New Adventures in WiFi

The Broadlink RM Pro universal RF and IR sender has arrived. I want to use this device to control some of my audio-visual equipment that only has IR control. Being wary of giving up information to some companies, I was keen to find a way to control this device without relying on the Broadlink e-Control  app. This led me to Home Assistant , which I'll talk about in another post . In order to get the RM Pro on the network, I installed the e-Control app on my Android device, but denied it from having any permissions, other than those that were necessary to get the device working. I then blocked any outgoing internet traffic from this device using my WiFi router, to permit local control over my network, but prevent the device from dialing home. I then commenced setting up the RM Pro in Home Assistant.

With a lot of smart home products coming on the market, and being discussed in my various news feeds, I was keen to start experimenting with some devices. There appeared to be a lack of products intended for the Australian market, and so after a bit of reading I learnt about Sonoff products manufactured by a company named  ITEAD  and purchased the following items. Sonoff S20 Smart Plug Sonoff RF Bridge Sonoff PIR2 Infrared Motion Detector My thinking was that I would use the S20 Smart Plug to experiment with some home automations, and use the RF Bridge and IR Motion Detector as the beginnings of a home security system. Configuration required installation of the eWeLink app by Sonoff. Unfortunately, when I sat down to start configuring the RF Bridge, I realised that potentially I was giving away more information through the app than I was willing to provide. My first pause point was the need to provide the password to my WiFi network. I also consi...