Home Assistant : Q&A, Tips & Tricks, Your Configs

Thanks but still getting there and seen systems way better than mine..
Alarm system is paradox and connected via prt3 module and then hosting a docker which send to MQTT broker
Hikvision NVR runming via ffmpeg integration as I cant get Onvif integration working
Gates/garage opening done via paradox
Lights are on shelly
Aircon is a ducted system with advantage air controller being controlled via json
Solar system is has a victron CCGX which can communicate via the MQTT broker or modbus. Cant remember offhand which one I landed on at the end..
Irrigation is opensprinkler.. Running the software as a docker on the server and then setup remote control stations using arduino with two 8 channel relays
Think those are the main things for now.. Ill give an update whenI get back into it in a month.. Busy painting and flooring the house at the moment :)
 
S
JacoBushy said:
Some of my dashboards:
Running Hassio on as VM on Virtualbox on Lenovo Desktop PC Windows 8. Mainly using MQTT
All lights Sonoff devices flashed with Tasmota, power monitoring using POWs.
Using Node-red for all my automations.
Hikvision camera system
Opensprinkler on a pi-zero
Paradox alarm system integrated with PAI, using PIRs for motion sensors
First display is the tablet display in the living room
View attachment 859407
View attachment 859409View attachment 859395View attachment 859403View attachment 859397
Click to expand...
Stunning... I also struggle for ideas on how to improve layouts, and some great choices here. Some questions if I may:

What are you using for your fans?
Your "Guest Off" - is that to enable/disable guest wifi?
Have you created the layout via GUI or editing YAML?
 
Wowsers. I have a long way to go to get dashboards looking like that .

My setup, Hass being rebuilt as VM. Need to steal some great ideas from yourselves for dashboards. My wife will then use it.

Today, aiming to link Paradox alarm

In my house:
Philips Hue Lights Colour / White (passage, study, etc)+ Strip light (Lounge)
Sonoff Strips lights (Kitchen, Pool Wall)
Sonoff Tasmota - on all big appliances , geysers, pool, gate/garage with select having power monitoring
Power monitoring via efergy
Wifi / network: Full Ubiqiti setup
Apple TVs , Firesticks, Alexas

Next steps:
Wireless door sensors for some doors
temperature monitoring inside house
irrigation - but need to install everything first
CCTV - wondering if I need to upgrade to IP based cameras
Aircons
 
SAguy said:
S

Stunning... I also struggle for ideas on how to improve layouts, and some great choices here. Some questions if I may:

What are you using for your fans?
Your "Guest Off" - is that to enable/disable guest wifi?
Have you created the layout via GUI or editing YAML?
Click to expand...

Thanks, lockdown helped with giving me time to get to all my ideas.

I got iFan2's from Smartkit flashed with Tasmota and using the following MQTT in my config:
fan:
- platform: mqtt
name: "TV Fan"
state_topic: "Living_Fan_2/stat/RESULT"
speed_state_topic: "Living_Fan_2/stat/RESULT"
state_value_template: >
{% if value_json.FanSpeed is defined %}
{% if value_json.FanSpeed == 0 -%}0{%- elif value_json.FanSpeed > 0 -%}2{%- endif %}
{% else %}
{% if states.fan.tv_fan.state == 'off' -%}0{%- elif states.tv_n.state == 'on' -%}2{%- endif %}
{% endif %}
speed_value_template: "{{ value_json.FanSpeed }}"
speed_command_topic: "Living_Fan_2/cmnd/FanSpeed"
payload_low_speed: "1"
payload_medium_speed: "2"
payload_high_speed: "3"
command_topic: "Living_Fan_2/cmnd/FanSpeed"
payload_off: "0"
payload_on: "2"
qos: 1
retain: false
speeds:
- low
- medium
- high
Click to expand...

The guest function is an input_boolean, but also tracks some family members when they join my network that toggles that button. As an example, my house alarm arms automatically in the evening once all doors are closed and we are home, but if the guest is toggled then the alarm will not arm. So frequent visitors are added as persons using the device tracker from my unifi integration.

Most of my lovelace displays was done with the GUI, but got a bit better with YAML so I do edit here or there where needed. Very reliant on HACS for the frontend
 
JacoBushy said:
Thanks, lockdown helped with giving me time to get to all my ideas.

