The best and worst decisions I made for my smart home
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- Опубликовано: 19 апр 2024
- Lessons I learned whilst building my smart home
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Smart Home Playlist: • Building a new smart home 
Хобби
“re-read my own blog” 😂 spilled my tea
Looking forward to the zigbee video!!!
Me 2 😃
That video was fantastic!
It's so helpful to see you reflect on past choices and share your long-term experiences with different hardware.
Your honest reviews are a breath of fresh air, and I love your signature style - informative, funny, and down-to-earth. 👌
Keep up the great work! 🎉
Thank you so much for the kind words! 🙏
Loved the Lewis cameo, brilliant!
🤣
That was really amazing! nice
I so much wish you made a separate channel exclusively for STEP by STEP tutorias on EACH smart thing you have done. There is nothing like that out there and you are very clear and approachable, you are the rigth man for the job. I was going to make fun of you too about your "partner" BTW.
Most of the step by step tutorials can be found in individual videos on my channel and my homeautomationguy.io website has written tutorials for most things too.
@@HomeAutomationGuy Been there, and did the step by step for Frigate! Are you still using Ubiquiti Cameras? I have started to move away to Annke cameras, I can see LP on cars now.
@@HomeAutomationGuy would you be willing to offer consulting services for an installation I'm working on please? Would be glad to discuss either lump sum or time based. Thanks in advance.
Does millimeter wave can sense human presence if nobody is moving?
@@Andrea-bz4fr It can detect presence on as little movement as breathing normally. So basically, yes.
I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of the video but I will say it was very well done and informative and pleasant to listen to. 1 like from me!
I agree...Light automations are the most used and myself hardly ever touch a light switch... Great channel. keep it going strong
Thank you!
That Zigbee troubleshooting video will definitely help me on my automation journey. Thanx for all the great content!
Yeah, would be nice to see! On my case, my zigbee improved drastically when moved from Conbee II to Zonoff E stick
Very entertaining video as always. Looking forward to the repairing zigbee network one. Thanks.
Stay tuned! It'll be up in a couple of weeks
Stay woke brother! ✊
Thanks a lot for this. I now know a bit more about what to look out for.
I have set my Home Assistant up with Home Assistant in charge overall, with multiple autonomous sub systems. This provides a higher level of resilience to single point failures. Ie Lighting is run by two Hue hubs, heating with Tado, Eufy security cameras,with Home Assistant running remaining zwave and zigbee devices. Home Assistant can operate everything everywhere so does all the extra clever stuff. This way if Home Assistant goes down lighting still works.
Very interesting to hear you say what’s worked well and not so well. Agree with you on the Aqara and the clicking even when running from automatons. Love your approach to everything as well, very well thought out. Keep the videos coming 👍🏻
Thank you!
Thanks for this. Very helpful. Excited for the Zigbee video.
Coming soon!!
This vid is such a great summary of lessons learned. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Looking forward to your Zigbee travails, my journey has been simple quick and troublefree.
Thanks for the video :) looking forward to the next ones
Thanks!
I love your videos and have been watching for a long time. Keep them coming! Lots of love from Malaysia!
Thank you so much!
Great video!
Thanks!
Great video … really helpful to hear what you think has worked and not. Made me very happy I got the zemismart mains powered blinds and paid an electrician to do all the power points.
Also made me look into the everything presence sensor to see where I can use that in my home.
Love your lighting too
I wish I had your foresight on the blinds! The everything presence sensor is amazing. Get the Lite one first, I find it much cheaper and covers 80-90% of my use cases - especially if you already have some other PIR sensors in the same space.
Loved the content 👍🏼
Thank you 🙌
Glad your making videos again. I've got into smart home from your videos.
Glad to hear it! I hope they've been useful!
Very useful, looking forward to your ZigBee experience.
This is an awesome idea! I need to do this too. Great video!
Thanks mate! I look forward to watching yours and learning from it too!
For A/C - the simplest universal local solution is Broadlink IR + SmartIR integration. Smart IR will create a virtual entity that can even sync state based on the received signal from the original A/C remote(if your partner sometimes refuses to use HA for turning things on 😁).
The only tricky part is learning commands if SmartIr doesn't have a set for your particular model - each command is a full state (cooling/heating/fan ... + fan level+ temperature). So it takes some time to set up.
I do the same thing with a Sensibo. Works great in the same way as well....
@@wapphigh5250@wapphigh5250 Sensibo is not really popular in my place, but it could be a good route to take. I also tried Tuya IR and the old Xiaomi one. Tuya is also doable but requires tuyalocal hacs and some tinkering with their developer portal. Xiaomi is easier to set up, but not really reliable - it mostly fails to send IR commands(like 80% of the time). So, just based on my experience with 3 brands, Broadlink (local out of the box) is the easiest way to go.
