r/homeautomation • • 6h ago

QUESTION Hard of hearing & I keep missing the door. What actually works??

9 Upvotes

I'm hard of hearing and i keep missing people at the door, especially if I'm in another room, or if there's other noise going on.

I've been looking at video doorbells, flashing doorbell alerts, vibrating receivers, and smart home setups that can send notification to different devices, but i'm not sure what's actually reliable day-to-day.

I'd really like something that doesn't depend on me hearing a chime and ideally still gets my attention if my phone isn't right next to me.

If you're hard of hearing or set somethign up for someone who is, what ended up working best? I'd appreciate specific product recommendations and anything you tried that wasn't worth buying.


r/homeautomation • • 47m ago

PROJECT MyRussound got pulled from the app stores, so I built a plug-in box to get phone control back on my CAV6.6

• Upvotes

I have a Russound CAV6.6 with keypads in every room. When the MyRussound app disappeared this summer, there was no current app that supports the CAV6.6, CAM6.6, CAA66 or CAS44.

So I built ZoneDeck: a small box that plugs into the controller's RS-232 port and serves a web app to any phone, tablet or computer on your network. No app store, no cloud, no subscription. The wall keypads stay in sync with every change.

54-second demo on my system: https://youtu.be/V-PAh11adbE

Full disclosure: I'm planning to sell these (waitlist at getzonedeck.com), but mostly I'd love feedback from other owners. What would you need it to do? Anyone running a CAA66, CAM6.6 or CAS44 willing to help test?


r/homeautomation • • 1h ago

IDEAS Looking for ideas for Consolidating and rethinking my setup.

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• Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 10h ago

PERSONAL SETUP Cold room and freezer temperature monitoring in Norway: wireless sensors for steel rooms with no Wi-Fi and no power inside?

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7 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 6h ago

QUESTION Wire guided robot lawnmower

2 Upvotes

In my initial search for a robot lawnmower, the consensus I saw was that the wire guided ones worked fine and are cheaper, but the wire was annoying to install. In my mind installing the wire would be a one time issue that I would be willing to deal with for a cheaper option, but when trying to actually find a lawn mower it seems that the majority currently available no longer use wire guidance, and those that do use it do not seem significantly cheaper than GPS guided models.

There's also an avalanche of options (unfortunately).

Has the tech already advanced enough that wire guidance is a relic?


r/homeautomation • • 2h ago

QUESTION Issue reconnecting lights after a power blackout

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 3h ago

Vendor Announcement Home Automation

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apps.apple.com
1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 15h ago

QUESTION Looking for a good vacuum robot for grandparents UK, NO WIFI and needs a remote as they also have no phone.

10 Upvotes

My nan and grandad have a rather big house, but have hit 80 and rightfully so struggling to lug around a vacuum they've probably had for 50 odd years.

Thought about a cordless lightweight vacuum but its also still a bit too heavy for my grandma, as leaning over and stuff is still hard for her vertigo.

I'm a slave to minimum wage so I am looking for something within a budget of £200.

Can anyone recommend a vacuum robot? Bit worried a mopping one as well incase it leaves something a bit damp and causes them to slip.


r/homeautomation • • 4h ago

QUESTION New to HA - need some guidance

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 6h ago

QUESTION Smart Sprinkler Integration option (with Orbit) - ESPHome

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 6h ago

QUESTION Air Purifier - Added Features for AirFanta 3Pro

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 7h ago

QUESTION What smart home thing sounded gimmicky but you'd honestly rebuy?

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0 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 4h ago

QUESTION Is it better to focus on one hub compatibility (like google home) or can you piece together a smart home?

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0 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 11h ago

QUESTION Whats the best hardware for sensing bed presence?

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0 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 12h ago

QUESTION YoLink fridge sensor automation help

1 Upvotes

I have my YoLink sensor set to send an app message in the temp goes outside the 35-45f degree range in my fridge. But I ONLY want to get notifications if the temp stays above/below those set points for an hour or more (in case of malfunction), not someone rummaging in the fridge looking.

I don’t see any option in the automations setup to create an ‘IF temp stays above for 60 minutes THEN notify’.

