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Home Assistant

13567…23

Comments

  • #62
    matrim
    Registered Users Posts: 7,515 ✭✭✭matrim


    GaryCocs wrote: »
    Hey guys, just installed, for a while looking at the blank screen on the computer thinking WTF.

    Sooooooo have a few things installed (Basically Hue and Plex), now I need to try and figure out how to install hive.

    I get the idea that you can add your own repo etc. etc but is that how people are adding the addons? Scripting them into their own repo file and fetching from there?

    Not sure what you mean by repo. There is a hive component so you should be able to configure it from the yaml configuration and have it work


  • #63
    Black_Knight
    Moderators Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Black_Knight


    GaryCocs wrote: »
    Hey guys, just installed, for a while looking at the blank screen on the computer thinking WTF.

    Sooooooo have a few things installed (Basically Hue and Plex), now I need to try and figure out how to install hive.

    I get the idea that you can add your own repo etc. etc but is that how people are adding the addons? Scripting them into their own repo file and fetching from there?

    Yeah, I dont understand your use of "repo" either.

    Hive seems pretty simple. Sign up on hivehome.com, and include the hive module in your config file.

    https://home-assistant.io/components/hive/


  • #64
    randombar
    Registered Users Posts: 3,360 ✭✭✭randombar


    I guess that’s the part that I’m missing. Adding to the configure file. There was a couple of other add ons I installed just through the gui so I figured it was the same for others that weren’t listed.


  • #65
    Metric Tensor
    Registered Users Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭Metric Tensor


    I think the confusion here is the difference between the "older" home assistant flavours and the the new Hass.io setup.

    I don't run it but as far as I'm aware you can download "add-ons" for Hass.io in the same way as one would install add-ons in something like Firefox. For the other versions Add-Ons (if they could even be called that) consisted of installing various bits and pieces via the raspberry pi command line and then using those items from home assistant - the Samba one being an example.

    This is different to capabilities that are already built in - aka components. You just call these by adding the relevant call-ups to your configuration.yaml file.

    For those of us on the other systems we either SSH into the pi and edit the file called configuration.yaml in the old fashioned way using nano or such like. Or alternatively we use samba file sharing to see the file from our desktops and edit the file there.

    I understand (but have no experience of it) that for Hass.io there's an add-on call configurator that allows you to edit the config file and add components such as hive. Alternatively I think you can edit it from the desktop if you install the Samba add-on.**

    ** N.B. - Anything I say about Hass.io is only from reading the webpage, I have not used it myself.


  • #66
    matrim
    Registered Users Posts: 7,515 ✭✭✭matrim


    Hassio has addons but they are for additional stuff that is normally external to the core home Assistant. As mentioned the common addons would be things like enabling ssh, https and bluetooth. They are normally for accessing something on your pi.

    Your normal smart devices are done via components which you enable via the configuration. You access this configuration via ssh , network share (samba) or as mentioned the configurator add-on. Once changed you often have to restart home Assistant to pick up the change.

    I'll try to post up some sample configuration later


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  • #67
    THE ALM
    Registered Users Posts: 1,595 ✭✭✭THE ALM


    Actually adding the Hive component is pretty straight forward now as it is part of the home assistant core setup.

    To enable it you will have to add the following to you configuration.yaml file:-

    hive:
    username: YOUR_USERNAME
    password: YOUR_PASSWORD

    where you add the username and password that you have setup for accessing Hive. Once this is done and you reboot your Hive components should be listed.

    Edit: there should be two spaces before the username and password lines in the yaml file!


  • #68
    randombar
    Registered Users Posts: 3,360 ✭✭✭randombar


    That's the job, mixing up components and add ons, so far so good guys, very nice in fairness.

    Any recommendations?

    Replacing my hue sensor with an aeotec one later.


  • #69
    matrim
    Registered Users Posts: 7,515 ✭✭✭matrim


    GaryCocs wrote: »
    That's the job, mixing up components and add ons, so far so good guys, very nice in fairness.

    Any recommendations?

    Replacing my hue sensor with an aeotec one later.

    If your router is supported you can use it for presence detection (i.e. when your phone is on the WiFi), alternatively there is the bluetooth detection.

