Any decent primers or resources for home automation?

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Any decent primers or resources for home automation?

mgbridges

118 posts

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#288253 16-Jun-2021 15:07

I've slowly accumulated a few smart home devices including some Phillips Hue bulbs, smart plug and fan, and my Sonos speakers have Amazon Alexa which allows some voice control. I'm trying to come up with a bit of a plan for gradually increasing automation throughout the house and maybe adding some home security stuff. I'm struggling to find any decent information - it all seems to be very scattered and fragmented. I've found a few decent YouTube channels, but most are UK or US-centric.

Can anyone point me at some good websites, blogs, channels etc that have good information?

Thanks.

mattenz

195 posts

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#2729681 16-Jun-2021 15:09

Are you using Home Assistant?

mgbridges

118 posts

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#2729685 16-Jun-2021 15:13

No. I'm aware of Home Assistant but at this stage I'm not sure if it's something I need. In the future I'll definitely need some sort of hub/controller and that could be an option.

mattenz

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#2729686 16-Jun-2021 15:15

It would give you something to focus on anyway, the scope of what you want to know isn't particularly clear from your post.

mgbridges

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#2730075 17-Jun-2021 12:18

I'm looking to steadily increase the amount of automation in my house. Energy efficiency is one aim, plus security. There appear to be a lot of options in terms of connectivity and "families" of devices. What I'm initially looking for is somewhere that's a good jumping-off point in terms of explaining what is available, what it works with etc.

kobiak

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#2730086 17-Jun-2021 12:36

mgbridges:

I'm looking to steadily increase the amount of automation in my house. Energy efficiency is one aim, plus security. There appear to be a lot of options in terms of connectivity and "families" of devices. What I'm initially looking for is somewhere that's a good jumping-off point in terms of explaining what is available, what it works with etc.

I'd start with arlec smart home available from bunnings. it has all the necessary as starting kits (bulbs, power sockets, extensions, sensors, ect.). controlled from their or tuya app. works great :)

with the rewiring sockets - automation is pretty much unlimited in terms of controlling power/lights, even garage door with $20 device becomes "smart".

And it works great with google home/assistant

helping others at evgenyk.nz

mgbridges

118 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 10

#2730096 17-Jun-2021 12:54

kobiak:

I'd start with arlec smart home available from bunnings. it has all the necessary as starting kits (bulbs, power sockets, extensions, sensors, ect.). controlled from their or tuya app. works great :)

Thanks, that looks interesting and pretty reasonably priced. Are there other comparable product families?

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mattenz

195 posts

Master Geek
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#2730102 17-Jun-2021 13:04

If you don't mind tinkering, I would just start with Home Assistant, and then do tutorials for adding desired capabilities to that. Otherwise you just keep adding apps, and occasionally have to scramble to replace something when a cloud service is cut.

Surveillance will be something different, and you'll want to have a standalone, with integration into Home Assistant if you want. Motioneye has a pretty good Home Assistant integration, Blue Iris and Zoneminder are the common choices, but sometimes a little more bloated than newer programs like Motioneye and Shinobi.

kobiak

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#2730105 17-Jun-2021 13:10

mgbridges:

Thanks, that looks interesting and pretty reasonably priced. Are there other comparable product families?

anything tuya forks would work with arlec. so kogan, brilliant, etc.

helping others at evgenyk.nz

ARK

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#2730674 18-Jun-2021 14:38

I'd definitely voice support for your investing in Home Assistant (HA). I've been tinkering with various IoT devices in my home for a few years now, but since I got HA, it's pulled everything together beautifully and has so much ongoing, active community support. Supports most devices and technologies and is constantly being evolved and new support added monthly.

Be warned that it will take you loads of time and effort to get it up and running and configured as you'd like, and you'll never stop tweaking it. So it's quite a big undertaking, but hey that's the fun of it and the results are worth it.

I got HA up and running fairly quickly on a Raspberry Pi4, for a bit over $100.

You can use your phone as a dashboard, or get a cheap tablet to run a dashboard. I bought a 23" Dell touchscreen and mounted it my kitchen as my home dashboard. Using the built-in Homekit integration, I also use Siri voice controls and an Apple Homepod.

https://www.home-assistant.io/

https://community.home-assistant.io/