All posts by Ray

Home Assistant and Matter/Thread

Home Automation and Networking

A while back I made the move from HomeSeer to Home Assistant for my home automation platform.  Home Assistant has come a long way, and I think has a much more polished management interface, and overall, much more flexibility.  On top of that, it’s an open-source project, so no more license renewals.

Recently I thought it would be a great idea to add Matter/Thread support to my installation, and the ZBT-2 antenna seemed like the way to go.  So I ordered one, and since then, it hasn’t been as smooth of a journey as I had hoped.

What really helped was leveraging Copilot to help put together a configuration checklist after providing info about my network and Home Assistant hardware, and then through a few refinements of my prompts, I was able to finally get my first Matter devices added.

The checklist ended up with 4 phases, each with a number of steps:

  1.  Router configuration (some of these settings might be specific to my hardware)
    • Make sure mDNS us enabled
    • Enable IPv6 router advertisement
    • Enable Multicast enhancement
    • Turn off Multicast and Broadcast Control
    • Turn on IGMP Snooping
  2. ZBT-2 hardware and firmware setup
    • Connect ZBT-2 to a USB 2.0 extension cable, into a powered USB hub
    • Flash hardware with the Thread-only firmware
    • Configure OTBR, ensuring NAT64 and OTBR Firewall are both ON.
  3. Home Assistant network configuration
    • Enable IPv6 in HAOS Go to Settings > System > Network. Set IPv6 to Automatic.
    • Set Preferred Thread Network: Go to Settings > Devices & Services > Thread. Click the ZBT-2 network and select “Set as Preferred”.
    • Restart HAOS: Perform a Full System Reboot (not just a Quick Reload) to initialize the new firmware and network routes.
  4. Mobile & Commissioning setup.  Your mobile device acts as the ‘commissioner’ to pass credentials to the ZBT-2
    • Connect your phone to the same WiFi: Ensure your phone is on the same SSID and VLAN as the Home Assistant instance. I was pairing some light bulbs that only supported 2.4GHz wifi, so I also disabled the 5 and 6 GHz bands on my closest access point, and made sure my phone was bound to it.
    • Sync Thread Credentials: In the HA Mobile App, go to Settings > Companion App > Troubleshooting > Sync Thread Credentials.
    • Pair via Matter Flow: In HA, go to Add Integration > Matter and scan the device QR code.

This worked for me – hopefully it helps anyone else out there having challenges with Matter/Thread in Home Assistant!

New Networking Gear

Home Automation and Networking

I’ve made some updates to my home network with the addition of some new hardware.  The key piece is a UniFi Dream Router 7 (UDR7).  I’ve always appreciated routers that provide more control over network configurations, but the UniFi OS and controls provided in this router go over and above anything I’ve ever seen in a consumer/home router.

It did take some planning, and even more time getting the configurations set and working properly.  I found this YouTube video (and channel) to be very helpful in getting everything  configured.

My current network was running off the Telus router and an ASUS ROG AC5300, and a couple Netgear managed switches so that I could implement some VLANS.  With the UDR7, I can create the VLANS within the same management interface, and associate Wifi connections to them as well.  The ASUS router had no VLAN functionality, so I had used some Netgear managed switches with their own interface to provide this – and there was no way to tie a wifi network to the vlan network. The UDR7 completely changes that.

Bicycle Lift

Misc., Uncategorized

I purchased an e-bike this past year, and to help make maintenance easier, I figured a bike maintenance stand would be useful.  Did a lot of research, and found it challenging to decide on one stand over another as I was conscious of both cost and stability.

Another concern was the ease of getting a heavy e-bike (mine is around 28kg) into the stand – and looking at the options for powered lifts, they were over a thousand dollars.

I ended up deciding to build my own lift, using a dual motor standing desk base as the platform.  The dual motor base has a capacity over 150kg, substantially higher than any of the commercial bike maintenance stands I saw, even the expensive powered options.

With the base frame assembled, I attached 2×4’s across the back legs – this is to add rigidity to the lift, and also provides a platform to add weight onto which counterbalances the lift with a bike on it.

In place of the table top normally attached to the standing desk frame, I used 3 thick hardwood boards I had.  These boards are about 2 1/2 inches thick, and between 4 and 5 inches across.  These were planed so they were all the same thickness, and nice and smooth.  They’re attached using counter sunk bolts and washers going through the boards, and through the table top mounting holes of the desk frame.

After the top boards were attached, there was a couple inches of metal  from the desk frame protruding – I used an angle grinder to remove the excess metal, filed the edges and touched up with some paint.

