5 ms·

I've shared this because I absolutely love Home Assistant. It's one of the rare open source projects that I cannot imagine being replaced by a proprietary solut

I've shared this because I absolutely love Home Assistant. It's one of the rare open source projects that I cannot imagine being replaced by a proprietary solution. I'm definitely not using it in its full capacity, just for a fairly limited amount of integrations (Philips Hue, some smart plugs, various stuff I've installed alongside Home Assistant on my Intel NUC). I really like its scripting feature. It allows me to, for example, dim the lights between 11 and midnight if tomorrow's a weekday, giving me a visual cue that it's time to go to bed. There's also some smart plug that automatically boils me some water when I wake up in the morning, providing me with coffee about 2 min earlier in the morning. I also have an NFC tag next to my door. If I hover my phone over it when I leave the house, it shuts off my TV and any lights that are turned on. That being said, it's definitely still raw. I use a fairly basic amount of integrations, but I still have to fix something every few versions, and if I don't touch the configuration for a couple of months, a fair amount of things will either break or look out-of-order in my interface. Overall, I consider "smart home" to be a fairly expensive and time-consuming hobby that saves me maybe 10 min per day. There's also a fairly limited amount of stuff you can do without making modifications to your home, making its use limited if you're renting a home.

BrandoElFollito 6y ago
I am in the same situation as you. I also have a tolerant wife that "understands" that the lights are available 90% of the time (but when they are, it is magic). Have you considered AppDaemon for automations? https://appdaemon.readthedocs.io https://appdaemon.readthedocs.io I tried to use the YAML based solutions but YAML is not done for that and anything more complicated is not doable (or at least without a super-complex code) - this is usually a few line sin Python in AD. I would love to be able to use the presence automations but my wife ad children, for reasons that are beyond my understanding, sometimes switch off the wifi to use their data plan. The GPS tracking was draining the battery too much last time I tried (but I have to try again).
- Dumbdo 6y ago
  Alternatively Homeassistant also offers an integration for Node Red, which feels a bit odd to work with at first but I learned to love it more and more. I never really bothered to learn Homeassistants YAML automation syntax. https://nodered.org/ https://nodered.org/
  - OJFord 6y ago
    I wish NodeRed had a YAML (or whatever) syntax though, something git-friendly; that it was a viewer/editor for a sane human-readable text format. (As I recall, it's JSON with lots of long numeric IDs for each node, semantic data also mixed with presentational - coordinates for how you laid it out in the visual editor, etc.)
    - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
      Yes, this is also why I got rid of it when giving a try. This is not maintainable outside of the GUI
    - theshrike79 6y ago
      NodeRED keeps its stuff in a single directory, which can be backed up easily. Also the state can be fully restored with just the contents of that directory. It's not git-friendly though, no easy way of versioning stuff really.
    - spdustin 6y ago
      If you enable Node-RED "Projects" [0], you not only get git-friendly flow configs, but can have them automatically push to remote repos. [0]: https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/projects/ https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/projects/
      - OJFord 6y ago
        You got me excited for a second, but that seems just to be a UI for people that don't know what 'a git' is, and `commit -a`-ing of changes, in the same non-'git-friendly sane human-readable plaintext format' I was complaining about. I know what git is, so I can already `git commit -a -m 'Updated nodes'` if that's what I wanted, but it isn't, I want logical diffs that show me what I did and why; not spurious ID changes because I accidentally moved a node visually a millimetre or two.
- input_sh 6y ago
  I can't come up with any automations related to my home that are difficult to do in YAML. I'm more interested in getting rid of IFTTT/Zapier/way-too-messy-Python-scripts, but that'll probably wait until winter holidays.
  - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
    My typical automation that is cumbersome with YAML is with RF433 switches. I have plenty of wall switches (say - 20) that emit a signal AAAAAABBBBBB, I am only interested in the BBBBB part, and then I need to match this with an action. Sometimes (usually) this is a toggle, sometimes a on, sometimes an off, sometimes something else. This is easy to do in Python (the list if kept as a dict with actions, there are three lines, one for each action), but gets very verbose with YAML.
- alach11 6y ago
  Could you use the combination of wifi and GPS. If the device leaves wifi, check GPS in 5 minutes.
- piquadrat 6y ago