    I found the bluetooth to be more reliable for detecting my phone but it caused issues on my pi where it would freeze up once a day


  • #70
    THE ALM
    Registered Users Posts: 1,595 ✭✭✭THE ALM


    GaryCocs wrote: »
    That's the job, mixing up components and add ons, so far so good guys, very nice in fairness.

    Any recommendations?

    Replacing my hue sensor with an aeotec one later.

    As matrim says presence detection is great thing to set up and then you could add various automations based on this.

    You could have it as simple bluetooth detection or nmap for detecting you presence on the local network. If you can set up remote access the the likes of the locative app set up can give you presence detection no matter where you are at, could set it up on several phones if you need to see where family/ friends are and this can be linked to the Google Geocode component which will give you a full address based on the location.

    Automations based on presence detection like turning on lights when home, or when a motion sensor is triggered to turn on a light or plug are also useful and easy to get you started.

    You can set these up within HA or use the likes of node-red to handle the automations, although I am still getting my head around all that this can do :eek:


  • #71
    paulbok
    Registered Users Posts: 4,898 ✭✭✭paulbok


    matrim wrote: »
    If your router is supported you can use it for presence detection (i.e. when your phone is on the WiFi), alternatively there is the bluetooth detection.

    I found the bluetooth to be more reliable for detecting my phone but it caused issues on my pi where it would freeze up once a day

    WiFi is unreliable for presence detection. If your connection drops while at home or your battery dies, it'll trigger any away routines you may have. I believe iPhones drop off your network automatically when not being used.


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  • #72
    randombar
    Registered Users Posts: 3,360 ✭✭✭randombar


    I might look at doing some of the home automation using locative, iphone house currently so don't want to be left in darkness when wifi drops.

    Trying to add hue sensors, picked up the bulbs ok but not the sensors or switches, any ideas?


  • #73
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,456 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    paulbok wrote: »
    WiFi is unreliable for presence detection. If your connection drops while at home or your battery dies, it'll trigger any away routines you may have. I believe iPhones drop off your network automatically when not being used.

    To be honest, I really like the old fashioned, alarm panel at the front door, to trigger home/away. Easier then trying to rely on wifi, GPS, etc.

    Perhaps a simple z-wave/zigbee button at the front door to trigger home/away routines as you come and go. You could use a button to trigger away and then the door sensor to trigger home (when already set to away).

    Obviously not suitable for security use, just HA stuff.

    Nest Secure actually has a quite smart setup. You arm it like a regular alarm system, with a keypad, however it also uses geofencing. If it sees everyone is out of the house via geo-fencing, but you forgot to arm it, it will send you a notification saying it looks like you are away but forgot to arm the alarm, do you want to arm it now?

    A very good compromise to this issue IMO.


  • #74
    matrim
    Registered Users Posts: 7,515 ✭✭✭matrim


    bk wrote: »
    To be honest, I really like the old fashioned, alarm panel at the front door, to trigger home/away. Easier then trying to rely on wifi, GPS, etc.

    Perhaps a simple z-wave/zigbee button at the front door to trigger home/away routines as you come and go. You could use a button to trigger away and then the door sensor to trigger home (when already set to away).

    Obviously not suitable for security use, just HA stuff.

    Nest Secure actually has a quite smart setup. You arm it like a regular alarm system, with a keypad, however it also uses geofencing. If it sees everyone is out of the house via geo-fencing, but you forgot to arm it, it will send you a notification saying it looks like you are away but forgot to arm the alarm, do you want to arm it now?

    A very good compromise to this issue IMO.

    That would only work if you have your main alarm pointing to your HA. If you had to do 2 buttons it would be too easy to miss. You also have the fact that that is a home / away for everyone instead of just for one person.

    I mostly use the home / away for non-essential stuff. Currently, if someone connects to the camera and we are at home it plays a message as we only use the camera to check on the dog. I'm changing camera soon and with the new one I'm going to have it turn off when we are at home and on when we leave.

    I also have some lights set so that if we are not showing as home they turn off after 30 minutes. That's normally enough for any WiFi glitch to sort itself out.

    I would prefer to use the bluetooth tracker as I found it faster and more reliable but it looks like it won't work for me unless I swap to a wired connection for my pi.


  • #75
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,456 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    matrim wrote: »
    That would only work if you have your main alarm pointing to your HA. If you had to do 2 buttons it would be too easy to miss. You also have the fact that that is a home / away for everyone instead of just for one person.

