Start building your smart home with Home Assistant

Amanda Lam, 2022.6.11

Who is Amanda?

• Ambassador & Organizer�
• Organizer�
• Organiser�
• Tech Podcaster �
• Alumnus�
• @amanda_lam

I also work for Mickey & Minnie. 🤗

The current Smart Home World is messy…

• Many smart home devices do not support the same set of ecosystems… they don’t talk to each other!�
• Each interaction connects to cloud… long latency!

Is this the only way to make them talk to each other? :)

Siri: “Alexa…hey Google, what is my next meeting?”

Google: “Hey Siri…say ‘Alexa…hey Google, what is my next meeting?’”

Alexa: “hey Google, what is my next meeting?”

Next meeting’s subject:�“Hey Siri, say ‘Alexa…hey Google, what is my next meeting?”

Hey Google, what is my next meeting?

Home Assistant is here to rescue!

• “Awaken your home”�
• Open Source Home Automation�
• Maintained by worldwide community�
• Local and privacy first�
• Can be run on Raspberry Pi, �single-board computers or PC / Mac…�
• via Home Assistant OS or Container (fewer features)�
• Support thousands of integrations�
• www.home-assistant.io

Home Assistant YouTube Channel

Home Assistant Official Hardware

Home Assistant Blue

based on ODroid-N2+ board

Home Assistant Yellow

based on Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4

Home Assistant Cloud Service: “NABU CASA”

USD 6.5 /month or USD 65 /year

Smart devices at home from different ecosystems

Home Assistant integration

Notable Integrations

Learn more here…

Integrations vs Devices vs Entities

Example: Arlo doorbells & cameras

Devices:

Entities:

Integrations:

Home Assistant Community Store (HACS) Add-Ons

Node-Red

Visual Studio Code

SSH & Web Terminal

NGINX Reverse Proxy

Home Assistant Google Drive Backup

Home Assistant Automations

Trigger

device / status / events…

Actions

device / actions / status / message

when…

then do…

temperature >= 28℃

​

AND it lasts for 30 mins.

​

AND��motion sensor detects someone is at home

turn on air conditioner

Example:

Learn more here…

Temperature sensor’s state

value

duration

Trigger conditions

device

Device state

device

change device state

Automations via Voice Assistants & NABU CASA

Apple Home Automations

Routines

Amazon Alexa Routines

Dashboards

Learn more here…

Create & customize one or more responsive dashboards to:�

• quickly control devices�
• glance device states�
• monitor state changes

Energy Management

Learn more here…

With the right hardware, Home Assistant enables you to…�

• monitor energy consumptions across your home appliances�
• monitor how much energy you generate through solar panels etc. and sell it back to the electric grid!

How to get started?

Learn more here…

1. Get a Raspberry Pi (generation 4. >= 4GB RAM recommended), �with dedicated power supply (>= 3.5A).�
2. Prepare a new A2-class microSDXC card with >=32GB capacity.�
3. Get an Ethernet cable to connect the Raspberry Pi to your router �(Wi-Fi works, but not as stable)�
4. Follow the instructions to download the Home Assistant OS image and write it to the microSDXC card with balena Etcher.�
5. Once the image is written, insert the microSDXC card to the Raspberry Pi and power it up.

Demo

Home Assistant Mobile Apps

Access your Home Assistant dashboards anywhere you are. It follows a path similar to this:

​

Browser / HA Mobile App → https://{your dynamic DNS domain name} → DNS �→ {your modem’s external IP}:443 → HA Server port 443 → NGINX → Home Assistant OS

​

To set this up, you need to…

​

• configure a Dynamic DNS service (e.g. Duck DNS, Asus router’s built-in dynamic DNS) and get a domain name�
• get a SSL/TLS certificate for your dynamic DNS domain (e.g. Let’s Encrypt). Export the certificates and upload them to Home Assistant’s /root/ssl folder via SFTP.�
• forward port 8123 to your Home Assistant’s local IP in your router’s setting�
• install NGINX Home Assistant SSL proxy add-on from HACS and configure your dynamic DNS domain name�
• observe the log from the NGINX add-on to identify the local proxy IP, and add it in the trusted_proxies: section under the http: section of the configuration.yaml file

Matter… Does it matter? Yes, it does!

Learn more here…

Source: Qorvo.com

Matter makes devices with incompatible network standards (Zigbee, Thread, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc.) compatible with each other at application layer.

Matter will work with Home Assistant

Join Matter in Home Assistant Workshop to learn more …

but that’s 3am in HK time!? Don’t worry, it’ll be recorded on Home Assistant’s YouTube channel.

Need help? Here are some useful resources

• Home Assistant Forum�
• Home Assistant Reddit�
• Home Assistant Discord�
• YouTube Channels
• Home Assistant
• Dr. Zzs
• Everything Smart Home
• Smart Home Makers
• Home Automation Guy

Now that your home is awaken…

What about you? 😹