Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Nick's Two-Car Detached Vdub Garage

[zanyad]

Ahhh, the pooper scooper for people with a really weak stomach and bad gag reflex!

Or really, really big dogs.

Like so?

 

[nicholam77]

Smart Home Update

My Hubitat has been freezing up again

This lil' guy here:



As a refresher I've been awkwardly running two smart home platforms in tandem for several years now. Home Assistant, and Hubitat. All my Z-wave and Zigbee devices are paired with Hubitat, because that has the radios for it, and then everything else that is WiFi or LAN is paired with Home Assistant. And then I'm using a 3rd party integration for crossover between the two.

Originally, after I left SmartThings, I rebuilt ALL my automations in Hubitat's WebCoRE, because I was familiar with it already. But as I got more used to Home Assistant, and its own automation capabilities made some leaps and bounds, I started adding and migrating automations to that.

If that sounds really messy, it was. Since January this year I'd been working to rewrite all my automations in Home Assistant alone, and use Hubitat only as the device bridge for my Z-wave and Zigbee devices. I pretty much got to that point.

And then this past week Hubitat started completely freezing up. No devices would respond, UI admin page wouldn't load, etc. I'd have to pull the power to force a reboot. And then everything would work for a day or two until the next freeze. This is the 2nd time this has happened to me.

And then last night, pulling the power trick didn't work. The status light comes back on green, but no admin page. No connectivity. I think it's toast.

I am NOT going to rebuild everything in Hubitat again. Too much effort and am skeptical I have a dud or it could happen again. Plus, the 3rd party bridge integration I use... I can't rely on that to be developed forever. And it just makes sense to keep everything (devices, automations) under one roof.

So I'm going all in on Home Assistant, for real.

Home Assistant is a bring-your-own-hardware adventure, and the mini PC that's hosting it in my basement closet doesn't have Z-wave or Zigbee radios.

So I just ordered:

SMLight SLZB-06 PoE Zigbee 3.0 Coordinator

Zooz 800 Series ZST39 Long Range Z-wave Stick

Now to wait until those show up and figure out how to re-pair everything again and probably edit all my automations that had those devices in them. Truly dreading it.

 

[Finallygotit]

No offense Nick but this is why I won't invest in smart home tech. I hope you get things sorted out.

 

[bdbecker]

No offense Nick but this is why I won't invest in smart home tech. I hope you get things sorted out.

This is why I won't invest in smart home tech until @nicholam77 gets it sorted out... then I can just ask him whenever I have a problem!

 

[kaymccampbell]

No offense Nick but this is why I won't invest in smart home tech. I hope you get things sorted out.

This is why I'm writing my own wifi and esp-now based ecology. I get something I can fix, and there's tons of entertainment value. The only downside is that it takes me forever to get round to creating the next device.

 

[jonshonda]

For once I'm glad I have no idea what you guys are talking about, and I'm perfectly OK with that!

 

[nicholam77]

No offense Nick but this is why I won't invest in smart home tech. I hope you get things sorted out.

None taken. It's definitely not for everyone, and it is a tinkering hobby.

I'll for sure get it sorted, it will just be some work. But the end result will finally be everything under one platform (Home Assistant), which I consider to be probably the best and most capable platform out there.

But I get it. Depending on how you approach it, it can be a significant monetary investment. I don't even want to think about how much I've spent on the "Smart Home" in total over the years. And then there's the time investment to upkeep it... even if you're building and programming your own devices like Kay.

This is why I won't invest in smart home tech until @nicholam77 gets it sorted out... then I can just ask him whenever I have a problem!

And I will in turn ask chatGPT

Only halfway kidding... I do have a lot of experience and POV on this stuff after 10 yrs, but even I have to troubleshoot, figure out, and fix stuff occasionally

This is why I'm writing my own wifi and esp-now based ecology. I get something I can fix, and there's tons of entertainment value. The only downside is that it takes me forever to get round to creating the next device.

That is pretty cool. I've too many devices and not enough know-how to do something like this full scale, but I have been meaning to dip my toes into ESPHome to leverage some cheaper devices in the future. Because holy **** devices have gotten expensive (good ones, anyways).

For once I'm glad I have no idea what you guys are talking about, and I'm perfectly OK with that!

It's all so I don't have to touch a light switch

It's kind of like 3d printing... lot's of jargon but not all that hard to get the hang of once you dive in.

---

I will say, having the Hubitat hub down for the count the past few days has been a PITA. It has shed 'light' (pun intended!) on how much I love my lighting automations, and how noticeable it is when they are not present.

Those new Zigbee and Zwave radios can't come soon enough!

 

[Denwood]

Nick, I've been lucky to have zero issues with Hubitat C7 yet. That said, I back it up C7 using the free cloud migration backup every few weeks, and I have a C8 waiting to take that backup. This ensures all zwave and zigbee devices along with all the apps are covered for restoration if needed. I figure nothing based on a chip/computer/OS is 100%.

I 100% can appreciate what a PITA a fail is though. Pretty much our whole house lighting, theatre, garage, solar heating, HVAC etc. is plugged into Hubitat in one way or another. I even melt wax with it..ha. I have one of those Zooz sticks which is a cool piece of tech.

I'd say the system has been 100% reliable for me since migrating from Smarthings 3 years ago, but see my first statement

 

[nicholam77]

Nick, I've been lucky to have zero issues with Hubitat C7 yet. That said, I back it up C7 using the free cloud migration backup every few weeks, and I have a C8 waiting to take that backup. This ensures all zwave and zigbee devices along with all the apps are covered for restoration if needed. I figure nothing based on a chip/computer/OS is 100%.

Well you're more prepared than me

If I was doing free cloud backups, I don't know how to retrieve them. I had the local backups going, but now that the thing is bricked there's no getting those.

I am backing up my Home Assistant install, locally and with a free cloud add-on to Google Drive.

The chain wax automation is super cool. You always have interesting and unique applications.

I have nothing against Hubitat. In fact I really liked it. It's probably the most capable and mature system out there besides Home Assistant. Other than the two times mine bricked up on me, I had no issues with reliability, signal strength, device issues, etc. That's why I'm kind of inclined to think something was wrong with mine.

But it doesn't make sense to run two platforms, so I am using this as an opportunity to consolidate. There are some features of Home Assistant I've really grown to like, and my hardware is FAR more powerful than the Hubitat box so there is plenty of room to grow. I've also put a lot of work into my Home Assistant mobile dashboard, and their iOS companion app is far superior. So I am leaving Hubitat behind... but it was good while it lasted!

