Hi, so I have been pushing the Smart Home idea for quite some time and want to start by getting a unit that will act as a hub/bridge.
Today I have both bluethooth spotlights in my roof, some units that have zigbee as communication protocol and also I am thinking of getting some other unit that seems to have Z-Wave.
Ideally I would like to be able to controll all of these in a phone app (android). So Ive been looking into of the shelf solutions from tech suppliers and stumble upon the Home Assistant with Raspberry Pi. Will the Home Assistant be able to meet my demand of wanting to controll all applications with one phone app (Bluetooth, zigbee & z-wave)?
If this is the case: Should i pursue buying a Raspberry Pi 4 (8gb ram + 64 micro sd (A2 card)) or try go get my hands on Raspberry Pi 5?
@WallyR Oh I see, so it might not even be possible to control the BT spotlights?
The spotlights are being controlled by 3 of these:
“The system is built on the standardised bluetooth protocol that is already integrated into the majority of today’s smartphones and tablets”
I am to newbie to make any sense if this is something that will be possible to be controlled by my Raspberry Pi or if I need to buy something else. As mentioned, I do not want several apps to controll all units, instead want one app to controll them all.
Super, thanks for the answers. I guess I will go with a Raspberry Pi 4, 8gb.
So I can take a companion app and controll all apps? Today I am using a app called Smart Things to controll some devices in my home, I think all the devices atm are Samsung.
Okey. I might check something else than. It looks like there is a huge amount to choose from and potentially I should be able to find something that fit my needs. I just hope I will be able to controll the BT spotlights in the ceiling as well.
Bluetooth just means the method used to communicate.
It would be like saying talking on mobile phones.
So you know how they communicate, but not what they are saying.
If you were the police, then you would know how to eavesdrop on a mobile phone.
But the police what also need to understand what is being said over the phone.
If the gangster in one end is Italian and the one in the other end is Japanese, then they would talk in common English, so they would say a shipment of cocaine. This is like when a Bluetooth headsets talks with a Bluetooth mobile phone. They need to stick to something they both understand, so products can communicate even though they are made by different vendors.
This is extremely easy for the police to understand and it is equal to Bluetooth for standard equipment and most Bluetooth BLE products, that broadcast their sensor values for all to see.
If the gangster in both ends are Italian, then they can still talk in English, but the shipment in question is now of olive oil, so the police need figure out what the different words relate to.
The police can figure this out by listening and guessing, which is equal to what you or a developer has to do, if the Bluetooth communication is not standard. This of course require both ends to be in the control of the same vendor, like a device and an app.
Now if the two Italian gangsters also switch the language to different Italian dialects, then it would be equal to an encrypted Bluetooth communication.
This makes it hard for the police and if they can not understand the dialect then they have to interrogate the gangsters, which is equal to reverse engineer the device and app.
The good thing in your case is that the device and the app communicate directly, so you have both ends of the communication to interrogate, which makes it possible to reverse engineer it with the right knowledge.
If one end had been abroad, then the police might need have the option to interrogate that end and they might never be able to understand what that end is saying. This is equal to a device that communicate directly with the cloud and therefore is impossible to reverse engineer completely.
The spotlights in the roof are Italian, right? And Home Assistant is… Japanese? That would make the phone app the olive oil, or something… No, wait, the mobile phone app only speaks English! OK, got it!
No, no, hang on… Where do the police come into it? Is that some kind of template? An add-on?
@WallyR That was a…well a different way of putting it Different but still refreshing.
I guess I´ll just install the Home Assistant on the Raspberry Pi 4 that soon arrives and take it from there in regard on what addons i need to utilize and if or if not I am able to controll the BT devices.
Is the guide on Home Assistant home page, the one that is my go-to, taking into consideration I am a total newbie in this world, Raspberry Pi - Home Assistant
I had to find a way to explain Bluetooth, because it is not just Bluetooth.
Trial and error is often the way with these products, unless you can find a specific integration for those.
The guides is quite good and there are also several videos on youtube to help you.
If you run into a problem, then ask on the forum. There are a lot of people ready and willing to help you!
Different but still refreshing.