(Sun 8th Feb 2026 21:00)
Nearly got scope calibrated but clouds arrived at 10 pm. Need three bright stars and a clear sky now.
So why talk about this here?
Well a WiFi dongle for this scope cost 200 euros. Enough said.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-93973-Skyportal-Wifi-Module/dp/B00OJ5Z2NM
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| Too cold for outside and no 12V power |
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| 12V power and star finder fixed |
(Mon 9th Feb 2026 10:11)
Well couldn't compile but display and LoRaWAN code at the same time. So I will persevere this morning :) Let's log this fault BackLog (from NuLab) or switch to Bugzilla?
Let's install Bugzilla on sionnach via TigerVNC Viewer on rhubarb laptop.
http://bugzilla.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installing/quick-start.html
Hurrah after missing file (/etc/mysql/conf.d/bugzilla.cnf) and folder (/var/www/webapps/data) resolved Bugzilla is now live.
(12:00) Off for a celebratory walk now. I will migrate bugs from BackLog to Bugzilla as I work on them :)
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| Need to create a Tola Smart Home user and database next |
(15:36) Successfully created first bug report:
http://192.168.1.153/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1
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| First Tola Smart Home bug report in Bugzilla |
Fixed this bug by not including #include <Wire.h> so just commented it out and closed bug #1
But now would like to use VSC with integrated Github support to write, download and debug code. Looks like Arduino CLI should enable this: https://arduino.github.io/arduino-cli/1.4/
(18:06) I will then refactor my code and make it mode modular for re-usability. Amárach
(Sun 8th Feb 2026 14:26)
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| Heltec CubeCell-Board Plus (HTCC-AB02) Pin Out |
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| Circuit diagram of slan-031 |
(Sun 8th Feb 2026 13:26)
Next to get gateway on Ethernet and turn off WiFi.
So Balena Console shows WiFi (wlan0) going well but no Ethernet (eth0) connection.
So after connecting up RJ45 lead to Fritz!Box I then got...
(13:44) So just need to disable WiFi (wlan0) connection now and ensure I can reboot to eth0.
Ooops! Lost connection
But waiting a few mins then refreshing Balena Clod page re-established connection..
So last test to power off and then on! Excellent all works and removed 2x 18560 UPS from RPi3. So ready to take it to Drumgeely once I have 2nd LoRaWAN temperature sensor and all have been boxed up :)
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| Balena Cloud for late-meadow (eth0 and no UPS) |
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| RPi3 and RAK2245 LoRaWAN gateway (Balena/TTN) |
(Sun 8th Feb 2026 9:49)
This morning I'm going to prepare late-meadow and 2x LoRaWAN sensors to take with me to Drumgeely.
Will get LoRaWAN sensor going first with gateway as is (i/e/WiFi not Ethernet)
(Sat 7th Feb 2026 19:45)
Final attempt is to put old software release on RPi4 and use the VARIABLE settings from the late-meadow gateway which is working in Tola Park. (See above images)
I tried but failed (see below images). So I leave this for now and pack away the RAK2245 with other LoRaWAN stuff and re=use RPi4 to drive a 7" touch display :)
Changed my mind! Decided to work through instructions below using Balena CLI
https://docs.balena.io/learn/getting-started/raspberrypi4-64/nodejs/
Got CLI going but it was just for a "Hello World" webserver
(Fri 6th Feb 2026 11:00)
Tried to get LoRaWAN gateway working over ethernet. But failed wouldn't connect to Balena. So took it home.
Tried at home with lots of BasicStation images but I could never get the BasicStation code to execute on the RPi4. The Host login always worked. Gave up in the end. Maybe hardware broken? Tried old RAK board from Kilnageer. But same result,
(Mid-Jan 2026)
This combination was working in the Drumgeely 40' container but as of Jan 2026 wasn't.
So I started to investigate how to fix it.
This device couldn't be programmed with a Tasmota binary https://ota.tasmota.com/tasmota32/release/ from the Webinstaller https://tasmota.github.io/install/
Maybe I'm not holding the RST and PRG buttons properly to enable programming>
But let's try the factory binary...
This device can be programmed wit the factory C6 binary.. and use SVGL to control LCD display
This device is well supported by Tasmota so the easiest path is to FLASH the binary image from https://ota.tasmota.com/tasmota32/release/tasmota32c3.bin on to it using the Tasmota Web based Installer at: https://tasmota.github.io/install/
Remember to press and HOLD the bott button when plugging in the cable so the USB serial port can be seen. Also remember to erase device first and load tasmota32c3.factory.bin before loaded the above binary and check wiith the LOG & CONSOLE option and RESET that it has booted OK.
Then ensure the IP address of 192.168.1.156 is reserved for it by the router and set up MQTT (Configure > MQTT) and rename it TasmotaESP32C3156 using the menus (Configure > Other > Device Name & Friendly Name) the device will reset itself after each setting change and you can use the WebInstaller to check its logs.
You are now ready to make it a MQTT connected Smart Home sensor!
Here are a few screen shots from the Linux Mint 22 laptop during the flashing process...