 

[kaymccampbell]

That is pretty cool. I've too many devices and not enough know-how to do something like this full scale, but I have been meaning to dip my toes into ESPHome to leverage some cheaper devices in the future.

To quote someone...
It's kind of like 3d printing... lot's of jargon but not all that hard to get the hang of once you dive in.

 

[Denwood]

Well you're more prepared than me

If I was doing free cloud backups, I don't know how to retrieve them. I had the local backups going, but now that the thing is bricked there's no getting those.

I am backing up my Home Assistant install, locally and with a free cloud add-on to Google Drive.

The chain wax automation is super cool. You always have interesting and unique applications.

I have nothing against Hubitat. In fact I really liked it. It's probably the most capable and mature system out there besides Home Assistant. Other than the two times mine bricked up on me, I had no issues with reliability, signal strength, device issues, etc. That's why I'm kind of inclined to think something was wrong with mine.

But it doesn't make sense to run two platforms, so I am using this as an opportunity to consolidate. There are some features of Home Assistant I've really grown to like, and my hardware is FAR more powerful than the Hubitat box so there is plenty of room to grow. I've also put a lot of work into my Home Assistant mobile dashboard, and their iOS companion app is far superior. So I am leaving Hubitat behind... but it was good while it lasted!

I’ll be following along with your HA project. I do love the concept of it in every way. HA has the inertia already of a large user base/development to be one of the major players out there.

 

[CGohring]

I too would love to follow your HA project please. I'd love to see more of what you are doing there. I've been on Insteon for the last 10 years or so, and I do love it, but I have some gremlins that randomly turn on some of my lights that I just cannot get rid of. - I seriously considered going to HA last year, and went as far as buying the 'yellow', but ended up selling it again because I just did not have the energy to start over.

 

[nicholam77]

To quote someone...
It's kind of like 3d printing... lot's of jargon but not all that hard to get the hang of once you dive in.

Ha! Once I get everything back to normal maybe I'll look at some ESP32 devices for experience and/or fun. I was going to try them for bluetooth room presence sensors, but I don't think it would work very well in my house with the smallish floor plan and 3 levels.

I’ll be following along with your HA project. I do love the concept of it in every way. HA has the inertia already of a large user base/development to be one of the major players out there.

Everything is pretty much configured, at this point I was just using Hubitat as the radios (but the devices were piped into HA and controlled there). Just need to get all of those re-added natively with the new coordinator sticks coming in the mail.

HA is huge. In 2024 it was the largest open source project on Github by contributors, with over 21,000 people contributing to its development. It's also been around for 13 years. In fact the pace of development these days is almost too quick, and they've really been making a lot of ease-of-use improvement and UX improvements that are making it less scary for people to jump in.

I would say by popularity / install base, and also feature-set, HA is the major player. It has its learning curve and quirks, but I think it's the most powerful hands down. Hubitat is the only thing that even comes close.

I too would love to follow your HA project please. I'd love to see more of what you are doing there. I've been on Insteon for the last 10 years or so, and I do love it, but I have some gremlins that randomly turn on some of my lights that I just cannot get rid of. - I seriously considered going to HA last year, and went as far as buying the 'yellow', but ended up selling it again because I just did not have the energy to start over.

Sure thing. Sometimes I wonder if I should post that stuff here, but my thread has kind of become a dumping ground for off-topic interests. There are a few on GJ that are deep in the smart home stuff but I realize most probably glaze over with those type of posts.

I would say make the jump! It's never been easier, and it's so powerful. Yeah, it's a pain to start over. But if you're going to do it, I'd be doing it with Home Assistant 100%.

If you do, I've had a great experience with using a mini pc / thin client. I got a decent Lenovo Thinkcentre on eBay for $50, and it's a powerhouse compared to Yellow, a Raspberry Pi, etc. I installed it bare metal (no virtualization) so it's way overkill, but I wanted the headroom so it stays powerful for the long term.

I have over 100 devices and over 100 automations, and it's barely using much CPU at all.

Here's my mobile dashboard, which is built around everything being accessible via one click from the landing page. It's completely customized and IMO way more efficient than any other stock smart home app.

 

[nicholam77]

Kitchen Under Cabinet LEDs

In the spirit of smart home stuff, I knocked out a long standing project — kitchen cabinet LEDs.

I've wanted to do this forever, and have mostly been held back by cost. I knew I either wanted LED strips, or something like IKEA's Tradfri system like @Denwood has.

I even bought some TP-link light strips once, but quickly realized they were only RGB with no dedicated whites... which translates to terrible white colors. I need reliable warm whites (2700k) that look good. High CRI and not noticeably tinted. They also reflected badly in my glossy white countertops. So I returned the TP-link.

I thought about IKEA Tradfi, but the drivers are on the large side and the system itself is not that cheap. And I kind of wanted the option for RGB.

I thought about getting high-quality, high-CRI warm white LED strips and DIY'ing smart controllers and power supplies for them with WLED. But I quickly got overwhelmed with the tech specs and options, and didn't want another open source project to update and maintain.

So I found my way back to trusty ol' Philips HUE. Again... not cheap. But the ones I wanted (non-addressable, RGBWW strips) went on a bit of a sale on Amazon recently, so I bit at the opportunity.



HUE maybe isn't the highest quality LED out there, but it is quite good. Above the competition in the same smart home space. The power supply is compact, and comes with it and I don't need to worry about specs. And HUE... just works. Period. I have many HUE lights and they are all flawless.

I actually had existing incandescent under-cabinet lights installed by the previous owners, but every bulb but one was burnt out, and I wanted them to be 'smart'.



This meant there were already outlets in the cabinets for power supply / adaptor which was nice.



What I thought would be a 10min replacement quickly ballooned into a multiple hour, multiple day project.

After removing the old lighting, I had to drill some holes and install some clips, because I am mounting the new HUE strips in aluminum channels with a diffuser cap.



In a controversial move, I am mounting the channels facing the wall the cabinets are on, instead of pointed down at the countertop. This is because the HUE strips are not high-density, and even with the diffuser they reflect badly in the glossy counter as a bunch of dots. But pointed horizontally at the wall, they still have a similar under-cabinet glow but without the reflection.



Of course all the channel and diffusers had to be cut to length.




On the other side of the sink I got fed up with the clips and opted for 3M Mount-It double sided tape.



Here's what it looks like installed, pointed at the wall:




I should have cleaned up some **** off the counter before taking the pics

The warm whites are pleasing, and of course it can do RGB:




I don't think the RGB will get too much use as my wife forbids it (doesn't want our kitchen looking like a gamer dorm room ), but the kids found it amusing, and I do plan on using it for temporary notifications.

