Does anyone have a good primer, article, video etc on how to setup a decently secure network that contains some basic home automation stuff? Preferably something that at least starts with a small disabled child's level of network knowledge and goes from there? My ISP is Verizon FIOS and I have a TP-Link AC1900 Wireless Router that arrives tomorrow. Wife and I have recently gotten into the smarthome stuff after a few gifts and we have the following hardware: 3x Nest-E thermostats 2x Echo Dots 1x Echo 1x Philips Hue Bridge w/ 4 lights 3x cheap chinese wifi plugs (1 at least runs through the Kasa app). 1x Fire Stick HD Other connected stuff: Dell wireless printer Couple computers, mixed bag of apple / PC Couple tablets, Apple and Amazon Android and Apple cellphones. Neither of us run a VPN to work or stuff like that. Basically I'm just trying to figure out how secure is enough and what is a decent initial setup that I should try to implement. In the past I'd just made sure that my routers were updated, SSID and password defaults were all changed and depending on where I lived hidden the SSID etc but I don't know anything about security concerns once automation / IoT stuff comes into the mix. Any advice?
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# ¿ Feb 6, 2019 01:59 |
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# ¿ Apr 18, 2024 00:34 |
Maneki Neko posted:Have a strong unique password on your service (Nest, Amazon, etc) logins and use 2 factor authentication whenever possible. Most of the stuff in the news about people having their nest cameras hacked is people breaking into their Nest account because they reused a password from somewhere else and didn’t have two factor authentication on. Would putting them on a separate SSID matter or help at all? Thanks for the other advice. I am reasonably sure the other accounts are on a separate strong pw and I use 2-factor when available but it might be time to go update all that anyways to be sure.
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# ¿ Feb 6, 2019 13:01 |
1-3 are normal, 4-7 are just being a dick.
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# ¿ Mar 9, 2019 12:25 |
does the irobot stuff integrate into alexa skills at all? So far had just been using the irobot app standalone and didn't think to try it.
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# ¿ Apr 22, 2019 18:50 |
I haven't looked at the landscape for any of this in a good while and was wondering. What (if anything) is the most secure (or least worst) way to do the following: Voice activate controls for lighting and some smart plugs. Right now we have Alexa at the house and use that to drive a couple of Phillips Hue bulbs and a few TP-link or other (Kasa?) smart plugs. We had those tied into some Nest-E thermostats, but we've found that we don't really use the smart thermostat options much at all, and I don't feel strongly about having that be part of another home automation system. I've got the Nests, the Echo and Echo Dots and all the smart plugs and Hue Bridge etc on a guest network separate from anything we use for our own computers etc. I'm interested in expanding some more smart lighting, especially voice activated but figured I'd see if anything new came out recently, or any further guidance on better security if needed etc. Any suggestions?
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# ¿ Feb 2, 2021 21:15 |
I didn't even know that Home Assistant existed until this thread and I have a couple of questions about moving over to using it. I have an Alexa household with a mix of Sylvania and Hue smart bulbs and several random Kasa / TPlink or other brand smart plugs. Right now we do everything via voice commands through Alexa and all the smart devices are on a separate wireless 2.4ghz guest network. Ultimately I would like to get rid of Alexa from the house but retain some of its functionality. I really only need the voice command ability in 2 rooms in the house. I have an UnRaid NAS file server hardwired to my router that is always on and it looks like you can run Home Assistant through that in a VM so I think I will set that up initially to see how it goes. Any cautions / issues on this method? The Sylvania color-LED bulbs I have look like they will not integrate into Home Assistant at this time. In that case I would be happy enough to use a zigbee hub and zigbee switches to control them as half of them are on old dimmer switches that need replacement anyway. We don't use the color feature other than setting the right white balance anyways. We also have a few Nest-E thermostats but don't really do much with them automation wise. Do those work with Home Assistant? If not no big deal really. As for voice activation, I saw some stuff on reddit so far about people using pi-ZeroW setups with a mic as a voice interface. Is there a better method by now or does this method not work well enough to bother with for now? The last thing is does Home Assistant have any kind of specific ways to know when specific users are home? Ie could the phone app alert the server when a users phone is in proximity and turn on lights / turn off when the reverse is true etc?
