Home Assistant

starting my HA journey. Is there a handy YouTube channel or position to start with absolute basics?

initial priority is probably using sun/solar forecast to inform and drive solar/battery/EV management.

Then dashboard of some thermometers which may later drive blinds or curtains.

Yes there is, there is a good video on this page too:

I have not played with it, but the one thing that it depends on is the HA companion app being installed on your phone.

Stick to the installation/ beginner videos from the last 12 months. The process was a different animal once you start going back a few years (and there have been many great beginner videos over the years), but it's a far simpler process than it used to be. I'm not sure I use my yaml files except for adding login 'secrets' for a few devices.

Everything Smartphone, Bearded Tinker, Smart Home Junkie, Home Automation Guy, Digiblur Not Enough Tech, Mark Watt Tech are all great channels to look at for different topics as you need them.

Whatever route you go, after installation, get your head around backups and be religious about making them after every session. Mistakes will get made and you'll bedamn glad to roll back to the last working state.

OK, maybe it's just me then, but I'm in the yaml daily! I prefer to code my helpers and such, but I know that the interface has improved hugely in the last while in that respect.

I have an Meross gate/garage door switch, so i can trigger that in HA (can already see it and play with it via HA).

I also have a hikvision doorbell/gate opener which also works on the gate, - but i need to reset/unlock the doorbell as cant get into admin settings at moment (forgot password details). In time I imagine hikvision will be the best way to manage it.

I have setup a zone around my house, 300 metres. What I want to get right is the instruction so the gate is not constantly trying to open when i enter the zone, or is not trying to open the gate as I exit the zone. So only "hitting unlock" once, when i am entering the zone.

It seems a smart way to manage high accuracy, is to turn on high accuracy when phone is connected to car bluetooth....now back to youtube to figure that out.

id: '1694451677077'

alias: Gate Triggered by entering 300m zone

description: ''

trigger:

 - platform: zone

  entity_id: person.firstname_secondname

  zone: zone.approaching_home_300m

  event: enter

 - platform: zone

  entity_id: person.firstname_secondname

  zone: zone.approaching_home_300m

  event: enter

condition: []

action:

 - device_id: 0bb4fba9e328ab3175225d08df63c2c8

  domain: cover

  entity_id: 2200e482835d7893bd5adcf23f039402

  type: open

mode: single

Any obvious errors in this automation. It has not worked. The device at end is Meross gate/garage opener. The logic is when both people/trackers enter a 300m radius of home, triggers gate to open.

HA is setup for remote access.

Owntracks and iphone tracking is linked to people profiles

Happy to get rid of Owntracks, enough tracking going on! will HA app update location frequently enough Jonathan? Given the radius I am using is about 300m, if it is not updating every 30 seconds then Im going to be at the gate waiting....?

Was also wondering how likely the tracker in cars are updating?

I read somewhere iPhone is a bit funny about this,

unrelated, anyone managed to get HomeSecure Alarm into HA?

My gates are now opening with HA when person/device tracker enters a zone. Win! It can be slow though, which introduces some luck. If the zone is 300 metres, and a GPS update has happened at 310metres, the car will need to sit at the gate waiting for another GPS push. At least this is what I am interpreting is going on. I think apple doesn't facilitate rapid location updates by default, but android might. Suspect this is why some people are using OwnTracks and other apps, to try to drive more frequent pushing of location to HA server.

What might work is apple shortcuts, and an automation to send location when entering same zone, albeit I am not sure if that app will be monitoring location live either, or if it also has delays between updates?

Mine was about 5 years ago now that I think of it. They just frustrated me with claims of open till you got in to actually trying to get it to talk to anything else hardware or software wise.

got grafana working...now im hooked!

My latest addition to Home Assistant.

That's crazy-smart stuff. How is the dose measured, I don't get that part?

Change it to a helper input Boolean...

You can then use a "while" action by picking repeat and then the while repeat type and adding the condition that needs to stay true for it to keep looping.

Trigger

Humidity>75%

Action

Repeat - While humidity>75%

Input Boolean on

Delay 1s

Input Boolean off

Delay 180s

Thank you.

I could not find the "while" type under "repeat type" for the longest time. I have this now:

alias: Ensuite Humidity Stays High
description: ""
trigger:
 - platform: numeric_state
   entity_id: sensor.sensor_2_humidity_sensor
   for:
     hours: 0
     minutes: 3
     seconds: 0
   above: 77
condition: []
action:
 - repeat:
     while:
       - condition: numeric_state
         entity_id: sensor.sensor_2_humidity_sensor
         above: 77
     sequence:
       - service: switch.turn_on
         target:
           entity_id: input_boolean.ensuite_humidity_stays_high
         data: {}
       - delay:
           milliseconds: 1500
       - service: switch.turn_off
         target:
           entity_id: input_boolean.ensuite_humidity_stays_high
         data: {}
mode: single

I'll have to go breathe on the sensor now to see if it triggers. 😁

Oh, I get you now! I thought that this was a component within a dosing system for animals. 🤣

It should be fine. What's that input Boolean a trigger for out of curiousity?

Been toying with getting humidity sensors and making extractor fans smart myself.

I thought it was auto dozing for cows too - didn't seem the small print just the photo. Your use case is even more clever though and important though. Does anything like this exist? In my mind that is something worth patenting and has huge potential if it doesnt already exist?

As for my measly gates, small smart button could be the answer. We do have a fob but it's inevitable in a pocket or bag when needed. Small smart button left in car would solve it. Caveat though for anyone brainstorming this too- might want to hide it as a fob or button to open gate in plain sight makes life easier for a thief.

I wonder if Tesla has sensor for brake release, that would be the ideal trigger if it was relayed fast enough. Probably still on home WiFi at that point too.

im sure I saw speed sensor so that may work again if it's fast enough to update, "3kph and increasing in home zone"

Yes, I have that integration, and it does have parking brake sensor. The challenge is the update speed.

The standard is every 10 minutes actually, for polling the car/tesla server. This can be reduced to a matter of seconds, but triggers to reduce and reset must be done very well, otherwise risk of causing battery drain!!! So I could set faster polling when car door opens until I leave home zone, for example, however I am not sure it will see car door is open for up to 10 minutes!!

I wonder now if my CCTV will read the number plate when car enters a certain zone on the screen, and that could trigger gate opening for departure.

Can you get HA to display on cars screen when it starts?

Reports from the internet say it can be accessed via the Tesla's browser. But I guess it's only useful if you can create a shortcut or have it open someway when the car starts.

Even my crappy Dacia can access via a browser app on Android Auto.

I guess I could do with a second Git user profile for non farming projects 😂

I finally figured out how to make Home Assistant Addons from existing Docker images.

https://github.com/Farmer-Eds-Shed/Home-Assistant-Addon-Repo/tree/main

So I made 2.

• NTFY - A notification Server
• ruuvi-go-gateway - Gateway for Ruuvi BLE Tags.

Makes some other projects a bit neater to have all dependencies managed by Home Assistant.