Smart Home automations - anybody using?

[clokwise]

I've been neck deep in Home Assistant for a few months and I've learnt a few things I would like to share with people new to smart home stuff:

 

Home Assistant is ideal for customizing your home using a diverse mix of different devices and systems. It is far superior to and can completely replace HomeKit or Google Home or Alexa. Steep learning curve, but worth it once you become comfortable with how it works it's easy. Most of the time you can use the GUI exclusively to manage integrations and create automations, so it's not as daunting as it may seem at first. But even non-techie users will need to become at least somewhat familiar with YAML for certain things.

 

The HA Dashboard can install on any phone/PC/tablet. It has custom levels of access for different family members. You can integrate all your IP cameras too. And once you have built your dashboard, you can uninstall all those Smartlife, Ewelink, Reolink, Sonoff, Smarthings, etc apps from your phone. You only need them for initially install of the device, then you should never need to open them again. One app does it all.

 

Home Assistant is open source and updates are issued monthly or even weekly. It operates 100% offline^*, including voice control and TTS. You can be certain you are not sending your data to China or Silicon Valley with HA.

 

If you have a spare PC, you can install it today. It runs in every type of operating system and doesn't use very much CPU or memory. I originally installed it on my NAS, but a couple months later purchased a cheap Beelink mini-PC off AliExpress and installed it there via Proxmox. It rarely uses more than 4% CPU and the Beelink PC barely uses any power at all.

 

Pet peeve: Home Assistant uses YAML, which is a terrible and antiquated markup language and even worse scripting language, and is especially inappropriate for a home automation environment intended to be used by (largely) non-techies. But it is what it is. Luckily I have over 40 years background in computer programming in all sorts of arcane languages, so this didn't set me back much. The dashboard is a clusterfruck, they should have gone with HTML+CSS, but in its current state it's a weird mishmash of arcane code. Do not like it. As such, I've given up trying to customize the dashboard and just use a couple of the HACS dashboard defaults - and they are generally good enough, in my opinion.

 

^*Some devices still require a cloud service. At least with Tuya (and several other brands) there are workarounds which remove the device from the cloud which actually makes everything work considerably faster once you've done it - no more waiting 3 seconds for a command to go to the cloud and back just to turn on a light. Samsung still requires their cloud if you use HA, but you can alternatively buy a cheap Tuya IR blaster and control your AC (via HA) with that, cloud-free. I personally continue to use Siri - it's convenient for the family and I don't have a major paranoia about privacy. The good thing is Home Assistant can bridge HomeKit (Siri) where you can limit access of your devices. And once done, Siri can semi-magically control pretty much everything under Home Assistant, even stuff that Siri couldn't otherwise control.

 

The open source community has built amazing integrations, it is truly impressive just how much you can control with Home Assistant.

 

The best part of Home Assistant is the automations. There is nothing you can't do with only a few lines of code. It's YAML, but still, it can do everything.

 

ESP32 devices are another rabbit hole. I built a bluetooth proxy to control my Bluetooth Yale lock, and I built a custom transceiver for my Somfy blinds. Another device I built is a highly configurable mmWave sensor. I have near-zero hardware experience but, at least doing these particular things, it was actually very simple.

 

Recommendations to get started: go to Lazada and AliExpress, buy a couple switches or sensors and become familiar with basic automating of stuff. Just use their own apps at first. Once you start to get the automation itch, grab Home Assistant and delve in.

 

[Bandersnatch]

5 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

 

It would be nice to control the TV by voice, absolutely.

 I have Apple TVs connected to my living room and bedroom TVs. The remote has a mic button that I use to change between Netflix, my Plex Server, YouTube, Tidal etc and other interactions 

[Bandersnatch]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I think the hardware on which Home Assistant runs is not really important - as long as it is good enough

Definitely good enough 

 

[Bandersnatch]

19 minutes ago, clokwise said:

I've been neck deep in Home Assistant for a few months and I've learnt a few things I would like to share with people new to smart home stuff:

 

Thanks

[OneMoreFarang]

29 minutes ago, clokwise said:

I've been neck deep in Home Assistant for a few months and I've learnt a few things I would like to share with people new to smart home stuff:

 

Home Assistant is ideal for customizing your home using a diverse mix of different devices and systems. It is far superior to and can completely replace HomeKit or Google Home or Alexa. Steep learning curve, but worth it once you become comfortable with how it works it's easy. Most of the time you can use the GUI exclusively to manage integrations and create automations, so it's not as daunting as it may seem at first. But even non-techie users will need to become at least somewhat familiar with YAML for certain things.

