HomeTechOps

Tools

Each tool is rules-first and deterministic. The result should help you decide what to check next, what evidence to collect, which assumptions matter, and when to stop before changing the wrong layer.

Outputs include

  • A short diagnosis summary tied to the selected symptoms.
  • Ordered checks with expected results and likely failure layers.
  • Safe actions, stop points, assumptions, and links into deeper runbooks.

Use tools when

  • The symptom could belong to more than one layer.
  • You need a reversible plan before buying, resetting, deleting, or exposing anything.
  • You want the matching guide or diagnostic path after the first pass.

Tools do not

  • Claim exact compatibility without structured source data.
  • Replace vendor safety instructions, workplace IT, data recovery, or electrical help.
  • Tell you to skip restore checks, storage-health checks, or power-safety boundaries.

Wi-Fi & Network

Wi-Fi dead spot troubleshooter

2026-aware triage for dead or slow Wi-Fi rooms: detect the 1 GbE-backbone trap, client adapter gap, wireless-backhaul drag, and mesh oversaturation.

Room-by-room Wi-Fi checkSafe troubleshooting rulesWi-Fi 7 vs 2.5 GbE: which 2026 home upgrade pays off
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Docks & Monitors

USB-C dock monitor setup planner

2026-aware Thunderbolt 5 / USB4 v2 / DisplayPort 2.1 dock planner: detect silent TB4-in-TB5 40 Gbps caps, v1-in-v2 fallback, and Apple Silicon DP MST limits.

USB-C dock buying checklistSafe troubleshooting rules
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Backups & Storage

Backup plan builder

Score a home backup plan against 3-2-1, immutability, RPO/RTO, and ransomware-resistance — and get a concrete next-step list.

Backup restore checkHome backup 3-2-1: NAS, cloud, and USB rotationHDD shortage 2026: how to buy recertified drives safelyTailscale vs Cloudflare Tunnel for home remote accessHome tech inventory
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Power & UPS

UPS runtime estimator

Estimate UPS runtime with chemistry-aware capacity math, SoC headroom, LFP cold-lockout warnings, and annual idle electricity cost.

Home server power budget: idle watts and yearly costUPS load planningSafe troubleshooting rules
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Devices & Setup

Device setup troubleshooter

2026-aware safe first checks for Matter, Thread, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth LE, AirPlay, and AirPrint setup failures on iOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and Windows 11.

Home tech inventoryWork-from-home failure planIoT VLAN segmentation: trusted, IoT, guest networks
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Backups & Storage

NAS setup planner

2026-aware NAS platform direction for backups, photos, media, remote access, and drive growth, including the Synology 2025-series transcoding trap.

Backup restore checkHome tech inventoryHDD shortage 2026: how to buy recertified drives safelyHome server power budget: idle watts and yearly costTailscale vs Cloudflare Tunnel for home remote access
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Backups & Storage

NAS storage and backup planner

Plan NAS usable capacity, parity vs cache behavior, daily-change headroom, and offsite copy gaps before buying drives or restructuring an array.

Home backup 3-2-1: NAS, cloud, and USB rotationBackup restore check
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Cameras

NVR storage calculator

Estimate how much drive space your cameras need by bitrate, codec, recording mode, and retention, and see how much H.265 and motion-only recording save.

Home backup 3-2-1: NAS, cloud, and USB rotation
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Cameras

PoE budget calculator

Check whether one switch can power all your cameras using delivered watts and the total PoE budget, with the 80% rule and headroom for IR and heater spikes.

IoT VLAN segmentation: trusted, IoT, guest networks
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Cameras

Camera bandwidth calculator

Add up main and substream bitrates to size your NVR uplink, see what share of a 1/2.5/10GbE link the cameras use, and avoid saturating the network.

Inter-VLAN firewall rules done right
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Cameras

Frigate hardware planner

See how many cameras a detector (Coral, Hailo, Intel, Nvidia) can handle at your detection fps, and get flagged when the chosen detector is over capacity.

Home server power budget: idle watts and yearly cost
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