I’ve had this Rigid shop vacuum, from Home Depot, for about 20 years.
At some point in the last year, the switch started having issues. The vacuum would only turn on if the switch was actually pressed in, instead of toggled. I’ve never seen that happen, but I’m guessing it was from the accumulation of dirt and dust getting inside the switch body. Then the switch wouldn’t even push in, so the vacuum wouldn’t run.
I figured it would be an easy switch replacement, so I removed a bunch of screws to take off the cover. Sure enough, the switch had two wires clipped on to it, and was held in place by the case.
I had a perfect replacement, salvaged from some device I don’t remember, in my collection of electronics parts.
It fit like a glove and the vacuum turned on as if it was brand new. I screwed the case back together and called it done.
The upgraded IKEA air quality monitors I did work great, but the LED indication isn’t great for a bedroom and the fan noise was annoying in my office. So I wanted to create a couple of my own devices for those locations. I used:
The SEN50 is a big upgrade over the PM sensors used in the IKEA devices and I used the Si7021 in place of the BME280 I had used because I think they’re a bit better. I soldered 47µF electrolytic capacitors from a big kit I’ve had (similar on Amazon) to the ENS150 modules to improve their power.
Then I attached 5 of the crimped wires to a 6P JST connector, which is what the SEN50 modules require. I’m note sure why buying the actual cable for these SEN50s are so expensive, but I got the entire JST kit for cheaper than a couple of the special cables.
All three sensors communicate with the microcontroller over I²C, so a breadboard test was easy to wire up. The SEN50 does require 5 volts instead of 3.3, so I’m glad I checked.
The ESPHome YAML code is very similar to the code used for the modified IKEA air quality monitors.
The project boxes had some standoffs on the bottom, which I snipped off and then sanded with a rotary tool. I pulled out my box of proto boards and found a size almost exactly double what I needed, so I cut out a sliver and ended up with a piece for each box. I also cut vent holes for the SEN50 sensors.
In order to get everything to fit I decided to put the microcontroller on the bottom of the board. After mocking things up I did all of the soldering. I was hoping to be able to mount everything with connectors so it could easily be taken apart, but there wasn’t enough room and I didn’t want bigger boxes.
I did some continuity testing along the way and everything worked when I connected power. With the boards ready I cut more access and ventilation holes in the boxes.
I soldered the Si7021 on to its wires outside of the enclosure so it wouldn’t be exposed to unnecessary heat and used hot gun to secure everything.
I’m really happy with how these turned out. Here’s a view of the office data on my Home Assistant dashboard.
This was definitely a project where I wished I had a 3D printer to design custom boxes. Some day, when I’m caught up on my project list and can give it proper attention. I know if I get one now I’ll spend a ton of time with it and neglect other projects in my pipeline.
IKEA recently discontinued Vindriktning, their older air quality monitor.
Inside the device, they put a cubic PM1006K particle sensor. I bought three for $16.95 each last year, because I’d seen people hack them by adding sensors and a Wi-Fi microcontroller to send all of the data to Home Assistant. For my modding I bought:
The YouTube video linked above is a great guide to follow. I didn’t connect wires to the fan or the light sensor since I had no use for them. I also didn’t stack my sensors because I wanted the BME280 to be outside of the enclosure, where it would be less affected by the heat produced by the ENS160 and D1.
Even with the sensor outside of the case, the BME280 still reads high, because it heats itself up. I actually tested different lengths of wires and placements of the sensor before realizing I was still going to have to adjust the data. An ESPHome filter made the adjustment easy, which I did individually for each unit after comparing to a mobile Ecobee thermostat sensor. This is the code from the unit for my shop.
Here is how I’m displaying the data on one of my Home Assistant dashboards.
As I was working on this project I knew I wanted a couple more air quality monitors around the house, which will be finished soon.
Update: I’ve had to make a small update by adding a 47uF capacitor to each ENS160 board, because they have power issues, causing the reading to stop for periods of time. My boards matched up with the right ones in the picture at that link. Here’s a picture of another ENS160 I modified, since it was a tight squeeze to made the modification on the devices I posted about here with everything already wired up. I also realized I was powering these through the 3V3 pin instead of VIN, so I fixed that.