@@wapphigh5250I looked at the sensibo, but the price and dependency on the cloud made me skip. I don't trust the company to not go belly-up and leave me holding the bag on a few hundred $ of useless equipment.
@@wapphigh5250 Sensibo is not really popular in my place, but it could be a good route to take as well. I also tried Tuya IR and the old Xiaomi one. Tuya is also doable but requires tuyalocal hacs and some tinkering with their developer portal. Xiaomi is easier to set up, but not really reliable - it mostly fails to send IR commands(like 80% of the time). So, just based on my experience with 3 brands, Broadlink (local out of the box) is the easiest way to go.
Would love to see the FSR video. I’m planning that journey too
useful information as always
thanks
Glad it was useful. Thanks for the comment!
In regards to the battery powered devices you can look into battery eliminators that swap out the battery the device comes with for a faux battery (set if its using more than one for it) that has a usb cable attached to let you power it via the spare power warts, the only down side is that they are not really cheap but it's one option in that regard that I have been looking into for my aeotec motion sensors, switchbot bots, the aqara leak sensor I am using for my occupancy sensor device and any smart locks that I can use them with in the future.
Thanks for the tip!
Thanks for this summary. We are really missing such lessons-learned movies, thanks for yours!
The biggest win for me is the "good night" / "good morning" switch which shuts down the entire apartment to the baseline consumption (or wakes it up in the morning).
Also, the automatic light sensors are really awesome since i've installed everywhere the Athom presence paired with hue motion for the tougher spots.
And -- what really improved acceptance of the automatic lights was the "30s" dimming time of the light brightness.
Thats a nice little trick to keep your wife's acceptance of smart home ;)
Great solutions! Thanks for sharing!
Nice video, looking forward to the zigbee learning video (even if I don't use zigbee), I have the same OCD as you with regards to the position of a lightswitch, still using Shelly but converted to pushbutton, instead of flip switch, and my OCD is now fine. I really like network products like Shelly
Great summation. Thank you for sharing it with us. I am looking forward to seeing you updated zigbee troubleshooting video. Zigbee is great until it isn't and I seem to have a few devices that just love to drop off the network at the most inopportune time.
Joe
I agree, when it works you forget about it entirely (Which is good). When it stops, it's very frustrating!
I have found an extremely low res thermal camera and raspberry pi to be a good solution to the bed weighing and being on the toilet too long problems. Yeah there's some code writing to do, but it knows when you're still on the loo. It's also able to know how many people are in a given space using low level image processing like blob detection, even with 16x16 resolution. For me, I wasn't comfortable pointing a camera at the toilet/bed so this was definitely the best of both worlds
Great video!
Would love to see the videos about how you solved your Zigbee problems and about the pressure sensors!
Also: you have quite a large base power load in your house. I'm at 160W or so, and that includes my home server (37W idle), switch, router, etc.
If you want to get it down, I suggest making a spreadsheet with columns for room, device, watts, hrs/day, Wh/day, kWh/yr and cost, and then going through each room in your house measuring every device with a good power meter. Don't forget things like mechanical ventilation, electrical boilers, or your bed if it has motors for adjusting. Would make for a nice video too!
Yeah, this is something I need to re-visit. Good tip with the spreadsheet - I love me a spreadsheet!
re: power monitoring I like a combination of plugs and central circuit based monitoring. Nice combo. for general for targeted monitorng
Thanks!
Can't wait for the Zigbee video tbh, my network is mostly reliable but I have a few specific sensors that often go offline. One is a Sonoff ZBMINIL2 and that requires the lighting ring turning off and on again before it'll re-pair. It's also VERY clicky with Off being a horrible 'twang' sound. Like Paul Hibbert I love the channel :)
Looking forward to your ZigBee troubleshooting vid. Was going to point you to another vid I have bookmarked but it's your own vid 😂. Being able to "allow join" on only the closest device was a game changer.
🤣🤣🤣 Stay tuned, it's coming soon
For light switches in a new house we are doing we are using fancy nickel plated (normal) switches from a leading brand but specced them with momentary mechanisms so you click them to turn on or off and they spring back out) very similar to a aqara switch. We then have a shelly relay behind them which smartifies them. It works great. It took me ages to work it out (I made a test rig to try to work out what was best) but the shelly relay has an option in the settings to work with these switches and once I found that we were away. This is the best choice for us because we can have absolutely any light switch and still be smart. Becasue we were gutting teh house we changed to deeper back boxes to allow room but witht the latest shellys (the mini) they are tiny and would most likely fit in any back box. My only change is i am currently testing zigbee tuya versions of the relay as I dont like that shelly only offer wifi or zwave. TBH the wifi would be fine. In my other place I have shelly wifi switches doing all sorts and they have been faultless
*pops popcorn and anxiously awaits the Paul Hibbert response to the Hue lighting comment* LOL!
