Looking for a smart plug, but must be extremely reliable. will be used on a treadmill and I can't have it power off unexpectedly. I liked the idea of shelly, but reviews talk about reliability issues.

I'm setting up home assistant on a pc, and thinking of adding smart switches for some rooms.

However, the more i consider all scenarios, the more it gets complicated and seems impossible.

I would really appreciate it if somebody could give some suggestions.

Basically I want to add smart switches that I can randomly turn on and off when I'm away.

However the switches should also allow manual operation at all times so that others including guests are not overwhelmed by smart stuff. The switches should remain operable manually in case home assistant is down for whatever reason. I would also like the state to be maintained in case power goes and comes back.

Are there any switches that allow a hybrid mode, like turn off manually but turn on remotely?

Or are the choices limited to switches that should remain turned on so that it can be controlled remotely? In case of such switches, is it possible to turn on lights manually if they were turned off remotely?

Someone explain to me like I'm a 10-year-old why this is necessary with phones in almost every pocket as well as Alexas and Google Home devices.

I have an Amazon Echo Dot and a third-generation Apple TV. I want to automate my home and set up lighting and pre-defined scenes.
What kind of equipment would you recommend that works with both Apple TV and Alexa?

Could you provide some suggestions? I’m new to this topic.

Thanks in advance.

My Xiaomi MJSXJ10CM (under 2k, bought and paired in India) now streams 1080p HEVC to my own machine and follows people and objects around my room. Not a single frame leaves the LAN. I didn't flash it, open it or downgrade it. It's still on the firmware Xiaomi shipped, 4.5.6_0450.

go2rtc v1.9.14 plus the go2rtc-xiaomi-control patch speaks Xiaomi's protocol. The only thing that touches the internet is a one-time key exchange. Pan/tilt is a single MISS command, opcode 0x112, with operation 1 to 4 for left, right, up and down.

The thing worth knowing if you try this is that the camera's acknowledgement means "I heard you," not "I moved." I measured frame differences every 200ms after a command, and the picture doesn't change for roughly 1.4 seconds. A naive tracker running on 12fps video fires about fifteen more commands before the first one lands, and the camera just convulses. So after every move my loop ignores everything for 2 seconds, which makes the real control rate 0.5Hz. Steps also aren't symmetric: left moves further than right, and one step shifts the frame by 8 to 12%. That forced the dead zone up to 0.18.

Since this is a motor in my bedroom, I built in some brakes: - Tracking is off by default. - Manual buttons cancel automation before the step is sent. - The dashboard sends a heartbeat every 2s. Six seconds of silence and the server stops the camera. - Movement is capped at 20 steps a minute. - Losing the target stops it instead of letting it hunt around.

Detection uses Apple's Vision framework through a small Swift helper, so there are no model downloads. One bug almost got me. Vision uses a bottom-left origin, and if you get that flip wrong, tilt inverts and the camera smoothly runs away from the target.

Earshot turns a spare phone (iPhone/Android) into a listener for your home. Leave it plugged in where the sound happens. When it hears one of the sounds you picked, everyone in your household gets an alert on their own phone.

Sounds to start with: smoke alarm, doorbell, dog barking, baby crying, glass breaking, knocking, car alarm, cat meowing, running water, microwave beep. You can also describe your own in a few words.

The sound is analysed on the old phone itself. No audio, recording or anything made from it ever leaves that phone.

I currently need testers. You can sign up through the website or I can update the post later with a more info (if there is an interest).

Hi all,

I'm in the process of planning a renovation of my kitchen. I started thinking about where and how to integrate smart lights and thought this sub could help. Also, there must be other stuff I could plan for/ integrate.

Do you have any general tips for what to include in my plan? Or any specific products you would recommend that work well for you?

I’m currently building a new house and I want to be able to control my lights with Home Assistant. I currently have a Sonoff Mini R4 installed behind my light switch in my current house. KNX is too expensive for me so I’m thinking about using something similar to the Sonoff thing. I need support for dimming, I also want to be able to control my shutters with these modules. I don’t want it to get too expensive and I’m unsure about whether I should use Zigbee, Wifi, Matter etc. if you have any recommendations for me or need more info about something comment or dm me please

Most of our upstairs is carpet, except for the bathroom, which has tile floors and needs mopping sometimes.

I'm looking for a robot vacuum that can vacuum the carpet and mop the bathroom without getting the carpet wet. Ideally, I'd like to set up each room separately in the app.
I've been looking at a few models but not sure one.

Set the thing up, chose settings and based on reviews and product page said the light could do ambient lighting and brighten when motion for "x" amount of time. Well first day it didnt do that.

Played with some automations, which ive had no problem with Govee lights outside. I think ive messed with every setting possible and it either never turns on, or never turns off, or never brightens with motion and when i go into the app it then shows it in ma ual mode not induction. Does anyone have a setup i could copy into mine to see if it works?

Want:

On at sunset

Ambient lighting (obviously not super bright)

Motion detection brightens to 50-70%

Stays bright 5 minutes

Back to ambient

Off at sunrise.

I have a Reolink WiFi Video Doorbell and the stock chime always bugged me. I already have a perfectly good wired gong in the hallway. That's why I reverse-engineered the RF protocol the doorbell uses to talk to its chime and created my own firmware for an ESP32 + CC1101 radio module.

Important: this emulates the Reolink Chime hardware V2 specifically. The doorbell pairs with it like a real V2 chime. You use the normal "add chime" flow. Older or newer chime hardware revisions may use different protocols and won't work with this.

https://github.com/TheDuffman85/reolink-esp32-chime

What it can do:

• Ring an existing low-voltage gong through a relay
• Or play melodies through PWM/DAC into a small external amplifier
• Or stay completely silent and only send MQTT events
• Follows the ringtone you pick in the Reolink app, so all 10 slots map to 10 local melodies/gong patterns
• MQTT with Home Assistant auto-discovery (doorbell event, ringing sensor, play button, mute, volume, sound selection, diagnostics, etc.)
• Talks to the doorbell directly over RF. WiFi is only used for setup, control, OTA and MQTT, so the chime keeps ringing even if your WiFi is down (or you turn WiFi off entirely)
• Mobile-friendly web UI with a setup wizard, ring history, permanent/timed mute, optional login and web OTA updates
• No compiling needed: there's a browser-based USB installer

Hardware is cheap and simple:

• ESP32-WROOM-32 dev board
• CC1101 module, 868 MHz (EU)
• Optionally a relay module or a small amp

I've tested this with my doorbell (DB_566128M5MP_W) at 868 MHz (EU). Other region presets (US 915 MHz and Asia 920 MHz) are in the firmware but untested and so are other doorbell models. If you're in a region other then EU and want to try it, I'd love feedback!

I’m looking to add a smart lock to my home, but I’m not entirely sure which features I should really be looking at or ones that are actually more problematic than they’re worth?

Any specific features that are must haves or to skip on? Specific model recommendations or ones to avoid?

Some things floating through my head
- I’m not sure I want motorized deadbolt? Kills battery and what if the door isn’t sitting just perfectly where the bolt slides in effortlessly?
- I really like the idea of being able to create codes in the fly AND tracking their usage, as I intend to use it for things like dog walkers. But do I really need to create a code on the fly? I imagine I could somehow just create one in advance and give that one out next when needed? Likewise how often do you actually care/check when a code was last used?
- Are things like fingerprint or apple key seamlessly reliable? I do use an iPhone, though also wear gloves in winter sooo…?
- I currently use a mish-mash (ugh I know) of hubutat and HomeKit, a couple legacy Google home stuff. Idea is certainly so move things to home assistant and extend to HomeKit.