Blogs
Blogs
Turn ESP32 Into a BLE Beacon Scanner for Presence Detection in Home Assistant
Turn ESP32 Into a BLE Beacon Scanner for Presence Detection in Home Assistant Before we begin: This guide assumes you have Home Assistant already set up and are comfortable with basic ESPHome configurations. I’ve tried nearly every presence detection method in my smart home journey - from WiFi-based tracking that drained my phone battery to GPS solutions that were anything but reliable indoors. That’s when I discovered the magic of BLE beacon scanning with ESP32 for room-level presence detection.
Detect Outliers in Your Metrics: A Practical Guide to Grafana Machine Learning
I’ve always been the kind of person who stares at a Grafana dashboard, watching a squiggly line, and wondering, “Is that dip normal? Should I be worried?” For years, my answer was to set up a basic threshold alert. If CPU usage goes above 90%, page someone. But what about the weird, subtle stuff? The slow creep of memory leakage or the sudden, inexplicable drop in request rate that doesn’t cross any static line but just feels… off?
Control a Smart Fan with ESP32 and Home Assistant Using Temperature Triggers
I’ve always been fascinated with making my home smarter, especially when it comes to energy efficiency and comfort. There’s something deeply satisfying about having your home respond to environmental conditions without lifting a finger. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how I built a system that automatically controls a fan based on room temperature using an ESP32 and Home Assistant. Why I Built This System Living in a climate with hot summers, I found myself constantly adjusting fans throughout the day.
Monitor Home Internet Speed Automatically with Prometheus and Speedtest Exporter
I've been battling my internet service provider for months over sporadic slowdowns that always seem to happen right before my important video calls. Sound familiar? After one too many "everything looks fine on our end" responses, I decided to take matters into my own hands and build a system that automatically tracks my internet speed 24/7. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to set up your own internet speed monitoring system using Prometheus and a Speedtest Exporter.
Automating Window Blinds with ESP32 Servo Motor and Home Assistant
I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of waking up to natural sunlight instead of a blaring alarm clock. But as someone who also values sleeping in on weekends, I needed a solution that could give me the best of both worlds. That’s when I decided to automate my window blinds with an ESP32 and servo motors, integrating everything seamlessly with Home Assistant. After a few prototypes (and one slightly mangled blind slat), I’ve perfected a system that opens my blinds based on either time schedules or ambient light conditions.
Using PromQL to Analyze CPU, Memory, and Network Metrics Effectively
If you’ve ever stared at a Grafana dashboard wondering why your server’s CPU is spiking like a caffeinated squirrel, you’re not alone. Prometheus and PromQL are my go-to tools for making sense of infrastructure metrics—once you get the hang of them, they’re like having X-ray vision for your systems. In this guide, I’ll walk you through writing effective PromQL queries to monitor CPU, memory, and network performance. Whether you’re debugging a mysterious latency issue or just keeping an eye on resource usage, these tips will save you hours of head-scratching.
Prometheus vs VictoriaMetrics: Performance, Storage, and Query Language Compared
I’ve spent years tinkering with monitoring tools—first as a hobbyist automating my smart home, then professionally while scaling observability pipelines. Two names kept popping up: Prometheus (the de facto standard) and VictoriaMetrics (the “faster, cheaper” alternative). But which one should you use? Let’s break it down with real-world benchmarks, storage deep-dives, and query language quirks. Why Compare Prometheus and VictoriaMetrics? Prometheus is the Kubernetes-monitoring darling, but VictoriaMetrics promises better performance with lower resource usage.
Building a Monitoring Stack with Prometheus, VictoriaMetrics, and Grafana: A Full Setup Guide
Ever found yourself drowning in server logs, wondering why your application crashed again at 3 AM? I’ve been there—more times than I’d like to admit. That’s why I built a robust monitoring stack with Prometheus, VictoriaMetrics, and Grafana to keep an eye on my systems. In this guide, I’ll walk you through setting up this powerful trio to collect, store, and visualize metrics at scale—without losing your sanity. Why This Stack?
Control RGB LEDs with ESP32 and Home Assistant Automations
Ever wanted to add some pizzazz to your smart home with colorful, dynamic lighting? I recently tackled this project myself—using an ESP32 to control addressable RGB LEDs and integrating them seamlessly into Home Assistant. The result? A lighting setup that responds to automations, time of day, and even sensor inputs. Here’s how you can do it too. Why This Project? Addressable RGB LEDs (like WS2812B strips) are incredibly versatile. You can create everything from subtle mood lighting to eye-catching effects.
Log Aggregation Using Grafana Loki: A Beginner’s Guide
Ever stared at a mountain of logs, desperately searching for that one error that crashed your service? I’ve been there—more times than I’d like to admit. That’s why I fell in love with Grafana Loki, a lightweight log aggregation system that pairs perfectly with Grafana for seamless troubleshooting. In this guide, I’ll walk you through setting up Loki to collect logs and correlate them with metrics in Grafana. By the end, you’ll have a powerful observability stack that makes debugging feel less like detective work and more like a well-guided tour.