 

The HA Dashboard can install on any phone/PC/tablet. It has custom levels of access for different family members. You can integrate all your IP cameras too. And once you have built your dashboard, you can uninstall all those Smartlife, Ewelink, Reolink, Sonoff, Smarthings, etc apps from your phone. You only need them for initially install of the device, then you should never need to open them again. One app does it all.

 

Home Assistant is open source and updates are issued monthly or even weekly. It operates 100% offline^*, including voice control and TTS. You can be certain you are not sending your data to China or Silicon Valley with HA.

 

If you have a spare PC, you can install it today. It runs in every type of operating system and doesn't use very much CPU or memory. I originally installed it on my NAS, but a couple months later purchased a cheap Beelink mini-PC off AliExpress and installed it there via Proxmox. It rarely uses more than 4% CPU and the Beelink PC barely uses any power at all.

 

Pet peeve: Home Assistant uses YAML, which is a terrible and antiquated markup language and even worse scripting language, and is especially inappropriate for a home automation environment intended to be used by (largely) non-techies. But it is what it is. Luckily I have over 40 years background in computer programming in all sorts of arcane languages, so this didn't set me back much. The dashboard is a clusterfruck, they should have gone with HTML+CSS, but in its current state it's a weird mishmash of arcane code. Do not like it. As such, I've given up trying to customize the dashboard and just use a couple of the HACS dashboard defaults - and they are generally good enough, in my opinion.

 

^*Some devices still require a cloud service. At least with Tuya (and several other brands) there are workarounds which remove the device from the cloud which actually makes everything work considerably faster once you've done it - no more waiting 3 seconds for a command to go to the cloud and back just to turn on a light. Samsung still requires their cloud if you use HA, but you can alternatively buy a cheap Tuya IR blaster and control your AC (via HA) with that, cloud-free. I personally continue to use Siri - it's convenient for the family and I don't have a major paranoia about privacy. The good thing is Home Assistant can bridge HomeKit (Siri) where you can limit access of your devices. And once done, Siri can semi-magically control pretty much everything under Home Assistant, even stuff that Siri couldn't otherwise control.

 

The open source community has built amazing integrations, it is truly impressive just how much you can control with Home Assistant.

 

The best part of Home Assistant is the automations. There is nothing you can't do with only a few lines of code. It's YAML, but still, it can do everything.

 

ESP32 devices are another rabbit hole. I built a bluetooth proxy to control my Bluetooth Yale lock, and I built a custom transceiver for my Somfy blinds. Another device I built is a highly configurable mmWave sensor. I have near-zero hardware experience but, at least doing these particular things, it was actually very simple.

 

Recommendations to get started: go to Lazada and AliExpress, buy a couple switches or sensors and become familiar with basic automating of stuff. Just use their own apps at first. Once you start to get the automation itch, grab Home Assistant and delve in.

 

 

I like Home Assistant, and I am sure I can manage it. But then, I am an IT professional, and I learned electronics. 

It is not easy for people who are not much interested in technology.

Every month there is an update for Home Assistant and mostly many other updates for components like ESPHome devices and whatever else you have.

I open my Home Assistant admin interface at least once a week just to install updates. And sometimes those updates require changes. What still worked yesterday does not work anymore after the update. But it would be a bad idea to not install the updates.

If someone doesn't like to tinker with things like that, then Home Assistant is not for you. Maybe you get it running, but if something doesn't work, and maybe in the wrong moment, then have fun sorting it out...

 

Just a small but important example: You can use a Raspberry PI with an SD Card. And it will work for some time. And then suddenly it won't work anymore, because SD cards can't handle the huge amount of read and write operations of Home Assistant. If you read the manual and/or watch videos from experts, then you can replace the SD card with an SSD. That works fine, and it's not too difficult - if you are used to things like that.

