For most of the “connected” products available on the market you can’t even be certain that they will still be “compatible” (usable) in five years. That’s due to various reasons but mostly down to the fact that manufactures don’t maintain (relatively cheap) hardware that long. If, for example, a vulnerability for a 3 year old device is found you have no “right” to get it fixed in most parts of the world .
So I decided to go the most sustainable road which existed back then when I entered this field couple of years ago. It is also one of the few solutions which actually gives you the power to really put your own code* (firmware) on it and therefor “own” the stuff (including the “right” to repair it ).
The mixture of my devices is about 50/50 commercial stuff and diy builds. The mostly widespread stuff around are wall switches, sockets (with and without power monitoring), relays (AC and DC) and a lot’s of crafted stuff in all colors and shapes. Due to the vast amount of supported components I were able to build all the stuff I ever wanted (and never known that I needed ) All have in common that they run on a esp82xx or esp32’s and are supercharged to the maximum with esphome
These are also good reasons for me to have (almost) exclusively line powered devices around.
Someone might even find out that ( powered) “low power z-yx devices” does not only have higher yearly energy costs () than ( live line powered) “not so low power esp device” but that they (over all calculated) potentially even produce more emissions beside solid waste () than just using the good old live line (hopefully powered from locally harvested regenerative energy sources)
I’ve a esp8266 with my own code that is the more reliable than any other that I’ve used. it’s based on BRUH meteo station and seated in main hall of the house, and it triggers the ceiling light with movesensor . it’s working now for 4 years without break … super rock solid
Sure about that? I would consider HA itself already (advanced) DIY.
Due to the fact that you can buy many esp based devices already pre-flashed with “open” firmware (esphome, tasmota) what’s left actually from the good old DIY?
Specially with many devices it’s a real joy (and massive improvement) having a easy management of the devices - like a update all function or sharing configurations between nodes - features that most commercial solutions lack (because you don’t “really” own* that stuff even when you are able to control it locally)
*in terms of being able to change/repair stuff (so essential access to sources and means to put changed/new code on the devices you have in your hand )
Just browse the forum and count the threads starting with “I’m new to HA” to grasp that HA has gone mainstream
If in any doubt, the latest blog of baloob about “Streamlining the experience” is an indication that, although a bit of wishful thinking imo, HA is not supposed to be DIY anymore.
I’m not aware of any other solution that is that complex and involves so much dedication (aka DIY) than ha actually. For me this is the most DIY software I came across the last 5 years
And why they are all posting? Aren’t they fluent in DIY yet?
If you don’t do it yourself in ha then home assistant will not do it for you
Are you sure?
And what will be DIY anyway if you just buy ready (pre-flashed) devices?
I came across this discussion and want to add my 5 cents. What if some people use HA exactly for its open well documented ecosystem to be able to enjoy themselves with DYI projects? I believe there is more such users than 1%. Say 10%? The effort to make HA more closed is only to protect 90% of its users from shooting themselves in the foot. Otherwise, it allows manual installation and the ability to add own things.
The majority of “smart” device brands aim to create closed ecosystems to prevent compatibility with other brands. Only a few are known to allow easy flashing of third-party firmwares. And systems like HA attempt to solve the problem of bringing them all and making them live together. Well that is fairly complicated problem and we cannot expect that it is solved without implicit complexity.
So, HA has places for first-class passengers, willing to spend more money for more comfort and using a closed ecosystem in their first-class cabin. In the same time there are places in the back of this aircraft. We enjoy more democratic way of making our trips.
I doubt that this is a proper first class. You can spend lot’s of money for a closed ecosystem but you will nether really “own” it or have the right to “repair”/“update” your hardware. That said a user might than rather go the cloud all approach that run’s on other peoples computer and doesn’t include fiddling with own hardware or ha.
On the other hand I must say I feel like being in the first-class cabin with my (maybe soon 100) esphome nodes an ha. Just joy forever, rock solid, super easy management and a no code approach (I’m no programmer, so that’s a important one for me). Reproducible builds are no problem (which might be one the biggest differences to tasmota) and to deploying a completely new device is done within in minutes once you did that a couple of times.
Btw. esphome is not limited to wifi but also supports ethernet. If the hardware (esp32’s all have it) allows it you can also make use of BLE and if you are a little adventurous (not stable yet) you could utilize the integrated wifi hardware to communicate over esp-now (direct esp to esp communication)
Because esphome (running on esp82xx/esp32’s) is one of the few system that allows you controlling it somewhat completely, it’s easy to gather statistics about reliability (connectivity, uptime, etc.)
The uptime of my devices typically concludes with the last power outage or tripping of the RCD/RCCB
You can also monitor the signal of all your esphome devices easily
And even (if you are down that road) send errors or warning (logs) from your device to a ha sensor so you know whats wrong with your device without even touching it (or fiddling with serial)…
I really wonder if there is any other solution out there which allows anything close from the features esphome has to offer and at the same time is not some sort of a golden cage.
Could you please elaborate a bit on this point? I am interested to hear your “no programmer” opinion on how esphome compares to tasmota (even it may sound a bit off-topic)
Main differences are the approaches each of this “ecosystem” have. Tasmota tries a one binary (actually the last time I had a look on github they actually had 99 different binaries) to rule them all (esp based devices). Due to that nature you need to use the web interface for configuring stuff (sensors etc.). Space is always rare on tasmota (because of that approach) and ota updates often need an intermediate update with a minimal.bin
I used tasmota (espurna, espeasy,…) quite a lot before esphome was around the corner and I (painly) remember the hours waisted configuring the esp’s ,loosing settings, configuring again and still not being able that one device behaves exactly like another.
