Question

Question: I have been building my smart home items slowly over the last couple of years and I would like to take it to the next level my issue is I'm finding it hard to decide which way to based on my very little programming experience. does smart things ( i already have a hub) or use home assistant I'm just not sure how to start with it. can someone give me some insight ?  

Answer 1

If your serious about putting together a powerful, all local control home automation system and don't mind spending a little time learning and tinkering then HomeAssistant is the way to go.  

Comments

@shingles honestly I know what your saying I'm just scared about pulling the trigger on it. Any ways to simplify the programming aspects of HA?  

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@nawab It gets easier and easier with every release. Les and less is needed to be added to the config file and more of what used to be more complex integrations can be done right in the front end. It's free and can install anywhere, give er a go!  

Answer 2

HomeSeer is your best option, much easier than HomeAssitant. but its way more expensive than HA which is free. so depends on what your time is worth and how much you want to learn. As others have said, if you want to learn HA is hard to beat.  

Comments

I just looked into homeseer and it doesn't support some of the items i have and am planning to include so it seems like a non starter. but thanks for the option

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@nawab what items? if you mean non z-wave, perhaps, there maybe a plugin. but z-wave, there hasn't been a z-wave devices that hasn't worked on mine (have over 30).  

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I really dont have any z-wave devices yet. most are either bluetooth or wifi based so far

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WiFi you don't need a hub; but your only real option then for wifi is HA or OpenHab in my opinion. and you'll need to learn to edit config files and possibly install custom modules.  

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@maclay The documentation for HomeAssistant is really goo, and there are several different community groups (discord servers, forums) for help if you get stuck. Basic config edits aren't that bad, just have to be very specific with formatting.  

Answer 3

Avoid hubs. Use Amazon Echo or Google Home with smart phone. With Amazon, Google and Apple competing to win in this space, I doubt hubs will be able to keep up.  

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That's what I'm currently using along with yonomi but its not as robust and i also want to build my home security system on top of it.  

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@illassorted All and well except everything is based on the cloud. Personally I prefer 100% local Co trol of my devices. No relying on 3rd party servers and services shutting down of having downtime.  

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Anything a hub can do a voice assistant can do better. Sing it now!  

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I agree! Do not automate your home if your Internet goes out all the time or even sometimes. Get a different ISP before doing anything.  

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@illassorted or, get a real home automation server like HomeAssistant. 100% local control and automations (NodeRed ftw! ), zigbee, zwave, wifi, and on and on. SimpleThings can't touch what HomeAssistant can do.  

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@terris Nah. Avatar42 is on the far end of the spectrum of HA enthusiasts. Avatar42 has almost 350 HA devices using a slew of different protocols. I think my view is closer to a typical user. I currently have 61 devices, 53 of which are controllable via Alexa. My family and friends think I am nuts for having so much. I am not sure what they would make out of Avatar42's 350. I am not sure if I will ever have over 100 HA devices. My current past time is searching for useful things to automate. I have about 8 devices, which claimed Alexa compatibility but aren't, like MyQ. Many of these were added this past Christmas and I haven't gotten around to creating a skill for them. I use Wi-Fi or wired for almost everything. OK, I just added BlueTooth for door locks, but I am going to replace these with Wi-Fi only when the new August locks are released. My home automation includes all of the usual things: security system, irrigation system, door locks, garage door openers, most of my switches and fans, 5 TV systems (Roku, Kodi, TV) plus 2 home theaters (projector, receiver, TV, Fire Cube, Blue-Ray, Kodi) with all their associated devices, echo in most rooms, doorbell, laptops, phones, raspberry pis, and so on. I agree Alexa's device list is bizarre. Why not list in alphabetic order? However, this is a nit. Because the categories make it relatively trivial to find a device by type.  

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@illassorted If you think that is extreme you need to read more posts by others.  

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@terris If you are Avatar42 or have 100+ HA devices, would you mind sharing a list of your HA device types. I am almost done with my light switches and dimmers and I am actively searching for more stuff to automate.  

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@illassorted LOL I say if you can count them, you need more. Off the top of my head: Smart bulbs and light switches of course mostly controlled by motion and or contact switches Alarm system TV and other AV gear mainly via Harmony hubs Voice assistants 61 security cameras (at the moment and not including the Ring doorbell as it is cloud based) linked into HA motion sensors, alarm system and AV controls to mark video and send triggered cams to main stream video dependent alert and alarm levels. Indoor and component temperature monitoring, smart thermostat and window AC and fan controls. Weather monitoring Watering system Tons of monitoring, as that is the bit that people always seem to forget, Which tells me is something is offline or a battery is low or is signalling replacement as in the case of a UPS. This ranges to things like shows being short on a TiVo which would indicate the cable company knocked the tuner offline with an update again and over loaded CPUs on PC and updates need applied. Still on the to-do list: Find smart door locks that can tell me the doors lock status at a reasonable price. As you probably know the weather is so variable here in central Texas dead bolts always stick parts of the year so I've given up on actually being able to lock/unlock them. Open garage door on command. Smarter motion recognition. Ultimate goal it to be able to have it tell me what is sees moving and tell me where a pet was last seen. Want GPS tracking on them when practical. Of course critters are getting to be big deal here which accounts for many of the cameras. Added 4 just trying to find a snake that got in the shop. Have you had any issues with the feral hogs yet? Some showed up in my creek a couple weeks back. Been hearing reports from in Leander that are getting bad there. Not sure how far into Cedar Park they are. Remember back when just coyotes and the mountain lion were a thing?  

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Oh I forgot well and water softener monitoring on the to-do list.  

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@terris Thanks. I don't have cameras yet. But do have the PoE switch. And I don't have any separate monitoring devices except raspberry pis. I have a rain gauge but not a real weather station. I want the water softener monitor as well

Answer 4

Look into Control4. It's a deep dive, but it's also awesome

Comments

@dextrality you can find components on ebay

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@pvc3 Crestron Master race.  

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@shingles Crestron is good, yes

Answer 5

I’ve never programmed anything in my life and am now into HA for almost a year. Yeah, there’s a learning curve but it gets easier fairly quickly. Lot of YouTube videos and helpful websites/forums online. Go for it!