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2026-05-05 8:29 pm
Hello folks. I am Greg, currently a resident of western Montana, formerly of Texas, Minnesota, and Michigan. I have dabbled very lightly in electronics and worked more consistently in programming over the past 4 decades or so. I'm here looking for motivation and inspiration for fun little electronics projects.
DonVano reacted
2026-05-08 8:56 am
Hi Greg!What kind of small electronics projects are you most interested in? Like IoT devices, sensor gadgets, microcontroller creations, or retro electronics projects?
Yassin | Building Compact, High-Current Connections for Drones & Robots
Topic starter
2026-05-09 9:04 pm
@yassin It is hard for me to predict what projects will grab my attention. In many cases I just want to learn how stuff works. Sometimes I have a niche application that I really want solved. I have a Home Assistant installation, a few Lyrion music servers, and some custom servers that interact with those. I've done the introductory tutorials for a Pi Pico. I have built 2 circuits (modules, op-amps, transistors, etc.) that I use IRL. And I recently got an oscilloscope so excuses to use that are likely of interest.
2026-05-15 1:06 am
I totally get where you’re coming from—I’m also the kind of person who loves digging into how things work and building stuff for specific, niche use cases rather than just chasing flashy projects.
I’ve actually built a Raspberry Pi 5 + Home Assistant smart home hub project that might be really useful for you. It’s a local, self-hosted control core that ties together HA, custom small servers, and even integrates nicely with audio/ media services like Lyrion.
What mine does:
- Runs HA OS stably on Pi 5, with good performance for 24/7 headless use
- Connects Wi‑Fi/Zigbee/IR devices, custom ESP32 modules, and third-party ecosystems (Tuya, Xiaomi, etc.)
- Supports scripted automation and local control (no cloud dependency)
- Works cleanly alongside other self-hosted services like music servers
- Includes hardware tweaks: cooling, power optimization, and stable boot from SD/SSD
Since you already have HA, Lyrion servers, custom circuits, Pi Pico experience, and even an oscilloscope (awesome tool!), this project overlaps a lot with your setup. I’ve documented the full deployment, hardware wiring, and basic debugging steps—so you could reuse parts for your own niche applications.
If you’re curious, I can share the build details or help you adapt it to your existing servers!
Yassin
Yassin | Building Compact, High-Current Connections for Drones & Robots
Topic starter
2026-05-17 8:21 pm
Sorry for the slow reply. I missed the email notification of your post.
My HA server is a Pi 4 installed in 2019 in a detached shop. It does just a few simple things that are used regularly. One feature I would like is to automate air exchange between inside and outside the building so I can take advantage of warm afternoon air during the cool spring and fall months and cool night air during the hot summer months. The obstacle stopping me is integrating the required duct work with the existing ERV unit. Thank you for the offer, but at this time I don't think example HA implementations would help.
I find voice-activated commands promising. I ran a local Rhasspy server for a year or two in my shop but performance, stability, and maintainability were questionable. DFRobot has a speech recognition module that I've been looking at, but I haven't thought of a sufficiently interesting application.
Yesterday I was poking at a 555 circuit to blink an LED and then drive a passive buzzer. Next maybe a simple circuit to drive a small speaker.
2026-05-18 3:03 am
No worries at all, Greg! Thanks for the detailed update.
That air exchange automation for your shop sounds super practical—perfect use case for HA and custom electronics. Integrating with an ERV can be tricky, but it’s definitely a fun challenge to tackle later.
Rhasspy and local voice control are awesome goals; DFRobot’s speech recognition module is solid, and I’m sure you’ll find a cool use case for it soon.
And 555 timer circuits + LED blinker + buzzer + small speaker driver? That’s classic, fun electronics at its best—perfect for putting that new oscilloscope to good use. Can’t wait to see how your projects progress!
Yassin | Building Compact, High-Current Connections for Drones & Robots