I’ve also improved the display of the data on my dashboard by using mini-graph-card.
Several years ago I bought this sign from T.J.Maxx.
When I plugged it in, I was disappointed. By default it was off with a button on the side to toggle between bright, dim, and off.
I put the sign in a display cabinet with all of the LEGO and I had wanted it to automatically turn on with the rest of the LEDs in the cabinet. I never got to it, so it sat on the shelf for years. Fast forward to setting up home automations at the new house and it was time to fix the problem. The only screw on the back was for opening a battery compartment, so I figured the front had to be snapped in. With a little careful persuasion I gained entry.
I figured the electronics were pretty basic and I was right. The quick fix was to connect the sides of the button/switch.
That worked, but I noticed how flimsy all the wiring was. I replaced the wires going from the USB connector to the board, which had been causing some flickering when bumped.
I was sad at the lack of LEDs though. I could do better, with minimal effort. I took out the circuit boards and found an old five volt LED strip.
With the help of some double-sided tape, I wrapped the strip throughout the case and then also used hot glue.
In order to automate the processes of getting the golf sim ready to play and shutting it all down when finished I needed to create a remote control device. I’m using Home Assistant (HA) to run my home smart system (more posts to come), but two things involved with the golf sim aren’t connected to the network:
The projector has an infrared (IR) remote and the light has a radio frequency (RF) remote. I’ve done somethings with IR and still had a stash of IR LEDs (for transmitting) and receivers. I’ve never attempted any RF stuff, so I ordered a 5 pack of 433mhz wireless RF transmitter and receiver pairs.
Since I’m using HA, I let ESPHome handle all of the main programming. All I had to do was wire everything properly and get the configuration correct. I made use of an old ESP8266 NodeMCU microcontroller and worked on the IR aspect of the project first.
When I took the picture I was using a 470Ω resistor, which I eventually switched to 100Ω, to increase the strength of the IR signal. The transistor is a PN2222A. Here’s the ESPHome configuration:
I used the receiver to intercept the codes sent by the projector’s actual remote when pressing the Power, Input, and OK buttons. Then I created some buttons.
It all went very smooth. Next I connected the circuits for the RF components, which was straightforward. Here are the pinouts from the Amazon product page.
I soldered on the antennas (smaller one to the transmitter) and connected everything on the breadboard.
By using examples from the documentation I was able to intercept RF codes.
When I tried to recreate those codes through the transmitter the results weren’t matching up and the spotlight wasn’t responding. It took some trial and error to configure the various parameters of the receiver. Here’s the end result, with the combined configuration for IR and RF.
After using the remote_receiver instances to get the button press codes I needed, I commented out that section of the code. If I ever need to add more functionality to my remote, I can enable the receivers at that point. Here are the button codes for the spotlight.
Then I was able to use both sets of buttons in scripts, which can feed to Alexa for voice commands.
Once everything was tested I wired and soldered a more permanent circuitboard. I included a folded dollar bill for scale.
I was planning to mount it in the ceiling, but the IR was having trouble, because the projector’s receiver faces the ground. Mounting it to the side of the PC cart worked great.
This was a lot of fun!
Update: Less than a week later I’ve already modified it, by adding a DHT22, which reports temperature and humidity. Might as well use that empty D7 pin on the microcontroller.
A big part of the planning for our house included Ethernet wiring because I want to hardwire every device I can, saving the Wi-Fi for devices that require it. It’s much easier and cheaper to get everything wired during the build, instead of adding later. I went through several iterations of the plan and in the end I had the electricians do 42 runs of Cat6:
4 jacks in the office
2 jacks in the office closet
2 jacks in the pocket office
2 jacks in the guest bedroom
4 jacks behind the TV
2 jacks in the living room
2 jacks in the dining room
2 jacks in the pantry
2 jacks in the laundry room
4 jacks in the walk in closet
6 jacks in the master bedroom
10 wires to 5 exterior camera locations (1 extra at each location)
They run it all up through the ceiling. I’m guessing that is to keep it away from most of the electrical. Here’s the master bedroom nightstand wiring as an example.
