I intending to install a customized internet access point and home automation system at my mother of law’s cabine.
The reason is that her current system is broken and a replacement is ridiculously expensive.
Moreover, she was used to having a second home internet connection offered by her ISP of her main home for not little money plus a fixed-line plan.
The fixed-line was necessary as the old system was controlled by calling the fixed-line.
This is obsolete now as she is on a very decent mobile data plan.
She could go the usuals way for a non-techy and upgrade the current system to work via wifi and mobile internet but is that hell-like expensive and will cause following-up costs.
So I told her that there are reasonable prices alternative using e.g.
a Raspberry or similar
plus automation hardware
low-cost mobile plan
home-assistant.
I hope that you folks can give me some bits of advice on the components than if anything goes wrong with that system I’m going to burn in hell .
This is the current hardware what is installed including the hardware that needs to be replaced (partially):
DRIVER 520
second and third comes as the PACK LABEL PERFORMANCE package. The installation and operation manual are in French but the illustration below is the most important piece of information:
As at least the DRIVER 520 is broken I want to replace the entire system and make it feature ready (video surveillance, medai server etc.).
I compete against the offer to replace it by the
TYDOM 1.0 what is somehow reachable via web according to this youtube clip although it looks like to be designed for home use only. Details are in interogration
cheap sim 2€ / month includes 50 MB, unlimited national SMS, 2 hours national outbound talk, unlimited incoming calls, upgradeable to 100 GB and unlimited talk if staying longer
home assistant
230 V relays to control the heaters
230 V relay to control the boiler
WifFI extension either by a
second access point
WiFi extender
Powerline
for indoor and outdoor coverage to allow outside installation IP cameras.
Moreover, I want to avoid to have low signal around that place to counter radiation exposure discussion.
VLAN (home and guest wifi)
Firewall allow internet access only when mobile plan allows it. (changed manually via Home Assitant command).
I still need to check if SMS is received after a plan change. This could allow automotive firewall profile change.
possible extension
alternating current source controlled by temperature measurement
As this seems to be a bit hopeless, so I have to go digging for how to connect 230 V relays to HA.
I have just searched for 230V relay but the results are mixed:
There is also https://www.pianywhere.com/
At least the latter two can be connected to an antenna. That is crucial as an outdoor one is necessary to ensure an excellent signal.
So what is the smartest option?
Connectivity gets me to the next point. How can I ensure that only very little data is sent to an outside central HA instance what records other places as well?
I don’t believe there is currently a way to control home assistant via sms. Most people use sms simply to send out a notification that, for example, the alarm has tripped, or their kids are home from school.
It is possible of course, but I think you might be writing that bit by yourself. The immediate thought is authentication.
As SMS are stored as plain text combining them with Folder Watcher could do the job.
As the Pyhton tutorial mentioning sending Emails. Can HA be configured to send and receive super small data packages via GSM, 2G to ensure that monthly super low data allowance is not exceeded?
That would simplify all this.
that leaves me with the question, when I send measuring data via GSM/GPRS. Is there any experience how much data is send if HA sends data to remote HA?
I find discussion about how to send:
There will be a home assistant installed on a remote device what sits behind a wired internet connection where are not any traffic restriction.
It will show also to cabine’s data and shall us to allow to control it, maybe not live but somewhere close.
A data package every e.g. 5 minutes is alright when starting the heater otherwise maybe 30 minutes a data package.
But you don’t need another instance of home assistant to control your cabin home assistant remotely. You can access it from your phone or a computer - anything with a modern web browser. You only need to use data when you access it, which if you are just turning a heater on every now and then you may get away with it within your data budget.
If data is very limited I am attracted to the SMS solution. Home assistant has a python automation component called appdaemon. Given that there are python libraries for various sms solutions, you could perhaps send commands via sms. Authentication would, I guess, be about checking the number the sms message came from. Not sure if that can be faked?
I envisage, maybe a two word message, like ‘heater on’ or ‘water off’. To get data maybe ‘temp kitchen’ or ‘humidity bathroom’. That would be easy to parse and tell home assistant what do do via the api.
.
in the drawing in the OP, what controls the heater and boiler, is still functional.