Yes look at the page I gave you, then navigate the other pages in the documentation. The docs for openhasp are really thorough with good examples.
1 Like
How do you propose to “get rid” of the existing switch box?
How do you propose to get the Ethernet wiring into the box?
Think ahead- what will you do when you sell the house in the future?
You are far, far better off giving up on the POE plan. Just install a panel that can operate from the line voltage already in the box and communicate with Home Assistant with WiFi. Like almost everyone else here.
1 Like
@stevemann I don’t know, pull out the existing cables out the drywall, put in the POE cables through, all will be done by licensed cabler of course. Bit surprised that you are questioning. Is there more to it? Am I missing anything here?
Appreciate your advice about consideration for when house will be sold, a very important thing to consider. As I said in earlier answer however, I am willing to go an extrovert setup which means this is something willing to undertake.
Yes I am finding it hard to find a POE device, which is why I am asking the community to share if they know of any. Maybe I’ll have to give up the POE plan, but not quite yet. I prefer not to give up on anything at the first sign of difficulty. I’d like to explore what other options others suggest or I find.
If you want POE devices with home assistant then get an esp32 with POE ethernet and attach some relays. Add esphome.
You appear to be wanting everything in one device. Possibly not gonna happen.
If you have ethernet AND 120/240 V AC you will NOT be able to feed them through the same wall box. Adjacent ones maybe, but not in the same space.
1 Like
Haha, fair enough 
I mean there’s something to it if you can afford to go all in on that. But it needs to be well planned if you want a coherent and reliable system. Your plan on going full wired is good. Keep away from wifi, regardless of what some people will say. If you can wire it, then this is hands down the best solution.
About PoE, now that depends. If you can’t find a device that supports PoE directly you may simply want to use a PoE splitter to separate data and power. Be careful about code and whether you can put these things behind a drywall. Another option is to use the Ethernet cable only for networking and provide power by using a separate power supply unit. I’m using the Tracopower TIW series, they can be mounted inside a (separate) wallbox.
Thankfully not everyone else 
1 Like
There’s a very good chance that a licensed electrician would be reluctant to do this since it’s possible that there would be electrical code violations, and he would be risking his license.
The NEC requires, for example, that there be a light switch at the entrance of the room. In the case of the kitchen the light must be a low-energy fixture. (Which is why a lot of homes have an annoying fluorescent fixture in the kitchen). I really doubt that an electrical inspector would approve of a touch-screen device as a wall switch.
I have no clue where you are located, but every town and city in the U.S. has a building permits department. Make an appointment with a plan inspector and present your project. The inspector would be the best person to tell you why it won’t work.
At the very least it will cost you a ton of money to “pull out” the line cables because they are going to be stapled to the studs, per the code, which means opening up the drywall. At the least.
And then, you will find that you can’t sell the house if the wiring is not up to code.
Just leave the existing switches and wires alone. IF you find your dream device, you will want to mount it at eye level anyway, above the switches.
Keep us posted, please. I really want to know how you accomplish your project because if it isn’t prohibitively expensive and it meets the electrical code requirements, I and others may want to replicate your work.
I don’t know much about US NEC, but is an inspector really required if you do this in your own house ? Over here (France), if you own the house and live in it, we can pretty much do whatever we want (insurance might be a problem if your DIY stuff burns your house down). Things need to be up to code if you sell / rent though. I was under the impression that it was similar in the US, but I’m probably wrong.
If he opens the drywalls, couldn’t he just pull conduit instead ? Is that code compliant ? When / if he wants to sell, he could replace the offending network cables with line cables without having to reopen anything up again.
Generally a homeowner may do their own electrical work without using a licensed electrician, but the homeowner is still responsible for getting permits and inspections when needed. This is why you need the advice from the building permits office. If you DON’T TOUCH the 110/220V lines, then you can do anything you wish without any input from the authorities. In the U.S. anything below 70V is considered low voltage and not addressed by the electrical codes. Except that low and high (line) voltage circuits cannot enter the same electrical unction box.
You could, but it will be very expensive.
If you absolutely must hide the existing switch boxes, then remove the switches, cap the bare ends of the wires with wire nuts, then cover the hole with a sheetrock patch. DO NOT cut the wires. That is the mark of an incompetent amateur and future electricians fixing your improvements will hate you.
