It's tacky when women in the automotive, tech or other "male" sectors use sexualisation to try and get traffic. No worse than the clickbait titles and misleading junk thumbnails though in that the net effect is devaluing of the enormous body of unique content by making it unidentifiable. I genuinely wish Alphabet would rewind to the days where YT did not encourage the utter nonsense pursued now to get clicks. Since near everyone does it, I actually think those that don't are the standouts ironically. Imagine if the 20 videos in a smart home series were thumbnailed, named and presented in line with the content body... you could search and find them. "10 things you didn't know you need to not know you don't know in order to know" is just not helpful and "You're doing it wrong!" just straight up deserves an upper-cut.
Lmao cleavage clicks. Bait the boys and feed them some actual good information. Woman know men first think with their little head. This lady has a brain
Please, Katie, my project list is already too large without you adding to it. But then again, all the ideas, the options, the possibilities... Well, I guess I need a bigger list. Thanks for sharing!
I feel bad for making this about your gender (because it really shouldn't be), but I'm super happy to have found a female RUclipsr who's doing that kind of content. I'm looking forward for more videos!
You know all those pesky hubs you have for all those different devices that you have to pay for....? Zip, gone. The limits of the apps, gone. The ability to integrate them all together... Easy. And lots more...!
@@handsonkatie Ah, so a standard protocal that turns all connected devices into generic devices? instead of pairing bulbs and gizmos to their hub, they would then pair directly to HA via a zigbee skyconnect? and then all the on/off switching will have to happen through HA with automations? I wonder, whether such an item as the IKEA scene button you use, which has "press", "long press" and "double press" also have those three unique trigger signals when paired outside the IKEA ecosystem? Do you know that by any chance ? 🙂
Not only that, but loads more - eg there's home assistant blueprints so you can have triple press, long double press and loads more. But you're spot on, all those extra £50 hubs no longer need bought, so I've just bought IKEA buttons and they work directly with HA...
Watching this video made me realise just how clever everything you've done in the previous videos and shorts is. You're an actual genius, that's why the smart tag wouldnt make you smarterer!
*T I M E S T A M P S* Wonder # 1 [01:26] Home Assistant Wonder # 2 [03:12] ESP32 Microcontroller Wonder # 3 [04:50] ESPHome _to manage your microcontrollers_ Wonder # 4 [05:54] Zigbee2MQTT _for wireless communication messages_ Wonder # 5 [08:14] RFID tags Wonder # 6 [11:25] WLED _(ESP8266/ESP32 webserver to control addressable RGB LEDs)_ Wonder # 7 [12:42] 3D printer ^_^ Wonder-ful [10:24] 😆 Katie being cheeky ;-p
@@WCF06 Isn't it interesting, while this video is about 'living smarter' ( 10:24 🤭) with automations through technology, that a somewhat *sexy/alluring* _(as, admittedly, I also find Katie an attractive lady 😍- combining beauty, brains, humor and skills)_ 😅 presentation of such projects will, in the moment, sort of reduce the intelligence of us men.. 🤤 .. _..(and, to be inclusive, other people not identifying as male but who are attracted to women)._ . Which might not directly speed up the realization of our own versions these projects, hah. 🤣 Jokes aside though... that thumbnail was indeed chosen deliberately. #SheKnowsWhatShesDoing
@@LeoBirch As a woman-attracted-to-women, I concur, but it wasn't just the thumbnail that she's using to attract and addle our brains...there's the choice of a top needlessly falling off her bare shoulder and the obvious no-bra nips. I'm actually kind of annoyed about that. There are smart, engaging women on YT who are quite popular without resorting to that....
I honestly expected to be disappointed by the video and assumed the title was clickbait, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. There was really good content here, if only a high-level intro. I knew about HA, but I wasn't aware the open source home automation field had matured this much. And your delivery and video quality were great! I'm subscribed! I'm excited to see what projects you have to share. I'm a professional software engineer, but my home automation knowledge is very shallow. The lack of real control/customization and high cost of entry has kept me at the basic level of a few lights, thermostats, and Google Assistant.
Ooh good point - although maybe these are subcategories of sensors for ESP32/ESPHome - maybe it's a follow up video of the top X sensors for your smart home/ESP32.... they are awesome though, you're quite right....!
I was doing a preliminary research on mini PCs for upgrading my self-hosting stuff, & I ended up here somehow. I didn't learn anything I didn't know already, but I'm glad I found your channel. I like the fact that you're promoting FOSS, as well as your energy & delivery (& the lack of annoying music 😛). Keep it up & good luck with your channel! *_+subbed_*
definitely some topics I should research. any chance you could help out and do a video on how to set up a ESPhome or a Zigbee2MQTT ect. I really appreciate your way of explaining things. Keep it up!, edit, never mind i found it "home superpowers"
I will repeat watching this video again and again every time when my zigbee sensor will loose a signal, when door sensor will not report, when my automation will not run for unknown reasons even if NFC tag was scanned properly, when I will have a problem with ESP after update or WLED stop responding. It will help me to regain a faith and passion to Smart Home :)
Uhhh...HA does not have "true" voice control yet. When people think voice control they think Google or Amazon products. HA voice is nowhere near that level of complexity or reliability yet and they also don't have "off the shelf" products to perform voice commands. Only poor DIY implementations so far. I love HA and would like to ditch all my Google hardware, but you are misrepresenting this by saying they have it and then saying nothing more about its current state.
@@cyclemadkiwi Maybe you didn't read the part where I stated there were only poor DIY implementations so far. I have seen them all and none of them are that great or reliable at the moment. Nowhere near the level of Google or Amazon. Long way to go yet. Nothing "off the shelf" either from Nabu Casa.
@restotool I've not tried one, only seen RUclips channels. I've also not tried HA yet. Just Tuya app, broadlink, linknlink etc I'm waiting on my 10" touch display from linknlink that also has HA embedded. I've got a lot of learning to do.
Yes, this is a great point and one I actually cut for brevity. I agree with you on the nascent nature of these features, although even the big tech solutions are hardly a 'proper interface' yet and have been a commercial disaster as a result (again which I touched on lightly) - eg within three hours Alexa users have learnt all the voice commands they're ever going to use and they generally are 1) play music, 2) set lights and 3) set timer..... which you hardly need a massive LLM network to run...! We're still a long way from HAL! Although I've been toying with some local optimised LLM implementations which are pretty interesting....!
Thank you for such a brilliant video! I am just getting into home automation. I put this off for quite a while due to complexity of the perceived learning curve and my daytime job. The delivery of this video has opened my mind to creating ideas I could not have envisaged without this content. I hope you do many more 🎉
Well thank you for taking the time to leave such a lovely comment!! Do drop me an email if you're struggling with anything and I can introduce you to my discord channel where there's loads of lovely folk who can help you!!
You are well-spoken and very informed on what matters in this space. In fact, you seem like you've had media training 😂 You'd make a good spokesperson for Home Assistant, haha Automations are my favorite part of it all. I've got my towel warmer automated so I always have a warm towel to use when I step out of the shower.
😂😂😂😂 that's hilarious, I've got no idea what I'm doing and recorded my first video a few months ago - you should see the carnage that goes on behind the scenes as I forget to mic, mess up lights - but very kind of you to say, I am trying my best. In cryptographic terms, I'm approaching it as a brute force algorithm.... 😂😂
Excellent video, I've downloaded it and kept it in one of my playlists for future reference. Specifically to convince family members))) this is the type of content that I've been looking for for some time. Interestingly enough you've done a much better job than one of my favorite RUclipsrs whose name is similar to a certain operating system, in so much as you've actually given a round package of things to use. I hope to see some good explainers on the usage of each and examples of each. Thank you so much for this
Wonderful video, Katie! 👌 The only thing I found missing are timestamps (in the video description), so I posted those in a separate comment. Just discovered your YT channel and I love your enthusiasm, witty humor and maker spirit. ✨ (Either destiny/fate or the RUclips algorithm brought me here 😄). Instantly decided to click the Subscribe button _and_ the notification bell icon. 👉🔔 Best wishes from the other side of The English Channel / from European mainland; the Netherlands. 🇳🇱
Thanks Richard for the lovely comment - much appreciated and thank you so much for the timestamps - there's so many things I've got to learn/remember, so I'm trying, but I definitely forget! I'll try and remember this in future! And I love the dutch! You're always useful as you can usually speak better english than the British.... :) Keep watching!
I really feel I learnt a lot about home assistant and at the same time my pulse quickened 😊 (and it wasn’t because of home assistant). Thank you for a great video.
@@handsonkatie I've heard it mentioned many times on other videos ("HOME ASSISTANT. HOME ASSISSSSSSTANT") but never given it much thought. That genuinely was a great explanation.
Great content! Thank you! There is one thing missing from HA... well maybe not missing and maybe not home assistant itself, but the home assistant community has a lack of great presenters to make HA content overall, don't get me wrong there are many men, but there are hardly any women. Please keep the content coming. I'm an older noob hobbyist that's been hooked on HA for the last couple of years and follow most if not all the HA YT channels and I have to compliment you on your delivery. Please keep the HA content coming as it seems like the development of HA is accelerating with the great additions they've made to the HA team.
Thank you! 🥰 It's great to hear you found it useful and I'll do my best to keep them coming! Do let me know if there's any particular topics you'd like to see covered! ☺️
Thank you for sharing the open source message. I think you have a unique ability to reach new audiences and grow the movement. You’re doing great work.
You have some awesome ideas, and I know I spend way too much time trying to think of how to make things smart (actually, automated rather than smart). My build with the biggest WAF has been adding under-bed LEDS with Zigbee motion sensors. After that I think it's the postbox - a contact sensor on the flap that turns part of the media wall red and makes Alexa announce "You have mail", and another sensor on the box' door that resets the lights when we collect the mail. Next I think will be sensors on the bins, but it might push the limits of Zigbee's range. Keep these amazing videos coming!
My under bed leds work of 2 FSRs on each side of the bed. Using homeassistant to detect who has got out and when can turn on dim red lights during the night, open blinds and cancel alarms on the morning and so much more. it’s also linked to presence detection so if one of us is away via watch or phone the automations know this and behave appropriately. All with a cheap esp32 and a bit of node red
Excellent content. I have following Home Assistant tutorials for the last couple of years and easily this is one of the best. Can you provide more DIY videos on ESP32 chips
Thank you, that's very kind of you! Of course, I'll add to the list - I was thinking of one to tour through all the various sensors you can set up. I'll look to do a deeper guide in future!
while I already knew each component, I like how you put that together. I investigated all of them some month/years ago and I see, they evolved in between. Your video inspired me to rethink the whole system. I also appreciated your way to handle some things, like the RFIDs in the pictures or the usage of WLED. Thanks!
