{"id":8968,"date":"2025-03-29T13:53:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T13:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/?p=8968"},"modified":"2025-03-29T13:53:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T13:53:51","slug":"sorting-out-my-smart-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm","title":{"rendered":"Sorting out my smart home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2021\/02\/smart-lighting-part-1-getting-started.htm\">A few years ago, I bought some Philips Hue lights<\/a>. Then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2021\/02\/smart-lighting-part-2-adding-innr-and-ikea-tradfri-bulbs-to-my-philips-hue-installation.htm\">I extended the system with some Innr bulbs, and some IKEA Tr\u00e5dfri lights<\/a> too. It&#8217;s mostly worked OK: the Philips and Innr stuff is flawless; the IKEA kit has its foibles (but was cheap).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More recently, I started to look at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.home-assistant.io\/\">Home Assistant<\/a> and I installed a pre-built &#8220;Home Assistant Green&#8221; unit. One of the things I bought was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.home-assistant.io\/connectzbt1\/\">a SkyConnect dongle &#8211; for Zigbee support<\/a>. When I set up Home Assistant it discovered my Hue bridge and all the lights, so I didn&#8217;t use the SkyConnect at first, until I started to add some more sensors that Hue didn&#8217;t recognise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Consolidating Zigbee networks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I couldn&#8217;t understand why my lights were not acting as Zigbee routers for the door\/window sensors I had purchased &#8211; and then I realised that I actually have two Zigbee networks in the house now! So I started to move the Hue lights over to the Zigbee Home Assistant (ZHA) network that the SkyConnect had established. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next problem was, predictably, an IKEA bulb I&#8217;d purchased. When I originally joined it to Hue, I had problems with the official app and <a href=\"https:\/\/community.hueessentials.com\/t\/how-to-connect-lights-using-touchlink-in-hue-essentials\/65\">I needed to use TouchLink via the Hue Essentials app<\/a>. I&#8217;m having no such luck on ZHA &#8211; I can&#8217;t even <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/mJm9YpPrGzk?si=4cfP8cDBToDOGaay\">get the bulb into pairing mode<\/a>&#8230; so it&#8217;s presently just a normal (not smart) lamp&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Extending the reach<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With most of the Hue and Innr lamps now migrated to ZHA, I&#8217;ve started to add other Zigbee devices to the network now. Firstly, I have some cheap (\u00a33) temperature and humidity sensors from Tuya that I bought on AliExpress. One of these is monitoring the levels overnight in the Man Cave and turning on a radiator if necessary overnight to keep the humidity down. I&#8217;ve also put a Tuya Zigbee signal repeater in the kitchen, to help boost the signal towards the garden (at least until I put some more bulbs in that will act as routers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve since found that the SkyConnect is not necessarily the best Zigbee co-ordinator (people seem to recommend a Sonoff model instead), but it has the advantage of being supported by Nabu Casa &#8211; the creators of Home Assistant. And then there&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/RWzzNe5gm5s?si=9nfhZzi6d4ILaPCw\">the choice between ZHA and some other competing approaches<\/a>&#8230; let&#8217;s not go into that here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A couple more things&#8230; <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A year or so ago, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/01\/using-nfc-tags-to-automate-my-home.htm\">I wrote about using NFC tags to automate some of the routines in my house<\/a>. That&#8217;s all been moved across to Home Assistant now, with the advantage that the automations are no-longer device-specific and anyone with the Home Assistant app can scan a tag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for the app&#8230; after an incident last summer when the garden lights turned off (on a timer) and my wife wanted to switch them back on but didn&#8217;t know how, I gave access to the app. She is pleased that she now has &#8220;the power&#8221;. I am pleased that the system is usable by non-geeks. I do need to learn how to create Home Assistant dashboards though, because the list of connected devices and entities is getting quite extensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I still can&#8217;t get my family to stop turning off the lights at the switch though&#8230; so I need to find some UK-compatible Zigbee smart switches that will be acceptable for use!<br><br><em>Featured image by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/users\/geralt-9301\/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=3964427\">Gerd Altmann<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/\/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=3964427\">Pixabay<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago, I bought some Philips Hue lights. Then I extended the system with some Innr bulbs, and some IKEA Tr\u00e5dfri lights too. It&#8217;s mostly worked OK: the Philips and Innr stuff is flawless; the IKEA kit has its foibles (but was cheap). More recently, I started to look at Home Assistant and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Sorting out my smart home<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[821,743,744,741,742,848,849,740],"class_list":["post-8968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-home-assistant","tag-ikea-tradfri","tag-innr","tag-philips-hue","tag-smart-home","tag-tuya","tag-zha","tag-zigbee"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sorting out my smart home - markwilson.it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A post about some of the changes I&#039;ve made in recent months to improve my smart home setup - including reducing the number of Zigbee networks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sorting out my smart home - markwilson.it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A post about some of the changes I&#039;ve made in recent months to improve my smart home setup - including reducing the number of Zigbee