Home automation/smart device recommendations

If you like to tinker a bit...you might look into HomeAssistant to tie everything together. Runs great on a Raspberry Pi 4... pretty much bullet proof.

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If you like to tinker a bit...you might look into HomeAssistant to tie everything together. Runs great on a Raspberry Pi 4... pretty much bullet proof.

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tinkerer is an understatement.........I jumped to HA from ST, and the learning curve is STEEP.

BUT once you get it.... is it fantastic and i have barely scratched the surface of what i can make it do. I was never on board with wifi being great for home automation but with tasmota and esphome and how cheap the 8266 and esp32 chips are, it kinda makes it better than zwave and other protocols.

right now i have esp32s and 8266s running my garage door, driveway gate, monitoring bluetooth temp/humidity sensors all through out the house, i just finished my pool automation system. I have a multitude of other projects im looking into doing but the world in endless with HomeAssistant. But it isnt something you can just jump into have have it working in a day.

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the learning curve is STEEP

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Agreed. It has really come a long way since the beginning and it looks like they are trying to make it more user friendly for the everyday user, but I would still consider it too advanced for a novice.

OP, it sounds like you are already going down the path of an Amazon ecosystem. I'd say just keep going and find any product that is able to work with Alexa. I haven't seen any that work better than others. I would just try to avoid any of the cheap Chinese knock-offs because most will need cloud access to servers likely hosted in China.
Then, just use the Alexa app to set up any automations and routines. They make it really easy to use for simple things that a "normal" user would want.

As you get deeper into things, you'll need to move to a private control hub. Home Assistant does seem to be the most popular choice at the moment but OpenHab and Hubitat are some other options you can look into as well. I've been running HA for quite some time now and have been steadily adding to it. I absolutely love the fact that it is 100% local (though still with remote access) and 100% private (I don't have any services that rely on cloud).

I have HA, would like to dive into the esp chips. Where do you suggest getting started

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You might end up with a pile of breadboards, an assortment of sensors, boxes of misc resistors, etc.
might? i made a china order months ago and now have 10 or so of each nodemcu's, wemos d1 min's, esp32 nodemcu's, esp23 wemos d1mini's.

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Surely you jest, I have a handful of all of these, plus every arduino board known to man, sensors.. I'm still collecting and experimenting.

Busy automating everything in the house, one bit at a time, combination of zwave, wifi, etc.. Even the wife is really enjoying it and encouraging more and more things to be converted.

Latest find was the KASA branded wifi wall switches, run about $10 each compared to Leviton Z-wave switches at closer to $30 each.

Haven't taken one apart..... yet.

I know they are little more than just a relay and MCU, but they have the distinct advantage of being built into a 'wife approved' package.

I should have an extra one that was waiting to be installed in the kitchen once the main light fixture was converted to LED (just finished), but can't locate it at the moment.... now I'm curious if they are built around the esp32 or 8266, so I'll tear it down as soon as I find it and check for exposed gpio pins.

i went with hubitat.


dont be like cad. everything i buy turns to shite.

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Novostella? I

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yea

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but I was able to tuya convert them

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i bought a pack on amazon because someone on digiblurs discord said the once he just got were tuya convertable. mine, are not.

someone on there said they were able to get their open but it wasnt easy. I wish they crack tuya again so i can flash these.