For example, turn red for 10sec if my wife arrives home and I am on a Zoom call in the basement. This would let her know not to bust in, or let the kids down there.

Or flash green when the laundry finishes.

Or flash red when I run my goodnight routine if any doors or windows are open at the end of the day.

Or if I ever get a garage door sensor... turn a certain color if the garage door is left open, or open at night.

Or when a person is detected on the doorbell. Or if the mail is delivered. The possibilities are endless.

And of course I have a bunch of motion-based automations planned, too.

I'm glad to finally have this done as we spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and it adds a nice ambience, especially in the evening.

 

[kppolich]

Looks great, those little Sonos One's are fantastic too.

 

[Denwood]

Kitchen Under Cabinet LEDs

In the spirit of smart home stuff, I knocked out a long standing project — kitchen cabinet LEDs.

I've wanted to do this forever, and have mostly been held back by cost. I knew I either wanted LED strips, or something like IKEA's Tradfri system like @Denwood has.

I even bought some TP-link light strips once, but quickly realized they were only RGB with no dedicated whites... which translates to terrible white colors. I need reliable warm whites (2700k) that look good. High CRI and not noticeably tinted. They also reflected badly in my glossy white countertops. So I returned the TP-link.

I thought about IKEA Tradfi, but the drivers are on the large side and the system itself is not that cheap. And I kind of wanted the option for RGB.

I thought about getting high-quality, high-CRI warm white LED strips and DIY'ing smart controllers and power supplies for them with WLED. But I quickly got overwhelmed with the tech specs and options, and didn't want another open source project to update and maintain.

So I found my way back to trusty ol' Philips HUE. Again... not cheap. But the ones I wanted (non-addressable, RGBWW strips) went on a bit of a sale on Amazon recently, so I bit at the opportunity.



HUE maybe isn't the highest quality LED out there, but it is quite good. Above the competition in the same smart home space. The power supply is compact, and comes with it and I don't need to worry about specs. And HUE... just works. Period. I have many HUE lights and they are all flawless.

I actually had existing incandescent under-cabinet lights installed by the previous owners, but every bulb but one was burnt out, and I wanted them to be 'smart'.



This meant there were already outlets in the cabinets for power supply / adaptor which was nice.



What I thought would be a 10min replacement quickly ballooned into a multiple hour, multiple day project.

After removing the old lighting, I had to drill some holes and install some clips, because I am mounting the new HUE strips in aluminum channels with a diffuser cap.



In a controversial move, I am mounting the channels facing the wall the cabinets are on, instead of pointed down at the countertop. This is because the HUE strips are not high-density, and even with the diffuser they reflect badly in the glossy counter as a bunch of dots. But pointed horizontally at the wall, they still have a similar under-cabinet glow but without the reflection.



Of course all the channel and diffusers had to be cut to length.




On the other side of the sink I got fed up with the clips and opted for 3M Mount-It double sided tape.



Here's what it looks like installed, pointed at the wall:




I should have cleaned up some **** off the counter before taking the pics

The warm whites are pleasing, and of course it can do RGB:




I don't think the RGB will get too much use as my wife forbids it (doesn't want our kitchen looking like a gamer dorm room ), but the kids found it amusing, and I do plan on using it for temporary notifications.

For example, turn red for 10sec if my wife arrives home and I am on a Zoom call in the basement. This would let her know not to bust in, or let the kids down there.

Or flash green when the laundry finishes.

Or flash red when I run my goodnight routine if any doors or windows are open at the end of the day.

Or if I ever get a garage door sensor... turn a certain color if the garage door is left open, or open at night.

Or when a person is detected on the doorbell. Or if the mail is delivered. The possibilities are endless.

And of course I have a bunch of motion-based automations planned, too.

I'm glad to finally have this done as we spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and it adds a nice ambience, especially in the evening.

I have quite a few Philips LED strips, the latest in my garage, over the workbench. I have similar channel as well to go into my updated editing suite (to adjust color temp for grading). They are solid and reliable...not cheap, but reliable. The one in the garage flashes red as a 2 minute warning if the overhead door is going to be closing via automation.

Our main and basement kitchens use the Tradfri LED setup, and they too have been great. Solid design and the Tradfri LED drivers integrate nicely with non Ikea controllers (Zigbee) for automation. We don't do anything fancy for the kitchens with respect to color, but the motion lighting switches over to under cabinet lights only at 10% after midnight which is a nice mood setter. The main floor lights all have a master control (an IKEA switch) in the kitchen which toggles them either to full brightness, or disables motion and dims them all to 10% for mood, evening gatherings etc.

Your setup looks great

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Love the new under-cabinet lights. Been on my list to do for a long time, but I don't have any power there, so I would need to figure out how to fish a wire from an existing outlet somewhere to the top of the cabinets, as I don't want to see a plug.

Sorry your hubbitat has failed and forced you into a forced migration at this point. I am running a similar setup to you. Smartthings for connecting everything and Home Assistant for all new automation. I have not even at this point moved my existing automation that were already in Smartthings over yet.

I assume unfortunately, with you not able to get the habitat up and running one more time you will have to manually move each zwave device? If that is the case your unfortunate issue might get me to move quicker on my migration since at least while Smartthings is still working that were is a way to use a zwave utitility to migrate everything to a new controller. I don't really want to manually move my 70-80 devices at this point.

Very interested to follow along on your Zooz 800 stick as it is the one I am considering. I see mixed reviews on the Zooz sticks but unfortunately, even with some negative reviews and issues, they appear to be the best option.

 

[nicholam77]

Looks great, those little Sonos One's are fantastic too.

Thanks! Yep, love the Sonos One's except for the botched app. They are a bit overkill as I listen to the same (internet) radio station 99% of the time in the kitchen, but they still sound nice. And the Home Assistant compatibility is great for scenes, local voice announcements, etc.

I have quite a few Philips LED strips, the latest in my garage, over the workbench. I have similar channel as well to go into my updated editing suite (to adjust color temp for grading). They are solid and reliable...not cheap, but reliable. The one in the garage flashes red as a 2 minute warning if the overhead door is going to be closing via automation.

Nice!

Our main and basement kitchens use the Tradfri LED setup, and they too have been great. Solid design and the Tradfri LED drivers integrate nicely with non Ikea controllers (Zigbee) for automation. We don't do anything fancy for the kitchens with respect to color, but the motion lighting switches over to under cabinet lights only at 10% after midnight which is a nice mood setter. The main floor lights all have a master control (an IKEA switch) in the kitchen which toggles them either to full brightness, or disables motion and dims them all to 10% for mood, evening gatherings etc.