Paul and I are no longer on speaking terms since the "chocolate cake incident" of 2023
Great video! I have both Zwave and zigbee and Zwave is much more reliable and at least triple the range! Though zigbee sensor battery life much better. My Zwave has been rock solid running every light for about 5 years.
Great video as always. I have the exact same regret with ethernet cables and just like yourself it’s too late for me to change them. How are you monitoring the power of your rack?
your videos have been very useful to me I've recently set up home assistant have got complete local control now wasn't going to go down the home assistant route then Yale broke my £200 smart lock so local control was the only way to go getting everything running locally has really irritated my wife but we're getting there now just trying to keep my smart home simple now
Simple is best! And Home Assistant really is the most powerful and flexible system out there.
Nice video, I share your views on most of the equipment you have. I've a couple of the zemismart blind motors myself & really like the action, but the battery life is a bit crap. However, my 2 are reporting their battery percentage in z2m, so maybe try re-pairing them (it did take several days for the battery %age to appear), then you can set an automation for charging reminders or action etc.
Have you done anything with bathroom humidity measurement? I've got a couple of aqara sensors for this with the intention of using a derivative helper for switch on/off bathroom fans - it could be a nice video.
You could use an ir or rf remote hub for your ac that would replace the remotes and wouldn't rely on hacs.
Great video, I’m sure a left a comment on your new home video to run cables to everything. I don’t like to say I told you so but I’ve learnt a lot over 15 years designing C4/Lutron based systems but I know it’s easier said than done 😀 I use zigbee/battery devices in my own home!
You probably did, but by then it was too late! I released the video after the cables were run 😢
Subscribed and you do good work! The toilet item was funny but a real problem. What was your fix for that? I also have the Aqara FP2 and a Linknlink presence sensor and can not get the not present when I am present straighted out even though I am just over six feet away. Also very interested in your upcoming zigbee video! Keep up the good work!
Your experience with blinds reminds me of my experience with cameras: I started out with wireless, battery-powered options, but relentless charging became irritating quickly. So, I ended up switching to hardwired cameras, and in some areas, that meant opening up the walls again.
I predicted it would be a problem with the cameras, but totally spaced out on the blinds. We live and learn - it's all part of the frustrating fun that is SmartHomeLife
Really useful roundup thanks. Interesting to see you move away from battery motion sensors to mains powered mm wave. I have a few Aqara FP2s and they're awesome, but we don't have many large, open spaces that benefit from the FP2's ability to define multiple zones and I can't justify the cost of an FP2 in every room 😬. I'm still trying to decide on whether or not to replace light switches and what to go for. 90% of our lights are automated and we don't always want the main room ceiling lights to come on when we enter a dark room, so I've left some lights manual for now. I'm using a mix of Shelly and Tuya zigbee relays as well as zigbee and WiFi smart bulbs. Most of our mood lighting is govee and the excellent govee2mqtt HACS component makes controlling them really easy in Home Assistant. Govee lights don't fade out smoothly in HA though so I might try some Hue strips to see how they perform. I have 120 zigbee devices in zigbee2mqtt so I'm looking forward to seeing how you solved your issues. Thanks again.
Thanks for the comment! I also haven't found much use for the multi-zone presence capabilities of mmWave sensors - I mainly use them to make sure the lights don't turn off when we're slobbing around on the sofa or sitting still working at our desks. I've never used Govee, but have heard good things. Try a Hue strip where you want nice fading dimming and see what you think - you probably don't need it everywhere, but it's very nice in places like bedrooms or where you want night lighting.
Curious on the blind motors. I too do not have power there, but looked at solar powered options. Would you recommend a particular solar powered version of the motor tubes?
I'd love to see a new vid on the bed sensor, tried to make the one you had but it dosen't work with my matress. Folding it will mean its always on and not having it folded means its always off no matter if im sitting, laying or jumping on the bed. Probably going to refund the leak sensor and the pressure pad and just buy an Aqara MM wave sensor to do the bed detection and run some other automations like turning on the hairdryer, spotify and the light (if its dark) if it detects that the bathroom is humid and I have just gone in my bedroom.
Most probably your Daikin AC can be fitted also with the previous versions of wi-fi adapter (A or B series) parallel to the one they have been supplied with. These older adapter have local api and work locally with official Daikin HA integration. Just check for S21 connector availability on AC main board.