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# ¿ Apr 8, 2021 14:19 |
Less Fat Luke posted:That's a lot of questions, I don't know about the Nest stuff but just check the Integrations on the site for what systems work. It was but between you and WhiteHowler most of it is covered. I've got enough now to go head and dive in with it and I'll read up more on voice activation stuff. I did see the paid integration service with Alexa but tbh I would prefer to not have the devices hooked up at all. Thanks very much both for the replies!
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# ¿ Apr 8, 2021 14:50 |
Yeah that's a good set of features. I might go with that but still get rid of Alexa devices. Just not trusting of them tbh (I know there's probably a dozen other things that are capable of being as potentially intrusive).
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# ¿ Apr 8, 2021 15:46 |
I'd be interested in those same garage door sensors also since we can't remember to close ours at least once a week it seems. Thanks to the previous answers and guidance I've gotten Home Assistant up and running in a VM on my file server and it's pretty nice to work with / I've gotten a lot of the basic functionality I wanted already. I want to buy some new hardware to replace some older TPlink plugs that are now incompatible and wire in some switches for some Sylvania bulbs that do not work with HA. Going by some posts above I was thinking about grabbing the Honeywell Zwave plugs and switches: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07B3HKTZY/ https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07P5PJND2/ And this zwave interface: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01GJ826F8/ Does that still seem like decent hardware? I was gonna run just the above and if they install easily / play nice then probably buy a bunch more of the switches and sockets.
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# ¿ Apr 9, 2021 17:56 |
I need someone to point me at the right things to read up on as I am not sure what parts of Home Assistant are necessary to make this work so a bit lost on where to start. I have a pi ZeroW driving a range of temp sensors and also trips a relay to close and open a door on my chicken coop. It's a self contained solar thing that connects to my home network via wifi. Goal: To have the coop notify me somehow (SMS, push, ???) each time the coop door opens and closes. OR even better might just be a lovelace card that shows the coop door status (open, shut) and how long since it was last updated. The coop door is open or closed by separate shellscripts that is directed when to open / close based on a crontab schedule. The script simply fires off the relevant python script and spits out the time when it was activated to a log. The Pi is running Raspbian lite and is headless / remote and I just ssh into it as needed for updates etc. Can someone point me in the right direction for this? Just not sure what way to go about setting something like that up.
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# ¿ Apr 12, 2021 15:18 |
CheddarGoblin posted:Is the pi zero also where you'll be running HA, or some other device? Because raspi GPIO is natively supported by Home Assistant, you can likely ditch your python/shell scripts and have HA handle everything. A basic automation can open/close the door based on whatever criteria you like. No, it's out in the backyard and while connected isn't always at good strength on the network. My HA is run on a VM on my home fileserver.
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# ¿ Apr 12, 2021 20:59 |
CheddarGoblin posted:In that case, if it were me I'd swap the pi zero with a nodemcu and run ESPhome on it. It's tempting but id rather not given how it's installed, wired etc and has been functioning perfectly for a year already. Unless it's prohibitively difficult to do what I want to. The thing I am unclear on the most is how to get the pi to talk to HA.
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# ¿ Apr 12, 2021 21:42 |
Thanks. I'll read up on it.
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# ¿ Apr 12, 2021 21:45 |
Does anyone have a rough idea of the range on devices like these? https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D37VDM3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Also, thanks very much for all the advice. I have HA running on my NAS as a VM and have also managed to hook up several sensors, got MQTT running on my Pi in the chicken coop and have it pushing a notification to HA etc each time it opens and closes the door. One annoyance about that is while I get a notification when the script fires off to open / close the door, the actual door status is not reflected so I want to have a direct sensor installed to show the status instead. Thus the question about range above.
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# ¿ Apr 14, 2021 17:42 |
WhiteHowler posted:Zigbee range is rated at 10-100 meters, but generally falls around 10-20 meters in real-world applications (ie. you're going through walls and have other 2.4 GHz interference nearby). Thanks. It's gonna be cutting it close but not too terrible. I only have the hub I am using for Z-wave at the moment so have to get zigbee configured right on it.
