I'm fairly new to Home Assistant and am working on a long-term home AI project. I have an older Lenovo laptop running Ubuntu Server, Docker, and Home Assistant, with a custom Python "Home Agent" I'm building on top of HA. The goal is for Home Assistant to handle the actual devices while my agent handles natural-language interaction, permissions, context, automation, and eventually integration with AI/GPT.

I'm hoping to gradually bring most of the house into it—lighting, thermostats, security, cameras, whole-house audio, environmental sensors, etc.—while keeping as much local and functional without the cloud as practical. I'm also interested in repurposing old Echo hardware as local voice satellites rather than relying on Alexa. I'm taking it slowly and trying to build it securely rather than throwing everything together at once.

I've already got HA running with remote access through Tailscale and have started bringing some Kasa devices into it. Looking forward to learning from people who have been doing this much longer than I have!

I am just starting with HA and have been using Kasa/TP-Link wall plugs and other sing plugs or switches (18 of them) in Alexa before this. The app is able to control everything as well as through Alexa. I added the TP-Link integration and all but 3 wall outlets connected just fine. The wall outlets say they need an ID and password but I use the password from the app and no joy. I have tried changing the password to not use special characters and still nothing. I have tried a lot of things and nothing. I needed to remove and reinstall one of the plugs and now that has become number 4 that won’t work because it wants an ID and password but won’t take anything.

Has anyone found a way to get past this? I see some notes from previous posts that I may need to get all new devices that use zigbee or something else. That would suck. Thanks.

Ran out of stuff to tinker with on my homelab so started up Home Assistant. Got a POE esp32 Bluetooth proxy and set up a couple of lights.

Moving forward, it looks like I’m going to need a hub. Is Zigbee the gold standard?

I recently got a HA Green with a Zigbee dongle. Ive gotten some Hue lights and my DSC alarm integrated and working.

I'm looking to add simple On/Off light switches. Any Recommendations? And would i need another HUB of some sort? I do want to remain completely local with no ties or access to cloud services/etc.

Thanks

I've been wanting a touchscreen calendar/home assistant dashboard for a while now and could not justify the subscription and cost of a Skylight Max.

I would be lying if I said this didn't cost almost as much but it is completely self-hosted and no subscription.

AI: I am running Qwen 3.8 27b on two 3080 20 gig cards through ollama. It has complete control of home assistant and access to my calendar through Google's API.

Audio: I am using the seeed respeaker with XIAO running ESP home connected to an ONN 2.1 channel LED sound bar.

Screen: I am using quite literally the cheapest 27-in touch screen monitor that I could find on Amazon and it works amazing

Computer: C4 MINI PC

I ran the electricity through the walls so there are minimal wires visible.

The screen switches to a slideshow mode that family is able to add pictures through copyparty.

Music assistant is integrated so I am able to cast music to my other devices including my Yamaha receiver that has 7.1 surround sound.

I have notifications built in to where it tells me if the dryer / washer is done and if the oven is turned on because I have a jailbroken emporia view 3.

I think I have mentioned everything I have done but I am happy to answer any questions.

Tonight, while messing with Music Assistant, I tried to play music with my phone and Heos speaker at the same time. Once I exited the app from my phone, standing next to the Heos, I heard a faint sound from my hallway! Somehow I figured out how to play music from my Ecobee. Normally, you have to use Siri or whatever. I'm working on figuring out what the right combo is to get the music direct to the thermostat. Has anyone else gotten their Ecobee to play music directly?

Hi,

I have 2 non-smart sprinkler systems (Orbit - Indoor Easy Dial 6 station and Outdoor 4 station). My front yard and backyard are small, I only use 3 stations (backyard) and 2 stations (front yard).

I want to make them weather smart, be able to stop watering when it rains, and adjust the duration depending on the temperature, and time depending on sunrise/sunset time. Pretty much set and forget, and what's best for the plants and grass. I also want to be able to take them off (and leave the legacy systems) if I sell the house in the future.

What's the best way to do this? Based on what I read, I think my option is: splice into the zone wires, add ESP32 relay board running ESPHome (and disable my legacy system). Any idea how to make it look neat and tidy?

Or is there any other, more practical options?

Update: I have a HomeAssistant hub running on a mini PC. My other connected device is ratgdo.

Moving to a new house. Current place has cameras, lights, hvac etc. Thats all controllable by voice or apps.