This might be a project to consider once summer comes and it starts warming up again. Thanks for the tip!
i went the half load cell option for my bed with an automation to tare the weight in the day to zero the scale. works great.
for bathroom presence where a mains powered mmwave sensor isn't an option i made and esphome time of flight sensors for the door frame that's like a laser trip wire and it works great
Great video as always and looking forward to the zigbee video. I’m a complete noob and haven’t started my smart home yet and I’m a bit scared of HA as it seems very techy for some new, I’m thinking about the homey pro. What would you recommend?
I agree that Home Assistant can be daunting - but the developers have made a lot of progress into making it more user friendly. I'd suggest giving it a go for yourself for a bit and if you still don't like it or find it too overwhelming then looking into something else. It's truly a platform that will grow perfectly with you as you extend your smart home and it has the best compatibility with Smart Home products out there.
Another great video. Thank you for this.
How many zigbee power monitoring plugs did you have before they became too chatty on the the network? Did it get to the point of causing slowdowns in communication among zigbee endpoints or did you switch to wifi plugs before it got to that point?
I had 4 or 5. I did notice the occasional delay, and when I looked at the Zigbee I saw these power update entries streaming past really fast and thought it was best to quit whilst I was head.
Ahaha, I love that you are "stuck" on the same point for the FSR bed sensor as I do. I also bought all the parts, put it all together but the resistor value calculation struck me the most. Funnily enough, the recommended value that was mentioned on the forum worked fine for me (can't remember it now, sorry). It worked perfectly as a proof of concept also with LED and PIR sensor that I included in the ESPHome but I never installed it on the bed itself. I'm also considering of using VL53LOX Time-Of-Flight Sensor instead of the PIR but I'd have to do some more testing on that.
Would love to see your take on it as well.
Here is what I used when it comes to the ESPhome. Of course, make sure to adjust the entity names :)
# LED - WS2812B
light:
- platform: neopixelbus
type: GRB
variant: WS2812
pin: GPIO23
num_leds: 50
name: "LED strip light"
# PIR Sensor
binary_sensor:
- platform: gpio
pin: 19
name: "PIR Sensor"
device_class: motion
# Pressure / Occupancy sensor (FSR)
- platform: template
name: "Bed occupied"
id: bed_state_test
device_class: occupancy
icon: mdi:bed-outline
lambda: |-
if (id(bed_sensor_test).state < id(trigger_level_test).state) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
number:
# Pressure / Occupancy sensor (FSR)
- platform: template
name: "Michal bed Trigger Level"
id: "trigger_level_test"
mode: box
optimistic: true
min_value: 0
restore_value: true
unit_of_measurement: "V"
device_class: voltage
max_value: 3.3
step: 0.01
icon: mdi:chart-sankey
sensor:
# Pressure / Occupancy sensor (FSR)
- platform: adc
pin: GPIO36
attenuation: 11db
accuracy_decimals: 3
device_class: voltage
name: "Bed sensor"
id: "bed_sensor_test"
icon: mdi:arrow-collapse-vertical
update_interval: 0.2s
filters:
- exponential_moving_average:
alpha: 0.1
send_every: 1
- or:
- throttle: 180s
- delta: 0.02
Also, as a future video suggestion, how to "monitor a Zigbee network" session would be great. Such as, how to determine if a device is flooding the Zigbee network, signal strength, etc. Thanks!
Good tip - thank you!
Thanks for the summary. I'd assume your observations are just as valid for the US. If anyone has any comments on that people comment.
The most useful comment was to make sure you have power to all of the windows instead of using batteries. I'm planning on building my retirement home and will make sure that is done.
I agree with your device protocol choices. I prefer Wifi wherever possible, and Zigbee for the rest. Inevitably that means mains powered devices are Wifi, and battery powered are Zigbee. My biggest Zigbee learning was to find the most unused 2.4Ghz spectrum for the Zigbee channel. It is important to set the channel before starting to pair devices. The second learning is to add plenty of signal repeaters - I use Hue bulbs and Ikea Tradfri repeaters
Very solid tips - I agree!
Great vid, like you say, many of these are point in time how to vids that only work or stay relevant for 12months.
Maybe I'll do another one next year, and every year after that!
There is an ESPhome mod you can do with Daikin A/C's to get fully local control and monitoring. It just means flashing an ESP and wiring it to a plug on the indoor unit
That sounds interesting. Is it warranty voiding?
@@HomeAutomationGuy@HomeAutomationGuy I wouldn't think so because it sits separate to the main electronics and simply plugs into a service port.
Interested to see your next video.
I bought my home just about a year ago, and only just started to get into the home automation thing.
