Home Assistant

Raoul · 11-05-2023 10:51pm

Yeah that's fair enough. It would be good to be able to it live!

Jonathan · 13-05-2023 2:14pm

I picked up a one of these to make a my dumb doorbell smart. Main issue was not hearing the doorbell when working with headphones on. HA now flashes the light beside the desk when the doorbell rings.

Jonathan · 24-05-2023 7:56pm

Automated my postbox with the guts of a Sonoff SNZB-04 taped with black electrical tape inside the lid. I thought I'd have to desolder the reed switch and have the PCB outside the postbox, but it turns out that although diecast, it isnt a perfect faraday cage. Signal isn't fantastic (LQI=80ish), but more then enough.

A common enough type of postbox in Ireland, so hopefully of use to someone.

SK_IE · 03-06-2023 8:32pm

Hi All, Using HA since a while, We will be shifting in ClayFarms Sandyford soon. Wondering if anyone from ClayFarms or Sandyford here using HA? Would love to connect :) also is there any way to monitor Real time Energy Usage in Ireland 🧐

kaisersose77 · 03-06-2023 10:14pm

If you are talking about overall house usage the Shelly EM is one option.

10-10-20 · 03-06-2023 11:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120674883#Comment_120674883

Welcome!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120675155#Comment_120675155

Shelly EM all the way.

SK_IE · 04-06-2023 11:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120675363#Comment_120675363

Thanks buddy :) Can you recommend any electrician in Dublin who can fix these? Complete noob when it comes to electric connections -__-

Raoul · 05-06-2023 12:09am

What's the best method of debugging home assistant. It is crashing every few days and I can't figure out why.

Jonathan · 05-06-2023 12:16am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120678231#Comment_120678231

Have a look at /root/config/home-assistant.log.1 for rotated log of previous session.

Current log file is /root/config/home-assistant.log

paulbok · 05-06-2023 10:20am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120678231#Comment_120678231

+1 on using the logs. They can be a tough read to find the cause(s) but they will point to whatever is the problem, even if you don't understand what it fully means.

Typically it's because something is out of date. I had issues a few years ago with Python on the host machine that almost drove me away from HA. Once I updated Proxmox that hosts HA, it was fine.

Then look for integrations that have had major changes in how they integrate (moved from yaml to UI) or have been deprecated.

I've found HA to be very stable now compared to say five years ago. Any issues I've had recently have been completely self inflicted, mainly not updating correctly and not having an up to date backup save to a location other than the host machine.

Raoul · 05-06-2023 11:59pm

Thanks guys. The worst thing is that I let it go for a while. Been too busy to debug it straight away. I'll try to get it done during the week.

kaisersose77 · 06-06-2023 5:40pm

Maybe keep an eye on RAM usage. I had an issue a few month ago where something was causing a memory leak and over time more and more memory was being consumed until it got to a stage that home assistant would just completely freeze. I never found out what exactly caused it though as i had added more ram and dont seem to see ram usage increasing as much when i checked it recently with a newer version of home assistant.

For anyone interested in voice control for home assistant this looks like a possible option

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/05/willow-is-a-faster-self-hosted-diy-voice-assistant-built-on-50-gadgets/

Device in question is in stock here (add on 23% to cover VAT)

https://www.mouser.ie/ProductDetail/Espressif-Systems/ESP32-S3-BOX?qs=TCDPyi3sCW2Ml%2Frr0LDMpA%3D%3D

paulbok · 13-06-2023 10:23pm

Having a major disaster with the house electrics and pretty much every smart device since the thunder storm this afternoon.

Lost power briefly and it came back as a brown out, with lights flashing and devices dis/reconnecting. Had a minor flood under the door of my office at the same time, so I knocked the entire house off at the main breaker while I dealt with the water (water wasn't getting into the electrics).

Left it for a while as I had to collect the kids and tried around 7 to restore the power. Still getting flashing lights etc. Neighbours house was fine, so knocked off all the fuses and restored them one by one. Narrowed it down to 3 separate circuits and have identified the culprit on two, a fridge and my Cisco switch. Rang electrician and he's calling out tomorrow.

Swapped the internet supply cable from that switch straight to the pc I have HA on, and pretty much every device is showing offline. I'm guessing the constant flickering has reset their connection?

What I'm finding since is that devices with a big draw, is causing havoc on the house grid, turned on the TV and the lights flickered and when I tried turning down the volume, the light in my hall started dimming/ brightening. The Hue bridge is also off line, though I've checked all the connections.

Went to make a cup of tea and the kettle caused more flickering and now I've lost connection to Home Assistant .

Going to have to wait and see what the hell is going on with the power before tackling HA.

For that I guess I'll have to unplug everything and starting with internet, switches and WiFi, start reconnecting devices one by one .

