Comment on Home Automation: Simple vs Easy by Sammie Gee

In reply to brian.

I second current loops. Shielded twisted stranded pairs 4-20 mA kinds.

Was looking for good reliable documentation for amateur DIYers, seem simpler in practice (humble home, wide tolerances, so I won't need industrial grade sensors) than CAN bus and sure been around longer than anything to prove it Just Works When It Needs to Work. As a nice side effect of being analog, it allows for cheap analog VU meters (after obvious voltage drop from suggested 24V) to supplement the ubbity uppity MCUs.

For now I am going with Attinys for ADC/number-crunching, as I have plenty of spares left after other projects, but could be upgraded to some Pi Pico if/when merited. Oh, found this nifty board that has rp2040 (pico) paired with dedicated tcp/ip stack chip, presto, instantly online, future expansion. (i've tried ESPC3 before - similarly, works kinda sorta, just too power hungry for my humble needs, later, maybe, if I consider WiFi).