I then attached a bench top bike clamp to the top – found this one on Amazon, and it’s rated for about 40kg.  It was about $50 and figured I would give it a go.  I did trim a few inches off the main tube to reduce the distance I had to lift the bike to get it into the clamp.  I think I cut perhaps 6″ off.

I must say that I’m very pleased with how this worked out – the lift is very quiet, and surprisingly quick.  The inexpensive clamp is easy to use and adjust, and I haven’t noticed any strength issues moving the bike around while lifted and clamped in.

Total outlay was just over $200 CAD, buying both the new desk frame and bench clamp on Amazon.  Might have been able to find a deal on Marketplace or something for a sit stand desk, but I wanted to be sure of the two motors, and people were typically asking more than $200 for a used sit-stand desk.  The price of the stand is about $100 higher than when I bought it this past summer – but the cost to build is still substantially less than a commercial power lift bike maintenance stand.

I’ll add a photo of the completed stand someday – Garage is too messy at the moment to get a good photo!.

Easy Vegetarian Bean Burger

Food, Recipes

 

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Easy Vegetarian Bean Burger

a quick, easy, and most importantly - tasty bean burger

Course Main Course
Keyword vegetarian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 6
Author Ray

Ingredients

  • 2 cans mixed beans I used Compliments brand, 6 bean mix. Drained, rinsed and pat dry
  • 3/4 cup rolled quick oats quick couple pulses in vitamix
  • 2 each avocado remove pits and mash
  • 3 tsp chipotle powder
  • 1 tsp cumin grind in mortar & pestle
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 each egg beaten if using - omit if you want vegan burger patties
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 6 each hamburger buns
  • 1 cup mayonnaise (use a vegan one if that is your preference)
  • 1 each Blazin Chipotle bbq sauce use as a condiment in burger
  • 1 each large beefsteak tomato thickly sliced
  • 1 head butter lettuce rinse and dry leaves
  • 6 slices cheddar cheese optional
  • 1/2 each red onion thinly sliced

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

  2. Spread beans out onto baking sheet, and dry for 5 minutes or so at mid level of oven. Let cool down for another 5 minutes or so.

  3. pulse rolled oats a couple times in Vitamix, and add 2 tsp chipotle powder, ground cumin, salt, pepper.

  4. In a large bowl, add beans, oat & spice mixture, 1/4 of the mashed avocado, the olive oil, and beaten egg, and mash & mix with a fork until mixture comes together.

  5. Divide and form into 6 patties about 4-5" in diameter, and about 1" thick.

  6. Heat skillet, and add vegetable oil. Once it just starts to lightly smoke, add patties and fry for about 3-5 minutes on each side. Should have a golden crispy surface.

  7. While frying, add sliced burger buns to baking sheet and lightly toast in over (should still be at 325 degrees) - perhaps 4 minutes.

  8. Mix remaining mashed avocado, mayonnaise, 1 tsp chipotle powder and mix well.

  9. Prepare toasted bun by applying avocado mayo mixture to bottom, red onion, add bean burger, cheese, tomato (salt & pepper if you like), lettuce. Add some Blazin Chipotle bbq sauce to bun top, and enjoy!

Upgrade for coffee nirvana!

Coffee

After close to two decades of service, I’ve replaced the Quick Mill Andreja Premium machine with a Bezzera Aria TOP espresso machine from iDrinkCoffee.com.  The new machine arrived in just a couple days.

The big upgrades from the old machine include:

  • rotary pump (plumbed in)
  • flow control
  • toggles for steam and hot water wands
  • PID
  • plumbed in drip tray

Bezzera Aria TOP Espresso machine

Aside from challenges getting the correct adaptor to convert the European threads used on the braided water supply hose to North American standards, the machine was easy to set up, and the factory settings of the OPV and PID worked perfectly for me.  I did contact iDrinkCoffee, but they had no adaptors in stock – at least they were able to let me know exactly what I needed.  Home Depot was a bust, but Amazon came through 🙂
Would think these would be included with any machine sold in Canada

The rotary pump is so much quieter than the vibe pump used in the old machine.  The steam power is very strong, and milk is heated and textured in well under 30 seconds!

I was very impressed with the machine settings from the factory – very little time was needed to dial in my current coffee – getting 44 grams of coffee in 30 seconds or so with the first shot I pulled and all the shots after- depending on how much I play around with the flow profile.  The pucks have been coming out well in one piece, and very dry, and most importantly, the shots have been exceptionally tasty!