Great stack (home automation stack, to be clear)!! Mostly already on board with everything you mentioned, but a couple nuggets that were new to me and sound great. Excellent production quality. Wonderful speaking voice. Solid information. And an automation philosophy that i align with Consider me subscribed.
Local control is king. "Back to base" is such a PITA with any of the voice controllers. I've spoken with folks who are using a pi to run local voice control for their Echo Dot devices but I didn't understand the process they used. With Thread and Matter maybe it's not so vital now? With local control I think also security could be better too - being able to block specific ports and hopefully communities identify which components are packing back-doors and implicitly designed as data miners.
Great video! I hope you won't mind my highlighting a couple of small points that jumped out at me :) 1. Zigbee 2 MQTT is not necessarily required, there is also ZHA the native Zigbee to Home Assistance plugin that appears to be the preferred integration method assuming that everything is supported 2. Z-Wave, whilst a little more expensive, has the benefit of requiring certifiation (ensuring better compatibility) and operating on a different frequency - 2.4GHz is used by Zigbee, Bluetooth and Wifi Otherwise I think you did a great job of outlining the benefits and I fully agree that a 3D printer will pay for itself many times over once you commit to it!
Great points Chris and yes you're totally right, I did cut out a whole section on the ZHA vs Z2M debate - I was trying to keep the video super simple for folks before they see all the dizzying options/choices! ZHA seems to be the preferred, but Z2M remains just better/more reliable by most accounts - I've actually got both running on mine just out of interest and they're both pretty good, but can see Z2M slightly ahead still IMHO. Z-Wave - yes you're right and I use this too in places, it was a tough call - 8 wonders wouldn't have fit.... ;) Thanks for your thoughtful comment though, really useful for others to see so they're aware!
@@handsonkatiei totally understand trying to fit the "7 Wonders" idea, so no complaints there :) Actually I see a lot of videos in the HA space about using Zigbee, I'd be interested in seeing your experience on using Z-Wave if you have some thoughts to share in a future vid
@@chrisdixon5241 definitely - there's probably a comparison of all these standards (ie zwave, ZigBee, tasmota, etc) and the approaches (zha, z2m etc) that might be helpful! Added to the list - just finished my new CNC, so I'm back to building my custom walnut PC case for the next few weeks! 😂😂😂
@@handsonkatie just working my way over your backlog... The PC build with a walnut case is exciting. I was considering using 3D printing for a future PC case build. Looking forward to seeing more of you!
One ongoing issue with Z-Wave, however, has been the 700 and 800 series controllers having issues with going offline. The apparently better security of Z-Wave is nice, but if the network keeps going down and showing in HA as "Jammed" it's hard to recommend. The 500 series controllers seem free of this issue, but for all I know they may be less secure now sine they're older.
Expanding Home Assistant with Node Red opens up even more possibilities! It has full integration and is natively supported. Ideal for more complex actions based on clicks, sensors or other inputs that would not be possible with the regular automation. Good video with great tips! As an advanced Home Assistant user I am glad I already have al the "wonders" in place, but good that someone is pointing them out to the community. Thanks! 😄
Oh you're so right, I love node red, but I was trying to keep to seven and cover as much ground as possible!! Thanks, it means a lot coming from an expert like you - you might not have discovered loads, but you can at least have the warm glow of contentment that you're a smart home guru.... 😊😊😂
@@Dane-ishfor me it's less that it allows anything hugely more, rather it's a nice way of dealing with more complex automations. That said, native HA automations have come a long way in the last few years - that's actually why I left it off, if you were going to start with seven, then HA manages this element fine itself, but as you get more advanced, it's worth a play at some point!
@@Dane-ish For example you can create custom buttons with actions that are not part of the standard HA. I have a Zigbee switch that will power on my computer with WoL when pressed. I am planning to use it for coordination between the airconditioner, air quality sensor, heating, internal and external temperature sensor and window openers to have a good temperature and air quality in my house at the least amount of costs. With the native automation that is a real pain in the youknowwhat, but with Node Red it is as simple as creating a flow, do some settings and connect the dots. It has a more natural feel to it and way more visual to see what it is actually doing.
Thank you for this video! Especially your use of NFC tags is causing some neurological sparkings 😄 you made me look at some of my home automation "issues" with an entirely new perspective. After having a 30 second (ish) thought, I got this new idea: As I'm already having loads of ESP32s around the house, I want to an NFC reader module to some of them. And as I'm also (always) carrying an NFC enabled smartwatch, I could probably (hopefully) trigger an event by putting my watch on those readers. That would eliminate the need to open my phone and it would even eliminate the need to carry my phone with me at all. Obviously I haven't started investigating whether this is even possible and what's needed to make this work, but my first impression is that this should be technically feasible. What's your first thought of this scenario?
Exactly right - I use it for the same purpose, so yes it'll definitely work and free you from your phone. You can also get cheap RFID readers that would let you tap cards to it - I'll do a video on this in future to show how I do this around the house
ESPhome takes care of compiling that YAML configuration into ESP32 code and flashing it over the air whenever you change anything. The only hassle is the flashing your first configuration onto a new ESP32 device, as you usually have to do that via USB. After that first flash though, it's as simple as clicking on the "Update" button. ESPhome now even supports Raspberry Pi Pico W. Which is a lovely device to work with.
@@markbooth3066 sure, 'flashing' was not a good term on my phrase. But I mean, I haven't seen anything even close to that simple to set up a sensor all the way to the internet. I'm definitely taking note for some of my own implementations. The Pi Pico is something still on my list to learn, those state machines are the thing in there right? But I'm still going deeper in the STM32 and Cube IDE, good stuff!
I think flashing is the right term to use here, you're rewriting the firmware either way. My only issue with ESPhome is that I'm now up to about 80 lines worth of boilerplate for every device, for setting up wifi, static IP, fallback and diagnostic entities. Over all, the yaml configuration language is incredibly flexible, but the apparent simplicity can be deceptive, depending on how deep down the rabbit hole you go. ESPhome support for Pi Pico is still relatively new, and as far as I know, it doesn't allow you to do anything you can't do with an ESP32 or older ESP8266, but it's useful to have another form factor to play with.
Without getting into the full range of RFID tags (eg frequency ranges) - the best place to start is look for NTAG215 or NTAG 216. All should work with your phone/scanners, it's just things like the amount of data they can store has increased - so I go for one of these for usual use. Hope this helps!
I've got several! 😙 I've have a Prusa Mk3s, 3 x Bambu P1s and a heavily modded CR10 Max - I'd recommend right now the Bambu A1 as a great starter printer for price to performance. If you want an enclosure, then the Bambu P1s is great too! I'm thinking of doing a video on this in the future as it comes up a fair bit!
Honestly I like that you can finish your project, although some are complete overkill, for me learning process is more interesting that final product, but I tried something like battery powered arduino temperature logger, not very successful camera trap from Raspberry 3B, powerbank and IR camera which was repurposed two years later into chilli growth timelapse, i bought Shelly Plug S just to monitor power consumption of fridge, pc, gas heater, ... then I bought refurbished minipc to host blog, git repositories and so on.
Wow, thank you so much for this video, well presented well thought through, some great things that I had not considered in my smart home, you make this so accessible, finally another woman acing the tech world 💪wish RUclips would promote more women like yourself, i understand the reasons for the thumbnail, but it's sad woman have to do that to get noticed, but well done, this is great!
Thanks, glad you found it helpful!! And no women don't need to do anything, but likewise the world is far too serious these days, we should have more fun! 😜 Join my discord and we can chat away thoughts on the world in more detail!!
Need to add Node Red to this. I think it's a lot more powerful than the built in HA automation, and the automations are a lot easier to manage, after the initial learning curve. Otherwise, this is easily the best high level overview of home automation I have seen on the internet.
Yes, that was one I toyed with including - there's quite a shortlist of extra ones!! I love node red and whilst the HA automation UI is improving, there's something about a visual approach that is really helpful!
Hey, welcome! :) To be honest, I really don't think it matters - any brand will do in my experience as they're pretty simple devices. Key difference is 213 vs 215 vs 216 - just google these and you'll see the higher numbers essentially can store more data (213=144 bytes vs 216=888 bytes) - so in SOME use cases, you might want to get the higher ones (but 99% of my uses just need it to load a url or trigger a short command, so really doesn't matter!)
@@handsonkatie I remember back in the day when NFC tags were new and the actions they started. So, I am duty-bound as a card-carrying Geek to introduce my home to RFID tags. Thank you for the informative reply.
The pictures zones idea is genius as are the smart boobs. I could think of a few automations for that but my wife is not entirely convinced yet. I have all these wonders but one. I might just take your advice and get a 3D printer. I have some advanced Sketchup skills and it would be cool to design Barbie furniture and accessories with my daughter and print them.
Oooh, you've almost got the complete set then, you've got to complete the set surely Chris.... :) Good move on the Barbie furniture - just show your wife the cost of Mattel's furniture and it's basically a cost saving... 😉
Oh, this all just sounds so wonderful if you can figure out how to use it all. You have to understand basics before before you even know what questions to ask. It’s like this morning electricity went out. My house was out for about five minutes, but I spent the next four hours. Trying to put everything back online again doesn’t sound real smart to me. I spent almost a year now trying to figure out how to use software and actually there’s very little help out there. They act like you should know what you’re doing. Even though You’re not a programmer. Right now if my phone didn’t cost $1000 after what I’ve been through today, it would’ve been a frisbee , And waiting five or 10 or 15 minutes for the product to go it failed try again, kind of like a slot machine
Hey Marc - great comment and thanks for your open thoughts! I think you're quite right here - the learning curves are many and varied depending on your own knowledge and expertise. All these solutions are getting much easier every day, but I think you're right. I might look at creating some 'super simple' tutorials on how to set up your smart home if there was interest - they wouldn't be meant to be patronising, but really focusing on literally the simplest way to set up your smart home. Certainly your power cut example is a great one for where Home Assistant has really helped me - used to be a mess of devices, hubs and the like not reconnecting properly - now I literally do nothing, it all just comes back online. Of course do message me if there's any specific questions - always happy to help, email on my site!
@@handsonkatie show me some tutorials that would be wonderful, but they skip over certain facts like you already know what you are doing and certain method. It’s like how do you add a line into your configuration yaml without freaking out Home Assistant, Besides, I’m 70 years old, truck driver, was behind the wheel for 43 years, technologies kind of left me behind, in the 80s I taught myself how to program familiar with basic programming, then sometimes when I’m watching RUclips videos it’s like they may as well be speaking Greek.
@@handsonkatie but if you’re gonna do tutorials, do it like you’re teaching to a 10-year-old, that’s the problem most people tutorials assume you know certain things and you don’t even know what you don’t know. If you knew what you didn’t know then you probably wouldn’t be watching a tutorial.
