tuomas_h, to homeassistant
@tuomas_h@mastodon.social avatar

Been tracking down a mysterious behaviour of a couple of Ikea Trådfri bulbs in our #HomeAssistant setup: at seemingly random times, unprompted by any automation or other obvious trigger, they turn on at very dim brightness. Logbook simply shows “turned on” without any additional context as to what did it.

Now I’m at the point where I’m trying to create an automation that captures this event and turns the light off, which I’m fine with if it works, but would still love to know why it happens.

thoralf, to homeassistant German
@thoralf@soc.umrath.net avatar

Ich habe ein bisschen Bammel davor, meine (bis auf die aktuellen Probleme mit und ) ganz ok funktionierende @homeassistant -Instanz umzuziehen.

Aber muss ja, wenn ich etwas mehr Kontrolle bekommen möchte und die nervigen Probleme mit @evcc unter Kontrolle bekommen will, da die beiden sich ja offensichtlich nicht ausstehen können und man Null Support erhält, wenn man evcc als Addon unter betreibt.

vik, to homeassistant
@vik@mastodon.nzoss.nz avatar

is going well, but I need to move all the devices to another network SSID and password. Searching for how to do this is basically full of "why would you do that?" but no solutions that don't involve manually diving in to the config "secrets" - followed by replies saying "don't do that!" Well, security is one reason. I can't be alone here, right?

Zenek73, to homeassistant Polish
@Zenek73@101010.pl avatar

Warto kupić Google Nest Hub 2 jako sterownik do Home Assistant? Jest tanie i nawet jako "tablet" do alarmu Satel wychodzi ze 4 razy taniej niż ichni kontroler na Windows CE który na dodatek jest na kablu (co ma prawie same zalety tyle że trzeba ciągnąć kabel).
HA ładnie mi się integruje też z Fritz! wiec wygląda ciekawie a osprzęt jest dość tani

pee, to solar
@pee@mastodon.online avatar

Life's bliss with and . Got my Smart Plugs & Switches today. 0.00

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image/png

tomi, to homeassistant

Link to the original blog post with a nice text/pictures layout.

The problem:

  • kids keep forgetting to carry the key to unlock the front door. They never forget to carry their phones though.

The solution:

  • unlocking the front door using a mobile phone

HW parts:

SW:

The process:

  1. I installed a wall box near the front door, under a nearby electrical socket (see below)
  2. When the company installed the front door, I asked them to install a UTP cable from the door lock mechanism to the socket.
  3. Bought the materials above (Aliexpress for the boards, Conrad for the power suppy).
  4. Connected the mains to the breaker (for emergency switch-off)
  5. Connected the cables from the breaker to the 24V power supply
  6. Connected the cables from the power supply to the ESP32 board, door solenoid relay and ESP32’s relay. Luckily, I didn’t need to install 5V power supply for the ESP board, because it also works with 24V.

Here’s the doodle of the connecting scheme:

doodle of the electrical schemeHere’s the original connecting scheme from Innotherm (door manufacturer), in Slovenian: It was useful because it reveals which power supply is appropriate (Meanwell MW HDR 30-24).

the electrical scheme for wiring the door unlocking mechanism7. Fitted everything in the wall box. It was too shallow! I couldn’t hide all the junk with the flat cover that came with a box.

Before fitting:

circuit breaker, power suppy and esp32 board hanging out of the wall boxEverything nicely fit in a box:

circuit breaker, power suppy and esp32 board nicely ft in the the wall box8. I designed and 3D printed a new cover in TinkerCad:

3d model of the wall box cover10. After a 3rd try (of 3D design and printing), all measures were finally correct and I could cover the box (Mastodon post):

wall box cover mounted11. Flashed ESP32 board with ESPHome*, added it to Home Assistant.

(*Actually it wasn’t that simple. The board doesn’t have a data USB connector. I had to buy USB2TTL adapter. I was bitching about it here.)

esp32 board with usb2ttl adapter connectedNevertheless, after the firmware update, I edited .yaml for the board so it exposes:

Main entity:

  • Switch (for controlling relay), connected to GPIO16

Misc. entities:

  • LED light (connected to GPIO 23, to signal when the door is opened)
  • Wifi sensor (for checking the power of Wifi signal, because the esp board is located in a wall box)
  • Uptime (to see the time since the last esp board reset)
  • Restart switch (to remotely restart the board if needed – but until now it wasn’t needed)

.yaml code for ESPHome (gathered from various websites, mainly from ESPHome):

