Serious Advice Needed

Installation Home Assistant OS
1

So I decided about 2 weeks ago to with Hass.io and I have it running in Docker on an Ubuntu VM.
I’ve been able to get Owntracks working and reporting locations with a couple of zones setup.
I’ve been working on DarkSky and OpenWeather Map integration which hasn’t been as successful.
DarkSky sensor doesn’t want to play nice and refuses to appear on the Overview page. OpenWeather Map has been a bit more cooperative but only t the point of the sensor elements appearing on the Overview page but no values in them.

So my question is: is there a really good get started guide that will work through the basics of getting things going? I tried to figure out DarkSky which has lead to head scratching and much annoyance on my part. OpenWeather Map searches have lead to really neat posts with awesome graphics but have a level of assumed knowledge that is above a beginner. A lot of the information seems to be for Home Assistant with things like put this Python script in your Python directory, which I cannot find in Hass.io. And then there are the scripts, I can add them to the scripts.yaml file but they don’t appear in the scripts GUI or I attempt to take the script example, decipher it, and enter it into the gui but I haven’t been successful.

I seriously need a Hass.io guide that says ok here’s how to add a sensor, now lets make it look pretty, cause apparently there are things called groups?

Thanks,

2

I spent a long time getting weather stuff working on my hass.io… and then when I had it all running and looking pretty, I realised, what was the point of that? Was I integrating it into any automations? No. Was I getting it to trigger some automated irrigation system? No. Was I getting it to send alerts to remind me to water the garden or bring an umbrella to work? No. I soon realised I had wasted my time, when there are a million apps out there that can tell me the weather better than hass.io can.

First ask yourself WHY you are doing something, what is your goal. Start with buying a Yeelight light globe and get some day/night automations going. Get yourself a xiaomi motion sensor and a gateway and get that going in your house with the light globe. Get yourself a Broadlink IR Blaster and get it to control your AC/Heater/Gas Fireplace. Use hass.io for what it is… a home automation system, not a weather reporting tool.

Also, read (or re-read) this article to remind yourself about the purpose of this tool:

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Great points, I figured since I have very little things to connect right now that getting a Weather panel setup would be a good learning tool. It really has become the opposite, I;m starting to fill with dread on tackling more complicated things like connecting my Kodi box.

I’m going to give that article a read, I was just watching Bruh’s video on getting started with Hass.io and he was showing things that aren’t in my install (like a group editor), I assume I have a newer version.

Well I’m off to read that article

4

I spent days and days (and days) getting my hass.io instance looking nice, and automating different icons and experimenting with add-ons and even had a Public Transport API up and running for my local Public Transport system. And while it was challenging and fun, I ended up deleting it all, because I realised it had no purpose if it wasn’t part of an automation.

You can pick up a White Yeelight for <$20 (Or RGB for a bit more if you want). When my lamp turns on by itself 10 minutes before sunset each night, and turns off when I put my phone onto charge on my bedside table, I have a little smile to myself and feel like a boss. I think this is what hass.io is designed for.

3 Likes
5

That was a good read. Thanks

I’d like to get 2 things out of my system.

obviously automating things, voice control with snips even. lights, blinds etc.

second I’d like to have an information portal, a tablet on the wall showing the forecast for the current day and the next, how long to drive to work, who’s at the front door. This is down the list.

6

Dark Sky is very simple to set up, but you do need a dark sky api key. Other than that it needs nothing other than home assistant and three lines in your configuration.yaml file. I trust that you have read the instructions?

7

I’ve read them, re-read them, read numerous tutorials, and started a thread on DarkSky and it never works.

8

Did you read this thread? 7 Day Weather Forecast
If you can’t get it to work you’re missing something…

9

I would check your state page when you think you got it setup before trying to put on the front end.

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this is my config

  - platform: darksky
    api_key: !secret darksky
    monitored_conditions:
      - summary
      - precip_type
      - precip_probability
      - temperature
      - apparent_temperature
      - dew_point
      - wind_speed
      - wind_bearing
      - cloud_cover
      - humidity
      - pressure
      - visibility
      - ozone
      - minutely_summary
      - hourly_summary
      - daily_summary
      - temperature_max
      - temperature_min
10

just note that temperature_max and temperature_min are now depreciated monitored conditions…
I am now using temperature_low and temperature_high. This will change the sensors as well. You will see an error in the log about these being depreciated…

11

Are you sure?
I have:

monitored_conditions:
  - summary
  - minutely_summary        # A human-readable text summary for the next hour.
  - hourly_summary          # A human-readable text summary for the next 24 hours.
  - daily_summary           # A human-readable text summary for the next 7 days.
  - temperature             # The current temperature.
  - apparent_temperature    # A numerical value representing the apparent (or “feels like”) temperature.
  - temperature_max         # Today’s expected high temperature.
  - temperature_min         # Today’s expected low temperature.

and get this

image
image723×193 7.5 KB

(And FWIW the docs haven’t changed)

12

If you look on DarkSky website you will see they are depreciated! Also look in the HomeAssistant log and you will see an error saying they are depreciated (which is what I first noticed and went to dark sky)

Yes they are still working (for now) They are depreciated and at some time expect them to eventually disappear. This is a DarkSky thing, not Home Assistant.

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13

deprecated!

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14

So I copied your config and I get nothing on my States page like you have.
This is the on going thing with DarkSky which is why I’m seriously questioning the use of Hass.io.

15

You could try changing the logging to debug to see if your logs help. (not sure you can in hass.io)

logger:
  default: error
  logs:
    homeassistant.components.darksky: debug

and make sure your key works in your browser (which you could add as a rest api sensor then parse the json)

https://api.darksky.net/forecast/<your_key>/42.3601,-71.0589