I’m renovating my family room and looking to integrate a compact, wall-mounted touch panel to control the blinds, lighting scenes, and Sonos—specifically for that room only. For the main lighting, I plan to use the Inovelli Blue 2-1 Dimmer, as I want a traditional-style switch that’s easy for my wife to operate.
My current plan includes two Inovelli switches for the primary lighting circuits and a small touchscreen device—something like the MOES 5" smart panel—for controlling music, blinds, and scenes. I’ll be integrating everything into Home Assistant.
Ultimately whatever I do here I want to replicate throughout the house.
I’m open to all suggestions or alternative product recommendations.
I will have an IPAD in Kiosk mode to control house but also lookiong for something specific to each room on a smaller scale
Depends on how big (small) it has to be. If you want small then THIS 4 inch guition is cheap, but requires some programming. Otherwise get a decent 7inch tablet (my advice: don’t buy the cheapest you find, they tend to work veeeery slow)
I’ve tried a number of options, so perhaps my experience will be of interest.
For shade control, I use a zwave paddle switch in the same gang box as my lighting dimmer. Zwave direct associations control up and down, but HA automations are required to stop it mid-way by double-click. You could probably use a dimmer for more precise control. It’s popular with family members because it’s easy.
For small touchscreen, I have a Sonoff NSPanel (not pro) which is very easy to flash with esphome for custom HA UI. Physically, the device has a 3.5” screen and two buttons (relay or virtual control) and installs in a single-gang box only. I actually find it very cumbersome to use and almost never touch it, same with family members. Perhaps a larger screen, mounted closer to eye level (or tilted) to avoid slouching over, might get more use but I doubt it.
In general, everyone in my home is more likely to use voice commands than walk up to and fiddle with a touch panel, particularly for scenes or music control. I picked up a bunch of HomePods mini on sale at Costco and they are much more convenient than touchscreens, so my recommendation would be to give both a try before investing in all your rooms to see what your family prefers.
I originally got the 7" tablet for information and not control. The wife wanted to know the status of specific items at a glance. It is on the shelf under our TV.
Left column is:
Outside temp
Outside humidity
Alarm (green = armed/red = disarmed)
Notify on motion boolean. Turn on/off camera notifications to our phones. If I am doing stuff outside, she does not need the notifications every time I pass a camera.
Center column is:
Time
HVAC status
Door locks (front, back, basement)
Basement lights (main basement and office)
Right column is:
Inside temp
Inside humidity
Garage door open/closed
Irrigation running or not
Once I put these in the office and garage, I did add tap actions to many of those items to toggle them.
Above this, I have several cards that are hidden until something happens.
If the doorbell cam triggers, show the live feed.
If the driveway cam triggers, show the live feed.
If the deer camera triggers, show the live feed.
I find 15.6" to 21" vertical screen a good size, see status from across the room, go up to screen if you want to interact. We don’t use voice much, the house performs most functions automatically. Through presence, temperature or time.
I have one, too, and i prefer guition over nspanel anytime. It’s not that easy to flash: you must upload esphome part and also nspanel (nextion) part and here is where it begins to be complicated: unless you go with pre-made version you’re stuck with nextion program which isn’t quite easy… ok, esphome for lvgl isn’t either, but it’s still easier than nextion HMI. Only thing i miss on guition are physical switches, that i agree.
And, it’s WAY more expensive…
