A temperature sensor, a smart plug and a baby who wouldn’t sleep started Mayan’s Home Assistant journey. Phil and Rohan explore how that first nursery automation grew into Zigbee heating controls, local white noise, custom lighting and a whole-house dashboard.
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Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA254
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Chapters
00:00:00 — Welcome
00:02:00 — A sleepless baby starts everything
00:05:17 — Smart plugs and temperature sensors
00:08:25 — Tuya reliability and appliance safety
00:11:15 — Heating controls and nursery white noise
00:14:24 — Sonos, Spotify and local playback
00:17:22 — Choosing Zigbee over Wi-Fi
00:19:00 — ESP builds and fireplace fan safety
00:23:00 — Making custom Home Assistant hardware
00:25:20 — Projector lights and movie controls
00:27:28 — Smart-home controls
00:30:00 — Buttons, voice and kitchen tablets
00:33:55 — Night lights that help kids sleep
00:37:00 — Shared calendars on Home Assistant
00:40:00 — Organizing busy family schedules
00:43:26 — Automating a louvered pergola
00:46:30 — Hacking the pergola remote
00:49:40 — Tracking louver position
00:52:40 — DIY trade-offs and remote reliability
00:55:45 — Holiday mode and home security
00:58:40 — Solar hot water and load shifting
01:01:45 — Heat banking and energy choices
01:04:20 — A Frigate-powered AI cat trainer
01:07:30 — The mini PC running everything
This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors
Home Assistant Link by Nabu Casa
Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Sign up for your free trial in your Home Assistant system: https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/cloud/ or visit https://nabucasa.com
Zooz
If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.
For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com
Apollo Automation
Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box.
Want Phil to help with your smart home?
You’ve heard him troubleshoot Home Assistant on the podcast. Now you can book him to troubleshoot yours. From broken automations and confusing YAML to dashboards, devices, and complete smart home setups: https://smarthomecto.com
Products we Recommend
Hosts
Phil Hawthorne
Website
Twitter: @philhawthorne
Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com
Buy Phil a Coffee
Rohan Karamandi
Website
Twitter: @rohank9
Buy Rohan a Coffee
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
