Creating a cluster of Raspberry Pis undoubtably looks cool. If you are looking for an excuse to create a cluster but aren't quite sure what you could actually do with it, here is a quick run down of some of the reasons you might want to create a cluster of Pis. Performance This is probably what most…
Following on from my previous post about improving motion sensor behaviour, this is another little automation that I enjoyed making work. The background We have a downstairs toilet near our front door. I wanted to add a contact sensor to the door but there are 2 different scenarios to consider…
This is a useful pattern I use in a few rooms around the house for turning lights on and off. I have motion sensors in a few places. When I first got them, I naively just hooked them up so that when they detect motion in a particular room, the light turns on. Then when the sensor deactivates, the…
I've been spending some time updating my home automation set up. I have a SmartThings hub with a few contact sensors and smart bulbs attached. It all worked fine but there were a few things I wanted to change and couldn't. Firstly I'd tried writing a SmartThings app to integrate with Slack…
MQTT is a lightweight message protocol often used in IoT and home automation applications. It is very easy to get up and running. However once you have a larger number of devices communicating, it's easy to get in a pickle if you don't have a plan for how they will all communicate. Here's the…