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Thanks for the update, MM. That sounds really interesting and I wish you all success. It sounds as if you'll have no trouble learning the Arduino. My elderly dad has similar trouble with his heating programmer, which is not surprising since I find it a right pain to use. To this day I haven't...

Looks good. I have no experience with the Pi, but I guess it makes Internet connectivity a lot easier than the Arduino. The basic problem with the village hall project was that there is no Internet connection. I got diverted into hacking routers so that we could share a neighbour's Wi-Fi. But...

Turns out the phone socket is on a chain. My router and cordless phone plug into another extension socket, so disconnecting anything would probably be a bad idea. I could crimp the connections and put them behind the box, though. Or perhaps the TV aerial would be simpler, especially if I can...

Thank you. That's better news than I'd expected. Yes. Isn't there a "four-inch" rule for separating phone and mains wiring, or am I making that up? Sounds like good practice, at least. And I suppose phone wiring should be properly terminated if I'm going to stuff it back into the wall. Gel...

I'd like an extra socket in my kitchen. Flanking an existing double socket above the counter are a phone socket and a TV aerial point, neither of which is used. Assuming both of those have standard metal back boxes, would it be possible to convert one to a spur socket? This would involve a...

While researching this I found a photo of a bell box with a massive lead-acid battery ;-( Then again, perhaps nicads and NiMH live longer than lead-acid? The SLA in the main box was completely shot, but whatever is in the bell box clearly has a bit of life in it after ten years on the wall. I...

Thanks all. The battery lasted 15 painful minutes. @securiam: I’m not removing the alarm, simply mothballing it.

For Arduino I recommend “Getting Started with Arduino”, Massimo Banzi, ISBN 978-1-449-30987-9. I think I bought it in Maplin (along with an Arduino). It does use examples – mini-projects if you like – but it’s a pretty short book and will not take you long to work through. I previously had some...

My cheap Chinese one is a lot more accurate than a tape measure, too, under those circumstances. It’s also repeatable to 1 mm, but repeatability and accuracy are not the same. I don’t think the accuracy question will be solved until someone compares cheap and expensive devices under lab...

I know this thread is a bit old, but for anyone who searches in the future for laser distance meters: I think the cheap ones are pretty good. I have this £23 one from Amazon, and for the price it’s superb. When I cut and fitted half-a-dozen roller blinds without a helper, it saved loads of time...

:-) I could arrange to be "not at home", I suppose. Or apologise in advance. The retired couple over the road are good neighbours.

Ken Shirriff has some good teardown photos showing why the fake chargers may weigh less – they just have more empty space. He also measures output power quality, and says it's often poor. And there's a quality comparison of mostly genuine chargers here. Although I'm an Apple fanboy, I'm quite...

Thanks Europlex. I was hoping there might be a fudge – applying 12V to the TMP line, say. I'll speak nicely to my window cleaner.

I'd like to decommission a Risco alarm that is no longer used. I have access to the main unit and keypad (GT480), but I don't have a ladder to reach the bell box. The battery in the bell box is at least 10 years old, but still has enough juice to set off the siren when I cut power to the main...

Sold!

Very tempting, since the house badly needs a room thermostat. But I'm looking forward to Internet control. Though I could use my Arduino for that, I suppose … it's currently set up with a 433 MHz transmitter to control electric heaters in the village hall. It turns them on OK, but then fights...

Thank you Dan. Yes, it's a class 1 bodge. But I'm the tenant, and I simply want a more flexible way to control my heating without making any changes that would be hard to reverse, or spending money on anything I can't take with me. I guess I could find a smart controller that would fit the...

Greetings, experts. Is it possible to bypass a Honeywell ST9400 programmer by applying 240V to the appropriate output (pin 4) without blowing it up? This is in a rented house with TRVs but no room thermostat. I'd like to be able to control the heating remotely, preferably without disturbing the...