#home automation

Replacing Wink with Home Assistant

I used to have Wink set up, managing some smart home devices throughout our house. I liked it because the app UI was quite nicely done, and it seemed to be compatible with “everything”. I had even upgraded from their version 1 hub, to the version 2. But then a few months ago they decided (somewhat out of the blue) that they were going to start charging a subscription fee. Coupled with some recent outages and frequent command delays, and it was the “motivation” I needed to invest in a Home Assistant system, and move away from Wink entirely.

Set Up + Config

I chose to install everything on a Raspberry Pi 4, and am using the official images and recommended way of configuring things. Things mostly worked as expected, although I had some trouble getting Z-Wave working, and also getting used to YAML in general. I also wrestled with getting DuckDNS and SSL working for a while, but some of that ended up just being me port-forwarding the wrong ports. Here are a few details on some of the things I’ve got running which I think are useful:

  1. HACS: Great for adding all sorts of “unofficial” bits and pieces. I’ve got a few integrations (Wyze, Orbit b-hyve, and Tempest weather) and some frontend additions (Mini Media Player, Custom Header, and auto-entities).
  2. Add-Ons (available via Supervisor)
    1. Dropbox Sync: Back up your system snapshots to Dropbox, for safe keeping. I have an automation which syncs daily, and then only retain the most recent 3 on my HA install locally.
    2. DuckDNS: This is how I get external access to my install, which is nice especially for the iOS app, so that I can control things from a distance.
    3. FTP: I turn this on/off when I need it, but it’s nice to just get quick access to files for editing things via a real editor.
    4. File editor: When I’m making quick tweaks to config, this is an embedded/browser-based file editor that gives you full access to everything.
  3. Alexa Smart Home integration: Pretty tedious to set up, but it’s working smoothly and allows me to easily add/remove devices and control all sorts of things.

I configured static IPs for as many of the “permanent” devices as I could (HA host, Lutron bridge, Roomba, MyQ, Tempest weather, and our AppleTV), which has made it a little easier to keep track of things. I also forwarded ports 8123 and 443 into local 443 on the HA host, which is required for getting external access (and Alexa control) working.

Platform Details

I’ve ended up with a few key pieces to my configuration, namely:

  1. Z-Wave: 2 Schlage door locks and 1 (relay) switch, controlled via an Aeotec USB stick (I’ve had the most trouble with Z-Wave devices, and currently don’t have one of those locks added to the system).
  2. Zigbee: Aqara buttons and climate sensors, controlled via a ConBee II USB stick.
  3. Wyze Sense: Door open/close and motion sensors, controlled via the Wyze USB hub.
  4. Lutron Caseta: dimmer light switches, controlled via their separate hub.

There are also a few other pieces (like a MyQ garage door controller) and some native integrations (HomeKit, SONOS, Roomba) that round things out.

Automations + Smarts

The point of all of this is to add some “intelligence” or convenience to your home, so this is where things get fun. Here are a few of the things I’ve been able to do (so far!):

  1. Mailbox Sensor: I added an open/close sensor to the mailbox, so that we get push notifications and an indicator in the HA dashboard when we (probably) have mail. I also have an NFC sticker near the mailbox that allows me to clear the sensor easily.
  2. After dark door/lock notifications: If we leave a door or lock open for 15 minutes after a specified time, we’ll get a reminder to make sure we close things.
  3. Goodnight button (via Python script): I have a button next to the bed that locks and turns things off when we’re ready for bed. If something is left open we get a verbal warning via SONOS speaker.
  4. Door announcements: We get a verbal announcement when a door is opened.
  5. Doorbell: I replaced our doorbell with an Aqara switch. Now when someone presses it, a door chime is played on our SONOS speakers, and we get a push notification with a snapshot from our security camera at the front door.
  6. Garmin HassIQ: I have a Garmin Fenix 5, and I found a neat little integration that allows me to control most “switching” devices directly from my watch!
  7. Motion controlled lights: I’ve configured various lights to turn on automatically based on motion, and to turn off after periods of inactivity.
  8. Garage Car Door left open: If we leave the car door of the garage open for more than a few minutes, we get a push notification to make sure that it’s intentional. If it’s not, there’s a button included in the notification that allows you to close it immediately.
  9. Automated chores: I control our Roomba via HA now, and run it a few times a week. We get a notification when the bin is full. We also have some automated sprinklers that are now controlled via HA. If/when the integration controlling my weather station is fixed, I’ll also add in some smarts around temperature and rain (delays and increased watering).