I'm in Aus, so wired switches are limited, and I didn't like any of the choices. I bought an Aqara 2-gang wireless switch, and while it physically feels great, it's completely broken in Z2M. I ended up going with a mix of 1, 2, and 3 gang wireless switches from Tuya. They look about the same, but don't have quite the solidity of the Aqara ones. For about a third the price they've been good for me so far. I also prefer the physical 'click' sound - the soft touch ones are easy to miss and not trigger if you miss the mark.
In terms of AC and automation I went with Broadlink RM4 mini's. They're WiFi, but so far pretty good.
The SmartIR HA integration needs a bit of love though to support fan modes and the louver swing/static positions.
I was hoping not to have to go down the IR Blaster route, but I've heard good things about the Broadlink devices. A lot of my friends have had similar trouble finding AU Compatible smart switches - hopefully some more suppliers support the market soon! 🤞
@@HomeAutomationGuy Yeah I don't like the IR Blaster option either. But it seemed like the best of not great options.
The installers of the system quoted over $300 per head (four heads on two split systems), and there was no guarantee it'd actually work with HA.
My approach with the broadlink ones ATM is just to get something going for about $20 each.
My plans for the future involve trying to integrate the Arduino library (arduino-heatpumpir) and some other sensors to get better control of the system.
Mitsubishi splits have a port you can connect ESPHome devices to, that would allow for local control for multizone HVAC.
That's cool ❄️😏. And good to know, thanks for sharing!
I think you’re making a mistake by not going KNX, which is a reliable industrial strength and supportable solution for the next owner when you move out of the house, yes it’s expensive but 100% reliable; mine is now 14 years old and has never given a problem.
On the network cabling +1. Luckily I put a full rack plus switch in place before seeing your videos. Like you, I deeply regret not adding more cabling (also dual cable on the same path). The rapid growth of PoE means you can get so much more out of more cabling. We are also just about to see LED lighting become viable via PoE. Maybe some kind of star configuration would work well to reduce long point to point CAT cable runs, and to take advantage of multi-gig switches which always seem to have reduced port counts.
I have plenty of ports available in my rack too, but like you no extra cabling. We really should have foreseen the PoE eh!?
Button(.)Plus is a good alternative for your wall panels. Thanks for your videos
I'd never even heard of that - it looks fantastic! I'll have to buy one when they come back into stock. Thanks for sharing!
Comment on fiber vs CAT6 in the house. There is another option. Fish through a fiber backbone in the house, the run whatever CAT you need at the time (I ran CAT 6A). Gives you the best of both worlds. I have fiber going to my main rack in the basement and to the secondary distribution rack in the attic. My system have two runs of fiber for the future, but I am distributing on CAT 6 A in the short term to the APs. Wasn't cheap either, but agree investment is the way to go
A lot of the cat6 was already in my house when I bought it, and it's dot-and-dabbed into the plaster and therefore impossible to use as a draw wire. If I was building a new house I'd probably go with a suggestion like yours - best of both worlds is always great!
love the 'on toilet' part....
You gotta give the fans what they want. Poop jokes! 💩
I created a zone in the Aqara FP-2 for a bed sensor. It works better than FSR strips (I spent too much time adjusting the placement of these things to make them work). The result of a FP-2 zone for me is ~90%+ success rate. With a bit more tuning/device placement, I think it can dial it in close to perfect.
Do you have a separate zone for each side of the bed? I am not sure how granular they go.
@@HomeAutomationGuy I did not set it up that way... I have one zone for the entire bed, plus other zones for entryway into the room and bathroom. It turned out to be one of my favorite. When the bed is not occupied and dark, the bed LED lights turn on for a night light effect.
I made an automation based on motion of a RCWL-0516 in my nightstand, so it registered if someone enter the bedroom. When entered the nightstand lights get on, based on who is home. We do have both an Ikea Stybor smart switch at our stand, so if we are ready to get some sleep, we have to turn off the lights. That will trigger some automations, that make shure we do not get blinded by the lights in the middle of the night. Lights get on again on an alarm clock or if we get downstairs or everything resets at sunrise. The lights upstairs wont turn on automaticaly, if they are turned off manualy. Everything with only 1 ikea motion sensor, 2 unifi accesspoints, 1 LDR and 1 RCWL-0516 to stay hidden. Lights downstairs and upstairs are fully automated. Only turning on, when get up early doesn't work at this way. But I would figure this out in the next months. Me and my girlfriend both hate that we can see there are sensors.
