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Smart Home Ideas
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 17 พ.ค. 2024
Hi, my name is Ben, and I'm on a mission to make people as passionate about smart homes as I am.
Hopefully sharing my hundreds of automations with you on TH-cam will inspire you to create some of your own fun automations. If that happens, reach out in the comments and let me know - I love to hear new ideas!
If you like what I'm doing and want to support the channel, smash that subscribe button, and like the videos you watch.
Hopefully sharing my hundreds of automations with you on TH-cam will inspire you to create some of your own fun automations. If that happens, reach out in the comments and let me know - I love to hear new ideas!
If you like what I'm doing and want to support the channel, smash that subscribe button, and like the videos you watch.
Home Assistant Zones: Automate Your Hot Water Like a Pro
Home Assistant comes with a Zone feature, which is a geofence that you want to use in your instance, whether that's to show where people are, or to trigger things in automations.
I'm going to run through what I use zones for, including dwell time, and how to tune them so that they're responsive and eliminate delays.
Timestamps
0:00 Intro & Framing
0:57 Zones
1:24 Creating a zone
1:37 Companion app
1:53 Boost hot water automation
2:24 Other zone related automations
3:24 Android Doze mode
3:50 Optimising for Android phones
4:13 Battery usage
4:36 Outro
I'm going to run through what I use zones for, including dwell time, and how to tune them so that they're responsive and eliminate delays.
Timestamps
0:00 Intro & Framing
0:57 Zones
1:24 Creating a zone
1:37 Companion app
1:53 Boost hot water automation
2:24 Other zone related automations
3:24 Android Doze mode
3:50 Optimising for Android phones
4:13 Battery usage
4:36 Outro
มุมมอง: 1 381
วีดีโอ
Try Home Assistant FOR FREE in less than 10 minutes!
มุมมอง 835หลายเดือนก่อน
When I was getting started with home assistant a few years ago, I remember being put off with thinking it was hard and expensive to get up and running. This isn't true, and you can get started with it within 10 minutes easily. Note that for this method, you'll need to be running Mac or Linux - it's still possible on Windows, but you'll need to do it through a Virtual Machine, as windows doesn't...
Perfecting Automations in Home Assistant: An Iterative Approach
มุมมอง 4K2 หลายเดือนก่อน
It's easy to create an automation and then just leave it because it's "good enough". I like a low friction approach to _creating_ automations, but with the expectation that I'll iterate on them to make them better. I often find this leads to much better automations that are stress tested and take the shape of something that's actually useful rather than dreamt up. If you want to pick up one of ...
Turn on your PC with Home Assistant!
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Use Wake On Lan to turn on your PC without touching it! Wake On Lan (WOL) is widely supported on almost all Network Interface Cards (NICs). This setup will allow you to wake your PC from Home Assistant. It can be set up in any automation - so you could do stuff like wake your PC when your VR headset is picked up. The problem I'm solving in this video is not having to reach under my desk. The KV...
Best robot vacuum under £1000? My honest review of the Eufy X10 Pro Omni
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Considering a slightly more advanced robot vacuum? The Eufy X10 Pro Omni could be the one for you! Let me guide you through all of its features and how well it performs. This is the link to the Github issue for the Home Assistant integration: github.com/CodeFoodPixels/robovac/issues/68 If you're interested in picking one of these up, you can use my affiliate link - it doesn't cost you anything,...
Do I regret buying solar? My experience with GivEnergy and Home Assistant
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Considering Solar? Interested in the GivEnergy batteries or inverters? Interested in the GivEnergy Home Assistant integrations? You might enjoy this video! Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:49 Video overview 1:17 My solar setup specs 2:02 Production & consumption 4:18 GivEnergy battery 5:40 Excess energy 6:30 Integrating with Home Assistant 10:17 How much it cost This is the power flow card I'm using in...
Mijia plant sensor in Home Assistant! Now I can FINALLY keep house plants!
