A few days later I had some friends over for a cookout and had them playing about 75%-80% max volume.  About 10 minutes later I could hear a crackle and distortion coming out of one of the speakers.  So I just simply disconnected that one speaker and sent it back.  Now about a week later the same thing happened to the other speaker same crackle and distortion.  The reviews on Amazon were all mixed so I thought I would try them out for myself.

Running the cable from the Sonos Connect Amp was a breeze and simple its just connecting the (2) audio cables to the Left and Right audio channels.  So if you are looking to extend outdoor speakers or just run multiple speakers off your Connect Amp you can.

Thoughts

So if you’re looking for something that looks nice and you aren’t going to play them that loud it may work for you.

I recently upgraded the speakers to the TIC TFS6-SL 8″ Professional Outdoor Weather-Resistant Coaxial Rock Speaker (Slate)

I’m still testing these and I will post an article about them in the future they are definitely a lot more bulkier then the OSD Audio Rock Speakers.

Since my home already has a Logitech pop bridge installed.  I wasn’t able to just add another bridge inside of my app.

This is pretty much a “hack”.

Here’s how I was able to achieve getting (2) Logitech POP Bridges on the same network.

Step 1.  I’m using an Samsung Note 10+ Android device.  I’m not sure how to do this on an Apple; however on other android devices that are non-Samsung and do not have the Samsung knox where you can install another instance of an app.  You can download and an App on the play store to clone your existing Logitech Pop App.

Step 2.  In your Samsung Knox App install “Logitech Pop”.

Step 3.  Next open the Logitech Pop application and add your bridge.  Make sure your phone’s near the bridge.

Step 4.  Once the bridge has been setup you can begin to add your Logitech pop buttons.  Also make sure the buttons are pretty close to the bridge to eliminate any issues adding them.

Some other things to take into consideration you need to have Wifi where you are adding your Logitech POP bridge.  My patio is very far away from my house however I used Google WiFi to extend my existing WiFi over to my shed/patio.

What’s great now when I want to go out on my patio I can simply just push one of the Logitech POP buttons and it will shuffle all music from my Plex library.  Check out the different scene’s I added below.

The 1st “Push” will start shuffling all songs from my Plex Media Server library.

The double “Push” will skip to the next track.

The push & hold will turn off the current music playing and turn off my Phillips hue Calla lights.

First Step.

We rarely used our swimming pool.  So this spring we decided to finally tear it down.  Good news is we posted it on Facebook and someone bought it and took it down themselves.  (All I had to do what get rid of the liner).

Ok, So taking the pool down took about roughly 2 hour’s to get everything packed up and the liner cut up and thrown away.

Step 2.

Last year my wife and I built a patio near our kids swing set so we had somewhere to hang out.  I decided instead of just killing the power that was ran over to the pool, I was going to have an electrician come and replace the 230 line that was ran to the pool over to the shed.

Right when I had the power ran this is when I actually got the idea of installing Sonos and a Ring camera over to the shed.

I had to dig about a 30′ foot long trench and about a foot deep.  I even had the little one help.

The next day the electrician came out ran all the cabling and outlets to the shed.

Step 3.

My next step was to a add a ceiling light inside the shed so I could see what I was actually doing.  Mr Beam’s worked great for the last 2 years however now that I have power it was time to upgrade.

Purchase:  Hykolity 5000K LED Shop Light Linkable, 4FT Daylight 42W LED Ceiling Lights for Garages, Workshops, Basements, Hanging or FlushMount, with Plug and Pull Chain

Step 4.

Now that the power and lighting has been installed the next step was to extend my WiFi and network over to the shed.  I was really considering just running a CAT5 over  however the electrician was kind enough to fill the hole back in for me.  So since I already have Google WiFI in almost every room of my house I purchased another one.

Step 5.

I ran out of outlets in the shed so I decided to purchase a nice wall mountable surge/power strip.

Purchase:  Stanley 31610 SurgeMax Pro 9 Outlet Metal Surge Protector, Black

Step 6.

So now I went to Lowes and bought a piece of plywood and a circle saw to make perfect holes for the cables.

