In message <TjgqpoLGRDjnFwvW@ku.gro.lloiff>, Adrian
<bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> writes

I'm looking for a USB controlled mains switch (230V AC) that I can
connect to a PI to turn a mains power supply on and off.

I've done a bit of digging around on the net, and the options seem to
fall into two categories, either a relay device which means having to
rewire the device (which I'd rather avoid), priced around 30Euros or
one that sits in line (between the device and the supply). The latter >appears to be in excess of 100Euros, which is considerably more than I
want to pay.

Any suggestions on where to look ? I'm not interested in a wireless >solution, as it is likely to be used in places where signals are not >reliable.

Thanks

Adrian

OP here with a follow up.

After some ruminating, I decided to give the Local Bytes Smart plug a
try. I've got it happily working now, although I did have to install
(yet) another Pi to act as the control hub (Home Assistant if anyone is interested). I'm now waiting for a fresh delivery of a Pi3 to install
as a WiFi AP (the Pis in the locality are all Pi2).

One useful feature of the Local Bytes offering is that you can see to
power being consumed by the device it is controlling (although mine
suggests that I'm on 245V), but I've yet to work out how to access that
via a command line, rather than web interface.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Adrian
--
To Reply :
replace "bulleid" with "adrian" - all mail to bulleid is rejected
Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops
Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 2/10/25 14:42, Adrian wrote:

In message <TjgqpoLGRDjnFwvW@ku.gro.lloiff>, Adrian
<bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> writes

I'm looking for a USB controlled mains switch (230V AC) that I can
connect to a PI to turn a mains power supply on and off.

I've done a bit of digging around on the net, and the options seem to
fall into two categories, either a relay device which means having to
rewire the device (which I'd rather avoid), priced around 30Euros or
one that sits in line (between the device and the supply).  The latter
appears to be in excess of 100Euros, which is considerably more than I
want to pay.

Any suggestions on where to look ?  I'm not interested in a wireless
solution, as it is likely to be used in places where signals are not
reliable.

Thanks

Adrian

OP here with a follow up.

After some ruminating, I decided to give the Local Bytes Smart plug a
try. I've got it happily working now, although I did have to install
(yet) another Pi to act as the control hub (Home Assistant if anyone is interested).  I'm now waiting for a fresh delivery of a Pi3 to install
as a WiFi AP (the Pis in the locality are all Pi2).

One useful feature of the Local Bytes offering is that you can see to
power being consumed by the device it is controlling (although mine
suggests that I'm on 245V), but I've yet to work out how to access that
via a command line, rather than web interface.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Adrian

Did you opt for ESPHome or Tasmota firmware?

I use Tasmota, but I use Domoticz rather than Home Assistant. From what
I read ESPHome is tailored for Home Assistant and uses REST API rather
than MMQT like Tasmota.

A Pi4 can handle a lot of different services on the same machine,
installed in Docker Containers. So you don't necessarily need lots of
Pis. If the Pi4 isn't enough, there are more powerful Pis.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

In message <voibvg$2bloc$1@dont-email.me>, Pancho
<Pancho.Jones@proton.me> writes

OP here with a follow up.
After some ruminating, I decided to give the Local Bytes Smart plug
a try. I've got it happily working now, although I did have to install >>(yet) another Pi to act as the control hub (Home Assistant if anyone
is interested).  I'm now waiting for a fresh delivery of a Pi3 to
install as a WiFi AP (the Pis in the locality are all Pi2).
One useful feature of the Local Bytes offering is that you can see
to power being consumed by the device it is controlling (although mine >>suggests that I'm on 245V), but I've yet to work out how to access
that via a command line, rather than web interface.
Thanks again for the suggestions.
Adrian

Did you opt for ESPHome or Tasmota firmware?

Tasmota. No particular reason.

I use Tasmota, but I use Domoticz rather than Home Assistant. From what
I read ESPHome is tailored for Home Assistant and uses REST API rather
than MMQT like Tasmota.

