Open Smart Home Meetup Notes
Our previous meetup was a blast and there were a lot of terms thrown around plus a bunch of different hardware shown. I hope this notes page can provide some clarity with all that for those trying to follow along. If you've got more info to share, feel free to edit!
How can I run HA?
There are a ton of different ways to run Home Assistant. In my opinion there are 3 hardware and software configurations to consider:
Easiest: Home Assistant Green. This hardware is designed by Home Assistant and comes preloaded with HAOS (Linux Debian with Home Assistant managing all aspects of the OS). HAOS will allow you to install approved 3rd party addons. HAOS will manage its own updates.
Intermediate: Bring your own hardware. Raspberry Pi 4 or a cheap Intel machine with an install of HAOS. The install process is a little involved. HAOS will allow you to install approved 3rd party addons. HAOS will manage its own updates.
Experienced: Docker container. You manage the host machine, simple Docker compose config. This image only contains the HA service. There is no addons functionality, but that’s ok because addons are nothing more than other Docker images you can setup separately.
Can I connect my HA server to my network via wifi?
All install paths require an ethernet wired connection to your router. Wifi connectivity of the HA device to your router is possible but really annoying to setup. Keep in mind that not all wifi smart home devices allow direct local connections, for those that don’t HA will need an integration that can talk to the cloud service those devices connect to.
What if I have wifi smart home devices?
Yes it can talk to your wifi devices just as long as your HA instance is on the same network (i.e. router) as the rest of your wifi devices, they can all talk to each other.
Do any of these methods support other smart home wireless protocols, such as Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter+Thread?
None of the install paths come with any smart home wireless radios. You have the option of getting them separately as USB dongles as needed. This is nice if all you care about is wifi smart devices. I have a couple good options listed in the following sections.
Should I get Home Assistant SkyConnect?
SkyConnect is a USB dongle made by Home Assistant that supports Zigbee and Matter+Thread. It aimed to solve the “which USB dongle should I get?” problem but unfortunately performs really poorly. Check in the Zigbee section for a good alternative recommendation.
What about Home Assistant Yellow?
This hardware is slowly getting phased out (and is starting to become hard to come by), with the preference of people going with Green. Yellow requires the separate purchase of a Raspberry Pi to drive it. It comes with built in radios for Zigbee, and Matter+Thread, however general user experience has been that these radios perform poorly.
What is MQTT?
MQTT is an old but still widely used internet of things protocol, for things to communicate to other things. An MQTT server acts as an open broker where MQTT clients can send and receive updates (like what the current temperature is) or send and receive commands (like open the garage door). The broker remembers the last state of things so that devices that are newly connecting can learn about what’s currently happening in your home. Home Assistant uses MQTT heavily with certain devices. You will need to run an MQTT server, this can be easily installed either as an addon or a docker container.
What is Zigbee:
Zigbee is a wireless radio protocol for low bandwidth low power internet of things devices, that can also wireless mesh to provide more coverage in your home. There isn’t much of a cost to license out using it by hardware manufacturers, so many devices with Zigbee are dirt cheap. These devices range in temperature or motion sensors, to lightbulbs and smart plugs.
Home Assistant supports Zigbee internally through ZHA, or integrates with Zigbee2MQTT which brings a lot more features and functionality.
I have Philips Hue bulbs working through a Philips Hue Hub, do I need to setup Zigbee separately?
HA provides integration with Philips Hue hubs, and your bulbs can continue to stay paired to that and you can still use the Hue app. This configuration however still gives an avenue for your smart home bulbs to provide data back to Philips, and Philips can in the future decide to disable 3rd party apps from accessing your hub. If you want to avoid this, you can unpair your bulbs from the hub, and then repair them to HA directly through a Zigbee USB dongle.
What is Z-Wave:
Z-Wave is another wireless protocol for internet of things devices. It’s a little more robust and secure than Zigbee, but that comes at a higher price. There aren’t as many devices that run Z-Wave compared to Zigbee. The only ones I’ve had before has been door locks.
Fun hardware
Wifi:
Athom: The smart plug I showed off is made by a company called Athom that supports open source firmware. This can come in the flavors of Tasmota (easy to pick up and use) or ESPHome (more intermediary)
WLED, I use this for all of my fancy colored LED strips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apSz3NXYlx8 Soldering tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOEnFKLm9Sw Connecting a ESP board to a strip and easy install of WLED
Zigbee:
SONOFF ZigBee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus - Is the preferred Zigbee USB dongle these days, will work with both ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT. Make sure you’re getting the Plus P, and not the dongle plus E, which is something different.
Many of the Zigbee sensors I showed were made by Aqara. They’re cheap and mostly work.
Sonoff also makes a load of amazing and affordable sensors.
The Philips Hue bulbs all run off of Zigbee.