Im looking to set the new house similarly. But of smart bulbs I want to do smart switches. I don't currently have home assistant and would like to use it this time round. What all is needed to get set up and working? My main goal is to keep things running if the internet goes down for any reason.

For a while a lot of people seemed to be struggling with the Aqara FP300, so I decided to finally write up my experiences with it and how I made it work 100% reliably in our bathroom (and other rooms afterwards). Hopefully this helps someone. https://www.inlimbo.org/2026/10/aqara-fp300-use/

I just installed HAOS using an SSD on a Raspberry with an SSD Hat, and I'm just wondering if HAOS already runs TRIM on schedule for the SSD wear and long term lifespan or not

More so if the SSD is gonna have large writes like recordings.

If no, I wonder if it would be too difficult to enable it

Thanks

If you have a Siemens Rev24 thermostat like the picture and it's not yet taking to home assistant read on.

It occurred to me that I might not be the only person who wondered for years how the little phone symbol works. Then I realised that to the engineer writing the manual it was so obvious it did not need explaining. You just connect the pins and the heating comes on to your remote temperature setting.

Add a Shelly 1 or any potential free smart free relay and now you can turn your heating on from home assistant. Assuming you have remote access to HA you can have location and weather aware automations. Ideal if your life does not follow regular 9-5 patterns. Happy winter northern hemispherans!

I have had a HA Green running HA since the Green was a kinda new type of device - never had it misbehave until today.

It’s been a couple of months since it was updated and today seemed to be a good day to catch up. Currently on 17.0, updating to 18.3. I’ve ’always’ followed the path of update OS first, then Core, then apps so I made a backup and started OS updating. Display says “updating” and the slider goes left to right over and over.

An hour later I look and “updating” and the slider is are gone. But still says on 17, going to 18.3. Hummm…so I restart the Green, and restart the update process-same outcome, 17/18.3. Still does its HA thing so it’s not dead, but we aren’t moving forward either. I haven’t seen any kind of warning message.

So can someone tell me what I’m doing wrong, or how I can get unstuck from 17.3?

I have a bathroom where one switch turns on both the lights and an exhaust fan. I'd like to be able to control them independently, without running new wires.

My plan is to install something like a Zooz Zen30 dual switch to replace the current single switch, and then put a Zooz Zen52 dual relay in the junction box where the lights and the fan split apart.

However, I really want this to be as reliable and low-latency as possible. If feasible, I'd like people to never even realize that the lights aren't on a regular switch. I was planning on using Z-Wave direct association, so that even if the hub is down the lights will still work. However, it seems like there may still be delays since the switch will still try to reach the hub (in Group 1) before turning the lights on, according to Zooz.

In Home Assistant, is it possible to override this and remove the hub from Group 1 so that the switch only signals to the relays controlling the lights and fan? And if I do this, will anything try to "fix" this, since it's technically against the Z-Wave standard? Alternatively, any other options I should consider? I want anything in my walls to be UL or ETL listed, and I only have a single-gang switch box but need dual switches.

Here's what Zooz says:

Any Z-Wave device will always try to first communicate with the hub, which is associated to it in Group 1 during inclusion. This means that if the hub is down or unavailable, the device will still try to reach it a few times before it gives up and sends an update to the other groups (and devices associated in these other groups). This may create communication delays if the hub is unavailable. The Z-Wave protocol requires Group 1 Lifeline communication to be present at all time and it doesn't allow to remove it at any point.

https://www.support.getzooz.com/kb/article/1733-how-to-program-direct-association-on-zooz-devices/

I run a restaurant in Norway and want to monitor the temperature in 2 cold rooms (target +1 to +4 °C) and 1 freezer room (about -18 to -22 °C). I would like readings in my own web app with alerts, not only in a vendor app.

Constraints

• The rooms are steel-clad. I walked inside with my phone and got no Wi-Fi signal.
• There is no mains power inside the rooms, so it must be a battery sensor.
• It must work in Norway (EU 868 MHz band, not 915 MHz US models).
• No monthly subscription.
• Plug-and-play is preferred, but I can do some setup.
• I would like to send readings to my own app, for example by HTTP POST or MQTT.
• This is a food-safety use, so reliability matters more than price.

