Home Assistant

paulbok

A laptop should be fine, depending on the specs of course.

You could see if you can max out the ram or think about switching the hard drive for a ssd. Extra ram will make more of an impact for HA, ssd not essential. I recently upped the ram and swapped the hd for a 500gb ssd on an old pc for under €100, and it made a big difference. Gives it another few years of life.

This is a useful guide for deciding what install method you'd prefer.

https://youtu.be/HF6fd5Oi1N8

What I especially like about my setup, HA installed on Proxmox, is that if I 'break' my HA during an update, I just need to roll back to a previous version on Proxmox. Doesn't happen that often, usually because I didn't read the breaking changes properly, but it can be restored in a few minutes. I always take a new snapshot before each update, to pick up any changes, new devices I've added myself between updates. Then another after an update, once I'm happy everything is working ok.

One thing to note is to keep proxmox updated as well, as the HA updates can fail if it's too far off the latest version.

one2go

Hi Again,

I'm actually in a laptop free zone - both DEAD.

What would you recommend to run Linux - cpu, ram and disc - please?

The more I read - the less I know - but I will skip the raspberry.

Thanks

Black_Knight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118992583#Comment_118992583

Any benefit to having your nest protect devices in home assistant?

Grassey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119378349#Comment_119378349

I started off with a pi3b then as I ended up adding more and more I've upgraded this to a pi4 once it started to stall and crash.

For me this is currently fine, but I'm. Not running blue Iris or similar.

Once this starts to chug I'll see what's available to upgrade.

paulbok

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119378460#Comment_119378460

If they go off, I can have lights flash and Alexa announce a warning as well (through tts speech), useful if I'm in the office which is separate to tje house. I also intend to set up an automation to switch off the heating if if goes off, and could have other ones, to switch on certain lights eg outside ones, if they go off at night.

I also do need to setup phone notifications in case we're not at home.

paulbok

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119378349#Comment_119378349

If you had a Pi to hand, it would be worth having a trial using HA on it, rather than going to the expense of getting new gear and deciding you don't like it.

Any half decent pc will be ok with HA. Min of 4gb ram and a 250gb hd for storage.

I have a ideacentre q190, about 10 years old. 1.6ghz processor, recently upgraded its 4gb ram to 8 and it came with a 500gb hd, but I don't intend to switch that to a ssd at the moment. It is more than enough for HA for my setup, though if I was to run a camera nvr on HA such as frigate, it'd struggle with processing that. I have a seperate pc that I'll be running the NVR on, and accessing it via an add-on to pull in entities such as motion sensors or images as required.

Another consideration for choosing, is power consumption as it'll be on 24/7. Many have chosed nuc type pcs for that reason.

one2go

BTW, what version of linux is recommenced for HA? Thanks

Jonathan

Any recommendations for a reasonably priced weather station that can integrate with Home Assistant? Integration must be local, not cloud polling.

fuse

Heading to ikea in the next few days... So ikea smart devices all work with HA?

Would I need the tradfri hub or can it all be managed thru HA?

Is it the zigbee compatibility I need to look out for?

Raoul

I connected my IKEA tradfri devices with a conbee2 stick to home assistant. Probably better to do that than go with the tradfri hub.

paulbok

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119417905#Comment_119417905

100% get a conbee or a Zigbee dongle off Sonoff, and connect your Ikea devices to that. Saves having to buy the Ikea hub and you can connect a lot of other manufacturers zigbee kit to that, lessening the no: of hubs needed. On my zigbee dingle, I have Ikea, xiaomi Aqara and Lidl smart devices added (off the top of my head). You could also add Philips Hue as well, but I prefer to keep them seperate at the moment.

fuse

Great, picked up a few tradfri bits on Monday and also ordered the conbee after a bit of research yesterday so happy to see these replies!

This guys channel is brilliant, no doubt you've probably been there before... https://youtube.com/c/HomeSight

kaisersose77

If anyone is looking for a coral usb accelerator to use with frigate and home assistant they are available at the moment from Radionics 

https://ie.rs-online.com/web/p/development-tool-accessories/2017821

donspeekinglesh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119425122#Comment_119425122

Farnell has them too (slightly cheaper) if you want to wait an extra 2 weeks. https://ie.farnell.com/pi3g/g950-01456-01/usb-accelerator-raspberry-pi/dp/3583033

donspeekinglesh

I'm trying to set up an automation to open a blind at either sunrise (with an offset) or 0900, whichever is later. Is there a straightforward way to do this?