I have the YoLink hub, my other smart devices run off of SmartThings.


r/homeautomation • • 1d ago

QUESTION My mom thinks I’m automating problems that don’t exist

321 Upvotes

My mom stayed with me for a few days and apparently my new hobby is solving problems she doesn’t think are problems.

My fridge lets me know when the door isn’t closed. Her answer was basically, just close it properly lol. The washer sends me a notification when it’s done, but apparently I could just remember to go get the clothes. And she really doesn’t understand why the robot vacuum needs a schedule or voice control when I could just vacuum the floor myself.

The leak sensor that shuts off the water got a pass though. She likes that one.

I get what she means. None of these things are a huge job on their own. I just like not having to remember all the little stuff around the house. To her, I’ve basically added a bunch of devices to do things I could already do myself.

What automation did your family think was pointless until they saw it in use?


r/homeautomation • • 7h ago

IDEAS Watch the Watchers

0 Upvotes

WHAT IF WE TURNED SURVEILLANCE AROUND?

The government is building an enormous automated system to identify, track, and monitor ordinary people.

So why can't we build one that watches them?

WATCH THE WATCHERS would be an open-source, decentralized network of privately owned cameras observing government activity that's already visible from public roads.

And here's the important part:

You don't need special hardware.

You can use a Ring camera you already own.

Your existing home security cameras.

An old security camera sitting in a drawer.

Or, if you want to dedicate a camera specifically to the project, go buy a cheap trail camera or security camera and put it on your own property.

It doesn't matter.

That's the whole point.

The individual decides what hardware they use, where they put it, and whether they participate.

All you need is a camera pointed toward the street.

The software does the rest.

Local AI identifies qualifying government vehicles and filters out everything else.

The video stays on your property.

No live feeds.

No audio.

No neighbors.

No civilian vehicles.

No private information.

The software extracts only the useful information and sends a tiny event record to the network:

Vehicle detected. Time. Approximate location. Direction.

Now imagine thousands of independently owned cameras doing this.

One camera sees a government vehicle.

Another sees it ten minutes later.

Another sees it across town.

The network can correlate those observations and build a real-time picture of government activity.

No corporation owns the cameras.

No government controls the network.

No proprietary black box decides what gets collected.

Open source. Auditable. Decentralized. Voluntary.

They built surveillance infrastructure to watch us.

Let's build citizen infrastructure to watch the watchers.

The cameras already exist.

The AI already exists.

The computing power already exists.

We don't need to build another surveillance system.

We need to turn the one we already have around.

WATCH THE WATCHERS.

Your camera. Your property. Your choice.


r/homeautomation • • 7h ago

IDEAS Watch the Watchers

0 Upvotes

WHAT IF WE TURNED SURVEILLANCE AROUND?

The government is building an enormous automated system to identify, track, and monitor ordinary people.

So why can't we build one that watches them?

WATCH THE WATCHERS would be an open-source, decentralized network of privately owned cameras observing government activity that's already visible from public roads.

And here's the important part:

You don't need special hardware.

You can use a Ring camera you already own.

Your existing home security cameras.

An old security camera sitting in a drawer.

Or, if you want to dedicate a camera specifically to the project, go buy a cheap trail camera or security camera and put it on your own property.

It doesn't matter.

That's the whole point.

The individual decides what hardware they use, where they put it, and whether they participate.

All you need is a camera pointed toward the street.

The software does the rest.

Local AI identifies qualifying government vehicles and filters out everything else.

The video stays on your property.

No live feeds.

No audio.

No neighbors.

No civilian vehicles.

No private information.

The software extracts only the useful information and sends a tiny event record to the network:

Vehicle detected. Time. Approximate location. Direction.

Now imagine thousands of independently owned cameras doing this.

One camera sees a government vehicle.

Another sees it ten minutes later.

Another sees it across town.

The network can correlate those observations and build a real-time picture of government activity.

No corporation owns the cameras.

No government controls the network.

No proprietary black box decides what gets collected.

Open source. Auditable. Decentralized. Voluntary.

They built surveillance infrastructure to watch us.