Good roundup. Might reconsider my zigbee-ignorance. I am early in my HA career and still learn. Agree with the Ubiquiti decision, done that too and it is great. One SSID, VLAN and stable network compared to those mesh-mess I had before. Most of my current devices are from SwitchBot. And running off a dedicated Mini-PC with HA on it. But those devices at least once a day become “unrecognized” and need to reboot the Mini PC. Not sure what that reason is, the wifi can’t be and via the maker app I continue address those devices (curtain, motion, color bulb). So I still have mixed feelings if I can release those stuff to my family. Right now only running in my cave.
Running stuff in your "Cave" before unleashing it on the family is a great idea - I do the same thing in my office! If the SwitchBot continue to work via their app, it sounds like an issue with the integration. Take a look at the log files on Home Assistant and see if there's any clues there before you bin it all and start over with a new protocol.
Good stuff. Would like to know more of smart blinds and maybe smart locks, like how good they really are and what really are the underlying problems with them. Like said by you, it's an annoyance to randomly just recharge your blinds and other devices, but to know if there is an alternative that shows the battery levels? And if there are, how do they compare etc, stuff like that. :D We get so many reviews and unfortunately most of them are sugarcoated and leaves too many open questions how they work in practice.
Great video. I have had a virtually identical experience, including Dream Machine Pro and Proxmox HA installation. I've looked in my "smart devices purchased but either not used or stopped using" drawer and found an Aqara cube, switchbot, Ikea devices, Meross temperature sensors and early versions of Sonoff relays bought with a rush of blood to head one Amazon Prime day sale . I have mixed feeling about my Aqara rollershade drivers as they work for most but not all of my blinds, the ones with stiff movements just don't work reliably and all of them can be a bit dodgy if it is really cold outside. I do like the small format of Aqara door sensors, motion sensor and temperature sensors I have about 30 of them, but I hate the fact that I go through so many batteries. I have tried the rechargable batteries but they just don't last long enough. I was an early adopter of Phillips Hue and have about 50 devices, lights and switches mainly I have kept them controlled by the Phillips hue hub and also by Homeassistant, I like the redundancy this provides. One of my most helpfull automation that I developed last year was a boilier efficiency automation which monitors the flow and return temperatures to my boiler, integrating outside temperature data to provide weather compensation information. Using this setup I was able to get my boiler effiiciency up over 94%. My goto smart plugs are also the energy monitoring Local Bytes ones. I have a couple of the Presence one/presence light devices and will use them to replace a couple of Aqara motion detectors. I think the automations that get the biggest WAF for are automatically switching on the electric towel radiator when someone has a shower, automatically switching on the TV backlight when the TV is switched on in the evening and providing us with notifications when the Washing Machine or dryer has finished their cycles
Thanks for the comment - I totally forget to mention my Aqara Cube! I abandoned that years ago. I have to look more into these advanced boiler automations, a couple of people have mentioned them to me and it sounds very powerful. I also love my TV backlight automations and the washer/dryer notifications. They're super useful!
If you would like to know how I put the hardware together and the dashboard I used, I would be happy to share it with you.
Thanks for the round up, it is nice to see content about withstanding the test of time.
I decided on the aqara light switches after watching your video. My only issue with a few of them is that they don't report their state to Hass. I can control all via Hass my if someone manually turns them off or on, they will not update Hass entity with that. Do you experience the same issue?
No, I don't have that issue at all. If I press the button on the wall the state is immediately changed in Home Assistant. I'm using Zigbee2MQTT - not sure if that makes a difference.
@@HomeAutomationGuy hum, yes, I'm also using Z2Mqtt. Thanks for the reply
Some useful info here, thanks.
I've wled strips dotted around various places. Lately I've had issues where the controller crashes so the leds get stuck on one colour until I power cycle them.
I've even resorted to using WiFi smart plugs to force reboot them daily. Does that make them doubly smart? 😅
I had that issue with WLED 0.14.1, but it seems "better" on 0.14.2. Are you still seeing the problem with the new firmware.
Double smart lights... Now maybe I should do the same!
finally you came back :)
15:11 Oh he definitely came alright!
😂@@veryboringname.
The best decision I made was ditching Control4 and going with my own HA build. Look Mom no dealer! Control4 did teach me about the benefits of Zigbee. After that I found switching from Unifi to Asus gaming capable wifi routers and their airmesh system gave me a faster and more reliable network. But you are better off not network hardwiring them together, instead allowing them to mesh over wifi. I find if you have network nodes meshing over wifi *and* cat5/6 you get network storms. Same with Sonos. I will be upgrading to wifi 7 with Asus when it's available. And sticking with zigbee. Oh the other choice at the start that was huge, was using Digiblurs HA server build using an old Dell mini PC rather than something powerless like a Raspberry Pi. That way I always had enough processing power and RAM and a fast SSD to build a reliable platform without running out of juice and having to upgrade the server. Always overestimate what server you will need as it's inevitable the project will expand. Oh and never run HA off an SD card!
