Hello everyone,
Im Sulumar, new in the smart Home world and just found out about Home assistant while trying to look up IKEAS new Smart Lights. From Here i found Mycroft and nedd to look into that as well. But thats for later.
All those discoveries leave me a bit overwhelmed and with the impression that i need to come up with a plan.
I Recently lost my job so i find myself with a lot of free time on my hands. I can use this time to build a few things myself, so i thought , why not try to make my Home a little bit smarter.
Since im on the budget, a Big Company smart home System is not going to cut it.
Also, the project is something i want to do but i dont need to have it. My home works fine but since i have a few Pis liying around. and some otherstuff, why not use it.
So i recently made myself an AlexaPi, running on a raspberry pi 3.
Still have a pi 2 and a Zero lyingarround doing nothing so Home Assistant goes on the 2, see if it works and maybe trade places with the alexaPi Later.
I will soon get a Broadlink RM Mini 3 Black Bean to act as a remote controle. Hoping to automate a few things
Now i really dont know what to look at next.
Cheap alternative to smart Lights ?
Smart Heating ?
Something to do with the Led Strips i have arround here somewhere.
Would some of you be so kind as to help me get started ?
Welcome!
I would suggest going on YouTube and look for videos by “Bruh” - he has a whole bunch of them about how to use home automation and home assistant specifically.
He has some good movies on how to make a led strip that you can control via wifi (so perhaps you can use your current leds for that).
To keep the costs down try to order from aliexpress. It is dirt cheap, but it does take a long time to get things delivered… (Up to 2 months if you’re unlucky).
Also, limitlessled.com have cheap led lighting that integrates well with HA.
I find personally that most projects don’t work right away and require tinkering to make it work, but that’s half the fun (to me at least…) And this forum is a great help in that.
Also, limitlessled.com2 have cheap led lighting that integrates well with HA.
I Saw that, Man 62 Buck for 10 bulbs in color GU10 and a remote. Thats the price of 1 Phillips Hue. Great find Ill be sure to bookmark it
I find personally that most projects don’t work right away and require tinkering to make it work, but that’s half the fun (to me at least…) And this forum is a great help in that.
Noticed that too.
I am 10 hours into the project and allready had to ask for help. But the learning process is part of the fun
Wrt limitlessled vs hue, you get what you pay for - I have both and Hue is a much smoother experience, so I use those for the main areas of the house and the others for less important areas (mostly for the WAF )
Having said that, customer service by limitlessled is pretty good. I did run into an issue that I couldn’t figure out and Hamish was very quick to respond over email and fixed it for me.
Love Home Assistant automation on the cheap! I started with Bruh’s video about the etekcity remotes ($30 for 5 remote plugs plus 2 remotes). So, using an arduino uno and an ethernet shield, I built a 433toMQTTto433 Bidirectional Arduino Gateway. This allows me to control dumb lamps/fans/appliances in Home Asisstant on the cheap. Enjoy!
And Welcome to Home Assistant and the world’s greatest forums!
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