Andrew joins Phil and Rohan to share how he outgrew Apple HomeKit and built a powerful multi-user smart home in Home Assistant. We cover presence detection with ESP32s and sensors, ditching MyQ for a Meross garage opener, Yale smart locks, bathroom humidity fan automations, and fun ESPN sports goal alerts.
Chapters
00:00:00 – Welcome, Sponsors, Intro
00:02:00 – Andrew’s Tech Beginnings
00:05:00 – From Apple Home to HA
00:08:00 – Breaking HomeKit Limitations
00:11:00 – Hardware: Pi to Proxmox
00:14:00 – Backups, Restores, Cleanup
00:16:30 – Multi-User Automation Challenges
00:19:00 – Presence Without Phone Tracking
00:22:00 – Buttons, Switches, Voice Balance
00:25:00 – ESP32 Presence And Motion
00:29:00 – Bathroom Humidity Fan Logic
00:33:00 – Sensor Health & Batteries
00:36:00 – Lighting Philosophy & Accents
00:39:00 – WLED, TV Backlights, Aesthetics
00:41:30 – Goals For The Year, Wrap-Up

Sponsored By

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS or YAML.

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Zooz

Check out The Smartest House for Zooz devices at the best prices

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Notion

Notion combines your notes, docs, and projects into one space that’s simple and beautifully designed

Website

Hosted By

Phil Hawthorne

Phil is a Melbourne based web developer who lives and breathes technology. When he's not at his day job, he’s in his home office attempting to simplify his life through complicated tech.

Website Smart Home Products Buy a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Rohan from Toronto, Canada works in the Technology sector as an architect designing network and datacenter solutions for his customers. His passion for technology stems from there and extends to IoT and home automation

Website Smart Home Products Buy a Coffee


Special Appearances By

Andrew Leighty

I have worked in the tech sector for close to 2 decades, and have been interested in computers since I was about 10. I’ve had self hosted media servers since the late 2000’s, and slowly gotten into home automation since 2017. As it stands now, almost all my lights are smart, the rooms have presence detection, and I’m constantly on the lookout for new ways I can use this technology to either improve my day to day life.

Spotlight

 

Special episodes focused on various aspects of Home Assistant and Home Automation.