... skipping the first part, wifi connectivity, substitutions etc.light:  - platform: status_led    name: "ESP32-rele01-vrata Led"    restore_mode: ALWAYS_OFF    pin:      number: GPIO23      inverted: Falseswitch:  - platform: gpio    pin: GPIO16    name: "Door lock switch"    inverted: False  # The following can be omitted  - platform: restart    name: ${devicename} restartsensor:  - platform: wifi_signal    name: ${devicename} wifi signal    update_interval: 600s  # human readable uptime sensor output to the text sensor above  - platform: uptime    name: ${devicename} Uptime in Days    id: uptime_sensor_days    update_interval: 60s    on_raw_value:      then:        - text_sensor.template.publish:            id: uptime_human            state: !lambda |-              int seconds = round(id(uptime_sensor_days).raw_state);              int days = seconds / (24 * 3600);              seconds = seconds % (24 * 3600);              int hours = seconds / 3600;              seconds = seconds % 3600;              int minutes = seconds /  60;              seconds = seconds % 60;              return (                (days ? String(days) + "d " : "") +                (hours ? String(hours) + "h " : "") +                (minutes ? String(minutes) + "m " : "") +                (String(seconds) + "s")              ).c_str();time:  - platform: homeassistant    id: homeassistant_time# Text sensors with general information.text_sensor:  # Expose ESPHome version as sensor.  - platform: version    name: $devicename Version  # Expose WiFi information as sensors.  - platform: wifi_info    ip_address:      name: $devicename IP    bssid:      name: $devicename BSSID  # human readable update text sensor from sensor:uptime  - platform: template    name: Uptime Human Readable    id: uptime_human    icon: mdi:clock-start    
  1. I’ve put an NFC sticker on the door.

  2. Wrote 2 simple automations that open a relay when the phone touches the NFC sticker and closes it after 1 second:

screenshot of the door unlock automation2nd automation switches the relay off after 1 second (also blinks the red status led on the ESP board):

screenshot of the door lock automation14. Added Aqara Door sensor to the door and connected it my existing Zigbee network using Zigbee2MQTT. It’s for logging when the door is open and for turning on the red status LED on the ESP32 board when the door is opened.

aqara door sensor mounted at the edge of the door15. Added a new control dashboard in Home Assistant for tracking what’s going on with the door:

dashboard in home assistant with various door statusesConclusion

After 6 months, it works great. Kids are satisfied and me too, because this is one of the first usable HomeAssistant projects that involve some electronics and physical devices. It works in 99% of cases.

There are some issues with it though:

  • The ESP32 board sometimes reboots after unlocking. It seems that the door solenoid relay draws too much current and the voltage from the power supply drops momentarily. Probably I need to add a capacitor to the board power input to smooth the voltage. This is not a big issue, because the board starts working normally after 3 or 4 seconds after the reboot.
  • Once or twice it happened the esp board relay got stuck in an OFF state. I had to hit it gently with a screwdriver to unstuck it. After that, I reduced the time the door solenoid is opened from 2 to 1 sec. Not sure if it will help. Maybe it’s just a bad relay.
  • Several times the wifi was down and the board couldn’t communicate with the Home Assistant. It looks like my telco provider’s router is not the best one and it freezes sometimes. Probably I need to buy a better wifi router.

TODO

I have several ideas on how to upgrade the unlocking mechanism:

  • unlocking with a fingerprint
  • unlocking with facial recognition

Disclaimer

The links to the products are not affiliate links and I don’t receive any compensation for linking.

The code and the ideas are mostly from HomeAssistant and ESPHome community forums.

https://blog.rozman.info/unlocking-the-front-door-using-the-mobile-phone-and-home-assistant/

doodle of the electrical scheme
the electrical scheme for wiring the door unlocking mechanism

yeri, to homeassistant
@yeri@superuser.one avatar

Started playing around with #HomeAssistant and cheap #Zigbee sensors and smart powerplugs (and some #esphome, also got some #BLE #Bluetooth sensors I haven't unpacked yet).

It's been a steep learning curve but it's cool that most of the stuff just works (TP-Link #Kasa and #Tapo, #Ikea Zigbee, #Philips #Hue (using the Hue Bridge, not directly connected to my Zigbee coordinator). Some stuff this uses the cloud (but can be used locally), other stuff takes out the cloud entirely. (1/2)

Temperature per room
Power usage from Zigbee and ESPhome/WiFi smart plugs.
PIR and door sensor tests (Zigbee)

stooovie, to random
@stooovie@mas.to avatar

The new app is getting even worse! After the last update, the local Music Library takes like 5 seconds after launch to even appear, and then AFTER YOU PLAY SOMETHING, IT DISAPPEARS ALTOGETHER.

ChrisWarwick,
@ChrisWarwick@mas.to avatar

@stooovie My feelings about have been mentioned in previous toots (spoiler: sh1t). I'm currently listening to a playlist using - it's very early days but I'm pretty impressed so far 👍

smarthomejunkie, to homeassistant
@smarthomejunkie@mastodon.world avatar

Here's this week's new video!

Get FREE GAMES in Home Assistant!