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# ¿ Apr 14, 2021 17:53 |
WhiteHowler posted:Zigbee range is rated at 10-100 meters, but generally falls around 10-20 meters in real-world applications (ie. you're going through walls and have other 2.4 GHz interference nearby). Welp, didn't work but that was the only zigbee device on the hub so far. I ordered a pair of smart plugs that act as repeaters and I'll put them on 2 diff receptacles on the back wall of the house closest to the coop and see if that makes a connection.
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# ¿ Apr 15, 2021 01:55 |
I run my HA instance on a VM which is on my Unraid server / NAS that I use for all my and PLEX etc. It was really easy to get up and running and I am happy that it can piggyback so easily onto an already 'always on' device.
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# ¿ Apr 23, 2021 16:39 |
I can't help you with Synology. I use a homebuilt NAS running Unraid. You might Google around and see if people run a VM on those if not docker.
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# ¿ Apr 25, 2021 01:53 |
I've got a setup issue I can't figure out for Home Assistant. I bought a couple of Honeywell Z-wave smart switches and got them set up and running on my Z-wave hub yesterday, so I know the process is functioning. Those H-well switches are practically unobtanium though so I bought a GE version and it looks like they get pumped out of the same factory tbh. I got this model: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RRBT6W5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 I've wired it up and it works, neutral wire is connected, blue LED is working, manual controls work. However I cannot get it to detect by my Z-wave hub. Location is not an issue as it's just across the room from other Z-wave nodes that are functional and it's <20ft away from the server. I am using the OpenZwave integration. I have tried doing a factory reset on the hardware as well but nothing seems to click. Any suggestions?
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# ¿ Apr 28, 2021 20:28 |
TVGM posted:I just installed some of those last week, but I'm using Hubitat to control them. Thanks. I tried the factory reset on the switch, also rebooted HA etc. At best I can get a new node to show up, but no new devices or entities and when looking at the node itself in OpenZwave config its just blank and I can't seem to query it so far. This is an odd one. e: looks like someone else has the same issue. Not encouraging. https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/cyhsci/openzwave_config_not_fully_recognizing_a_new/ That Works fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Apr 28, 2021 |
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# ¿ Apr 28, 2021 21:04 |
For HomeAssistant folks what are you using for your Zwave integration? I had OpenZwave running and it was up for 3-4 days and after a server reboot it's not connecting to any of my devices / I can't even load up the integration configuration anymore. The VM running HA has the USB passthrough set up correctly and the USB hub I am using is running Zigbee just fine off of the same device so I am fairly sure it's a Zwave software issue. I'm open to ditching OpenZwave for something else if I can't fix it so was curious what others use.
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# ¿ Apr 30, 2021 19:04 |
HomeAssistant question. I want to have something in my lovelace dashboard to turn on a smart plug that then stays on for 60 minutes and then turns itself off again and do this every time. I can figure out how to automate one to come on at a set time per day and stay on for 60 min, but for some reason can't get my head around how to set it up by me pressing a button. Kinda new to HA still so probably just missing something super obvious. This setup is to turn on a pump from a rainwater barrel to my drip irrigation system in the garden. Needs to be manual because I want to visually inspect the amount of water before turning the pump on so it doesn't run dry and destroy the pump.
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# ¿ Jun 23, 2021 11:31 |
DaveSauce posted:Maybe this helps: Thanks a lot, I will try this out. Eventually the plan is to have some sort of sensor in the barrel to set up as a condition for a timed automation, ie, every day at 5:00am if the sensor is floated then turn plug on for 1hr kind of deal. However I haven't even looked into options for a float sensor / how to get one set up in the barrel yet. Eventually I'll get there but for now just wanted to have something I can set and forget for starters.