    Yes, this is why I'm looking forward to the alarm companies getting their act together and joining the HA party.

    Personally I think it is advantage that it would be home/away for everyone, versus just one person. I would consider that the norm, after all, you don't want to be arming the alarm system, turning off lights and turning off the heating if someone is still home.

    I can think of some uses of per person home/away, but I would consider that to be a feature on top of straight home/away. BTW alarm systems can have per user PIN codes and/or per user RFID tags which would allow you to do per user home/away.
    matrim wrote: »
    I mostly use the home / away for non-essential stuff. Currently, if someone connects to the camera and we are at home it plays a message as we only use the camera to check on the dog. I'm changing camera soon and with the new one I'm going to have it turn off when we are at home and on when we leave.

    Sure, I'm only using it for non essential stuff too, but only because it isn't very reliable yet. Make it reliable and I'm sure most people will use it for essential things too.

    BTW I've my Logitech Circle 2 camera set up on a smart plug so that we can power it on or off as we come and go or by voice.


  • #76
    matrim
    Registered Users Posts: 7,515 ✭✭✭matrim


    bk wrote: »
    Sure, I'm only using it for non essential stuff too, but only because it isn't very reliable yet. Make it reliable and I'm sure most people will use it for essential things too.

    BTW I've my Logitech Circle 2 camera set up on a smart plug so that we can power it on or off as we come and go or by voice.

    I went with a cheap enough TP-Link camera as I don't need recording / cloud and got a z-wave smart plug to control it.

    I basically just needed something that I can connect to via the local LAN (with VPN for remote access). I'm still wary of having a camera that sends the video to the cloud.


  • #77
    Black_Knight
    Moderators Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Black_Knight


    I use wifi as my home/away indicator. Also using owntracks to an mqtt server for GPS tracking too so that makes things a bit more stable. I only use location to turn on/off lights and the heating, and I leave a 20 minute delay from everyone leaving the house to the lights/heating turning off automatically.

    Wifi gets me on the network quickly so the lights are on by the time I turn the key in the door. GPS keeps the lights on while im at the house. It's not failed me yet.

    @bk, is your alarm panel at the door somehow hooked into HA?


  • #78
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,456 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    Black_Knight wrote: »
    @bk, is your alarm panel at the door somehow hooked into HA?

    At the moment no, I've got an old, completely non connected HKC system there at the moment. However that would be the goal eventually, to smarten it up.

    Some folk have gotten some HA stuff working with traditional alarm systems from Comfort and Visionic, though it is all a bit hacky at the moment.

    I do have a Xiaomi switch by the door, which I plan on hooking up to SmartThings, to trigger home/away routines. But that is separate to the alarm system.


  • #79
    Black_Knight
    Moderators Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Black_Knight


    bk wrote: »
    At the moment no, I've got an old, completely non connected HKC system there at the moment. However that would be the goal eventually, to smarten it up.

    Some folk have gotten some HA stuff working with traditional alarm systems from Comfort and Visionic, though it is all a bit hacky at the moment.

    I do have a Xiaomi switch by the door, which I plan on hooking up to SmartThings, to trigger home/away routines. But that is separate to the alarm system.

    Switch at the door would be nice. We've a friend staying with us at the moment, and while I have her phone on the network so heating/lights turn on when she's home, I wake up/come home every day to switches turned off. A simple "on/off" switch at the door would be nice. ON = Set heating away mode to off & run some automation to turn on a light if needed. OFF = turn off all lights and set heating to away mode.


  • #80
    paulbok
    Registered Users Posts: 4,898 ✭✭✭paulbok


    Black_Knight wrote: »
    I use wifi as my home/away indicator. Also using owntracks to an mqtt server for GPS tracking too so that makes things a bit more stable. I only use location to turn on/off lights and the heating, and I leave a 20 minute delay from everyone leaving the house to the lights/heating turning off automatically.

    Wifi gets me on the network quickly so the lights are on by the time I turn the key in the door. GPS keeps the lights on while im at the house. It's not failed me yet.

    @bk, is your alarm panel at the door somehow hooked into HA?

    How good do you rate Owntracks for home/away? And for geo-fencing?
    From what I've read up on it, it looks to be the best option to automate it.


  • #81
    Black_Knight
    Moderators Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Black_Knight


    paulbok wrote: »
    How good do you rate Owntracks for home/away? And for geo-fencing?
    From what I've read up on it, it looks to be the best option to automate it.

