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HK Media

Join hosts Phil Hawthorne and Rohan Karamandi as they explore the newest Home Assistant releases and the latest Home Automation news. Featuring guests who use or contribute to Home Assistant, the podcast aims to inspire new ways to make your home smarter.

Home Assistant Podcast

Josh from Josh’s Smart Home joins Phil and Rohan to unpack a 300-device Home Assistant setup running on Home Assistant Green. We dive into the move from SmartThings, building a reliable Zigbee mesh, energy automations with Tesla Powerwall and a smart pool pump and theatre room presence.

Watch this episode on YouTube

Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA215

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

https://homeassistant.fm/patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:22 - Meet Josh

00:02:18 - Early smart home missteps

00:04:12 - SmartThings and Lutron

00:05:54 - WebCoRE ends, HA begins

00:09:29 - Home Assistant Green setup

00:09:34 - Zigbee mesh with Aqara

00:12:55 - Theater gear quirks

00:14:18 - Theater automation philosophy

00:22:02 - Time-of-use energy automations

00:23:00 - Powerwall + solar in HA

00:26:31 - ROI and arbitrage

00:28:28 - Tesla automations

00:32:42 - Dashboards and voice control

00:37:19 - Washer/dryer and doorbell alerts

00:40:37 - 187 automations, time saved

00:44:20 - Motion and humidity control

00:48:56 - Measuring automation impact

00:50:02 - Smart blinds convenience

00:50:19 - Yarbo mower and snowblower

00:58:43 - Security and utility uses

01:06:59 - Starting Josh’s Smart Home

01:10:27 - Automation content plans

01:12:45 - Top new-build tips

01:15:56 - Designing and building

01:21:26 - Where to find Josh

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com

Products Discussed

Reolink Video Doorbell: https://amzn.to/4a7LIId

Apple TV 4K: https://amzn.to/4prsT7n

Narwal robot vacuum and mop: https://amzn.to/3KgSaSK

UV insect light traps: https://amzn.to/484CNEY

Yarbo robotic core with mower/snow modules: https://amzn.to/3LOtOQV

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

This podcast contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

187 Automations, 300 Devices: Josh’s Smart Home Assistant Journey

YouTuber NetworkChuck joins Phil and Rohan to break down his real-world Home Assistant setup: migrating off Alexa, building a Home Assistant voice assistant (with a Terry Crews voice clone!), wiring Frigate to Reolink cameras, and using UniFi + AI to debug Wi‑Fi chaos. We also compare Node‑RED vs n8n, talk Plex vs Jellyfin and NAS headaches, inventory with Grocy, mmWave presence, ESP32 room presence, and how local AI stacks up against GPT/Claude for home automations.

Watch this episode on YouTube

Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA214

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

https://homeassistant.fm/patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00:00 - Welcome

00:02:30 - Network Chuck’s background

00:06:30 - Discovering Home Assistant

00:10:30 - Toilet paper saga automation

00:14:30 - From Alexa to Home Assistant Voice

00:20:30 - Frigate cameras and Reolink lessons

00:27:30 - Face and plate recognition ideas

00:32:00 - Local AI models vs cloud

00:39:00 - Family adoption and analog rebounds

00:43:30 - Presence, phones, mmWave, ESP32

00:48:30 - Halloween thunderstorm and Plex fun

00:52:30 - Node-RED vs n8n in automations

00:58:00 - Plex vs Jellyfin and NAS woes

01:05:30 - Grocy, inventory, and shopping hacks

01:12:00 - Air quality, energy, and next steps

01:18:00 - Enterprise talk and wrap-up

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com

Products Discussed

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs (dual GPU local AI rig): https://amzn.to/4a5Lf9w

Smart locks: Nuki Smart Lock: https://amzn.to/47VH6nj

Smart locks: Level Lock: https://amzn.to/3XtPdBz

Smart locks: August Smart Lock: https://amzn.to/4id1ovK

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

From Alexa to Assist: NetworkChuck’s Smart Home with Frigate, UniFi, and AI

We’re closing out the final Home Assistant release for 2025 with Frenck and a massive Home Assistant 2025.12. Home Assistant Labs, purpose‑specific triggers and conditions, a smarter automation UI, real‑time power flows in Energy, Android Auto/Widgets improvements, tons of new integrations, and more. Plus hardware talk: ZBT2, Zigbee 4, and Matter.js joining the Open Home Foundation.