Your setup looks great

I have some Tradfri GU10's in my range hood on your recommendation that have been great. I did strongly consider the IKEA route, but last time I checked it seemed to be around the same price as HUE and I thought HUE would be an easier install and the bonus of RGB for notifications.

I have an extra IKEA switch I'll probably slap on the wall to control the new light strips, though.

Interesting setup with disabling motion on the ambience 10% scene. Something I've always added to my motion lighting automations is a condition "if X light (light being automated) has been off for 1 min". That way motion trigger will never adjust a light that's already on, no matter the brightness. Also, if someone physically turns a light off at the switch, it gives a little extra time (plus the motion sensor cooldown) to exit the room before they auto turn on again.

Love the new under-cabinet lights. Been on my list to do for a long time, but I don't have any power there, so I would need to figure out how to fish a wire from an existing outlet somewhere to the top of the cabinets, as I don't want to see a plug.

Sorry your hubbitat has failed and forced you into a forced migration at this point. I am running a similar setup to you. Smartthings for connecting everything and Home Assistant for all new automation. I have not even at this point moved my existing automation that were already in Smartthings over yet.

I assume unfortunately, with you not able to get the habitat up and running one more time you will have to manually move each zwave device? If that is the case your unfortunate issue might get me to move quicker on my migration since at least while Smartthings is still working that were is a way to use a zwave utitility to migrate everything to a new controller. I don't really want to manually move my 70-80 devices at this point.

Very interested to follow along on your Zooz 800 stick as it is the one I am considering. I see mixed reviews on the Zooz sticks but unfortunately, even with some negative reviews and issues, they appear to be the best option.

Thanks! I am loving them, too. Wishing I had done it sooner. I can see how power would slow you down... that can be a pain. I was lucky to have the outlets in the cabinets from the old incandescent lights.

Yeah, I expect I'll have to manually reset and re-include each Zwave and Zigbee device, which will create new devices in Home Assistant, and I'll have to figure out naming compared to the old ones, removing the old ones, and replacing them throughout my gazillion automations. Gonna be a fun ride.

I 'only' have 42 devices piped in from Hubitat, but some of those were virtual devices so I think the actual amount is less.

Your 70-80 is a lot I wouldn't want to do that either!



In theory there's nothing wrong with linking a hub like SmartThings. Maybe that integration is more 'official', but I'm pretty sure the Hubitat one was maintained by an individual. You never know when they'll stop development. I know SmartThings integration had a recent scare with the latest HA update but sounds like it got sorted.

I'll for sure let you know about the Zooz 800 stick. My co-worker has the older Zooz 700 stick and says it's 100% reliable. Seems they don't make that anymore, though. There's other options but everything I read pointed me to Zooz, so I'm giving it a shot!

 

[Denwood]

For the theatre automations (all basement lights disabled for motion except a few for safety) and main floor motion disabled when 10% ambience is set, I just use a virtual switch toggled on for each, and then add a condition to Hubitat lighting manager to disable activation if the switch is on. This way all I have to do is toggle the virtual switch off via with the theatre’s Harmony “power off” ,for example, and all motion lights return to normal. It’s simple and reliable

 

[nicholam77]

Very interested to follow along on your Zooz 800 stick as it is the one I am considering.

So I got both 'coordinators' (Zwave and Zigbee radio antennas) in the mail today. They are completely separate setups, so I decided to tackle the Zwave first.

This is mainly for @cccoltsicehockey , so feel free to jump over it if you don't care!

Wow, the Zooz 800 is small!



I installed with a USB 2.0 extension cable to get it away from the computer (this is recommended).



Then I installed the Z-Wave JS add-on, and the Z-Wave Integration to Home Assistant. It found the Zooz 800 stick no problem.



I wasn't sure how to go about re-adding the devices. A couple issues:

— if I 'disabled' the Hubitat devices, they still show up in the automations, cause duplicate names if I retained the names
— if I 'deleted' the Hubitat devices, it would only let me delete some of the entities for some reason
— if I tried 'renaming' the entities, some weird conflicts and anomalies started happening



So I tried to make as many screenshots and notes of how my devices were named, and the automations they used. And then I removed the Hubitat integration altogether, which does scorch earth on all those devices and entities.

I will say, this had me a bit nervous.



Afterwards, I spot checked some of my automations, and the former Hubitat entities were no longer displaying in the UI editor, but YAML only.

It was a mixed bag. Some automation triggers I had renamed with a description (like in the green bubble), so that was helpful. Others (like in the red bubble) I had no reference to a 'friendly name'. The YAML listed the old ID numbers... but I couldn't find reference to that anywhere, especially since those devices had been deleted.



Here's an example where I really lost any reference to what the device was, other than it was a 'light' domain:



So basically... deleting devices makes automations that used those devices pretty confusing.

So not only did I have to exclude each Z-wave device, re-include it, set up any device configuration, give everything new names, but I also had to go through all my automations and rewrite the portions that were referencing the old, deleted devices. A PITA for sure.

I will say that the exclusion and inclusion process was very easy, and probably the most responsive of any hub / coordinator I've tried.

I did lose some of the more intricate configurations on my devices (specifically dimmer switches and power meters), so I'll have to fine tune those again over time.

But, everything was recognized and seems to be working. So YAY for the Zooz 800 stick.



I got everything done, including automations redone, in about 4 hrs. But it's not my first rodeo.

Now I have to figure out the SMLight ZIgbee one and do all those.

TL;DR Immediate impression is the Zooz stick works, and if you are going to migrate, I strongly recommend doing it before you write your automations in Home Assistant

 

[Denwood]

So I got both 'coordinators' (Zwave and Zigbee radio antennas) in the mail today. They are completely separate setups, so I decided to tackle the Zwave first.

This is mainly for @cccoltsicehockey , so feel free to jump over it if you don't care!

Wow, the Zooz 800 is small!



I installed with a USB 2.0 extension cable to get it away from the computer (this is recommended).



Then I installed the Z-Wave JS add-on, and the Z-Wave Integration to Home Assistant. It found the Zooz 800 stick no problem.



I wasn't sure how to go about re-adding the devices. A couple issues:

— if I 'disabled' the Hubitat devices, they still show up in the automations, cause duplicate names if I retained the names
— if I 'deleted' the Hubitat devices, it would only let me delete some of the entities for some reason
— if I tried 'renaming' the entities, some weird conflicts and anomalies started happening



So I tried to make as many screenshots and notes of how my devices were named, and the automations they used. And then I removed the Hubitat integration altogether, which does scorch earth on all those devices and entities.

