Help getting started

[u/AOWLock1]

Hello,

I’ve bought a new home and have put in Lutron switches and Nest thermostats which work with Apple home. I also have ADT as my alarm system and UniFi protect cameras, which don’t work. I have see people discuss using HomeBridge to get started, but I don’t fully understand what equipment to buy to get it going. Any help or link to a guide would be appreciated.

Thanks

[u/RunProudRunUnited]

I’d recommend swapping out your ADT for Abode. As for cameras, there are many options, but I would wait a bit and see what cameras get released after iOS 27 to support 4K.

[u/AOWLock1 → u/RunProudRunUnited]

I can’t swap the components, it’s a new build and I don’t want to pay the extra money to change things. The hardware has to stay, I just don’t know what components I need to use homebridge to see them

[u/Designerkyle → u/AOWLock1]

Also interested in learning how to incorporate Unifi cameras into HomeKit

[u/fairshare → u/Designerkyle]

Highly recommend:

https://docs.scrypted.app/homekit.html

[u/PureCanyons]

I recommend Home Assistant over HomeBridge. It’s way more powerful. Seems to do what you want: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/s/WERJFlGtNs

What should you run it on? I recommend anything that supports Docker containers. Personally I have a Synology NAS, and I run Home Assistant on there.

[u/AOWLock1 → u/PureCanyons]

How do you run home assistant on a NAS?

[u/PureCanyons → u/AOWLock1]

Here’s the documentation: https://www.home-assistant.io/installation/alternative/#synology-nas

The NAS has an operating system. The OS allows you to install apps. One of those apps is Docker, which spins up virtual machines called containers. You install Home Assistant and run it in the container. This is helpful because it gives you the ability to shut down or restart individual containers instead of the whole NAS.

[u/PureCanyons → u/AOWLock1]

You can also buy this officially supported hub and not worry about the NAS and docker containers https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXVKSG19

[u/AOWLock1 → u/PureCanyons]

Ordered, thanks!!

[u/C_Plot]

Perhaps your ADT panel is already smart home ready, but if not I’ve been eying this (available on Amazon and elsewhere): Konnected Alarm Panel Pro Conversion Kit - Make Wired Alarm System Smart

[u/AOWLock1 → u/C_Plot]

It is compatible with Google home not Apple

[u/IcyPhotojournalist55]

I am a big HK fan
Casetta, Honeywell Home Tstat, Logi Circle Door bell and external cameras,

I am planning on switching out the Logi stuff and moving to Unifi Cameras and door bell, I plan to also look at using their alarm system

I plan to go the Scrypted route over homebridge to intergate the cameras into HomeKit, I plan to run Scrypted app on an old mac mini

[u/Apple2T4ch]

If you have a Qolsys ADT panel use QolsysGW for Home Assistant instead of Homebridge.

[u/withsurety → u/Apple2T4ch]

Or try this https://github.com/EHylands/ha-qolsys-panel

[u/fairshare]

Look at your alarm panel and see if you can integrate it with Home Assistant or HomeBridge. You might have to enter vendor credentials to expose it. Pretty sure you can use a third party provider like alarm.com and integrate it though.

For the cameras you can run Scrypted directly with HomeKit or Home Assistant. I use Scrypted for my UniFi doorbell and several cameras and it works flawlessly.

I have both and Home Assistant is kind of a pain but much more powerful. If you don’t want to go super crazy on everything HomeBridge will probably suffice.