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# ¿ Jun 23, 2021 13:56 |
DaveSauce posted:An emergency shut off sensor is definitely your best interest. If you don't have 60 minutes worth of water in the barrel, you're going to run the pump dry. One day in the future the barrel inlet will get clogged, or you'll forget to disable the automation during a drought or something. Having it start on float is fine I believe. In this configuration I have the smart plug at the outlet, then an extension cord to the sump switch above and the pump powered from that. If the smart plug turns on at a specified time for 1 hr then the only way the pump comes on is if the sump switch is floating. Given that the sump switch seems to just be a ball bearing rolling between contacts on the float but not on the hang, I doubt there would be much issue with it floating for a long time while largely unpowered. Any reason that would be a problem you can think of? Not seeing one myself on 1st glance.
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# ¿ Jun 23, 2021 15:37 |
DaveSauce posted:I think the logic will work out in general. May not be what it's intended for, but it can be made to work. The float switch will be on all the time except when the level gets too low. Since the float switch isn't generally switching the load, it should last quite a while in that respect. Yeah the float switch costs as much as the pump does so even if it only lasts 3-4yrs I don't feel too bad about it. We only run the whole system for about 4-5 months of the year anyway and the entire system is only powered 1h per day, so maybe only 120h of total powered time per year. I didn't know these kind of float switches even existed so this helps a ton. I was trying to figure out how to construct some kind of sensor that was a lot dumber/complicated than this. Thanks. That Works fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Jun 23, 2021 |
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# ¿ Jun 23, 2021 17:14 |
How difficult would it be to set up some kind of physical switch or button that once engaged blocked Twitter.com or other websites across my Wi-Fi network? I know that's kind of home networking as well but I figure enough people here probably overlap to know how that sort of thing is done. I'm just envisioning some type of system where I can flip a literal switch and cut off access to social media etc.
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# ¿ Aug 12, 2021 22:05 |
Motronic posted:You would need to have something that could do that on your router. Which probably means a PC/pi running something like Home Assistant to trigger it. And then any old zwave or zigbee switch/button. Ive got a z-wave hub and it's on my home assistant VM on my NAS physically connected to my router. I would need to figure out how to get home assistant to talk to the router and also how to figure out how to make my router do this, which I guess I could find out pretty easily just on its own and then all I need to do is figure out how to get a switch to run a script to execute that something on the router. I also have a pi separately running pi hole on the network. I've not looked at selective / transient blocking through pi hole, does anyone know if that is doable just from the DNS side? I can probably move this to the networking thread if no one has a short answer here. This is just a little bit outside of my experience, but it feels like most of the pieces individually I could probably figure out.
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# ¿ Aug 12, 2021 22:12 |
Motronic posted:So any zwave button that works with HA will work. You need it to trigger two scripts, one to turn on blocking, one to turn off. Awesome thanks
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# ¿ Aug 12, 2021 22:23 |
odiv posted:Yeesh, it's going to be cheaper for me to buy Zigbee temp sensors and a Zigbee stick than buying Z-Wave temp sensors. I guess because Z-Wave has certification? This was recommended up thread somewhere. You can run Zigbee and Z-wave off of the same hub. It was very easy to set up for both and once set up just add the hardware through it's relevant integration in HA and it all fits together well once paired. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GJ826F8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 e: I am using a mix of z-wave and zigbee based on price / availability for stuff. Mostly Z-wave switches and Zigbee sensors and plugs.
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# ¿ Aug 17, 2021 00:14 |
Combat Pretzel posted:If the nearby nuclear power plant blows up, I ought to get a notification before the news starts reporting (probably not really). Saw it on Youtube, I figured I can spare the euro of additional energy cost per year for this gag. That open source geiger counter kit attached to an ESP8266 running ESPHome https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG_f6cj7mEw&t=82s
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# ¿ Oct 9, 2021 16:14 |
Scruff McGruff posted:How is the range on Z-Wave or the HUSBZB-1 in general through floors? My HomeAssistant lives on a VM in my home server in the basement but all my Z-Wave devices are on my main floor. Now my house is pretty tiny so the distance between the devices and my server isn't that far, one is almost directly above the server. I have mine on my basement NAS on a VM running HA. I just made sure I added a few lightswitches and/or plugs that also function as Zwave repeaters and range hasn't been an issue.
