How @code-in-progress Broke My Foot

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Yes, but I use one every other day. That could have ended badly if it was a cheaper meter. :grimacing: I’ve designed and built commercial 1200A mains power filters with lightning protection but I still get an electrician in to do electrical work in my house. Don’t shake hands with the angry pixies (aka electrikery).

Probably this: Serial Projector control with ESPHome

Electronically pretty simple but I had to use the serial protocol analyser of my digital oscilloscope at one point and then I still needed help from the ESPHome experts to get the UART buffer to work correctly. Fortunately their discord channel is really helpful and we got it working.

Regarding not reading instructions that were right there the whole time - I’ve done this just recently. I spent a while researching how to add hard drives to Proxmox VMs (I’m very new to this) so I could set up my shiny new Scrypted network video recorder. It did not work well. When seeking help the developer of the NVR software immediately asks me why I did it that way and not as per their (much simpler) written instructions which I had completely overlooked. :man_facepalming:

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I know these are real words and yet… :rofl:

I suppose I know who to come to for electrical stuff now. I was quite careful, I have proper protective gear thanks to all the weird crafting things I do. :laughing: My electrician buddy should be visiting in the next couple weeks to bring us a rocking chair (unrelated to my smart home woes), I will absolutely update the thread with whatever idiocy is happening in my walls. :joy:

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Ah. Before we start, would you mind signing this personal injury waiver of liability please?

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That Bill guy sure sounds like a pain

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Right??? That guy is a jerk!

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Welp, my update came earlier than expected. :sweat_smile: Welcome to what I am now just considering blog-style updates in this thread…

This weekend I spent setting up most of my Zigbee devices. This was so easy, I actually had fun playing with things! Er, well, until yesterday. One thing I ran into immediately (and I am hoping we can improve the documentation for this soon) was that my Green didn’t auto discover my SkyConnect1. The setup documentation doesn’t really go over this scenario, but I decided to jump to Step 52 and see if setting up the Zigbee integration would help me. It did! Following the steps from there got my SkyConnect set up and ready to find more devices! :muscle:

Within an hour, I set up 4 smart plugs to get my mesh network started and have 2 plugs connected to lights. I added in a couple of the Aqara contact sensors and the Third Reality motion sensors to start other projects up. The fairy lights behind me at my desk are plugged into one of the plugs, and then I set up my first automation! It’s just turning them off at night (5pm) and then back on before my work day starts (7am). I was very proud of myself - messing with automations is always fun for me and I look forward to making more. I can now see how automations can be as simple or as complicated as you want them.

One of the sensors I was going to use in the mud room with the two door sensors (to account for having our dog in there when we’re away), but instead I might use a scene to control the light and sensors in there and trigger it with voice. I couldn’t find a good spot for the sensor that wouldn’t risk it getting damaged. The other sensor I have set up in my office in front of the cat litter box where it will not be triggered by me on accident while at my desk. This was to see about setting up the robovac coming in and cleaning up every time the cats use the box.

I learned from overnight data, turns out the cats use that thing entirely too much for a frequent vacuum trips here in the office. :grimacing: This instead helped me determine that I will have the robovac come in the morning before my work day starts to make sure the overnight mess is cleaned up, but also create a counter to clean it up when the cats drag out so much.

Then I spent several hours trying to figure out how to keep the plug on the mesh network while the switch was off. After hitting a wall attempting to use an entity to control the power to the device, I ask in Discord if I am making things too complicated.

I was. Of course. :weary: The best way explained to me was, “If it didn’t have some power, how would you control it?” Duh, Missy. I should have known this…

But there was something wrong with the door sensors I installed in HA that I really needed to fix now. I could not get them to register when the door is open. I press the button on the sensors and they both send it back to HA, and they’re both in my network map. I remove them from my devices and add them back on through the Zigbee integration, directly with the plug they are closest to, directly with the SkyConnect. They just refuse to activate and register when the door is open.

After trying to rule out interference with my gateway by separating devices in my office further, I have an idea to try the 3rd sensor that isn’t installed on a door. I set it up in HA, take the magnet, touch the sensor, pull it away, IT SAYS OPEN. WHAT. THE. HELL. Why does this one work?? I stared at the device for a few minutes thinking about everything up until now. There is no way the 2 on the doors are broken this bad, and my mesh isn’t weak (but it’s also not the strongest, I’ll be using advice from Hedda here to make sure it’s better). I grab the loose magnet and take it downstairs to the mud room where the other sensors are, touch it to one of the sensors while I have the HA app open on its device page then pull it away. OPEN. It suddenly hits me.