  There's also PyScript, a custom component that allows you to write automations in Python. The docs have a bunch of nice examples that give you an idea how it looks. https://github.com/custom-components/pyscript https://github.com/custom-components/pyscript https://hacs-pyscript.readthedocs.io/en/stable/tutorial.html#an-example-using-triggers https://hacs-pyscript.readthedocs.io/en/stable/tutorial.html...
  - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
    Excellent timing, thanks! I am looking at possibly replacing AppDaemon as we speak. This is a great software, bit it is really distinct from HA and simple automations require quite a bit of code anyway. I was thinking about having a mixed mode: the very simple automations (covers up at 9:00) would go into the YAML and more complicated would use the Python scripting described here: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/python_script/ https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/python_script/ (also from automations, but the real work would be done in the script) Now I see with your comment that there is a HACS component as well - have you compared both and chose one of them for some specific reason?
  - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
    OK, following up on my last comment - pyscript is teh way to go. One can import anything and the functions are very light, decorated etc. It looks like a very good solution for more complicated automation (and for simple ones as well, it is just two lines)
    - piquadrat 6y ago
      Exactly, that's what I like about pyscript: it is a great alternative for simple YAML automations, but it also allows for complex logic that would be impossible or very cumbersome with YAML.
dmitriid 6y ago
Some of the rabbit holes you described reminded me of a joke surfaced on some Russian forums long ago. The re was a screenshot of a game running in DosBox in an XP running in VMWare running in Linux running in Virtualbox(?) running on Windows. The complaint was, there was no sound coming from the game :)
jordanab 6y ago
> Overall, I consider "smart home" to be a fairly expensive and time-consuming hobby that saves me maybe 10 min per day Fair point, but does it really need to save time for you? For me it's more of a convenience thing. I recently bought a new house, and I didn't immediately have the time to install my smart devices (Nest, Hue lights, motion sensors etc). After just a couple of days I was already getting fed up with having to get up to "manually" flip switches, change the temprature, rolling down the blinds etc.
- rco8786 6y ago
  Omg yes. I had an Ecobee in my previous hone and thought it was just kinda okay. 3 weeks ago I moved into a new place that has a traditional thermostat and I’m now aware of how much better that Ecobee was.
- input_sh 6y ago
  We're aiming at the same thing, I just quantify convenience by the amount of time saved per action. For example, leaving my home is about 20 seconds faster (no need to turn everything off manually and reach the switch to turn the lights on/off in the hallway when putting on shoes).
- H1Supreme 6y ago
  > change the temprature How much are people actually changing the temperature? I have a temp for the furnace (68F), and a temp for the A/C (73F). I almost never adjust it.
  - katbyte 6y ago
    I have mine turning down every night to save energy
    - cfmcdonald 6y ago
      You don't need a "smart home" for this. I have a decades old thermostat that can be programmed to turn down at night.
  - 6y ago
gog 6y ago
> I also have an NFC tag next to my door. If I hover my phone over it when I leave the house, it shuts off my TV and any lights that are turned on. I do this with a small switch from Aqara ( https://www.aqara.com/en/smart_wireless_mini_switch.html https://www.aqara.com/en/smart_wireless_mini_switch.html ) next to the door. Single click turns everything off, double click turn everything off and starts the Vacuum cleaner.
- theshrike79 6y ago
  I just say "Alexa, goodbye" and stuff turns off + Alexa enters Guard Mode.
  - lights0123 6y ago
    I used the Alexa media player integration along with the integration for my alarm panel, so Home Assistant automatically synchronizes Alexa's Guard Mode with the alarm being armed or disarmed.
mcshicks 6y ago
I have a friend who a few months wanted to automate/remote control a water pump at his cabin and monitor his solar system and batteries. He has internet connectivity there but otherwise is off the grid. So I thought okay, raspberry pi, arduino with an Ethernet shield and some extra electronics, and then use dataplicity to remote connect. It's not straightforward with his internet setup to initiate a connection from the outside world. But he wasn't crazy about controlling the thing with a command line and really wanted a web interface. After some searching around I ended up using Home Assistant. We are still putting it all together but it's been very nice so far, like battery voltage graphs and sending/receiving data via MQTT is really pretty easy.
CamJN 6y ago
What kettle/device are you using that boils when the power comes on without having to press a button manually? Every single kettle I've looked at requires pressing a button to start a boil "for safety".

