Dreas' tech and life posts

Our house has been built in the 50s and uses “natural ventilation”. Essentially this means there is poor isolation and air can escape/get in through random holes. Ventilation is important, so that’s great. However it also means cold air can easily get in and hence we need a lot more gas to heat the house.… Continue reading Ventilation, CO2, humidity, and temperature

Update 04/10/21: Helaas, geen Fier 3. Voor nu hebben we de Vogue Superior 3 Deluxe besteld. Naar ons idee echt een stuk minder qua kwaliteit, we hopen hem te verkopen zodra de Fier 3 wel leverbaar is. Update 30/09/21: De dealer geeft aan geen levering in week 39 te hebben ontvangen maar ook geen nieuws… Continue reading Bakfiets Batavus Fier 3

Update 09/09/21: Spouw is vandaag geïsoleerd door Vink. Vooralsnog (zoals verwacht) lijkt alles top gedaan. Update 16/09/21: We gaan in zee met Vink Isolatie Culemborg BV. Eerlijk verhaal. SKGIKOB gecertificeerde parels met een transparante herkomst van grondstof en lijm. Gevelonderhoud expert (dus mochten ze de boel verpesten hebben ze zelf de kennis het goed te… Continue reading Spouwmuur isolatie EPS of glaswol

Update 15/07/2021: I decided to leave an old Android phone active in my house for automation. It is set to check the light every 4 minutes. The motion sensor is configured to revert the light to the original state after 7 minutes. MacroDroid will always catch the event, and no longer needs the LampShade plugin… Continue reading Postal mail delivery notification using  Hue Motion Sensor

I borrowed the Bosch AXT 25 D garden shredder from a friend. It quickly got stuck (multiple times), probably because I had too many smaller leafy branches. I purchased the AXT 25 TC myself now and it has been working great. It so far never got stuck and had no problems to shred lots of… Continue reading Bosch AXT 25 TC garden shredder

Update 20/07/21: It’s actually possible to integrate using e.g. Tasker or MacroDroid and the Bold Smart Lock on Android. If you enable the “Auto activation” feature for your lock, a notification will show when you are nearby the lock. This notification persists until you close it. It also includes the name of your lock. You… Continue reading Bold Smart Lock Automation

Update 18/06/2021: After many sunny days we had some rain. The Akrobat mat also stays pretty wet, although it seems more spread out than it was on Avyna. Update 11/06/2021: At EUR 179 it was too tempting to buy and try the Akrobat Primus mat. You need to ensure you pick the one matching the… Continue reading Avyna vs Akrobat flatlevel trampoline

Update 02/05/2021: Somehow the ethernet backhaul is not being used. Initially it worked for a fairly remote router (different building), and after reshuffling things it keeps connecting via WiFi instead of Ethernet. Since the connection is “good” I didn’t bother to try and fix it, however my dad now fot a similar setup and also… Continue reading Google Nest Wifi

I like to use the WordPress Android app to quickly edit this site. Whenever I reinstall WordPress, it cannot connect directly and returns a XML-RPC issue claiming support is missing on the server. The solution is to (1) ensure Jetpack plugin is installed on the site, (2) not to connect directly to the site from… Continue reading WordPress XML-RPC

We travelled New Zealand for 8 months with our 2 and 3 year old children. Instead of hiring a campervan, we bought a car and caravan. That choice seemed to be unique, however when spending >5 months in New Zealand I can definitely recommend it!We purchased the caravan from Leasure Imports Ltd in Silverdale (Paul),… Continue reading Traveling New Zealand with toddlers