For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By Colonel Panic
#1896671
I have ~25 Shelly widgets dotted around the house & barns but have never thought of putting them behind existing switches - mainly due to lack of space in the boxes. But I'll do some more research.

Certainly way cheaper than my current thinking of trying out some LightwaveRF (£££)
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By stevelup
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1896686
Shelly Dimmer is tiny - as long as you're not using 'flush / flat plate' accessories and you have a standard backbox, they should fit.

Or just put them behind the ceiling rose. You only need to make a 30mm hole, which would then be covered by the ceiling rose anyway - you'll have access to neutral then as well which is always best if you can.
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By stevelup
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1896713
It can't work with a knob, just buttons / switches.

If you want to dim locally, you'll have to use a 'retractive' switch that pings back to the middle.

Or you can use the switch to turn it off and on (to a preset level), but still be able to dim via the app / homeassistant / whatever.
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By Colonel Panic
#1899116
Colonel Panic wrote:Breadboard or prototyping board

I'm about to start a new project which is based around an ESP32 chip; whilst I can start this using a breadboard, it could well be a tad chunky for final use.


Feeling quite chuffed; managed to cobble together a wiring circuit based around some prototyping board, a ESP32 chip, two 5kQ resistors and two 60cm chinesium thin film pressure sensors. I have written some suitable yaml code, and I now have a pressure sensor that can determine whether Me &/or Mrs Me are in bed or not. From there Home Assistant can turn off lights &/or heating as required.

Varying the pressure gives an output ranging from ~0.14 vDC to a max of ~3.1 vDC, so with a bit of tweaking it should be good to go.

For those of a more delicate nature, the pressure sensors measure occupancy & not activity :wink:

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By Rjk983
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1901373
In the absence of sensible answers, you could apply Heath Robinson. Four m3 bolts with heir heads superglued to the bottom of the box in the correct position and then you can drop the board over the bolts. If you want to really push the boat out you could set 4 nuts at the required height of the bottom of the board, drop the board on and add another 4 nuts to hold it in position.
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By stevelup
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1901375
Project box and nylon m3 standoffs / screws. Nylon important if you’re switching mains loads - you don’t want a live screwhead on the outside if something comes loose.

Plus Chinesium relay boards might not have the right clearance between the holes and adjacent components so nylon much safer.
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By Colonel Panic
#1905182
How to control a 12vDC solenoid valve

I want to set up & control a garden hose "leaky pipe" to periodically water a new beech hedge I am planting. It is close to a water tap & 240v power. I was thinking of using an ESP32 controlled via ESPHome / Home Assistant. Whilst I know how to do that bit, AIUI the ESP32 can only output 3.3vDC. So would one of these solenoids (which I already have) in between the ESP32 and a 12vDC valve work?

If so, perhaps one of these 12vDC valves would work?

This does seem to be a bit of a kludge - having a solenoid to control a solenoid doesn't sit well ...

TIA
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1905392
Colonel Panic wrote:How to control a 12vDC solenoid valve

I want to set up & control a garden hose "leaky pipe" to periodically water a new beech hedge I am planting. It is close to a water tap & 240v power. I was thinking of using an ESP32 controlled via ESPHome / Home Assistant. Whilst I know how to do that bit, AIUI the ESP32 can only output 3.3vDC. So would one of these solenoids (which I already have) in between the ESP32 and a 12vDC valve work?



This does seem to be a bit of a kludge - having a solenoid to control a solenoid doesn't sit well ...

TIA


I think you’re over-thinking it.

We programme our 50 metre ‘leaky hose ‘ with a commercial electronic timer ('AC4') from Hozelock attached to the tap. Plenty of on/off flexibility of programming (1-4 'periods' per day, watering every 1-7 days) including manual override. Powered by 2 ‘C’ Duracells which last 2 years or more .

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But keep an eye on yer water bill: leaky hoses are deceptive in the amount of water they use :wink:
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By OCB
#1907892
For those interested in Shelly - they have Easter sale on, 25% off bundles.

I’m finally going to pull the trigger on some Shelly and Home Assistant. :oops: :thumleft:

A couple of Shelly EM to measure power consumption, a couple of Shelly to control Velux roller blinds - has to be controllers that let the existing up/down button work and not just “fully open” and “fully closed”.

Also going to get a couple of Shelly light controllers, my younger boy is a disaster at turning his bedroom light off at night…it’s more for his sleep quality than the few watts saving tbh.

I’ll probably try their RGBW dimmers as well - it hadn’t been on my “to do right now” list, but in for penny in for pound etc :wink:
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