BrandoElFollito 6y ago

I am in the same situation as you. I also have a tolerant wife that "understands" that the lights are available 90% of the time (but when they are, it is magic). Have you considered AppDaemon for automations? https://appdaemon.readthedocs.io https://appdaemon.readthedocs.io I tried to use the YAML based solutions but YAML is not done for that and anything more complicated is not doable (or at least without a super-complex code) - this is usually a few line sin Python in AD. I would love to be able to use the presence automations but my wife ad children, for reasons that are beyond my understanding, sometimes switch off the wifi to use their data plan. The GPS tracking was draining the battery too much last time I tried (but I have to try again).

Dumbdo 6y ago
Alternatively Homeassistant also offers an integration for Node Red, which feels a bit odd to work with at first but I learned to love it more and more. I never really bothered to learn Homeassistants YAML automation syntax. https://nodered.org/ https://nodered.org/
- OJFord 6y ago
  I wish NodeRed had a YAML (or whatever) syntax though, something git-friendly; that it was a viewer/editor for a sane human-readable text format. (As I recall, it's JSON with lots of long numeric IDs for each node, semantic data also mixed with presentational - coordinates for how you laid it out in the visual editor, etc.)
  - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
    Yes, this is also why I got rid of it when giving a try. This is not maintainable outside of the GUI
  - theshrike79 6y ago
    NodeRED keeps its stuff in a single directory, which can be backed up easily. Also the state can be fully restored with just the contents of that directory. It's not git-friendly though, no easy way of versioning stuff really.
  - spdustin 6y ago
    If you enable Node-RED "Projects" [0], you not only get git-friendly flow configs, but can have them automatically push to remote repos. [0]: https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/projects/ https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/projects/
    - OJFord 6y ago
      You got me excited for a second, but that seems just to be a UI for people that don't know what 'a git' is, and `commit -a`-ing of changes, in the same non-'git-friendly sane human-readable plaintext format' I was complaining about. I know what git is, so I can already `git commit -a -m 'Updated nodes'` if that's what I wanted, but it isn't, I want logical diffs that show me what I did and why; not spurious ID changes because I accidentally moved a node visually a millimetre or two.
input_sh 6y ago
I can't come up with any automations related to my home that are difficult to do in YAML. I'm more interested in getting rid of IFTTT/Zapier/way-too-messy-Python-scripts, but that'll probably wait until winter holidays.
- BrandoElFollito 6y ago
  My typical automation that is cumbersome with YAML is with RF433 switches. I have plenty of wall switches (say - 20) that emit a signal AAAAAABBBBBB, I am only interested in the BBBBB part, and then I need to match this with an action. Sometimes (usually) this is a toggle, sometimes a on, sometimes an off, sometimes something else. This is easy to do in Python (the list if kept as a dict with actions, there are three lines, one for each action), but gets very verbose with YAML.
alach11 6y ago
Could you use the combination of wifi and GPS. If the device leaves wifi, check GPS in 5 minutes.
piquadrat 6y ago
There's also PyScript, a custom component that allows you to write automations in Python. The docs have a bunch of nice examples that give you an idea how it looks. https://github.com/custom-components/pyscript https://github.com/custom-components/pyscript https://hacs-pyscript.readthedocs.io/en/stable/tutorial.html#an-example-using-triggers https://hacs-pyscript.readthedocs.io/en/stable/tutorial.html...
- BrandoElFollito 6y ago
  Excellent timing, thanks! I am looking at possibly replacing AppDaemon as we speak. This is a great software, bit it is really distinct from HA and simple automations require quite a bit of code anyway. I was thinking about having a mixed mode: the very simple automations (covers up at 9:00) would go into the YAML and more complicated would use the Python scripting described here: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/python_script/ https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/python_script/ (also from automations, but the real work would be done in the script) Now I see with your comment that there is a HACS component as well - have you compared both and chose one of them for some specific reason?
- BrandoElFollito 6y ago
  OK, following up on my last comment - pyscript is teh way to go. One can import anything and the functions are very light, decorated etc. It looks like a very good solution for more complicated automation (and for simple ones as well, it is just two lines)
  - piquadrat 6y ago
    Exactly, that's what I like about pyscript: it is a great alternative for simple YAML automations, but it also allows for complex logic that would be impossible or very cumbersome with YAML.