I have Shelly for the switches & push contact grid switching, so that's your ocd sorted.
i will probably add the Zigbee Shelly if i was to change them
I couldn't seem to find any push switches in the UK 😢 I'm not sure if they're a thing here
@@HomeAutomationGuy yep can't add a link but the one's i use are from knightsbridge grid switch, i'm an electrician these work well, never let me down. just go to the local electrical merchant
Knightsbridge GDM006BC Grid Brushed Chrome 20AX 2 Way 1 Pole PRESS Retractive Switch Module
Im doing the same, as they take up much less space in the back box, which leaves more room for the Shelly.
Please do that force sensitive bed sensor.
Daikin AC's have a WIFI module which you can install in them. I have a Daikin multisplit system with 4 internal units and all of it is being controller via local wifi.
Thanks for sharing!
@slepix could you please share any more info about this?
@@FizuliValizada This is the module I have inside my internal units - BRP069B41. You use the Onecta/Daikin app to connect them to a wireless network, after that they just appear in Home Assistant with local IP. I blocked internet access to them on my router and everything works locally.
Excellent video. Have you looked into air quality automations?
Yep. All the sensors I tested were unreliable. Take a look at the video on my channel for more info
@@HomeAutomationGuyI’ve been using the Awair Element for a couple of years, works very well. Has a true CO₂ censor rather than inferring it from humidity like a lot of others and is natively recognised by HomeAssistant (it creates its own local web api that HA reads a bit like a Shelly).
It has a small silent fan to draw air over the sensors.
Only 95% OK that is dammmmm good .... Cool video and good input.. Besides cabling and the rack in the laundry ... what else would you have previously done better... Yes the shades. notthing else in the. I do think you should measure and track the humidity level and condensation in the rack room as this will cause trouble to the electronics. It is a high risk high humidity zone
Yeah, it's a fair point. I have a temperature and humidity sensor in there and it's been fair stable. The dryer condenses into a chamber and empties into the waste water automatically.
Unfortunately when the house was built (before I took it over) all the services were run into that basement room and it would have been difficult and expensive to move them.
Blinds are best kept simple. And hardwired because they use a lot of power and invariable drain batteries. So I have kept my blinds mains powered and control them via IR using a Broadlink controller. One hard to manage set I control using a Shelly contactor. I don't get the position state in HA but I find that's OK because for me Blinds are usually always either up or down. You can still program in different positions simply by using timing logic in automations. Then add different buttons for different positions. If you are really stuck automating blinds into HA (say IR range problems with the Broadlink), the other thing you can do, is solder their original IR remotes into Shelly contact devices. Shelly is awesome and there are always good HA drivers for their products and fast and reliable firmware upgrades. I use Shelly for blind control, garage door, 4 buttons pad control and power monitoring. Super reliable. They have just released some of them with added Zigbee. how cool is that?! Love yr vids dude. Great channel.
Yeah, I realised too late about the blinds. I never really had smart blinds in my previous rental properties so I had to learn the hard way in my new house. Thanks for the comment!
I just received a 220 cm wide blind for my living room window, with an Aqara window driver, the one that isn't called E1, and it looks like a drop-in replacement for your Zemismart things, but mains powered as opposed to battery powered. Have you checked it out?
I wasn't aware of those, and unfortunately I am not sure how I'll get the power up to the window frame..
Ok, ok, ok. I have to say it. I love the self-own, re-reading your own blog. Can't wait for that video. I love the censored bit, because... well, we all know what happens and can only imagine why those mats move. And, the cameo! Awkward. LOL! This is what I look forward to. Entertainment.
I also installed the Aqara light switches but they've been very temperamental. Constantly dropping off the network and the physical clicking sometimes not working (you have to click around the switch until you find the sweet spot). One has stopped working altogether. Also, recently physically clicking on a light switch no longer triggers any automation (but it works if the light is switched on remotely) - think it may be due to a recent HA update... Any tips to improve the experience? Thanks!
Some zigbee issues are related to the frequency the devices use to communicate. Most zigbee devices communicate at 2.4 GHz but in Europe some devices communicate at 868 MHz. The alternate zigbee frequency is 915 MHz in the US and Australia. The lower frequencies give you a longer range that can more easily penetrate solid barriers like walls. You get more bandwidth at 2.4 GHz but it has a shorter range and is more susceptible to environmental attenuation.
It's always a journey, isn't it! Thanks for the comment and for sharing your story!
Did you ever try the adaptive lighting integration (HACS)? For the bed sensor, you might take a look at Withings, with lots of added sleep and health data. Isn't every day a rainy day in the UK?