I will say, this had me a bit nervous.



Afterwards, I spot checked some of my automations, and the former Hubitat entities were no longer displaying in the UI editor, but YAML only.

It was a mixed bag. Some automation triggers I had renamed with a description (like in the green bubble), so that was helpful. Others (like in the red bubble) I had no reference to a 'friendly name'. The YAML listed the old ID numbers... but I couldn't find reference to that anywhere, especially since those devices had been deleted.



Here's an example where I really lost any reference to what the device was, other than it was a 'light' domain:



So basically... deleting devices makes automations that used those devices pretty confusing.

So not only did I have to exclude each Z-wave device, re-include it, set up any device configuration, give everything new names, but I also had to go through all my automations and rewrite the portions that were referencing the old, deleted devices. A PITA for sure.

I will say that the exclusion and inclusion process was very easy, and probably the most responsive of any hub / coordinator I've tried.

I did lose some of the more intricate configurations on my devices (specifically dimmer switches and power meters), so I'll have to fine tune those again over time.

But, everything was recognized and seems to be working. So YAY for the Zooz 800 stick.



I got everything done, including automations redone, in about 4 hrs. But it's not my first rodeo.

Now I have to figure out the SMLight ZIgbee one and do all those.

TL;DR Immediate impression is the Zooz stick works, and if you are going to migrate, I strongly recommend doing it before you write your automations in Home Assistant

Excellent post. I feel your pain.

 

[nicholam77]

Ok, last post about this geek stuff

SMLight SLZB-06 Zigbee Coordinator Installation

This thing is pretty cool.

Unlike the Zooz Zwave stick which plugs directly into the computer running Home Assistant via USB, the SMLight Zigbee radio connects over LAN.

Well, actually it can connect over LAN w/PoE, or WiFi, or USB. So extremely flexible.

The benefit of it connecting over LAN is you can place it in a different location than the computer running Home Assistant (which is in my basement closet).

Zigbee is a mesh network, meaning a command signal may hop through several devices to reach the end device the message is meant for. It doesn't need to go straight from coordinator --> end device. Which means to get less 'hops', it's advantageous to put the coordinator radio in a central location. This is often NOT where people have their Home Assistant computer, in the smack dab middle of the house, so being able to physically separate the two is really cool.

I had the old Hubitat in my living room for this reason. But it was also right next to my living room TP-Link AP for WiFi. Not great, because Zigbee and WiFi both use 2.4 GHz frequency band. So even though I have PoE in that location, I decided to try something new with the SMLight coordinator, and put it in the basement laundry room.

It's not centrally located, but it is outside of a closet, away from any WiFi routers, and it is very near some Zigbee devices (laundry door contact sensors). And I was able to run an ethernet cable from my TV room into the laundry room pretty easily.



That's the mechanical closet in the laundry room. This is where I installed a new PoE injector.



Then fished the powered ethernet through the wall to the laundry side, and mounted the SMLight on the wall with sticky mounts.




The thing is quite large, maybe about 7 inches with a big *** antenna.

Still, given my laundry room is a colossal mess, it doesn't look so bad mounted up in the corner.



The SMLight has its own web dashboard! I was surprised by this, and it contains a TON of information and tools. Pretty sweet!



In Home Assistant, there are two ways to create a Zigbee network. One is the official integration from Home Assistant, and one is a community integration. I chose the community one that is harder to set up, but has some neat features.

For the Home Assistant users out there, that would be 'Zigbee2MQTT'.

I struggled a bit getting it configured, but many YouTube videos later, I started adding devices. And similar to my experience with the Zooz stick, adding devices was fast and easy.

A nice touch in Zigbee2MQTT is all the devices load in with pictures and appropriate brand info.



When you click into a device, there is a TON of info.



And lastly, as I mentioned earlier with the Zigbee protocol being a mesh network, Zigbee2MQTT includes a really cool 'map' features that displays the links between the devices, whether they are hardwired or not, and gives the signal strength a score.



Sometimes device commands can take a weird path, so a map can help you figure out what's going on if a device isn't reliably receiving commands.

So far though, I've rebuilt 99% of my devices and automations, and everything seems to be working!!!

Hubitat is a GREAT system, and I thought setting up Zwave and Zigbee in Home Assistant would be harder and more janky... but I was wrong. It was one of the easiest device pairing experiences I've had, and everything is responsive and works.

And I am so, so happy to FINALLY have all my devices, automations, etc on one system!

And I hope this was the last time I have to do this, ever.

 

[patlun]

And I hope this was the last time I have to do this, ever.

If you believe that I will not tell you otherwise

Nice solution, I have hardware to set up Home assistent in one of my project bins, someday I will set it up, but the solution I am using at the moment works for my use case. I have no complex automations at the moment, but I have some ideas I would like to explore.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Thanks! Yep, love the Sonos One's except for the botched app. They are a bit overkill as I listen to the same (internet) radio station 99% of the time in the kitchen, but they still sound nice. And the Home Assistant compatibility is great for scenes, local voice announcements, etc.



Nice!



I have some Tradfri GU10's in my range hood on your recommendation that have been great. I did strongly consider the IKEA route, but last time I checked it seemed to be around the same price as HUE and I thought HUE would be an easier install and the bonus of RGB for notifications.

I have an extra IKEA switch I'll probably slap on the wall to control the new light strips, though.

Interesting setup with disabling motion on the ambience 10% scene. Something I've always added to my motion lighting automations is a condition "if X light (light being automated) has been off for 1 min". That way motion trigger will never adjust a light that's already on, no matter the brightness. Also, if someone physically turns a light off at the switch, it gives a little extra time (plus the motion sensor cooldown) to exit the room before they auto turn on again.



Thanks! I am loving them, too. Wishing I had done it sooner. I can see how power would slow you down... that can be a pain. I was lucky to have the outlets in the cabinets from the old incandescent lights.

Yeah, I expect I'll have to manually reset and re-include each Zwave and Zigbee device, which will create new devices in Home Assistant, and I'll have to figure out naming compared to the old ones, removing the old ones, and replacing them throughout my gazillion automations. Gonna be a fun ride.

I 'only' have 42 devices piped in from Hubitat, but some of those were virtual devices so I think the actual amount is less.

Your 70-80 is a lot I wouldn't want to do that either!



In theory there's nothing wrong with linking a hub like SmartThings. Maybe that integration is more 'official', but I'm pretty sure the Hubitat one was maintained by an individual. You never know when they'll stop development. I know SmartThings integration had a recent scare with the latest HA update but sounds like it got sorted.

