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Thanks! High praise coming from another automation aficionado.

@@smartercircuits Thank you so much for your high praise! Yes this is a fun journey! Would be great to catch up some time!

@@simonsayshomeassistant Certainly! Perhaps we could compare notes on devices here versus there some time. Feel free to drop an email or pop on the Discord server!

If you'd like to see the device in a hacked state, check out this video. I did this a while back, so I'm not sure how much is still relevant. czcams.com/video/wogyyA7iISs/video.html

You are correct, they are surface seal connectors; however--even though it's not needed here--it can be effective in preventing bonding between two different types of metals (steel and brass as an example). The really interesting thing is that the bottom port actually is an NPT port, but the thread pitch matches, so I think they just went with it.

Glad the video was useful! I have not heard of them, but I am definitely interested. I'll dig into it and maybe something will show up on the channel. When BeardedTinker commented, I decided it was time for me to break down, give up my "common radios only" mentality, and get into Zigbee. I'd watched a lot of Zigbee stuff on his channel, but thought it was a bit involved for my taste at the time. I'm going to get a Zigbee coordinator for my HA machine and share everything on the channel--for better or worse. I will definitely look into Inoveli as well.

Funny you should mention that. I did just that a couple videos ago: czcams.com/video/zi-okZ1D1Po/video.html You'll have to let me know how you like it.

​@@smartercircuits Loved it.. Thank you.. Did not know that the solenoids required reversing the polarity. Bit more complicated than I anticipated

@hidden2753 only the ones that don't require constant power. I wish they made them like the 1950s low voltage lighting relays so you'd have two coils and three wires. That would be a bit simpler.

That is possible. I updated the water valve the first time I got it connected, but I didn't update the bridge. Today, however, I will say that the "Not Supported Yet" did go away, so perhaps it was even an app update that was standing in my way. I may come back to this device if I expand the Zigbee part of my system now that I have one. I have another Sonoff device review coming up that doesn't end quite as badly as this one. Perhaps this device is just too new to me. Thanks for watching my video and contributing your knowledge, it is always more than welcome here!

Oh, one more thing. It's not out of the box functional for me because I don't have a Zigbee coordinator on my Home Assistant machine. Perhaps I'll give that a go soon, though.

I'm very glad you enjoyed it and welcome to the channel! I do like to keep things light and informative where possible.

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

I have similar plans for keeping the deer out of my wife's flowers. The only issue with the burying PVC is that here we have to get a permit to do any buried irrigation system and it has to be inspected. I do have another faucet on the other side of the house I can leverage (once I get the fused hose fitting off of it because the previous owner mixed metals and they've bonded). Once I can use that faucet, though, I can run a much short hose behind the massive bushes we have, and then put a sprinkler head right at the edge instead of in the middle of the yard--but it's sufficient until we get back from our trip. Thanks for giving my video a watch!

Yes, the L terminal is the mains hot. I wish it weren't, to be honest, but it is how the device was designed to work--I believe the idea being that it would be used with existing light switches or the like.

They do an i4 DC if you don't want to deal with Mains

Or even the TI-83's keyboard. That thing is heavy enough to take down a yak.

It was certainly not the most pleasant thing to walk into; However, it gave me the chance to talk a little about some of my favorite artifacts as well as an opportunity to rethink my setup. Maybe I'll be more organized this time--I mean, probably not, but maybe.

I'm seriously considering thinning my collection. The PCs alone take up quite a lot of room.

Yes. It may be a few videos away, though, at least. I have to redesign the tracks and I'm going to add a simple suspension to the carriages (make them more like the bogies on a train). I have an idea for the tracks as well, to keep them perfectly aligned. I'll just go back to the monolithic sections and add a dovetail joint. I left slack knowing I needed to keep it loose, but in the end I still added rigidity where it needed to be more flexible and I left too much slack trying to compensate. I still believe in the idea, I just need to fine tune it through iteration. I may get a second 3D printer to speed this up or at least keep it from holding up all the other projects. But, to make a long explanation even longer, I will finish this and I will video it. I'll even try to get at least a few notches better in my editing, too. Anyway, thank you very much for watching, my fellow fuzzy fidgeter!

