Home Assistant.

[tek-monkey]

Anyone use it? Installed yesterday, seems very powerful but already started consuming way more time than I have available! Definitely one just for the geeks here, but if there are other users I'll post anything interesting I find. If not I won't bother!

 

[tek-monkey]

As an idea of what it can show:

And some of the sensors:

 

[Lucy]

That all looks really interesting. I guess you need some hardware for it?

 

[tek-monkey]

That all looks really interesting. I guess you need some hardware for it?

Home assistant itself is running off a raspberry pi, then it's a matter of connecting up any smart devices you have. I have some cheap thermometers dotted around, about 4 quid each, that all talk over Bluetooth

 

[tek-monkey]

Not necessarily best prices but:

Thermometers: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001676531931.html
Plugs: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ANTELA-Control-Monitoring-Wireless-Required/dp/B09VP5KNWM/

Other stuff comes from my octopus home mine, my solar inverter etc.

 

[Lucy]

Solar panels are coming in a fortnight, and we already have temperature sensors in every room, so maybe something to look into after that. Although the OH may well just expand his homemade automation system.

 

[tek-monkey]

Solar panels are coming in a fortnight, and we already have temperature sensors in every room, so maybe something to look into after that. Although the OH may well just expand his homemade automation system.

I wish I had the time to make my own, I don't even really have the time for home assistant! I just wanted at least the basics running before going away, so can monitor some things and collect data ready for when I get more time to actually do things.

 

[Chillybean]

It's a marvellous idea but not for me, smart meter anxiety being upgraded to smart meter paranoia

 

[tek-monkey]

It's a marvellous idea but not for me, smart meter anxiety being upgraded to smart meter paranoia

I guess it depends how you see the information? We've gone from 30kWh per day when my brother was here to 13, we think about 8 was him, so saved about 9 ourselves without changing our lifestyles - we're just more aware.

A 40w constant draw is roughly 1kW per day, or £100 per year, so it's worth taking any easy wins, but we still leave everything on standby etc. as we're too lazy to turn off at the plugs!

 

[Cue]

Yep - we have doors and all sorts hooked up to it. Go into the bathroom at night? A single bulb turns on at 1% brightness. In the kitchen? Lights up please.

Annoyingly I only get one read a day from the Octopus plugin right now, I need to get an Octopus Mini... they've been handing them out recently to people who don't even know what they are which is rather upsetting

 

[Lucy]

Is that the little purple disc thing? Dad has one, it'll never be plugged in...

 

[tek-monkey]

I applied ages ago, took about 4 months to receive iirc. Pretty sure you can just use someone else's if they haven't already, the pairing system felt like the device was completely open when received.

I now got 30 or 5 minute charts, but in daytime they're often empty because of the solar

 

[Cue]

I applied ages ago, took about 4 months to receive iirc. Pretty sure you can just use someone else's if they haven't already, the pairing system felt like the device was completely open when received.

I now got 30 or 5 minute charts, but in daytime they're often empty because of the solar

I applied over a year ago

 

[tek-monkey]

I applied over a year ago

I don't know if it helped, but I had was calling them about getting onto flux tariff and asked if they had any idea when I'd get one, and it came a few weeks later.

 

[FreeITstafford]

Our tech volunteer Ollie has just started his own youtube about Home Assistant and integrating curtains and switches and stuff.
Highly recommend:

 

[Cue]

Our tech volunteer Ollie has just started his own youtube about Home Assistant and integrating curtains and switches and stuff.
Highly recommend:

View attachment 14257

This is actually fantastic

There’s a lot of channels out there doing this, but most of them are US-based where there’s different ways of doing even the smallest things so US solutions often don’t work for the UK. Having someone in the UK doing it is incredibly helpful.