The Setup

The Setup
Complexity lies in the simplicity.

Home automation, smart home, academically gifted abode – whatever the name, to accomplish things one has to have sensors and things to control. Here is a high-level run down of the technology leveraged for sensors and controls:

  • Z-Wave – Z-Wave JS UI via Aeon Z‐Stick Gen5 - 70 devices
  • ZigBee - ZigBee2MQTT via Sonoff ZBDongle-P - 70 devices
  • Thread - Matter via SMLight SLZB-06M - none yet
  • Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) via ESPHome ble_proxy - 15 devices
  • IP (Ethernet/WiFi)
    • Matter - 4 devices
    • ESPHome - 25 devices
  • LoRa (US 915 MHz) - WisGate Edge Lite to MQTT - 1 device (decommissioning)
  • 433 MHz - environmental sensors
  • 900 MHz - water meter
  • 315 MHz - mailbox sensor

I have 136 automations in Home Assistant (but the fun stuff happens in Node-RED). Each automation has a trigger; that trigger is typically some type of sensor change. The automation then takes some action to affect some control.

An automation may be simple or complex; while the complex ones may be "cool," the simple ones can be very impactful. A few examples:

  1. home security system
  2. mail delivery notification with reminder to pickup if we are on the way home
  3. universal remote to control for media center (~$30 in parts)
  4. home theater mode: lights respond to play/pause, movie poster on secondary display, accent lighting color set to match movie poster
  5. notify if garage door left open when everyone leaves
  6. turn on amplifier(s) when casting/airplaying music
  7. BLE room presence

One of the most appreciated, yet simple automation, is the "shut down the entire house when everyone leaves." Simple but powerful. The convenience is a family favorite. Someone says, "Want to grab some coffee?" And we just leave; no thought about lights, lamps, music, or even pausing whatever is on the TV. We just walk out the door. (And the side effects of this become very apparent when going on vacation with the family.)

This hobby can be both fun and impactful. I will be covering some of these automations along with the $30 universal remote in future videos. If you haven't already, consider subscribing.