Home Assistant is free and open-source home automation software designed to be the central control system for smart home devices with focus on local control and privacy.
Home Assistant connect all you smart devices into one place where you can then automate on the state of those devices/add ins. You can access it web-based or through an app on your phone.
How does it work
Appliance made for a smart home have a certain way of communicating with the cloud or with other devices. This is called a protocol. The most used protocols are Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). But a Zigbee device can not communicate with a Z-wave device and vice verse. And then there are devices that are connected to a hub. Like Philips hue lights. They connect to a hub which controls all the lights.
This is where home assistant come in. It can connect all these devices and make a nice user interface for you to control all these devices.
Here is an example of a dashboard you can create Overview – Home Assistant (home-assistant.io)
Automation with Home Assistant
When all is connected you can start automating all the connected devices so it can react on each other. Say you want to turn on you vacuum cleaner and when it is done turn on a light. Home assistant will take care of this. You only have to add in the automation. It will start listing to the status of the vacuum cleaner and when the status is done it will turn the light.
The possibilities are limitless. Just think of the thing you want to automate.
- Dim the lights when starting Netflix
- Dim the lights when I start playing a game on the PS or Xbox
- Turn off the lights when nobody is home
- Turn on vacuum cleaner when nobody is home
- Turn on Fan when temperature is above XX
- Turn on lights after sunset
- Send message to phone when washing machine is ready or let google home say this to you
- When there is enough light in the room turn of the light
- Open blinds when alarm on phone is going in the morning
These are all example automation that are very easy to setup. Take look for all automations written on this blog Automations – The Home Automation Blog
The Home Automator