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Do you like the idea of keeping house plants, but worry that you don't know how to look after them? Maybe you're worried that you don't know when to feed them, or you'll forget to water them? I used to be the same, but thanks to these nifty sensors, and a smart home integration for home assistant, I don't need to worry any more! You can browse the plant database here: open.plantbook.io/browse-d...
My top 3 TV automations using Home Assistant
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There's a series of different TV automations that have really enriched our lives. One of them has been life changing, another has saved me hours, and the last one has helped drive the kids curiosity. These are all built using Home Assistant. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:42 HDMI-CEC 2:22 LED strip 2:44 TV off automation 4:56 TV cheat - what is it 5:41 TV cheat - how it works 6:35 HDMI input switchin...
Getting perfect humidity with Home Assistant, using smart sockets and temperature sensors!
มุมมอง 1.1K5 หลายเดือนก่อน
Keep on top of the humidity in your house by knowing when you need to empty the dehumidifier with contextual notifications from Home Assistant! This is the dehumidifier we have. It is excellent! amzn.to/4cUogwj These are the smart plugs I featured in the video: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDVFwyx This is the temperature sensor I'm using: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DE8lfTH Or, if you prefer Sonoff ...
Motion vs Presence sensors. Which is best, and why?
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There's different sensors I use in Home Assistant for almost the same thing in a lot of places, like turning on and keeping on lights. You can pick them up for around the same price, so which one should you choose? Which is best for your use case? If you want to pick up a cheap-as-chips presence sensor, you can grab one here: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DFBnIix It's an affiliate link, so by click...
My top 5 contact sensor automations in Home Assistant
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My five favourite automations that use contact sensors. You can grab the sensors I'm using here: - Tuya contact sensor: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_EuE2SJR - Aqara contact sensor: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_EJTGmK5 I also showed off the light strip bundle that lights up the roof, you can grab that here: - Roof light: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_EwQUcy1 They are affiliate links, so if you use them, I...
Ambient lighting is underrated! Making light better, with WLED, and Home Assistant!
มุมมอง 7526 หลายเดือนก่อน
The light in a room can really change the atmosphere. I've used home assistant and WLED to set up some automations that create a nice lighting scene around my home. Here's the links to some of the things I used in the video: Light light strip: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DE1Zq6P Zigbee led controller: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DCzaaZ5 WLED controller: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dd4aQbD LED rope li...
Home Assistant as an Alarm! Using Alarmo, contacts sensors, and motion sensors
มุมมอง 6K7 หลายเดือนก่อน
Use Home Assistant and Alarmo to automatically set the alarm when you leave the house. Never forget to set the alarm again!
Using Home Assistant and WLED to never miss a meeting again
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In this video, I'll cover what I did to create visual alerts using WLED in Home Assistant when a meeting is about to start. This is the kit that I used. These are affiliate links, so by clicking them, you help out the channel at no extra cost: - Light strip: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DkOyvIx - Diffuser channel: amzn.to/4bySMuv - WLED controller: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dmtiv7V
Eufy x10 pro at 770$ cad or ecovacs t30s at 899$?
I use zones to turn on or off my security cameras. When I leave home, they are turned on and when I turn into my street they are turned off. I also use my work zone to text the missus when I am leaving work so she can expect me home in 40 minutes or so depending on traffic. I have an NFC tag on the sun visor that does the same thing, but leaving the office parking lot triggers the Home Assistant automation if I am distracted and forget to scan the NFC tag.
Both of those are neat ideas! I'm guessing the security cameras are inside your house, and you turn them off while you're there to improve privacy?
@BensSmartHomeIdeas Yes. They are off when we are home. They are pointing towards areas where access is possible by the criminal types and are POE.
I've been looking for a ladder just like that, where did you get it?! Oh, and great video btw!👍
Thanks! This is the ladder we have - it has the spring loaded attachments at the top so that it can be put back easily: amzn.to/3ZVlgeg Full transparency - this is an affiliate link, so if you click it and end up buying one, I'll get a small kickback, but it doesn't cost you anything.
Excellent video. I have WOL in use and love being able to automate computers turning on and off with locations.
