Home automation, smart devices - tips and recommendations for someone starting out

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Ultimate Geek
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#2870200 17-Feb-2022 11:58

I have just read all posts (to date) on this thread and will make the following comments.

Firstly, most of the posts have very good information but having used Home Assistant for several years I would suggest that once you decide on a platform to try, then start asking questions on the appropriate forums.

Regarding hardware for HA, I use an old fanless and headless computer with an SSD.
I have a basic knowledge of Linux so I have a Debian OS with HA in docker-compose.
(I originally had HA in a Python virtual environment but since found that docker-compose is much easier to install and keep up to date.)

https://www.home-assistant.io/installation/linux#docker-compose

I also concur with most of the recommendations made already about HA and Shelly. Both have great forums and reviews.

HA has more integrations than any other automation systems (and growing every month).

My system controls/monitors lights and dimmers, blinds, sprinklers, towel rails, under tile heaters

garage door, air-conditioning, solar power for EV and other battery charging, security cameras, media receiver

Edit:-

Another plus with Shelly devices is (as already mentioned in this thread) they can be used even if the HA system is not working, so the home does not become unusable when the "administrator" gets hit by a bus or sells the house.

Rob

Lizard1977

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#2871839 21-Feb-2022 10:34

So a bunch of updates from the weekend:

1. I managed to get automations to activate based on my phone as a presence sensor. I found a video that suggested setting up the iCloud integration and using that as my presence detector. It works, but as you say the delay is annoying. Looking into the attributes for the device tracker it says interval:30 (which I'm assuming is 30 mins, based on how long it can take for the automation to activate). Does anyone know a way to change this, or is it just something to live with. It's not a major for having things switch off when I leave, but setting lights to turn on when I arrive really needs that interval to be much lower.

2. I haven't done anything about a public/fixed IP yet. 2Degrees will charge me $10/month for a static IP, which is more than the Nabu Casa subscription, but it may possibly make things like my Plex server more reliable for family who access it remotely. I haven't looked into whether setting up a dynamic DNS will be a suitable solution. I see a few comments here suggesting it won't - the little that I read last week seemed to suggest you signed into a dynamic DNS provider on your router, and that it passed your IP address to that provider whenever it changed, so that they could update the route for your "fixed" address. On the surface this seems like it should work for ensuring that my HA server is on a fixed address - or have I missed something?

3. I've had a number of my Tuya-based lights become "unavailable" over the past few days. I haven't had the time to try and diagnose it properly, but it's frustrating when one light out of a group of six won't respond. Is this likely to be the brand/platform (Deta/Tuya) or the way I've configured it? My server is running on a RPi 4 with an SD card, which I know is not ideal for the high volume of writes - an SSD is preferred - but I've no idea whether the lights being unavailable is related to the lights themselves, my HA software setup, or my server setup.

4. Possibly related to #3, my little "hack" of using the spare button on my smart switch to turn on/off the lounge lights (to get around the hassle of the smart switch actually turning off power to the lights), seems to have backfired. It's randomly turning on/off, so I ended up disabling it. I'm fairly sure now that I just need to get hold of a Shelly relay and give that a try. Where do people recommend going to get hold of a single Shelly 1L relay?

robfish

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#2871887 21-Feb-2022 11:41

1/ My wife and I have the Home Assistant app on our iPhone and Android phones respectively. They act as a device tracker too.

Other ways for presence detection are nmap or custom integrations to your router.

2/ Dynamic DNS is OK but a Static IP address is better. I use BigPipe as our ISP and they have a one off charge for a static address ($45 I think)

3/ I don't know anything about Tuya but if others use them successfully it is probably a problem with your integration.

4/ I have always used https://shop.shelly.cloud/ to buy Shelly stuff. Delivery from Bulgaria always seems prompt.

My first purchase was via Amazon though. I think warranty and support is better directly from Shelly though.

I see there is now a New Zealand stockist too www.lykalyte.co.nz

Rob

CokemonZ

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#2871899 21-Feb-2022 12:02

Lizard1977:

So a bunch of updates from the weekend:

3. I've had a number of my Tuya-based lights become "unavailable" over the past few days. I haven't had the time to try and diagnose it properly, but it's frustrating when one light out of a group of six won't respond. Is this likely to be the brand/platform (Deta/Tuya) or the way I've configured it? My server is running on a RPi 4 with an SD card, which I know is not ideal for the high volume of writes - an SSD is preferred - but I've no idea whether the lights being unavailable is related to the lights themselves, my HA software setup, or my server setup.

I have ~20 or so Tuya Deta lights in our downstairs.

Only issue is if the router restarts they do not all connect 100% of the time. Turn off at the wall and back on resolves.

Lizard1977

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#2878633 4-Mar-2022 08:46

I'm about to drop some cash on my first Shelly 1L relay. I've watched a few videos about installation, and it seems relatively straightforward for a simple switch. But one practical detail I realised I hadn't considered was the need for additional wire to connect from the relay to the switch. I presume I can just find this from an electrical supply store like Ideal, but so I don't look like a complete numpty can someone tell me what I should be asking for? I'm presuming I need to have the right coloured sheath to match the incoming wire when it goes into the switch, but I want to make sure I have the right gauge as well.

cruxis

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#2878639 4-Mar-2022 09:03

Theres no way set time limits on a adult account on a xbox series X, I was thinking of using a smart plug just kill the power when times up. Is the xbox software designed to handle the power switched off at say 7pm each day?

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robfish

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#2878767 4-Mar-2022 10:09

Lizard1977:

can someone tell me what I should be asking for?