    Pretty good. Needs a kick on the phone every now and again, but looking at HA it shows I left the house at 8.16 and my wife at 8.17.

    I remember having some teething problems to begin with, but i've had no complaints (or noticed anything wrong with it) this last few months.


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  • #82
    paulbok
    Registered Users Posts: 4,898 ✭✭✭paulbok


    I had to bite the bullet and order another raspberry pi to run this. The power unit or a capacitor is shot, and won't stay powered up. the power led at best blinks intermittently instead of a solid green. Even got a replacement charger but to no avail.


  • #83
    randombar
    Registered Users Posts: 3,360 ✭✭✭randombar


    Any recommendations for another smart plug that works with google, home assistant and doesn't require a hub? TP-Link not available on amazon and have a voucher.


  • #84
    Black_Knight
    Moderators Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Black_Knight


    GaryCocs wrote: »
    Any recommendations for another smart plug that works with google, home assistant and doesn't require a hub? TP-Link not available on amazon and have a voucher.

    Which isn't available on Amazon?
    HS100
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/HS100-Assistant-Required-Anywhere-UK/dp/B01I3ZCBFK

    HS110 (energy monitoring)
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/HS110-Monitoring-Assistant-Required-UK/dp/B01IBUF48S

    Both in stock

    EDIT:
    Oddly, the TS110 is showing as £37 but I can add to cart for £25
    441445.png


  • #85
    randombar
    Registered Users Posts: 3,360 ✭✭✭randombar


    Black_Knight wrote: »
    Which isn't available on Amazon?
    HS100
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/HS100-Assistant-Required-Anywhere-UK/dp/B01I3ZCBFK

    HS110 (energy monitoring)
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/HS110-Monitoring-Assistant-Required-UK/dp/B01IBUF48S

    Both in stock

    EDIT:
    Oddly, the TS110 is showing as £37 but I can add to cart for £25
    441445.png

    Oh FFS. Just pulled the trigger on harveys for 35.

    The product was off the site for the last week, even raised a ticket about it.


  • #86
    THE ALM
    Registered Users Posts: 1,595 ✭✭✭THE ALM


    Taken a bit of playing around with but starting the last couple of days to get floorplan set up on Home Assistant, a lot to do and figure out.


  • #87
    Metric Tensor
    Registered Users Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭Metric Tensor


    Absolutely love that The Alm!

    It's on my long term plan but a bit down the road yet!


  • #88
    THE ALM
    Registered Users Posts: 1,595 ✭✭✭THE ALM


    Thanks Metric Tensor, have a lot to learn with it yet but happy so far.


  • #89
    Black_Knight
    Moderators Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Black_Knight


    THE ALM wrote: »
    Thanks Metric Tensor, have a lot to learn with it yet but happy so far.

    Much of a learning curve to getting it going?

    I only came across floorplan the other day, so I've not yet even looked at the component. I've a tablet mounted on the wall in the kitchen so it'd be ideal.


  • #90
    Wossack
    Registered Users Posts: 6,998 ✭✭✭Wossack


    Its a snazzy add on

    Im looking at the simplier 2D layout, as per screenshots in:

    https://community.home-assistant.io/t/floorplan-for-home-assistant/17394

    But that 3d one looks ace - well done


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  • #91
    THE ALM
    Registered Users Posts: 1,595 ✭✭✭THE ALM


    Black_Knight wrote: »
    Much of a learning curve to getting it going?

    I only came across floorplan the other day, so I've not yet even looked at the component. I've a tablet mounted on the wall in the kitchen so it'd be ideal.

    Black_Knight, I just followed the instructions from here and set it up as a custom panel, just copied the default files supplied to make sure it worked ok, can be fussy with the type of browser that you are using and I found it didn't much like firefox.

    Once I was happy that is was running ok then I started looking at doing my own floorplan. Was lucky that I found a copy of the original floorplan for the house online in the local county council offices website. Using that as a template I used a free program called Sweet Home 3D to draw the floorplan as a 3d image and then output this image which I then used as a base layer in another program called Inkscape. Used Inkscape then to create the SVG file with icons etc that is used in Home Assistant. Used the original floorplan.yaml file and tweaked the entities to match those that I have.

    Looking at the tablet options also so just messing around to get everything set up.


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