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# ¿ Nov 17, 2021 18:53 |
Henrik Zetterberg posted:Lutron Caseta, Hues, an AR-15 And or a dog
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# ¿ Dec 25, 2021 14:04 |
Hed posted:I had some cabinets made and put in some lighting. The day before the guy showed up to install them I made my plan and ordered the stuff. Since they are LED strips and connected to the smart home I wanted to do a little write up here in case y'all were interested: Nice work! Thanks for this I am in the planning stages right now of a dining room wall built in that I wanted to wire up and light very similarly.
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# ¿ Dec 31, 2021 14:22 |
Minor interest to some. https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/s60fok/i_see_your_atmospheric_pressure_graphs_showing/ On the homeassistant subreddit theres a lot of folks posting their barometer data as far away as Europe showing a pressure spike after the Tonga volcano eruption on the other side of the globe.
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# ¿ Jan 17, 2022 14:59 |
Hed posted:I mean this in all seriousness as I am a weather nerd, but what do you guys use your weather stations for? Are there smart home automations I'm missing? Aquara sells a pretty cheap sensor that does temp, humidity and pressure all in one so a lot of folks have them. I use one in my chicken coop to keep an eye on their condition, ends up being a bit of a weather station too I guess.
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# ¿ Jan 18, 2022 00:05 |
wolrah posted:This may be a relevant question, I've had this adapter in my "things to buy" list for a few years because at least at one point it was the standard recommendation for supporting both Zigbee and Z-Wave on a Home Assistant box with a single stick: I bought that one 2 years ago, have had HomeAssistant running for the past 2 years and basically just buy either Zigbee or Zwave hardware based on sale pricing or specific application or style needs and both integrate just fine into HA. The only difference is how you add them into HA at the 1st step, after that I can't tell any performance difference between either types. I am mostly using lightswitches, some sensors for garage door, temperature interior/exterior and a couple of smart plugs. Anyway, I see no reason not to get that hub personally, but more experienced users might have concerns I missed.
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# ¿ Nov 9, 2022 17:36 |
Anyone got a preferred solution for a HA compatible switch to close a Craftsman garage door motor?
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# ¿ Nov 16, 2022 12:10 |
calandryll posted:I'm using the aforementioned Shelly1 relay with a simple reed switch to determine open and closed. Great. I already have a garage door sensor tied into HA to provide open / closed status which I can use as a conditional to fire off the automation. Got the 1st Shelly ordered.
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# ¿ Nov 16, 2022 15:05 |
Henrik Zetterberg posted:There’s the whole giving your footage to cops or whatever thing That's a hard pass for a lot of folks I imagine.
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# ¿ Dec 5, 2022 18:52 |
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# ¿ Apr 18, 2024 00:34 |
HomeAssistant folks help me out. I started with an Echo / Amazon home automation system with a Hue hub. Then I started switching over to HomeAssistant and now have some mix of the both and during the winter break wanted to get rid of all the Echo/Alexa devices in the house and run everything through HA. I decided I wanted to just go ahead and blow up the current HA instance and start over from scratch. Is there a good more recent guide(s), tutorial etc or anything anyone likes for this? Also current plan was to keep running it in a VM on my Unraid NAS in the house (it's been quite stable there for a while). I have a USB hub for Zigbee and Zwave devices and I have the Nabu Casa thing for remote access. Is there anything that I need to take special care to backup or anything before starting over from scratch? Or any other headaches I might be walking into that I haven't foreseen? My automation stuff is entirely some Hue bulbs, a bunch of Honeywell (or clones) Z-Wave or Zigbee switches, smartplugs and a few zwave sensors for the garage door and some temp/humidity Aqara sensors in a plant greenhouse etc. 2 users, both on Iphones and I am going to repurpose an old tablet for an interface in the home. I only have a few simple automations, mostly just letting me know when stuff has been running for longer than x hours or if the garage door is open, turn off the lights at 10pm etc kind of deal. Nothing super crazy time intensive to rebuild imo.
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# ¿ Dec 14, 2022 00:34 |