Infrared remote for HiFiBerry

March 15, 2019Devices, DIY, Solutions 1 Comment

There are situations where it is not very convenient to use the phone or tablet to control the music. Sometimes you just need to quickly change the volume, pause the playback or skip a song on a playlist, and this can be done much easier using a IR remote. Adding an infrared remote to the Raspberry … Read More

DoorBird intercom with Loxone

February 16, 2019Configuration, Devices, Solutions 38 Comments

I have been constantly postponing most of the construction finalizations in front and around the house, in order to complete the interior and garden in the back first. That took longer than I expected and as a result some of my initial plans were a bit re-shaped and diverted from the original intent. This was … Read More

Controlling Velux windows

October 20, 2018Devices, Interior, Solutions 41 Comments

No KUX, just Loxone Integration of Velux roof components into home automation systems has been often criticized in many smart home forums [1,2,3]. The usage of proprietary protocol is making this “black box” difficult to integrate and to interact with any other solutions. The overall architecture is a bit weird, utilizing a control unit KUX 100 … Read More

Mailbox with new mail sensor

September 10, 2018Configuration, DIY, Ideas, Sensors, Solutions 1 Comment

If your’e about to start wiring your new home, think of one additional cable going towards your mail box. In many cases this can be done quite easily, as the mailbox sits together with doorbell or intercom and you can either use some of the cable wires there or add few additional. This fully depends … Read More

DMX dashboard

September 8, 2018Configuration, Devices, DIY, Ideas, Solutions 2 Comments

What I missed since the very beginning was some kind of an overview of the basic status of the house. I know, tablet, I do have one wall mounted in the living room as well, but by dashboard I mean something simpler, giving me the exact info about the things I need to know before … Read More

Connecting your water meter

August 5, 2018Sensors, Solutions 7 Comments

Finishing the story about the utility meters and its connection to Loxone. After articles about the electricity and gas meters I am focusing on the water meters here. Of course, there are water meters with pulse output already on the market, but in my case I wanted to read the data from the official meter I got from the … Read More

Connecting your electricity meter to Loxone

February 15, 2018Sensors, Solutions No Comments

Continuing the story about the utility meters and its connection to Loxone. Again, not talking about any Modbus meter integration here, I am about to get the data from official utility meters. I described the integration of a gas meter in my previous post, let’s focus on electricity meter here. Before we jump into it, let’s … Read More

Connecting your gas meter to Loxone

December 27, 2017Sensors, Solutions 1 Comment

I always planned to integrate utility meters into the smart home system. In my case this would mean to connect the electricity, gas and water meters. For all these I did the cabling preparation while I was building the house, so I was literally ready to go. But as usual, there were things higher on … Read More

Motorized door locks

November 20, 2017Devices, Solutions No Comments

Multi-point motorized door locks If you have read my article about finger print scanner integration this is the right follow-up for you. To enjoy the full experience of the keyless access system, motorized lock is what allows you to enter your home when you’re authorized and secures your door after closure.  I have found two different approaches providing similar … Read More