Well, that’s kind of my point, I’m in my 70s and I’m trying to learn how to do this automation stuff. Half of it sounds like Latin, and the other half they just don’t give you all the steps they just do this this and this well how do you get to that that and that?
The funny thing was at begin of the video I was thinking: need a 3D printer for all the ESPs … e voila: the last point was exactly that … 😊 nice video, thanks
I'm not a fan of HA, being a programmer. I've programmed my own home brew equivalent, but I'm quickly becoming a Katie fan. I like her presentation and enthusiasm.
oh wow. youtube suggested this, right at the beginning i thought about my own 7 smarthome things, and it was almost creepy as you list each of them. :) i would not have listed the 3d-printer, as it is in the tools-category for me, i would have maybe mentioned it as a honorary item. my #7 would be tasmota instead. (tasmota is a firmware for freeing esp-based products from the cloud, but you know that i guess). anyway, +1 subscriber. greetings from northern germany!
Main points are it's established and availability of devices, matter and thread are still a little 'beta' in their implementation. I'd guess a few years before they become ubiquitous (unless something better takes them over before that!)
I nned to get my wife (a huge Harry Potter fangirl) to approve a "itinkered" smart home like this (at the moment we have the full Amazon ecosystem). I think about an RFID reader in a 3D printed wand to control the house via RFID Chips... Any suggestions if this would be possible?
This is a brilliant idea, I've been musing it all day - I might do this as a Halloween project!! 😄 There's plenty of RFID readers, so you could find one small enough and hook it up to an esp chip (a D1 mini or something would be good to make it small enough for the wand, I'll need to brainstorm this some more!)
Absolutely brilliant! I'm familiar at least by name with most of these wonders but you present them in such a well thought out and organized way. I love how ethusiastic, intelligent, and authentic you are. This made me watch many of your previous videos. I can see the rapid evolution and hope you continue upon this path of simplifying complex topics and bringing wonderful history and insights to solve modern day problems. I also love dragons, and engineering, and history, and home automation. Keep that up! I have a bachelor's in computer science, but now that I'm over 50, I prefer to learn how to automate and improve my home through more insightful, less boring, and more entertaining formats. Continue what you're doing! I have subscribed and look forward to more videos on new topics and drilling down on things you touched upon only briefly. I loved the organization video you did and own a 3d printer but I wish I didn't have to spend so much time trying to setup and print things. I'd rather buy interoperable solutions as the time and cost to print them most often exceeds their value in my opinion. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing more videos on those concepts to sell me on there value, but ways to make it happen easier and faster are much appreciated.
Thank you, what a lovely comment! I'll certainly try my best! What 3d printer have you got? They really have transformed in the last 18 months or so from 'tinkering' machines to domestic devices that you can click to print - so it could be worth a look at some of the latest devices (they've also plummeted in price also!)
So, I have three different lighting situations, two bulbs from two different companies, and then a pair of light bars from a third company. Will the items in the video allow me to set something up where I can just say "it was a dark and stormy night" and have ALL the lights change to whatever I colour I choose, as a group? Or where I can say "it's party time" and have all the lights do their own things individually? If so, how difficult would that be for an absolutely ignorant idiot to accomplish?
Yes, you definitely can indeed I do this seamlessly across my house all the time with Home Assistant - one smart button can control Hue, Lifx, Govee, Nanoleaf and custom WLED lighting all together. Then your 'dark and stormy night' Paul Clifford quote could be just played through any speakers you have connected. This is all pretty achievable - I'll need to do a tutorial at some point on these things!
Wow. You gave me hope to continue using internet. Finally someone who can share real information without any bla bla bla. Thank you a million for that. I loved every piece of information you shared. You are awesome!
I actually liked the content. it is simple and able to convey what having a SmartHome means for busy individuals. It may not be for all audience but this is great for the general audience. Cheers!
What's a great SmartHome introduction. Very informative, your mounth 'prints' queens spoken English, and you touch on things like ESPhome and many more that regular (even IT) guy would not be aware of initially. Are you UK based? If so, can you sometimes add links to products where you usually buy from?
Thank you, glad you enjoyed! Yes of course, I've had this question a lot, so I've started adding them to the description of videos and the products I really really like, I've added to my site: handsonkatie.com/recommended-products/
Subscribed! Mainly for the udders, but also because this was some awesome content. I don’t see how this channel doesn’t have hundreds of thousands of subscribers! Nice work!
You’re all class aren’t you 🙄 Have a think about why she ignored your comment but reacted to so many others. Imagine how much better you’d have felt if she’d actually appreciated what you wrote because you’d remembered about respect?
Thanks for the vid.. my additions would be NodeRed, OMG (Open Mqtt Gateway turn any wireless/IR/RF/BT etc signal into an mqtt broadcast ) , and Tasmota ;) EDIT* AND Mosquito Mqtt broker of course ;)
😂😂 I know the feeling, it's tough to narrow down - I had even more on the long list, I suspect the 84 wonders of the world might not have been as concise..... 😂
I disagree about the use of RFID tags in the way you showed. You needed a phone to do the activation. So do you need to always carry your phone to control your home? To me that is totally impractical. Where did I put my phone? Or my phone is in a different room. That's too much of a bother. Voice command is often a better solution. Recent additions have incorporated ESP32 input devices to accomplish that task. But sometimes a dedicated device like openHASP is a better choice. The convenience of a touch switch but with customization to suit the needs in that particular room/area. I have some RFID modules but have not yet had the desire to incorporate them in my system. I haven't spent the time to figure out how to use Home Assistant. My home automation is simple. Just lighting and music control. I use NodeRed for control software. The controlled devices are all ESP8266/ESP32 devices I made and programmed. Control is through NodeRed UI on my computers, tablets, and custom keypads. I'm retired now but I used to design industrial electronics.
Well that's one example, but yes I'm quite happy to carry my phone on me anyway, if you don't then fine!! 😜 I've also got RFID tags readers around the house, eg so kids can tap various cards to play different music playlists so you can do things other ways. Voice is handy also and I use that in some places, but requires much more memory imprinting than tapping a phone, so still some way from handling complex tasks. Each to their own though, there's many ways to skin a cat and your solution sounds like it works for you!!
I learned a lot with respect to opening avenues for my home to communicate with me... nicely constructed video thank you. 3D printing is so powerful. It's changed how I perceive problems, design solutions and a path to learn many new skills.
Hey, that's odd - assume it's not a super thick picture or anything?!? Mine work from quite a distance (I'd guess 1cm at least, so plenty). I just used super cheap tags and they worked great - couple of ideas, check the type of NFC tag, think there are five different versions with some differences (although I thought it was more data limits than strength). One thing to definitely test is the size of the tag - the size of the antenna inside the tag will definitely affect the size, so if your iPhone has an unusually weak tag reader, then this might help?
Glad I clicked on your Video, I recently had Home Assistant running on my Synology NAS but I deleted it because of to many issues I kept getting. I could not get the updates going, and more and more error's entered the configuration. Beside this I have a humidity sensor that triggers my bathroom ventilation that alway's worked perfectly with Domoticz. My experience with HA was that sometimes it the ventilation was triggered but sometimes it was not. I could not find the reason, but it felt unreliable. It is a beauty full peace of home automation software, but maybe not for me. But for educational purposes I will be following your vids from now on ;-)
Hey, that's interesting as I originally had it running on my Synology NAS too and had similar challenges - I put it on a RPi around 3-4 years ago and never had a problem since... so I have a strong suspect! I'm actually looking around at other NAS brands at the moment, bit fed up with Synology! So might be worth a try again in future!
@@handsonkatie sigh....I was just hoping to get rid of the RPI ;-) I was happy to get the whole thing running on the Synology... Now I feel just so disappointed that my issue was probably with the NAS... I need more of your vids watching and listening to you, hopefully it gives me the vibes again to put in the energy to start from scratch once more ....🙂
You advertise all this shit like it's a good thing!! More cost, more effort, more things to fret about (like my front door lock being hacked while I'm away on a nice vacation made possible by all the smart shit I didn't pay Amazon for), and worst of all, MORE SURVEILLANCE. I am an engineer and my mantra at work and at home is KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!!!! Here are the seven wonders of my home: 1) Sewage backup protection. Earns me a reduction in insurance rates. 2) Sump pump. Ditto. 3) Waterproof roof. 4) Double glazed windows. 5) Intelligent fan placement and window covering management so that the house doesn't need A/C. 6) 20 year old major appliances that are not Made in China and which are repairable (but have not needed it). 7) High quality manual Honeywell thermostat that doesn't require a training course and is impossible to screw up. What does all that smart stuff do for you other than smugness?
Heheh, well it's 'technology', it's neither good nor bad, it's just technology - how we wield it is what determines its efficacy and value. Much like your list, double glazing had appalling efficiency, high failure rate, shoddy installation standards for quite some time. I'm not sure on your point on surveillance - it's exactly the opposite, my devices are decoupled from any external cloud dependency with home assistant, so they're as connected for surveillance as your honeywell thermostat - ie local only. The main two benefits for me are money and time - diametrically opposed to your thinking - ie it's less cost and less effort - I save £1000s every year through the range of technology (and trust me I track everything through the data, so I know exactly how much electricity devices used before and after I made them 'smart'. In terms of time - I saved hundreds of hours every week being able to produce things I'd never have time to do or automate tasks I'd either forget or not have time to do. Ultimately this boils down to the luddite point - they were right about the risks of the automated farming machines, but they just missed the benefits. You do highlight an important point though - technology for 'technologies sake' is wasteful and can do exactly what you describe, tech firms have been terrible for pushing low value, high cost solutions for years now - this should definitely be treated with caution.
@@handsonkatie I don't understand--"...saved hundreds of hours every week..." ? Assuming you get 8 hrs of sleep per night, there are only 112 hrs total in a week that you are awake, and some of them are spent eating, bathing, dressing, commuting, etc. Perhaps you meant "hours every _year_ " or " _minutes_ every week"? The _minute_ you save by tapping an RFID to get pre-programmed music vs choosing that same pre-programmed music from a list on a home device or Spotify (or going real "old-skool" by pressing a button to play a specific CD with that music on it), or adjusting the lights with HA vs turning a dimmer switch is hardly going to add up to even an hour per week. Can you provide some examples of things done/time saved in a week, that add up to a substantial savings? I'm an ex-programmer and I've often found that the time (and effort and cost) it takes to automate simple things, AND make it "bullet-proof", AND customize it, teach the users, etc. is equal to--or more than--the time and effort (and cost) to leave it done manually. Sometimes, just improving the manual method is enough.