I will use ESPHome to create a device that shows RED / YELLOW / GREEN depending on my Smart Home status posted to a MQTT topic.
First I will install docker. on my Linux Mint 22 laptop :
https://itsfoss.gitlab.io/post/how-to-install-docker-on-linux-mint-22-or-21-step-by-step/
Next used docker to install ESPHome :
https://esphome.io/guides/getting_started_command_line/
oderdojo@rhubarb:~$ docker pull ghcr.io/esphome/esphome
Using default tag: latest
Now trying ESP-IDF build following instructions at..
https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/stable/esp32c6/get-started/linux-macos-setup.html
1186 cd esp
1187 ls
1188 git status .
1189 cd esp-idf/
1190 git status .
1191 ./install.sh esp32c6
1192 ./install.sh all
1193 . $HOME/esp/esp-idf/export.sh
I used Arduino 1.8.19 program on my Linux Mint 22 laptop, I selected "ESP32C6 Dev Module" and unzipped the demo software who's below link was on page https://docs.waveshare.com/ESP32-C6-GEEK/Resources-And-Documents
https://files.waveshare.com/wiki/ESP32-C6-GEEK/ESP32-C6-GEEK-Demo.zip
I then moved the two library folders (lvgl & PNGdec) from /home/coderdojo/Downloads/ESP32-C6-LCD-1.47-Demo/Arduino/libraries to /home/coderdojo/Arduino/libraries (but not the two examples (LVGL_Arduino & LVGL_Image) from directory /home/coderdojo/Downloads/ESP32-C6-LCD-1.47-Demo/Arduino/examples to /home/coderdojo/Arduino/ESP32_C8_GEEK/examples as it already has lots of examples!)
So selected Erase all Flash before Sketch Upload as "Enabled" under Tools in the IDE I then opened the 05_LCD_Button.ino file from the "05_LCD_Button" folder which opened 17 files in the IDE but it compiled and downloaded happily and display a different LCD picture each time I pressed the side button.
NOTE: I had to remove and re-insert the USB module to get the code to work and output debug :)
(Weds 4th Feb 2026 16:24) Next I opened the 16_MQTT_pub_sub.ino from the 16_MQTT_pub_pub folder..
I added my WiFi details and all compiled and ran. I can now use this to monitor my MQTT broker and paint colours depending on the system state..
"Tola/status/system" topic has string "{ "date":"04-FEB-2026", "time":"16:42", "status":"good" }"
So "good", "fair" or "bad" which updates every 10 secs. If no update after 30 then assume "bad"
Might also be nice to show outside and inside temperature :)
coderdojo@rhubarb:~$ mosquitto_pub -h 192.168.1.150 -p 1883 -u tola -P 2016TolaPark! -t Tola/status/system -m '{ "date":"04-FEB-2026", "time":"16:42", "status":"good" }'
coderdojo@rhubarb:~$
2026-02-04T16:49:59+0000{"tst":"2026-02-04T16:49:59.247456+0000","topic":"Tola/status/system","qos":0,"retain":0,"payloadlen":57,"payload":{"date":"04-FEB-2026","time":"16:42","status":"good"}}
(Fri 6th Feb 2026)
I aim to actually start monitoring at least one device and service today.
Does the Fritz!Box 7530 KI has an API I can use?
https://fritz.support/resources/SmarthomeRestApiFRITZOS82.html
https://fritzconnection.readthedocs.io/en/1.10.3/sources/getting_started.html
Cool!
(Thurs 5th Feb 2025)
Got Python3 development environment set up on Linux Mint 22 laptop. Uses PyCharm and local git and remote github. Got MQTT publish, time and date, device and service objects started.
(Mid-Jan 2026)
The other day I noticed the button on my Android MQTT Dash app wasn't turning my kitchen sink LEDs on and off.
That night my smart home failed to charge up my LFP batteries on cheap rate electricity.
The next morning I investigated and found that the sionnach RPi3 whose Node-Red program was responsible for both kitchen LEDs and LFP charging was off line.
Power cycling this computer fixed everything.
However, I decided after this that I must monitor my smart home better.
This blog post tracks my actions to achieve this!
DESIGN GOALS
1) Monitor all machines and services
2) Provide a fail safe RED / YELLOW / GREEN display
3) Provide hourly detailed status reports.
4) Write code in object oriented Python3 (or on ESP32 MicroPython)
DETAILED BREAKDOWN
My smart home is based on an LTE router for Internet access which is connect to a Fritz!Box router for local LAN/WiFi access.
The later has DHCP running to assign IP addresses to the various devices (i.e. RPi3s. Zigbee routers, etc.)
So what do we want to check on?
a) Is the LTE router connected to the internet?
b) Is the Fritz!Box connected to the internet?
c) Are the N devices with IP addresses online?
d) Are the M services supplied by the N devices running?
How can we do this?
Let's make every device and service created and update a MQTT topic periodically
Let's have the RPi4 devices check these topics for updates using object oriented Python3 scripts
Let's update a ESP32-C6-GEEK display with RED / YELLOW / GREEN every 10 secs based on the results of our checks
Let's publish details of these checks to other MQTT topics