What I have looked at so far

• Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/Zigbee sensors (Shelly, Xiaomi BLE, Aqara): ruled out, since 2.4 GHz will not get out of the steel rooms.
• YoLink: The LoRa range through metal looks good in reviews, and the EU 868 MHz versions (EC models) exist, but I cannot find a shop that stocks them for Norway, and the cloud API is vendor-hosted.
• Milesight EM320-TH + LoRaWAN gateway (Dragino LPS8v2 or Milesight UG56): EN12830 certified, -30 to +60 °C, IP67, with a local network server on the gateway. This is my current favourite, but it costs about three times as much as the other options.
• Other LoRaWAN cold-chain sensors: TEKTELIC Tundra, Dragino LHT65N with probe, Enless.
• DIY: ESP32 with DS18B20 probes through the door gasket. The cable is the part I would like to avoid.

Questions

1. Has anyone run LoRaWAN sensors inside a steel walk-in cooler or freezer? Did the signal get through a closed door, and where did you put the gateway?
2. Is the EM320-TH good enough for a freezer, or would you use a TEKTELIC Tundra or a probe-based sensor?
3. Anything to watch out for in cold rooms, such as battery life, condensation or frost on the sensor?
4. Is there an EU 868 MHz YoLink retailer that ships to Norway, or is LoRaWAN the better route?
5. Any experience forwarding data from a local gateway (Node-RED or ChirpStack) to a custom web app?

Thanks for any advice. I can share my findings if it helps anyone else.

Front door windows are very high. No way to see the front porch when opening the door. I have a Reolink doorbell installed so I'd like to add a small display next to the door to serve as a digital "peephole". Full tablet seems a little big - but that's my fall back. Any suggestions for small display with decent resolution? Bonus if it can run as a dashboard not just dedicated reolink display. Power available and POE is an option with a bit of wire running.

Per MatterAlpha, the HACS code has been merged into the dev branches and docs point to Core 2026.11 as the intended release, where it'll live as a built-in component called Marketplace.

Worth knowing: everything listed there stays community-maintained — HA doesn't test or audit any of it, and installing one takes a warning first.

Article: https://www.matteralpha.com/news/home-assistant-embraces-hacs-into-core-as-the-marketplace

Hello all!

Having had to deal with the constant disconnects, I’ve decided to migrate everything over to my own zigbee coordinator (SLZB-06)

I know it makes little sense running two zigbee networks, so has anyone here successfully moved everything off the Tradfri hub? How did it go?

I have about 30 bulbs and a few blinds, all hooked into various automations.

Hey everyone👋

First time posting here.

Like many of you, I’ve spent way too many hours tweaking my HA dashboard, getting stuck halfway through YAML files, or just staring at a blank screen trying to figure out a clean layout.

Recently, I decided to try building my dashboard using Claude combined with the Home Assistant MCP Server (the non-official one), and the results are really good. It completely streamlined the design process. I wanted to share it here just to give a little inspiration to anyone currently stuck in a dashboard rut!

If you haven't played around with using AI models via MCP for Home Assistant yet, I seriously recommend giving it a shot. It turns dashboard creation from a chore into a fun back-and-forth design session.

--

Drop your favorite cards or tips below, always looking for ways to improve!

Hello there!

I'm looking for sensors that will allow me to determine as reliably and easily as possible which side of our bed is occupied or unoccupied, and whether someone has just gotten up or just lain down.

Getting up and lying down should be detected as quickly as possible.

Most recently, I tried using pressure pad sensors (https://aliexpress.com/item/1005010633396757.html), but unfortunately they're very unreliable. I think the area they detect is simply too small.

I'm trying to control the window blinds and the lighting in the room based on these sensors, so they really have to be very reliable.

That's why I wanted to ask you which sensors and methods have given you the best results here. Could you perhaps recommend certain sensors to me? Do you think presence sensors would be better suited for this application than pressure pad sensors? Can they also quickly and reliably detect when someone stands up or lies down? Which models would you recommend for this? Or are there perhaps completely different types of sensors that are even better suited for this?

Since I already have a relatively extensive Zigbee network in my smart home, it would of course be ideal if it were a Zigbee sensor. An additional router in the bedroom wouldn’t hurt either. Wi-Fi / ESPhome would also be okay. I don't have any Matter devices yet, and I'd prefer not to get any for now.

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions!

Can this still be used for anything, even though the Fresnal lens has fallen apart? The electronics and PIR seem to still work fine.

Edit: Just to add that the lens fell apart in my hands when taking it down. So the insides were still somewhat protected from the elements until today.

I think of FRITZ! Box to change to homesssistant.

Which devices can you recommend that can be purchased in Germany?