Playing with sensors, or: IoT is trendy.
BigClown isn't new to me — back when they were looking for backers on Indiegogo I supported them. I thought their idea was great. The advertised integration with the Turris router sounded more than promising.
Turris still doesn't have BigClown support in the UI, but even so I can monitor how temperature, humidity and pressure develop. BigClown was looking for backers for further growth — I backed them again. I got an extra sensor and receiver (USB dongle). Why back them a second time? Great idea, excellent documentation — why not.
I started playing around on the desktop alone, using the BigClown Playground app. Measuring temperature, humidity, pressure, battery voltage and more. I connected these readings to Apple HomeKit — all thanks to the great documentation. With the new firmware I updated my first sensor to also report battery voltage and the temperature measured by the core module itself.
Gradually I built more modules (climate ones), including one measuring outdoor temperature (DS18B20). I integrated everything into an RPi — data goes to Grafana and to my phone (Blynk and HomeKit). I know whether the flat is warm or cold, whether the washing machine is running, or where laundry is drying (via humidity).
Whenever I ran into a problem, the documentation helped a lot, as did Google and not least the BigClown staff themselves. Even on a Sunday evening they were happy to advise and point me towards a solution.
I plan to cover the kitchen too, try a CO₂ module and a VOC sensor. I'd also like to add a CO level sensor — handy in a building with gas heating.
