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Home Assistant: Open-source home automation platform running on Python 3

home-assistant.io

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Re: Home Assistant: Open-source home automation platform running on Python 3

#61

Post by lostapathy »

Klathmon wrote: post #29
beagle3 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you buy your sensors, and which ones do you use? Sounds like they are all over the place so they need power and wireless (or a lot of cabling....)

the motion sensors and door/window sensors are zwave. They are battery powered, but i've had the oldest ones for almost 2 years now and haven't had to replace the batteries yet, and when I do I can get a pack of like 10 for $15 so it's not bad. All of the light switches are zwave as well, and they go in the wall behind the toggle switches, so from the outside you can't see any difference. I get most of them from amaz…

Can you share specifically which zwave sensors you're having good luck with? I have had mixed luck with sensors.

Re: Home Assistant: Open-source home automation platform running on Python 3

#62

Post by tempay »

roel_v wrote: post #56
landcoctos wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi. Can you provide details on the hardware and interfaces for the curtain setup?

I use Forest drapery rails ( https://www.forestgroup.com/ ). They're awesome, they have a zwave interface build in (the ones I use - they have multiple systems) and they have been 100% rock solid for 4+ years for me. They behave like light dimmers, so you just send them a '50%' message to close them half way etc. Also, you can still open them by hand; if you give them a slight tug, they will open or close the rest by…

Do you remember roughly how much they cost?

Re: Home Assistant: Open-source home automation platform running on Python 3

#63

Post by hirundo »

balloob wrote: post #7

Founder of Home Assistant here. Happy to answer any questions.

My initial experience with Home Assistant has been very frustrating. I filled my house with HomeSeer HS-WD100+ and HS-WS100+ wall dimmers/switches. I thought I was safe as they are best sellers in zwave devices. But Home Assistant doesn't seem to support them without elaborate workarounds that, as a noob, I haven't been able to penetrate. The forums have been talking about a solution coming soon ... for years now. In the meantime I'm stuck with a house full of home automation that I can't automate.

I may be too dumb for this, but I do manage to survive as a full time developer, in linux, using yaml daily. Yet the learning curve on Home Assistant has been brutal.

Can Home Assistant improve on this? Can we someday buy best selling devices and expect them to work with it? I realize that Home Assistant is not intended to be and will never be as noob friendly as the proprietary consumer hub software. But can it at least get friendly enough for a professional dev to figure out how to turn on a light without several weeks worth of head banging?

Re: Home Assistant: Open-source home automation platform running on Python 3

#64

Post by ocdtrekkie »

visarga wrote: post #31

I see the home assistant works with a family of devices. But how many of them are streaming personal data to the cloud?

Many of them literally can't. My general recommendation is to avoid home automation devices with a network connection. If you're using things like Z-Wave and Insteon, they can't talk to the Internet, they're not network devices, and they rely on an RF adapter or the like to talk to your PC. If you control the computer/software they talk to, you control what information can get out.

Re: Home Assistant: Open-source home automation platform running on Python 3

#65

Post by nijave »

jasonjayr wrote: post #35

I couldn't find this easily before, but are there docs for how to build a new device that would be Home Assistant-ready right away to facilitate easy integration? Most of the docs appear to be how to get existing devices managed by Home Assistant..

You should be able to look through the supported Home Assistant components. MQTT, as mentioned, is a good example. You could also do a RESTful interface and use the REST component

https://www.home-assistant.io/components/#all

Re: Home Assistant: Open-source home automation platform running on Python 3

#66

Post by mendelk »

balloob wrote: post #20
mendelk wrote: post #13

Since there are eyes on this thread: Has anyone successfully linked their HA Cloud account with Alexa? I keep on getting "We were unable to link Home Assistant at this time."

We're working with Amazon support in trying to pin down why this is happening but the support response time is slow. Our end looks all fine and the majority of people are able to link their account. You can try some of these troubleshooting steps[1]. If you are on Twitter or Discord, PM me (@balloob) your username and an exact timestamp that linking failed so I can forward it as another example to Amazon. [1]: https:…

Thanks balloob. Tried all the solutions in the thread. None worked for me.

Re: Home Assistant: Open-source home automation platform running on Python 3

#67

Post by driverdan »

Klathmon wrote: post #12
Djvacto wrote: post #5

I have a raspberry pi where I installed Home Assistant a few months ago when I moved into my new home. I did a little bit of messing with it, but stopped while waiting to have more devices that could communicate with it. What are some of the more useful things people have found they are able to accomplish with this, and what was the best way to go about them? Ideas I currently am toying with: presence sensors to turn…

some of the stuff i've wired up around my house: * zwave motion sensors that can turn on the stairs lights at night when I start to walk down * door/window sensors that will automatically turn the AC off if they are open for more than a minute. * several methods of presence detection for anyone in the house, and ensuring the doors are locked, lights out, and garage doors down if nobody is home (after an announcement…

> ...notify me when laundry is done

You could hook into the buzzer circuit for this notification.

Re: Home Assistant: Open-source home automation platform running on Python 3

#68

Post by mendelk »

selvakn wrote: post #52
mendelk wrote: post #13

Since there are eyes on this thread: Has anyone successfully linked their HA Cloud account with Alexa? I keep on getting "We were unable to link Home Assistant at this time."

Have been using https://www.home-assistant.io/components/emulated_hue/ for sometime. It does not use HA Cloud though (not required actually). With this, all the components registered in HA are emulated as hue devices for Alexa. Note: I use Echo Plus, which has the abilities to discover devices. Not sure if this works with Echo or Dot.

Thanks. I'll have to look into that. Might not work for my use-case (AC units).

Re: Home Assistant: Open-source home automation platform running on Python 3

#69

Post by adamfeldman »

I use an Intel NUC* with Hass.io and am absolutely thrilled with it (switched due to slower reboot times on the Raspberry Pi — HA requires reloads when changing device config)

*Model NUC6CAYH

Am actually running Hass.io within Proxmox, so I can easily run other stuff on the machine as well. Haven’t yet tested USB pass-through for my Z-Wave and Zigbee USB sticks.

Re: Home Assistant: Open-source home automation platform running on Python 3

#70

Post by roel_v »

tempay wrote: post #62
roel_v wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Forest drapery rails ( https://www.forestgroup.com/ ). They're awesome, they have a zwave interface build in (the ones I use - they have multiple systems) and they have been 100% rock solid for 4+ years for me. They behave like light dimmers, so you just send them a '50%' message to close them half way etc. Also, you can still open them by hand; if you give them a slight tug, they will open or close the rest by…

Do you remember roughly how much they cost?

I don't quite remember, but e.g. this online shop https://www.hashop.nl/Shuttle has them for e460 = USD533 (includes 21% VAT). But it must depend on the length, and on whether you need special shapes (e.g., I have two bay windows), so YMMV.

Sounds like a lot of money, but out of all automated things, the curtains are the things of which I most often think 'that is very convenient, glad I spend the time and money'. Most other HA things are fun to play with, but not really all that important (in my experience).

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