Tag: DIY
3 Household Materials That Filter Out Viruses (DIY COVID-19 Face masks)
The CDC and White House now recommend wearing a homemade face mask when you venture out of your house. These recommendations specifically refer to homemade masks, to avoid diminishing the already depleted N95 face mask supply - desperately needed by hospital and front-line workers repeatedly exposed to the Coronavirus COVID-19.
Optimal Netgear Orbi Router Settings for Signal Strength and Speed
To access these settings, login to orbilogin.com (while connected to the network), click the Advanced tab, then choose Advanced Setup from the left sidebar menu. These settings are only available if your Orbi is in 'Router mode'.
The Ultimate Guide to Buttons for Hubitat & SmartThings
After reviewing over 25 smart buttons for SmartThings and other smart home hubs, we thought it'd be helpful to single-out the top 3 buttons to date. The buttons we link to below are natively compatible with SmartThings, and utilize Z-wave, Zigbee, and sometimes both.
Cable Management Tools for DIY Home Automation Projects
Black extension cord running along a white baseboard? Matrix of cables hanging from your new flat screen? Three power strips plugged into each other in the closet?
These types of finishing touches can detract from the hard work and hours it took to setup. A few simple additions focused on cable management, like cable clips or raceways, can give any project a professional appearance.
How to Optimize Your Home WiFi Network for Speed
In addition to router brand, home size, and internet service provider (ISP) speed caps, there are a number physical factors - inside and outside - which can affect performance and speed of the WiFi network in your home. It's important to think about these factors when placing access points, and mesh network nodes, around your house.
Control Existing Window Blinds with Voice & App
Available on Amazon The idea behind MySmartBlinds is simple: place a small WiFi/Bluetooth servo motor, hidden inside the existing housing of your window blinds, to open, close, and adjust the angle of the slats manually, or on a...
Z-Wave Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Fire safety is, arguably, one of the most important aspects to home ownership. Not only are you responsible for yourself, but also everyone else living in the home. If your home is not already equipped with hardwired smoke detectors, it's simple to add wireless smoke detectors to SmartThings (or any Z-Wave home automation system) for less than $50.
WebCoRE Automation for SmartThings
What is webCoRE?
webCoRE ("Community's own Rule Engine") is a free, 'rule engine', with advanced capabilities, for Samsung SmartThings; WebCoRE enables full customization of tiggers, automation flows, geo-fencing, and much more.
While users can create their own scripts, no coding experience is required to get started. WebCoRE interprets...
3 Steps to fix Frozen MacBook on Startup
If your MacBook or MacBook Pro is frozen and unresponsive, you likely just need to reset a few system settings.
In most cases, you can save yourself a trip to the Genius Bar with the 3 simple steps outlined below. Each step is...
Top 3 Smart Z-Wave Deadbolts for Home Automation
For both standard and non-standard doors, or doors with decorative door handles, you should consider adding a deadbolt-only smart device to the door to enable remote control and access. A smart deadbolt is simply a locking mechanism that fits into the existing deadbolt cut-out in your door, and connects to the internet to allow for remote access and programming.