Do you use Adaptive Lighting for the bedroom lights? I finally made the switch and it’s pretty rad not having to deal with brightness changes throughout the day/night.
Washer voltage goes from a high value to a low value, then in 30 minutes (when the cycle will be done) turn an rgb lightbulb in a conspicuous location a hellish magenta. No more funky forgotten loads of laundry. Passes the partner test, too.
To all of you reading this who are interested but don’t have home assistant (yet): I just set a timer for as long as the laundry takes. If I can’t go get it when the timer goes off I will place a “memento” somewhere (for example placing something on the ground in my way where it doesn’t belong) so I remember. The “set lighting to hell until I do it” solution sounds neat too, though. =)
A middle ground “normie-tech” I use: after picking the cycle, whip out your phone and start a countdown timer. Mine at least can save such timers and I can name them.
I got fed up that my washing machine lies on its timer: it doesn’t count the drying cycle and then it takes another 3 minutes to unlock the door. So I timed that once. For example a 42 min timer for the quick cycle (30 wash + 9 dry + 3 stupid lockout)
The reason for the stupid lockout. Pretty ingenious, but yeah they all lie. The worst offenders are heat pump dryers. I think they’re gaslighting their customers.
Ooh I’ve got a similar trigger! Instead of coloured lights, mine strobe every five minutes incessantly until I open the machine door (power usage goes down ~3W for some reason). Also notify the phones and put a banner on the TV.
I’m trying this now, I see it change the state to “printing” but I can’t bring up the device in automations to act on it. If I go into the IPP devices page and try to add an automation from the device page, it tells me no devics are available for automation.
Edit: got it, it was under entities, not devices, in automations. That’s one more thing out of Node Red now, thanks!
You can build out your Zigbee network with relays (anything mains powered usually works as a router) to reach the area.
If the area is too far away (say in another building), you could setup a Zigbee to MQTT router nearby and route the messages via another network back to Home Assistant.
or your could use WiFi devices if you have enough spare capacity on your network and are well within signal range.
I’ve so far not had much luck with Matter, so for me, that is an unnecessary complication to avoid. Trying to get Matter working, I mean.
In my case I would probably use either the first or second choice, depending, but your situation may be different. My WiFi already has too many devices on it.
If the area is too far away (say in another building), you could setup a Zigbee to MQTT router nearby and route the messages via another network back to Home Assistant.
Can you tell me more about this? Wifi is available in the area, which seems a better option than a chain of zigbee extenders.
Can I just get a zigbee to MQTT router and that bridges between a zigbee button and HA?
It sounds like you may be confusing how Zigbee works with how older WiFi works.
In WiFi you would have a single access point with a certain range. If you want to extend that range in a particular direction you would have to add a range extender, creating a chain or rope of range extenders.
Zigbee (and many modern WiFi APs) are more like a fishing net. The more relays you have the stronger your net is because if one relay goes down for whatever reason, another relay in range can pass along the message to where it need to go.
By the by, this is also how the internet works (oversimplified to the point of inaccuracy of course).
In building out a Zigbee network you do not want to create chains with a single path available for reliability reasons. It’s better saturate an area with Zigbee relays. The relays can be either bunched up or you can spread them out. The only limiting factor on the size (in sq meters) is the max number of devices of the protocol, which you are unlikely to hit, and the radio range of the individual relays. Each device (either a relay or end device) needs to be able to see at least one (but preferably more than one) relay.
At a high level (I don’t run one myself), A Zigbee to MQTT server is a way to create a second “net” that is completely separate from the your original Zigbee network. In a nutshell, you take a second Zigbee cordinator and attach it to a MQTT server which then passes the information back to your Home Assistant. This second network doesn’t benefit from the first and the first doesn’t benefit from the second. Though, because they operate on the same frequency spectrum, they can conflict just as 2.4Ghz WiFi and Zigbee can conflict.
Can I just get a zigbee to MQTT router and that bridges between a zigbee button and HA?
It’s more something that you build than something you get, but, practically speaking, there is nothing stopping you from doing so. Though it doesn’t usually make sense to do so from an effort or infrastructure prospective for a single end device. Though of course, there are always exceptions. At a minimum, you would need a network connected computer running the MQTT server and a second Zigbee coordinator. Search for zigbee2mqtt.
Thanks, I was definitely confused! It does sound like the effort to run a MQTT server isn’t really worth it for one button. However, I don’t really know a good way to build a good zigbee network. My house has in-build LED lights, I can’t swap them for Hue bulbs or anything like that. The only other common extender I know of is smart plugs, and having a bunch of smart plugs all around the house that aren’t actually used is just annoying.
I’m not sure the effort is worth it for this one button at the moment. Maybe I will wait until I’ve added other things naturally extending the zigbee network.