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://homeassistant.fm/HA213

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

https://homeassistant.fm/patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00:00 Welcome

00:03:30 Frenck’s streaming cadence and creator burnout

00:06:45 Moving houses: keep or strip the smart home?

00:10:46 EV charger dilemma & e‑waste perspective

00:12:50 2025 recap: guests, sponsors, community

00:15:50 Home Assistant ZBT-2 launch, Zigbee 4 headlines, migrations

00:19:10 Open Home Foundation structure & focus areas

00:22:59 Matter.js joins OHF and why it matters

00:24:59 Arduino policy changes & the ESPHome angle

00:25:34 2025.12 overview and Labs introduction

00:26:44 Home Assistant Labs: opt‑in previews, backups, feedback

00:31:55 Purpose‑specific triggers & conditions explained

00:40:50 New automation UI: target‑first and context‑aware

01:03:17 Home dashboard upgrades & the new For You sidebar

01:13:21 Energy dashboard: live power flows and water devices

01:19:40 Android: Add to Widgets & Android Auto favorites

01:23:13 ESPHome entity IDs standardized for new devices

01:24:17 Pet tech: Tuya litter boxes and assorted updates

01:25:10 OpenAI model update, SQL templates, UI card tweaks

01:27:49 New integrations roundup (Hue BLE, Victron BLE, more)

01:32:18 Template helper deprecation, repairs, migration path

01:35:38 Integration removals: Domino’s & Hive alarm changes

01:36:54 32‑bit/supervised deprecation & migration guidance

01:40:25 CES plans, upcoming episodes

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com

Products Discussed

Home Assistant ZBT2 (Zigbee radio): https://amzn.to/4pLxykT

Lutron Caseta light switches: https://amzn.to/48rNmSN

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

This podcast contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Home Assistant 2025.12: Labs, Smarter Automations, Real‑Time Energy and Frenck

We’re revisiting Courtenay, who was last spoke to on Episode 45 six years ago. She’s here to share six years of Home Assistant progress: moving from Raspberry Pi to Home Assistant Blue, mastering the Energy Dashboard with MQTT, surviving cloud outages on Tuya, and restoring from backups in minutes.

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://homeassistant.fm/ha212

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

https://homeassistant.fm/patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00:00 Welcome

00:01:04 2019 setup recap

00:03:31 Hardware: Blue and N2+

00:06:00 Real‑time energy tracking

00:12:00 Breaker chaos, disaggregation

00:16:30 Dashboards and thermostat

00:22:00 Tuya cloud lighting

00:27:30 Offline behavior, habits

00:29:30 Less YAML, more UI

00:33:30 Backups and restore

00:38:30 Z‑Wave LR range talk

00:41:30 LoRa and Meshtastic

00:42:00 Hubs, Matter/Thread woes

00:48:00 Voice assistants: then vs now

00:51:00 Everyday control patterns

00:55:00 Advice for new users

00:59:30 Recorder and data

01:03:07 Six‑year roadmap and robots

01:06:14 Wrap‑up and contact info

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com

Products Discussed

Raspberry Pi 2 Model B: https://amzn.to/43Dppq4

Ecobee Thermostat: https://amzn.to/3XtOTCR

Shelly energy monitoring clamps: https://amzn.to/488TjDX

Sense Home Energy Monitor: https://amzn.to/4re7oss

Home Assistant Connect ZWA2 (Z‑Wave radio): https://amzn.to/3MfPzsP

Meshtastic LoRa nodes: https://amzn.to/4ihcSyy

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

This video contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

From Pi to Blue, we’re revisiting Courtenay Watson

Go inside the Open Home Foundation with Darren, the web developer behind Home Assistant’s sites. From keeping the various Open Home Project websites online to automating his own home, we cover a lot in this one.

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://homeassistant.fm/ha211

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro, sponsors, Darren’s role

00:07:12 Community contributions beyond code

00:12:30 Remote culture at Open Home

00:20:30 Privacy, cloud devices, risks

00:27:30 Digital IDs and translation dilemmas

00:33:30 Early Home Assistant days

00:38:30 Frigate, cameras, smart automations

00:48:05 NSPanel Pro door previews

00:54:30 Zigbee, Z-Wave, and locks

01:01:00 mmWave presence and zones

01:06:30 ESPHome projects and wrap-up

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to thesmartesthouse.com

Notion

Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one connected space that just works — it’s seamless, flexible, powerful, and actually fun to use. With AI built right in, you spend less time switching between tools and more time creating great work.