I am an electrcian by trade. I use the same size cable as is already used in the flush boxes. (Up to 2.5mm)

Colours should be appropriate i.e. red, white blue or yellow for "live" wires and black for neutral.

You shouldn't twist multi stranded cable in the type of terminals on the Shelly switches.

If you have to pay for postage you should consider buying more.

Rob

Lizard1977

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#2878770 4-Mar-2022 10:16

robfish:

Lizard1977:

can someone tell me what I should be asking for?

I am an electrcian by trade. I use the same size cable as is already used in the flush boxes. (Up to 2.5mm)

Colours should be appropriate i.e. red, white blue or yellow for "live" wires and black for neutral.

You shouldn't twist multi stranded cable in the type of terminals on the Shelly switches.

If you have to pay for postage you should consider buying more.

Thanks. Would something like this be okay?

https://www.ideal.co.nz/nzi/Category/Cable/TPS-Cables/Cable-2-5mm-3c-%2B-Earth-Flat-TPS-Blue-Sheath/p/OLX4169

Obraik

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#2878784 4-Mar-2022 10:39

cruxis:

Theres no way set time limits on a adult account on a xbox series X, I was thinking of using a smart plug just kill the power when times up. Is the xbox software designed to handle the power switched off at say 7pm each day?

I wouldn't recommend shutting an Xbox down like that - it is basically a computer after all and abruptly removing power from it could cause corruption. It does look like there are ways to trigger the shutdown procedure for it remotely so I'd recommend going down that path.

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robfish

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#2878905 4-Mar-2022 11:39

Lizard1977:

Thanks. Would something like this be okay?

https://www.ideal.co.nz/nzi/Category/Cable/TPS-Cables/Cable-2-5mm-3c-%2B-Earth-Flat-TPS-Blue-Sheath/p/OLX4169

As I said, you should use the same size as is already in the flush box so if it is on lighting circuits 2.5 is overkill and you should use 1.0mm.

I am in Christchurch and have plenty of shorts for anybody who wants them (PM me)

I think that places like Mitre 10 and Placemakers will cut short lengths for you too

Rob

Lizard1977

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#2879068 4-Mar-2022 13:43

Thanks for that. Will take a look at Mitre 10.

The place I'm looking to buy the Shelly from (www.lykalyte.co.nz) does have free shipping in NZ. I want to try the Shelly out and make sure it's right before I commit to a house full of them.

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Lizard1977

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#2886383 15-Mar-2022 10:38

I took off the wall switch where I'm planning to put the Shelly, but the existing wiring had me baffled. Following the always good advice of not messing around with electrical things that you don't understand, I decided to step back and seek some help.

Is there anyone here in Palmerston North familiar with installing Shelly relays who would be willing to show me what to do? If not, I might have to buy an hour of my electrician's time to install the first couple of Shelly's while I watch over his shoulder.

robfish

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#2886401 15-Mar-2022 11:19

Electricity can kill you or burn your house down.

Electrical apprenticeships are about 4 years.

If you think that you will become competent by looking over a shoulder for an hour you should also ask your loved ones before putting them at risk.

Rob

kelly42

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#2886984 16-Mar-2022 10:52

I have just installed my first couple of Shellys on simple one-way light switches. I'm in the middle of a renovation so I checked my plan and wiring with the electrician who said it was fine, with the usual "all care, no responsibility" disclaimer. Start with just a simple Shelly 1 on a simple switch to get going.

I know what you mean about the baffling amount of wiring on light switches. I never realised until I started looking behind these things how many lights are daisy-chained together, or maybe that's just in my old bungalow. If you don't know which wires go to the light switches, and which ones go to the switchboard, you can find this out using a process of elimination...very carefully...

Here's what I did to install my first Shelly 1:

Goes without saying - turn off the breakers first!
I picked up some electrical terminal connectors from Bunnings. Cut off one pair at a time. This lets you jam existing wires into one side and run a short new wire out the other side. The input holes on a Shelly are SMALL so your existing twisted-together 5 neutral wires are just not going to fit.
Find some additional wire that is the right gauge, and cut some pieces which can be connectors into the Shelly. I had some old mains wiring (red, black, green) which I used for this purpose. I just kept using red wires for everything except the neutral (black, but it's green in my pictures - have since changed the wire to a black one).
Leave the earth wires (green) in the loop terminal on the light switch. They have to go somewhere, and you don't need them in the Shelly.
Find the many neutrals - mine were not connected to the light switch but were capped and in the wall cavity. Put them in one of the terminal connectors. Run a short black wire from the other side of the connector into the N on the Shelly 1.
Remove the many feed/live wires from the common terminal on the light switch - red in my case. Put them in one of the terminal connectors. Twist together three new short red wires and place into the other side of the terminal connector. These respectively go to the following places. Someone more clever than me probably could have done it with fewer wires.
- the L live terminal on the Shelly
- the I input terminal on the Shelly
- back to the C common terminal on the light switch, since I still wanted to be able to use the switch
Remove the live wire that goes to the light fitting from the 1 terminal on the light switch - again, red in my case. Put this into the O terminal in the Shelly.
Run a short connector wire from the SW terminal on the Shelly to the 1 terminal on the light switch

Pics included - NOTE your neutral wire should be BLACK, not green as mine is shown.

If you feel uneasy doing this, then definitely get an electrician to help you.

Everyone is new sometime.

richms

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#2887002 16-Mar-2022 10:57

kelly42:

Pics included:

If you feel uneasy doing this, then definitely get an electrician to help you.

What is that green wire doing there? Its not an earth so shouldn't be green. If you have connected the neutral terminal to the earths you are creating a big problem.

Richard rich.ms

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