I’ve been toying with the idea to implementing HA for a couple of years.

I have no fewer than 10 “smart device” apps on my phone and the privacy implications make me sick. I’ve been a Google Home and it’s been a sad experience.

Over the holidays, I got Proxmox working on an old laptop and ordered a ZigBee stick and some sensors.

Installing HA using helper scripts was dummy easy and the laptop is performing solidly. Got hung up on network setup and z2m but pulled through with some Google-fu.

Did I have to do some tinkering? Yes. Can I control all - literally ALL - my smart devices on one customizable dashboard? F*** YEAH!

I am looking forward to accomplishing more, unplugging from the cloud, learning a lot, and hopefully making some life tasks less annoying.

Thank you to this community for the awesome work, conversation, and inspiration!

  • Vinny_93@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    1 day ago

    I recently started myself. Debugging in the real world is tedious for my wife sometimes, but it just needs some fine tuning. I still have a cloud doorbell, sadly, because that’s what I had in the before times. Also I’d still like to find a good solution for multi room audio. All in all I am not at all disappointed with what is possible both on web and in the android app.

    I was thinking of routing my own external access but decided to just let it run thru Nabu Casa to support their work with a subscription.

    • afk_strats@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      I’m in a similar situation and my strategy is to play the long game and win on convenience. I am giving my partner a curated HA dashboard as an option (vs the native apps). Once I feel like an integration is “production ready”, I put it in the curated dashboard. That way, she can choose her preferred interaction method… with the hope that eventually she’d just prefer HA and the functionality would be relatively equal without the cloud stuff.

      I’m dreaming big

      • Vinny_93@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 day ago

        Oh yeah the dashboards are no issue for her. She understands most of the workflows I create. But a while back I installed the Sonoff SNZB-06P in the living room and the lights would suddenly turn off because she didn’t move. And I’m still working on thermostats since the main one can’t communicate with the TRV’s.