Home Automation Archives - Page 2 of 5

Automating GameDay

September 27, 2019

Football season is upon us and I wanted to automate the lights in my house for my favorite team. I was looking for a way to trigger some automations a few hours before the game to set the lighting around my house and get in the gameday spirit! Read on to learn how I used … [Read more…]

Git Hooks for Home Assistant Configuration

September 5, 2019

I’ve been storing my Home Assistant configuration on GitHub for a while now. Right now, there are over 350 other people doing the same thing! There are some great benefits of using git to manage your configuration, especially if you already have familiarity with the tools. You can go back and see any change you’ve … [Read more…]

Aeotec ZW162 Z-Wave Doorbell Review

August 27, 2019

I was in search of a doorbell I could integrate into my Home Automation system that didn’t rely on the cloud. Video was not important to me, I’m already using dedicated PoE cameras for video surveillance at my home. I’ve got a good amount of Z-Wave devices in my Home Automation setup, so the Aeotec … [Read more…]

Make a Dumb TV “Smart” using MQTT and CEC

August 7, 2019

If you’re like me, you’ve probably got a TV or two in your house that don’t integrate well with Home Assistant or your preferred Home Automation platform out of the box. Seems like a lot of TV manufacturers make their TVs hard to automate and control by consumers. In today’s article, I’ll be installing and … [Read more…]

ESP8266 MP3 Sound Machine

July 24, 2019

My 6-month old started sleeping a lot better through the night when we started to play a “shhing” YouTube video. You might think that is crazy, but the results speak for themselves (at least so far). We started off by using an old Android phone plugged in overnight just playing the video. This got to … [Read more…]

Migrating to ZWave2MQTT for Home Assistant

July 9, 2019

Home Assistant allows you to integrate your Z-Wave controller with the rest of your home devices. Sometimes though, it can be a bit annoying to wait for your Z-Wave network to come back online after you’ve reboot Home Assistant. ZWave2MQTT is a new Z-Wave to MQTT gateway that allows you to control your Z-Wave network … [Read more…]

Levoit LV-PUR131S WiFi Air Purifier Review

July 5, 2019

Looking to add an air purifier to your house to get rid of pet dander, dust, and allergens? Want to control it from your favorite voice assistant or through your smartphone? Even better would be to have it run automatically when you go to bed or only when you’re at home. Well the Levoit LV-PUR131S is an air purifier that integrates with Home Assistant and other Home Automation platforms. This LV-PUR131S Review goes through the setup of the device, the things I liked and disliked about it, and some suggestions on how to integrate it within your smart home.

The Levoit LV-PUR131S has a WiFi connection so that you can use to remotely control the air purifier via their App, IFTTT, Alexa or Google Home. Using that same WiFi connection, this review will showcase how you can hook the air purifier to Home Assistant to integrate it into your smart home and create powerful automations around it. It’s available for purchase on Amazon.

[Read more…]

DIY Smart Home Cabinet Lighting

June 25, 2019

My wife and I were looking to add some additional lighting to our kitchen. There are several companies making lighting solutions for underneath cabinets, but many are expensive and have limited functionality. We decided to create some DIY Smart Home Cabinet Lighting to add additional light that looks great and matches our lifestyle.

The lighting adds additional task lighting when working by the cabinets and automatically adjusts the color temperature depending on the time of day. It uses an RGBW controller to create any color you want, so you can have more “festive” lighting during parties as well.

[Read more…]

Home Assistant Z-Wave Tips and Tricks

June 18, 2019

Z-Wave is a wireless communications protocol used primarily for Home Automation. It can be a bit harder to work with compared to some other protocols we see daily like WiFi and Bluetooth. Ever since I got my USB Z-Wave gateway and first dimmer switch, I’ve been interested in Z-Wave and see the benefits of a completely local mesh network for Home Automation communication. I’ve assembled a few tips and tricks that can help improve your Z-Wave experience using Home Assistant.

Some of these will work with other Home Automation platforms, but these are what I use for Home Assistant.

[Read more…]

Shelly RGBW2 LED Controller Review

June 12, 2019June 11, 2019

Want to control an LED light strip to add some accent or task lighting to a room? Have you read a few articles about doing it yourself and confused by all the options and costs involved? If you’re looking for a simple way to control an RGB LED strip, the Shelly RGBW2 could be the … [Read more…]