 

Summary: If you like to make your home automation your hobby, then do it and enjoy it. But if you assume you just set it up and then it will work just fine, then better have a Plan B in case nothing works anymore. 

 

 

 

 

[Chadnik]

My domicile will never run on AI or anything attached to internet. Period

[OneMoreFarang]

Just now, Chadnik said:

My domicile will never run on AI or anything attached to internet. Period

 

Then you should be happy that Home Assistant does not need AI and no internet - except sometimes a few minutes for updates.

[Chadnik]

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

Then you should be happy that Home Assistant does not need AI and no internet - except sometimes a few minutes for updates.

 I enjoy tinkering with that sort of stuff. Your dashboard admittedly looks cool. I just cant envision a need especially as I'm a sworn renter.

 

* I also stay away from Google as one can.

[OneMoreFarang]

Just now, Chadnik said:

 I enjoy tinkering with that sort of stuff. Your dashboard admittedly looks cool. I just cant envision a need especially as I'm a sworn renter.

 

* I also stay away from Google as one can.

 

The dashboard above was from someone else.

 

I think lots of dashboards which we can find on the internet are interesting in a way that they show lots of things. It's like sitting in a jet cockpit with thousands of lights and switches. But who needs all that?

The idea is in the name: Home Automation. Things should be easier, i.e. the light goes on when necessary. It should not be more complicated.

 

Personally, I have currently one simple dashboard which my gf uses, but 99% of the time she just uses the ordinary wall switches.

The dashboard for me contains a few more controls, but the main idea is: keep it simple! 

If something does not work, then I can look into the details why it doesn't work. But only then. Normally, there should be no need for a complicated dashboard.

 

 

 

 

[recom273]

I use automations, which I trigger with a whole heap of cheap aqara pir sensors, tuya occupancy, espresence, nothing is allowed to connect to the internet, I just use a local server. I use node-red behind the scenes, the general aim is to have everything automated but I use Apple home as a front end on a wall mount ipad to keep it simple for visitors or when automations don't fire. I have Alexa’s but they don’t connect to the Amazon servers. I use HAA to flash sonoff relays, I’m not a fan of company firmware for privacy reasons. I have been playing around with esphome building sensors, i don't need a HA dashboard, but it’s good to log environmental data for future garden automation and display using grafana. I’m haven’t fully moved into my new house but it’s all good fun. 

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, recom273 said:

I use automations, which I trigger with a whole heap of cheap aqara pir sensors, tuya occupancy, espresence, nothing is allowed to connect to the internet, I just use a local server. I use node-red behind the scenes, the general aim is to have everything automated but I use Apple home as a front end on a wall mount ipad to keep it simple for visitors or when automations don't fire. I have Alexa’s but they don’t connect to the Amazon servers. I use HAA to flash sonoff relays, I’m not a fan of company firmware for privacy reasons. I have been playing around with esphome building sensors, i don't need a HA dashboard, but it’s good to log environmental data for future garden automation and display using grafana. I’m haven’t fully moved into my new house but it’s all good fun. 

 

 

Is this one giant spoof or is it real?

[recom273]

1 minute ago, Will B Good said:

 

 

Is this one giant spoof or is it real?

What do you mean? This is my home setup. 

[Will B Good]

Just now, recom273 said:

What do you mean? This is my home setup. 

 

Sorry it is different world.....I wasn't sure if it was a wind up.......my ignorance is to blame.

[recom273]

6 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

Sorry it is different world.....I wasn't sure if it was a wind up.......my ignorance is to blame.

 

lol .. yes, I can appreciate that, maybe it seems that I'm talking in a different language.

 

I just mentioned a lot of things because the first posts in a thread like this are always about privacy concerns, whether it’s Chinese devices calling home or data harvested by google - I have none of this, most of the software mentioned is open source and / or hosted locally. The next thing is as @OneMoreFarang pointed out, home automation should be automatic, if you need to pull a cellphone from your pocket and decide what platform you should use then it’s not automation, it’s replacing a switch with a cellphone. 
 

I like automation - its a good topic, I like to hear about how others integrate smart homes into Thai lifestyle, for me it’s a lot of DIY because I don’t have an unlimited budget or access to some things that are available in the states or a Europe.

