Hot Tub Gadget

News,

I treated myself to a new gadget. A man can never have too many gadgets. It’s a Bluetooth hot tub thermometer, that is linked to wifi using a base station with display and of course an app.

It has a little display on the thermometer (I’m holding it in place as the bubbles make the thermometer dance around) but the main purpose is that you can see from inside what the water temperature is. You can even set an alert when it reaches a certain temperature.

This was taken after I used the tub for about an hour. It only went down from 100F (37C) to 97 so still very comfy. The additional purpose of this gadget is to have a historic view of temperatures, both in the house as well as the hot tub.

That way I can keep better track of the temperature inside. I could already see the current temperature, but no historic data so now when a guest says it was hot, I can check how hot it really was.

Sadly, they don’t have an API yet, so I cannot link it to the smart mirror.

No more cracking up

News

Today the windshield of my truck was replaced. The crack that passed inspection for 6 years finally was a reason to fail inspection.

Tomorrow I’ll try get through inspection again. Fingers crossed 🤞

Today my truck passed inspection, and renewed my registration, so I can finally legally drive again. If the cops pull me over and yell “License and registration!” I’m good.

Even Smarter Mirror

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As a developer I had fun making some improvements on the Smart Mirror App I made;

As a metric fan, I decided to display both Imperial and metric units, so I don’t have to do the math in my head. Top left is the outside temperature. Next to it the expected weather for today, followed by a detailed forecast which shows the next 8 hours temperatures, icon for weather, chance of rain, wind direction and speed. It also shows the date and current time. To the right is a weekly forecast with max and min temperatures, a temperature curve per hour and a weather icon.

On the left, below the temperature is the current local wind direction and speed. Under that is the barometer with a trend icon. Below that is the precipitation window, showing current precipitation, the amount of minutes it rained today and how much in the last 1 hours and the total this day. During Saturday’s thunderstorm, which included a rare nearby tornado (25 miles away) the precipitation was several inches in one hour.

On the right below the weekly forecast is the relative humidity, under that the UV index, followed by the Comal county burn ban status.

At the bottom right you can see the last detected lightning strike, with the distance. And the number of strikes the last 1 and 3 hours.

The centered text now rotates between an unlimited amount of custom texts I can set remotely, for instance to provide the wifi password, ask the guests to store the outdoor chair cushions indoors overnight and what ever else I would like to display.

Finally, the red motion sensed icon shows when the passive infra red sensor registers motion.

After a few minutes of no detected motion, the screen switches off, to save energy and preserve the monitor.

In the future I will likely add some new features but for now it works pretty well.

Even smarter Mirror

News

My SmartMirror that my brother Karel made has been serving Ozuye well over the last 5 years. But when I arrived it had old information on it and an update did not help. Being a software developer that also creates Raspberry Pi apps, I decided to make my own Smart Mirror App;

Here’s a first version of it. The font is more in style and the mirror is even smarter; it now talks to the Tempest weather station, and shows the data in both metric and imperial units. The API was pretty easy to use. I also included a new feature; burn ban status. Here in Texas, a burn ban can be active when there’s a risk of fires due to lack of rain. I found a way to read the fire department posted data to display an icon indicating the burn ban status.

The forecast information shows the week ahead, with both an icon per day, minimum and maximum temperatures and an hourly temperature curve.

The green line is comfortable, the red line the highest recorded temp ever in Texas and the blue line the lowest. That way the curve gives an easy overview on what kind of temperatures are expected.

One thing I still have to do is read the PIR sensor (Passive infra red) to blank the screen when nobody is around for a while.

The large centered text will rotate between 5 different messages, which I will be able to set from the cloud. That way I can even show a custom message for guests when needed.

In the future, I will try add a location chip in each of the outdoor seat cushions. Then when it starts to rain and the pillow are outside, I can show a message to store them inside.

Smooth first floor in.

upstairs,

Today I put the remaining 7 sheets of Birch on the upstairs floorboards.

It’s definitely more smooth and feels more rigid than when the floor was just the boards.

I did have to remove the railings, and afterwards put it back on top of the sheets. Next step will be priming the floor to get a stronger bond with the vinyl tiles that will be placed on this floor.

Above is a picture of the ceiling above the couch downstairs. Before, you could see through the cracks, and dust would fall down on the couch, table and bar. Now that the birch floor is in, that issue is solved.

Smooth floors upstairs

upstairs

The floors upstairs are pine boards, most of which, but not all tongue and groove. Especially where they’re not tong and groove, the floor isn’t 100 % flat and smooth. And if I want to put something like vinyl on the floor, it does need to be smooth.

So today I got 10 sheets of 4×8 5/8″ birch. I picked them up returning from my (failed) attempt to get my truck inspected. Apparently the crack in the windshield that was there 6 years ago, now is a reason to deny passing inspection. So I’m working on getting the windshield replaced.

The floor is now very smooth and ready for vinyl tiles, which I still have to get. The bed is moved back in, so I’ll be able to sleep there again tonight.

Office setup

Office

As a software developer that works from home, it doesn’t matter where that home is, as long as it has a good internet connection and at least 4 displays. 🤠

Picked up this second hand corner desk from the south shores of Canyon Lake. The chair is still one of the chairs from the downstairs dinner table. I will likely buy a new chair, as a good chair is important. On the right hand side, under the desktop, is my printer. The windows face west, so the sun should never hit the displays.

Joy Tutus

Camping, Truck

To convert my truck into a low cost camper, I purchased a Joy Tutus camper shell tent for my F150. It’s strapped down to the truck and with the tailgate open, there’s enough room for 2.

To make the truck bed comfortable, there are air mattresses that fit the truck and follows the shape of the truck bed. I did not order the mattress yet, but if I do head out to Big Bend national park, I’ll likely order one.

Rolled up it’s a small and light package.

Ice storm damage

News

Although this happened a lot earlier, during the ice storm, I now get to see that it affected my truck too;

That branch on my truck hood broke off. I had to cut some off before I could pop the hood to reconnect and charge the battery, which was completely dead. We’ll know in an hour or so if it survived. After one hour of charging, the truck started on the first attempt, so I could get groceries.