Purchase:  Desk Grommet (5 Pack) + Hole Saw kit – Ultimate Grommet Hole Bundle Kit 2-3/8″

Step 7.

Next was the expensive and fun part.  We needed to purchase the Sonos AMP so we would control Sonos and group all speakers from inside the house and outside now.  I also purchased the Sonos AMP mount so the Sonos AMP and wiring could be mounted to the plywood.  My shed’s small so I try to pack as much as I can so I wanted everything to be secure inside there.

Purchase:  Sonos Amp, The Versatile Amplifier for powering All Your Entertainment

Purchase: Sanus Wall Mount for Sonos Amp – Slim Black Design with Lockable Latch for Security

Step 8.

So now that the Sonos AMP has been installed I connected it to the Google WiFi.  Powered it on and started running speaker cable to connect to the outdoor speakers.  I decided to purchase Klipsch Outdoor speakers just from reading a ton of reviews on them.

Installing the speakers were so easy.  The mounting brackets were awesome.

I also went and purchased outdoor speaker covers so they don’t get wet.

Purchase:  Klipsch AW-650 Indoor/Outdoor Speaker – Black (Pair)

Purchase:  Two Sun Dust & Water Resistant Speaker Covers Bags for Definitive Technology AW 6500, Klipsch AW-650 and Pyle 6.5 Outdoor Bluetooth Speakers by SoundCover

That’s all!

Addison Approves!

The first thing I did when I started my build was purchase my desk.  I purchased it from Ikea and wanted something to hide the cables behind it.  I needed something long because my desk consists of (2) desk’s added together.  Anyways here is everything I used for my cable management and hopefully it will help others with their computer builds.

As I come across future products and other tips for my BattleStation cable management I will be sure to update the post.  (Last updated 11/1/2017)

J Channel Cable Raceway – Black – 48″

This was a 2 pack it worked perfect because I have 2 of the same desks put together.  This came with 3M tape that was very strong it was a little longer then I needed so i took out my dremel cutter and easily cut the excess away.  If you had to or wanted to you could easily drill in the bottom of this to make sections for shorter runs.

Price:  $28.00  Order on [Amazon]

Mount-It! Dual LCD Monitor Desk Mount

When I was using dual monitors this was a must.  Recently I updated to a 34 ultra wide screen because I really didn’t need a dual monitor setup anymore.  I constantly see people running dual monitors on the stand if you want to maximize desk space and have a clean sleek build.  This will support (2) monitors up to 27″ each.

Price:  $36.99 Order on [Amazon]

Kootek 118 Inch Cable Management

Another must have product for managing your cables.

Price:  $10.99 Order on [Amazon]

Cable Clips,YOCOU 12 pcs 3-Channel

These guys saved my life a number of times.

Price:  $8.79 Order on [Amazon]

Reusable Cable Ties, Trilancer

I use these all the times rather than zip ties.

Price:  $8.99 Order on [Amazon]

Cable Management Sleeve

Another great product instead of always using zipties to minimize my exposed cables.  I came across this cable management sleeve.  It’s still sometimes  a pain because I’m always adding and removing new gadgets so I have to keep unzipping to remove/add something.  Still beats cutting zip-ties and the look is excellent!

Price:  $14.99 Order on [Amazon]

IKEA – SIGNUM Cable management

This product also helped me out, it hung down a little more then i liked it to but overall it did the trick.  I was able to mount (2) power strips on the inside then wrap all the excess cables under my desk that I did not want to be seen.  I even mounted an external hard drive, and USB 3.0 hub all inside this.

Price:  $25.99 Order on [Amazon] ]]> https://l5j.net/electronics/pc-battlestations-the-best-products-for-cable-management/feed/ 0 https://l5j.net/home-automation/logitech-pop-with-sonos-shuffle-songs/ https://l5j.net/home-automation/logitech-pop-with-sonos-shuffle-songs/#respond Sat, 23 Sep 2017 02:06:07 +0000 http://l5j.net/?p=7199 I’ve been using Sonos speakers for about 2 years now.  When I heard about the Logitech Pop I had to jump on board.  They are great however it lacks some features.  I have a Logitech Pop button in about every room of my house.  Some that do different things.  I.E (If i’m coming downstairs and want music playing throughout the house I can press one of my Logitech Pop buttons and do so.

