A lot has happened with my homelab rack since my last update. In fact, this post is a bit challenging to write as my plans have changed and changed again. Some communicated and some not.

My last update, from late 2024, contains many plans which have later been abandoned.

So let’s see if we can navigate through this mess and set the record straight.

The notes implementation is now complete; it even has Mastodon-style media support. In addition, I’ve revamped the computers, projects, and tag term lists.

I’ve started tinkering with dedicated video pages to make it easier to share and embed videos both in notes and on Mastodon. Still a work in progress.

I am testing the alt support on note images — here are some birds eating.

For about 10 days, while I’ve been distracted by fun implementations on my website, this #Arduino Mega board has been running the new alarm code. Constantly communicating with the Python application that will run on the #RaspberryPi — receiving 16 #Zigbee zones and responding accordingly. Not a single communication or checksum error has been logged.

I’d say this is a pretty good start 😀 Time to start building some IO interface boards…

Back in early June I started getting emails from updown.io warning me of IPv6 ping issues to my CHR edge router. I didn’t notice anything wrong, and everything seemingly worked just fine, so I muted the alarm and did summer stuff instead.

Lately I’ve noticed that wget and curl, when IPv6 was used, would often time out — not always, about half the time.

We rented a boom lift recently, to paint part of the house. I used the opportunity to mount an outdoor siren.

Now all I need is a control cable from the alarm cabinet to the attic, and I can get this thing wired up.

To prevent annoying the neighbours too much — this thing will only go off if there is a manually triggered panic alarm, or intrusion with more than one zone in alarm.

I’ve decided to completely rebuild my DIY alarm system.

• Mean Well UPS supply instead of C-TEK charger
• Bigger battery in dedicated cabinet
• Arduino Mega as core, Raspberry Pi only as MQTT relay
• End-of-line resistors

The biggest change is undoubtedly moving the alarm state machine and all logic from the Raspberry Pi to an Arduino Mega. There are three main reasons for this move:

• It’s fun and I’d like to work more with the Arduino
• The Arduino Mega has 16 analog inputs, making it possible to use end-of-line resistors
• An alarm system needs to be stable — not crash, hang or get a corrupted SD card

I’ve been thinking about end-of-line resistors since I first got started, but the Raspberry Pi doesn’t have any analog inputs. Initially I thought of using the Arduino Mega as an I/O interface device, but as I got started I figured why not let it do more.

So #RPiSecuritySystem is now #DIYAlarmSystem.

Back in 2021 I started to tag posts with Home network v2, and wrote about my plans to improve my home network. The year after — there was even an updated plan!

Then it evolved into a series, with the following description:

My home network 2.0 started with me replacing all my Unifi switches for MikroTik — and looking for a new router. Then followed a lot of network cabling and Wi-Fi improvements, and wrapping up with some IPv6.

TLDR; I’m taking my home network to the next level.

Now — five years and 17 posts later — I don’t really have any idea where I am going with this… I’m continuously improving my home network. That is a big part of my homelab hobby, a never-ending story.

So; keeping a Home network v2 tag, or series, feels a bit off. Let’s wrap this thing up.

After some trial and error I’m ready to try out the notes section on my Hugo blog. I’ve been thinking about this for a while — and this time it might just work. More changes than anticipated were needed to allow for no title — lists, RSS, OG image…

I like how @kev@fosstodon.org is doing his notes, and my implementation is inspired by that.

My goal is to reduce friction when posting a project update, while still using my own website.

When we bought the Hero Camper we opted for having exterior lights installed, one in each corner of the roof-rack, with a simple controller inside the cabin.

The two rear lights were facing backwards, while the two in the front were facing out to each side. This left a dark area in front of the camper.

So far we have mostly used the red (the lights have red and yellow in addition to regular lights) to find the camper when parked at a dark campsite. Having a “blind-spot” in front was a bit annoying.

I initially planned to get two more lights and face them forwards, but that left me with a dilemma. There are only four channels on the controller, how to wire two additional lights?

It turned out I didn’t actually need more lights, I just needed to adjust the ones I have differently 🙂