Edited September 15 by recom273

[Keeps]

2 hours ago, Will B Good said:

 

 

Is this one giant spoof or is it real?

I'm with you. I only understood about six words in the post you refer to. I thought the poster had fallen asleep with his head on the keyboard. 555

[Bandersnatch]

55 minutes ago, Keeps said:

I'm with you. I only understood about six words in the post you refer to. I thought the poster had fallen asleep with his head on the keyboard. 555

@Will B Good

@Keeps

smart home kit starts pretty simple but but can get pretty complicated.

 

I don’t know if you saw my basic intro video. If not here it is

 

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

9 hours ago, Keeps said:

I'm with you. I only understood about six words in the post you refer to. I thought the poster had fallen asleep with his head on the keyboard. 555

I understood every word of it.

And that's kind of a warning. If you want to do home automation seriously then you have to learn a lot and a lot of new terms.

Think twice if you are willing to do that.

[Will B Good]

11 hours ago, Keeps said:

I'm with you. I only understood about six words in the post you refer to. I thought the poster had fallen asleep with his head on the keyboard. 555

 

 

Comforting to know I'm not alone....555

 

 

 

[cowellandrew]

On 9/15/2024 at 7:04 AM, G Rex said:

looks good.

I dream of it being 10.1C  (and feeling like 7.8'C) in Kanchanaburi!   555

Kanchanaburi hot 555

In my house saiyok 

[impulse]

IMO, if your home automation doesn't reach out to the interwebs, you're forgoing a lot of the benefits. 

 

I want to be able to turn on my A/C 10 minutes before I get home.  I want a notification if my cameras' motion detectors are triggered (along with a snippet showing me what triggered them.)  I want another notification if someone rings my doorbell, or triggers motion detection with a delivery, or wandering around my yard (stealing tools?).  I want a notification if I have a power interruption.  I'd like to be able to check temps and humidity remotely.  To unlock and relock the front door remotely if I need to let someone in.

 

None of that happens without a connection.  

 

Edit:  And most important of all, I want to know if someone has fallen and can't get up.  (Most Americans will get that reference...)

 

Edited September 16 by impulse

[Bandersnatch]

28 minutes ago, cowellandrew said:

Kanchanaburi hot 555

In my house saiyok 

I think I prefer my smart display 

 

 

[Bandersnatch]

9 minutes ago, impulse said:

IMO, if your home automation doesn't reach out to the interwebs, you're forgoing a lot of the benefits. 

 

I want to be able to turn on my A/C 10 minutes before I get home.  I want a notification if my cameras' motion detectors are triggered (along with a snippet showing me what triggered them.)  I want another notification if someone rings my doorbell, or triggers motion detection with a delivery, or wandering around my yard (stealing tools?).  I want a notification if I have a power interruption.  I'd like to be able to check temps and humidity remotely.  To unlock and relock the front door remotely if I need to let someone in.

 

None of that happens without a connection.  

 

Good point. 

[OneMoreFarang]

5 minutes ago, impulse said:

IMO, if your home automation doesn't reach out to the interwebs, you're forgoing a lot of the benefits. 

 

I want to be able to turn on my A/C 10 minutes before I get home.  I want a notification if my cameras' motion detectors are triggered (along with a snippet showing me what triggered them.)  I want another notification if someone rings my doorbell, or triggers motion detection with a delivery, or wandering around my yard (stealing tools?).  I want a notification if I have a power interruption.  I'd like to be able to check temps and humidity remotely.  To unlock and relock the front door remotely if I need to let someone in.

 

None of that happens without a connection.  

 

 

You are right. But all the things which you describe are optional. And they are limited.

Until now I haven't set it up, but I will have notifications if there is water on the kitchen floor where it shouldn't be. No problem.

I do also remotely control my ACs.

 

But I don't need "the internet". Even if I am not connected to the internet all my light switches work, etc.

 

Some home automation setups need internet all the time, otherwise nothing works.

That is a problem in at least two ways. 

a) privacy, big brother knows everything, often with cameras and open microphones.

b) nothing works anymore it the manufacturer goes bankrupt or just doesn't supply that service anymore.

