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August Wi-Fi Smart Lock - Fixing the Battery Life Problem

The August Lock Wi-Fi is a substantial improvement over the August Lock Pro.  But its battery life isn't just bad - it's unworkable.  Fortunately, the issue can be fixed. 

Apple Watch Ultra - No Effort Fitness Tracking

Fitness tracking requires motivation. The Apple Watch Ultra does all of that for you.

MyQ - Getting Wifi to Detached Garage with Powerline Internet

Our old house had a MyQ enabled garage door panel, and it worked PERFECTLY.  (After we added a MyQ Home Bridge, anyway.) At the new house, our garage is detached. Our wifi signal reaches the garage when the door is open, but not when the door is closed. Bottom line, MyQ didn't work anymore.  So we had to look into new MyQ devices - and Powerline. 

How To Install an Ecobee over an Electrical Box

When we moved into our new house, we inherited an Ecobee thermostat.  To be honest... I liked our old Nest more. It had stainless steel and glass, while the Ecobee felt more plasticky.  But the Ecobee has HomeKit, and Nest does not.  So we got 2 more Ecobees.  And then the problems started. 

August Lock - HomeKit Problems, HomeBridge Solutions

HomeKit integration for the August Lock Wi-Fi is broken. It simply doesn't work.  Fortunately, HomeBridge is there to pick up the pieces. 

HomeBridge and QNAP and Ring... Wow, it worked!

  As promised, we went ahead and installed HomeBridge on our QNAP NAS.  And we connected our Ring Doorbell and cameras to HomeKit.  It worked. It worked SO well.

HomeKit and Home Automation at the End of 2021

The last couple of years have been kind of a mess for everyone. We moved into a new house, and then immediately got locked down in it.   Here's what we've been up to on the HomeKit front.