'd, thanks again!

Have you got a small child you could send up?

Or could you borrow one?

I assume you're aware that chimneys usually have a kind of sub-flue/ spur where the 1 at floor fireplaces would be, maybe that's catching it. Took me a couple of attempts to get a cable down mine. Ended up throwing a weighted line down and pulling it through.

I do have one. They can't walk yet though so I'm not sure how well they'll do at climbing up.

Yep, I'm guessing that's the problem. Been lobbing down a string with a nut tied to it and bouncing it around in the hope of getting past it but nothing succesful yet. May have to measure the string to get a better idea of where it may be snagging