Author: r1b4z01d

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AMG8833 IR Thermal Camera

After the pressure switches proved out to be not a viable sensor for detecting what stair a person was on, I started to look at the AMG8833 module. I had a couple in the workshop from past projects (people counting) and so it was free to prototype. After some initial testing, I am beginning to think it will be good solution. My alternative is a laser point sensor, but the beam is too narrow and from some initial tests it has a hard time tracking a human accurately.

The resolution is 8×8 so to be able to achieve one row of pixels per stair I will have two use two aligned sensors. This shouldn’t be an issue, but still need to iterate on this to achieve full coverage, and to get the data into Home Assistant. More to come.

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Mystery Solved – Rusting cans in flammable storage cabinet

I had noticed some of the cans rusting in our flammable storage cabinet but kept telling myself, “that is a tomorrow problem.” Well today is tomorrow… or something like that. I opened up the cabinet to grab some spray paint and saw a mess. One of the black enamel cans rusted through and leaked all over. I opened it up to let everything dry and started to google why. It did not take long to find a Stack Exchange post for a similar issue. A reply said “HCI stored in plastic will off gas HCI and will rust anything near by”. It might be time to invest in a separate acid cabinet, but for now I will store it in the shed.

What happened?
Rust!
Clue
Culprit
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Unraid Server Upgrade

I was hitting 88% used space on my Unraid server but completely ran out of space in the U4 rack mounted case. Everything was so jammed, I was regularly receiving temp warning on hotter days. So it is time to swap the case and pull it out of the networking rack. I went with adding an 8TB drive while I was at it. This still puts me at 85.5 TB used of 106 TB. The nice thing is the new case will allow me to add six more 3.5″ drives and two 2.5″ before having to get creative.

I envision in the future, I will add a larger 12TB parity drive. Then I can upgrade the two 8TB drives to 12TB, gaining 8TB and more redundancy. I will use the two 8TB for offsite backup in a mirror raid.

Original 4U Case
Components
20 Moar TB Below
Done
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Found the perfect place for our bridge sign

I have had this sign ever since I moved out of my parents house. This was shoved in a corner of the basement when they bought it. I never figured out why it was in the basement. I have read that the bridge was built from 1927-1929, but the sign says 1919. Maybe the sign company go the date wrong, or maybe there were huge delays. I am not sure but, it is a sweet ass lift bridge from the city I was born in.

4x speed

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SodaStream CO2 Tank Scale IOT

I wanted to better estimate when the CO2 tank was running out, so I designed a simple IOT device. It utilizes an EPP32, load cell and the ESPHome firmware. Home Assistant integration couldn’t have been any easier.

3D Model: https://makerworld.com/en/models/1125732

Da Data

ESPHome Config:

substitutions:
  name: esphome-web-94876a
  friendly_name: SodaStream CO2 Level

esphome:
  name: ${name}
  friendly_name: ${friendly_name}
  name_add_mac_suffix: false
  project:
    name: esphome.web
    version: '1.0'

esp8266:
  board: esp01_1m

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

# Allow Over-The-Air updates
ota:
  platform: esphome

# Allow provisioning Wi-Fi via serial
improv_serial:

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

captive_portal:

dashboard_import:
  package_import_url: github://esphome/example-configs/esphome-web/esp8266.yaml@main
  import_full_config: true

# To have a "next url" for improv serial
web_server:

sensor:
  - platform: hx711
    name: "CO2 Level"
    dout_pin: GPIO4
    clk_pin: GPIO5
    gain: 128
    update_interval: 120s 
    filters:
      - calibrate_linear:
          - -1006128 -> 100
          - -400000 -> 0
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Stairs

This was a big project but it turned out to be much easier than expected. The pressure switches were a bust but the LEDs strips work great. The stairs do not have enough play in them to trigger the pressure switches. I plan to use a distance sensor in leu of the switches.

Before
Pressure Sensor
LEDs, Sensors & Skirt Board
Lots of wires
Landing glued up
Stain Landing
Stain Treads
Skirt Board
Rugs So We Don’t Slip
Replaced The Light
After
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Second Floor Hallway Built-in

I cant seem to find a picture of the before but I was able to snap this frame from a video I found. The outside did not look too bad but the inside was the main reason we replaced the whole thing. I will update this post if I find any footage from the inside.

This was a simple build from a wood working stand-point. The whole unit was build downstairs in the workshop and dropped right place. Installed the molding, door, and paint.

I pre-ran all the LED wires prior to installing the frame. This project used 144/m 5V Individual Addressable RGB WS2812B LED Strip. After this project, I moved to all 12V variants and stopped obsessing over controlling every single pixel. The 5V + 144/M + long wire runs initially gave me some issue, but I eventually over came them.

The LEDs sit in a quarter round defuser that I originally bought for the stairs. This was my test run for the stair project and I am happy with how they came out.

Before
New Insides
Trim It
Test Fit The Door
Same Style Pulls
Dat Dense
Cover Up!
After Side
After Side