I got iFan2's from Smartkit flashed with Tasmota and using the following MQTT in my config:


The guest function is an input_boolean, but also tracks some family members when they join my network that toggles that button. As an example, my house alarm arms automatically in the evening once all doors are closed and we are home, but if the guest is toggled then the alarm will not arm. So frequent visitors are added as persons using the device tracker from my unifi integration.

Most of my lovelace displays was done with the GUI, but got a bit better with YAML so I do edit here or there where needed. Very reliant on HACS for the frontend
Click to expand...
Cool... I'm considering the ifans as well. The fan in our bedroom is operated via remote and has a similar little module in it that I could swap out for the ifan.

Wondering how one would use the ifan with an old pull switch type ceiling fan.
 
JacoBushy said:
Some of my dashboards:
Running Hassio on as VM on Virtualbox on Lenovo Desktop PC Windows 8. Mainly using MQTT
All lights Sonoff devices flashed with Tasmota, power monitoring using POWs.
Using Node-red for all my automations.
Hikvision camera system
Opensprinkler on a pi-zero
Paradox alarm system integrated with PAI, using PIRs for motion sensors
First display is the tablet display in the living room
View attachment 859407
View attachment 859409View attachment 859395View attachment 859403View attachment 859397
Click to expand...
Is there value in seeing the status of last runtime of something e.g. 31 minutes ago? I guess it does mean it was used 31 minutes ago?

For your pool pump, how do you define run time? :D
 
InternetLuddite said:
Is there value in seeing the status of last runtime of something e.g. 31 minutes ago? I guess it does mean it was used 31 minutes ago?

For your pool pump, how do you define run time? :D
Click to expand...

I upgraded to 0.111.1, so the system restarted and the switches were not toggled since then. It helps me sometimes with the outdoor lights that were triggered on motion, then I can easily go check on the camera system what happened during the night at that time. But that is almost the only use case at the moment...

Using the history_stats platform:
- platform: history_stats
name: Swimming Pool ON today
entity_id: switch.swimming_pool_pow
state: 'on'
type: time
start: '{{ now().replace(hour=0, minute=0, second=0) }}'
end: '{{ now() }}'
Click to expand...

And then plug it into a template:
- platform: template
sensors:
swimming_pool_on_today_minutes:
friendly_name: "Swimming Today Minutes"
unit_of_measurement: 'min'
value_template: "{{ (states('sensor.swimming_pool_on_today')|float * 60|float)|round(2) }}"
Click to expand...

Did that to determine the TV time, and just used it for the swimming pool and the borehole pump as well. I like the stats. So more for my own pleasure, and when I am on away I can check that the swimming pool ran and the correct schedule was followed
 
Well I got Hass.io finally fired up on a Pi and so far it's been nothing but a frustration.

Silly stuff like accessing the Plex container to add an NFS mount to point it to my NAS has been near impossible and seemingly undocumented.

So much easier to run it "next" to Home Assistant on my UnRAID box.

So at this stage making the switch seems like a silly idea over what I already have up and running quite reliably.

Might make more sense to switch to the Supervisor Docker image instead and keep running that on UnRAID.

Doesn't really help my Load Shedding situation where I was keen to move stuff onto the low-powered Pi, but seems like a better compromise to just live without it then.
 
Concentric said:
I thought i would share my HASS:
My front dashboardView attachment 859241
Network overview(WIP):
View attachment 859243

Home Assistant running as a docker container on Ubuntu 20.04 with MQTT and Appdaemon is containers as well.
Ubuntu is a VM on my HP Microserver Gen 8 running ESXI 6.5

TV/FAN/AC control is done via a Broadlink RM mini.
All lights are done via qualitel bulbs running tasmota.
Custom components are the currency converter (shown above), and petrol price(not really using at the moment.), and the esxi component for vm reports.
Bedroom lamp and study fan are sonoff basics with tasmota.

Automations via Appdaemon:
Location notifications for when I/the SO get to work, the gym, etc.
Morning lights in the bedroom gradually getting brighter.
Lights in living areas turn on when it gets dark

Future plans:
motion detectors, door sensors for occupancy/automation. Going to use zigbee2mqtt. Still waiting for the zigbee stick. Stuck in customs.
Integrating my robot vac - no integration currently available. Need to get that working.

