Smart Home on a Budget

A few years ago I was really interested in the DIY smart home. I attempted to follow some how-to's and use Arduino's and radio signals to make a variety of "smart things" in the home. However, that was not successful.

A year or so later, I attempted to get back into it. I looked into OpenHAB and quickly discovered many people switching to Home Assistant. WHOA, what a difference! With OpenHAB you would have to change at least 3 different files to make something happen and it broke all the time. With Home Assistant - it's largely one main file.

Basically, you need a raspberry pi micro-computer loaded with the software. Then you need some "smart" things for it to find on your network. I had a smart light switch that I was playing around with and the first time I was able to click a button on my phone and switch the light on and off was amazing! I was hooked!

Now, I've got the software running on my network and controlling a variety of smart things. Here's a rundown:

• Master Bedroom
• Paddle dimmer overhead light
• Bedroom lamp TP-Link plug
• Alexa Dot
• ESP8266 Dev board with temp/humidity/motion/lumens
• Living Room
• Google Home
• Chromecast
• Paddle switch for main entryway light
• Porch light (smart bulb)
• ESP8266 Dev board with temp/humidity/motion/lumens
• Xiaomi plant sensors
• Kitchen
• Alexa Dot
• ESP8266 Dev board with temp/humidity/motion/lumens
• Hacked Sonoff S20 plug for deck lights
• Basement
• ESP8266 Dev board with temp/humidity/motion/lumens
• Hacked sonoff switch for yoga lights & fireplace lights
• Garage
• ESP8266 Dev board with temp/humidity/motion/lumens
• Garadget garage door opener/sensor
• Yard
• Rachio smart sprinkler system

Although it currently needs some tweaking and updating, my mobile view looks like this. 

Now, what does all this do for me?

In short, I can see what's on/off and who's home from my mobile device anywhere. In addition, I have a few automations that I use and love.

Mainly - when it's time for bed I can say, "Alexa, turn on bedtime" and the overhead fan light will turn off and the small bedroom lamp will turn on. Simple yet effective because the overhead fan light switch is all the way across the room and by that time I'm too tired to move.

Secondly, when I arrive home, I get text alerts if my plants are too dry. My phone will say, "Water the Ficus Tree" or whatever plant needs water.

Lastly, the system will check to make sure my garage door closed after 10pm. 

In the past I've set up motion lights that turn on at night. This, however, was bothersome to my wife who's a very light sleeper. The door has to stay cracked open because of our cat so she sees the lights. Perhaps a future smart fix somewhere in there?

Next steps:

I'd like to fix the radiant floor heating with an on-demand water heater and attach that to a smart thermostat. That would control the room temperature in both the living room and kitchen which would be awesome!

I'd also like to put an infrared sender/receiver in the living room and be able to say, "Google(Alexa) - turn on the t.v." or "Set the t.v. to input 1"

Also, most of our t.v. time is in the cold winter months. We get a killer setting sun that ruins any movie in the evening. I'd like to set up a smart curtain closer and create a "scene" in Home Assistant where I can simply say, "Start Movie" and the lights would go out, curtains close and speakers on.

Always more to do...stay tuned!