smart home News - Page 8 of 23 - CNX Software

March 10, 2023March 11, 2023 by Paisit Wongsongsarn - 4 Comments

Review of SONOFF ZBCurtain Zigbee Smart Curtain Motor

Recently, Sonoff has released a new Zigbee product – called ZBCurtain – that turns your ordinary curtains into smart curtains. With this product, you can experience new benefits when using your curtains, such as automatic opening/closing, remote control through your mobile device, or setting up advanced automation to control your curtains based on factors such as temperature, humidity, or even using input from the other sensors. These smart capabilities provide benefits for your home or workplace, such as increased safety, energy savings, and convenience. The Sonoff Zigbee Curtain Motor (or ZBCurtain for shorts) can be integrated with your existing ordinary curtains, transforming them into smart curtains that can be controlled remotely via your smartphone, your voice commands, or even from a traditional remote controller. ZBCurtain Unboxing Within the package, we can find a wireless remote control, main motor units with a 3.5-meter long cable, and mounting brackets to attach the […]

March 9, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

SONOFF iHost Smart Home Hub enables local control of SONOFF, Tasmota, Matter home automation devices

SONOFF iHost is a Smart Home Hub that enables local control of SONOFF smart switches, lightbulbs, Zigbee sensors, and so on without having to require a connection to the cloud (e.g. eWelink). Future software upgrades will also add more devices such as the ones flashed with Tasmota firmware and any device compatible with the Matter IoT protocol. The gateway is based on either a Rockchip RV1109 SoC with 2GB RAM or a Rockchip RV1126 with 4GB RAM and offers 10/100M Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth LE, and Zigbee 3.0 connectivity, as well as a USB 2.0 port to allow for more connectivity. SONFF iHost Smart Home Hub specifications: SoC and Memory Rockchip RV1109 dual-core Arm Cortex-A7 @ 1.5 GHz with RISC-V MCU @ 400 MHz, 2D graphics engine, 1.2 TOPS NPU, 5MP H.264 and H.265 hardware video decoder and encoder, and 2GB DDR4 Rockchip RV1126 quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 @ 1.5 GHz with […]

March 8, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Home Assistant compatible “ESP 360 Remote” controls infrared and 433MHz appliances over WiFi (Crowdfunding)

ESP 360 Remote is an ESP32-based IR and 433 MHz RF remote with built-in sensors used to control home appliances over WiFi and that also integrates with Home Assistant open-source home automation framework. The open-source hardware design is comprised of a mainboard with an ESP32-WROOM-32E module, temperature, humidity, and light sensors, and a board on the top with nine infrared LEDs, one IR receiver, as well as a 433 MHz (or 315 MHz) RF receiver and transmitter with the receivers used for learning the code from the remote controls. ESP 360 Remote specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROOM-32E with ESP32 dual-core microcontroller 4MB flash 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth LE connectivity, built-in PCB antenna, fully compatible with ESPHome firmware Control interface 9x High Power IR LEDs to control devices in all directions (hence the 360 name) IR receiver to learn remote control codes 433 MHz (or 315 MHz) RF transmitter 433 […]

February 24, 2023February 28, 2023 by Paisit Wongsongsarn - 36 Comments

ZBMINI Extreme Zigbee smart switch review with Home Assistant

Sonoff ZBMINI Extreme Review Home Assistant

SONOFF has rolled out smart switches in the market for years, and for each iteration, they make their devices smaller and more capable. The latest ZBMINI Extreme Zigbee Smart Switch or ZBMINIL2 or ZBMINI Extreme for shorts is what we will review today. Take note that there are both Zigbee and Wifi versions that come with the same form factor, we will walk through the Zigbee version first and we will review the WiFi version – SONOFF MINI Extreme (MINIR4) – later on. The ZBMINI Extreme is designed to work without a Neutral (N) line. Those who have difficulty wiring the N line to the switch will definitely love this. In many locations, the Neutral (N) line is not wired and would require a lot of work and expenses for cabling. SONOFF ZBMINI Extreme eases that challenge since there’s no need for the Neutral wire at all. This review will […]

February 23, 2023March 16, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

SONOFF MINI Extreme (MINIR4) ESP32 WiFi smart switch can fit into most gang boxes