Thanks! I do a fairly wide range of things on this channel, but I can't resist the occasional urge to tear something apart. I have a box of things waiting to be dismantled.

What an amazing coincidence, this is the most useless comment I've ever seen!

I wouldn't run any of those through this device, unless the heater was a small one. These aren't designed for such high-draw appliances--and the dryer may be 240V. A better way to monitor the power usage of those devices would be with a Shelly EM. If you want to be able to turn the appliance's power on or off, you can use the Shelly EM with a heavy contactor rated for higher loads.

Certainly glad you enjoyed the video insofar as you could! The eccentricities of those who could afford to have eccentricities are always interesting, whether practical or otherwise. I think this one can be in the right circumstances, but it really boils down to whether or not the person designing them is doing so for comfort, convenience, or just to keep up with the Jones'. On that note, I'm of the firm opinion that no one should put themselves through owning a Citroën--no matter how many unconventional places they can find to place a door handle (although, they did some very cool stuff with suspensions back in the day). The biggest reasons the low-voltage fad could actually be a practical benefit to the homeowner or end-user are the safety, ability to have as many switches as you like without the need for a traveler wire or special three-way switch, less heavy-gauge wire use, and when done properly, the ease of maintenance. If the connections were a bit more modern, these systems would make isolating the higher currents in any given household or shop application very simple. On the topic of the DC power itself, there are a number of things we use that require switching power supplies and such where if we standardized more of these devices' power requirements (and connections), we could have DC power supplies as standard and a distribution of ports for those supplies as part of a home's default infrastructure. We're halfway there, but the companies don't like making their parts work with other companies'--even though that's more or less what solidified PC as the dominant computer in the market. Our small electronics usually take 5v thanks to being built to be USB compatible and many of our other devices use 12v or 19v (laptops... they could do better). Since I have two 24 V transformers (one for the switch system, one for the doorbell), I can easily use my existing switch system wiring infrastructure and install rectifiers and buck converters to get any DC voltage I need nearly anywhere in the house. This allows all kinds of other tricks, but I'm already rattling on, so I'll close saying many of these technologies would be much better if companies weren't constantly trying to force loyalty through proprietary hardware. Trendy tech will always be a byproduct of bored folks with money to spare. Occasionally, it gives us something useful. Lastly, I don't know if you're the Discord sort, but the channel has a Discord server where we talk about this kind of thing (among other more social conversations and random). If you do use Discord, feel free to drop in! discord.gg/HZWjv3VZw8

I have a fox and hound tracer as well, I use it for similar reasons. They're invaluable to anyone who deals with any significant amount of wiring or cabling.

It's usually a very large undertaking to convert to a modern standard wiring schema, but perhaps there is more than one way to skin a cat. Maybe you can upgrade, integrate smart functionality, and still have a normal control schema for residents as well as being able to monitor usage and perhaps even problems. I can understand trying to circumvent the time investment, though.

I sort of covered this in another comment, but I think if you step back from it and think more about the circumstances as simply an environment to work in with its own unique features and restrictions rather than an insurmountable problem, you might at least see clearer. Certainly enough to put whatever your next steps are in order and stress a little less by simply putting one foot in front of the other until you reach your destination--whatever that may be.

Yep. It's almost a mark of nostalgia at this point to have a faded, slightly shrunk, silkscreened t-shirt that's cracking. Like a generational right of passage.

Glad to hear it! I've definitely got some adjustments to do, but once I get through everything, I'll make the modifications to the STL files and make them available. It's good that you can work on the models, it's very satisfying to see something you design yourself come into the real world.

