Your smartphone keeps hiding in from you? Every time you want to leave it is missing? Fear not, my Home Assistant smarthome helped me solve that problem and here is how I did it. Losing your smartphone Today (nearly) everyone carries a smartphone most of the time, me and my Read more
A MagicMirror is the perfect display to show your smart home condition. Here is how to display data from Home Assistant using the MagicMirror system for smart mirrors. What is a MagicMirror? A so called magic mirror is a very futuristic and cool looking piece of furniture. It is basically Read more
Sit down = lights on? I built a very simple DIY presence sensor for your bed or chair that is used to trigger automations in Home Assistant. It is a cheap and simple build that opens up a lot of options for your smart home. The sensor – FSR In Read more
If you are using the raspberrypi4-homeassistant Docker images you might have noticed that no newer versions are added anymore. Here is why that is happening and how you can easily still upgrade to the latest version. Docker image sources for Home Assistant There are a couple of different ways to Read more
Home Assistant is an awesome system but when you get started the terminology can be confusing. Here is a quick explanation what automations, blueprints, scenes and scripts are in Home Assistant. Home Assistant basics – terminology around automations In part I of this series I described the Home Assistant terminology Read more
Home Assistant is maybe the best open smart home controller out there but if you are new to it some of the terms can be a bit confusing. As a first step towards Home Assistant basics, here is what devices, entities, integrations, services and helpers are. Home Assistant basics – Read more
Everybody forgets things. With Home Assistant you can use the power of your smart home to stop that. I build a well working reminder system via Home Assistant for different tasks. Its fully features with a text reminder, virtual or physical button to confirm it and a log. Here is Read more
I automated my lights, my doorbell, my vacuum and more. Next are the thermostats. A smart thermostat can be very convenient and even save money. Here is how I used the Aqara smart thermostat with ZHA and Home Assistant. The hardware – Aqara E1 smart thermostat There are currently a Read more
Smart plugs allow you to measure power usage and turn pretty much every electricity powered device smart(er). Which is the best one? The Aqara smart plug makes a pretty good case for joining your Home Assistant and ZHA DIY smart home with its small and sleek design and the included Read more
A smart watch is great for controlling your smart home as you have it with you all the time. I recently bought the Google Pixel watch and gave it a try with the Home Assistant app – is it a great addition for your smart home or just a nice Read more