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Reduced power usage achieved!

I don’t think we (or Universal Devices) can take much credit for the ~1% drop in power usage, I’d put that on the milder weather. I’d love to automate our way into lower electric bills, but there are only a few areas where sudden darkness would not pose a safety risk. In the near term, […]

Laser Cutting at MMS

Unleashing Artistic Potential with the Computer-Controlled Laser Cutter at Manchester Makerspace At Manchester Makerspace, the possibilities for artistic expression are expanded through our recently upgraded computer-controlled laser cutter. This advanced technology opens a world of creative opportunities, allowing artists to craft intricate designs and transform various materials into stunning works of art. From acrylic and […]

Mead making

On Saturday the participants of our Mead Making class came back to learn about checking the specific gravity and racked some over to a secondary container to continue the process. Follow Manchester Makerspace on Eventbrite to see all our upcoming classes!

Mead Class is coming!

The Manchester Makerspace is excited to share that we are having a class on making Mead. This class will learn and make a batch over a three week timeframe starting on October 1st. See details & purchase tickets on Eventbrite Intro to Brewing 1: Traditional Mead Mead, melomel, honey-wine, delicious; whatever you call fermented honey […]

Automating the Auto bay

Here’s an example of the code which handles the auto bay motion events. The Axis IP camera in the bay makes a REST call to execute the “Then” clause when motion is detected, and “Else” when a motion event ends: This project leverages the generous donations from Axis (Cameras and controller) and from Universal Devices […]

Automatic setback with Honeywell Thermostats

First floor Honeywell thermostats are deployed (except the textile room where we don’t know what it does). Decision is made by the ISY994 automation controller. Setback happens after +30 minutes without any camera motion events from the Axis cameras. Experimenting with using “webhooks” in the rPi MotionEye software to do the same for Computer Lab heat […]

Bike Upgrading

Member Thad needed a longer neck on his bicycle handle bars, so he came down and made what he needed all out of aluminum.

Automating our Open House

Thanks to our ISY automation controller from Universal Devices, we’ve been able to automatically prep the HVAC (heat or cool) for our Monday Open House nights. This program automatically pre-sets the thermostat on Monday evening:

Webhooks aren’t for fishing

Our new ISY-994 z-wave controller has a bunch of options for webhooks, interfacing with open/close sensors, etc. Tons of documentation, under “IFTTT/Webhooks”. https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=ISY_Portal_IFTTT_Integration We currently use these for sending out notifications via the ISY Portal to IFTTT destinations

Woodshop thermostat automations via ISY Portal

Thanks to Universal Devices (UDI) we have an ISY-994 with Z-Wave and access to their web Portal! We can also enable Google/Alexa/IFTTT now. https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=ISY_Portal_Amazon_Echo_Integration_V3#Thermostats For example, in the woodshop, we use our Axis Communications camera motion detector to set-back the thermostat when room is empty for an hour. For the main hydronic baseboards, we’re going to […]