@@nodoboho😅😅 nah, I was talking about the broader point he made and if you re-read I'm talking about the things I produce, not about RFID music tags (which are more quality of life than time saved). As I type I am mowing the lawn, producing connectors for my dressing room, fixing a broken bracket for a CCTV camera, making some cabinets and etching some bottles for the winning kids at the local gala....oh and I'm vacuuming the ground floor and top floor of the house... you're quite right, if you limit yourself to a pair of hands, you only have about 100 hours of work a week you can get through..... 😊 But if you embrace automation.... But even his point like double glazing is valid too, traditional wooden windows would have required hours of maintenance every year, so there's time savings even in static innovations...! To your point on programming and KISS, yes that obviously depends on a) the competence of the programmer and b) the quality of the coding environment. HA has radically improved the second point in the last few years, so I certainly stretch it far more than I would have 4-5 years ago and I must say, with 100+ integrations I can't recall the last major issue/breakage I had other than minor tweaks. But you're quite right on this - you should always keep Occam's razor in mind. I tend to find the reverse - ie I strip out dozens of low quality apps and manufacturer bugs by integrating into HA...
@@handsonkatie Hmmm. OK, so robot gadgets to mow and vacuum, that's reasonable. 3D printing some parts and using another machine to etch, OK. _Now you've got me curious--tell me more about "making some cabinets"._ I knew you were referring to using hardware/machines to make stuff when you said you could "produce things...", but I see now I was thinking "software", not _other_ hardware/machines when you said "automate". LOL I guess it's a case of "everything sounds like it's software to a programmer" (my version of "everything looks like a nail when you only have a hammer"). And yes, I'm all for simplifying and integrating with powerful, versatile, multi-functional systems vs a kluge of weaker, inflexible, single-use apps and tools that don't work with each other. Like you said.
@@nodoboho yes, I have five 3d printers, two laser cutters and a CNC (the latter two are great for making cabinets, drawers and so on) - I'll need to do a video on this in future, slightly different to your point, I see it as turning hardware into software - ie CNCs, 3d printers, laser cutters, even my sewing machine all use effectively gcode to control them. So I can design parametric drawers and then simply enter the widths, heights and depths and hit 'make'. Hence I can get a lot more than 100 hours of work done a week....! 😂 And I think we're fairly similar in that 'man with a hammer' respect - turning everything into software makes it super flexible...!
Just found your channel and am working my way through your videos. Have just installed HA and didn't even consider Esphome. I'm looking for a spare esp32 to give it a try tonight. Thanks so much for the inspiration. Would love a video on RFID and mobile phone. Cheers. 👍🇦🇺
Hello Katie at 6 minutes 35 seconds you are on a Website with lots of zigbee devices can you please provide me with the website address..... ps your husband is very lucky to have a geek (that's a compliment) for a wife to sort out all this technology I hope he appreciates you.
You bring a different perspective to smart home ideas which is fresh, rather than the boring nerdy tech focus. NFC tags behind pictures for different music - genius. I would love to see how you've configured that in HA, and what your audio setup is.
Thanks Chris 😊 - little tutorial here covers the RFID tags! handsonkatie.com/rfid-smart-paintings/ Audio set up is a couple of Sonos speakers, but obviously pretty much anything would work!
NOTHING is private! 😉 I hear where you are coming from, but if you are on the web, SOMEONE is leering. I’m not trying to make us all paranoid, I’m trying to make us all aware. Great video tho! Tootles! ❤
Very sensible stance to take - although the solutions I cover take you OFF the web (ie they make everything local) - regardless I think it's a great attitude to security to assume it's not whatever the case...!
As a software engineer that hasn’t already dabbled in home automation but I intend to in a few months I can say that the advice you gave are very valuable, although I knew of most of the pieces I hadn’t already found a video that put them together in such a clear way. Looking forward for more inspiration for my future smart home automation
Great ideas and specially the way you broke down the whole problem of smart home into components. I will say its a component driven approach. Just an add on - The way I approach the smart home starts with defining Why smart home ? Whats the reason of doing it - Money saving , time saving, improving quality of life ? Once you identify this - find what components you already have in the cost you can afford. Once the inventory of component is ready with there functional and technical specs, you know your players. The next step come is protocol. Matter Zigbee whatever standard is popular and widely adopted and technical future proof as in future when you will add more devices into your smart home ecosystem a standard will help for ease of integration. And last point is Use case - the use case are motivated with the core reason of doing this project. So these 4 steps will take you to your dream home which is smart, affordable , future proof , pragmatic and useful. Wish every dreamer a great success in their journey.
Great points and entirely agree, I touch on this lightly in other videos, but I could do a whole video on the 'purpose' of home automation in its own right! Might be one I look at in future! 😄
Well @handsonkatie2440 only 3 attempts and I'm through. And I have to admit: As interesting you are as interesting is the content here. Just some mentions: Instead RFID you can also print or 3d print QR codes. Voice commands don't need you to have buttons everywhere. While wleds are nice, an old cheap used smartphone which sleeps in the corner of the desk, can, as a display, show even more. So your paintings can show the whether with temperature and so on in detail. And it already brings Wi-Fi, sensors and more. Widgets do the job. So there is no need for any app on my main phone. But at the end it is only anther way. Yes we have wonders around us. That's why I'm a fan of you showing some. ^^
Love this comment!! Some great points - more generally, yes I was naturally trying to narrow down to my top seven, so definitely missed some awesome stuff - I could easily do the top 100 wonders and not run short, but I suspect the 10 hour video might lose some people... 😂. QR codes - yes, definitely right and I'll cover them in a future video. They're slightly less responsive than RFID (in terms of speed of use, but definitely have their place - eg for smaller or unique locations - eg screw boxes each with QR code for all the info. Voice commands have their place too. Smartphones/tablets - yes, I have many of those around the house and agree they have a place too!! Indeed I've got a 40" smart photo frame I made on the hall that does exactly what you describe! Great thoughts and you're totally right! 🥰
Good presentation, great choice of amazing components, but you make it seem as if all those parts just seamlessly work together without any prior knowledge. I agree that HA is the wonder integration platform as I've used it for going on 3 years now. I promote it as often as I can, but as easy as it makes integrating different platforms most humans are going to be extremely overwhelmed with the terminology, networking requirements, implementation, maintenance, backups, security, etc.... I am (was, as i am now retired) a 30 year IT professional, I've used many different home automation softwares since the X-10 days, and I still occasionally get frustrated implementing new items into HA. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the platform and I am a monthly contributor to the development, but most of my friends wouldn't be able to even install it on a PC, let alone light up their house with automation. One thing that I think you overlooked was the security side of things, especially the amazing integration of Frigate, an IP camera platform that really makes it easier to deploy security cameras. I'd say that security is 75% of my reason to have home automation, and comfort/convenience come in at a distant 2nd.
Some great points here Montanaflyer! HA is definitely getting more accessible (eg the days of YAML coding everything are gradually fading), but there's certainly still a learning curve. And it's certainly relatively easy to install a basic setup (I know non-technical people who've done so quite happily), but it naturally gets more complex as you try to achieve more as you describe! Frigate is a great point too - wonder if it would be worth doing an OSS security system video in its own right....?
![Yailin La Mas Viral, @kreizyk.official - Dale 2 (Remix) [Video Oficial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JaYHBzgqz94/mqdefault.jpg)
I'll confess ... I did click because of the thumbnail, but I stayed for the educational content. Looking forward to future videos from you!
It's tacky when women in the automotive, tech or other "male" sectors use sexualisation to try and get traffic. No worse than the clickbait titles and misleading junk thumbnails though in that the net effect is devaluing of the enormous body of unique content by making it unidentifiable.
I genuinely wish Alphabet would rewind to the days where YT did not encourage the utter nonsense pursued now to get clicks. Since near everyone does it, I actually think those that don't are the standouts ironically.
Imagine if the 20 videos in a smart home series were thumbnailed, named and presented in line with the content body... you could search and find them.
"10 things you didn't know you need to not know you don't know in order to know" is just not helpful and "You're doing it wrong!" just straight up deserves an upper-cut.
I’ll confess… my interest piqued by the combo of thumbnail and channel name. Kudos to the marketing twist (a DIYer is hands-on) 😀
And what was on the thumbnail? You had me to reload page and look at it. I see what you mean now.
My dad always said he read those magazines for the articles :)
Lmao cleavage clicks. Bait the boys and feed them some actual good information. Woman know men first think with their little head. This lady has a brain
Please, Katie, my project list is already too large without you adding to it. But then again, all the ideas, the options, the possibilities... Well, I guess I need a bigger list. Thanks for sharing!
oops! 🤣 You and me sound similar - too many fun projects, who put only 24 hours in the day, eh???
I feel bad for making this about your gender (because it really shouldn't be), but I'm super happy to have found a female RUclipsr who's doing that kind of content. I'm looking forward for more videos!
Great to hear you like the content - I'll try to keep it coming!
I never really understood the Zigbe2MQTT. What problems does it solve?
You know all those pesky hubs you have for all those different devices that you have to pay for....? Zip, gone. The limits of the apps, gone. The ability to integrate them all together... Easy. And lots more...!
@@handsonkatie Ah, so a standard protocal that turns all connected devices into generic devices? instead of pairing bulbs and gizmos to their hub, they would then pair directly to HA via a zigbee skyconnect? and then all the on/off switching will have to happen through HA with automations? I wonder, whether such an item as the IKEA scene button you use, which has "press", "long press" and "double press" also have those three unique trigger signals when paired outside the IKEA ecosystem? Do you know that by any chance ? 🙂
Not only that, but loads more - eg there's home assistant blueprints so you can have triple press, long double press and loads more. But you're spot on, all those extra £50 hubs no longer need bought, so I've just bought IKEA buttons and they work directly with HA...
@@handsonkatie 🤯Sub earned! I hope you will one day make a video, showing how to setup up such a button via zigbee2MQTT integration 😇
How come you've only have 599 subscribers? Well, consider me your subscriber #600!
Watching this video made me realise just how clever everything you've done in the previous videos and shorts is. You're an actual genius, that's why the smart tag wouldnt make you smarterer!
*T I M E S T A M P S*
Wonder # 1 [01:26] Home Assistant
Wonder # 2 [03:12] ESP32 Microcontroller
Wonder # 3 [04:50] ESPHome _to manage your microcontrollers_
Wonder # 4 [05:54] Zigbee2MQTT _for wireless communication messages_
Wonder # 5 [08:14] RFID tags
Wonder # 6 [11:25] WLED _(ESP8266/ESP32 webserver to control addressable RGB LEDs)_
Wonder # 7 [12:42] 3D printer
^_^
Wonder-ful [10:24] 😆 Katie being cheeky ;-p
Wonder # 8 [9:24] Thumbnail 😉
@@WCF06 Isn't it interesting, while this video is about 'living smarter' ( 10:24 🤭) with automations through technology, that a somewhat *sexy/alluring* _(as, admittedly, I also find Katie an attractive lady 😍- combining beauty, brains, humor and skills)_ 😅 presentation of such projects will, in the moment, sort of reduce the intelligence of us men.. 🤤
..