A Pi4 can handle a lot of different services on the same machine,
installed in Docker Containers. So you don't necessarily need lots of
Pis. If the Pi4 isn't enough, there are more powerful Pis.

Machine power isn't likely to be an issue. HA suggest a Pi4 as a
suitable host, but I didn't have a spare one, so I installed it on a
Pi3. However, as I need to set up a WiFi Access point, and that needs

=Pi3 I had to go shopping. I hope that for what I'm going to be using

it for (apart from the AP), a Pi3 will be more than enough.

So far as I've been able to find out, HA is only installed as an image
on the SD card (using the RPI Imager), rather than manually installed on
an existing Pi image (e.g. apt install ...), so that means that the Pi
can only be used for what HA allows you to do. Therefore, one downside
(for me) with HA is that I don't seem to be able to gain SSH access to
the PI. I can access it via the web interface, and I can install a ZSH
shell on it, but that is in (I think) a Docker Container. What I would
like to be able to do, which I can with my other Pis, is to run regular
health check stuff, CPU temp, free memory, free card space that sort of
stuff. I can do that from the Docker Container, but I can't set up a
cron job to do it, and I haven't even tried getting it to email me a
daily summary.

A quick look at Domoticz suggests that it will allow me to do my own monitoring, so that could be worth looking at in due course.


Thanks for the follow up.

Adrian
--
To Reply :
replace "bulleid" with "adrian" - all mail to bulleid is rejected
Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops
Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 2025-02-10, Adrian <bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> wrote:

interested). I'm now waiting for a fresh delivery of a Pi3 to install
as a WiFi AP (the Pis in the locality are all Pi2).

I hope you plan to run other services on the Pi3 as well - used purely as an access point, the pi is not the best choice. For a low number of stations
and low throughput, it works, but dedicated wireless access points have
better wifi hardware (and probably cost less).

cu
Michael
--
Some people have no respect of age unless it is bottled.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

In message <slrnvqq2e0.sal.news-1513678000@a-tuin.ms.intern>, Michael
Schwingen <news-1513678000@discworld.dascon.de> writes

On 2025-02-10, Adrian <bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> wrote:

interested). I'm now waiting for a fresh delivery of a Pi3 to install
as a WiFi AP (the Pis in the locality are all Pi2).

I hope you plan to run other services on the Pi3 as well - used purely as an >access point, the pi is not the best choice. For a low number of stations >and low throughput, it works, but dedicated wireless access points have >better wifi hardware (and probably cost less).

Indeed I do. I'll see how it goes, and if it doesn't work out, then I
can turn the WiFi off, and it can carry on with its other duties. My expectation is that it will be talking to at the most three Smart
Switches, I'm unlikely to be using it for (e.g.) Internet access from a
phone.


Adrian
--
To Reply :
replace "bulleid" with "adrian" - all mail to bulleid is rejected
Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops
Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

Adrian <bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> wrote:

So far as I've been able to find out, HA is only installed as an image
on the SD card (using the RPI Imager), rather than manually installed on
an existing Pi image (e.g. apt install ...), so that means that the Pi
can only be used for what HA allows you to do. Therefore, one downside
(for me) with HA is that I don't seem to be able to gain SSH access to
the PI. I can access it via the web interface, and I can install a ZSH
shell on it, but that is in (I think) a Docker Container. What I would
like to be able to do, which I can with my other Pis, is to run regular health check stuff, CPU temp, free memory, free card space that sort of stuff. I can do that from the Docker Container, but I can't set up a
cron job to do it, and I haven't even tried getting it to email me a
daily summary.

HA can be installed in several ways.

The normal HAOS install has a series of Docker containers that are
orchestrated by HA, and to do that it uses the whole Pi. SSH access is to inside the primary container, rather than the native system.

It's possible to install HA via Docker onto a regular RaspiOS system. That means you have access to the outside system, but the downside is that HA
can't manage its own containers. For example, some plugins come in separate containers and you'd have to install those by using Docker, rather than clicking a button in HAOS and have it spin them up itself.