Building a good, reliable Zigbee network is dead simple. Just have a whole bunch of devices scattered around the area attached to your Zigbee network that can act as relays. The network will do the rest.
Here’s some products from my notes that should act as relays. This should give you an idea as to what you can use. In general, if it’s mains powered it will probably act as a relay, and if it is battery powered it probably won’t.
You might consider asking around for what products others use that can act as relays.
It sounds simple in theory, but for the light switches and relays I’d need to get in an electrician, and I’m just not that invested yet. I don’t have bulbs I can swap out, as my lights don’t have bulbs. That leaves smart plugs and that last one you linked, the gateway.
Smart plugs are annoying. They are big and bulky, the plugs fall out of the wall easily when they get bumped by kids, and it’s an annoying extra thing for anyone wanting to use that socket.
That last link you have looks interesting. It doesn’t state what the range is, but the reviews have lots of comments about the great range. That might be an option. Any idea what kind of range it has? I need to make it about 10-15 metres and through 3 walls, so I suspect it’s a bit of a stretch but it would still probably greatly reduce the number of devices I need in between.
Out of the box, the Sonoff adapter is setup to be used as a coordinator, like the SkyConnect. To run it as a relay you will need to reflash its firmware. Sonoff has firmware available for that and I’ve seen guides floating around on how to do so.
Hardware side, best I can give you is a solid maybe, and I couldn’t tell you how stable the connection would be. I do know that it has better signal stock than the Nabu’s SkyConnect.
If you stuck it in front of a broad wave guide you might be able to eak out a little more range without limiting its visibility to the sides too badly. Like how satellite dishes work. A tin can would be too focused for this application but a metal colander or a foil lined dinner plate might work. Both the coordinator and the devices you are wanting to connect would have to be within “sight” of the Sonoff’s signal though.
Alternatively, and I don’t know if the parts exist to do this, you could split the single antenna off to 2 antennas, like CB antennas on heavy trucks here in the States. I don’t remotely understand how it works, but if it’s setup correctly, it would increase range to the “front“ and “back” while significantly reducing range to the sides.
I probably won’t go the tinfoil route, I’d prefer to keep it inconspicuous. Using it as a relay may do the trick, depending on range. I’ll think about what my plans are for future devices, as I don’t have many right now (hence not having a big zigbee network).
have a look at Shelley smart devices. They have a wifi button that’s fully compatible with Home Assistant. Not the cheapest in the world but the quality is excellent. No Zigbee needed.
Using Z2M doesn’t really sound like it’d be ideal for your use case. For most people (myself included) it’s to seperate your zigbee network from home assistant so if HASS goes down you don’t lose control of your lights too.
It sounds like you’ve added both the light and the button to the devices in the scene, but only the light should be added.
Scenes set controllable devices to specific states and a button is generally not a controllable device (it’s the device that does the controlling). Scenes are also not directly activated and need an automation to activate them.
You’d need to create an automation and specify that ‘when’ the button is pressed, ‘then do’ activate the scene.
I’ve been messing around with the MR60FDA1 60GHz mmWave detector in esphome and Home Assistant. Unfortunately it has the same 6m range and 60° field of view you’re looking to get around.
I will say, though, that within range the sensor is quite responsive, and detects static presents quite well. The high frequency gives it sufficient resolution to detect micro movements like fidgeting, looking around or even breathing. My module has fall detection on board, purportedly to sense if a detected person is standing or laying down. Another version supposedly can detect respiration and heartbeet within a couple of meters.
The good thing about 60Ghz is they tend not to interfere with each other, so several units could be arranged with overlapping fields of view.
I’m pairing mine with a PIR module for rapid detection, and to help eliminate false positives on radar hits since radar can see through walls, and doesn’t necessarily expose the distance to the target in esphome.
The 24GHz models have a longer range up to 12m and may have 360° fields of view, but have lower resolution and ranging for micro motions. In the US, they are being phased out for potential interference with aviation though I can’t speak for other countries.
Andreas Speiss posted a good video on YouTube that covered a bunch of different models (link below) that I thought was informative. It will.lead you to some other similar content that might help you to assess your needs and match a product to your application.
I looked further into my assertion that 24GHz radar was being phased out, since something was bothering me about it. It seems 24 GHz Ultra Wide Band (UWB) applications are no longer approved, but 24GHz Industrial, Scientific & Medical (ISM) applications are still approved. Home use of 24GHz radar would be considered ISM, so there is probably no restriction on its use.
Interference never though about that good to know might go 60ghz then and get 3 for 180 degree coverage. Also they can look through walls? Also trough wood or concrete or only the american paper walls? As this would be amazing for my hallway where there is a staircase kind of in the way.
Also what do you mean by fast detection are the radars not enough for someone walking by?
