Smart Home Tools
These are tools I use and recommend to do all my tinkering and maintenance around the house. Examples include multimeters, heat guns, electrical tape, wires, portable chargers, and much more.
I also recommend building a smart home test bench and looking into what you need in your smart home toolkit.
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This is my new favorite multimeter (here’s my review). I also bought this set of leads to use for various purposes. You can also buy both of these direct. Use coupon code
This is a good entry-level soldering iron kit similar to the one that has served me well in all my soldering projects, like this one.
In a pinch, you could use a hairdryer or a match, but this provides the precision you need.
I have found ratcheting screwdrivers with bits to be indispensable in projects around the home.
Better to test for electricity and wiring problems with a tester than with your life.
A good wire stripper and cutter is a must-have for any electrical wiring work. This one crimps too.
If you solder often enough, eventually you are going to have to buy some new solder. This has worked for me.
My eyes aren’t getting any younger, and neither are yours :). This helps a ton with tiny objects!
Everyone can use a helping hand with soldering. This one is surprisingly sturdy and has helped me with a few jobs.
Shrink tubing is great for combining electrical wires, like when making DIY LED displays.
Electrical tape is another must-have for doing electrical work around the house. Multiple colors are good too!
You’ll also run into situations when you need to run some wire for the circuits you build. Multiple colors are good here too.
Breadboards are great for putting together circuits, like when making DIY LED displays.
Having a good set of jumper wires available for DIY circuit building is a necessity.
Terminal blocks come in handy too. I’ve used these in a few projects.
These lever nuts are a great way to easily make electrical connections without soldering, like I did with my fingerprint scanner.
The Kill A Watt meter is perfect for measuring the electricity and usage over time of any device that plugs into a socket.
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A great tool to jump-start your car and power your portable electronics in a pinch
A portable air compressor is great for emergencies and for inflating bike tires, basketballs, footballs, etc.
Has enough capacity to charge all your mobile devices, including your laptop.
Never worry about having the right cord for you or people with you again.
A good project box that holds up in outdoor weather. Great for housing electronics, and non-waterproof connections. Comes in multiple sizes.
I use this project box for LED controllers and other NodeMCU based projects. Comes in multiple sizes.
Another useful and flexible project box that can be dust and waterproof and still allow connections from the outside (you’ll need to seal them).