 

Having internet access is fine, if we can control what and when.

 

 

[impulse]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Having internet access is fine, if we can control what and when.

 

My privacy prediction is that I'd get ads for the morning after pills after a night of hot monkey love, ads for the blue pills if it didn't last so long, and reminders to update my Tinder profile if it went really bad.

 

But I am a wingnut conspiracy fan...

 

 

[recom273]

7 hours ago, impulse said:

IMO, if your home automation doesn't reach out to the interwebs, you're forgoing a lot of the benefits. 

 

I want to be able to turn on my A/C 10 minutes before I get home.  I want a notification if my cameras' motion detectors are triggered (along with a snippet showing me what triggered them.)  I want another notification if someone rings my doorbell, or triggers motion detection with a delivery, or wandering around my yard (stealing tools?).  I want a notification if I have a power interruption.  I'd like to be able to check temps and humidity remotely.  To unlock and relock the front door remotely if I need to let someone in.

 

None of that happens without a connection.  

 

Edit:  And most important of all, I want to know if someone has fallen and can't get up.  (Most Americans will get that reference...)

 

Just because you isolate your system doesn’t mean you don’t get alerts. There is need to control how it’s exposed to the internet, and what communicates with the outside world. 
 

For privacy concerns, financial reasons, and that I don’t need to, I don’t use any cloud services, everything is hosted locally. This doesn’t mean I can’t control the ac from my phone while I’m driving home - Apple home / CarPlay is pretty good for this, cameras can be accessed via a reverse proxy - my traffic passes via cloudflare just like this website. You can put cameras on separate VLAN and use bridges within your firewall so that your network isn’t being accessed by other parties. 
 

Alerts can be pushed to messengers by bots on telegram or webhooks, or there is open source software such as ntfy, which will push notifications from your security system or any other system like your solar or power management system. 

[recom273]

7 hours ago, Bandersnatch said:

I think I prefer my smart display 

 

 

What are you using for sensors? I have been playing with esphome using BME280 sensors, you could even use a BME680 to give you more environmental variables. I like the code but the project has been taken over by homeassistant, Sometimes it’s a little tricky to use without running HA.

 

 

[Bandersnatch]

10 hours ago, recom273 said:

What are you using for sensors? I have been playing with esphome using BME280 sensors, you could even use a BME680 to give you more environmental variables. I like the code but the project has been taken over by homeassistant, Sometimes it’s a little tricky to use without running HA.

 

 

My first sensors were Xiaomi and they are 8 years old now. I still have them in most rooms, but Xiaomi doesn’t always play nice with Home Assistant, were as Tuya has been pretty reliable for me.

 

 

So this is what I bought to replace them with.

 

 

https://s.lazada.co.th/s.q82U2
 

I have been toying with the idea of using esphome but I know that once I start down that rabbit hole I will end up buying a 3D printer, something that have been resisting strongly 

 

“‘how much did that thing cost? I have never seen you using it. You and your toys!” (Wife)

 

 

This is a good example of esphome for those unfamiliar with it and one I am seriously considering trying

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, Bandersnatch said:

I have been toying with the idea of using esphome but I know that once I start down that rabbit hole I will end up buying a 3D printer, something that have been resisting strongly 

Lots of devices from many manufacturers use ESP32 chips. And many of these devices can be flashed with ESPHome.

I use those devices in my home automation with Home Assistant.

 

I have a good 3d-printer, until now I didn't use it in combination with my home automation. It's a nice tool to have, but not necessary. 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, Bandersnatch said:

This is a good example of esphome for those unfamiliar with it and one I am seriously considering trying

 

 

 

I thought about using something like in the video. And they I looked at what's available and I found this one:

Shelly PM Mini Gen3 - All products - Shop - Shelly

13 USD, very small, and it works fine.

[Bandersnatch]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

I thought about using something like in the video. And they I looked at what's available and I found this one:

Shelly PM Mini Gen3 - All products - Shop - Shelly

13 USD, very small, and it works fine.

 

Thanks very much for that.

 

The full size Shelly EM is what is recommended by HA for the energy dashboard but is considerably more expensive