If the dials don't work entirely it's more likely that you have a broken common wire going to them than an issue coming from them--which is actually a bit better because it narrows down the number of wires that could be the culprit. As far as relays, I have Shelly Pro 4PM relay modules now, but I've recently been turned onto a near drop-in replacement. The model is RIBL24B, but I don't have a specific source for them. You'll probably have to dig around online to find a place to order them. Otherwise, yes, Kyle is awesome. I learned so much from their site in the early days of working on my system, they deserve the patronage at least just for maintaining nearly the only source of detailed information on low-voltage lighting controls of this species on the internet. As for the low-voltage group therapy, I think you're absolutely right. I've met so many low-voltage owners since my journey here started that I've seen the strangest problems and most unique situations. I believe these systems are amazing and approaching them with modern technology could make them practical again, but a lot of times, they are not for the faint of heart. Thanks for being a part of the group... we feel your pain.

Thank you for your kind words and I am glad you enjoyed it!

That sounds very stressful. I may be able to offer you some guidance to troubleshooting if you would like to send pictures of your system and a bit of background, I can try to help (smartercircuits@gmail.com), and if you are on Discord, you can always join the Smarter Circuits server (link in the channel banner on the channel page) and post some questions to the general group and someone may have answers for you there as well--a lot of smart folks are gathering there. I will forewarn you, I will be a little slow to respond for a week or so as I am traveling.

If you mean by setting up sensors in zoned locations before a match and then streaming that data to some sort of reticle or other HUD, I could see that being possible but much more complex than a CZcams comment section has room for and I would have to sit down and really plan that out. Reliability would also likely depend highly on how much money you spend as well as how much work you put in. If you want a device that can "scan" from your location, you're probably looking at something that would be carried in a case and have an array of various sensors and require some minor deployment procedure, but I suspect this isn't what you had in mind. Having a pair of goggles that could find where people are in an almost Call of Duty mini-map sort of way is probably possible to some degree--and the military would be all over it--but also very, very expensive. If you have a way to set up the previously mentioned array of sensors, I would recommend a combination of microwave zone sensors--being careful not to get them so close they interfere with one another--and LiDAR. This could also get rather expensive and you risk the units taking fire as they would have to be within height range of the targets and have LOS. I know this isn't particularly encouraging, but it's the best I can think of.

That's okay, the nerds have all the fun anyway. Thanks for watching my video and I'm glad you got something out of it! If I make 1 in 100 people smile, I've still made a non-zero number smile.

Correct, you would want a contactor for such an application. You could potentially control the contactor with the Shelly 4 PM if you have a 120 VAC coil on the contactor. You could also use the Shelly 1 if you want to use a 12 or 24 VDC coil.

@@smartercircuits i need select good device for controll hooven cooking and washing macchine. Air climate. And control power. If use shelly4pro need add other 4 extra relay . If relay shelly4pro call the secondary relay for switch on, fist relay not have spark but time for switch secondary have timming meccanical and spark gap work only in the secondary relay? If disconnect and the device hare in use the spark gap damage Fist relay. Hjhjahj This is very problem....

If you intend to use a smart relay for this application, you will certainly need a contactor to protect the smart relay from spikes, yes. I believe there are smart contactors, but I've never purchased or used one. I have a couple inductive loads on my relays, but they all have buffer circuits or similar to smooth or prevent damage. Also, the largest load I currently have on a relay is probably 7 or 8 Amps, but if I wanted to control something larger, I would just control a contactor with my existing relays.

@@smartercircuits but work power meter? Need series connection for working power meter. One option is Adding one extra capacitor parallel to secondary relay for prevent spark to relay primary. But have delay for switch off. Correct or not ?

If you need to meter the power, I would recommend a meter with current clamps rated for your application rather than attempting to run two relays and attempting to time the disconnection of one just to get the power metering. You could even use the Shelly EM with a 50A clamp and the EM has a contactor control built in if you still want to switch the circuit. amzn.to/3PHe29x

I'd be happy to help, as time allows. You can reach me via Discord, on the smartercircuits.com site, or you can email me at smartercircuits@gmail.com. I may be a little slow to respond, but I try to get back to people as quickly as I can. If you could send pics of your relays, that'll start the ball rolling quicker. It may be something easy, you never know.