I'll for sure let you know about the Zooz 800 stick. My co-worker has the older Zooz 700 stick and says it's 100% reliable. Seems they don't make that anymore, though. There's other options but everything I read pointed me to Zooz, so I'm giving it a shot!

I want to try and rely on as few cloud resources as possible is the real reason to want to get off of SmartThings. With the fact that HA now has its own voice control box would allow me to slowly get off my Google Homes to something that runs locally as well for that.

Thanks for mentioning the recent scare. I need to look into what that is about. I only update my HA like 2-4 times a year at most and never run the most recent version. I did the last update in December so I am due for one.

Agree even with some issues I can't find anything but Zooz that seems to make sense.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

So I got both 'coordinators' (Zwave and Zigbee radio antennas) in the mail today. They are completely separate setups, so I decided to tackle the Zwave first.

This is mainly for @cccoltsicehockey , so feel free to jump over it if you don't care!

Wow, the Zooz 800 is small!



I installed with a USB 2.0 extension cable to get it away from the computer (this is recommended).



Then I installed the Z-Wave JS add-on, and the Z-Wave Integration to Home Assistant. It found the Zooz 800 stick no problem.



I wasn't sure how to go about re-adding the devices. A couple issues:

— if I 'disabled' the Hubitat devices, they still show up in the automations, cause duplicate names if I retained the names
— if I 'deleted' the Hubitat devices, it would only let me delete some of the entities for some reason
— if I tried 'renaming' the entities, some weird conflicts and anomalies started happening



So I tried to make as many screenshots and notes of how my devices were named, and the automations they used. And then I removed the Hubitat integration altogether, which does scorch earth on all those devices and entities.

I will say, this had me a bit nervous.



Afterwards, I spot checked some of my automations, and the former Hubitat entities were no longer displaying in the UI editor, but YAML only.

It was a mixed bag. Some automation triggers I had renamed with a description (like in the green bubble), so that was helpful. Others (like in the red bubble) I had no reference to a 'friendly name'. The YAML listed the old ID numbers... but I couldn't find reference to that anywhere, especially since those devices had been deleted.



Here's an example where I really lost any reference to what the device was, other than it was a 'light' domain:



So basically... deleting devices makes automations that used those devices pretty confusing.

So not only did I have to exclude each Z-wave device, re-include it, set up any device configuration, give everything new names, but I also had to go through all my automations and rewrite the portions that were referencing the old, deleted devices. A PITA for sure.

I will say that the exclusion and inclusion process was very easy, and probably the most responsive of any hub / coordinator I've tried.

I did lose some of the more intricate configurations on my devices (specifically dimmer switches and power meters), so I'll have to fine tune those again over time.

But, everything was recognized and seems to be working. So YAY for the Zooz 800 stick.



I got everything done, including automations redone, in about 4 hrs. But it's not my first rodeo.

Now I have to figure out the SMLight ZIgbee one and do all those.

TL;DR Immediate impression is the Zooz stick works, and if you are going to migrate, I strongly recommend doing it before you write your automations in Home Assistant

I really do appreciate the detailed account of your experience with this. It helps me realize I should bump this up my home automation to do list before I do much more automation. I have a tool I plan to use to migrate all my devices which means they would keep all their names. In case that does not work, I really don't want to have more automation to update.

I am glad to hear that the Zooz800 stick is working well. I didn't know about the extension recommendation, so that is good information to have.

 

[nicholam77]

I really do appreciate the detailed account of your experience with this. It helps me realize I should bump this up my home automation to do list before I do much more automation. I have a tool I plan to use to migrate all my devices which means they would keep all their names. In case that does not work, I really don't want to have more automation to update.

I am glad to hear that the Zooz800 stick is working well. I didn't know about the extension recommendation, so that is good information to have.

No problem! Is the migration tool specific to SmartThings? Mind sharing what that is out of curiosity?

Even if it doesn't work, and even though you have a lot of switches, excluding and repairing is not that bad. Rebuilding automations could really be not fun depending on how many you have. I think that's the big takeaway when moving.

When re-adding, I kept all the same names as well. But HA seems to attach an underlying unique ID number. So if you're migration tool can preserve that, you might be good, otherwise you still may run into the same issue with automations that use the devices getting confused.

After a week or so the Zooz stick is still working well. I've noticed sometimes the dimmer brightness takes a sec to update in the UI, or read correctly, on a few switches (mostly my GE/Jasco ones I think?). But I've had some weird business there on multiple platforms so I'm not too concerned.

I still haven't figured out how to enable the child notifications (LED lights) on my Inovelli switches, but I know it's possible.

Yeah, a 3-6 ft extension cable is recommended for any Z-wave or Zigbee sticks connected directly to a HA computer. I guess powered USB ports can create electrical interference with the radios when plugged in directly.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

No problem! Is the migration tool specific to SmartThings? Mind sharing what that is out of curiosity?

Even if it doesn't work, and even though you have a lot of switches, excluding and repairing is not that bad. Rebuilding automations could really be not fun depending on how many you have. I think that's the big takeaway when moving.

When re-adding, I kept all the same names as well. But HA seems to attach an underlying unique ID number. So if you're migration tool can preserve that, you might be good, otherwise you still may run into the same issue with automations that use the devices getting confused.

After a week or so the Zooz stick is still working well. I've noticed sometimes the dimmer brightness takes a sec to update in the UI, or read correctly, on a few switches (mostly my GE/Jasco ones I think?). But I've had some weird business there on multiple platforms so I'm not too concerned.

I still haven't figured out how to enable the child notifications (LED lights) on my Inovelli switches, but I know it's possible.

Yeah, a 3-6 ft extension cable is recommended for any Z-wave or Zigbee sticks connected directly to a HA computer. I guess powered USB ports can create electrical interference with the radios when plugged in directly.

I have not tried this but when researching the migration from SmartThings to Home Assistant a while back I stumbled on this video be suggested on a Reddit post. It seems pretty straight forward but I have not actually done the work yet. I am hoping it works as easily as it appears to.

 

[CGohring]

Guys, Im 95% on Insteon at the moment, so migrating to HA and changing switches and plugs (50+) all over the house to Z-wave is a pretty big step that I would like to start correctly. - I have a couple of GE Z-wave plugs and switches which on Insteon are a little flakey, but before I continue, would anyone have any suggestions on what brand to buy? - is it GE? Jasco? Is Inovelli worth the extra money? or are there others out there that I haven't heard about yet that are a better option?

