Home Assistant

[Bill Howcroft]

Thanks for the talk on domestic systems control, Bernard.
A lot of it went over my head, but I remembered enough of the buzzwords to have an initial Google foray into IoT when I got home.
There's clearly a whole world of control engineering DIY out there.
I shall have lots of questions to plague you with in the future.

[Bernard(Home)]

Hope you meant to say thanks to Brendan! Same letters different order :-))

In essence this is yesterdays message:

1) DIY devices can be constructed using cheap wifi connectable devices. So, for example, you could make a device to control the garage door opening / closing. It would then duplicate the function of the key fob. The new device can then be coded to respond to Alexa commands such as 'Alexa, open the garage door'. It can also be coded to communicate with Home assistant to control the door.

2) Home assistant can be set up on the local wifi using a Raspberry Pi or a NAS drive. HA can then be configured to control the garage door. The door can then be controlled from a PC or phone app as well as Alexa and a button on the control device.

3) If the internet connection fails, Alexa will stop working, but PC / phone apps will still work on the local wifi. They will stop working when away from the local network. So if the internet fails but the local wifi is still working the garage door can still be operated from the device itself, or from a locally connected pc/phone app.

4) HA provides an expandable system for adding more devices that each have a set of functions such as heating controllers, light switches, temperatuture sensors etc. We could, for example, make a device to sense if the garage door is open or closed. Once that is connected to HA we can then see if the door is open. So if the local wifi is working, a pc or phone can be used to see if the door is open, and if the internet is working the door status can be seen from anywhere.

5) HA/DIY devices are implemented by the user rather than the manufacturer/supplier so there is a lower chance of updates causing system failures and is therefore more secure and more reliable. The supplier has no access to the devices so is not able to monitor or control usage.

I think this is the nub of it(!?)

Bernard

I shall have lots of questions to plague you with in the future. --
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[Bill Howcroft]

Oops, brain fart- both names begin with B!

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[Al Johnson]

On 26/03/2026 07:34, Bernard(Home) wrote:

Hope you meant to say thanks to Brendan! Same letters different order :-))

In essence this is yesterdays message:

1) DIY devices can be constructed using cheap wifi connectable devices. So, for example, you could make a device to control the garage door opening / closing. It would then duplicate the function of the key fob. The new device can then be coded to respond to Alexa commands such as 'Alexa, open the garage door'. It can also be coded to communicate with Home assistant to control the door.

The same now appears to apply to cheap ZigBee and BLE devices (Bluetooth Low Energy) as those are now included in ESPhome. These are more suitable for battery powered devices as they use less power than WiFi. I'd take off-the-shelf ZigBee devices for standard things like switches as you don't need to reprogram them to get them to behave sensibly. Zigbee2mqtt has a good database of known-working devices and their quirks. The IKEA ones are generally both good and cheap - I'd take their mains switches over an unknown brand any day. Their newer releases advertise Matter over Thread, but apparently still support ZigBee too.

https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/supported-devices/

https://automatedhome.com/the-hidden-trick-inside-ikeas-new-matter-over-thread-smart-devices/

2) Home assistant can be set up on the local wifi using a Raspberry Pi or a NAS drive. HA can then be configured to control the garage door. The door can then be controlled from a PC or phone app as well as Alexa and a button on the control device.

Another option is a used thin client - essentially a small, fanless, low power PC. You can get them on ebay starting around £15 so cheaper than a Pi.

3) If the internet connection fails, Alexa will stop working, but PC / phone apps will still work on the local wifi. They will stop working when away from the local network. So if the internet fails but the local wifi is still working the garage door can still be operated from the device itself, or from a locally connected pc/phone app.

In the other thread you'll see you can also run voice activation locally if you don't want to use Alexa. This will keep working even if the internet connection fails.

4) HA provides an expandable system for adding more devices that each have a set of functions such as heating controllers, light switches, temperatuture sensors etc. We could, for example, make a device to sense if the garage door is open or closed. Once that is connected to HA we can then see if the door is open. So if the local wifi is working, a pc or phone can be used to see if the door is open, and if the internet is working the door status can be seen from anywhere.

5) HA/DIY devices are implemented by the user rather than the manufacturer/supplier so there is a lower chance of updates causing system failures and is therefore more secure and more reliable. The supplier has no access to the devices so is not able to monitor or control usage.

Same applies to standardised stuff like ZigBee and ZWave if you're using a generic dongle to talk to them rather than the manufacturer's gateway device.

I think this is the nub of it(!?)

Bernard

On 26/03/2026 06:51, Bill Howcroft wrote:

Thanks for the talk on domestic systems control, Bernard.
A lot of it went over my head, but I remembered enough of the buzzwords to have an initial Google foray into IoT when I got home.
There's clearly a whole world of control engineering DIY out there.
I shall have lots of questions to plague you with in the future. --
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[Brendan Stafford]

I'd just like to reiterate how important ESPhome is to all this.  It's an amazing open source capability for configuring/operating your ESP's as devices for so many roles as a part of your automation - it provides interfaces to just about every kind of device (temp sensors, switches, dimmers, motors such as roller blinds etc.).  It gives each ESP a web page/interface.  It provides logging.  And the ability to reprogram over the air (ota), as well as tight integration to Home Assistant.

And final, he's the link to the ESP explorer tool I showed right at the end - this has noting to do with ESPhome, it's just for examining the capabilities and wha code is installed on any ESP you may have.

https://thelastoutpostworkshop.github.io/ESPConnect/

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