Then all of the cables comes over and down a wall between the laundry room and garage.
Ending at a single location in the basement.
We built a wall (part 1 & 2) and since we moved in back in August I’d had the cable modem and old eero router sitting on top of the network rack filled with new equipment.
Throughout the house, I put port covers on the unused jacks. Here’s how a wall plate looks with one port open and one covered. The covers will help protect the internals and keep dust out.
What did I buy for my network? A LOT! Here’s all of the stuff for the rack, cables, and tools.
When it came to the actual networking equipment I took a good look at the stuff from Ubiquiti/UniFi. It’s top of the line, which is reflected by the price tag. I decided to go with TP-Link instead, saving a lot of money.
Before I started wiring everything through the rack, I cleaned up the cables.
The electricians had done all of the wall jacks throughout the house with the newer T-568B wiring standard, so I followed suit. I learned how to wire the keystone jacks and insert them in to the patch panels.
I’d never done anything like this and it was so much fun. By the end, I was pretty quick with each keystone jack. I highly recommend the Everest 45° ones and the tool for it. The basement needed some Ethernet ports for the golf sim, so I ran four new cables from the rack. I installed a couple of electrical boxes in the ceiling and wired jacks there.
I also needed a custom length Ethernet cable to run from the ceiling jack down to the gaming PC. I’d tried putting RJ45 jacks on the end of an Ethernet cable or two a long time ago and remember it being almost impossible. After watching a quick YouTube video (even though I don’t have pass through connectors), I was able to put both ends on my new cable without a problem and it passed the test.
Then I was able to use patch cables to connect ports on the patch panel to the switch as well as hook up the cable modem, Pi-hole Raspberry Pi, and TP-Link equipment. There’s also a Dell Micro in there, which I’ll cover in a later post about smart home.
When I tried to access the Omada controller I couldn’t bring up the web interface with Chrome on my Mac. After trying a bunch of stuff I checked from my iPhone and it worked. I tried Safari on my Mac which also worked. It turned out I had always prevented Chrome from accessing my local network. I flipped the switch in System Settings and the interface loaded.
At another point I accidentally disabled all of the ports on the switch. The UI splits the switch ports across three pages, and on page two I had clicked the button to select all, unselected a port, and disabled the nine other ports. I quickly realized it disabled 27 of the 28 ports. I was so pissed! Every other UI I’ve ever used will only select the items in view when you click the Select All button, but not the Omada Controller software. In order to get back in I had to access the switch via the USB console, reset the switch to factory settings, and start over.
I’m running four VLANs, named Default, Guest, IoT, and nIoT. IoT is for my Internet of Things (smart home) devices that need to access the Internet and the “n” in nIoT stands for “not” since I don’t want them to access the Internet. The Default and IoT networks are set to get their DNS from my Pi-hole server, which blocks ads and other malicious domains.
Each VLAN has a matching wireless network. The Guest Wi-Fi is set as a guest network, which automatically prevents any device from accessing another. The wireless networks for IoT and nIoT are only set to use the 2.4 GHz band since most of the devices will not work on 5 GHz.
I added mDNS rules for Printers and AirPlay devices from the IoT network to the Default network.
It took me awhile to figure out the ACL rules. I have two for the Gateway. The first prevents any outside IP from accessing my network management page and the second prevents the nIoT network from accessing the Internet.
I ended up with six rules for the switch, since the default behavior of the Omada stuff is to permit everything. With my Pi-hole server on the IoT network I had to allow it’s IP to access anything on the Default network (this should probably be limited to specific ports). I had to allow some ports from the camera IPs to access the Default network and I had to allow some ports from my Home Assistant server to access the Default network. I may find out I need to adjust those ACLs, but more on those smart home aspects in a future post. Then the IoT and nIoT networks are denied from accessing Default and a bi-directional rule prevents the Guest network from accessing any other network.
Seems to be running pretty well. I have some smart home stuff on the network, but haven’t connected any of the light switches yet and have a lot of Home Assistant configuration to do. Originally I didn’t have an access point in the basement, but after a few days realized it was necessary and added one. Here’s a view of the network topology, automatically generated by the Omada controller.