Then you can run your low-voltage wires inside the walls to your control panel. No need for electrical conduit or even hiring an electrician. Just don’t run them into existing outlet or switch boxes that have 110/220V in them.
I strongly recommend that you do not cut or remove any existing wiring. Future homeowners will thank you.
Let’s take a few steps back. What do you want to control from a wall-mounted Home Assistant screen?
I see. Just out of curiosity, do you need to have your installation inspected if you do it yourself even if you don’t plan on selling or renting the property ?
I don’t really see why this would be so expensive. The OP is probably not rewiring his entire house, only some important switches. I have conduit everywhere (it’s code here). It’s extremely convenient if you want to rewire things later on and it’s not that much more difficult to put behind the drywalls than the Romex you guys in the US usually staple against the studs. At least the flexible pvc conduit, not sure if that is acceptable in the US. I know you guys are more used to the rigid metal stuff. But yeah, I remember when I replaced the old school telephone wire in my house with cat6. Thank god there was conduit.
Yeah that sounds like a good alternative.
Anyway, mostly hypothesizing here as we don’t know how the OP is planning on handling this. Nor where he is based.
Please don’t make generalisations like this. Every country has different rules. Ne very specific as to locale when you are talking about when stating what you believe the rules to be.
And look at the exclusions in your insurance policy.
It depends.
If you are doing electrical work like adding an outlet where there wasn’t one before or an additional circuit breaker to run some Romex cable to your Hot Tub, then yes, you need a permit and inspection. Replacing existing fixtures usually does not require permits and inspections. Putting a Shelly or Sonoff Mini behind an existing outlet probably falls into this category. Though you might exceed box fill.
The question was referencing U.S. rules.
Yeah I appreciate that, but I think it pays to be very specific in cases of advising on AC, and not necessarily relying on people reading back through the thread.
Or some idiot will come along, just read your post and think it applies to them.
1 Like
I’m in South Australia with very strict regulations. All electrical work (except for changing light globe) needs to be done by a licensed electrician. For PoE cabling through walls, they need to have additional cabling license. I don’t know the codes much but I doubt any code will prevent a homeowner if they want to get a switchboard from a wall removed. In the same line, if the homeowner want to install a display on the wall I don’t see that should break any-code, as long as done by licensed electrician+cabler. But it’s a good point to clarify with an electrician.
I think I’ve found most of the answers for what I was looking for in this post. Basically there isn’t such device readily available from a reputable brand that is a POE based wall mountable touch-screen.
So I have decided that I will take it on as a project to pursue installation of such a device to replace my wall switches, I’ll start with one room, that only have light switches. Which means I’ll have to replace/modify all my lights to work with home assistance. I’ll purchase one of the touchscreen android devices from Alibaba or whatever (I’ll find one later when I get to it) and get an electrician to install it. Might be a few months by the time I get to it, but I’ll post my results here.
I am pretty sure that the situation where you remove the wall switch and replace it with a screen will be illegal, because you have to have a switch that will isolate the bulb from the power so you can (eg) change the bulb. Same for an appliance, you have to be able to switch it off at the wall.
And I say this from the perspective of someone with the same rules as SA. I am in NZ.
By all means install POE screens, there are plenty of them. I pointed to one of very many. But you still need a physical switch, even a smart one.
The beauty of a smart switch AND a screen is that you can control your device (light/appliance) from any control, the switch, the screen, from work, from your car, from anywhere, and the state will be maintained.
To achieve what you want, I would make the smart switches quite subtle and place the screens centre stage.
@nickrout I created this question, asking about a list of off the shelf POE screens that is wall mountable and integrate well with Home Assistance. I also was hoping to see something that has been designed to be a wall switch functionality in mind, but also looks nice. So far I’ve got a link of a POE android device that you have provided the link of that could potentially be mounted on wall. If there are plenty such devices, feel free to share links. I hope I get more suggestions for devices like the Brillian switch (Brilliant Home Control (1-switch control)), with Home Assistance compatiblity.
Home assistant not home assistance.
1 Like
Well we are not your search engine, but try this