• 22 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 10th, 2023

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  • It’s a feature that’s often been requested, but hasn’t appeared yet. The best option out of the box is creating non-Administrator users and then creating custom dashboards and panes per user with only the controls they need.

    But that doesn’t stop a user from poking around still, because they can still access all devices and entities through features like the Logbook - which is always accessible because sidebar items can’t be controller per user.

    There are some HACS bits that might be able to lock things down a bit further, like Kiosk and Guest modes.

    I’ve heard some people get round this by setting up inebriations with Apple/Google/Amazon ecosystem, only exposing the desired entities/devices, and then giving others access to those and keeping them out of Home Assistant altogether.

    It’s a feature set I wish they would add/expand, I’m sure anyone with a home office and mischievous children would agree.









  • thehatfox@lemmy.worldtohomeassistant@lemmy.worldHA Doorbell
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    3 months ago

    I have the G4 Doorbell, it’s worked well as doorbell and camera in both UniFi and Home Assistant.

    I had no luck at all getting it to work with a chime though. I tried several different chimes and transformers and the chime would never work.

    I ended up setting up automations to trigger device notifications and a bell sound on smart speakers to act as the chime instead.





  • Some Zigbee smart plugs and sockets have configurable calibration settings. I have some SmartThings smart plugs that have calibration settings, and I think the new IKEA smart plugs with power monitoring have calibration settings too.

    There are some resellers providing generic Wi-Fi smart plugs pre flashed with Tasmota and calibrated correctly. Not sure where you are located but in the UK I can recommend Local Bytes.

    I’ve also seen people recommend Shelly devices for power monitoring for accuracy. The Powercalc integration developer used to recommend Shelly devices for measuring power use of new devices to create Powercalc profiles.

    I wouldn’t expect too much from accuracy from any of these smart devices though. They are intended for general consumer use to provide general ideas about energy use - they are not scientific instruments and probably shouldn’t be treated as such.

    If you are looking to monitor homelab devices specifically perhaps you should look at a more professional/enterprise PDU instead.

    Remember that to properly calibrate any of these devices you will also need an accurate reference device to calibrate against.





  • I haven’t done any channel optimisation so far, I probably should do. I have the P version of the Sonoff Zigbee dongle, I haven’t tried the E version.

    I’ve also been careful with picking router devices. I’ve tried to avoid router devices that have poor reported compatibility with Aqara. There is a page/thread somewhere online where people were compiling lists of devices that do or don’t play nice with Aqara. IKEA devices apparently work very well with Aqara, I’ve been using their smart plugs wherever I can.

    My Zigbee network also improved a lot when I set up some IKEA plugs in the loft. My house also has thick walls, but it seems Zigbee signal can propagate more easily through ceilings/floors.

    Using quality brand batteries also seems to help a bit, at least from a battery life point of view.














  • I always keep Home Assistant as up to date as possible. Home Assistant keeps improving a lot. Month to month each update goes fairly seamlessly if HA is kept up to date, but the further it falls behind the harder it is to catch back up. Recent optimisation improvements have also made the update process faster.

    If you can make the time it’s worth the effort. Even if you have to “start over” somewhat there is probably a lot you have learned since that you can use to improve your setup.





  • Is it common for apartments to have shared extractor ducts? I’ve never heard of a setup like this before, and it sounds like both a pain in the arse and a potential safety issue.

    Controlling the kitchen fan is probably the easier bit. Depending on the design of the hood, you might be able to control it with a smart outlet or relay. Turn the hood’s switch to always on and control it with the relay. The difficult bit would be sensing when to turn it on.

    Cooking will often produce VOCs, and VOC sensors are easy to obtain, but they are also have other sources that are likely in your own apartment. Maybe try using temperature and humidity sensors int the duct to activate the fan when there is elevated temperature and humidity inside the duct?