You should check documentation of Home Assistant named “Generic hygrostat”. I bet it will simplify your automations at least a bit!
WoW!! You are brillant! Great Video.
How long will these sensors work? Will they corrode after some month?
I haven't experienced any corrosion on the 4 I have. I've just changed the battery in one after 7 months, so the battery life isn't as good as some motion sensors, but it's still not awful
How great, are a wife and kids for finding edge cases you didn't think about, fast? 🤪
Ha! 😂 I had a robot vacuum find one as well once. I got a new one, so moved the old one to the conservatory, then it set the alarm off in the middle of the night by triggering the motion sensor during it's scheduled clean
@@BensSmartHomeIdeas Brilliant! 🤣
Your links to the sensors are broken
Thanks for flagging that 🙏 I'll fix that now (and probably automate something to tell me in the future)
bro, you are using HACKs integration version of plant Monitor. The default one doesn't even have an UI.
As a retired programmer, the iterative approach is nicely explained! I am new to home assistant. I encourage viewers to build a toolbox of conditions they like. Document them.! That makes it easy to reuse the condition in other situations. I have other languages I create code in, and a library of subroutines is very helpful !
We have an offer on the table for pretty much the same set-up, less the water heater, for £8,500 installed. Planning on using Octopus Go for £0.08 per kWh evening off peak charging to fill fully charge the battery and charge the EV. I reckon payback should be just under 8 years. I wonder if this comment will age. Thanks for the informative video.
That sounds like a great deal! Congrats on making the leap, I hope it pays off!
Nice video, clear explanation. Subscribed. A timer helper might be useful here as well, which can be reset upon vibration and when reaches zero the announcement follows. With the HACS timer-bar card you can nicely display the remaining time on the dashboard.
Oh neat - that's a great idea!
Love this. Does the virtual switch have to be reset to “off” state to function again or does that happen automatically?
Thanks! It's not so much a switch as a button, so you don't need to set it back
Nice. Sometimes you get the whole thing right from the start, but most of the time you tweak and improve until it does just what you want. Your next challenge, should you accept, is to only have the announcement sound in a room that you or Lizzie are in, rather than throughout the house 😉.
That's a great idea - challenge accepted!
Nice video. I would really like a video about the PC shutdown too, have a NAS running that would be nice to shut it down, when not in use, and save a little on the electricty bill. Keep up the good work.
Noted!
Just in time, I have Third Reality's new Zigbee Plant moisture sensor en route for delivery right now.
Do you need the dashboard toggle as a condition, could you not have the automation turned off from the dashboard
I had a few instances where I wanted to turn it off, but turn it back on again later - like if my wife took him out to a class and I stayed at home. It just made it easier to toggle it on and off
@@BensSmartHomeIdeas but you can add the automation itself to an entities card as a toggle
Ah, got it. I might ditch the input boolean and do that instead! Thanks for the comment!
Do you use this Meaco unit to treat the air in the whole house? Very helpful video btw, thanks!
I've actually got a couple dotted around the house. I liked the one I got so much that I brought another!
Great video, clear and quick. I have very basic knowledge of pc's but would like to set this up. Can I do this with WiFi or does it need a kabel connected to the Internet?
Yes! It should be possible over WiFi as well as ethernet! This might help superuser.com/a/1756028
This is a great idea!
Thanks for sharing, great idea 👍
First 😊
Do you have any cycle data for those 2.5 years? How hard you cycle them? Batteries don't just switch off after 15 years, they slowly get worse over time resulting in being cycled even harder
GivEnergy claim 100% depth of discharge, though I'm skeptical! givenergy.co.uk/the-evolution-of-energy-storage-batteries-from-emergent-technology-to-a-mature-market/ The home assistant integration surfaces charge cycles, and mine is on 397… which is over ~18 months
@@BensSmartHomeIdeas not going to lie, that statement is written by layers, as an engineer it's barely useable, all I can get is, 70% retained capacity after something....