networks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"markwilson.it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-29T13:53:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-29T13:53:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/smart-home-3964427-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Wilson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@markwilsonit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@markwilsonit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Wilson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Wilson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468\"},\"headline\":\"Sorting out my smart home\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-29T13:53:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-29T13:53:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm\"},\"wordCount\":583,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/smart-home-3964427-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Home Assistant\",\"Ikea Tradfri\",\"Innr\",\"Philips Hue\",\"Smart Home\",\"Tuya\",\"ZHA\",\"Zigbee\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm\",\"name\":\"Sorting out my smart home - markwilson.it\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/smart-home-3964427-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-29T13:53:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-29T13:53:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"A post about some of the changes I've made in recent months to improve my smart home setup - including reducing the number of Zigbee networks\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/smart-home-3964427-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/smart-home-3964427-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sorting out my smart home\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"markwilson.it\",\"description\":\"get-info -class technology | write-output &gt; \\\/dev\\\/web\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468\",\"name\":\"Mark Wilson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1\",\"width\":800,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Mark Wilson\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1\"},\"description\":\"A Chartered IT Professional, with recent experience in technology leadership, IT strategy and practice management roles, Mark Wilson is an Enterprise Architect in the Advisory and Management Group at risual. During a career spanning more than two decades, Mark has gained widespread recognition as an expert in his field including both industry and national press exposure. In addition to certifications from Microsoft, VMware, Red Hat, The Open Group and Axelos, Mark held a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for three years and is now part of the MVP Reconnect programme. Mark is also well-known on social media and maintains an award-winning blog.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/markwilsonuk\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/markawilson\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/markwilsonit\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCWHlZCoHRTocdvtrOJ2IL4A\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/mark-wilson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sorting out my smart home - markwilson.it","description":"A post about some of the changes I've made in recent months to improve my smart home setup - including reducing the number of Zigbee networks","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sorting out my smart home - markwilson.it","og_description":"A post about some of the changes I've made in recent months to improve my smart home setup - including reducing the number of Zigbee networks","og_url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm","og_site_name":"markwilson.it","article_published_time":"2025-03-29T13:53:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-29T13:53:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/smart-home-3964427-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mark Wilson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@markwilsonit","twitter_site":"@markwilsonit","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Wilson","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm"},"author":{"name":"Mark Wilson","@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468"},"headline":"Sorting out my smart home","datePublished":"2025-03-29T13:53:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-29T13:53:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm"},"wordCount":583,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/smart-home-3964427-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","keywords":["Home Assistant","Ikea Tradfri","Innr","Philips Hue","Smart Home","Tuya","ZHA","Zigbee"],"articleSection":["Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm","url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm","name":"Sorting out my smart home - markwilson.it","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/smart-home-3964427-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","datePublished":"2025-03-29T13:53:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-29T13:53:51+00:00","description":"A post about some of the changes I've made in recent months to improve my smart home setup - including reducing the number of Zigbee networks","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/smart-home-3964427-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/smart-home-3964427-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/sorting-out-my-smart-home.htm#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sorting out my smart home"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"markwilson.it","description":"get-info -class technology | write-output &gt; \/dev\/web","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468","name":"Mark Wilson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1","width":800,"height":800,"caption":"Mark Wilson"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1"},"description":"A Chartered IT Professional, with recent experience in technology leadership, IT strategy and practice management roles, Mark Wilson is an Enterprise Architect in the Advisory and Management Group at risual. During a career spanning more than two decades, Mark has gained widespread recognition as an expert in his field including both industry and national press exposure. In addition to certifications from Microsoft, VMware, Red Hat, The Open Group and Axelos, Mark held a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for three years and is now part of the MVP Reconnect programme. Mark is also well-known on social media and maintains an award-winning blog.