Home Assistant Voice: Preview Edition teardown

This is a quick #TwoMinuteTeardown post for the recently released Home Assistant Voice Node - Preview edition.

Normally, I’d be doing a full teardown, but this is a little different; the Home Assistant team has done a lot of the work out in the open. With just a quick Google, you can find official:

• teardown instructions here.
• source code here.
• 3D printable case files.
• Instructions for adding custom devices here.

I am grateful for such a well-documented and open project. Truly, by hackers for hackers!

In the same spirit as an earlier post, here is a quick hack I used to get my dual-headed Prusa XL printer to print with three materials at once.

While the technique worked, it may not be the best method, so proceed with caution.

The problem

I am trying to print a part that requires two different materials at the same time: ABS and TPU.

11-11 day teardowns (2024 edition)

I guess this is becoming a tradition now?

During China’s Single’s Day sale on AliExpress, I bought various gadgets - both for projects and out of curiosity. Rather than write separate posts, here’s a collection of mini teardowns showing what’s inside each item.

Previous years:

• 2023

Tuya Zigbee 3.5 Inch Smart Wall Switch

non-affiliate link

I’m always looking for a better scene controller/switch/Home Assistant interface. I was curious about which chip they used for the full graphics display and was hoping for an easily hackable Android device. Unfortunately, no such luck with this.

Using ESPHome to Monitor HVAC System

Here’s a quick “show-and-tell” about a recent project I completed.

The concept

I’m not sure how I first came across the idea of measuring air pressure drop across a filter to gauge its remaining life, but I remember thinking it was a great idea.

The idea has been lurking in the back of my mind for a while, but I never got around to implementing it… until now.

Watch Band RFID fob

This is a quick project to create a wearable RFID fob that can be easily attached to a watch band. The idea is to have a small RFID tag that can be used for various purposes, such as access control or identification that is - more or less - as convenient as a surgically implanted tag, but without the need for embedding anything in your body.