Hi all, I am brand new to the Home Assistant forum and have joined to investigate the best path forwards for my home automation. I am looking at ways to control items in my house when I am not home and also to automate some features like external lighting. I have had Control4 setup in my house for a number of years but, as most will know, this is a pain to maintain as changes can only be done by an authorised reseller and annual licence costs for remote access are an issue. I have started to dispand the control4 now and looking at ways forwards.
My current setup is as follows:
CBUS lighting throughout the house currently controlled by a Wiser Unit (I have approx 30-40 circuits mixed between relay & dimmer) - controlled by wall switches and wiser app
Electric Blinds in 4 rooms that are connected to the CBUS system - controlled by wall switches and wiser app
5 x Apple Home Pods - currently controlled by Apple Home
Avia (Mighton Products) Smart lock on the front door - currently controlled by Apple Home & its own App
2 x Sky Stream Boxes - controlled individually
5 x Smart TV’s - all now controlled individually
1 x HDMI Matrix - was used with Control4 but now not being utilised
2 x Apple TV’s - currently not used as connected to above Matrix but powered on to act as Hub for Apple Home
I bought the Wiser unit to control the lighting externally after I removed the Control4 kit but so far have been unable to get it working remotely and even though I have opened up all required ports on the router.
I am looking for a way to remotely manage my home and also provide some automations and have been advised to look at the Home Assistant Yellow or Green devices, but I am seeking clarification on whether these would work or not as I have already wastes a large amount of money on the Wiser Unit.
My ideal scenario would be to have each circuit on my CBUS listed in Apple Home in their relevant rooms so that can then control those circuits, and also have the external lighting circuits automated so that they come on at sunset and off at a random time.
Hope all of the above makes sense and looking forwards to hopefully recieving some advice.
Thanks
John