_..(and, to be inclusive, other people not identifying as male but who are attracted to women)._
.
Which might not directly speed up the realization of our own versions these projects, hah. 🤣
Jokes aside though... that thumbnail was indeed chosen deliberately. #SheKnowsWhatShesDoing
MVP!
@@LeoBirch As a woman-attracted-to-women, I concur, but it wasn't just the thumbnail that she's using to attract and addle our brains...there's the choice of a top needlessly falling off her bare shoulder and the obvious no-bra nips. I'm actually kind of annoyed about that. There are smart, engaging women on YT who are quite popular without resorting to that....
I honestly expected to be disappointed by the video and assumed the title was clickbait, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. There was really good content here, if only a high-level intro. I knew about HA, but I wasn't aware the open source home automation field had matured this much. And your delivery and video quality were great!
I'm subscribed! I'm excited to see what projects you have to share. I'm a professional software engineer, but my home automation knowledge is very shallow. The lack of real control/customization and high cost of entry has kept me at the basic level of a few lights, thermostats, and Google Assistant.
Great to have you onboard, Blood gain! 😊
I'm surprised you didn't mention mmWave sensors. They are also cheap and your home will be transformed to a different level if setup correctly :)
Ooh good point - although maybe these are subcategories of sensors for ESP32/ESPHome - maybe it's a follow up video of the top X sensors for your smart home/ESP32.... they are awesome though, you're quite right....!
She showed an mmWave presence sensor. Ep1
so impressive and innovative! 🌟🏠
Damn! Didn’t know tech could be so hot and sexy!
I was doing a preliminary research on mini PCs for upgrading my self-hosting stuff, & I ended up here somehow.
I didn't learn anything I didn't know already, but I'm glad I found your channel.
I like the fact that you're promoting FOSS, as well as your energy & delivery (& the lack of annoying music 😛).
Keep it up & good luck with your channel! *_+subbed_*
Thank you, that's a lovely comment - great to have you onboard as a fellow enthusiast!
definitely some topics I should research. any chance you could help out and do a video on how to set up a ESPhome or a Zigbee2MQTT ect. I really appreciate your way of explaining things. Keep it up!, edit, never mind i found it "home superpowers"
Hehehe! It's like I made it just for you! ;)
I will repeat watching this video again and again every time when my zigbee sensor will loose a signal, when door sensor will not report, when my automation will not run for unknown reasons even if NFC tag was scanned properly, when I will have a problem with ESP after update or WLED stop responding. It will help me to regain a faith and passion to Smart Home :)
Uhhh...HA does not have "true" voice control yet. When people think voice control they think Google or Amazon products. HA voice is nowhere near that level of complexity or reliability yet and they also don't have "off the shelf" products to perform voice commands. Only poor DIY implementations so far. I love HA and would like to ditch all my Google hardware, but you are misrepresenting this by saying they have it and then saying nothing more about its current state.
There is an esp32 gadget for creating your own voice assistant! 😊 they are out on a few other smart home channels.
@@cyclemadkiwi Maybe you didn't read the part where I stated there were only poor DIY implementations so far. I have seen them all and none of them are that great or reliable at the moment. Nowhere near the level of Google or Amazon. Long way to go yet. Nothing "off the shelf" either from Nabu Casa.
@restotool I've not tried one, only seen RUclips channels. I've also not tried HA yet. Just Tuya app, broadlink, linknlink etc
I'm waiting on my 10" touch display from linknlink that also has HA embedded. I've got a lot of learning to do.
Yes, this is a great point and one I actually cut for brevity. I agree with you on the nascent nature of these features, although even the big tech solutions are hardly a 'proper interface' yet and have been a commercial disaster as a result (again which I touched on lightly) - eg within three hours Alexa users have learnt all the voice commands they're ever going to use and they generally are 1) play music, 2) set lights and 3) set timer..... which you hardly need a massive LLM network to run...! We're still a long way from HAL! Although I've been toying with some local optimised LLM implementations which are pretty interesting....!
Thank you for such a brilliant video! I am just getting into home automation. I put this off for quite a while due to complexity of the perceived learning curve and my daytime job. The delivery of this video has opened my mind to creating ideas I could not have envisaged without this content. I hope you do many more 🎉
Well thank you for taking the time to leave such a lovely comment!! Do drop me an email if you're struggling with anything and I can introduce you to my discord channel where there's loads of lovely folk who can help you!!
I have perma-nipples too, Never thought about covering them up with a rifd-tags. That's genius.
Lol
ROTFLMAO! I know everybody was noticing. (The elephant in the room....)
You are well-spoken and very informed on what matters in this space. In fact, you seem like you've had media training 😂
You'd make a good spokesperson for Home Assistant, haha
Automations are my favorite part of it all. I've got my towel warmer automated so I always have a warm towel to use when I step out of the shower.
😂😂😂😂 that's hilarious, I've got no idea what I'm doing and recorded my first video a few months ago - you should see the carnage that goes on behind the scenes as I forget to mic, mess up lights - but very kind of you to say, I am trying my best. In cryptographic terms, I'm approaching it as a brute force algorithm.... 😂😂
This is some video. Informative, fresh, cheeky and loaded with double entendre. Excellent! Thanks for the quality and effort
Thanks @impopet for the lovely comment! - as you can tell, I've never really created videos, so I'm trying my best, so glad you enjoyed it!!
Excellent video, I've downloaded it and kept it in one of my playlists for future reference. Specifically to convince family members))) this is the type of content that I've been looking for for some time. Interestingly enough you've done a much better job than one of my favorite RUclipsrs whose name is similar to a certain operating system, in so much as you've actually given a round package of things to use. I hope to see some good explainers on the usage of each and examples of each. Thank you so much for this
please tell me you're single
Wonderful video, Katie! 👌 The only thing I found missing are timestamps (in the video description), so I posted those in a separate comment.
Just discovered your YT channel and I love your enthusiasm, witty humor and maker spirit. ✨
(Either destiny/fate or the RUclips algorithm brought me here 😄).
Instantly decided to click the Subscribe button _and_ the notification bell icon. 👉🔔
Best wishes from the other side of The English Channel / from European mainland; the Netherlands. 🇳🇱
Thanks Richard for the lovely comment - much appreciated and thank you so much for the timestamps - there's so many things I've got to learn/remember, so I'm trying, but I definitely forget! I'll try and remember this in future! And I love the dutch! You're always useful as you can usually speak better english than the British.... :) Keep watching!
Well presented and a refreshing take on strategic components for home automation. Thank you 😊
I really feel I learnt a lot about home assistant and at the same time my pulse quickened 😊 (and it wasn’t because of home assistant). Thank you for a great video.
Thanks Tim! Glad you enjoyed the video! 😊
@@handsonkatie I've heard it mentioned many times on other videos ("HOME ASSISTANT. HOME ASSISSSSSSTANT") but never given it much thought. That genuinely was a great explanation.
Great to hear I've corrupted another person to the wonders of Home Assistant! :)
Home assistant is also like having a baby that want's the updatebottle like every hour of the day. So annoying.
🤣 Love it - yes, this is something they could centralise a bit more - one click to update everything...!
Great video, just subscribed!
Great content! Thank you! There is one thing missing from HA... well maybe not missing and maybe not home assistant itself, but the home assistant community has a lack of great presenters to make HA content overall, don't get me wrong there are many men, but there are hardly any women. Please keep the content coming. I'm an older noob hobbyist that's been hooked on HA for the last couple of years and follow most if not all the HA YT channels and I have to compliment you on your delivery. Please keep the HA content coming as it seems like the development of HA is accelerating with the great additions they've made to the HA team.
Thank you! 🥰 It's great to hear you found it useful and I'll do my best to keep them coming! Do let me know if there's any particular topics you'd like to see covered! ☺️
Thank you for sharing the open source message. I think you have a unique ability to reach new audiences and grow the movement. You’re doing great work.
Thank you, I appreciate that - I'm trying my best!!! 😊
You have some awesome ideas, and I know I spend way too much time trying to think of how to make things smart (actually, automated rather than smart). My build with the biggest WAF has been adding under-bed LEDS with Zigbee motion sensors. After that I think it's the postbox - a contact sensor on the flap that turns part of the media wall red and makes Alexa announce "You have mail", and another sensor on the box' door that resets the lights when we collect the mail. Next I think will be sensors on the bins, but it might push the limits of Zigbee's range. Keep these amazing videos coming!
Great ideas! Love these, I might pinch some!! 🤣🤣
My under bed leds work of 2 FSRs on each side of the bed. Using homeassistant to detect who has got out and when can turn on dim red lights during the night, open blinds and cancel alarms on the morning and so much more. it’s also linked to presence detection so if one of us is away via watch or phone the automations know this and behave appropriately. All with a cheap esp32 and a bit of node red
Excellent content. I have following Home Assistant tutorials for the last couple of years and easily this is one of the best.
Can you provide more DIY videos on ESP32 chips
Thank you, that's very kind of you! Of course, I'll add to the list - I was thinking of one to tour through all the various sensors you can set up. I'll look to do a deeper guide in future!
while I already knew each component, I like how you put that together.
I investigated all of them some month/years ago and I see, they evolved in between.
Your video inspired me to rethink the whole system.
I also appreciated your way to handle some things, like the RFIDs in the pictures or the usage of WLED.
Thanks!
Great stack (home automation stack, to be clear)!! Mostly already on board with everything you mentioned, but a couple nuggets that were new to me and sound great. Excellent production quality. Wonderful speaking voice. Solid information. And an automation philosophy that i align with
Consider me subscribed.
Local control is king. "Back to base" is such a PITA with any of the voice controllers. I've spoken with folks who are using a pi to run local voice control for their Echo Dot devices but I didn't understand the process they used. With Thread and Matter maybe it's not so vital now?
With local control I think also security could be better too - being able to block specific ports and hopefully communities identify which components are packing back-doors and implicitly designed as data miners.
Great video!
I hope you won't mind my highlighting a couple of small points that jumped out at me :)
1. Zigbee 2 MQTT is not necessarily required, there is also ZHA the native Zigbee to Home Assistance plugin that appears to be the preferred integration method assuming that everything is supported
2. Z-Wave, whilst a little more expensive, has the benefit of requiring certifiation (ensuring better compatibility) and operating on a different frequency - 2.4GHz is used by Zigbee, Bluetooth and Wifi
Otherwise I think you did a great job of outlining the benefits and I fully agree that a 3D printer will pay for itself many times over once you commit to it!
Great points Chris and yes you're totally right, I did cut out a whole section on the ZHA vs Z2M debate - I was trying to keep the video super simple for folks before they see all the dizzying options/choices! ZHA seems to be the preferred, but Z2M remains just better/more reliable by most accounts - I've actually got both running on mine just out of interest and they're both pretty good, but can see Z2M slightly ahead still IMHO.