SONOFF MINI Extreme (aka MINIR4) is a ridiculously small WiFi smart switch based on ESP32 wireless microcontroller and designed to be connected to a load such as a light bulb and a wall switch that can be a momentary switch, a door exit switch, an SPDT switch, a latching switch, or even dry contact sensors. The tiny form factor (39.5×33 x16.8mm) enables the WiFi smart switch to fit into various boxes, even the smaller European gang boxes. Just like other SONOFF home automation devices, the MINIR4 works with eWelink mobile app, but it also implements some new interesting features such as the ‘Detach Relay’ mode. SONOFF MINI Extreme (MINIR4) specifications: MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32 dual-core wireless microcontroller Connectivity 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 Bluetooth LE used for pairing Input – 100-240V ~ 50/60Hz 10A Max Output – 100-240V ~ 50/60Hz 10A Max (resistive load) Dimensions – 39.5 x 33 x […]

February 22, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

STMicro adds more STM32U5 Cortex-M33 MCUs with NeoChrom 2.5D GPU, 128KB to 4MB flash, NIST certification, etc…

STMicro has added three new families to its STM32U5 Cortex-M33 microcontroller series with the entry-level STM32U535/545 with as little as 128KB flash, the STM32U595/5A5 with up to 4MB of Flash and 2,514KB of RAM, and the STM32U599/5A9 with similar features as the STM32U595/5A5 by adding the new NeoChrom 2.5D GPU plus TFT-LCD and DSI display interfaces. STMicro also announced that STM32U5 series MCUs were the first general-purpose MCUs to receive NIST-embedded random-number entropy source certification. As of now, along with the STM32U575/585 introduced in February 2021 with an optional Chrom-ART 2D GPU, STMicro offers eight product lines as part of the STM32U5 MCU series as shown in the table below. That means the STM32U5 microcontroller can address a wider range of applications with the STM32U535/545 targetting lower-cost applications with less flash and RAM, the “legacy” STM32U575/U585 for mid-range applications, and the STM32U59X/5AX for applications where more storage and memory is […]

February 16, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Control 8 relays with the Raspberry Pi Pico using PicoRelay8 or Pico-Relay-B

Waveshare Pico Relay B with Raspberry Pi Pico board

8086 Consultancy’s PicoRelay8 is a baseboard for the Raspberry Pi Pico (W) board equipped with eight 28V DC / 10A Normally Open relays that be used for all sorts of automation projects, while Waveshare Pico-Relay-B also supports eight relays with both DC and AC loads and comes with some extra features. PicoRelay8 PicoRelay8 board specifications: Supported MCU board – Raspberry Pi Pico or Pi Pico W, and it may also work with “mostly” compatible boards such as the Banana Pi BPI-Pico-RP2040 or BPI-PicoW-S3, WeAct RP2040, and others as long as all GPIO used on the PicoRelay8 are exposed on the same pins. Relays 8x HF3FF/005-1HST relays rated for 28V DC/10A, as well as 10A/250V AC and 15A/125V AC, but the board is not designed to get power from the mains (safety-wise), so it’s only really suitable for DC loads Each relay has a 2-pin terminal block attached to it. GPIO […]

February 3, 2023February 3, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Nordic Semi nRF7002 DK low-power dual-band WiFi 6 IoT development kit launched for $56 and up

Nordic Semi nRF7002 DK is an IoT development kit based on the nRF5340 dual-core Cortex-M33 multi-protocol wireless SoC and nRF7002 companion chip adding low-power dual-band (2.4GHz and 5.0 GHz) WiFi 6 connectivity. When Nordic Semi introduced the nRF7200 dual-band WiFi 6 companion chip for nRF52840 and nRF5340 wireless SoCs and nRF9160 cellular IoT SiP last summer, the “nRF7002-PDK” development kit was only mentioned in passing with a 3D render and not much else. The company has now announced the availability of the nRF7002 DK to help developers create low-power Wi-Fi 6 IoT applications. nRF7002 DK specifications: Wireless MCU – Nordic Semi nRF5340 dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller @ 128/64 MHz with 1 MB Flash + 512 KB RAM for the application core and 256 KB Flash + 64 KB RAM for the network core, Bluetooth 5.1 LE with direction-finding support, Bluetooth mesh, NFC, Thread, Zigbee, 802.15.4, ANT, and 2.4 GHz proprietary […]