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Switching my Temperature Sensor from BLE to Zigbee (Part #3)
In Part 3 of my series on making a Temperature sensor using Zigbee, I discuss issues with connectivity and finally getting good battery life. I run through some of the PCB design changes before talking about what is outstanding. Read ⇢
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Lowering Matter device power consumption in ESP32-C6
Whilst I wait to take delivery of the PCBs for my Zigbee F.A.R.T. sensor project, I returned my attention to my Matter switch project. I had great success reducing the power consumption of my Zigbee sensor. I now wanted to see what I what was possible with the ESP32-C6. Sleep… Read ⇢
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More successful adventures in reducing nRF52840 power consumption
As I get closer to finishing v0.1 of my Zigbee F.A.R.T. sensor, I continue to look at power consumption. This is my first post of 2025, so Happy New Year! I thought I was doing okay! My initial testing had the sensor sipping an average 400µA. Some more tinkering got… Read ⇢
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Getting lower power consumption on the XIAO nRF52840
Following on the heels of the success with my nRF52840DK power consumption, I moved to my XIAO nRF52840 board. This was the board I wanted to run my Zigbee F.A.R.T, sensor on. I used the same arrangement as before, with the Nordic Power Profiler Kit (PPK) supplying 3.3v. I soldered… Read ⇢
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Reducing power consumption in my nRF52840 Zigbee sensor with the help of a Nordic Semiconductors’ Power Profiler Kit
As part of tinkering on my Matter and Zigbee projects, I want to support battery power. Specifically, I want my Zigbee FART sensor to run for a few months on a battery. I’d love to box it up and hide away all the wires. My wife would love that too.… Read ⇢
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Switching my Temperature Sensor from BLE to Zigbee (Part #2)
In Part #1, I started trying to convert my simple two probe temperature sensor from BLE to Zigbee. I got off to a slow start, dealing with compilation issues and incorrect behaviour. When I finished the previous post, I was waiting to hear back from Nordic’s support. I’m writing this… Read ⇢
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Building a Matter powered “under-the-counter” light switch for my kitchen worktop
Light switches are great, but when paired with ordinary bulbs, they have their limitations. Smart light bulbs are better, but require a different approach! My main problem with light switches is that they aren’t always beside you when you need to flick them. 99% of the time it’s not a… Read ⇢
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Switching my Temperature Sensor from BLE to Zigbee (Part #1)
Having had a lot of success with a Matter device project, I started thinking about my twin probe temperature sensor. I wondered if was possible to convert from my dodgy BLE mesh to Zigbee. My BLE Mesh wasn’t behaving itself, so perhaps going to Zigbee would help improve my radiator… Read ⇢
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Does low temperature heating actually use more gas?
With the first cold weather snap behind me, I wanted to share the results of a little experiment I ran to answer this question: Does having your heating on low and slow use more gas than having it hot with short bursts? This is the question I often get asked… Read ⇢
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