(If you pass through the Docker socket to the primary HA container, it's possible it can then orchestrate other containers without using HAOS. I haven't tried that)

There's also a 'just install HA using Python' method in which case there's
no Docker containers, but that means upgrading is up to you doing it by
hand. HA changes pretty regularly so that method isn't recommended.

Finally, if you were on x86 you can install HAOS in a VM which is just like having it take over the whole machine only inside a VM. You could run a
HAOS image using KVM on a Pi but I'm not sure how smooth that would be.

Theo

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

In message <eSD*zI36z@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>, Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> writes

HA can be installed in several ways.

<big snip for brevity>

Thanks for the extra info. More to digest when I get a chance.

Adrian
--
To Reply :
replace "bulleid" with "adrian" - all mail to bulleid is rejected
Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops
Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 2/13/25 12:15, Theo wrote:

Adrian <bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> wrote:

So far as I've been able to find out, HA is only installed as an image
on the SD card (using the RPI Imager), rather than manually installed on
an existing Pi image (e.g. apt install ...), so that means that the Pi
can only be used for what HA allows you to do. Therefore, one downside
(for me) with HA is that I don't seem to be able to gain SSH access to
the PI. I can access it via the web interface, and I can install a ZSH
shell on it, but that is in (I think) a Docker Container. What I would
like to be able to do, which I can with my other Pis, is to run regular
health check stuff, CPU temp, free memory, free card space that sort of
stuff. I can do that from the Docker Container, but I can't set up a
cron job to do it, and I haven't even tried getting it to email me a
daily summary.

HA can be installed in several ways.

I had no idea why I chose Domoticz over HA, it was a few years ago, but
you present a compelling argument.

My rpi4 Domoticz install is a 12 line docker-compose.yml.

I already had MQTT.

Domoticz works, lets me switch things on and off, immediately or
scheduled, and provides me with historical usage graphs. Which is all I
really want.

Dunno if it relates to you, but I had a similar SSH problem.

I had a Gitea Container (a pretty UI git repo manager) needing to
reserve the standard SSH port for git to work, this took over the host
rPi host standard SHH port. My solution was to assign the Gitea
container its own LAN IP address using a Docker Macvlan network drive,
thus the Gitea container and the host rPI could each use the default SSH
port as they had distinct IPs.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

In message <vol5gc$2v89p$1@dont-email.me>, Pancho
<Pancho.Jones@protonmail.com> writes

On 2/13/25 12:15, Theo wrote:

Adrian <bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> wrote:

So far as I've been able to find out, HA is only installed as an image
on the SD card (using the RPI Imager), rather than manually installed on >>> an existing Pi image (e.g. apt install ...), so that means that the Pi
can only be used for what HA allows you to do. Therefore, one downside
(for me) with HA is that I don't seem to be able to gain SSH access to
the PI. I can access it via the web interface, and I can install a ZSH
shell on it, but that is in (I think) a Docker Container. What I would
like to be able to do, which I can with my other Pis, is to run regular
health check stuff, CPU temp, free memory, free card space that sort of
stuff. I can do that from the Docker Container, but I can't set up a
cron job to do it, and I haven't even tried getting it to email me a
daily summary.

HA can be installed in several ways.

I had no idea why I chose Domoticz over HA, it was a few years ago, but
you present a compelling argument.

My rpi4 Domoticz install is a 12 line docker-compose.yml.

I already had MQTT.

Domoticz works, lets me switch things on and off, immediately or
scheduled, and provides me with historical usage graphs. Which is all I >really want.

I've managed to get a PI to ask HA to turn my switch on and off, but
I've not been able to get the PI to read the data used to generate the
graphs, which I'd like to be able to do. It would be useful to at least
know if the switch is already on before I try to turn it on again !
Bonus points for being able to get the power consumption of the device
it is controlling.

Dunno if it relates to you, but I had a similar SSH problem.