Let's build citizen infrastructure to watch the watchers.

The cameras already exist.

The AI already exists.

The computing power already exists.

We don't need to build another surveillance system.

We need to turn the one we already have around.

WATCH THE WATCHERS.

Your camera. Your property. Your choice.


r/homeautomation • • 16h ago

QUESTION Shopping assistant

0 Upvotes

We currently have a Google home device that we say thing like add such and such to shopping list. Its starting to not hear very well and is being a pita. I was thinking it would be nice to have a feature like hey device shop for this grocery item at our 4 stores and find best price and put it in the cart. Has anyone implemented something like this?


r/homeautomation • • 8h ago

PROJECT I built AbschlagsRadar: a local Home Assistant app for electricity and g

0 Upvotes

I built AbschlagsRadar because I wanted Home Assistant to answer one practical question: will my monthly electricity or gas payment cover the next annual bill?

The app runs locally in Home Assistant and gives electricity and gas their own contract views. It supports date-specific meter readings, tariff changes and monthly payment changes. It forecasts annual consumption and costs, shows an expected amount due or credit, and calculates a recommended monthly payment for the rest of the billing period and for the next year.

Features:

- Local meter-photo OCR as a beta feature; every detected value must be checked and confirmed.

- Native Home Assistant entities for automations and charts.

- Backup and restore of individual or all contracts.

- Automatic German or English UI based on the Home Assistant user language.

- Bonuses are deliberately excluded from every calculation.

- No separate account, cloud service or HACS installation.

The current release is experimental and AMD64-only. Native AMD64 and ARM64 containers, including local OCR, pass automated tests; the complete Home Assistant OS installation path is currently offered only for AMD64. App logic, browser behavior and upgrades are tested in a separate Home Assistant environment, but I am especially looking for feedback from fresh Home Assistant OS installations, unusual electricity/gas contracts and real meter photos.

Project, screenshots and installation:

https://github.com/OrbitNestLab/AbschlagsRadar

Please do not attach contracts, access tokens or complete backups to public issues. If you try it, I would be interested in your Home Assistant hardware, whether the installation worked cleanly, and which forecast value was hardest to understand.


r/homeautomation • • 17h ago

PERSONAL SETUP Solved: Separate ON/OFF IR commands for LG webOS TVs using Tuya/Smart Life IR blasters

0 Upvotes

I spent about 4–5 hours today troubleshooting this, so I’m posting the solution in case it saves someone else the same trouble.

THE PROBLEM

I have two modern LG webOS TVs controlled by Tuya/Smart Life IR blasters:

• LG 86UR78006LB

• LG 75QNED916QA

I wanted to automate them using presence sensors:

Presence detected → TV ON

No presence → TV OFF

The problem is that the standard LG remote profile in Tuya provides only one Power button, which is a toggle.

That makes it unsuitable for presence automation. If the TV is already ON and the automation sends Power again, it switches the TV OFF.

THE SOLUTION

After capturing/decoding the LG IR commands and testing with Python + TinyTuya, I found that both TVs support LG’s discrete power commands:

04 FB 08 F7 = Power Toggle

04 FB C4 3B = Power ON

04 FB C5 3A = Power OFF

I tested C4 and C5 directly through the Tuya IR blasters using TinyTuya over the local network.

Both TVs responded successfully.

C4 → Power ON ✅

C5 → Power OFF ✅

Most importantly, these are true discrete/state-safe commands:

TV OFF + ON → turns ON

TV ON + ON → stays ON

TV ON + OFF → turns OFF

TV OFF + OFF → stays OFF

So repeated presence detections cannot accidentally turn the TV off.

THE TRICKY PART

Initially I tried creating/sending these commands through the Tuya Cloud/API. The commands appeared not to work, and I initially thought these newer LG TVs did not support discrete ON/OFF.

However, when I generated and transmitted exactly the same C4/C5 commands locally using TinyTuya, BOTH TVs responded.

The next problem was getting these working commands back into the Tuya/Smart Life app so I could use them in normal Tuya automations.

The workaround was IR-to-IR learning.

