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Easily find the MAC address of an Amazon Dash Button
Every now and then Amazon puts their Dash buttons on sale for as little as $0.99 [https://amzn.to/2wtW6qf]. At that price it's hard to pass them up for little buttons to trigger whatever you might want in your home automation setup. I've written…
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Notification when a Windows Media Center Recording starts using Home Assistant
I'm a long time user (and believer) in Windows Media Center as the primary method to consume Cable TV. Coupled with a cable card tuner such as the SiliconDust HDHomeRun PRIME [https://www.silicondust.com/product/hdhomerun-prime/] you can create a fantastic, flexible user and stable Cable TV…
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Adding a Z-Wave Door Sensor to your Backyard Gate
I spent some time looking for a Z-Wave sensor for my backyard gate. I didn't find much for something that was rated for outdoors and all weather so I made my own. The key here is utilizing my favorite Z-Wave Door Sensors by EcoLink because they have an…
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Leveraging Home Assistant During Severe Weather
Let's take a look at how I started to use the alerts monitored condition of the Weather Underground component [https://home-assistant.io/components/sensor.wunderground/] in Home Assistant. I remember when this functionality [https://community.home-assistant.io/t/weather-warnings/3753/3] was first included in Home Assistant. I…
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Sending Channel Combination Commands with the Harmony Hub in Home Assistant
With the Harmony Remote Component [https://home-assistant.io/components/remote.harmony/] in Home Assistant [https://home-assistant.io], it makes it possible to send commands to devices controlled by your Harmony Hub using automations and scripts. Here's a script that will send a series of numbers representing a channel…
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Proactive Future Rain Notifications in Home Assistant with Dark Sky
I hate leaving the house and getting caught in the rain without a rain jacket. I don't check as much as I should before I leave in the morning and even if I watch my local morning news, I'll still probably forget. This is why I…
