I want to set up some simple programmable buttons to run scenarios at my house and my (elderly) mother's.
Factors:
Wi-Fi enabled houses
I have a background in IT - but only done vaguely intelligent plug and play for the last 10 years.
No hubs existing.
Trying to stay cost effective.
Recommendations?
I have existing home automation scenarios, so pretty easy.
Mum's will be all new, but the most important one will be one that sends an alert of some sort to me on activation.
Could you tell us more as what you’re looking to control? Lights? Power switches? Something else?
I have built and tested quite a few components in my own house so when it came to my mother we just did Hue for lights. Yes, they’re more expensive but I have also not had an issue with one nor the bridge in over 13 years. So I would say they’re worth it compared to IKEA stuff which lasted about 3 years all 30 lights I bought. The things you run remote has to be super stable. I mean, re-linking 30 devices 3-4 times isn’t as fun as it sounds.
Using Hue and connecting it to HA opens up layers of control and functions. Hue has nice buttons to put on walls that can control lights directly but also make things happen in HA.
@jens I'll be linking home Assistant scenarios. So everything will already be programmed into scenarios that work.
My house is currently WiFi lights & Wi-Fi fans - it all works fine.
I'm not looking for Wi-Fi devices, just a smart button solution to run already set up home assistant scenarios.
Once I have a system that's supported then I *may* look to expand it if I can to control other, already existing, devices - like smart blinds. I'll also look into a solution that connects a button with a remote alert. I have no time frame on those. Other solutions exist so they aren't strictly necessary.
Ah ok, you’re just looking for buttons.
The only ones I use with just HA are actually Flic with a Flic hub. For them, I use webhooks to get into HA.
It’s been quite reliable. But I have only used the, for 2-3 years. The biggest drawback is when they’re not used often and the battery runs out. More so with the older button that has a smaller battery. Today, there are several versions to choose from.
The Flic Twist has probably the best battery (dual AAA).
Andrea
Jens Ljungkvist