Technology

I'm not a fan. Any exploitable issue with the software, and my house can be viewed by anyone from anywhere.

I've got zero smart devices at home, to the point of even using my TV as a simple screen only.

Using home assistant since 2017. As you add stuff there's more synergy, like a network effect. I have automations and services that:

• Adjust the bathroom floor thermostat according to the prevailing hourly energy price

• Adjust the colour temperature of lighting during the day so blue light is reduced in the evening, allowing natural melatonin production to function

• Announce on a local speaker when our child gets to school in the morning using their phone location

• Operates festive lighting in the winter with reference to sunset and sunrise

• Turns off all lights when leaving; or sometimes if I'm feeling more paranoid

• Replays lighting patterns from a previous week to simulate* occupation

• Sends me an alert if motion is detected and nobody's home

• Turns off the picture on the TV if nobody's in front of it for a while using a 60GHz radar sensor

as well as a few other things. I don't want a smart home that's just remote operation with a phone. I want to use capabilities to automate things so I don't need to be concerned about them.

I have always been pretty anti-smart homes. But it’s scope crept up on me. Often I wanted more manual automation. Christmas lights were on a light sensor timer power strip, lights going to the garage etc are on old school motion sensors so we didn’t trip.

The one thing I did do was a thermostat, specifically a Honeywell. It was nice for scheduling and remotely cooling the house when on returning from vacation (or shutting it off if I forgot.)

Then I got a wifi window ac for my office.

Then I added some wifi mouse traps to prevent me from having to crawl under the house to check them.

Then someone gave us a Weber iGrill sensor that was a pain to swap between phones.

Next thing I knew I had 5-6 apps. So I setup homeassistant to consolidate it. The Weber iGrill was the hardest but I had a pi in the kitchen running a calendar so I took a wekend and got it working in homeassitsnt.

Since then I have added some tplink kasa plugs and switches. The plugs are for Christmas lights this year. And one in the kitchen that we can plug a crock pot etc into and remotely start it while at work. The switches work just like a dumb one too. And are all locally controlled.

Finally I got a robot vac which is nice.

I still don’t have Alexa etc or cameras or mics in the house. And anytbing I do add needs to be only smart as a value add. Ie it should function as normal even without internet.

But yeah. I guess I have a smart home now.

My advice on HomeAssistsnt is make sure you products are supported if you go that route. But it is nice. One app controls all. Again for me they all must function as a dumb device as well.