Guys. Guys guys guys. I installed the sensors and magnets on the doors too far apart. :woman_facepalming: I even measured to make sure it would be within what the booklet says! Ugh. I pull them off the doors and frames they are stuck to, remove the sticky from the devices, and that is now where I am. Next I will be moving my Green and the SkyConnect to a more central location on my second floor - I have an ethernet cable more than long enough to do this; and setting up the door sensors closer to each other on their respective doors. I now have 6 WiZ lights on their way to me, which means I will be able to automate the mud room light tomorrow! :raised_hands:

…next update TBD. But I will say that I am learning so much about what the best ways to learn this system look like. I am excited to see if I can shape it into something useful for everyone. :3

1 I got my device a couple months before the name change from SkyConnect to ZBT-1. While I talk about my device as being a SkyConnect, the name of the device is now ZBT-1.
2 Step 5 listed as of today’s posting - just in case the steps change in the future, the step is referencing the “Configure the Zigbee Home Automation integration” step.

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Atta girl! :+1:

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@code-in-progress will tell you that he is responsible for all the troubleshooting here but I will tell you that all he did was laugh at me when I discovered I installed them too far apart. :rofl:

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Tsss, just like when you broke your foot!

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Thank you for sharing your stories as a new Home Assistant user, this is very useful for those of us who forget how it was when we started. :wink: Especially when we get questions from friends who wants to start with smart home - it is easy to forget how troublesome a simple task can be at times. I still tell those who ask that Home Assistant is the right system for those who wants all options open, but also add that you get a new hobby at the same time. If you want something that just works you have to choose a brand and stick to it.
I believe that Home Assistant in the near future will be the best system for everyone, and you sharing your experience as a new user is a part of that process. :smiley: Keep up the good work, and get you electrician friend to check your work. I most of Europe we are not allowed to do anything like that ourselves. Stay safe. :blush:

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Not only did I laugh… I laughed hard. :rofl:

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Thank you for the kind words and encouragement! :blush:

It indeed is a new time-intensive hobby, especially at first! I suppose I can make it through it better than some because I kind of see this like when I first starting using mind maps and utilizing inbox zero. It was a heavy upfront lift to get those tools/processes where they would work for me, but once I had things set up everything was very smooth. I expect to experience this with my full smart home once I am there.

The learning curve is steep, though. I see ways to make it easier way better than I did by simply talking to people. I can use myself as an example, but I suspect other new users would come at HA like I did. When I started, I expected to be able to set up my Echo devices and fold it into my daily life easily. Once I got the integration set up in HA and the skill in the Alexa app set up, I had no clue really where to go from there! Entities confused me - expose entities? what even are those and how do they work? However, after messing around with these Zigbee devices, I have a much better idea on what entities can do - especially after creating that first automation. I feel more confident going into the Alexa integration and know what I can and want to expose to my devices now.

Baby steps. Less data is better. I feel this will help a lot of people. :relieved:

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Bill don’t make me regret liking you.

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I hope you did notice the small indentation, telling you on which side the magnet should sit?

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I did! The little booklet that comes with them does point that out. I know I said I failed to read some instructions in my first post, but I did try to follow these ones and still failed at setting it up! :rofl:

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Then you got that one on me. I messed that up a couple of times :slight_smile: I think that is why they come with an extra sticky.

I like to think I’m a seasoned home automator, but we all make silly mistakes. Two weeks ago my wife was saying the study lights were on regularly for no apparent reason. I was like: no way! Until I realized they were on because it was hot and dark…

Hot → Fan on.
Fan + mmwave motion sensor = motion
Motion + dark = light on.

Did not have that problem the whole winter and autumn.

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Almost every problem I’ve had in life and in HA has been because of Bill for at least 24 months. I get it. Be glad it’s only your toe, he could have run over your foot with his BMW Mini Cooper.

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It’s a Fiat with an oversized radiator fan (multispeed, reversable)…

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You mean you don’t already? Obviously I’m not trying hard enough :wink:

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Also… yes. :rofl:

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