Tomas McGuinness
@tomasmcguinness.bsky.social
Software developer with an interest in DIY, smart home tech and home heating. I make videos on YouTube https://youtube.com/@tomasmcguinness and blog at tomasmcguinness.com
People often ask me why I DIY. It’s because of things like this: this flat piece of timber has my freestanding bath tap attached to its it’s not even fixed to the joist. The tap is now leaning at an angle.
November 16, 2025 at 12:01 PM
People often ask me why I DIY. It’s because of things like this: this flat piece of timber has my freestanding bath tap attached to its it’s not even fixed to the joist. The tap is now leaning at an angle.
First go soldering a module to my new PCB. Not a bad attempt. I’m certainly getting better!
November 15, 2025 at 8:19 PM
First go soldering a module to my new PCB. Not a bad attempt. I’m certainly getting better!
In this post, I look at the massive mistake I made in my PCB design. I got the LDO the wrong way around.
LDO the wrong way around!
Disaster! I finally got around to putting some components on the latest version of my Dual Temperature PCB. Unfortunately, I found a huge mistake! The Module I started assembling the board with the MinewSemi nRF54L15 module. I made a better first pass with this than I did with the DevKit. Plenty of flux!
tomasmcguinness.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:38 PM
In this post, I look at the massive mistake I made in my PCB design. I got the LDO the wrong way around.
In this post, I add Power Forecasts to my Matter Heat Pump simulator. This demonstrates how a heat pump might communicate its expected power consumption to a Device Energy Manager.
Adding Power Forecasts to my Matter Heat Pump
In this post, I created a basic Heat Pump implementation using Matter-JS. Building on this, I wanted to add support for power forecasting and schedules. This would then allow me to show how energy management might work for heat pumps. This would be similar to what I did for my Tiny Matter Dishwasher. My plan was to allow the user to specify some basic schedules, demonstrating different transitions and set points.
tomasmcguinness.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:22 PM
In this post, I add Power Forecasts to my Matter Heat Pump simulator. This demonstrates how a heat pump might communicate its expected power consumption to a Device Energy Manager.
In this post, I tweak my heat pump machine learning model to try and improve the predictions.
Mass Flow Rate, not Room Temp – tweaking my Heat Pump Maching Learning Model
Almost two months ago, I wrote a blog post outlining how I built a Machine Learning model for ASHPs. Powered by the data from OpenEnergyMonitor, it was quite basic. It used the Target Temperature and the Outdoor temperature to predicate energy consumption. It was my first go at Machine Learning (ML), so I wasn't expecting much, but it worked. Room Temp is useless by itself!
tomasmcguinness.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:20 PM
In this post, I tweak my heat pump machine learning model to try and improve the predictions.
I seriously hope this will clean up some diskspace
November 6, 2025 at 8:22 PM
I seriously hope this will clean up some diskspace
My Matter Heat Pump simulator is coming along nicely!
November 6, 2025 at 8:06 PM
My Matter Heat Pump simulator is coming along nicely!
My Heat Pump simulator (with Matter) is coming along. I was pleasantly surprised to see Power support in the Aqara App! Need to get my head around the energy clusters too.
November 6, 2025 at 7:35 AM
My Heat Pump simulator (with Matter) is coming along. I was pleasantly surprised to see Power support in the Aqara App! Need to get my head around the energy clusters too.
@octopus.energy Random thought: I'm guessing your free electricity sessions are always during waking hours because humans take manual action. Are there ever free electricity sessions in the dead of night?
November 5, 2025 at 11:05 AM
@octopus.energy Random thought: I'm guessing your free electricity sessions are always during waking hours because humans take manual action. Are there ever free electricity sessions in the dead of night?
Getting Free Electricity Session Data from the Octopus Energy API
In this post, I explore the Octopus Energy API so I can get data about their Free Energy Sessions.
In this post, I explore the Octopus Energy API so I can get data about their Free Energy Sessions.
Getting Free Electricity Session Data from the Octopus Energy API
In this post, I explore the Octopus Energy API so I can get data about their Free Energy Sessions.
tomasmcguinness.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Getting Free Electricity Session Data from the Octopus Energy API
In this post, I explore the Octopus Energy API so I can get data about their Free Energy Sessions.
In this post, I explore the Octopus Energy API so I can get data about their Free Energy Sessions.
Is there an electric underfloor controller that can modulate? I have a standard on/off and it’s shit.
November 4, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Is there an electric underfloor controller that can modulate? I have a standard on/off and it’s shit.
iOS 26.1 is out.
November 4, 2025 at 7:55 PM
iOS 26.1 is out.
@octopus.energy Hi! I was looking your API last week and found this little titbit. The free electricity sessions have "'24" in the name. Would I be right in saying this could be 25?
November 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM
@octopus.energy Hi! I was looking your API last week and found this little titbit. The free electricity sessions have "'24" in the name. Would I be right in saying this could be 25?
In this post I try and get my Matter Dual Temperature sensor code working on the MinewSemi ME54BS01 module (spoiler: I did!)
Running my Matter Dual Temp Sensor on a MinewSemi ME54BS01
With my initial PCB designed and my code working on the Nordic DevKit, I turned attention to my ME54BE01 devkit. This board comes from MinewSemi and is designed to support their nRF54L15 modules. Yes, I should have gotten my code working before getting PCBs made, but I figured it should be easy enough. After getting the Blinky sample running on the MinewSemi DevKit…
tomasmcguinness.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:33 PM
In this post I try and get my Matter Dual Temperature sensor code working on the MinewSemi ME54BS01 module (spoiler: I did!)
Reposted by Tomas McGuinness
YOUNG PEOPLE. LISTEN UP.