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Guys, Im 95% on Insteon at the moment, so migrating to HA and changing switches and plugs (50+) all over the house to Z-wave is a pretty big step that I would like to start correctly. - I have a couple of GE Z-wave plugs and switches which on Insteon are a little flakey, but before I continue, would anyone have any suggestions on what brand to buy? - is it GE? Jasco? Is Inovelli worth the extra money? or are there others out there that I haven't heard about yet that are a better option?

I don't know 100% if there are all the brands of switches. I started out with GE which is really just GE branding on JASCO switches. It is now hard to find either of those these days without paying a premium. I have bought some UltraPro switches which look identical and get added the same way and seem to function the same way while costing much less.

As far as other brands. Zooz is another brand you can buy as well. When they have their sale their prices are hard to beat and no worse than the everyday price of UltraPro switches. The Zooz switches also typically provide some more advanced features than the GE/JASCO/UltraPro switches do. Then there is the Innoveli switches, which are definitely the top tier with the coolest LED alert bars on the side of them. They might have a little more customization than the Zooz switches but I think they are pretty close.

The one big note I will make is the GE/JASCO/UltraPro/Innovelli all wire a threeway the same way with dummy switches. Zooz has their own way. I personally do not like the way that Zooz 3 way switches work but I have used them. I like the traveler wire method of the GE/JASCO/UltraPro/Innovelli switches. It basically allows you to wire you circuit if as a single circuit and then just add the remote control switch.

I have experience with all of them as I have white switches throughout my house and started when only GE was an easy option. On my garage build I decided to do black switches. You can't get the GE/JASCO in black. I have Zooz and Innovelli in the garage to accomplish this. Other things to consider is LED load rating. Zooz has the lowest LED bulb load rating out of all brands. GE/JASCO/UltraPro is the highest with Innovelli not far behind. I had to use the Innovelli in my garage in 3 locations. Two because of the LED load rating and one because of how the electricians wired my 3 way for my stair lights. If money was no object I would put Innovelli everywhere for the cool LED bar but it isn't that cool to use it everywhere when a 3 way pair costs over $100 and you can do UltraPro for like $50 or less for a 3way if you don't have black switches.

I will get off the geek train now of ZWave switches.

 

[CGohring]

I very much appreciate the geek train input. Thank you.

 

[nicholam77]

I have a couple of GE Z-wave plugs and switches which on Insteon are a little flakey, but before I continue, would anyone have any suggestions on what brand to buy? - is it GE? Jasco? Is Inovelli worth the extra money? or are there others out there that I haven't heard about yet that are a better option?

I think @cccoltsicehockey covered it well, but I'll add a few things.

Inovelli are awesome, but personally I would not go all in on them if you have a bunch of switches to replace. They are ~ $80 a switch minimum. Unless money is no object.

They have a lot of amazing features, but maybe think if you really need them. I use the light bar notifications for laundry alerts and a few things, but is it critical? Not really. Neat though.

My favorite bit on Inovelli is this 'config' button:



It can be used as a trigger for scenes or scripts. The reason I like it vs. double tapping the paddles or holding the paddles, is it is an obvious 'separate' button that is easy to remember what it does and only needs a momentary push. I use these aux buttons to do things like turn on my basement TV as I'm heading down the stairs, trigger a Sonos routine, or toggle my patio lights (completely independent of the load of the switch). If you live with others it has a high approval factor as no one has to remember tap sequences.

That said, if I was in the market I'd probably be going Zooz. I don't have any of their switches, but every other product I've bought from them works well. And they are reasonably priced. @cccoltsicehockey note about the 3-way method is valid if you care about that.

I have a couple of GE/Jasco switches in my kitchen and they do work, but are not my favorite. They don't handle low LED loads well, or dim well. And sometimes give odd status to the controller hub.

Honestly, there are a lot of brands (UltraPro, Leviton, Aeotec, Eaton, Honeywell, Minoston). For a basic on/off switch it probably doesn't matter too much, thanks to the Zwave standard and certification. For any use case you need something more advanced, that's when I'd be looking to Inovelli or maybe even Zooz for specialty products. I don't think you have to stick to one brand, unless your OCD won't allow branching out, but maybe you could buy a Zooz or two and see if they meet your needs before going all in.

I know you specified Zwave, but with Home Assistant you don't necessarily need to stick to that. For me, it would be cost prohibitive to do Zwave on every single switch in my house, so I have a multi-prong approach. Zwave for more critical, or special use cases. Philips Hue w/Hue Dimmer Switch for lamps. And lately I've been using TP-Link Kasa for less critical areas that I don't want to spend the $$$. They are WiFi, but are very responsive and reliable with Home Assistant. I am perfectly happy with them, and they are cheap enough where I won't feel terrible if they burn out or if Kasa goes under. BUT... TP-Link is such a big company I have faith they will be supported for quite some time. The downside of Kasa is they don't support scenes or double-tap etc, and require cloud setup within the Kasa app (although they are polled and can be controlled over LAN by Home Assistant). And then in a few areas (like laundry) where all I want is a motion light, I use a dumb Lutron occupancy switch. Cheap and effective.

Not Zwave, but Lutron Caseta is also an option. They have a full line of switches for every need, niche cases, super reliable with their own proprietary RF communication, and the hub integrates with Home Assistant over LAN. Price is in between the cheaper Zwaves and Inovelli.

As far as plugs, I don't know if I'd personally do Zwave. I love my Kasa plugs. And Zigbee plugs can be had much, much cheaper. You'd need a Zigbee radio then, but might be worth it if you have a number of plugs... just get a good brand like Third Reality. Plus there are very few battery powered Zwave devices, so if you plan on motion sensors, contact sensors, etc, you might as well plan on Zigbee as well, and plugs are great because they act as repeaters.

I feel like that was all over the place, so to sum up, if it were me I'd probably do:

Lights
— Inovelli for a couple of important use cases that make use of the fancy features
— Zooz everywhere else

Plugs
— Kasa or Zigbee

 

[nicholam77]

I have not tried this but when researching the migration from SmartThings to Home Assistant a while back I stumbled on this video be suggested on a Reddit post. It seems pretty straight forward but I have not actually done the work yet.

Wow, I had no idea that could be done

I am hoping it works as easily as it appears to.

I was going to say it looks kind of complicated

Good luck though and curious to hear if it works

 

[nicholam77]

Just One Little Cabinet

My office at work is getting rearranged, and my desk is now perpendicular to a wall. I needed a smaller, slimmer table or cubby next to it to hold some stuff, so I figured... why not make one? That way it could be customized for the space and my needs.