I had a Gitea Container (a pretty UI git repo manager) needing to
reserve the standard SSH port for git to work, this took over the host
rPi host standard SHH port. My solution was to assign the Gitea
container its own LAN IP address using a Docker Macvlan network drive,
thus the Gitea container and the host rPI could each use the default
SSH port as they had distinct IPs.

Until installing HA, I've never (knowingly) had any dealings with
Docker.

Adrian
--
To Reply :
replace "bulleid" with "adrian" - all mail to bulleid is rejected
Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops
Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

In message <volamj$2v89p$2@dont-email.me>, Pancho
<Pancho.Jones@protonmail.com> writes

Try Domoticz, it is supposed to be much simpler than HA. Not as feature
rich as HA, but maybe a better fit for a simple home setup. (Caveat:
I've never used HA).

It's on the tuit list.

Docker is brilliant! If they had had it when I was working, I wouldn't
have needed to wear my brown trousers every release day, at least not
so much :-). Although, I'm sure the bright young things of today will
have introduced new complexity, so it is still easy to mess things up.

Nowadays, for me, it can make installing third party software simple,
as opposed to a nightmare of conflicting environment.

From what little I know of it, I can see the attraction of using it for complex stuff, but I'm not convinced that it isn't a bit OTT for simpler
stuff. A problem is deciding when simple becomes complex.

Adrian
--
To Reply :
replace "bulleid" with "adrian" - all mail to bulleid is rejected
Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops
Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 2/13/25 17:04, Adrian wrote:

In message <vol5gc$2v89p$1@dont-email.me>, Pancho <Pancho.Jones@protonmail.com> writes

On 2/13/25 12:15, Theo wrote:

Adrian <bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> wrote:

So far as I've been able to find out, HA is only installed as an image >>>> on the SD card (using the RPI Imager), rather than manually
installed on
an existing Pi image (e.g. apt install ...), so that means that the Pi >>>> can only be used for what HA allows you to do.  Therefore, one downside >>>> (for me) with HA is that I don't seem to be able to gain SSH access to >>>> the PI.  I can access it via the web interface, and I can install a ZSH >>>> shell on it, but that is in (I think) a Docker Container.  What I would >>>> like to be able to do, which I can with my other Pis, is to run regular >>>> health check stuff, CPU temp, free memory, free card space that sort of >>>> stuff.  I can do that from the Docker Container, but I can't set up a >>>> cron job to do it, and I haven't even tried getting it to email me a
daily summary.

 HA can be installed in several ways.

I had no idea why I chose Domoticz over HA, it was a few years ago,
but you present a compelling argument.

My rpi4 Domoticz install is a 12 line docker-compose.yml.

I already had MQTT.

Domoticz works, lets me switch things on and off, immediately or
scheduled, and provides me with historical usage graphs. Which is all
I really want.

I've managed to get a PI to ask HA to turn my switch on and off, but
I've not been able to get the PI to read the data used to generate the graphs, which I'd like to be able to do.  It would be useful to at least know if the switch is already on before I try to turn it on again !
Bonus points for being able to get the power consumption of the device
it is controlling.

Try Domoticz, it is supposed to be much simpler than HA. Not as feature
rich as HA, but maybe a better fit for a simple home setup. (Caveat:
I've never used HA).

Dunno if it relates to you, but I had a similar SSH problem.

I had a Gitea Container (a pretty UI git repo manager) needing to
reserve the standard SSH port for git to work, this took over the host
rPi host standard SHH port. My solution was to assign the Gitea
container its own LAN IP address using a Docker Macvlan network drive,
thus the Gitea container and the host rPI could each use the default
SSH port as they had distinct IPs.

That should be Macvlan network driver, not drive.

Until installing HA, I've never (knowingly) had any dealings with Docker.

Docker is brilliant! If they had had it when I was working, I wouldn't
have needed to wear my brown trousers every release day, at least not so
much :-). Although, I'm sure the bright young things of today will have introduced new complexity, so it is still easy to mess things up.

Nowadays, for me, it can make installing third party software simple, as opposed to a nightmare of conflicting environment.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)