Internet Of Things / IoT / Connected Home / Smart Houses

@C4r1s
We've actually got one of those and have been completely unable to get it to connect via the app. Had it for about 2 years and have probably sunk 10 hours into trying to get it to sync/splitting WiFi bands etc. Ready the burn the fucking thing tbh

It wasn't really an issue when I had it in my office and could just turn it off/on when required but now we've moved and my son's bedroom in the loft doesn't have any heating in it and we've got something that is either on and heats the room to 24degrees at its lowest setting or is off.

Ah, fair do’s! Ignore that then 😂

That would be rather annoying, 24° is pretty toasty!

Anyone using Homeassistant on windows? I can't get Deconz to recognise a single sensor. Used to have it on pi but the microSD shit itself so I'm trying to get it working on my media server

New blink doorbell user here and first impressions are not great. Batteries need replacing after being on the door for two days!

Replaced batteries today and had proper look at the settings to make sure it's not set to record excessively long clips. Seems it's set for 10 second clips, but no matter what I do it records for 30.

Even resorted to deleting the sync 2 and camera, but it still won't play ball. Not sure I can afford new batteries every couple of days!

Get yourself some decent rechargeable batteries. Eneloops are good.

But yeah, 2 days seems pretty bad. My eufy doorbell lasts months

Ikea's rechargables are pretty good and they're made in Japan which most people seem to think means off brand eneloops

Yes good point. I've bought a lot of IKEA rechargeables with that assumption too

The instructions make quite a few statements that rechargeable batteries must not be used - conspiracy to keep Energizer profits up?

It's because Dev chips tend to be designed to power down when voltage drops below a certain level. For example, chips designed for 3.7v tend to brown out at 3.2v as a battery drains.

If the device is designed for 3v (cut out probably around 2.4v) , then two 1.5v alkaline AAs is fine. If you use rechargeable aa, you're only providing 2.4v when fully charged so adequate power would only be supplied for a short time.

Edit: this person knows more than me https://www.quora.com/Why-does-some-electric-equipment-say-not-to-use-rechargeable-batteries

High drain.

Rechargeables are better at long slow drain unless you've got something like a 18650 which does the high drain rechargeable thing great (hence finding them in cameras, etc).

If it takes something like a AA then you'll typically get better performance from a non rechargeable lithium battery.

You didn't mention what format it uses. And idk why the battery dimensions produce different characteristics, it's chemistry obviously but my knowledge is limited to just ended consumer things picked up over years. If you want a high drain battery, short and fat beats long and thin for rechargeable, unless non rechargeable lithium based.

Annoying issues with IKEA sockets and Hue. A couple of things were dropping out with Hue and the recommendation seems to be to try and change channels. Did that and now the IKEA sockets are no longer reachable and don't seem to want to be added again.

Thought I'd try and add them under Home Assistant instead (zigbee2mqtt) but there doesn't seem to be an option to add stuff, looks like things are just meant to show up there when they're in discovery mode but the sockets don't.

Also, IKEA stuff connected to Hue seems to be showing up in my Alexa devices twice now. Once as Hue and once as IKEA which fucks stuff up.

We've got a Blink, had it over 3 months and haven't changed the batteries yet.

Do you use motion detection? I've switched that off (pointless as we're on a main road) so it's only triggered by pressing the doorbell - maybe that affects battery usage?

You need to set z2m to permit join (top right corner of the screen) before you put the device in pairing mode.

I’m using 4 ikea sockets flawlessly with z2m.

I've done that (I think). I've added devices to it in the past too.

Not sure if being linked to Hue is screwing up the sockets or something.

Have you clicked on permit join? It will give you a countdown timer if it’s searching for devices in pairing mode

I thought I had but I don't remember seeing a countdown timer so I will look at that again.

18650

Those are lithium-ion batteries (like in your phone, laptop or drone), and you'll never find an AA or AAA with a lithium-ion chemistry because the devices that use AA & AAA don't contain the under volt protection that li-ion batteries require. (If you run a li-ion battery flat, you've essentially destroyed it).

Typical AA & AAA chemistries (e.g. NiMH rechargeable and alkaline non-rechargeable) can happily be run down to 0v.

It seems very odd that @Familyman's device specifically advises against using rechargeable batteries. The device couldn't be damaged by the lower voltage of rechargeable batteries because alkaline batteries would also have those lower voltages at some point.

I bought some off-brand batteries in bulk recently. They were a lot cheaper, and I assumed they'd be worse but at least comparable to the branded batteries. But it turns out they were a total scam, and they went flat within days (when I'd normally expect them to last a year). @Familyman maybe you just have a batch of bad batteries?

It seems very odd that @Familyman's device specifically advises against using rechargeable batteries.

Loads of devices have this advice.

It comes down to a simple design decision.

Do they design the electronics to work with non rechargeable batteries that have a higher voltage and higher capacity or do they take the expensive approach to design to work with both. The cheaper approach that gives the (subjectively) better experience usually wins.

As mentioned the modules they build the electronics around have a low voltage cutoff meaning that rechargeabke batteries with their lower starting point are able to power them for less time. The fact the batteries can run down to zero isn't the issue...it's that the Dev modules can't. This is particularly pronounced for Dev boards with Bluetooth or WiFi built in.

The fact the batteries can run down to zero isn't the issue

Yeah, I only mentioned that to explain why you won't find lithium-ion chemistries in AA, AAA, etc., batteries.

Your quora link was great btw. That might be the first time I've seen useful information on that site.

https://amzn.eu/d/4hcuMXA

And many alternatives. Presumably all come with a risk of burning your house down.

Ah yeah, I don't really count those because they include a battery management system - they aren't just a cell. But you're right. It's an AA lithium-ion.

The met giving out video doorbells to see if it impacts on crime
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/future-crime/publi­cations/2022/jun/smart-doorbell-evaluati­on

These ones near me
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arlo-Essential-­Wireless-Doorbell-Detection/dp/B08PJ6QSB­5?th=1

see if it impacts on crime

If you think pointing a video camera at the street without the required signage is a crime then it certainly does.