homeassistant

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Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first.
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Home Assistant can be self-installed on ProxMox, Raspberry Pi, or even purchased pre-installed: Home Assistant: Installation

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Why do my LG smart fridge and my GE washer and dryer all have DNS servers? And is there a way I can control them without the manufacturer's miserable apps? (lemmy.radio)

submitted 1 day ago by early_riser@lemmy.radio to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world

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First thing I do when I get a smart appliance is scan it with nmap. This has revealed some interesting Easter eggs, like my Davis instruments air quality sensors having a local REST API.

Doing the usual scan against my GE washer and dryer shows that port 53 is listening. What could that be for? Is there a way I can at least query their status locally or something?

When I got the washer and dryer I was excited about the smart home features because getting an alert when my laundry is done or starting the washer remotely so the clothes are done when I get home are genuinely useful features. However, last time I checked the app none of that was available, so I just have these Trojan horses in my home spying on me with no benefit in exchange. Their app wanted my freaking mailing address when I signed up for their mandatory account, so the features mentioned above are the least they could offer in exchange for my digital soul. But I digress.

My fridge is in a similar situation. It commits the additional cardinal sin of ONLY being controllable via the app, with no on-board temp or filter status indicators whatsoever.

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[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 41 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

Upon installation LG's app helpfully informed me that to be notified that my LG refrigerator temperature is high or my washer's cycle is complete I am expected to inform a Korean company of my exact location at all times. The reason LG gives for this bullshit is "analytics". There is no way in hell.

I disconnected my LG appliances from wifi, deleted their spyware from my phone and duplicated the functions with Home Assistant. A couple of inexpensive sensors and a power monitoring plug provide almost all same functions without getting Korea (or the Internet) involved at all. Surprisingly this setup is much more reliable than LG's spyware too.

[–] decended_being@midwest.social 5 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Which sensors did you use? I like how the oven can display how many minutes left, same with the laundry stuff.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 7 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

For the washer a smart plug with power monitoring. The current draw goes to almost zero when the cycle's finished. A Zigbee vibration sensor for the dryer (or another smart plug if it's a gas dryer) and temperature sensor for the fridge. All in they were less than $20.

[–] early_riser@lemmy.radio 1 points 2 hours ago

I'll have to try that smart plug idea. I have some heavy duty Z-wave plugs I used for Christmas decorations last year and that would work great for the fridge.

[–] sramder@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

That’s called a CCD ;-)

[–] decended_being@midwest.social 4 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Learned something today, thanks! CCD is the type of screen that's likely on these types of devices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge-coupled_device

[–] sramder@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

A CCD is generally one of two types of camera/imaging device. I was kinda being as ass, like point a camera at the countdown on your washing machine.

That said, I’m reasonably certain I’ve seen something on the HA forum where someone did exactly that. Frigate NVR to dump a screenshot every few seconds and OCR app to create an actionable counter in HA.