Selfhosted @lemmy.world Otter @lemmy.ca 1 mo. ago

A friend joked about making accounts for their dog on self hosted services, so that it could turn lights on and off. What are some unconventional things you've seen for pets and homelabs?

Or rather, homelabs and home labs?

(image from Wikimedia)

19 comments

I have a sliding door that I want to toss a stepper motor on, so my dog can push a button and let himself in / out.

Dog tax
- That’s one happy cotton ball.
- Floof mode engaged.
- Interesting idea. It needs one big stepper motor, I guess. Do you know a specific type that's strong enough?
  
  Could just use a regular DC motor and limit switches.
My dog refuses to do 2FA so that's not going to happen anytime soon... /s
- Sometimes can’t distinguish between a hydrant and a couch so it wouldn’t do a CAPTCHA either
- Yubi key is the solution
  
  My dog authenticates access to back yard with a Yubark Key that works over the wireless audio network.
I have a self-filling, self-cleaning water bowl for my dogs. With two Great Danes, keeping the water bowl clean and full is a chore.

Right now it uses a digital timer and does an empty/fill cycle 16 times per day using those capacitive water sensors for the level setting and overflow detection. In a future iteration I plan on incorporating MQTT via WiFi for alerts and manual control.
- Self cleaning? Is it something you made or what's the name is it? I'd be interested in details either way
  
  I really want a fancier water fountain for my cats but never found a self cleaning one :(
  
  It is a DIY setup. Basically is a sink bowl with the logic of a sump pump with high/low floats (couple of relays and sensors), a fountain pump to drain to a nearby sink, and a valve to fill. The timer drains the water every hour and the fill part is essentially a cheap shower head aimed at an angle so when it is draining and filling at the same time the water is swirling, making it (mostly) self-cleaning. I wipe the inside and outside every week or so just to make sure it is working and isn't growing anything.
  
  Biggest worry since it is DIY is that something will fail and flood my house. I have a separate high level sensor that closes the valve, starts the pump, and sounds an alarm to help with that, and one of those cheap, warbling 9v water sensors nearby just in case.
- What brand is it? I currently have a gravity fed 2 gallon bowl but fully self filling would be great.
  
  I would also like to know this, best I could come up with was one of those electric water cooler pumps that fit over the top of the bottle.
  
  It is a DIY setup. We had one of those bottle setups like you describe. For my big dogs all it did was slowly become more slobber than water. I realized the problem wasn't more water but getting rid of the slobber.
  
  Post above describes what I did if you're interested.
New Lemmy Post: A friend joked about making accounts for their dog on self hosted services, so that it could turn lights on and off. What are some unconventional things you've seen for pets and homelabs? (https://lemmyverse.link/lemmy.world/post/15702535)
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