Internet Of Things / IoT / Connected Home / Smart Houses

Thanks for the kind offer, but I'm not exactly local (I'm outside the UK).

Most of the cheap smart plugs now are part of the tuya ecosystem, which is super easy to access remotely via an app.

Good info, thanks again. My initial search threw up only stupid one-way radio controlled plugs, so I had missed WiFi stuff altogether.

Finally got my (really) badly placed Maplin weather station back online and tweeting again.

PYWWS is a great piece of tricky to configure software, and the weather stations are prone to locking up, but other than that...

Now I need to get the Google AIY stuff to work on the RPi that it's on (With just standard Raspbian)

Any suggestions for simple remote control plug sockets that I can use to turn on/off a TV, turbo trainer and large electric fan?

There's tonnes on Amazon but of course no brands I recognise and I have no idea about the relative quality of any of it. I'd rather not buy twice.

I got these Teckin ones and have been happy with them.

Apologies for the screenshot, the Amazon app doesn't seem to share to clipboard, annoyingly.

I also bought a couple of Innr ZigBee ones that I can control from the Philips Hue controller, which I use for fairy light runs.

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Do they require their own app to use or am I going to have to write something to get them to do what I want? Going over wifi would avoid the RF interference issues the normal remote controlled switches seem to suffer from but how much time will I need to put in to get them working without selling my soul to the Chinese gov?

They have an app but I never use it. I turn them on and off with voice using Google Assistant voice, or via Google Home app.

I have one of them (espresso machine) on a schedule that I set up in their app and then never looked at again.

I also used to have one controlled by an IFTTT script that turned them inon and off in synchrony with my Hue lights. The Hue end of that stopped working after an upgrade (!), which was when I bought the Zigbee ones from Innr instead.

I found someone one TrainerRoad forum saying they use these with a fan so I might just try them: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N9NLQ8L/

Simpler than apps, wifi, etc

EDIT: Weird 12V battery required. Out.

For WiFi I've got TP-Link ones which work fine and were from a manufacturer I recognised as doing decent stuff https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Required-Control-Devices-Anywhere/dp/B07GT6TC1Q

Works with Alexa, etc and has its own app that is easy to use. If you don't want the chinese aspect then the amazon one also works fine (whether that's any better in terms of selling your soul who knows).

I've had a few of the radio ones. They seem much of a muchness. Do the job fine if you don't want phone/voice/away from home control. Etekcity are meant to be decent https://www.amazon.co.uk/Programmable-Electrical-Household-Appliances-Operating/dp/B01N9NLQ8L

Etekcity are the ones I linked to having been mentioned on TR. I think I got something else in the end. But it'll either work or not and if it doesn't it'll go back to Amazon.

With the cheaper mains stuff on Amazon my concern is less whether it works and more whether it will set my house on fire.

If it's sold in the UK it's supposed to be tested. I can't imagine Amazon would be too happy with a bunch of firey death lawsuits. Ebay is a different matter...

There was a study done a while back on iPhone cables bought from amazon professing to be certified but turned out to be nothing of the sort. Amazon (like Facebook) claim to be the platform rather than the supplier in a lot of instances, like when it’s ‘fulfilled by amazon’ or sold through amazon marketplace. I don’t trust them

Depends what you buy from Amazon.

'AmazonBasics' iPhone cables are sold and 'made' by Amazon and are certified.

Third party cables are just delivered via them.

Cables certified for what though? I'm talking about something that plugs into 240V and might kill people if it goes wrong not something that might charge a phone a bit slower.

Amazon marketplace doesn't seem too hot on that

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2019/09/killer-chargers-travel-adaptors-and-power-banks-rife-on-online-marketplaces/

Oh right, i didn't know amazon basics did lightening cables. There was something about cables sold as being Apple that were fakes as well - via marketplace like you say. I buy Anker cables, but wouldn't buy a random brand or something sold by a random 3rd party via marketplace, for exactly the 'kill people' scenario

Can vouch for th Amazon basics cables, they're good value. I've got Mini, C and lightning ones. I do prefer Anker braided cables though.

Can anybody recommend a decent 18650 battery? Almost all sold online are fakes or have false specs.

Can anybody recommend a decent 18650 battery?

I always buy from Fogstar. Always reliable, if you sign up for the newsletter you get 20% off on Fridays.

https://www.fogstar.co.uk/

Has anyone here messed around with Sonoff wall switches?

Nice, thanks mate

EDIT: I hadn't realised that 18650s are used in vapes!

There are two types though. Button top and Flat top.

Make sure you buy the right one, most vape batteries are flat top.

Thanks.

Flat tops are also used in some cars, submarines and storage cells. I will probably avoid vape batteries as I only need to draw about 120ma at peak which means I really don't need a low resistance cell.

Woah!

The most popular battery pack supplied by Tesla contains 7,104 18650 cells in 16 444 cell modules capable of storing up to 85 kWh of energy.

A friend of mine recently hand soldered 5,000 of them to build a cell for his house in Sweden!