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  1. R

    Trying to connect - Dahua Camera - To Blue Iris

    Did you try entering the cam's ip address into your browser, and logging into the cam through the browser? That should work. With the dahua can I just got, you can even see the cam's image without loading any special software. On older dahau cams, you need a plug in to view the cam.
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    Fixing my BI crash

    In camera setting screen, video tab, lower part under "image format". Anamorphic (force size) box was checked and a size selected that made BI crash when the camera was connected. Not sure why it was crashing, but I unchecked the box and all was good.
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    Fixing my BI crash

    I finally upgraded to BI5, was tweaking settings and BI started to crash. Reset PC, but same thing. I'd start BI, it would come up for a little bit, then it was gone. I was going to remove and reinstall, but I found an old thread here that recommended disconnecting cameras to resolve a BI...
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    VPN Primer for Noobs

    I recently converted to FIOS, and Frontier gave me a couple of Eero's routers. The Eero's have better coverage than my Asus, so I use them both. Here is a discussion in reddit how I setup. Reddit Setup Story Please read the entire thread, I made changes as described at the bottom. I have wifi...
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    Any Cord Cutters Here?

    We cut the cord a couple years ago now, had cable then directv before cutting. Now we have netflix, hbo, prime, hulu and disney and still saving money. I live in the hills so OTA won't work for me. Had to buy nfl game pass last year to watch the games. This year is NFL+ and price is less...
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    Tell us about your home automation!

    Been spending some time on my home automation stuff, and fixing/updating documentation on it. Randy's Smart Home You can find the info in my pages, but wanted to say the the IOTstack software I'm using to help install everything on the pi makes installation and keeping software up to date so...
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    Reboot PC when no internet connection?

    I have my BI PC on a smart switch. So if I'm not at home, and BI is not working, I can cycle power on the PC. You're really not supposed to just turn off power like that to a PC, but I don't do it very often, only when I need to fix my PC and I'm away for an extended time. Having a smart...
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    Internet Speeds: What do you have?

    I recently changed to Frontier Fios, they just installed in my area. Have the 1G plan, same price as Spectrum was (at about 200 up, 12 down), $75/mo. I consistently get over speeds of over 900 up and down. Had 850 up once. They give you a pair of Eeros routers when you sign up for 1G. I...
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    VPN Primer for Noobs

    Thanks for confirming my instructions are good. I thought they were, but its nice to know someone was able to follow them without issues. FWIW, I turn off VPN when I'm not using it, but I guess it really doesn't matter. Pretty easy to turn on and off on my phone where I use it. Randy
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    VPN Primer for Noobs

    I'm back with an Asus router, bought a RT-AX86U on Friday, installed over the weekend. Was fairly straightforward to get OpenVPN working with it. Didn't work the first time I tried, not sure if it just needed more time, was less then an hour after setting up openVPN. Or if the Home Assistant...
  11. R

    Solar - Who's got it?

    Thanks, but I'm in So Cal.
  12. R

    Solar - Who's got it?

    Can I ask who you used to install? I've been reading some threads at solarpaneltalk, and they stress to use a good installer that's been around for a while. Randy
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    Solar - Who's got it?

    Nice link, thanks. I started looking a solar too. I signed up with energysage.com, and was sent 7 quotes. The nice think about energysage is they don't give out your email. So energysage can send you emails, but the companies that estimated can't. They can only send messages through...
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    Natural Gas Generators

    I pretty much followed this: Break in portable generator No idea how you'd adjust for a built in generator. But it makes sense to me that you'd let it run a while with no load, then change the oil before running it under load. Obviously more work, but hopefully its worth it down the road. Randy
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    Tell us about your home automation!

    The link I posted be Looking at the link again, I think this is correct, the script acts as an interpreter between the Ring API and MQTT. So it lets you talk to Ring devices using MQTT. I don't plan to buy any Ring devices anytime soon, but if you already have them, this seems like a nice way...
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    Natural Gas Generators

    The one time I had to use my generator, it was a while between losing power and getting the generator online, probably over an hour. Next time hopefully its sooner, but I'm not sure if it will be soon enough that they both don't come on right away. I agree that if you do it right away, its...
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    Natural Gas Generators

    When I was looking at generators, I used the power numbers that from the fridge's manual. When I measured actual power later with my kill a watt clone, the actual numbers were much lower than the manual numbers. There are also a bunch of websites that provide estimated wattage numbers to help...
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    Natural Gas Generators

    Every once in a while we lose power, so I bought a dual fuel portable generator. Was a low budget project, so got a relatively small one, 4600 watts on propane. Note that you get about 10% less watts on propane. I plan to only use propane so I won't have to worry about gas getting old, and...
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    Tell us about your home automation!

    Did a quick search and someone figured out how to talk MQTT to Ring devices with Home Assistant The author also has this program, which looks like it will let you talk to supported Ring devices via MQTT. So if you have a MQTT broker running, you can run that program and then interface with...
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    Looking for automation around temperature monitoring

    Home assistant has a built in ping sensor test https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/ping/ I think I set it to a 2 hour test interval, and use it to make sure ESP's and other Pi's are running. I have seen ping pass, but other things not work though, so not perfect, but better than...
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    Looking for automation around temperature monitoring

    I have a few clone D1 mini's that appear to use the 12S module, with additional parts to convert 5V to 3.3V for power. One thing I like about the D1 mini is that you can use a little 5V USB power adapter to power it, and I have a bunch of those lying around. Its larger, but also easier to work...
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    Looking for automation around temperature monitoring

    On your stretch goals. Its pretty easy to connect a reed magnetic switch to an ESP, and use that to sense if the garage is closed or not. I was going to do something for open, but never did. I found I only care about if the garage is closed or not. These are the same types of switches they use...
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    Looking for automation around temperature monitoring

    I use espeasy to send temperature data from my pool and spa to home assistant and node red over MQTT. Using the wemos mini d1 version esp8266's, I have a bunch on them around the house for various duties. They are cheap, and pretty easy to get working with espeasy. I do plan to try ESPHome...
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    New Ring Alarm System 199

    Chamberlain® Switch Sensor Wide Gap Contact Security Alarm System Outdoor Gate I put on my gate. It will stick out past the gate, and sometimes people think its a handle. I had it connected to my Home automation system, not an alarm, and had some issues with it. For me, it was of limited...
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    remote monitoring

    FYI, the "standard" recommendation for BI is a dedicated PC with a Western Digital Purple hard drive for recording. I have a 3 tb drive, think it holds a 3-4 weeks of recordings, but that depends on number of cams and data rates. The ethernet speed depends on number of cams, and the data rate...
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    VPN Primer for Noobs

    Thanks, but don't want to get in trouble with my IT so I'll just keep doing what Ive been doing.
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    VPN Primer for Noobs

    I can't vpn from work to home, so maybe that's why I'm phone oriented. I guess it would be nice to sit at work, turn on VPN and check out the cams, but my work IT doesn't allow it.
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    VPN Primer for Noobs

    Just say your post, have been away I never setup openvpn on a PC, just on android and iphone. I recommend trying it on a phone, its actually pretty easy, and I expect in real life using it on a phone is more practical. Randy
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    VPN Primer for Noobs

    I would expect your router to work like mine for openvpn, so you can look at my guide NetGear R7800 - OpenVPN
  30. R

    VPN Primer for Noobs

    I would expect your router to work like mine for openvpn, so you can look at my guide NetGear R7800 - OpenVPN
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