I picked up some cheap laminated wood-effect particle board shelving from Home Depot. It was edge banded, so I had to be creative with the assembly to avoid any exposed edges.

First up was a rip-a-roo on the table saw, as this length is easiest on the table saw.



My crosscut sleds are a bit out of wack, so I decided to do the crosscuts on the MFT with the track saw. Partly for fun since it's been awhile.

Once set up, it makes sheet goods a breeze, but installing the fence and rail and squaring it up and calibrating the flip stop all takes extra time.



A few cuts later and I had some identical parts for the top/bottom + sides:





I'm keeping the joinery simple with hidden pocket screws... but wanted some shelves. I guess that means shelf pins.

I do have a mediocre Rockler jig, but I felt compelled to use the LR32 I invested in and have only used once so far



I will say this took a long time to set up. Swap the router base plate. Center on the LR32 plate. Switch collets. Install the bit. Install the end stops on the rail. Set the router depth. Figure out how to clamp the thing.

The LR32 is really meant for normal full sized cabinet panels. Trying to clamp this small piece was tricky.



I wasn't able to do the full 37mm setback — I opted for more like 25mm... but for this project it doesn't really matter.

Instead of Festool's parallel guides, I just push the rail back with my Paolini Pocket Rule.



My panel heights were not divisible by 32mm, so I had to keep track of the end stops referencing the 'bottoms'.

And then I realized another issue. On the back row of shelf pins, the shallow setback was going to interfere with the french cleat and backing panel. I needed a way to do a deeper setback without clamping the panel on the edge of the bench.

This is what I came up with:



The rail is held fixed by these Parf dog clips:



And then I set some plywood stops that the panel slides against in the back.

I put a clamp in the front that I had to move halfway through the row, but the panel probably would stay in place from friction.



I think this technique would make a lot of sense for a production setup with lots of cabinets to make, because you don't have to measure the setback each time... just slide the panel under the rail.

Good results.



Then I pocket screwed the joinery and assembled:




The backing panel is 3mm plywood I spray painted gloss black on the inside, attached with pin nails to the stretchers.

View from the back:



The front:




And installed at my work office on a French cleat:



I have the adjustable shelves cut and ready to go, but didn't have any 5mm shelf pins, so need to get those.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but 'just one little cabinet' turned into a lengthy project for me. And a lot of that was jig and fixture setup. Not very economical when you're just making one thing.

Oh well, it looks good and will be practical, and it was nice to use some of my tool again.

 

[fouckhest]

Very nice, that looks great!

 

[CGohring]

I think @cccoltsicehockey covered it well, but I'll add a few things.

Inovelli are awesome, but personally I would not go all in on them if you have a bunch of switches to replace. They are ~ $80 a switch minimum. Unless money is no object.

They have a lot of amazing features, but maybe think if you really need them. I use the light bar notifications for laundry alerts and a few things, but is it critical? Not really. Neat though.............................

Thank you very much for the additional information. - My thoughts on sticking with the same brand was just to avoid any compatibility gremlins that may be out there. Im actually quite happy with my Insteon setup except for the gremlins and I just can't find a way to get rid of those, which is why I am seriously considering starting over. (Waking up in the middle of the night because all the lights in one end of the house suddenly turn on to the brightest setting doesn't fly well with 'the one who must be obeyed'.)

 

[nicholam77]

Very nice, that looks great!

Thanks!

---

80° F weather hit us early this spring for a few weeks, so I've been doing a lot of yard work and landscaping.

For some reason our front grass always comes back like this



We had a large row of ewe bushes up against the front bay window removed. I liked them — they provided a bit of privacy screen and feeling of shelter inside the living room, and looked nice, and were a nice evergreen element in the winter. But my wife wanted to expand the front gardens. So we expanded the front gardens.

Didn't think to use ChatGPT for replacement planting ideas like @loganb , but that's ok because we have WifeGPT. I am heavily invested in the design and decor of our home, but my wife draws the line at the gardens... that's her domain. My one request was to keep it relatively simple, instead of a bunch of different flowering plants.

So, we did a row of white hydrangea nearest the house, and in front of that a row of lavender. A pencil arborvitae flanking the house, and a small evergreen orb near the sidewalk. And one hosta. Not all of that is pictured below, but you get the idea. Added another curvilinear boarder and put down some grass seed to fill in.




I think it will look nice... the one bummer is it will take a bit for the plants to grow bigger and mature, and in the winter we won't have the same effect as the ewe. I don't like the way the bottom of the bay window looks exposed right now.

Then I also planted this MN variety red bud tree, lining the front walk.



Now with the two pear trees, this red bud, and our existing crab apple, I don't think we can do any more trees in the front.

In the back yard where we had the giant silver maple removed, they didn't fully grind part of the stump (it's raised up), and grass won't grow there. Super spongy. I tried chopping the raised part with an axe, and it was so dense the axe practically bounced right off. Decided it wasn't worth the effort.

I'm having someone come out this afternoon to grind it a little more and churn up the sponginess a few inches to so we can fill in some topsoil and get grass growing again.




Then in another quick project I refreshed our Weber propane grill. The 'Flavorizer bars' were badly rusting. The regulator connection was broken / leaking. And I generally cleaned it out. The grates themselves seem to be rusted as well so I might get some new ones.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I buy thick stainless steam table trays and cut n bend them up for burner guards. For my grille, it's way cheaper and longer lived than the enameled tin.

 

[sawduststeve]

Hey Nick

I’ve been quietly following along, and reading all the performance of getting things to turn on and
off remotely and I must say I’m glad to see ,
you back on the woodworking and out in the garden.

Good work with the cabinet and the plants will be up and running before you know it.

Good work all round.
Steve

 

[nicholam77]

Hey Nick

I’ve been quietly following along, and reading all the performance of getting things to turn on and
off remotely and I must say I’m glad to see ,
you back on the woodworking and out in the garden.

Good work with the cabinet and the plants will be up and running before you know it.

Good work all round.
Steve

Thanks, Steve!

Always appreciate your comments, and yes it was fun breaking out some of the woodworking tools again. Typically the way it goes is:

Winter: nerdy indoor techy hobbies (smart home, 3d printing)
Summer: woodworking / auto projects

I would really love to do a larger cabinet build for the basement this summer, but my work schedule is already getting crazy so we'll see what I can manage.

Thanks for checking in!
-Nick

 

[Aladinsane07]

Thanks!

---

80° F weather hit us early this spring for a few weeks, so I've been doing a lot of yard work and landscaping.

For some reason our front grass always comes back like this

Let me know if you figure out how to remedy this. Mine looks identical.