(Obviously the reverse in the evening is easy - use 2 triggers, close at 2100 or close at sunset.)

Only way I can think to do it is with 2 automations:

• open at sunrise, with a condition it being after 0900, so it won't open if it's not yet 0900
• open at 0900, with a condition of it being after sunrise.

Seems inelegant though. Is there a better way?

Raoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119432397#Comment_119432397

It does seem inelegant, but probably works fine?

Can you create a time helper where it is set up for 9 hours? You will have a sunrise time each day. Once the sunrise is triggered. Your time helper = 9 hours-sunrise time. Then have this value count down to 0. As soon as that hits 0, then you open your blinds.

This is probably more complex but would also work haha.

Tree

So 9am is the first thing either way?

I'd set up a trigger on 9am, then add an "if then" within the actions section, if sun elevation greater than 0º then open the blind, else "wait for trigger" sun elevation greater than 0º.

donspeekinglesh

Yeah, 9am is first either way.

Think I have it working by having both 9am and sunrise (plus 1hr) as triggers, and having them as conditions too. Working so far, but we'll see in the winter!

bittihuduga

hi

need suggestion

i have a 2 way switch for the stairs

one of the 2 way switch is at the bottom of the stairs - 3 gang switch

another switch for the same light is at the top of the stairs - 1 gang switch

can i automate this using shelly1 or sonoff mini?

if yes, which is the best option and where should i install it?

it is a new build so i assume there is neutral.

bittihuduga

does anyone know a sparky who is good with HA and smart home stuff?

i want to add shelly1 for few of my sockets in the house. I have been using HA for few years now without getting into the wall.

but now its time to add stuff into the wall.

but i am very bad with these..dont even know if we have neutral behind the switches.

so looking for someone who can help me out.

Tree

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119401332#Comment_119401332

Did you find something in the end? I've a sensor.community station but I'd like more weather data.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119491417#Comment_119491417

Yes and no.

I recently got a rtl-sdr (for an unrelated project) and was able to snoop on the 433Mhz signals from the neighbours' weather station. Bingo, or so I thought. Monitoring the readings over a couple of days however, revealed a different story. While the weather station has a Stephenson screen, the temperature readings are way out on a sunny day.

For that reason I decided against the weather station and ended up getting (yet another) Govee H5102 and sticking it outside under a North facing awning. They technically aren't rated for outdoor use, but this reasonably protected from rain.

Accurate temperature and humidity readings are the main things for me at the moment, but a lux sensor would also be helpful for some automations.

Let me know if you find something. rtl-433 can output to mqtt so if looking, check to see if it is compatible with that. From memory most of the Fine Offset weather stations (often sold as Ecowitt) are compatible.

Jonathan

@Tree As an interim measure, are there any local WOW stations that you could use? https://wow.metoffice.gov.uk/

dam099

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119491829#Comment_119491829

Is there an integration or script that can import WOW data to HA?

There are a few in my area that I’d like to import if I could.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119491952#Comment_119491952

Not aware of anything prebuilt, but there is an API use could use with the HA REST sensor.

https://mowowprod.portal.azure-api.net/documentation/how-to-connect-to-wow-api

Tree

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119491622#Comment_119491622

The sensor.community box is in full sunlight, so I don't get accurate temperature readings in good weather. I've some non-smart radio thermometers around the garden which work great if you're near the readout in the kitchen, but I'd love some smart ones. I'm less pushed on wind measurements but I'd like a rain gauge, I've seen a few on ali express but haven't decided if I'm better off getting something that i can just plug in as my side projects can take years to get around to...

afatbollix

Anyone seen a gangway plug that would work with HA? I would want to see power usage and also be able to power on/off. Mostly for use by my TV and home entertainment system. It would be a waste to have to put a smart plug into each socket of a gangway plug.

Same with an IEC power monitor/control for a rack. Thinking ahead as I want to build a rack with all my work kit and want to monitor power useage.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119497436#Comment_119497436

These work via the Kasa integration.

TP-Link Kasa WiFi Power Strip 3 outlets with 2 USB Ports https://amzn.eu/d/dXWlS1t

paulbok

Lidl had their smart home gear this week, if you can find any left, their power strips work great with HA.

ZigBee, and have 3 switchable sockets and 4 uncontrolled USB ports

Raoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119500702#Comment_119500702

Yep. Used these myself too.