Try Notion, now with Notion Agent, at notion.com/homeassistant

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Inside the Open Home: Darren Griffin

Greg joins Phil and Rohan to share how he built a brewery control system with ESPHome and Home Assistant: Modbus PID retrofits, ESP32-based temperature control with one-wire probes and 24V valves, Bluetooth gravity sensors via proxies, pressure management, and full on-site HA installs with PoE satellites.

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://homeassistant.fm/ha210

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro, sponsors, and Greg’s background

00:05:30 From Modbus PIDs to ESPHome brewery control (gravity, pressure, 1‑Wire)

00:10:45 Turning it into a business: pilot installs, testbeds, and scale

00:15:45 Local-first architecture: on-site Home Assistant, PoE satellites, Bluetooth proxy

00:22:30 Hardware talk: Blue/Yellow/Green, mini PCs, RAM needs, migration plans

00:28:00 Home automations: locks, Reolink presence, candles, sump/dehumidifier monitoring

00:35:00 Water and power: AI-on-the-edge metering, overuse alerts, three-phase pumps & contactors

00:42:00 QoL automations: fish-feeding sensor, night stair lighting, backup ideas

00:49:30 Fun stuff: ESPN team goal lights, polling vs. streaming delays, event triggers

00:55:00 Data + reporting: Utility Meter, History Stats, InfluxDB, AI ideas, alerts, wrap-up

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to thesmartesthouse.com

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Brewing With Home Assistant: From Modbus PIDs to ESPHome Fermentation Control with Greg Martin

In this episode Phil and Rohan break down Home Assistant 2025.11. We cover the revamped Automation UI with the new target picker, naming options on dashboards, the new Energy pie chart, update progress indicators, and an upgraded Home dashboard.

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://hasspodcast.io/ha209

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00:00 - Intro, sponsors, livestream

00:02:30 - Open Home news, GitHub

00:06:00 - Eltako joins works with program, Yellow retired

00:12:30 - LinknLink eMotion mmWave sensors hands-on

00:23:30 - AWS outage smart beds

00:27:00 - Plex debate, privacy

00:31:00 - Smart plugs and 3D printers

00:35:00 - Energy monitoring, CT clamps

00:38:30 - 2025.11 automation updates

00:44:30 - Smoke/CO relay project

00:47:30 - New integrations roundup

00:51:30 - Breaking changes, Python

00:54:00 - Neato cloud shutdown

00:56:30 - Wrap-up and outro

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to thesmartesthouse.com

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Home Assistant 2025.11: Improved target picker and energy pie charts

Podcaster Dave Slusher joins Phil and Rohan to share hard-won smart home lessons: building a reliable mesh, solving a 100m mailbox sensor with Z-Wave Long Range and the ZWA2, and retiring MyQ with RATGDO + ESPHome. We also cover using an e‑ink terminal as a Home Assistant dashboard.

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://hasspodcast.io/ha208

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00:00 Welcome

00:01:23 Guest intro: Dave Slusher’s podcasting origin story

00:04:59 Discovering Home Assistant 

00:07:20 Hardware journey: Raspberry Pi 3/4, SD crashes, backups, staying on Pi

00:09:40 ZWA2 portable capability

00:11:10 Zigbee mesh realities

00:13:56 The mailbox quest

00:19:16 Power monitoring the lawnmower + adding Z‑Wave plug to the mesh

00:20:31 Beating peak electricity pricing with calendar‑driven automations

00:24:50 Buying for Home Assistant

00:31:26 Audi e‑tron HACS

00:33:00 ‘Terminal’ e‑ink display

00:41:11 Fun APIs: Domino’s throwback and accidental developer‑friendly brands

00:44:25 Update strategy + restoring from backups when an upgrade breaks boot

00:46:26 Entity naming conventions, device vs entity IDs, and maintainability

00:49:18 The router kill‑switch: renaming a plug and unintended automations

00:52:19 Ping watchdog automation for internet recovery (8.8.8.8)

00:54:58 Labels, documentation, and making a smart home family‑friendly

01:00:00 Selling a smart home: what stays, what goes, and account handoffs

01:02:16 First device nostalgia: Sonoff relay, app sprawl, and converging on HA

01:07:52 Next projects: buying with purpose, reliability over novelty

01:10:00 Mac mini (Linux Mint) homelab, Synology vs Docker, consolidating services

01:12:18 Package tracking with 17Track, long strings, and dashboard rendering

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to thesmartesthouse.com

Notion

Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one connected space that just works — it’s seamless, flexible, powerful, and actually fun to use. With AI built right in, you spend less time switching between tools and more time creating great work.