dmitriid 6y ago

Some of the rabbit holes you described reminded me of a joke surfaced on some Russian forums long ago. The re was a screenshot of a game running in DosBox in an XP running in VMWare running in Linux running in Virtualbox(?) running on Windows. The complaint was, there was no sound coming from the game :)

jordanab 6y ago

> Overall, I consider "smart home" to be a fairly expensive and time-consuming hobby that saves me maybe 10 min per day Fair point, but does it really need to save time for you? For me it's more of a convenience thing. I recently bought a new house, and I didn't immediately have the time to install my smart devices (Nest, Hue lights, motion sensors etc). After just a couple of days I was already getting fed up with having to get up to "manually" flip switches, change the temprature, rolling down the blinds etc.

rco8786 6y ago
Omg yes. I had an Ecobee in my previous hone and thought it was just kinda okay. 3 weeks ago I moved into a new place that has a traditional thermostat and I’m now aware of how much better that Ecobee was.
input_sh 6y ago
We're aiming at the same thing, I just quantify convenience by the amount of time saved per action. For example, leaving my home is about 20 seconds faster (no need to turn everything off manually and reach the switch to turn the lights on/off in the hallway when putting on shoes).
H1Supreme 6y ago
> change the temprature How much are people actually changing the temperature? I have a temp for the furnace (68F), and a temp for the A/C (73F). I almost never adjust it.
- katbyte 6y ago
  I have mine turning down every night to save energy
  - cfmcdonald 6y ago
    You don't need a "smart home" for this. I have a decades old thermostat that can be programmed to turn down at night.
- 6y ago

gog 6y ago

> I also have an NFC tag next to my door. If I hover my phone over it when I leave the house, it shuts off my TV and any lights that are turned on. I do this with a small switch from Aqara ( https://www.aqara.com/en/smart_wireless_mini_switch.html https://www.aqara.com/en/smart_wireless_mini_switch.html ) next to the door. Single click turns everything off, double click turn everything off and starts the Vacuum cleaner.

theshrike79 6y ago
I just say "Alexa, goodbye" and stuff turns off + Alexa enters Guard Mode.
- lights0123 6y ago
  I used the Alexa media player integration along with the integration for my alarm panel, so Home Assistant automatically synchronizes Alexa's Guard Mode with the alarm being armed or disarmed.

mcshicks 6y ago

I have a friend who a few months wanted to automate/remote control a water pump at his cabin and monitor his solar system and batteries. He has internet connectivity there but otherwise is off the grid. So I thought okay, raspberry pi, arduino with an Ethernet shield and some extra electronics, and then use dataplicity to remote connect. It's not straightforward with his internet setup to initiate a connection from the outside world. But he wasn't crazy about controlling the thing with a command line and really wanted a web interface. After some searching around I ended up using Home Assistant. We are still putting it all together but it's been very nice so far, like battery voltage graphs and sending/receiving data via MQTT is really pretty easy.

CamJN 6y ago

What kettle/device are you using that boils when the power comes on without having to press a button manually? Every single kettle I've looked at requires pressing a button to start a boil "for safety".