Mark D's Home Assistant Configuration

This is my Home Assistant (hassio) configuration!

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi 3
• Intel NUC - NUC8I3BEH
• Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 (ZW090)
• Dresden Elektronik Conbee Zigbee Gateway

Connected Devices

I've really tried to stick with Z-Wave products for simplicity, though there are a few outliers for various reasons. Assume everything listed here is Z-Wave, unless specifically noted.

Switches & Dimmers (In-Wall)

• Leviton, either the Decora Smart Switches (DZ15S-1BZ) or Dimmers (DZ6HD-1BZ)
  • These are really great, and respond instantaneously! My preferred option.
• HomeSeer HS-WS200+
  • I have these only where I need to use the scene functionality, and where I can deal with the .5 second-ish delay they come with (like outdoor lights).

Outlets (In-Wall)

• Jasco outlets, either GE or Honeywell brand

Outlets (Plug-In)

• GE Outdoor (14284)
• Leviton (DZPA1-2BW)
• Inovelli Dual Outlet (NZW37)

Sensors - Door & Window

• ZIGBEE - Xiaomi Aqara Door/Window Sensor (MCCGQ11LM)
  • These are a pain to get, but man do I love them. They are tiny and super reliable. I have them hooked directly to my ConBee stick, no gateway involved.
• Ecolink Door and Window Sensor (DWZWAVE2.5-ECO)
  • This sensor has accessible terminals - see Bed Presence Detection section below for more

Sensors - Temperature, Motion, Etc

• Zooz 4-in-1 Sensor (luminance, motion, humidity, temperature) (ZSE40, version 2)
• ZIGBEE - Xiaomi Aqara Temperature Sensor (WSDCGQ11LM)

Buttons

• Hank Four Button Scene Controller (HKZW-SCN04)
• Hank One Button Scene Controller (HKZW-SCN01)
  • There aren't a lot of good Z-Wave options for simple buttons. These are a bit of a hassle, and not super reliable. They do look nice though.
• ZIGBEE - IKEA Tradfri Wireless Remote
  • This is a lot bigger than the Hank buttons, but more straightforward to deal with. Feels nice too!
• ZIGBEE - IKEA Tradfri Wireless Dimmer
  • I'm using this as a universal volume knob. I don't particularly recommend it, but it is cheap.

Connected Bulbs

All my connected bulbs go through the Philips Hue hub

• Phillips Hue Bulbs
  • Dimmable/White Ambiance/Full Color in BR30 & A19
• GLEDOPTO ZLL Light Controller (x3)
  • Controls some standard RGB LED roll lights, SMD 5050

Media Players

• Chromecast Audio - a whole bunch of them!
• Also connected are Plex, Roku, and Spotify, though not particularly useful to me

Presence Detection

• OwnTracks, for both iOS and Android

Bed Presence

I have an Ecolink Door and Window sensor connected to a Ideal Security SOLO pressure mat - the Ecolink has easily accessible terminals for connecting an external sensor. This is used for detecting if anyone is in bed. The pressure mat is rated to trigger at 1lb of force per square inch.

I have a Tuft and Needle king-size memory foam mattress, with a wood slat base. I wasn't able to get the pressure mat to work reliably underneath the mattress, which was my original goal. The mat is pretty crinkly, so it's not great to go right under the bed sheet, but I have found success putting it underneath my pillow. It probably helps that I have the somewhat thick electric mattress heating pad to slide it under too.

Miscellaneous/Wifi

• Google Home/Home Hub/Home Mini
• Belkin Wemo wifi switches
• Gogogate2 garage door opener
• Automatic Pro car adapter
• OwnTracks App for iOS/Android

Non-Smart Devices Being Controlled

• QuietCool Whole House Fan (plugged into a GE in-wall smart outlet in the attic)
• Biddeford Electric Mattress Heating Pad (5902-908221-100)
  • Note on this, most electric heating pads are digital, which means they don't turn on automatically when power is applied. This one in particular still has a physical switch and dial, which is great.
• Lepai Class-D Amplifiers (LP-2020A & similar), and a hodgepodge of mostly low-end PC speakers/subs connected to the Chromecast Audios
• Disco Ball and pinspot!

Retired Devices

These are devices that I have removed from my automation setup for one reason or the other.

• Raspberry Pi 3
  • Worked well, but super slow. Also I've lost so many SD cards in various other projects, I got scared.
• Lutron Caseta lights
  • Nothing particularly bad to say about these, just wasn't excited about another hub involved in my setup. Well, that and the wall buttons are less friendly for just whacking with your hand than the rocker switches are. If my house didn't have neutral wires, this is what I'd be doing for sure.
• Monoprice Door/Window sensors
  • The Xiaomi ones are cheaper and work better. Totally worth getting the Conbee stick just for these.
• SmartThings
  • My home automation journey started with SmartThings. My experience there was good, but it's limiting for sure.

Notable Automations

Lights

• Turn on/off overhead garage lights with garage door
  • The lights in my garage door opener are really flaky; this is a bit overkill, but handy anyway.
• Presence-based away mode (turn off lights when everyone leaves home)
• Turn on/off sets of lights with multi-tap of HomeSeer switches
  • All outdoor lights
  • All kitchen lights
  • All basement lights (from top of basement stairs)
• Turn on entry lights when garage door opens
  • Someday would like to make this presence-based, but I'm still not real confident in my presence solution.
• Turn on closet light when opening closet door

Fun with Presence Detection

• Turn on heated mattress pad before bed, based on the room temperature - turn it off in the middle of the night so I don't bake
• Automatically close garage door every night in case it's left open
• Send a push notification if everybody leaves the house and the garage door is left open
• When arriving home, play inspirational entrance music in the garage
  • And turn it off when opening the door into the house

Other Automations

• Turn on amplifiers when sound is playing to the connected Chromecast Audio
  • I have a few sets of powered speakers throughout the house hooked to Chromecast Audios, and this ensures the amps aren't sucking power all day for no reason.
  • Unfortunately Google Cast groups are super flaky in my experience, so this doesn't work 100% of the time - some groups are better than others.
• Using an IKEA Tradfri dimmer as a universal volume knob, changing volume of whatever Chromecast Audio group is playing
• Safety switch to turn off whole house fan if insufficient ventilation.
• Turn on cheapo humidifier in bedroom when it's super dry in the winter

Upgrading from a Raspberry Pi 3 to an Intel NUC

I recently went through this migration (Home Assistant version 0.88). It was a pain, but completely worth it in the end as the NUC is so much faster. Some random notes on the pain points I had:

• HomeSeer switches weren't reliably communicating with the server; had to remove and re-add them to get them functional
• Turns out the 'snapshot' feature in HomeAssistant doesn't capture any of config, so it wasn't super useful for me
• Battery powered devices (Door and window sensors, and wireless buttons) didn't survive the migration for some reason; they needed to be re-added before they worked again
• The Conbee Phoscon app has its own backup function (i.e. the snapshot doesn't help here), which I didn't realize until it was too late.
• I started making changes to my config before remembering to setup git; note to self, pull from the repo first!