I think the batteries are derated, so after 12 years they can't guarantee full capacity. I think after 12 years it'd start to degrade beyond the capacity you'd expect rather than just stop working. All that said, my videos are absolutely just a springboard for anyone interested in the topic - I definitely encourage people to do their own research!
All good fun, but you did not elaborate on the sizing of the battery. Did you make any calculations before going for 9.2kWh, or you simply got it, because that size was available??
I wanted something around the 10kWh mark, as that's roughly 2/3 of our daily energy usage. I figured that would be enough for the times between solar yield. I didn't want to get caught out pulling from the grid when the sun went down.
Alert about light is not triggered when sun goes down but when plan does not receive enough light during the day. Can you specify which device you are using? What I hate about aliexpress is that you can't sometimes tell the difference. There is this black one that says "Ordinary version - no app indicator light, no smart" (so how that works?), you seems to have 2x more expensive white, which is named "global version" - is that the one? It would be also great to know whether it uses capacitive sensor or resistive sensor, because resistive one is not healthy for your plant - it basically corodes over time
The ordinary version doesn't have the "smarts", so if you want the app and Bluetooth, go for the global version! I'm not sure if they are resistive or capacitive, but I can't find any reports about them corroding online. Mine certainly seems fine after a few months!
@@BensSmartHomeIdeas thx. So how this ordinary works?... I just wonder.. You have this global, right?
Yep, I have the global ones. I think the standard ones just have indicator lights
Thanks for this great video ! Going to order a couple of the sensors and see if it can help me to keep my plant alive 🙈
Glad the video helped! Good luck with your plants!
Great video mate!
Thanks Simon!
Nice Integration 👍 Are you using multiple solenoid valves to group different types of plants??
Thanks! I don't have any solenoid valves rigged up as they're all pot plants, but I might use the massive zigbee sensor in the garden and rig up some solenoid valves in the future! Sounds like a fun project.
Have you had a look at what the boys over at Apollo Automation are up to? Their new m'T'r-1 can track multiple people, and has 3 adjustable zones. My house has line of sight from the back door entryway, through my office area, and into the kitchen. All of the lights in these areas are covered by one sensor. It works great most of the time. Highly recommend.
They look great! Thanks for the tip - I'll check it out and might even order one to play with! 🙏
I like the choice of the longer rope light, with the smaller board. Your friends are going to have to get pretty creative to create phallic outlines.
Haha. When I was testing out how well the rope stuck with the magnets, I may or may not have already tried that 😂
Great vid, just subscribed! I'm sure you're already aware of it, but HASS.Agent lets you pull a bunch of info from Windows into HA, including which application is in focus. Might be good alternative to automate your button press for your office lights.
No Cornetto? I have a similar stretch automation to dim the office lights when it’s been over 90 minutes of me being sat in the chair. Forces me to stand up and walk over to a NFC tag the other side of the room to cancel the lights turning off.
Oh no! I completely forgot about the Cornetto joke! Maybe I'll have to sneak in two next time! That's a nice idea with the NFC tag placed far away, I might have to pinch that!
@@BensSmartHomeIdeas Sure!
Can you point me in the correct direction that will lead to me having a similar weather card to yours?
Sure! It's the clock weather card here: github.com/pkissling/clock-weather-card
I saw on your HA screen shot you have Zigbee2MQTT. I have a few Aqara devices, but I can't figure out to connect them to HA. All the you tube videos are old and the screens and options are no longer available. Any thoughts or links to how to do it in 2024?
I use them for several things. I have two in my mailbox, one on the slot and one on the door. When we get mail we get a notification on our phones. One led strip in our halleay turns blue, I also have one IKEA lamp that turns blue that we can see when we enter our driveway. When we open the door to empty the mailbox we get a new notification and our lights are turned off. I have one connected to my old doorbell. Did solder some wires instead of the magnetic switch. When the button gets pressed the sensor will activate a notification, ring on my Eufy Homebase and send a picture from my security cam to my Smart Displays (and phones). I have a contact sensor on my robotic lawnmower. If it doesn't return to the dock within 90 min I get a notification that it's stuck. I use them for all my doors as an alarm, it also turns on lights in out hallway when we open the door. I have one on our hatch to the attic, to turn on lights.