,😭

10-10-20 · 13-06-2023 11:46pm

Sorry to hear that dude. Sounds like an electrical fault to me, maybe something like a floating neutral. That could cause havoc with things like dimmers etc.

Start as you said - disconnect everything and then bring up the basics as you wrote. Keep pings running to multiple devices. Patience.

niallb · 14-06-2023 12:30am

What kind of devices are your lights? After the thunderstorm I had some tradfri bulbs on a hue hub come back flashing until I powered them fully off and on again.

When you took the internet cable directly to your PC how was anything else getting a connection? Are your devices local or need a cloud? If WiFi how are they connecting to your HA on the PC?

paulbok · 14-06-2023 7:24am

The lights are a mixture of Hue, IKEA and sonoff switches/ relays.

The problem switch is on an outbuilding and is fed from my router. There is another switch in the house that seems to be ok, WiFi is working but I need to check some wired devices to be sure.

As I was thinking over it last night, the problem is similar to one I had last year, had a brown out which turned out to be a broken connector on the ESB pole nearby feeding the house, resulting in a reduced supply into the house. Networks called and fixed that and all was ok. That'll be the first thing I'll get the electrician to check, possible that the lightning struck a pole.

As luck would have it, I'm supposed to be heading to a concert in Dublin tonight, but likely to give it a miss now.

10-10-20 · 14-06-2023 8:18am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120712688#Comment_120712688

"I missed Depeche Mode" because my HA was acting-up...?"

No. Go. HA will wait.

paulbok · 14-06-2023 8:22am

Ha.

It's more though that half the lights, the tvs and other house electrics aren't working either and I'd be leaving the kids in the house while away.

Plus the electrician won't be here until I'm gone

paulbok · 14-06-2023 10:20am

Dug out a multi meter a while ago and I'm only pulling 178V. Looks like something outside got a rattle from the thunderstorm.

I've rang ESB networks so waiting on a call back. Have as much as possible plugged out until then.

paulbok · 14-06-2023 1:11pm

ESB just left, was a fault outside on the pole. All the electrics back up now, no casualties so far. Thankfully I'll get a shower now, before heading off to Depeche Mode 😁

HA back up, some devices still offline so they will have to wait until tomorrow now.

10-10-20 · 14-06-2023 1:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120713937#Comment_120713937

Jackpot! Enjoy Depeche Mode.

WildCardDoW · 15-06-2023 1:59pm

Recent update wrecked my Zigbee connections, had to downgrade back to 2023.5.4. Can see 2023.6.2 is available now (was 6.1 that did me in!) so might try it.

It wasn't just Mosquitto broker that was "broken" I could see multiple integrations that were down as having not started. MB however had started but kept having issues and all of my devices are Zigbee so nothing could be controlled (except manually!).

This post is a reminder to myself to upgrade, see what shows up in the log and fix it. 😂

poker--addict · 16-08-2023 9:58am

Total neewb, is this the best value starter or is anyone aware of a better way to get going. Initial objective relates to solar system and associated DIY battery.

https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-starter-kit this is about 100e delivered.

10-10-20 · 16-08-2023 10:59am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120984772#Comment_120984772

Yes, that's a fine kit to get started.

16-08-2023 12:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120984772#Comment_120984772

Would be better off getting a HDD for €20 or finding one somewhere in your house and getting https://www.adverts.ie/desktops/lenovo-tiny-m700-i3-6100t-4gb-ram-no-hdd/31000988 imo

Proxmox installed - HAOS VM on there.

10-10-20 · 16-08-2023 1:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120985659#Comment_120985659

It all gets complicated for a starter if you go down that route. At least with the Pi you can load the HAOS and get up and running in little time.

poker--addict · 16-08-2023 3:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120985771#Comment_120985771

That would be my concern.

10-10-20 · 16-08-2023 3:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120986595#Comment_120986595

I was detecting home appliances within about 10mins from imaging a Pi recently. It was just a test system as I have a primary HA running on a server elsewhere.

16-08-2023 9:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120985771#Comment_120985771

why is it less complicated to install on a Pi than on a tiny form factor machine? If anything the fact that the Pi doesn't have a hard drive makes it more complicated?

10-10-20 · 16-08-2023 9:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120988225#Comment_120988225

Because you can blast the HAOS directly onto the SD card using Balena Etcher and be up and running in minutes.

https://www.home-assistant.io/installation/raspberrypi/

Start up your Raspberry Pi

Insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi.
Plug in an Ethernet cable that is connected to the network.
Connect the power supply to start up the device.
In the browser of your desktop system, within a few minutes you will be able to reach your new Home Assistant at homeassistant.local:8123.

Home Assistant

Comments

Start up your Raspberry Pi