Z-Wave - yes you're right and I use this too in places, it was a tough call - 8 wonders wouldn't have fit.... ;)
Thanks for your thoughtful comment though, really useful for others to see so they're aware!
@@handsonkatiei totally understand trying to fit the "7 Wonders" idea, so no complaints there :)
Actually I see a lot of videos in the HA space about using Zigbee, I'd be interested in seeing your experience on using Z-Wave if you have some thoughts to share in a future vid
@@chrisdixon5241 definitely - there's probably a comparison of all these standards (ie zwave, ZigBee, tasmota, etc) and the approaches (zha, z2m etc) that might be helpful! Added to the list - just finished my new CNC, so I'm back to building my custom walnut PC case for the next few weeks! 😂😂😂
@@handsonkatie just working my way over your backlog... The PC build with a walnut case is exciting. I was considering using 3D printing for a future PC case build. Looking forward to seeing more of you!
One ongoing issue with Z-Wave, however, has been the 700 and 800 series controllers having issues with going offline.
The apparently better security of Z-Wave is nice, but if the network keeps going down and showing in HA as "Jammed" it's hard to recommend.
The 500 series controllers seem free of this issue, but for all I know they may be less secure now sine they're older.
Expanding Home Assistant with Node Red opens up even more possibilities! It has full integration and is natively supported. Ideal for more complex actions based on clicks, sensors or other inputs that would not be possible with the regular automation. Good video with great tips! As an advanced Home Assistant user I am glad I already have al the "wonders" in place, but good that someone is pointing them out to the community. Thanks! 😄
Oh you're so right, I love node red, but I was trying to keep to seven and cover as much ground as possible!! Thanks, it means a lot coming from an expert like you - you might not have discovered loads, but you can at least have the warm glow of contentment that you're a smart home guru.... 😊😊😂
I’ve been using HA native automations for a few years, and haven’t looked at Node Red yet. What sort of automations has Node Red made possible?
@@Dane-ishfor me it's less that it allows anything hugely more, rather it's a nice way of dealing with more complex automations. That said, native HA automations have come a long way in the last few years - that's actually why I left it off, if you were going to start with seven, then HA manages this element fine itself, but as you get more advanced, it's worth a play at some point!
@@handsonkatie nice, will have to check it out!
@@Dane-ish For example you can create custom buttons with actions that are not part of the standard HA. I have a Zigbee switch that will power on my computer with WoL when pressed. I am planning to use it for coordination between the airconditioner, air quality sensor, heating, internal and external temperature sensor and window openers to have a good temperature and air quality in my house at the least amount of costs. With the native automation that is a real pain in the youknowwhat, but with Node Red it is as simple as creating a flow, do some settings and connect the dots. It has a more natural feel to it and way more visual to see what it is actually doing.
Thank you for this video! Especially your use of NFC tags is causing some neurological sparkings 😄 you made me look at some of my home automation "issues" with an entirely new perspective.
After having a 30 second (ish) thought, I got this new idea: As I'm already having loads of ESP32s around the house, I want to an NFC reader module to some of them. And as I'm also (always) carrying an NFC enabled smartwatch, I could probably (hopefully) trigger an event by putting my watch on those readers. That would eliminate the need to open my phone and it would even eliminate the need to carry my phone with me at all.
Obviously I haven't started investigating whether this is even possible and what's needed to make this work, but my first impression is that this should be technically feasible.
What's your first thought of this scenario?
Exactly right - I use it for the same purpose, so yes it'll definitely work and free you from your phone. You can also get cheap RFID readers that would let you tap cards to it - I'll do a video on this in future to show how I do this around the house
4:53 that config syntax caught me, always great to setup something specific without reflashing the MCU
Exactly right! ☺️
ESPhome takes care of compiling that YAML configuration into ESP32 code and flashing it over the air whenever you change anything. The only hassle is the flashing your first configuration onto a new ESP32 device, as you usually have to do that via USB. After that first flash though, it's as simple as clicking on the "Update" button.
ESPhome now even supports Raspberry Pi Pico W. Which is a lovely device to work with.
@@markbooth3066 sure, 'flashing' was not a good term on my phrase. But I mean, I haven't seen anything even close to that simple to set up a sensor all the way to the internet. I'm definitely taking note for some of my own implementations.
The Pi Pico is something still on my list to learn, those state machines are the thing in there right? But I'm still going deeper in the STM32 and Cube IDE, good stuff!
I think flashing is the right term to use here, you're rewriting the firmware either way.
My only issue with ESPhome is that I'm now up to about 80 lines worth of boilerplate for every device, for setting up wifi, static IP, fallback and diagnostic entities. Over all, the yaml configuration language is incredibly flexible, but the apparent simplicity can be deceptive, depending on how deep down the rabbit hole you go.
ESPhome support for Pi Pico is still relatively new, and as far as I know, it doesn't allow you to do anything you can't do with an ESP32 or older ESP8266, but it's useful to have another form factor to play with.
I have done a search on rfid tags and discovered that they come in different types. Do you recommend any type?
Without getting into the full range of RFID tags (eg frequency ranges) - the best place to start is look for NTAG215 or NTAG 216. All should work with your phone/scanners, it's just things like the amount of data they can store has increased - so I go for one of these for usual use. Hope this helps!
Great video. Do you have any tips/minimum requirements for a 3D printer? What do you use?
I've got several! 😙 I've have a Prusa Mk3s, 3 x Bambu P1s and a heavily modded CR10 Max - I'd recommend right now the Bambu A1 as a great starter printer for price to performance. If you want an enclosure, then the Bambu P1s is great too! I'm thinking of doing a video on this in the future as it comes up a fair bit!
Honestly I like that you can finish your project, although some are complete overkill, for me learning process is more interesting that final product, but I tried something like battery powered arduino temperature logger, not very successful camera trap from Raspberry 3B, powerbank and IR camera which was repurposed two years later into chilli growth timelapse, i bought Shelly Plug S just to monitor power consumption of fridge, pc, gas heater, ... then I bought refurbished minipc to host blog, git repositories and so on.
Wow, thank you so much for this video, well presented well thought through, some great things that I had not considered in my smart home, you make this so accessible, finally another woman acing the tech world 💪wish RUclips would promote more women like yourself, i understand the reasons for the thumbnail, but it's sad woman have to do that to get noticed, but well done, this is great!
Thanks, glad you found it helpful!! And no women don't need to do anything, but likewise the world is far too serious these days, we should have more fun! 😜 Join my discord and we can chat away thoughts on the world in more detail!!
@@handsonkatie would love to, where can I find a link to your discord server please?
Just drop me an email from my site and I'll share a special link! - would post email here, but spambots would pounce... 😊
I'm glad I found your channel. You are smart and cute!!! I'm a fan!
Would love a RFID video, I bought some but can’t seem to set anything up. If you could show how to program them it would be awesome
I can certainly do that! I've got a video on setting up ESP sensors next week, so probably a bit after that I could cover RFID's quickly!
Need to add Node Red to this. I think it's a lot more powerful than the built in HA automation, and the automations are a lot easier to manage, after the initial learning curve. Otherwise, this is easily the best high level overview of home automation I have seen on the internet.
Yes, that was one I toyed with including - there's quite a shortlist of extra ones!! I love node red and whilst the HA automation UI is improving, there's something about a visual approach that is really helpful!
that was an easy sub. BTW any recommendations for RFID tags. Any run-of-the-mill or one type in particular?
Hey, welcome! :) To be honest, I really don't think it matters - any brand will do in my experience as they're pretty simple devices. Key difference is 213 vs 215 vs 216 - just google these and you'll see the higher numbers essentially can store more data (213=144 bytes vs 216=888 bytes) - so in SOME use cases, you might want to get the higher ones (but 99% of my uses just need it to load a url or trigger a short command, so really doesn't matter!)
@@handsonkatie I remember back in the day when NFC tags were new and the actions they started. So, I am duty-bound as a card-carrying Geek to introduce my home to RFID tags. Thank you for the informative reply.
March on, brave soldier!! May every RFID tag serve you well!
@@handsonkatie You honour me with your gracious replies my Empress.
The pictures zones idea is genius as are the smart boobs. I could think of a few automations for that but my wife is not entirely convinced yet. I have all these wonders but one. I might just take your advice and get a 3D printer. I have some advanced Sketchup skills and it would be cool to design Barbie furniture and accessories with my daughter and print them.
Oooh, you've almost got the complete set then, you've got to complete the set surely Chris.... :) Good move on the Barbie furniture - just show your wife the cost of Mattel's furniture and it's basically a cost saving... 😉
I would love to see a separate video on how to setup the RF tags and integrations to HA. That's a cool idea what you have done with the paintings!
There's actually a quick tutorial I did here:
handsonkatie.com/rfid-smart-paintings/
But will look to cover in future videos too!
Oh, this all just sounds so wonderful if you can figure out how to use it all. You have to understand basics before before you even know what questions to ask. It’s like this morning electricity went out. My house was out for about five minutes, but I spent the next four hours. Trying to put everything back online again doesn’t sound real smart to me. I spent almost a year now trying to figure out how to use software and actually there’s very little help out there. They act like you should know what you’re doing. Even though You’re not a programmer.
Right now if my phone didn’t cost $1000 after what I’ve been through today, it would’ve been a frisbee , And waiting five or 10 or 15 minutes for the product to go it failed try again, kind of like a slot machine
Hey Marc - great comment and thanks for your open thoughts! I think you're quite right here - the learning curves are many and varied depending on your own knowledge and expertise. All these solutions are getting much easier every day, but I think you're right. I might look at creating some 'super simple' tutorials on how to set up your smart home if there was interest - they wouldn't be meant to be patronising, but really focusing on literally the simplest way to set up your smart home.
Certainly your power cut example is a great one for where Home Assistant has really helped me - used to be a mess of devices, hubs and the like not reconnecting properly - now I literally do nothing, it all just comes back online. Of course do message me if there's any specific questions - always happy to help, email on my site!
@@handsonkatie show me some tutorials that would be wonderful, but they skip over certain facts like you already know what you are doing and certain method. It’s like how do you add a line into your configuration yaml without freaking out Home Assistant,
Besides, I’m 70 years old, truck driver, was behind the wheel for 43 years, technologies kind of left me behind, in the 80s I taught myself how to program familiar with basic programming, then sometimes when I’m watching RUclips videos it’s like they may as well be speaking Greek.
@@handsonkatie but if you’re gonna do tutorials, do it like you’re teaching to a 10-year-old, that’s the problem most people tutorials assume you know certain things and you don’t even know what you don’t know. If you knew what you didn’t know then you probably wouldn’t be watching a tutorial.
