https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/categories/automation/Recent content in Automation on Joe McCarthyHugoen-gbFri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/retiring-harlow-bindicator-home-assistant/Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/retiring-harlow-bindicator-home-assistant/After years of running my custom Harlow Bindicator, I’ve finally retired it in favour of Steffen Zimmermann’s excellent Waste Collection Schedule integration for Home Assistant. Combined with Idaho’s TrashCard, my waste schedule is now cleanly displayed on dashboards and powered by calendar entities.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/home-assistant-rebuild-progress/Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/home-assistant-rebuild-progress/An update on the Home Assistant rebuild, focusing on the new dashboard structure, security features, presence detection upgrades, and quality-of-life automations.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/office-climate-home-assistant/Sun, 21 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/office-climate-home-assistant/A look at how I stabilised the climate in my garage-office using a heater, circulation fan, extractor fan, and dehumidifier — all automated through Home Assistant.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/github-add-to-projects-automation/Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/github-add-to-projects-automation/A tiny workflow file adds newly opened issues and PRs from multiple repositories to one GitHub Projects board, with a PAT for permissions and no Enterprise upgrade needed.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/night-sky-pi-ntfy/Mon, 21 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0100https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/night-sky-pi-ntfy/A small Night Sky Pi module that subscribes to MQTT topics and forwards notifications to ntfy.sh, using the core config for local MQTT and a simple per-module config for routing.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/night-sky-pi-released/Mon, 14 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0100https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/night-sky-pi-released/Night Sky Pi reached 1.0.0 with automated overnight capture, date-organised storage, adaptive exposure, JSON metadata, packaging, MQTT signals, automatic cleanup, and a configurable setup.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/private-github-docker-packages/Mon, 07 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0100https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/private-github-docker-packages/Build a Spring Boot image, push it to GitHub’s private container registry with Actions, and keep storage under control by pruning untagged images.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/dependabot-with-private-packages/Mon, 30 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0100https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/dependabot-with-private-packages/Make Dependabot check private Maven packages on GitHub by adding a single registry block with org-wide wildcard support and credentials wired to secrets.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/private-github-maven-packages/Mon, 23 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/private-github-maven-packages/End-to-end steps for publishing private Java libraries to GitHub Packages and consuming them across private repos, using a PAT, a safe settings.xml, and lightweight GitHub Actions.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/simplifying-bindicator-rewrite/Mon, 16 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/simplifying-bindicator-rewrite/Rebuilt the bin day reminder to run as a scheduled GitHub Actions workflow, trading a fragile always on setup for a single file in a repo that is easier to maintain, audit, and adjust.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/combating-moisture-part-3/Sun, 09 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/combating-moisture-part-3/A month of logs showed enclosure heat is the primary problem. The plan is active ventilation to stop daytime spikes, plus a dew-point-controlled resistor ring to handle any remaining moisture at night.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/combating-moisture-part-2/Mon, 06 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/combating-moisture-part-2/Bench-tested two BME280s, deployed one in the dome and one outside in a Stevenson screen, and added an OpenWeather API feed. Logging every 15 minutes for 30 days to inform the condensation fix.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/combating-moisture-part-1/Mon, 15 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/combating-moisture-part-1/Identifies dome condensation as the image-quality culprit, outlines three potential fixes, and sets up a 30-day two-sensor study plus an OpenWeather API comparison to decide the path forward.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/night-sky-pi-pre-release/Fri, 05 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/night-sky-pi-pre-release/A garden test shows Night Sky Pi reliably captures from sunset to sunrise and packages results. The design moves to single responsibility, with a separate sender app handling off device transfers.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/night-sky-pi-february-2024-update/Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/night-sky-pi-february-2024-update/he capture loop is back: images from sunset to sunrise with per frame exposure tweaks. Next up is packaging observations, sending data off device, and refining the capture window.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/introducing-ground-control/Sun, 25 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/introducing-ground-control/A simple Spring Boot and Thymeleaf app that manages Night Sky Pi cameras from one dashboard with camera status, observation review, data download, and scheduled clean ups.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/introducing-night-sky-pi/Sun, 14 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/introducing-night-sky-pi/A minimal, low cost capture node for all sky imaging, built around a Pi Zero 2 W and the HQ Camera, with Python services that capture overnight and package data for processing elsewhere.https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/bin-day-notifications-the-harlow-bindicator/Sat, 25 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://joe-mccarthy.github.io/bin-day-notifications-the-harlow-bindicator/Building an automated reminder using scraping, GitHub Actions, and Ntfy.