HRV Gets Home Automation Upgrades

October 26, 2025 by Bryan Cockfield 5 Comments

In our modern semi-dystopia, it seems like most companies add automation features to their products to lock them down and get consumers to buy even more proprietary, locked-down components. The few things that are still user-upgradable are getting fewer and farther between, but there are still a few things that can be modified and improved to our own liking like this control panel for a heat recovery ventilator (HRV).

HRVs are systems that exchange fresh, outside air with stale, inside air while passing them both through a heat exchanger to keep from wasting energy. Many systems run continuously but they aren’t always needed, so some automation is beneficial. This upgrade from [vincentmakes] improves the default display for a Zehnder Comfoair Q350 HRV with a color display as well as adding it in to a home automation system, letting a user control fan speeds remotely as well as alerting the user when it’s time for filter replacements and providing up-to-date information from all the sensors in the HRV.

The project builds on a previous project which adapted an ESP32 to interact with the CAN bus used on these devices. With these upgrades the user can forgo the $300 proprietary upgrade that would be needed to get the same functionality otherwise. It’s also fully open-source so all that’s needed is to flash the firmware, replace the display, and enjoy the fresh air. There’s other modern HVAC equipment that can benefit from new controllers and a bit of automation as well.

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“Unnecessary” Automation Of A DIY Star Lamp Build

March 23, 2025 by Elliot Williams 10 Comments

It all started with a gift idea: a star-field lamp in the form of a concrete sphere with lightpipes poking out where the stars are, lit up from the inside by LEDs. When you’re making one of these, maybe-just-maybe you’d be willing to drill a thousand holes and fit a thousand little plastic rods, but by the time you’re making a second, it’s time to build a machine to do the work for you.

So maybe we quibble with the channel name “Unnecessary Automation,” but we won’t quibble with the results. It’s a machine that orients a sphere, drills the hole, inserts the plastic wire, glues it together with a UV-curing glue, and then trims the end off. And if you like crazy machines, it’s a beauty.

The video goes through all of the design thoughts in detail, but it’s when it comes time to build the machine that the extra-clever bits emerge. For instance, [UA] used a custom 3D-printed peristaltic pump to push the glue out. Taking the disadvantage of peristaltic pumps – that they pulse – as an advantage, a custom housing was designed that dispensed the right amount between the rollers. The rolling glue dispenser mechanism tips up and back to prevent drips.

There are tons of other project-specific hacks here, from the form on the inside of the sphere that simplifies optic bundling and routing to the clever use of a razor blade as a spring. Give it a watch if you find yourself designing your own wacky machines. We think Rube Goldberg would approve. Check out this video for a more software-orientated take on fiber-optic displays.

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Adding Human Detection To Home Automation

August 29, 2024 by Bryan Cockfield 39 Comments

Radar made a huge impact when it was first invented, allowing objects to be detected using radio waves which would normally be difficult or impossible to observe through other means. Radio waves of all frequencies can be used for radar as well, whether that’s detecting ships beyond the horizon, tracking aircraft near an airport, penetrating the ground, or imaging objects with a high resolution. At the millimeter wavelength it’s fairly easy to detect humans with the right hardware, and using some inexpensive radar modules [Tech Dregs] shows us how to add this capability a home automation system.

Since these modules aren’t trying to image humans with fine detail or detect them at long range, the hardware can be fairly inexpensive. [Tech Dregs] is using the LD2410B modules which have not only an on-board microcontroller but also have the radio antennas used for radar built right onto the PCB. They have a simple binary output which can communicate whether or not a human is detected, but there’s also UART for communicating more details about what the module senses in the room. [Tech Dregs] is using this mode to connect the modules to Home Assistant, where they will be used to help automate his home’s lighting.

The only significant problem he had setting these modules up was getting them built into an enclosure. The short wavelengths used in this type of radar module don’t penetrate solid objects very well at all, so after trying to hide one behind an e-ink screen he eventually settled on hollowing out a space in a bezel with very thin plastic between the module and the room. If you need more out of your radar modules than object detection, though, you can always try building a pulse compression radar which can provide much more accurate ranging of objects.