Thats it (for now)

Id be keen to see some of your set ups/ideas.
Click to expand...
Can you please share tasmota template for qualitel bulbs and the YAML.
 
Cross posting:

But I am trying to connect my IP 150 to the Home Assistant using the PAI module. I know I have fscked up and used the wrong code to connect

It generates this error:
PAI.paradox.paradox - Got ERROR Message: Partition in code lockout (too many bad entries)

Now when I try to use the Insite Gold App, I get "Error - User Blocked due to multiple incorrect login attempts" ..

From the alarm control panel, I can see/manage users and I even changed my code, but that hasn't seemed to help the Insite gold app? Any ideas on how to fix the partition code lockout error - gonna try a reboot of the alarm panel. Hope I don't need to call the alarm guy!
 
InternetLuddite said:
Cross posting:

But I am trying to connect my IP 150 to the Home Assistant using the PAI module. I know I have fscked up and used the wrong code to connect

It generates this error:
PAI.paradox.paradox - Got ERROR Message: Partition in code lockout (too many bad entries)

Now when I try to use the Insite Gold App, I get "Error - User Blocked due to multiple incorrect login attempts" ..

From the alarm control panel, I can see/manage users and I even changed my code, but that hasn't seemed to help the Insite gold app? Any ideas on how to fix the partition code lockout error - gonna try a reboot of the alarm panel. Hope I don't need to call the alarm guy!
Click to expand...

Can you access your panel using Babyware?
 
I personally have never been able to but my alarm tech can even though we use same settings (supposedly). . Waiting for him to check from his side.
 
Update on the pai / paradox issue.

All I needed to do on LCD panel / keypad was to do an arm/disarm which reset that partition lockout error. The problem was when partition lockout was active, even babyware refused to connect.

Now have paradox connected to Hass with Pai, so far pretty good. Using swan connection, seems responsive and insite gold app seems to work too
 
light:
- platform: mqtt
name: "RGBCCT Light"
command_topic: "cmnd/gu1/POWER"
state_topic: "tele/gu1/STATE"
state_value_template: "{{value_json.POWER}}"
availability_topic: "tele/gu1/LWT"
brightness_command_topic: "cmnd/gu1/Dimmer"
brightness_state_topic: "tele/gu1/STATE"
brightness_scale: 100
on_command_type: "brightness"
brightness_value_template: "{{value_json.Dimmer}}"
color_temp_command_topic: "cmnd/gu1/CT"
color_temp_state_topic: "tele/gu1/STATE"
color_temp_value_template: "{{value_json.CT}}"
rgb_command_topic: "cmnd/gu1/Color2"
rgb_state_topic: "tele/gu1/STATE"
rgb_value_template: "{{value_json.Color.split(',')[0:3]|join(',')}}"
effect_command_topic: "cmnd/gu1/Scheme"
effect_state_topic: "tele/gu1/STATE"
effect_value_template: "{{value_json.Scheme}}"
effect_list:
- 0
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
payload_on: "ON"
payload_off: "OFF"
payload_available: "Online"
payload_not_available: "Offline"
qos: 1
retain: false


1:42:21 MQT: stat/gu1/RESULT = {"Time":"2020-06-14T21:42:21","Uptime":"0T01:04:09","UptimeSec":3849,"Heap":27,"SleepMode":"Dynamic","Sleep":10,"LoadAvg":99,"MqttCount":1,"POWER1":"ON","Dimmer1":5,"POWER2":"ON","Dimmer2":100,"Color":"13,0,13,255","HSBColor":"300,100,5","White":100,"Channel":[5,0,5,100],"Scheme":0,"Fade":"OFF","Speed":1,"LedTable":"ON","Wifi":{"AP":1,"SSId":"Roci_IOT","BSSId":"1A:E8:29:57:E4:77","Channel":1,"RSSI":94,"Signal":-53,"LinkCount":1,"Downtime":"0T00:00:06"}}


this thing is going to drive me insane. Since i reset my HASS install i cant get the tasmota gu10 bulbs to work

With the config.yaml it doesnt controls only the white of the bulb and leaves the RGB out. I had to set the command to POWER2

with POWER it doesnt work at all.

heres a copy of the yaml and the state command from tasmota.


screenshot is if discovery is working, basically can control the RGB seperately.