The approach of esphome is different as it does not try the one binary to rule them all but on the opposite crafting custom binaries for each and every node for you with it’s configuration “burned in”. The only " job" you have is creating a yaml with your configuration (wifi, sensors, etc.) and let esphome do all the magic (validating, downloading dependencies, compiling, flashing)
What you get is typically rock solid and the esphome dashboard makes the management of all your esphome nodes a one-stop-shop.
If you ask me ditch all this z-wave-bee-whatever thingies as (IMHO) they are mostly overpriced but most importantly they don’t give you the freedom/right to really own/repair/update the hardware yourself (which most people sadly don’t care about…)
I actually use ESPHome for many things but never considered it an option for switches and sockets, more for specialty solutions. Not to say that I couldn’t rig up some method of a switch using an ESP, something to ramp down the 120V line to 5W and the rest, but that’s probably more DIY than I think is particularly necessary given the wide array of ready made equipment out there.
It’s interesting that using POE is mentioned, I’m not certain how you can run ethernet, let alone POE right next to a 120V line in a small outlet or switch box and not have issues but it’s cool that you have found a way to get them to work together easily.
Thank you for caring to answer my question. As I am always a passenger of economy-class it is curious to know what first-class people think. Clearly, YAML-style is more comfortable for non-programmers and as soon as you are happy with your setup and can easily manage your huge stock of IoT devices it is great. I agree that it would not be possible with Tasmota that easy. And also I agree that smart device makers resist in all possible ways when users try to release their products from their leash. But competition creates wonderful pieces of hardware and it would be stupid to let it always keep that leash on.
Well, if you think about the number of IoT devices you could collect at your home. Wireless network allows adding new devices quite painless. Even if POE use is possible with ESPhome, think about POE capable network switch and cabling of your existing household. The price tag will be multiples of $50. POE well suits to security cameras, as they may transfer significant amount of data, some remote locations like video doorbells where your WiFi may not reach, etc.
Perhaps POE feature itself triples the cost of each device.
I already have 2 or 4 ethernet ports in every room. I think in total almost 600m cat6a cable in a not very big home. It was a new house so I made sure it was future proof. I have many devices, but I only need 6 to 10 esp32’s to replace everything I have now. Maybe a bit more if I use a board per room. This means I only need 1 extra POE switch with 8 ports, or maybe 16 ports.
I use the Olimex esp32-poe-iso board which is quite expense for an esp32 board.
I have dedicated tubes in the wall for ethernet and never combine it with power cables (240V).
There will always be some wifi devices, but as few as possible. With an access point on every floor and outside the wifi is very good, so that is not the problem.
Well it’s not code compliant in pretty much any western country as far as I’m aware. And there’s good reasons for that as I can confirm from personal experience. I ran a CAT6 run next to a (relatively high powered) 230V line for a lock sensor on my main door. It ran parallel to the power line for a couple of meters behind the drywall. No really other way to do it, old house, etc. The CAT6 was connected to a non-PoE switch on one side that was turned off (power supply disconnected). Just after crimping an RJ45 plug onto the other side of the cable I touched the connector pins while handling the cable. It gave me a very noticeable tingling sensation. The port the cable was plugged into the switch on the other end was dead after that. All that was due to induction from the nearby line power cable. I ripped out the CAT6 right after.
I’m very happy with my z-wave-bee-whatever things. They work. They’re reliable and they work with a battery change every 2 to 3 years. They come in a well designed and visually attractive case. And I really can’t be bothered to DIY all those convenience devices if I can get them off the shelf and they do what I expect them to do. Of course I DIY a lot of my devices too (but not with ESPs), but only those were I can’t find an appropriate off the shelf solution that satisfies my needs. Oh and they’re not wifi. That alone is a huge plus for me.
Oh and talking about ESP, is the Espressif wifi stack finally open source now or is it still that mysterious binary blob they refuse to talk about, especially when it comes to possible backdoors and vulnerabilities ?
Are you aware of that most esp based tuya products (probably one of the biggest white label manufacture out there) are compatible with esphome and tasmota?
This are a couple of devices I have around all powered by esphome
Actually you will find all of these in databases for devices compatible with esphometasmota (which mostly even include templates for a quick start ). Also to mention the unsupported devices which just recently helped me avoiding landfill by not buying a incompatible product
Part of my curiosity, since I know it’s not code and will cause problems running parallel to power, not to mention the potential of blowing up your equipment.
I am, just not aware that they support POE running right into the same box as 120/240V. Wifi they can get away with, so it surprises me they have an ethernet port wired on the back with the high voltage.
.
).
) All have in common that they run on a esp82xx or esp32’s and are supercharged to the maximum with esphome 
powered) “low power z-yx devices” does not only have higher 
yearly energy costs (
) than (
live line powered) “not so low power esp device” but that they (over all calculated) potentially even produce more 
) than just using the good old 
or sharing configurations between nodes - features that most commercial solutions lack (because you don’t “really” own* that stuff even when you are able to control it locally) 
)
for the most scalable solution → 
all approach that run’s on other peoples computer and doesn’t include fiddling with own hardware or ha.
). Also to mention the 