If you upload a floor plan and place walls, the software can even run a wireless coverage simulation. The house has great signal and the yard should get good connections as well.
Power over Ethernet is pretty sweet. It’s so nice not needing power cables for the 10 devices with PoE support.
Time to finish setting up my server and smart home devices. Watch for an upcoming post with all of the details.
There were two large projects in the new house with the wall for the gym/shop and then the golf sim. Working in the new shop is a joy and will get even better after I build a big assembly/outfeed table.
I’m looking forward to continuing the momentum of November and December in to 2025 and hope to tackle smaller projects through the entire year.
This is the third post in this series about putting a golf simulator in our basement. Part one covered the PC build and part two was all about theenvironment. This one will cover all of the other electronics and some things that didn’t fit in the first two posts.
The launch monitor is the piece of equipment that “watches” you hit the golf ball and determines the spin, speed, direction, and angles. I guess you might call it the brains of the operation.
Before installing the unit, I had to do some electrical work in the basement. I removed a couple of lights in the area, rewired some lighting circuits, and added three outlets in the ceiling.
In order to mount the launch monitor to the ceiling I cut a piece of 3/4″ plywood that could fit in between the joists, resting on the bottom of the I-beams. Then I was able to attach the mounting plates directly to the plywood while I was on the ground. I even locked the launch monitor in to the mounting plate and then lifted the entire assembly up to the ceiling. I felt like it was so much easier than trying to align things while working above my head. This also gave me the flexibility to slide it sideways to dial in the placement. I eventually screwed the plywood to the joists.
At this point I didn’t have the turf and the side netting wasn’t installed. I couldn’t resist and had to hit a few shots. Here’s the very first hit, which was a little chip with an 8 iron.
Due to the distance from the PC to the projector being more than 10 feet, a normal cable wouldn’t work. I snagged a fiber optic HMDI cable from Target. I didn’t need 50 feet, but I had a gift card to use there. It took me a bit to realize this type of cable isn’t bidirectional.
Since most of the basement lights need to be off when using the simulator for a crisper image, I picked up a spotlight to point at the hitting area (the green is quite nice) and a track light (bulbs).
The launch monitor comes with ProTee Labs, which shows ball and club data and allows you to hit on a range. In order to play golf and have other practice options, I got the yearly subscription to GSPro, which is exceptional!
Not necessary for the golf sim, but I bought another Apple TV 4K and a mount. It’s connected to the projector so we can watch movies, football, or anything else. I need to figure out a sound system.
There were several other small purchases, such as an extension cord to run power to the PC, velcro tape to tidy up the wires running down the post, and parts to do the electrical work.
Here’s a video of the golf simulator in action.
I’m excited to see where this can take my golf game. I’ve already started The Strike Plan (from The Practice Manual‘s author) to improve my ball striking and I’m hoping to spend time daily working on my game or having fun with it.
The normal price of the ProTee VX is $6,500 before tax, but I got a bit of a holiday discount. The total cost for everything in this post was a whopping $9,049, bringing the grand total to $14,699. I feel like that’s middle of the road for a home golf sim because you can get really cheap or you can spend more on just a launch monitor! If you have any questions about anything, leave a comment and I’ll be happy to share more.
After I’ve spent more time using the simulator I’ll post some thoughts. There will also be some upcoming side projects.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote the first post in this series about putting a golf sim in our basement, which focused on the PC. This post will focus on the environment.
When we built our home, we did 10 foot basement walls, knowing we’d be putting in a golf sim. This gave us about 9’8″ from the concrete floor up to the joists, which is plenty of room for me to swing every club in my bag.
Back in April, during a Masters sale, I ordered the SIG12 Golf Simulator Enclosure and Side Barrier Netting from The Indoor Golf Shop. By following their setup video, it was very easy to put together. Later in the process, I used a hairdryer to smooth out the wrinkles and fold lines, though I’m not sure it helped much.
The next thing I got was the hitting strip, which is one of the most important aspects of a sim because you want it to hold up for a long time, while protecting your wrists. I bought The Original Country Club Elite based on the price and reviews. The strip is 20×36″ and just under 1-3/4″ thick.
