More of an observation than a question really so here we go.
From the first week of Covid-19 lock down I decided to increase my knowledge of all things IOT and have a go at automating my home heating system. I purchased a Sonoff TH16 and a Raspberry Pi 4 and started reading and gleaning information from many internet sources.
Before long I had modified the Sonoff to fit in a standard thermostat casing, updated the firmware with Tasmota and wired it into my heating system. I incorporated an override switch to get me back to some normality should anything go wrong.
After installing Raspbian on the the Pi, it was adorned with an MQTT broker, and Node-Red flows were created to operate my heating system just the way I wanted it, along with a nice dashboard to show what was happening on remote devices.
It wasn't long before I wanted to do more with the Pi 4 so I decided to free it up by purchasing a Pi zero W and move the heating control over to that.
What a fantastic piece of kit it is! The Pi zero cost me a tenner (and it came with other bits too like a case and leads). Ok it is considerably slower than the Pi 4 but hey, for the price of a packet of cigarettes I can live with that. I just love that for next to nothing anyone can get started in the wonderful world of IOT.
I would just like to add that none of this would have been possible for me without the help of some fantastic resources created and maintained by passionate tinkerers on this site and many others, all of whom give their time freely and without complaint or reward.
Well done chaps, keep up the fantastic work.