1592172637215.png
 
Last edited:
ok I hope you guys can learn from my mistake or rather, frustration.

I wanted to trigger a light + timer to start whenever front garage door is opened or closed when sun is down.
So this is the trigger, thinking great it will work for going either on or off.
Code: 
- alias: Turn on front garage lights when door opened or closed
  trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.front_garage_door_window

Well, color me surprised to see the light randomly go on for no reason. Even the sensor staying on "off" didn't matter...it triggered.

So I changed the code to:
Code: 
- alias: Turn on front garage lights when door opened or closed
  trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.front_garage_door_window
    to: 'off'
  - platform: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.front_garage_door_window
    to: 'on'

After making it very specific like that, issue solved.

I suspect, whenever the sensor received an update, even to just say it is still the same state, that triggered the initial code and then well you guessed it, actioned the rest of the automation.

Made a similar mistake on a string state sensor, and it also did random unexpected things.

Anyways its all good now, now that I understand this concept of HA. Even if you want to trigger for more than thing, spell it out specifically to prevent random triggers on state update even if the state stayed the same.
 
Ok so I have 4 lights and a geyser setup on eWelink. If I want to flash it with Tasmota, do I have to install Home Assistant to connect to the devices again?

I don't mind flashing it so it doesn't ping chinese servers, I really want to avoid HA though. It's overkill for my needs.
 
F1 Fan said:
Ok so I have 4 lights and a geyser setup on eWelink. If I want to flash it with Tasmota, do I have to install Home Assistant to connect to the devices again?

I don't mind flashing it so it doesn't ping chinese servers, I really want to avoid HA though. It's overkill for my needs.
Click to expand...
You could theoretically just flash to Tasmota and not use HA, but then you are not going to have a decent interface for turning your devices on/off, nor will you be able to use any voice assistant directly with Tasmota.

If you're not keen on setting up a HA server, then I'd suggest sticking to the eWelink app. If security is your main concern then, if you home network setup allows, create a separate vlan and wifi for your IoT devices.

Some of us are more paranoid than others, I lean more towards the overly cautious side, but in reality the risk is probably low of anything untoward happening.
 
I have a mikrotik router from vox, so I should be able to set up Vlan right?

For now it's just lights, geyser and I'm going to add pool pump. The routines on Alexa is enough for me, so HA just seems like alot of work. I will probably add Garage doors, but that should work similar to the other switches. I ordered a Google mini to check if it's better to use. Alexas can be irritating when you have to repeat.

The only bit I'm stuck on is integrating my paradox system into Alexa. Looks like the only way it's been done successfully is via HA.
 
F1 Fan said:
I have a mikrotik router from vox, so I should be able to set up Vlan right?

For now it's just lights, geyser and I'm going to add pool pump. The routines on Alexa is enough for me, so HA just seems like alot of work. I will probably add Garage doors, but that should work similar to the other switches. I ordered a Google mini to check if it's better to use. Alexas can be irritating when you have to repeat.

The only bit I'm stuck on is integrating my paradox system into Alexa. Looks like the only way it's been done successfully is via HA.
Click to expand...
The devices won't communicate with Google Assistant or Alexa directly so you'll need something in the middle to facilitate that (e.g. HA or eweLink).

Putting it in a separate VLAN and using it with eweLink won't stop it from pinging the Chinese servers but it can reduce the attack surface (I always find these concerns laughable because people are fine giving away their data to the US - Google and Amazon :laugh: ).

Paradox does not support Google Assistant or Alexa out the box.
 
chickenbeef said:
The devices won't communicate with Google Assistant or Alexa directly so you'll need something in the middle to facilitate that (e.g. HA or eweLink).

Putting it in a separate VLAN and using it with eweLink won't stop it from pinging the Chinese servers but it can reduce the attack surface (I always find these concerns laughable because people are fine giving away their data to the US - Google and Amazon :laugh: ).

Paradox does not support Google Assistant or Alexa out the box.
Click to expand...

I suppose it's less about security and more about the fact that it has to ping an external server. Especially if they start charging.

I plugged in the IP150 I got, and now have web access. I can't seem to register it on myparadoxhome. Any thoughts on how I can get it into an ewelink app or alexa without having to go the raspberry PI/HA route?
 
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