This looks awesome in terms of home automation and setup of multiple tech etc.
It is clear with all the different companies doing different things and going one echo system is clearly crazy expensive the work on this to get something that can manage it is awesome.


I am still learning and got over some humps getting a domain through duckdns and https etc and the initial setups.
I been trying to sort the google assistant setup for example and then how to actually get commands and actions for devices, media and so on sorted but am a bit lost with the time I have. Has anyone got all this going I can lean on for help?

As in Google home assistant? It's not 100% clear what your OP is referring to.

We've automated a bunch of stuff with home assistant. Started off with some smart LED bulbs and went from there.

Like you to start with it was a bit of a hurdle and I don't think the cross platform support was quite there, the bulbs were meant to work with Google home but we found we only had full control within the manufacturers app.

Then about 18 months ago I tried with home and all the issues we'd had seemed to be gone. Synced straight to Google and all the bulbs came up. Voice commands worked, could turn things on and off and change colours and brightness etc.

That resulted in us using the home hubs more, we have them in the living room, baby room, and bedroom and play room. Allows us to play music (and animal sounds to the kids delight) get news and weather, turn stuff on and off set timers etc. Every room now uses smart light bulbs.

Also added a robot vacuum to the mix a year ago and that is awesome.

Very low on the priority list but I've seen smart blind motors which could be good in the future for our windows, and I'd like to sort out some proper smart cctv cameras too. A smart kettle seems like a bit of a gimmick but it'd be cool to have a freshly boiled kettle when I get up in the morning haha.

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Home Assistant - https://www.home-assistant.io/


As I mentioned, google home and Apple home are OK but limited and limited to certain products which can be at a cost. Home Assistant has lots of plugins and all it's built in it just allows coms with multiple services and devices to do automation and processing.
I currently have it as a Virtual Box VM on a mac and I have managed to get it local network and open public https domain as well.
Some basic stuff with the hardware auto detected and instances setup.
Once I figure out google commands that would even turn on apple TV and that setup I am looking to by a smart IR blaster for one. This will sit in the lounge and be able to control any IR based device.
This will be tv, apple tv, sound system, xbox for example so I will be able to just tell google to turn everything on and it will across multiple platforms.

Then different smart plugs, and lights etc and looking at some motion sensor stuff and even through the phone apps have detection for when they are in locations etc. (you can get actions triggered if you leave the park with the kids for example)

Hmm, to be honest, as I said in the previous post, it seems Google has really opened up to 3rd party apps in the last 18 months or so. Our smart bulbs are made by about 5 different companies, the robot vac is Kogan, we even have an Arlec IR blaster for the heatpump. Have 0 issue syncing all of it to Google home, so unless you are after an open source tinkering project I don't quite see the point of the home assistant platform, especially if you don't have much time?

The thing that I found was nearly all the cheaper 3rd party "smart" devices use the same internals and are just rebranded. As a result the 6 or so different smart brands we have all are configured in the Kogan "smarter home" app.... It doesn't seem to matter which app you use so long as the internals for that brand are the cheap ones... Kogan, Tuya, and several others are essentially the same.

That app is then connected to Google.

As soon as I add a device to kogan smarter home it also appears within Google home and all voice commands work with it as it would if it was a Google product or big name product.

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When you actually look into it, they are not there by a long shot.
They know this though, Apple, Google, Zigbee, Ikea and others are working on that open standard to properly make that work. You would still be best with something like home assistant but that in itself would then become even easier to use as it would have less translation work and so on going on.


Like I said if you stick to google products and partners or Apple and partners you can get decent enough stuff and all sorted.
But Apple TV over chromecast for many reasons but you use google home because Siri is crap your a bit stuck unless you use something like this. And when you do, even on the basics its awesome.
Like I said the other echo systems things tend to cost more. The new Nest door / camera setup - You can get similar that is smart home supported in some form for half the cost and even get more features like a digital display. Requires more setup but with auto detection for some and guides on integrating through Home assistant you can save a lot. You got to do the work but you can save heaps.
So as your doing with google home but MORE basically.


Linus from Linus Tech tips has got a new home but its an old one.
He has money but he both does stuff to make videos for his channel's and likes to do it himself but if not sponsored he does not throw money at just the big tech like others would.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRwubdL-URY&t=6s
This video just shows how just from some custom tube/door things he is updating a limited air con system to be smarter and control more zones with home assistant and some components without having to get a whole new air con system. Same too with the heating.
Again, more work but you are saving a lot.


People with their own home and tech know how here - Defiantly something they should look into for home projects.

Wish I had time for this Jetsons level business but I don't even have time to put together a Pi retro gaming rig or upgrade my PS3 to an SSD, I'd have no chance getting anything like this done. I've heard former colleagues talking about Home Automation and its a heavy investment but once its working its apparently superb and from then on you just tinker and add new bits.

Same mate, I am sitting to do bits on sofa watching TV or waiting for kids to finish shower so it is a very slow process. But got to try.
PI Retro gaming seems easier with the 4 apparently it should be very easy to setup now and not a lot of time.

My concern with this is a lot of companies are doing this sort of thing without proper security checking. There have been multiple issues publicised, especially with children's toys.

I use HA here, in combination with Node Red and MQTT (Mosquitto) for some of the automation work I have set up

e.g. motion sensor at front door, flashes lights in study to give me time to go answer the door as the person is about half way up my driveway, or if my phone is at my home geolocation and it's before midnight and I don't have "do not disturb" turned on on the phone, it plays a doorbell noise and makes a text notification on my phone to cover if i'm out the back garden or upstairs unable to hear the actual doorbell.