Setting up your own smarthome server with HomeAssistant and more is easy with Docker(-compose). Upgrading Home Assistant to keep everything up to date afterwards can be a challenge though. Here I will show a couple of ways to quickly update your containers. A smarthome server based on Docker My personal Read more…
I recently connected my smart Xiaomi fan to my Home Assistant installation but found the default card in the user interface lacking in design and functionality. So I used this as an excuse to finally create my first own card. Here is how it works and how you can use Read more…
Summer is here! A fan can help you fight the temperatures, a smart fan can do it even better. Here is how you can integrate Home Assistant with the affordable Xiaomi Mi smart standing fan 1C. The Xiaomi smart fan I bought this fan last year and already described how Read more…
Home Assistant dashboard are great, but Grafana is even more powerful. So why not combine them and embed your Grafana graphs directly into your Home Assistant dashboard? It is actually pretty simple. How to push your Home Assistant data into Grafana To get your data from Home Assistant to Grafana Read more…
Network wide DNS ad blocker like Adguard Home and PiHoleAds can be a great solution to a big problem. Ads can be really annoying and even a huge security risk, but many modern devices like smart TVs are out of your direct control. Network wide ad blocker can get around Read more…
Home Assistant is awesome but it lacks advanced support for showing data, especially over time. There is a much better software for this: Grafana. And it can easily be integrated with Home Assistant. I set up InfluxDB and Grafana with my Home Assistant installation and will show you how to Read more…
I built my ultimate automatic smart light system and this is how you can do the same. You want lights that turn on and off automatically and always dimm to the right level? Lights that even change color (adaptive lighting/true tone/flux…) all on their own? It is possible with some Read more…
A modern smart home often relies on a lot of battery powered devices. That means you need a low battery warning to keep track of all of them and change batteries in time to avoid devices dropping from your network. Fortunately I found a nice and simple solution for this Read more…
Finding a great integrated blind control solution for a DIY smart home is hard. The IKEA Fyrtur and Kadrijl blinds are cheap compared to established producers and work better than most full DIY solutions. I bought one and tested it with my Home Assistant setup. The Fyrtur smart blinds The Read more…
Blueprints are an awesome new feature in Home Assistant that allow you to build & share generic automations for similar situations. You build a smart home to be able to automate common tasks but sometimes you do not have the time or knowledge to create them. That is where you Read more…