I'll have to grab a couple and show them.

The wire positioning is a little different, but it’s still a 3 wire pulsed input latching relay: www.functionaldevices.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/RIBL24B.pdf

love hte montage - needs a branding sticker (ala BigClive) on your desk tho, i.m.o.

Brave AND honorable? Sir, I regret to inform you..... lol

I feel like that's a very lightweight horror movie in the making.

You know... that's a really good idea. I hadn't thought about it. Also, BigClive is awesome, I wish I knew half of what he does about electronics!

But, you don't deny being a penguin, I can't help but notice... this confirms my deepest suspicions.

They are where my journey began, definitely knowledgeable. I hope you're having luck with your system. They're really neat! Thanks for watching :)

It can be a lot to take in if it's not an interest already. I think I may be able to offer a few smaller suggestions here and then work our way up from there. If ALL of the switches are stuck in their states (except the "normal" light switches), there is a very distinct possibility that a wire to the transformer or the transformer itself is to blame. This wouldn't require an electrician as much as someone who knows enough to install say a stereo system. Most electricians sadly run from these systems because they don't fully understand them or they don't think it is worth their time. The transformer in question is probably near your relay box and you may have more than one depending on how many switches you have. If you have two and one is much smaller, that's likely your doorbell. I hope this eases your mind a little. My email is SmarterCircuits@gmail.com if you would like to correspond somewhere other than the comments section. I may be able to walk you through some simple troubleshooting steps to eliminate possibilities one at a time.

It's been opened, a serial connection attached, and Tasmota installed. I'd say that's hacked. It's stupid to comment on something you know nothing about.

Its the same if you replace the NSPanel with a 2 Gang switch @smartercircuits Your Video doesnt contain any Hack. The Switch does ON/OFF like a regular one.@@smartercircuits

​@@tal2039 Does your two gang switch also show you energy usage information, the weather, sensor readings, or tasks?

Your Vid is about the DIY Smartlock with a fancy switch @@smartercircuits

@@tal2039 Right, a computer controlled switch. Why do you not have a life? Why can't you fuck off? Go try making something you insufferable, lifeless, talentless prick.

You are more than welcome. Thank you for watching, I appreciate every view! Side note: Have you finished your American Truck Simulator button box? If so, I'd love to know what you used for the "brain". I have some macro boxes that I've built with various triggers (keyboard keys, electric sustain pedals, etc.) using the Raspberry Pi Pico and the Adafruit HID library which I highly recommend if you haven't sorted that part of your build out yet. (example here: czcams.com/video/FLF4imthsx4/video.html) Again, I'm really glad you enjoyed the video!

@@smartercircuits I recently used some S2 minis to make Tally Lights for our cameras at church. I was pleased to find they are compatible with d1 mini shields. And I really like the platform. MicroPython makes dev a lot easier than C. I do want to do a project with rust though since I recently saw you can compile rust to arduino code.

Very nice! I've been thinking about doing some ESP32 based builds since they're faster than the RP2040, but I still have about 20 RPi Picos. Once I get my workshop cleaned up, I'll drag the laser out and start doing more intricate things again. I'm also thinking about getting back into 3D printing. I did it for a while with great results, but maintaining the machine drove me nuts. At any rate, I really think that button box you did was neat, and again, I appreciate the view and the kind words.

I'm not sure what else I could've shown. All the steps are there. It's not a very involved build. The pins are explained and the code is available in the description. I could've talked more about how to solder, but that feels like a different video and I'm not the best to teach it anyway. I can clarify anything not explained in the video if you have a question about something specific. I'd be happy to include any additional info I left out in the description for others as well.