this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2025
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Home automation technology and completely free development tools. Arduino and ESP controllers are amazing nowadays and unbelievably cheap. I just got a little $20 module that's a 3" square 480x480 touch display with an ESP32 on the back of it. I haven't even decided what to do with it yet, but it will probably end up as a wall-mounted indoor display/touch panel controller for the heater and vents in the greenhouse I just built in the backyard. I will add outdoor temperature as well, and maybe weather forecast icons. I was going to just use a phone app, but this thing was so cheap and will be readable from across the room at a glance without pulling out a phone. And totally DIY!
Home Assistant. It's just so good at what it does and makes things like what you are talking about more accessible to people like me.
I've been reluctant to embrace Home Assistant because the config files seem so arcane. I'm using NodeRED at the moment, which hides all that, You just create visual process flows on a drawing surface, and it generates a web UI. It reminds me of block programming languages like Lego Mindstorms lol.
I have a wife and kid and not a lot of free time. I used chatgpt to build like 90% of my home assistant dashboards and configs. Just a suggestion. I have IKEA lights, wiz connected lamps, govee strips, levoit air purifiers, switchbot humidity and temperature sensors, the dreamebot vacuum all integrated into home assistant. It's great. Give it a go
Thanks for the encouragement!