I have two Tuya IR blasters, so I did this:

  1. Put IR Blaster A into Tuya DIY learning mode and create a button called "TV ON".

  2. Use Python/TinyTuya to make IR Blaster B transmit:

04 FB C4 3B

  1. IR Blaster A learns that signal and saves it as "TV ON".

  2. Create another DIY button called "TV OFF".

  3. Use IR Blaster B to transmit:

04 FB C5 3A

  1. IR Blaster A learns it and saves it as "TV OFF".

I then reversed the two IR blasters and repeated the process for the other room.

FINAL RESULT

Both Tuya IR blasters now have separate DIY buttons:

TV ON → 04 FB C4 3B

TV OFF → 04 FB C5 3A

I can now safely create:

Presence detected

→ TV ON

No presence for X minutes

→ TV OFF

Repeated ON commands leave the TV ON, and repeated OFF commands leave it OFF.

No Home Assistant is required for this particular solution.

Hardware/software used:

• LG webOS TVs

• Tuya/Smart Life compatible IR blasters

• Presence sensors

• Python

• TinyTuya

• Two IR blasters temporarily facing each other for IR learning

Hopefully this helps anyone trying to get separate LG Power ON/OFF commands working with Tuya/Smart Life.

The biggest lesson from my troubleshooting was: if C4/C5 appear not to work through the Tuya Cloud/API, don’t immediately assume your LG TV doesn’t support them. Try transmitting them locally. Both of my modern LG webOS TVs accepted them.


r/homeautomation • • 19h ago

DISCUSSION steam wet dry vacuum users, did it actually change how you clean?

1 Upvotes

i'm curious about something from people who actually use these regularly.

i've been looking at the tineco floor one s9 artist steam pro after getting tired of doing the usual vacuum first, mop second routine. i'm not really looking for another gadget just because it has more features. i'm wondering if having a steam wet dry vacuum actually changes how often you clean or how you deal with everyday messes.

the 180 degree recline seems useful for getting under furniture, and the dualblock anti-tangle setup caught my attention too, but specs only tell you so much.

if you've been using one for a while, what changed in your actual cleaning routine?

do you find yourself cleaning smaller messes right away because it's easier, or do you still wait until it's time to do the whole floor?

that's the kind of real-world experience i'm trying to figure out.


r/homeautomation • • 21h ago

QUESTION please recommend lockbox or smart lock for my use case.

0 Upvotes

I am planning to rent my place and want to enable entry to property management company or maintenance guy from remote. I am relocating and will not be around to let them in.

I am skeptical about locks that use wifi because of wifi connection is not 100% reliable, there can be outages as well.

please suggest lockbox or smart lock for my use case.


r/homeautomation • • 1d ago

PROJECT RF Bridge for DSYBRI Ceiling Fandelier

3 Upvotes

A family member gifted me a lovely little Fandelier for our dining room on amazon ( https://a.co/d/037LroXg ). Once I got it installed I realized the only type of control this thing had was an ugly and rather large RF remote that you screw to the wall.

\\\We can't have that\\\

I went through and pulled the RF data using a flipper then created an integration using an ESP32 WROOM, a CC1101 RF transceiver, and ESPHome to integrate it with my already overkill HA instance. While this is definitely over engineered and could easily be replaced with a Bond Bridge, this was 30 bucks and a fun project.

I've uploaded the files to Github so that maybe I can help save someone else a little money and provide a fun little project! Currently I've got a Shelly BLU RC Button 4 ZB running as a bluetooth remote (ZB was way more work to ID each button press) that uses single press, double press, triple press, and hold press to control the Fandelier.

https://github.com/SlootyLootGoblin/DSYBRI-Fandelier-RF-integration-for-ESPHome

Happy Tinkering!


r/homeautomation • • 1d ago

QUESTION Long Distance covering BLE Beacons for indoors and outdoors

2 Upvotes

I am looking for BLE Beacons that advertise UUID in ibeacon format in long range even in indoors

that can pass through walls and concrete. please suggest best BLE Beacons with good long range and tx power. phy mode is not an option as its not supported by IOS

Also what position should we place the BLE Beacon for maximum range coverage