Author: Steven

System

Secure Connection with ACME

I’ve been using DuckDNS add-in for https connection to Home Assistant. Configuring this add-in was relatively straightforward and I described this in my post “Accessing Home Assistant from the Internet”. However, the obvious drawback of this method is that I’m tied to using DuckDNS for distributed DNS service. Enters ACME, an IETF standard for Automated Certificate Management Environment. It allows me to use encryption with … Continue reading Secure Connection with ACME

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Switch

Meross Smart Wi-fi Switch

Meross markets a suite of connected devices. The MSS110 Smart Wi-fi Plug Mini is an inexpensive wireless power switch. In this post, I’ll describe integrating this device into Home Assistant. Integration with Meross devices is achieved with the excellent custom component developed by Vincenzo Suraci based on the work done by Alberto Geniola and Chris Hurst. The custom component uses MQTT Discovery service. Thus an … Continue reading Meross Smart Wi-fi Switch

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System

Accessing Home Assistant from the Internet

The home automation system so far works within my home network. Making the system accessible over the Internet will make it a lot more useful. One advantage Hass.io has over the Hasbian version is the availability of add-ons. The DuckDNS add-on (https://www.home-assistant.io/addons/duckdns/) adds DDNS, SSL certificate using Let’s Encrypt service. This will enable secured external access to the dashboard. First register a free account at … Continue reading Accessing Home Assistant from the Internet

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Garage

Integrating Chamberlain MyQ Gateway

With my thermostat control added to the Home Assistant dashboard, it’s time to move on to the garage. My Chamberlain garage door opener was installed more than 3 years ago, and it is not the “smart” type; ie. it does not have built-in internet connectivity. Having seen the MyQ Gateway review here: I bought one and it has been working well with my garage door … Continue reading Integrating Chamberlain MyQ Gateway

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Climate Control

Customized Thermostat UI

Played around with Home Assistant custom UI, which they called Lovelace, and the Ecobee thermostat card looks like this I have two Ecobee remote sensors which I placed one on the main floor and the other in the upstairs bedroom. Once the Ecobee was discovered by Home Assistant, the remote sensors were also added automatically. Using the Lovelace UI customization, I added these two temperature … Continue reading Customized Thermostat UI

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Climate Control

Ecobee Thermostat

I have an Ecobee 3 installed in my home last year (2018). There is a Home Assistant add-in for this device. From the documentation https://www.home-assistant.io/components/ecobee/, it seems straightforward to add it to the dashboard, so I gave it a shot to dip my toe into Home Assistant device integration. I already registered as a user at ecobee.com as part of the original device installation, so … Continue reading Ecobee Thermostat

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System

Controlling the Hub

Having Home Assistant running on Docker Hypervisor adds a layer of complexity to the installation. The install creates two separate docker containers: hassio_supervisor and homeassistant. They need to be managed through docker. In addition, there are three services created: hassio-supevisor, hassio-apparmor, and docker. This post contains useful commands for controlling the Home Assistant with Docker. Docker command: List running containers: Stop running container: Start/stop Docker … Continue reading Controlling the Hub

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System

Installing Home Assistant on the Raspberry Pi

The official Home Assistant blog post outlined four installation methods. Only one of these methods supports add-on component, while allowing me to retaining full control of the operating system on the Raspberry Pi. This was called Hass.io for generic Unix, and is now known as Home Assistant Supervised. Here is the procedure I used to setup my Raspberry Pi 3B+ as a dedicated home automation … Continue reading Installing Home Assistant on the Raspberry Pi

Unknown's avatarSteven2 Comments