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Home Automation Panel Looks Industrial

July 12, 2024 by Al Williams 14 Comments

Modern tech is great, but we have to admit that we sometimes miss when electronic things looked complicated. A modern computer looks dull compared to, say, an IBM 360. Control rooms now look no different than a stock trading room, instead of being full of indicators, knobs, and buzzers. [BorisDigital] must have some of those same feelings. He built a very cool control panel for his Home Assistant setup. He based it somewhat on a jet cockpit and a little on a nuclear plant control room, and the result, as you can see in the video below, is great.

This is less of a how-to video and more of an inspirational one. After all, you won’t have the same setup, but there are many details about how it was constructed with a Raspberry Pi, 3D printing, and control of the Home Assistant via web services.

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Home Automation Terminal Has Great Post-Apocalyptic Look

May 21, 2024 by Lewin Day 18 Comments

If you use home automation these days, you’re probably used to using smart speakers, your smartphone, or those tabletop touchscreen devices. If you wanted something cooler and more personal, you could try building something like [Rick] did.

A Raspberry Pi 400 is the basis for the machine, and it still uses the original keyboard. It’s paired with a 3D-printed shell with a 7″ Waveshare HDMI touch display in it. The LCD is placed behind a Fresnel lens which provides some magnification. It displays a glowing blue command line which accepts text commands. It’s hooked up to the OpenAI API, so it’s a little smarter than just any old regular terminal. It’s hooked up to [Rick’s] home automation system, so he can use natural language queries to control lighting, music, and all the rest. Think Alexa or Siri, but in text form.

The design of the case, with its rounded edges, vents, and thick bezels gives it a strong retro-futuristic look, reminiscent of something out of Fallout. [Rick’s] neat application of weathering techniques helped a lot, too.

It reminds us of some of the cooler Pip Boy builds we’ve seen. Meanwhile, if you’ve got your own creative terminal build in the works, don’t hesitate to drop us a line!

2024 Home Sweet Home Automation: The Winners Are In

April 30, 2024 by Tom Nardi 13 Comments

Home automation is huge right now in consumer electronics, but despite the wide availability of products on the market, hackers and makers are still spinning up their own solutions. It could be because their situations are unique enough that commercial offerings wouldn’t cut it, or perhaps they know how cheaply many automation tasks can be implemented with today’s microcontrollers. Still others go the DIY route because they’re worried about the privacy implications of pushing such a system into the cloud.

Seeing how many of you were out there brewing bespoke automation setups gave us the idea for this year’s Home Sweet Home Automation contest, which just wrapped up last week. We received more than 80 entries for this one, and the competition was fierce. Judging these contests is always exceptionally difficult, as nearly every entry is a standout accomplishment in its own way.

But the judges forged ahead valiantly, and we now have the top three projects which will be receiving $150 in store credit from the folks at DigiKey.

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2024 Home Sweet Home Automation: Spray Bottle Turret Silences Barking

April 26, 2024 by Kristina Panos 13 Comments

Ah, dogs. They sure like to bark, don’t they? [rrustvold]’s dog likes to bark at the door when a package arrives. Or when someone walks by the house, or whenever the mood strikes, really. To solve the barking issue, at least near the front door, [rrustvold] built a spray bottle turret to teach the dog through classical conditioning.

As you can see from the image, it’s all about pulling the trigger on a standard spray bottle at the right time. This machine only sprays when two conditions are met: it hears noise (like barking) and detects motion (like overzealous tail wagging). It also has heat-seeking abilities thanks to a Raspberry Pi thermal camera.

To do the actual spraying, there’s a DC motor mounted behind the bottle which turns a pulley that’s mounted to its shaft. Around the pulley is a string that wraps around the spray bottle’s trigger. To complete the build, everything is mounted on a lazy Susan so there’s nowhere for Fido to hide-o.

If you’ve a dog whose bite is worse than its bark, consider building a custom dog door to keep it out of the cat box.

The 2024 Home Sweet Home Automation contest has officially wrapped — we’re counting the votes now, so stay tuned for an announcement about the winners shortly.