That's some great counsel and brilliant to get a bit of 'colour' too!! I'll aim for this! 🥰
Well, that’s kind of my point, I’m in my 70s and I’m trying to learn how to do this automation stuff. Half of it sounds like Latin, and the other half they just don’t give you all the steps they just do this this and this well how do you get to that that and that?
I discovered your channel just yesterday, im loving your videos, very different vibe to all the videos in the home automation community, its great!
The funny thing was at begin of the video I was thinking: need a 3D printer for all the ESPs … e voila: the last point was exactly that … 😊 nice video, thanks
... you walked right into my little trap.... 🤣🤣🤣
I'm not a fan of HA, being a programmer. I've programmed my own home brew equivalent, but I'm quickly becoming a Katie fan. I like her presentation and enthusiasm.
oh wow. youtube suggested this, right at the beginning i thought about my own 7 smarthome things, and it was almost creepy as you list each of them. :) i would not have listed the 3d-printer, as it is in the tools-category for me, i would have maybe mentioned it as a honorary item. my #7 would be tasmota instead. (tasmota is a firmware for freeing esp-based products from the cloud, but you know that i guess). anyway, +1 subscriber. greetings from northern germany!
Great to know we're on the same lines!! Yes tasmota is a very good shout also, it's incredibly handy as you say!! 😁
I loved every moment of this presentation.Well presented. I just subscribed to the channel.
Using the first 6 of the seven. No printer.
Well that's pretty excellent as a score and your Christmas present sorted too.... 🤣🎁
Is there any reason to use Zigbee rather than the newer Thread?
Main points are it's established and availability of devices, matter and thread are still a little 'beta' in their implementation. I'd guess a few years before they become ubiquitous (unless something better takes them over before that!)
so pretty
Oh wow, it's so inspiring to see a woman with such amazing technical skills! This is a great summary.
do more of this! been a long time smarthome enthusiast and the space really needs your approach of preaching the lifestyle of opensource smarthomes.
Thanks Dylan, I'll try - agree totally, gotta love the OSS movement in general!
No preaching will mask what a wretched unbearable mess the HA is.
I nned to get my wife (a huge Harry Potter fangirl) to approve a "itinkered" smart home like this (at the moment we have the full Amazon ecosystem). I think about an RFID reader in a 3D printed wand to control the house via RFID Chips... Any suggestions if this would be possible?
This is a brilliant idea, I've been musing it all day - I might do this as a Halloween project!! 😄 There's plenty of RFID readers, so you could find one small enough and hook it up to an esp chip (a D1 mini or something would be good to make it small enough for the wand, I'll need to brainstorm this some more!)
Absolutely brilliant! I'm familiar at least by name with most of these wonders but you present them in such a well thought out and organized way. I love how ethusiastic, intelligent, and authentic you are. This made me watch many of your previous videos. I can see the rapid evolution and hope you continue upon this path of simplifying complex topics and bringing wonderful history and insights to solve modern day problems. I also love dragons, and engineering, and history, and home automation. Keep that up!
I have a bachelor's in computer science, but now that I'm over 50, I prefer to learn how to automate and improve my home through more insightful, less boring, and more entertaining formats. Continue what you're doing! I have subscribed and look forward to more videos on new topics and drilling down on things you touched upon only briefly. I loved the organization video you did and own a 3d printer but I wish I didn't have to spend so much time trying to setup and print things. I'd rather buy interoperable solutions as the time and cost to print them most often exceeds their value in my opinion. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing more videos on those concepts to sell me on there value, but ways to make it happen easier and faster are much appreciated.
Thank you, what a lovely comment! I'll certainly try my best! What 3d printer have you got? They really have transformed in the last 18 months or so from 'tinkering' machines to domestic devices that you can click to print - so it could be worth a look at some of the latest devices (they've also plummeted in price also!)
A beautiful woman who likes Home Assistant. Subscribed!
Well you'd have to be mad not to, surely??? :)
So, I have three different lighting situations, two bulbs from two different companies, and then a pair of light bars from a third company. Will the items in the video allow me to set something up where I can just say "it was a dark and stormy night" and have ALL the lights change to whatever I colour I choose, as a group? Or where I can say "it's party time" and have all the lights do their own things individually? If so, how difficult would that be for an absolutely ignorant idiot to accomplish?
Yes, you definitely can indeed I do this seamlessly across my house all the time with Home Assistant - one smart button can control Hue, Lifx, Govee, Nanoleaf and custom WLED lighting all together. Then your 'dark and stormy night' Paul Clifford quote could be just played through any speakers you have connected. This is all pretty achievable - I'll need to do a tutorial at some point on these things!
Wow. You gave me hope to continue using internet. Finally someone who can share real information without any bla bla bla. Thank you a million for that. I loved every piece of information you shared. You are awesome!
Thank you! What a lovely comment! 🥰
For the 3D printer, it's always worth adding klipper, if only to announce the completion of a job on smart speakers or monitor it on home assistant.
Spot on! I use octoprint also for some of my older printers too!
I actually liked the content. it is simple and able to convey what having a SmartHome means for busy individuals. It may not be for all audience but this is great for the general audience. Cheers!
I just got one of them.
What's a great SmartHome introduction. Very informative, your mounth 'prints' queens spoken English, and you touch on things like ESPhome and many more that regular (even IT) guy would not be aware of initially. Are you UK based? If so, can you sometimes add links to products where you usually buy from?
Thank you, glad you enjoyed! Yes of course, I've had this question a lot, so I've started adding them to the description of videos and the products I really really like, I've added to my site: handsonkatie.com/recommended-products/
Subscribed! Mainly for the udders, but also because this was some awesome content. I don’t see how this channel doesn’t have hundreds of thousands of subscribers! Nice work!
... _udders_ ??! What a scumbag. (Yes, we all noticed, but no woman, _ever_ , would find that word acceptable.)
You’re all class aren’t you 🙄 Have a think about why she ignored your comment but reacted to so many others. Imagine how much better you’d have felt if she’d actually appreciated what you wrote because you’d remembered about respect?
Really good video, tons of great info
Very nice and professional. Congratulation!
thnx for making such a useful overview!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the vid.. my additions would be NodeRed, OMG (Open Mqtt Gateway turn any wireless/IR/RF/BT etc signal into an mqtt broadcast ) , and Tasmota ;) EDIT* AND Mosquito Mqtt broker of course ;)
😂😂 I know the feeling, it's tough to narrow down - I had even more on the long list, I suspect the 84 wonders of the world might not have been as concise..... 😂
I disagree about the use of RFID tags in the way you showed. You needed a phone to do the activation. So do you need to always carry your phone to control your home? To me that is totally impractical. Where did I put my phone? Or my phone is in a different room. That's too much of a bother. Voice command is often a better solution. Recent additions have incorporated ESP32 input devices to accomplish that task. But sometimes a dedicated device like openHASP is a better choice. The convenience of a touch switch but with customization to suit the needs in that particular room/area. I have some RFID modules but have not yet had the desire to incorporate them in my system.
I haven't spent the time to figure out how to use Home Assistant. My home automation is simple. Just lighting and music control. I use NodeRed for control software. The controlled devices are all ESP8266/ESP32 devices I made and programmed. Control is through NodeRed UI on my computers, tablets, and custom keypads. I'm retired now but I used to design industrial electronics.
Well that's one example, but yes I'm quite happy to carry my phone on me anyway, if you don't then fine!! 😜 I've also got RFID tags readers around the house, eg so kids can tap various cards to play different music playlists so you can do things other ways.
Voice is handy also and I use that in some places, but requires much more memory imprinting than tapping a phone, so still some way from handling complex tasks.
Each to their own though, there's many ways to skin a cat and your solution sounds like it works for you!!
I like your video, I think it's the good point to start with a smart house....I'll let you know my progress
I learned a lot with respect to opening avenues for my home to communicate with me... nicely constructed video thank you.
3D printing is so powerful. It's changed how I perceive problems, design solutions and a path to learn many new skills.
Thanks Michael - great to hear it was helpful! If you like 3d printing, then wait until you see what's coming up.... ;)
What NFC tag are you using?
I am trying to scan through a picture with an iPhone and can't make it work. I have tried several tags. Suggestions?
Hey, that's odd - assume it's not a super thick picture or anything?!? Mine work from quite a distance (I'd guess 1cm at least, so plenty). I just used super cheap tags and they worked great - couple of ideas, check the type of NFC tag, think there are five different versions with some differences (although I thought it was more data limits than strength). One thing to definitely test is the size of the tag - the size of the antenna inside the tag will definitely affect the size, so if your iPhone has an unusually weak tag reader, then this might help?
Instant subscribe. Brilliant video. I’m already doing most of this but I’m going to order some RFID tags right now to try out.
Glad I clicked on your Video, I recently had Home Assistant running on my Synology NAS but I deleted it because of to many issues I kept getting. I could not get the updates going, and more and more error's entered the configuration. Beside this I have a humidity sensor that triggers my bathroom ventilation that alway's worked perfectly with Domoticz. My experience with HA was that sometimes it the ventilation was triggered but sometimes it was not. I could not find the reason, but it felt unreliable. It is a beauty full peace of home automation software, but maybe not for me. But for educational purposes I will be following your vids from now on ;-)
Hey, that's interesting as I originally had it running on my Synology NAS too and had similar challenges - I put it on a RPi around 3-4 years ago and never had a problem since... so I have a strong suspect! I'm actually looking around at other NAS brands at the moment, bit fed up with Synology! So might be worth a try again in future!
@@handsonkatie sigh....I was just hoping to get rid of the RPI ;-) I was happy to get the whole thing running on the Synology... Now I feel just so disappointed that my issue was probably with the NAS... I need more of your vids watching and listening to you, hopefully it gives me the vibes again to put in the energy to start from scratch once more ....🙂
You advertise all this shit like it's a good thing!! More cost, more effort, more things to fret about (like my front door lock being hacked while I'm away on a nice vacation made possible by all the smart shit I didn't pay Amazon for), and worst of all, MORE SURVEILLANCE.
I am an engineer and my mantra at work and at home is KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!!!! Here are the seven wonders of my home:
1) Sewage backup protection. Earns me a reduction in insurance rates.
2) Sump pump. Ditto.
3) Waterproof roof.
4) Double glazed windows.
5) Intelligent fan placement and window covering management so that the house doesn't need A/C.
6) 20 year old major appliances that are not Made in China and which are repairable (but have not needed it).
7) High quality manual Honeywell thermostat that doesn't require a training course and is impossible to screw up.
What does all that smart stuff do for you other than smugness?
Heheh, well it's 'technology', it's neither good nor bad, it's just technology - how we wield it is what determines its efficacy and value. Much like your list, double glazing had appalling efficiency, high failure rate, shoddy installation standards for quite some time.