Love these! Great ideas. I especially like the mail one - genius!
Great idea. Does the dehumidifier turn on straight away from the socket or does it need the power button to be pressed ? I have a meaco one but I have to manually push the power button to turn it on even if the smart plug is turned on.
Yeah, as soon as it's provided with power, the dehumidifier turns on. Maybe different models behave differently.
I'm just getting in to Home Assistant, and it's a steep learning curve. Your videos help. I've ordered a couple of the MMW sensors; could you give a link to the PIR sensor you are using, too. I think I'll be keen to have some sensors that run on batteries, as well. Thanks a lot.
Glad the videos are helping! The PIR sensors I tend to use are the Aqara ones - here's a link: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DkNmkNl
Many thanks.
How to power these ones? Any link ?
It depends on how much power the strip needs. You can work out how many amps you need from the voltage and number of watts. This is what I'm using for my setup: amzn.to/4bP1FAe
Just a tip: For one ledstrip you should always use GPIO2, only if you are using two ledstrips on the same controller, you also are using GPIO5.
Thanks for the tip!
Great idea 👍
Thanks!
Just seen a bunch of your videos, good content, so you have a new subscriber. One small remark, I find the background music somewhat to loud. Have a great day.
That's great feedback, thank you! I'll lower the background music for the next one 🙏
can you add the code for the fish been fed ?
Sure! I've created a gist for it here: gist.github.com/hoombar/ef7eca91909b660c051f962760935cd8
Cornetto should be a sponsor 👌 Seriously though, the humidity here in the Ohio Valley is brutal during the summer, so this has come at a great time as I am just starting to automate my house with Home Assistant.
Glad you noticed the theme 😂 Stay tuned for a bunch for home assistant related videos! I've got a tonne more content, just need to find the time
I like it. It’s a good idea. I use a smart plug to only let mine run when I have solar working, but it’s a good idea to add your idea of empty it before it sets too long. Keep up the good smart homework.
Great video, and great ideas! I use contact sensors everywhere. On closet doors to control lights is a favorite.
Thanks Jeff!
@@BensSmartHomeIdeas Hey, thank you so much for replying to this! It made me watch the video again, and I say you're using one of these on your adjustable desk. I had totally forgotten about that, and was just wondering the other day how I can automate making myself stand up throughout the day. I'm going to set that up now. Thank you thank you thank you!!
I have a friend who has done something similar but by using a pressure sensor on his chair. I think the contact sensor option works really well, and is super simple to implement. Glad it helped!
Did you make the ladder to the attic? Looks like a generic telescopic ladder with some custom brackets?
I had someone install it when they put in the eaves storage, but yeah, it's exactly that.
@BensSmartHomeIdeas 2:05 Liking some of the contact sensor ideas, but could you possibly guide me to the integration and card you used for the 5 day weather in your overview dashboard?
Sure - this is the card I'm using: github.com/pkissling/clock-weather-card and it points to 'weather.home', which for me, is provided by AccuWeather: www.home-assistant.io/integrations/accuweather
I use a PIR to turn on the lights and a presence sensor to keep the lights on in my office. Sometimes I was sat in a meeting not moving enough for the PIR to register my presence that the light would go off. Not any more. With the sensitivity dialed right down, the presence sensor only picks up motion in my office and not when I walk past.
I've finally managed to tweak it so that I can just use the presence sensor. It means I have (another) spare motion sensor to think of something to do with now!
Agree with motion on presence off approach. I use this in the kitchen when we stand for a period chopping etc the presence keeps the lights on. I have a cheap zigbee presence sensor and it seems to work fine. Same approach in the bathroom - motion on presence off.
Nice job..I have a fish tank so might be setting what u have done...I'm away most of the time and my partner forgets to feed my fish...nice way to know 😅