Category: Smart Home
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Shelly Locked Out ESPHome — Why Your Smart Home Can’t Stay Uniform
Shelly Gen3 and Gen4 relays cannot run ESPHome. Gen1 and Gen2 models are gone from stores. Here is what you lose and what to buy instead.
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HVAC Zone Controller Compatibility Matrix: TekOnline vs Advantage Air, Polyaire & More
Compare TekOnline V3 zone control with commercial alternatives. Check partial damper opening, UART, Home Assistant integration and wiring compatibility.
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Custom Zone Labels for the 4-Zone Wall Controller
Print custom zone labels for the 4-Zone Wall Controller. The front faceplate now fits a Clipsal 2000 Series clip-on surround. Free SVG template for Inkscape. Step-by-step guide.
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When Your Shelly Overheats: Temperature-Driven Control for Hot Water
This is a follow-up to our earlier article on Solar Hot Water Diversion with Home Assistant and Shelly: A Debugging Story. The Setup We published our solar hot…
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Home Assistant: Use Delay Instead of Timers for Simple Automations
The Problem: Overcomplicating a Simple Automation You want to turn something on, leave it running for a few hours, then turn it off. Easy, right? Many Home Assistant…
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V1/V2 Firmware v2026-05-17: Release Summary and Downloads
See the V1/V2 ESPHome firmware release highlights for relay inversion and OTA updates, with links to board-specific downloads and full upgrade instructions.
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Solar Hot Water Diversion with Home Assistant and Shelly: A Debugging Story
We set up a Home Assistant automation to divert excess solar power to a hot water system using a Shelly Pro 1PM relay. The concept was simple: when…
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Send Camera Video by Email From a Home Assistant Automation
Home Assistant can do more than send a push notification when a camera sees a person. You can record a short clip, attach that video to an email,…
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I Was Quoted $34,126 for a 30 kWh Home Battery. The Sales Process Was the First Red Flag.
On 30 April 2026 I had a solar battery sales appointment in Queensland. The pitch was for a large Anker battery system: a 30 kWh Anker setup with…
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How to duty cycle HVAC zones with Home Assistant
Learn how to duty-cycle compatible HVAC zones with Home Assistant. Understand relay cycling and how it differs from V3 timed partial damper positioning.