👉 https://youtu.be/fwpdi-Ua46A

#homeassistant #games #epic

DJGummikuh, to homeassistant German
@DJGummikuh@mastodon.social avatar

It is interesting to see in that the switch from 12V to 24V for my fans is actually increasing the power cost of a print noticeably by more than 10% (Top is the power cost at 24V, bottom at 12V)
But all in all I am still amazed at how little power actually plays into the total cost of a print.

icd, to ai Polish
@icd@mastodon.internet-czas-dzialac.pl avatar

W ostatnim odcinku pierwszego sezonu ICD Weekend Arek i Kuba opowiadają o newsach dotyczacych Facebooka, Apple i AI oraz dzielą się nowymi rekomendacjami aplikacji z F-Droida.

https://www.internet-czas-dzialac.pl/weekend-25/

chakie, to homeassistant
@chakie@toot.community avatar

Contemplating adding a SkyConnect Zigbee dongle to our Home Assistant. Seems to be pretty ok, or at least as reliable as Zigbee in general gets. Initially just a couple of basic Aqara sensors to test with. Anything larger will need routers/repeaters for better reach.

#homeassistant #zigbee #skyconnect #dyi

cassidy, to SmartHome
@cassidy@blaede.family avatar

Very work-in-progress, but I have started to document my smart home stuff on my website! This might end up turning into a whole subsection once I figure out how I actually want to organize it, but for now, it’s a dumping ground all on one page. 😅

https://cassidyjames.com/home

derek,
@derek@dssc.io avatar

@cassidy I had no idea about the Starling Home Hub and the ability to integrate the Nest Protects, those are some of the last devices I don't have in yet. I'll be trying this out soon! Thank You!

bedast, to homeassistant
@bedast@squirrelmob.com avatar

Ugh, having issues with my Zigbee network after some updates. Not sure if issues with Zigbee2mqtt or issues with the coordinator.

Since ZHA has had such big advancements recently, I'm now getting tempted to migrate back, and maybe see if it does a bit better.

thoralf, to homeassistant German
@thoralf@soc.umrath.net avatar

Die Stabilität von @homeassistant hat in den letzten Monaten spürbar gelitten.

Aus irgendwelchen Gründen führt die Instanz jetzt wiederholt (random?) selbstständig Neustarts aus. (Homeassistant selbst, nicht das OS)

Ich werde wohl erstmal von Homeassistant Blue auf Proxmox/HAOS umziehen, damit ich die Dienste entzerren kann.
Leider ist auch hier eher wenig nutzerfreundlich und macht es sehr schwer, Fehler zu finden.

cassidy, to SmartHome
@cassidy@blaede.family avatar

I love how you can see when it started raining based on our humidity sensors around the house.

pee, to HomeAutomation
@pee@mastodon.online avatar

Beware of Products in . If you have a choice, don't buy them! The App refuses to populate the WiFi Network to pair new devices if you do not deactivate 'Private WiFi Address' (MAC randomisation), 'Limit IP Address Tracking' & activate 'Location Services' and give access to 'Precise Location' on iPhone. . They even published a blog article about it, recommending to deactivate these vital protections, instead of fixing the App. 🤦

pee,
@pee@mastodon.online avatar

one good thing though - the #SONOFF RF-to-WiFi Bridge (R2 433) does work with other 3rd party Sensors and I now managed to integrate my Alarm System into #HomeAssistant , without having to buy a new one.

steve, to homeassistant
@steve@mastodon.nexusuk.org avatar

Well this is going well... has not renewed its own LetsEncrypt certificate, so I can't access the web interface. I can find no instructions telling me how the hell to renew it manually from the commandline, and no logs telling me WTF it hasn't renewed...

ugurcan, to homeassistant
@ugurcan@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Zigbee is great -really- but it has an appeal problem as it's not the 'open platform' it pretends to be. It's woefully hard for a non-techie to set up a real smart home with various brand devices.

Even for me it's been a rocky ride until I realized I needed always-connected, same brand devices (bulbs) to stabilize my battery-powered-remote-heavy mesh. I can't imagine how a layperson manouver around different manufacturers stuff.

dpp, to homeassistant
@dpp@mastodon.social avatar

Fairly disappointed in the Aqara fingerprint lock. It doesn’t work well with HomeKit and requires a hub and a cloud account to work with

Back to the Z-wave door lock.

Local and boring >> fancy and cloud

cassidy, to homeassistant
@cassidy@blaede.family avatar

I continue to believe Zigbee delivers on the important things that Matter and Thread keep promising, but actually:

• mature
• widely available
• affordable

The one thing Matter over Thread devices can claim is that they work without a hub… except they don’t; the hub still has to be built into your Nest display, Apple HomePod, etc.

I have hundreds of low power, local-only smart devices from a dozen or so brands and it all… just works together.

#HomeAssistant #SmartHome #Matter #Thread #Zigbee

noim, to homeassistant
@noim@noc.social avatar

Macbook takes 3 minutes to wake up from sleep.
First window I see: “Force Quit Applications”
Home Assistant (not responding) 82.52 GB
Yeah, of course it is the app.
The journey continues: https://noc.social/@noim/112365439208108204
I installed the newest TestFlight now. Maybe this will help ¯_(ツ)_/¯ I mean, I can understand the devs a bit. This issue randomly occurs and is probably hard to debug. But 2 years is way too long for a bug like this to exist.

po3mah, to homeassistant
@po3mah@mastodon.social avatar

add-on for is top!
I can cross connect any music source with any output.
UI is very clean and functional.
Why I didn't found it out before?

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