Tuya on karl

Using Qi charging to fix the biggest design flaw with the HidrateSpark Steel Pro bottle

Fri, 10 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Parts and Instructions

The majority of this post covers the “why” this mod came to be. If you’re just looking for the mod, you can find the 3d printable parts, BOM and instructions in accompanying github repo.

What

Hidrate Spark bottles are one of a small but growing number of ‘smart’ water bottles. In this instance, ‘smart’ refers to some mechanism for reporting on and tracking the bottles content over time.

Using Home Assistant to dynamically layout openHasp widgets

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Background

This is one of those posts that sat in the Drafts folder for way too long. Just before release, I’d discover something new that would warrant substantial rewrites. After several delays, false starts and re-writes, I finally have something that is mostly new and worth sharing with the world.

Like with the past few teardown posts, this one also started off as a ‘cart-stuffer’ item so I could unlock a more generous discount on the total purchase. The listing that caught my eye had the generic title:

Generic RGB Wall Switch teardown

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Yep! Another teardown post! This one was also a cheap “because i’m curious” post.

What

It’s a ‘decora’ style wall switch with WiFI and an RGB color changing paddle.

The product listing was very non specific:

EU US WiFi Smart Wall Switch Push Button Timer Relay Switch Voice Remote Control RGB LED Night Light Lamp TUYA Alexa Google Home

I saw TuYa in the item description and hoped that it would be based on an ESP8266 module or at least use a pin-compatible module. After all, there are a few such devices on the Wall Switches and Dimmers section of the tasmota templates repository.

Tuya Smart Curtain Driver Robot Teardown

Sat, 11 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I am trying something new out with this post; some mix of hardware teardown and a brief product review.

Why

I was looking for a way to actuate some heavy blackout curtains.

There have been several DIY projects out there that manipulate curtains but they all appear to be relatively involved as they are often designed for a very specific type of curtain; servos that fit on the ’tilt rod’ or motors that can manipulate the pull chain… etc.