Today Nigel Farage said the government should cut the minimum wage for young people
...to “raise aspiration” and “boost business"
It's £10ph FFS!
Lower your pay so you’ll dream bigger
DO YOU SEE IT NOW?
Spread far & wide.
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
Today Nigel Farage said the government should cut the minimum wage for young people
...to “raise aspiration” and “boost business"
It's £10ph FFS!
Lower your pay so you’ll dream bigger
DO YOU SEE IT NOW?
Spread far & wide.
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
Nigel Farage Says Minimum Wage Should Be Cut for Young People
The Reform leader said cutting the minimum wage for young people would boost business, as he attacked plans to raise taxes on the wealthy
bylinetimes.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:03 PM
YOUNG PEOPLE. LISTEN UP.
Today Nigel Farage said the government should cut the minimum wage for young people
...to “raise aspiration” and “boost business"
It's £10ph FFS!
Lower your pay so you’ll dream bigger
DO YOU SEE IT NOW?
Spread far & wide.
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
Today Nigel Farage said the government should cut the minimum wage for young people
...to “raise aspiration” and “boost business"
It's £10ph FFS!
Lower your pay so you’ll dream bigger
DO YOU SEE IT NOW?
Spread far & wide.
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
I knew crows were clever….but opening a packet of sugar is pretty smart!
November 1, 2025 at 8:51 AM
I knew crows were clever….but opening a packet of sugar is pretty smart!
Reposted by Tomas McGuinness
No tricks. Just a treat. 🎃
If you allow us to place the AISLER logo on your PCB, you’ll receive a discount of more than 25 %.
This treat has no shelf life and is even better when served with coupon codes. 🍬
Read the full instructions for logo replacement here:
community.aisler.net/t/adding-our...
If you allow us to place the AISLER logo on your PCB, you’ll receive a discount of more than 25 %.
This treat has no shelf life and is even better when served with coupon codes. 🍬
Read the full instructions for logo replacement here:
community.aisler.net/t/adding-our...
October 31, 2025 at 9:20 AM
No tricks. Just a treat. 🎃
If you allow us to place the AISLER logo on your PCB, you’ll receive a discount of more than 25 %.
This treat has no shelf life and is even better when served with coupon codes. 🍬
Read the full instructions for logo replacement here:
community.aisler.net/t/adding-our...
If you allow us to place the AISLER logo on your PCB, you’ll receive a discount of more than 25 %.
This treat has no shelf life and is even better when served with coupon codes. 🍬
Read the full instructions for logo replacement here:
community.aisler.net/t/adding-our...
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a better approach to balancing radiators
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a better approach to balancing radiators
YouTube video by Tomas McGuinness
youtu.be
October 28, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a better approach to balancing radiators
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
My first PR into the Matter Smart Home SDK has been merged! This is a big event for me! github.com/project-chip...
Thermostat ScheduleTypes Attribute: Add supporting delegate method by tomasmcguinness · Pull Request #41160 · project-chip/connectedhomeip
Summary
In this PR, I have added a new GetScheduleTypeAtIndex function to the ThermostatDelegate.
I updated the Read function to invoke this callback for the ScheduleTypes attribute, replaced the d...
github.com
October 28, 2025 at 6:28 AM
My first PR into the Matter Smart Home SDK has been merged! This is a big event for me! github.com/project-chip...
Does low temperature heating actually use more gas or is that a myth?
youtu.be/lig23gactEo
youtu.be/lig23gactEo
Does low temperature heating use more gas?
YouTube video by Tomas McGuinness
youtu.be
October 25, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Does low temperature heating actually use more gas or is that a myth?
youtu.be/lig23gactEo
youtu.be/lig23gactEo
My latest video 👇
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a better approach to balancing radiators
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a better approach to balancing radiators
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a better approach to balancing radiators
YouTube video by Tomas McGuinness
youtu.be
October 25, 2025 at 8:22 AM
My latest video 👇
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a better approach to balancing radiators
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a better approach to balancing radiators
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
I take a look at the MinewSemi nRF54L15 module and developer kit. I solder on the module (after two goes) and get the classic blinking LED working!
Testing my MinewSemi ME54BS01 and ME54BE01 DK
As part of my efforts to build a Matter powered dual temperature sensor, I was hunting for a Nordic nRF54L15 Module to use on my PCB. I had already looked at the HolyIoT board with some success. Next on my list was the MinewSemi ME54BS01 module and dev kit. This dev kit is very similar to the HolyIoT board and the modules are quite similar too.
tomasmcguinness.com
October 25, 2025 at 7:08 AM
I take a look at the MinewSemi nRF54L15 module and developer kit. I solder on the module (after two goes) and get the classic blinking LED working!
My latest video!
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a different approach to balancing radiators
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a different approach to balancing radiators
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a different approach to balancing radiators
YouTube video by Tomas McGuinness
youtu.be
October 24, 2025 at 4:26 PM
My latest video!
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a different approach to balancing radiators
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
Balance Heat, Not Radiators - a different approach to balancing radiators
youtu.be/zwgSqwJb4wo
In this post, I run though how I moved my Zigbee dual temperature sensor over to Matter.
Porting Zigbee sensor to Matter on nRF54L15
Something that's been on my TODO list for a long time is to convert my Zigbee Temperature sensor to Matter. I've written quite a few blog posts about the development of my Zigbee "FART" sensor. If you want to read more about that, you can start here: The Goal My goal was "simple". Port my existing Zigbee based dual temp sensor Matter…
tomasmcguinness.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:31 PM
In this post, I run though how I moved my Zigbee dual temperature sensor over to Matter.