I'm not sure on your point on surveillance - it's exactly the opposite, my devices are decoupled from any external cloud dependency with home assistant, so they're as connected for surveillance as your honeywell thermostat - ie local only.
The main two benefits for me are money and time - diametrically opposed to your thinking - ie it's less cost and less effort - I save £1000s every year through the range of technology (and trust me I track everything through the data, so I know exactly how much electricity devices used before and after I made them 'smart'. In terms of time - I saved hundreds of hours every week being able to produce things I'd never have time to do or automate tasks I'd either forget or not have time to do.
Ultimately this boils down to the luddite point - they were right about the risks of the automated farming machines, but they just missed the benefits. You do highlight an important point though - technology for 'technologies sake' is wasteful and can do exactly what you describe, tech firms have been terrible for pushing low value, high cost solutions for years now - this should definitely be treated with caution.
@@handsonkatie I don't understand--"...saved hundreds of hours every week..." ? Assuming you get 8 hrs of sleep per night, there are only 112 hrs total in a week that you are awake, and some of them are spent eating, bathing, dressing, commuting, etc. Perhaps you meant "hours every _year_ " or " _minutes_ every week"?
The _minute_ you save by tapping an RFID to get pre-programmed music vs choosing that same pre-programmed music from a list on a home device or Spotify (or going real "old-skool" by pressing a button to play a specific CD with that music on it), or adjusting the lights with HA vs turning a dimmer switch is hardly going to add up to even an hour per week.
Can you provide some examples of things done/time saved in a week, that add up to a substantial savings?
I'm an ex-programmer and I've often found that the time (and effort and cost) it takes to automate simple things, AND make it "bullet-proof", AND customize it, teach the users, etc. is equal to--or more than--the time and effort (and cost) to leave it done manually. Sometimes, just improving the manual method is enough.
@@nodoboho😅😅 nah, I was talking about the broader point he made and if you re-read I'm talking about the things I produce, not about RFID music tags (which are more quality of life than time saved). As I type I am mowing the lawn, producing connectors for my dressing room, fixing a broken bracket for a CCTV camera, making some cabinets and etching some bottles for the winning kids at the local gala....oh and I'm vacuuming the ground floor and top floor of the house... you're quite right, if you limit yourself to a pair of hands, you only have about 100 hours of work a week you can get through..... 😊
But if you embrace automation....
But even his point like double glazing is valid too, traditional wooden windows would have required hours of maintenance every year, so there's time savings even in static innovations...!
To your point on programming and KISS, yes that obviously depends on a) the competence of the programmer and b) the quality of the coding environment. HA has radically improved the second point in the last few years, so I certainly stretch it far more than I would have 4-5 years ago and I must say, with 100+ integrations I can't recall the last major issue/breakage I had other than minor tweaks.
But you're quite right on this - you should always keep Occam's razor in mind. I tend to find the reverse - ie I strip out dozens of low quality apps and manufacturer bugs by integrating into HA...
@@handsonkatie Hmmm. OK, so robot gadgets to mow and vacuum, that's reasonable. 3D printing some parts and using another machine to etch, OK. _Now you've got me curious--tell me more about "making some cabinets"._
I knew you were referring to using hardware/machines to make stuff when you said you could "produce things...", but I see now I was thinking "software", not _other_ hardware/machines when you said "automate". LOL I guess it's a case of "everything sounds like it's software to a programmer" (my version of "everything looks like a nail when you only have a hammer").
And yes, I'm all for simplifying and integrating with powerful, versatile, multi-functional systems vs a kluge of weaker, inflexible, single-use apps and tools that don't work with each other. Like you said.
@@nodoboho yes, I have five 3d printers, two laser cutters and a CNC (the latter two are great for making cabinets, drawers and so on) - I'll need to do a video on this in future, slightly different to your point, I see it as turning hardware into software - ie CNCs, 3d printers, laser cutters, even my sewing machine all use effectively gcode to control them. So I can design parametric drawers and then simply enter the widths, heights and depths and hit 'make'. Hence I can get a lot more than 100 hours of work done a week....! 😂
And I think we're fairly similar in that 'man with a hammer' respect - turning everything into software makes it super flexible...!
Informative, interesting and enthusiastic - well presented - I intend to try quite a few of these out. Thank you as I didn’t know almost any of it.
Just found your channel and am working my way through your videos. Have just installed HA and didn't even consider Esphome. I'm looking for a spare esp32 to give it a try tonight.
Thanks so much for the inspiration. Would love a video on RFID and mobile phone.
Cheers. 👍🇦🇺
Hmm, there seems to be quite a few requests for this - I'll add it to the list for future! ☺️
As a cloud architect professionally, I do love this systems engineering approach to organization and home life.
Well I've got another video coming this week on the same.... 😉 Let's nerd out the home!
Hey K80, I really like your content. Thanks. I hope than your channel grow up even more.
Smart, witty, pretty, so refreshing ! No more 'bearded guys' from now on ;)
You sayin' I couldn't pull off a beard???? 😂
@@handsonkatie Dios mío, better a woman without one ! XOXOXO
😂😂😂😂
Fantastic video. I only miss a couple of speakers inside de air conducts to make your home smart and nice 😃
Hello Katie at 6 minutes 35 seconds you are on a Website with lots of zigbee devices can you please provide me with the website address..... ps your husband is very lucky to have a geek (that's a compliment) for a wife to sort out all this technology I hope he appreciates you.
Hey! Thank you, that's very kind of you to say! The website is the z2m site I think, ie: www.zigbee2mqtt.io/supported-devices/ Hope this helps!!
Thank you for some great information that is very well presented.
You're really well spoken, Katie. Definitely make the idea of having a smart home more appealing. If only they came with you 😂
Very informative video, great job. Keep up the good work!
Glad you liked it!
You bring a different perspective to smart home ideas which is fresh, rather than the boring nerdy tech focus. NFC tags behind pictures for different music - genius. I would love to see how you've configured that in HA, and what your audio setup is.
Thanks Chris 😊 - little tutorial here covers the RFID tags!
handsonkatie.com/rfid-smart-paintings/
Audio set up is a couple of Sonos speakers, but obviously pretty much anything would work!
NOTHING is private! 😉 I hear where you are coming from, but if you are on the web, SOMEONE is leering.
I’m not trying to make us all paranoid, I’m trying to make us all aware.
Great video tho!
Tootles! ❤
Very sensible stance to take - although the solutions I cover take you OFF the web (ie they make everything local) - regardless I think it's a great attitude to security to assume it's not whatever the case...!
Brill really enjoyed the info and the presentation, subscribed!
Wow. Genuine information from what can only be described as an absolute hottie. Will be paying closer attention to this font of knowledge.
As a software engineer that hasn’t already dabbled in home automation but I intend to in a few months I can say that the advice you gave are very valuable, although I knew of most of the pieces I hadn’t already found a video that put them together in such a clear way. Looking forward for more inspiration for my future smart home automation
Thank you, glad it helped you!
Great ideas and specially the way you broke down the whole problem of smart home into components. I will say its a component driven approach. Just an add on - The way I approach the smart home starts with defining Why smart home ? Whats the reason of doing it - Money saving , time saving, improving quality of life ? Once you identify this - find what components you already have in the cost you can afford. Once the inventory of component is ready with there functional and technical specs, you know your players. The next step come is protocol. Matter Zigbee whatever standard is popular and widely adopted and technical future proof as in future when you will add more devices into your smart home ecosystem a standard will help for ease of integration. And last point is Use case - the use case are motivated with the core reason of doing this project. So these 4 steps will take you to your dream home which is smart, affordable , future proof , pragmatic and useful. Wish every dreamer a great success in their journey.
Great points and entirely agree, I touch on this lightly in other videos, but I could do a whole video on the 'purpose' of home automation in its own right! Might be one I look at in future! 😄
@@handsonkatie Waiting for that video then. Great work.
Well @handsonkatie2440 only 3 attempts and I'm through. And I have to admit: As interesting you are as interesting is the content here. Just some mentions: Instead RFID you can also print or 3d print QR codes. Voice commands don't need you to have buttons everywhere. While wleds are nice, an old cheap used smartphone which sleeps in the corner of the desk, can, as a display, show even more. So your paintings can show the whether with temperature and so on in detail. And it already brings Wi-Fi, sensors and more. Widgets do the job. So there is no need for any app on my main phone. But at the end it is only anther way.
Yes we have wonders around us. That's why I'm a fan of you showing some. ^^
Love this comment!! Some great points - more generally, yes I was naturally trying to narrow down to my top seven, so definitely missed some awesome stuff - I could easily do the top 100 wonders and not run short, but I suspect the 10 hour video might lose some people... 😂. QR codes - yes, definitely right and I'll cover them in a future video. They're slightly less responsive than RFID (in terms of speed of use, but definitely have their place - eg for smaller or unique locations - eg screw boxes each with QR code for all the info.
Voice commands have their place too. Smartphones/tablets - yes, I have many of those around the house and agree they have a place too!! Indeed I've got a 40" smart photo frame I made on the hall that does exactly what you describe!
Great thoughts and you're totally right! 🥰
On man!!! I just ordered an Aqara M3 Hub just yesterday, and today this video pops up 😒
Oh I've been meaning to have a play with the M3 - it integrates with Home Assistant anyway, so it shouldn't be too big a problem!
@handsonkatie Cool. Newbie here. Thanks for the info 🙏🏻
Which 3d printer would you recommend for beginners?
Why I've just done a video on that! ruclips.net/video/WPYOIpV7Zl4/видео.htmlsi=KxgfvPlif5V6TEey
Enjoy!
Good presentation, great choice of amazing components, but you make it seem as if all those parts just seamlessly work together without any prior knowledge. I agree that HA is the wonder integration platform as I've used it for going on 3 years now. I promote it as often as I can, but as easy as it makes integrating different platforms most humans are going to be extremely overwhelmed with the terminology, networking requirements, implementation, maintenance, backups, security, etc....
I am (was, as i am now retired) a 30 year IT professional, I've used many different home automation softwares since the X-10 days, and I still occasionally get frustrated implementing new items into HA. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the platform and I am a monthly contributor to the development, but most of my friends wouldn't be able to even install it on a PC, let alone light up their house with automation.
One thing that I think you overlooked was the security side of things, especially the amazing integration of Frigate, an IP camera platform that really makes it easier to deploy security cameras. I'd say that security is 75% of my reason to have home automation, and comfort/convenience come in at a distant 2nd.
Some great points here Montanaflyer! HA is definitely getting more accessible (eg the days of YAML coding everything are gradually fading), but there's certainly still a learning curve. And it's certainly relatively easy to install a basic setup (I know non-technical people who've done so quite happily), but it naturally gets more complex as you try to achieve more as you describe!
Frigate is a great point too - wonder if it would be worth doing an OSS security system video in its own right....?
Your videos are both informative and entertaining. Keep up the excellent work!