Shopping List

Here are all the pieces I’ve purchased so far in building out our system.

It’s been a pretty big and long-running project, but I’m happy with the results. I love that it’s (almost) all local (no external internet connection required for most pieces of the system), and it’s been quite fun tinkering around. I’m also able to dial in automations to a level that wasn’t possible with Wink, and the sheer scope of compatibility I have now is pretty impressive. It has been nowhere near as hard as I expected to get it all working (I was expecting a ton of command-line mucking around, but it’s mostly UI-driven).

There’s still a bunch I’d like to do, especially around UI and control, and setting up a tablet or 2 to have around the house to control things, but overall I’m really happy with it. Open source FTW!

Dabbling in Home Automation and The Internet of Things

https://beau.blog/2017/04/dabbling-in-home-automation-and-the-internet-of-things/

Now that I own my own house, and some of the technologies involved are a bit more stable, I’ve gotten into the idea of home automation a bit more. Here’s a quick run down of my current configuration.

At the center of most things, I have a wink hub (first generation). I configure as much as possible through that, since it simplifies interacting with them if they’re all available in one place.

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From there, I have 2 Schlage Connect deadbolts (house and garage doors), which are both programmed with the same set of user codes (has to be done manually). It’s nice to be able to control codes from within the wink app, vs using the on-pad controls.

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To control lights, we have 3 rooms converted over to Lutron Caseta light switches (so far, I’d like to do a few more). This makes it easy to control an entire circuit (all 3 rooms are controlling either 3 or 6 bulbs, so they’d be expensive to convert using individual smart bulbs). They’re super easy to install, and you don’t need their hub thing if you have the wink, which is compatible. I also have 3 iHome Smartplugs, which plug into an outlet, and then let you plug in any standard lamp/appliance, and control it. I don’t love the Smartplugs, and have had some trouble with them dropping their connections, but when they work they’re fine.

Separately, I also have 2 LIFX bulbs, which can be controlled directly, so they are in a couple of lamps that could otherwise be controlled via Smartplugs (I got these bulbs from their Kickstarter way back).

To control all of the above, I actually have everything configured in both an Amazon Echo, and a Google Home. Redundancy FTW, and it’s fun to experiment with each platform.

Technically, also connected to the wink hub, we have some Nest Outdoor security cameras, which have been really fun to play with. I’ve even hooked up a system to automatically take snapshots, which is interesting for comparing seasonal shade profiles for gardening purposes.

Apart from those power/control/security devices, we’ve also current got an Apple TV, a Chromecast (integrates really nicely with the Google Home), and I use Automatic in my truck.

I’ve played around a bit with configuring shortcuts and “robots” (automations), but really haven’t found many that are that useful to be honest. Probably the best one is one that just turns on our kitchen light when we open the back door (which opens basically into the kitchen). I think one of the biggest problems is that I don’t have a great system for handling “presence”, which needs to take me and Erika into account. Without that, anything I automate based on my presence is likely to just be an annoyance for her if she happens to be at home when I’m not (or vice versa).

Areas that I’d be curious to look into automating would be thermostat control (long story as to why I haven’t done this already), external temperature/precipitation, combined with irrigation, and possibly window coverings.

Home Automation/Presence

I’ve been thinking about home automation a bit recently, and I realized that what I want as a big part of a system is some sort of generic presence-system. I’m imagining something along the lines of:

  • Small/cheap nodes that can be plugged in around a house/space
  • The nodes would form a mesh and talk to each other
  • Nodes would determine the strength of a signal (Bluetooth LE?) and “discuss” it amongst each other to determine which one you’re closest to, and thus roughly “where” you are (triangulate your location based on signal strengths)
  • Nodes would all connect to a server/service (could be locally-hosted), where they would broadcast your current location somehow. Maybe something like a Socket.IO server, so that other services could connect and receive live updates of location changes?

I wonder if this could be hacked together from iBeacons somehow, or if it’s too much the reverse of what they’re intended for? Does this already exist? Is there a better/simpler solution already available?