If i’m doing the dishes and want music to only play in the kitchen I can press a Logitech Pop button and have music playing instantly in the kitchen.  They also have 2 other settings which is a double press, and a long press.  I have all mine configured the same so “Double Press” would skip to the next track.  “Long Press” will pause the current speaker (or all speakers).

One of my biggest downsides was every time I pressed the button to play something it would either pickup where it left off or it would start at the beginning of the list again.  I searched everywhere but I could figure out how to make the Logitech Pop button start with “Shuffle“.

I was playing around with some of the music services Sonos had to offer and I saw that Plex was now a beta option.  Since I’m a huge Plex user for all my Video, tv shows and movies.  I figured I would try adding some Music and letting Sonos stream from there.  (In the beginning it took awhile to get Sonos to actually talk to Plex I think it was something to do with the routing with Google Wifi, however not sure how but we fixed the problem).

When I added the Plex account I noticed it had a “Shuffle” all songs option.

Here are the steps for Adding Plex to your Sonos and having Logitech Pop start with “Shuffle” on press.  (Assuming you are already a Plex user).

Step 1.  Login to your Sonos app on your android device.  Click the (3 arrows at the top to display Options in Sonos).  Once there Click on “Add Music Services“.  Choose Plex.  It will ask you to login to your account.

Step 2.  Verify that Plex music service will play to one of your Sonos speakers and that “Shuffle All” is an option.

Step 3.  Launch the Logitech Pop application on your phone and update your Play buttons to (Shuffle All) from your Plex server.  Viola it was that easy.

I know it sucks if your coming from Spotify or Google Play and you have to physically store all of your Media on your server or computer.   Also if your computer or server is not running 24/7 you can now use Plex’s Cloud option.

I’m starting to love these buttons more and more they recently came out with an update that now I can control my Lutron caseta switches; Phillips Hue Bulbs and other smarthome options all with a press of a button.

If you need help pairing the Aeotec/Aeon labs doorbell with SmartThings visit the link below.

How I was able to pair Aeon Labs Doorbell with SmartThings

First things first you need to login to your SmartThings IDE

https://graph.api.smartthings.com

Next Click on “My Hubs” (this was my biggest problem at first, it wasn’t actually pulling up my devices so the Device Handler at first was never getting installed to my Hub).   If you see a message that says “You don’t have any hubs yet. Please use the SmartThings mobile app to claim your hub.”  You need to click on “My Locations“, then Click on your Hub Name mine was  called “Home“.  It should ask you to login again.  You should now see your Hub information.  Great you are now actually logged into your account.

Step 2.  Now that you are logged in we are going to be creating a new SmartThings SmartApp.  So click on My Smart Apps at the top.

Next Click on “New Smart App” in green on the top right of the page.

Next Choose “From Code“.

The following code I used thanks to SmartThings Community can be found by clicking here.

Once your code has been pasted Choose “Save“, then “Publish“.

Next Open up your SmartThings application on your android or iPhone.

Click on “Add a SmartApp” at the bottom.

Next all the way down and choose “My Apps” since this was a custom App that we added.

You should now see your Sonos Notify with Sound_Multiple.  This will allow you to choose multiple Sonos speakers for your Doorbell notifications.

Here’s how I set up my doorbell.  I made sure on the Doorbell Button Press (Aeotec Doorbell) was triggered it would play the custom .mp3 that I have added.  ( I will explain in my next post on how to add your own custom sounds to the list).   If you used my code from the top you will notice I added the “National Lampoons Christmas Vacation Doorbell“.  It’s also set to play throughout my Sonos speakers.

Here’s some more settings you can also set.  I wanted to make sure if I was playing music and someone rang the doorbell, the music would continue playing.

Also I wanted to temporarily change the music volume so I could hear the doorbell notification sound.