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/markwilsonuk\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/markawilson\/","https:\/\/x.com\/markwilsonit","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCWHlZCoHRTocdvtrOJ2IL4A"],"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/author\/mark-wilson"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/smart-home-3964427-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8176,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2021\/02\/smart-lighting-part-2-adding-innr-and-ikea-tradfri-bulbs-to-my-philips-hue-installation.htm","url_meta":{"origin":8968,"position":0},"title":"Smart lighting: Part 2 (adding Innr and IKEA Tr\u00e5dfri bulbs to my Philips Hue installation)","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Wednesday 24 February 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"My blog posts are like buses. You wait years for one to come along, and then two arrive at once. The only problem is that they are four years late. In part 1 of this series, I wrote about getting started with Zigbee lighting, in the form of Philips Hue.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/technology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/lamp-923716_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/lamp-923716_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/lamp-923716_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/lamp-923716_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/lamp-923716_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8626,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/01\/using-nfc-tags-to-automate-my-home.htm","url_meta":{"origin":8968,"position":1},"title":"Using NFC tags to automate my home","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Wednesday 24 January 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Imagine a home with a smart thermostat to control the heating, smart lights to control the lighting, and smart sockets to control other electrical devices. Well, for some people, that doesn't require a lot of imagination - it's just the way things are! My home isn't quite like that. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/technology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/nfc-tag.jpg?fit=801%2C599&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/nfc-tag.jpg?fit=801%2C599&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/nfc-tag.jpg?fit=801%2C599&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/nfc-tag.jpg?fit=801%2C599&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8172,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2021\/02\/smart-lighting-part-1-getting-started.htm","url_meta":{"origin":8968,"position":2},"title":"Smart lighting: Part 1 (getting started with Philips Hue\/Zigbee)","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Sunday 21 February 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier today, I spotted a tweet from Karan Chadda (@kchadda) that reminded me of an unfinished blog post from 2017... This remains the truest thing I've ever tweeted. https:\/\/t.co\/5cYp5ymXnV\u2014 Karan Chadda (@kchadda) February 21, 2021 So, here's part one of the story that never got posted... A new Hue Around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/technology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/philips-hue-3146129_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C778&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/philips-hue-3146129_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C778&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/philips-hue-3146129_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C778&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/philips-hue-3146129_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C778&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/philips-hue-3146129_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C778&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7573,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/10\/short-takes-canon-selphy-ink-cassette-issues-a-new-samsung-4k-monitor-tracking-down-digital-copies-of-ikea-assembly-instructions.htm","url_meta":{"origin":8968,"position":3},"title":"Short takes: Canon Selphy ink cassette issues; a new Samsung 4K monitor; tracking down digital copies of Ikea assembly instructions","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Friday 19 October 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A collection of snippets from this week's life with tech... Ink cassette\/cartridge issues with a Canon Selphy photo printer My son has a Canon Selphy CP780. It's been great for printing the odd 6x4\" photo on demand but it recently started playing up, struggling to feed paper and then complaining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/technology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/9TqHINBmbgQ\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5911,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2015\/08\/cutting-laminate-worktops-a-fine-blade-makes-a-huge-difference.htm","url_meta":{"origin":8968,"position":4},"title":"Cutting laminate worktops &#8211; a fine blade makes a huge difference","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Sunday 23 August 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Mrs W has promised our eldest son a larger\u00a0bedroom. That means a smaller office for us... and lots of clearing out plus a week's DIY planned for October... Last weekend's trip to IKEA in preparation also taught me that a) they don't make the Pragel counters I currently use in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Waffle and randomness&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Waffle and randomness","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/inane-waffle"},"img":{"alt_text":"20 teeth circular saw blade is no good for cutting laminate worktops","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/images\/not-a-fine-blade.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6264,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2016\/01\/compact-and-bijou-my-home-office.htm","url_meta":{"origin":8968,"position":5},"title":"Compact and bijou &#8211; my home office!","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Friday 1 January 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"As the Christmas holidays draw to a close (and they have certainly rushed by), I'm reminded to write about how\u00a0I spent my previous \"holiday\".\u00a0October half term was a busy one as we swapped my eldest son's bedroom and our home office, redecorating and refitting along the way... or, as I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Waffle and randomness&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Waffle and randomness","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/inane-waffle"},"img":{"alt_text":"IKEA Signum desk grommet","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/images\/ikea-signum-cable-grommet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8971,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8968\/revisions\/8971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}