Interference and crosstalk: Both 24GHz and 60FHz mods are tolerant of other emitters in their field of view, so you could pair two of them in the outside corner of your ell, looking towards the ends and a third at the long end of the ell looking back towards the corner and they ought not to interfere. Another possible configuration would be three ceiling mounted emitters looking down, overlapping the fields of view for full coverage of the floor area. A 60° field of view at 2.8m gives you roughly a 5m radius of detection on the floor.
Seeing through walls: “Thin walls” attenuate the signal, but allow enough penetration to detect people through cover. The radar can penetrate thin plastic housings, plexiglass, cloth, drywall, wood paneling, and thin plaster & lath. It cannot penetrate glass, stone, or metal. Same goes for floors. My radar module will detect people in the unfinished room below my home office through the hardwood floor if I angle it down far enough.
Fast detection: I found that while the radar was responsive even to small movement nearly instantly, it takes up to 2 or 3 seconds to acquire and classify a target as a person. Once t locks on, it pretty reliably tracks the person for as long as they are in view. In practice, a person walking into the edge of the field of view at a normal walking pace could cover half the field before they are detected as present. It “feels” a bit slow compared to PIR detection which is sub-second in most cases, but generates a lot of false positives. The technique I am refining is to position the the radar to detect a person entering a room by angling the radar field of view to “lead lead target” and use the PIR to determine the target has moved into a zone where I want action to take place. In essence, I want the lights to trip on when the radar detects human presence AND the PIR sees a hot blob. Then I kick on the light and wait for the human presence detection to go back to unoccupied for 5 minutes before turning off the light. I might also experiment to see if ultrasonic detection is any more reliable than IR, since it wouldn’t be fooled by warm/cold draughts, or by sudden changes in light as from dappled shade or clouds & sun. My concern is I have pets and wouldn’t want to stress them with sound I can’t hear, but maybe they can. Need to research it more.
Its been fun playing with this stuff, but I might note that at this point you can just buy an open platform (as in open source) esphome/HA compatible multisensor presence detector made by the guy who does the Everything Smart Home channel on YouTube. He posted a couple videos talking about it (links below). For me, this is just messing around with something I always wanted to play with, but I’ll probably just buy a kit when I want to hang something functional on a ceiling or wall.
Definitely check out the videos I linked. They’re excellent for helping to understand the pros and cons of this tech in real-world smart home applications.
Everything Smart Home - Building my own smart ho e oresense sensor
Thanks for your reply it really helps the video’s you linked I already found. and found that they where really helpful for understanding. Together with your experience I am probably going to experiment a little to(I like to make my own stuff to so not looking nice is less of a concern as long as it works). Thanks for explaining the few details I didn’t understand. I feel like they are a perfect tool for presence detection that together with something else are exactly what I need. Once again thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge
Less of an automation and more of a scene control, but I have all my light switches set up so that double tapping them up or down turns on or off all the lights on that floor of the house. It’s simple but we use it all the time.
Ah nice. I just have the switches by the front and garage doors turn off everything instead of just downstairs, so we can hit them on the way out the door. I think triple taps are reserved for inclusion/exclusion mode on my switches, sadly. The delayed lock is a good idea though, might just have to add that.
If you’re using Voice Assistant, the recog and TTS are much faster and more fluent than what I’ve seen on my own system. I am running it as a VM on an old server, so hardware will matter, of course. Also, you can get remote access with Home Assistant Companion proxying your HA interface very seamlessly. There might be others, but this is what stands out to me.
I use Kasa switches all over my house and am waiting for them to release their fan controller (it was announced at CES last year, and a thread on the old place says it’ll be out at the end of the month)
I’m excited for my fan to shut off if it’s too cold in the bedroom. Already have a temperature/humidity sensor in there.
The ones I have are complete shit. Their firmware seems to lock up regularly and not even the buttons work. There is no reset button on them, so the only way to restart them is to flip the breaker. And half the time that doesn’t even work.
No, I see all the config files in VScode, but I really don’t have much need for that since I’ve usually done that stuff via SSH. I was wondering if VSCode gave any sort of actual integration with HA like the NodeRed Companion does by exposing all the entities within the IDE so you can do your own coding.
Another commenter mentioned Pyscript which seems like it does some sort of tying together of HA and code.
I see, not as far as I’m aware. Cool idea though, the hass UI can be a bit limiting sometimes. I’d love to see a workflow view of different automations (automation management in Hass is pretty poor IMO)
VSCode in HA is primarily useful for editing config files and with all the latest pushes towards config in the UI it’s not as useful as it used to be. That said, it does integrate with HA to provide completion for entities and some basic yaml validation.
I also use it to work on ESPhome configs as well as some simple file management. I never got SSH working correctly on the HA VM and VSCode has been a convenient workaround.
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