Home Automation

I'm just getting into home automation, so I don't really know what I'm doing. I care a lot about supporting open standards (which is partly why I never bothered with it until now that Matter is coming out), but I also very much like the idea of having everything I own running Open Source firmware instead of whatever potentially untrustworthy stuff it comes with.

So anyway, I got some TP-Link Kasa smart plugs (KP125MP2), but have since been doing some more research and found that some folks don't think there's actually much, if any, advantage to Matter devices compared to older wi-fi devices that've been flashed with Tasmota or ESPHome. So now I've also got some Sonoff S31 smart plugs and a USB to serial adapter to flash them with, and I'm wondering which set of things I should actually keep.

I kinda feel like I need to try installing and using them to know which I prefer, but I'd also feel bad about returning stuff after it's got provisioning info stored on it (or worse, flashed firmware). So maybe I can decide based on advice y'all give me instead?

Hi,

Now I've automated mt lamps that can work via the socket with kaku units (old and new type mixed) and domoticz with rflink unit, I'm looking to add the light in the hall in the same, easy plug'n'play method. However, kaku only has units you have to build into the circuit instead of just place them between the E27 fitting and the lightbulb.

Is something like this bukeer unit available for Europe and would it work with domoticz and the rflink (rf433)?

I'm looking for a wall switch that I will take Tasmota firmware (so a ESP82XX chipset generally) but can get easily sourced and aren't a huge pain to reprogram.

I'm totally cool with soldering some serial jump points from the board of the appropriate Rx/Tx/GRND/3.3V and pin0 are readily available, but try to avoid stuff that requires soldering the chip itself.

I used to be able to get Globe etc dimmers from Costco that were flashable via the old OTA Tuya-Convert method, but that seems to be a thing of the past and I just need a regular ol' non-dimmer switch which is easy to find and access the required pins these days.

If there are switches which take 110VAC but don't output power, that's even better as some I'm just looking to supplement devices already have power but are inconvenient to access

Frustrated by the lack of fans that integrate with Home Assistant, I decided to make one!

I like automation, but I prefer things to run independently if possible.

One way to do this is via clocks and timers.

1. what is this type of automation called? What keywords can I combine to find these tools?

2. if I want power to be cut by time automatically, is there a gang extension cable I can get to do this?

3. I want to set my lights to a timer. I couldn't find a manual timer, so I had to get an IoT timer instead. Since I cheaped out with some rubbish Chinese switch, it was a pain to setup. Anything easier to set a 24hr cycle for?

Thanks!

cross-posted from: https://lemmyonline.com/post/53654

I dug through the prime deals and picked out the relevant devices, for which I have personal experience using, and would recommend to others.

Every device linked, will work with home assistant, more or less natively. The majority of them, are flashable to esphome or tasmota. And ALL of them will work 100% locally.

I use Google Assistant for most of my home automation. Does anyone have any particular models they recommend for deadbolts? I'd like to be able to automatically lock my front door when I go to sleep.

Hey, my ecovacs deebot 901 is giving me the error message "my main brush is tangled" all the time although I have cleared it quite meticulously and repeatedly. I see that there are potentially helpful threads on Reddit, but of course none of it is accessable. It seems like there is no ecovacs community on lemmy, so I might as well try my luck here. Does anybody know of a solution?

cross-posted from: https://lemmyonline.com/post/41230

A real-time sankey diagram showing energy flow within my house.

Details, How-to, etc: https://static.xtremeownage.com/blog/2023/home-assistant-energy-flow-diagram/

I just started my journey into Home Automation, and I think I am starting to understand better what Matter actually signifies...

So, Zigbee is just a communication protocol, and the definition of smart devices is actually done by ZHA, Zigbee2MQTT, etc... correct?

So Matter actually reduces all those Zigbee sub-protocols into one thing, so one Matter bulb will be always compatible, you don't need to pick like we do now with ZHA, Zigbee2MQTT... correct?

And then, the Zigbee communication is substituted either with Thread (basically Zigbee technology but for Matter) or Wi-Fi. But the smart device definition is still Matter, so a bulb will always behave like Matter specifies, in terms of variables and parameters.

Am I getting close?

Interested in seeing the Aqara devices using Matter. It's a shame the button is only functional if you use their new hub, but wonder if you'll be able to use it through Home Assistant.

I'm looking for a z-wave light switch to replace roughly 20+ light switches. Some are 2-way switches. Any recommendations? I was looking at Zooz switches but i have no clue how good they are. Any recommendations would be appreciated

I'm looking for a good, reliable smart lock for my home. The wife would like if it has wifi capabilities so she can make sure it's locked form home. Any suggestions?

cross-posted from: https://lemmyonline.com/post/24500

Flashing even more sonoff s31s.

https://static.xtremeownage.com/blog/2023/sonoff-s31-low-cost-energy-monitoring/

Cheap e-ink screen from aliexpress, running esphome pulling data from home assistant every 30 seconds. It got time and date, temperatures, time untill the next buss leaves from the nearest bus stops, range on my car, power usage and price, and the three next items from me and my wifes shared google calendar. I got it framed professionally by a local framing workshop. They were a bit confused and hadn't done anything similar before, but they did a great job. My wife isn't always a big fan of my home automation adventures, but she loves this screen!

Edit: For some reason my picture didn't show up. Link here I think: https://vlemmy.net/pictrs/image/0f583c6d-f9b9-4d7a-91cf-6365b2d88d96.jpeg

Hi folks, I noticed that there weren't any commercial available HDMI-switches which worked with home automation software, that's why I chose to built one myself.

The base of the switch consists of a cheap 4k HDMI-switch with an IR remote. With the help of an IR receiver I recorded the codes and saved them as hexadecimal codes. After that, I chose a microcontroller to use with the project: an esp32-s2. I wrote a little program using the arduino library HomeSpan to send the codes with an IR led to the HDMI-switch. Now I can control my HDMI source device through homekit!

Exploded view

HomeKit controls

Front view

If you have any questions about the project don't hesitate to ask!

So far I have a bunch of tradfri lights with a couple of hubs + Google wifi. I'm in Canada and a house I own and in a city that has good access to shipping. I'm an electrician, mostly commercial, but comfortable with computers and have done one or two projects with Arduino, so no issues with modification. I have a sense EM installed. I'm looking for an open source, localized, remote accesible, "reasonably secure" system/software. Thoughts? I rather not go back to Reddit.

Hey everyone, I just wanted to make a quick post to say hi and inspire other lurkers to join in on the communities they love.

I come from Home Assistant and Home Automation on Reddit and figured my low post count on those communities wouldn't help grow these communities unless I get my hands dirty and participate where I can.

Anyways I am happy to be here and I guess I'll end off with asking what everyone else is using for their home automatons?

I am in the process of building this in my system. I want to add a couple of extra features. such as minimum run time, the ability to run a few minutes each hour over night (for skimming) and some other bits an pieces.

Crossposted from: https://beehaw.org/post/519774

We really do live in a boring dystopia

For three years we've made something out of wood for our holiday decorations. We've made a tree, a star and last year a reindeer. But now I'm running out of ideas.

The new thing needs to be big enough to be visible, and be easy enough to make so my kids kan help (as that is the main idea).