Try Notion, now with Notion Agent, at notion.com/homeassistant

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Garage Doors, E‑Ink Dashboards, and Entity Chaos with the Evil Genius Dave Slusher

Chris joins Phil and Rohan to share a brutally honest smart home journey: starting with Philips Hue, hitting limits with multiple bridges, battling MyQ and RatGDO, and landing real energy savings with Home Assistant.

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://hasspodcast.io/ha207

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome

01:03 Meet Chris: the ‘reluctant Home Assistant guy’ (NZ/Canada background)

03:00 Hue as the gateway: GU10s, COVID mood lights, buying a house

04:39 Discovering Home Assistant; cost shocks and smart switch vs smart bulb decisions

06:30 Legal wiring quirks in NZ and scoring bulk Hue downlights

08:00 Hue motion/presence, bridge device limits, and Pro Bridge API exposure

09:50 Upgrade cadence, iOS/MacOS betas, and why Shelly bodies didn’t fit

12:00 Daily frustrations: a random red light, Roomba fails, Alexa vs Siri

14:36 Garage/gate saga: MyQ, RatGDO struggles, Grandstream Wi‑Fi, Meross HomeKit fix

20:00 Adaptive Lighting: Hue app vs HA integration; mixed CCT bulbs going ‘red’

26:00 Three points of failure; behavior change, the cleaners’ switch, and one non‑motion room

31:40 Protocol choices: Wi‑Fi vs Zigbee vs Z‑Wave; Matter/Thread pain in practice

36:40 Energy saving wins: free ‘hour of power’, Bosch Home Connect, Hue Tap + TTS

47:06 Simple scenes that matter: spa lighting that won’t trigger floods

51:00 Biggest surprises, time sink, and the idea of HA consultants

53:40 Advice for newcomers: hobby vs lifestyle; draw the line

56:00 Dashboards: new layouts, family tabs, activity timelines, and to‑dos

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to thesmartesthouse.com

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Reluctant Home Assistant Guy: From Hue Chaos to Hour‑of‑Power Wins

Discover the origins of AirGradient, which began as a volunteer project in Northern Thailand during the harsh "burning season" of 2019. Learn how this effort evolved into a company focused on providing open source air quality hardware, measuring critical metrics like PM 2.5 and CO2 to safeguard classrooms

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://hasspodcast.io/ha206

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome

01:04 Meet Achim: From Siemens to Thailand and a Wildfire Crisis

03:20 Burning Season 2019: The School That Sparked AirGradient

07:50 DIY to Open Hardware: Arduino, ESP32, PM2.5 + CO2, and Dashboards

12:24 Values: Repairability, Ownership, and CC BY‑SA Licensing

16:40 Global Takeoff: Hacker News, Jeff Geerling, and the Kit Era

20:16 ESPHome vs Native: Building the Official Home Assistant Integration

32:26 Works with Home Assistant Platinum: Local‑First and Privacy by Default

36:40 Open Culture, Community, and Academia: Why Sharing Pays Back

41:45 UNICEF Laos: ML Air‑Quality Forecasts + Open Map Integration

44:55 Roadmap: Larger Displays, Portable Monitors, and More Pollutants

46:27 Safeguarding the Mission: Foundation Plan (Switzerland)

49:45 Achim’s Home Assistant Setup: Z‑Wave, ESPHome, Geofencing

56:16 Real‑World Use Cases: Factories, Schools, and Ventilation Control

01:01:58 Accuracy Matters: Calibration, Pitfalls, and Transparent Limits

01:05:19 Wrap‑Up and Where to Buy

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to thesmartesthouse.com

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

AirGradient: From Thai Wildfires to Open Source Hardware feat Achim Haug

Rohan and Phil break down the 2022.6 release and celebrate 5 years of the Home Assistant Podcast

For complete show notes and more information about the topics discussed in this episode, be sure to check the notes at

 https://hasspodcast.io/ha109/

Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsor

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS or YAML.

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Hosts

-----

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

2022.6 – Energy Comparisons, Logbook Upgrades and oAuth Onboarding

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