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Home Assistant Presence Simulation

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31–40 of 102 posts

Re: Home Assistant Presence Simulation

#31

Just a note to anyone interested in trying out Home Assistant: It's amazing _but_ do NOT use a raspberry pi to run it. Save yourself a ton of headaches and buy a mini pc (there was a list of used mini pcs posted here yesterday from ebay). Also I recommend using HAOS (or whatever the "we install and run the whole OS" option is called) so that you can use things like plugins without messing around with docker. I love d…

I ran it on RPI 3 and 4 with SSD for years and had zero issues. Now moved to the mini pc but RPI still hosting other stuff and works rock solid.

Re: Home Assistant Presence Simulation

#32
post #12

Hm I'm not sure if this helps. Because thieves will first knock on doors, even for tens of minutes. Ring etc. Normally people will open and thief will say some BS and go away. Cameras with backup power and backup internet connection is your first priority.

Funny because I never answer my door when anyone knocks. If you're knocking on my door it's because I don't know you, which means I probably don't want to talk to you. Anyone who knows me knows to call or text before they come by.

What if it's like, a utility company trying to warn you they'll cut off power/water/whatever in a few minutes because of emergency works?

Re: Home Assistant Presence Simulation

#33
post #5

Can it automate a cutout of Michael Jordan attached to a model train set?

It could also automate ordering pizza delivery and the tipping process to "Keep the change, ya filthy animal"

There's a dominoes pizza integration in home assistant

Re: Home Assistant Presence Simulation

#34

Just a note to anyone interested in trying out Home Assistant: It's amazing _but_ do NOT use a raspberry pi to run it. Save yourself a ton of headaches and buy a mini pc (there was a list of used mini pcs posted here yesterday from ebay). Also I recommend using HAOS (or whatever the "we install and run the whole OS" option is called) so that you can use things like plugins without messing around with docker. I love d…

I'm about to buy a Pi 5 for a Pi-hole. Does the same advice apply to that?

You can get a mini pc for the same price and it would be more comfortable.

Re: Home Assistant Presence Simulation

#35
post #9
post #5

Can it automate a cutout of Michael Jordan attached to a model train set?

You jest, but with an ESP32 flashed with ESPHome and a few dollars of electronics to regulate the power, I think controlling model trains would actually be quite doable. Your biggest challenge is probably dealing with network/scripting latency for events that need to happen in quick succession, like when dealing with switches. Or, if you consider Lego DUPLO trains to be model trains, there's this: https://community.h…

Awesome. The Home Assistant and related (ESPHome, Voice Assistant, Music Assistanc) communities are amazing and there is just a crazy amount of projects one can just pick up and use.

Re: Home Assistant Presence Simulation

#36
I use a normal automation to turn on the lights every day at sundown, and to turn off the lights every night at ($BEDTIME + 1hr), just as part of daily life. I don't need anything tricky to simulate that pattern when I'm traveling; I just don't disable the automation. I wonder how many people using HomeAssitant for their lights are manually turning lights on and off all the time. I would think most people would set up a daily or weekday + weeknight schedule and be done with it.

Re: Home Assistant Presence Simulation

#37

Just a note to anyone interested in trying out Home Assistant: It's amazing _but_ do NOT use a raspberry pi to run it. Save yourself a ton of headaches and buy a mini pc (there was a list of used mini pcs posted here yesterday from ebay). Also I recommend using HAOS (or whatever the "we install and run the whole OS" option is called) so that you can use things like plugins without messing around with docker. I love d…

I'm about to buy a Pi 5 for a Pi-hole. Does the same advice apply to that?

Pi5 is plenty, even overkill for a pihole. I run a pihole on my old pi2 and it's absolutely fine

Re: Home Assistant Presence Simulation

#38

Slightly related, please forgive the offtopicness: has anyone implemented a DIY UWB location base + beacon/tag? I ask because my neurodivergent wife loses things, and often Tile either doesn't work or isn't load enough. I read that UWB promises 10cm² or 10cm³ accuracy, which would be ideal for finding lost stuff. I've seen a couple of commercial offerings, but they didn't have pricing.

The generic stuff in the "Find My" ecosystem works quite well. It's not DIY, but most things have UWB finding that works whole-house for me.

Re: Home Assistant Presence Simulation

#39
post #27

Just a note to anyone interested in trying out Home Assistant: It's amazing _but_ do NOT use a raspberry pi to run it. Save yourself a ton of headaches and buy a mini pc (there was a list of used mini pcs posted here yesterday from ebay). Also I recommend using HAOS (or whatever the "we install and run the whole OS" option is called) so that you can use things like plugins without messing around with docker. I love d…

I've been running off a Raspberry Pi for years and it's been very stable. The main things for me were to use a good SD card, to use Ethernet instead of Wifi, and to also reboot the Pi daily via an automation.

It’s not stable if you need to reboot daily.

Re: Home Assistant Presence Simulation

#40

Just a note to anyone interested in trying out Home Assistant: It's amazing _but_ do NOT use a raspberry pi to run it. Save yourself a ton of headaches and buy a mini pc (there was a list of used mini pcs posted here yesterday from ebay). Also I recommend using HAOS (or whatever the "we install and run the whole OS" option is called) so that you can use things like plugins without messing around with docker. I love d…

I've also found pis to be unreliable in the long term. Even buying good SD cards doesn't help. It's always something. Broken storage, brown out (I'm using the recommended power supply), sudden lack of communication over the eth port, etc.

I've found that just getting an old toughbook is much more reliable for projects that don't require miniaturization.

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