I have played with Adaptive Lighting, but I never really found a real use for it. I have different scenes for different "modes" of my house and just trigger those using light levels or time of day.
And fair point on the weather! 🌦️
Is adding the bed sensors worth that much time, energy, and $? Compared to just using a voice command, nfc tag, or a zigbee button?
Probably not. But voice commands, NFC tags, or Zigbee buttons aren't "smart" or "automated" - they're just switches. I'm aiming for a hands off, totally automated set of solutions and a bed sensor enables this.
About the zigbee blinds, how long does the batter last? and which ones you bought? I unfortunately bought RF ones so the control isn't the ideal, but the battery lasts around 6 months
It depends on the window and the time of year. They last less time in the winter. Some of my blind batteries last a month, others 3 months. I have the Zemismart ZM25RZ01-30
@@HomeAutomationGuy then I think I'll stick with my RF ones, thanks for replying!
About your Solar panels and generation, What inverter are you using?
How do you get readings from panels into home assistant? i would like to know more about this setup.
I have a dumb inverter system and I'm looking for ideas on how to get the stats of generated energy. Are u able to measure direct Solar energy (DC) ? i'm curious to know.
I'm also looking forward to the Zigbee video. have same problem u had.
My inverter is also dumb, so I use a Shelly EM to get the data into Home Assistant.
@@HomeAutomationGuy Are you able to measure the Energy generated from Solar panels itself using the Shelly (i.e energy before getting to the inverter) or just energy consumed by the house?
When I added CAT 6 cables I didn’t have to rip up my walls. Mind you, the electrician that did it could do it from under the house. Is that not an option for you? I’ve had a great experience with my Withings Sleep Mat too
I watched many of your videos and setup my Home Assistant, with some Sonoff Zigbee smart relays (ZBMINIL2) controlling my kitchen under cabinet lights.. The ZBMINIL2 can only live for a few months for unknown reason, then it is dead with completely no response to anything, including the push button and LED on itself. Not possible to rest from that point. They are now in the bin, but are there more reliable Zigbee smart relays? Is the Aqara one more reliable? Since I have the Home Assistant, I really don't want another hub next to it, if I can avoid it. Is Shelly a more relaible one? But that's WiFi not ZigBee. Nothing is perfect. Philips Hue is reliable (most of the time), but they don't have a product like a relay switch, they only have plugs. Please suggest one - thanks.
I use the Shelly relays. I usually stay away from Wifi devices, but in this case they've worked very reliably and I'm happy with the locally controlled, open nature of their products.
Can you review the Heatmiser too, not much info available for these yet
I've got a separate video on my channel about Smart Heating and Cooling that talks about my Heatmeiser system and integrating it into Home Assistant - check it out!
Any chance you can describe in a bit more detail how you set up Daikin with home assistant? From what I found it can’t be done on the later versions of the firmware.
I am able to control my Daikin using the Onecta app on my phone. There is a Daikin Onecta integration for Home Assistant available in HACS that I'm able to use to control my units via their cloud API. It's not the ideal solution, but it works for my use case. github.com/jwillemsen/daikin_onecta
How are you getting your Aqara switches to work with Philips Hue lights?
Home Assistant
Nanoleaf essentials are a good hue alternative, they run on matter and are brighter and half the price
I've never tried the nanoleaf lights. Do they make normal strips or just those fancy panel things?
@@HomeAutomationGuythey do RGBW LED strips too, but looks like only 21 LEDs per metre. Some on Amazon
y Somfy powered blinds have a battery recharge life of 6 months, in theory, the RTS protocol has a lot of downsides, but in. practice, I do not find it an issue. The Zigbee versions should be available in the UK towards the end of the year.
Thanks for the tip!
I too have a unify network and would love to be able to view on my dashboard my internet traffic. But SNMP is not enabled on a UDM SE by default. I've tried to install it but didn't have any luck. Have you found a solution here? If you have I'd LOVE a video on this :-).. Either way, great video. Thanks.
I've not tried to integrate the Unifi analytics into my Home Assistant - do you get any data from the standard Unifi integration that you can use?
@@HomeAutomationGuy You get some, status, if updates are needed, things like that. You can also enable/disable ports and if you have the PDU, power outlets. But no traffic by default (which would be more interesting)
I'm sure Tom will be happy his mega bed sensor thread made this video. 😊
I look forward to getting the courage and determination to implement it!
200 W constant power just for the rack, 24/7, that's really a lot, that's 1750 kWh per year. Crazy amount, when a lot of families have total energy usage around 2000 kWh per year.
Yep, it's a lot.
CAT6 is still the standard in my works data center environments. I have not seen any DCs utilize CAT7/8 thus far.
"Newer" is not always "Better"