Products we
actually use.
Honest links to the hardware, software, and services running in Rita, our home, and our marine projects. Some links are affiliate links — they help fund the channel at no extra cost to you.
* Affiliate disclosure: Links marked with ✦ may earn us a small commission.
🚐 Rita's Build List
Everything bolted, wired or coded into Rita.
Victron SmartShunt 500A
PowerOur go-to battery monitor. Bluetooth, accurate, and works perfectly with Node-RED via the Victron MQTT bridge.
ESP32-CAM Module
AIThe camera used in Rita's face-recognition entry system. Insanely capable for the price — under £5.
Govee Temperature Sensor
SensorBluetooth temp/humidity sensors we use throughout Rita. Integrates with Home Assistant out of the box.
Shelly Pro 4PM
ControlDIN-rail power monitoring relay. Measures actual consumption per circuit — essential for energy management flows.
🏠 Home Automation Stack
The hardware and software running our house.
Raspberry Pi 5
ServerRuns Home Assistant, Node-RED, and Mosquitto MQTT broker. The brains of our home automation setup.
Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle
ZigbeeThe coordinator we use for all Zigbee devices. Plug into the Pi, pair with Zigbee2MQTT, done.
Aqara Motion Sensor P1
PresenceFast, accurate, Zigbee. Paired with mmWave sensors for zero-blind-spot room presence detection.
Nuki Smart Lock Pro
SecurityThe smart lock on our front door. Integrates with Home Assistant natively, no cloud required in local mode.
🛠️ Tools & Platforms
The software stack behind everything we do.
Node-RED
FreeThe core of our entire automation stack. Open source, runs anywhere, and endlessly extensible.
Home Assistant
FreeThe best open-source home automation platform available. We run HAOS on a Pi 5 with Zigbee2MQTT.
Cloudflare Tunnel
Free tierHow we expose our local Home Assistant and Node-RED securely to the internet — no port forwarding required.