After knowing the thickness of the hitting mat, I could focus on the mats and turf to surround it. I did a lot of online searching and didn’t find many recommendations, which was surprising. A Reddit thread pointed me to the ProGrass ProPutt at Lowe’s and they ship a 8×8″ sample only $1!
It felt nice and from what I’d read, a face weight of 50 oz was good for this type of use. I took the sample over to Menards and compared it to their 44 oz.
The choice was clear, so I made an order at Lowe’s for a 13×15′ piece. To create the base and a cushion under the turf I ordered 1″ thick puzzle mats from Amazon.
Quickly after we put together the enclosure and got a feel for the space, we decided to rotate to the adjoining wall.
The turf finally arrived and I trimmed off the factory edges and cut the width to 13 feet. After hauling it to the basement I cut out the locations for the hitting strip and a couple of 1.5″ shallow putting cups. The cups were actually too tall, so I shortened them to 1-1/8″ on the table saw. Cutting the holes in the turf was nerve-wracking. Too tight and the turf bubbles around the thing you’re inserting. Cut too much of the turf, making it too loose, and you can’t go back. I bought a carpet knee kicker for stretching out the turf to remove the wrinkles and bubbles.
Brandi was a big help with the turf. I’ve never done any carpet work, so I’m amazed at the level of flatness we achieved. I’m pretty sure neither of us has a future career as a carpet installer though. I had some good carpet tape for the edges, that we ran out and the light duty stuff I picked up from Menards was useless, so I ended up buying more of the good carpet tape from Amazon.
I filled the sandbags and installed the side netting.
To help protect the ceiling from sky balls and prevent anything from going through the heating ducts, I screwed OSB over the duct and 2 layers of old puzzle mats. I also bought a 10×12′ mesh tarp from Harbor Freight and mounted it a couple of joists in front of the enclosure and draped it across and over the back.
I’m curious to see how the tarp holds up, though hopefully it rarely gets hit by a golf ball. If it works, it was a cheap solution.
To protect the edges of the turf and hide the base mats, I built a border out of 2x4s ripped down the middle and stained it.
Everything I mentioned was $3,800 and brings the total to $5,650. The third post in this series covers the other electronics and everything else.
We left our foyer empty in the house design so I could build some things for it.
First up was a coat rack. I pulled out a piece of walnut and got the bulk of the bark off the live edge. This piece has a lot of sapwood, which should turn out sweet.
Before getting ahead of myself by sizing the board in any way, I wanted to make the hooks from railroad spikes so I could see how much space they’d need. I bought about 20 of these on Facebook Marketplace a few years ago and still have a bunch.
I don’t have much for metal working tools, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to get consistent length by cutting with an angle grinder. In order to give myself a decent chance at success, I screwed a couple pieces of plywood to my drill press vise and drew a reference line. Then I cut all nine spikes.
At the disc sander I flattened the ends. For the spikes to lay square to the sanding surface I propped them up on some wood.
I soaked the pieces in a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water overnight.
Rinsed and wiped them off.
Marked the centers as best I could. Then I stepped through 3/32, 5/32, and 13/64 drill bits on each part. I broke one 3/32 bit and luckily it was deep enough in the hole where it wouldn’t matter.
Then came my favorite part, adding threads in the holes. I used a 1/4-20 tap.
I cleaned up the rest of the rust on a bench grinder wire wheel. Then primer and paint.
Back to the wood. After doing a rough mockup, I cut a length of the larger board and ripped it to create pieces for the shelf and main.
Then they went through the planer.
Drilled a bunch of holes, found some bolts in my collection, and did a dry fit.
I applied three coats of the All-Natural Wood Finish from Bumblechutes mixed 1:1 with Citrus Solvent. It was the first time I’d used this on a project and I’ll definitely be using it more. It went on easy with a foam brush and light sanding with 400 grit between coats. Then to finish it off, one coat of their Bee’Nooba Wax, which I’ve used before.
When bolting on the railroad spikes I applied a little thread locker. I mounted it to the wall and put up a sign my sister gave us.
Now I need to figure out what kind of bench to build.
