happyborg4d ago

Dipping my toes into #HomeAutomation starting with a couple of #Sonoff temp/humidity sensors + Dongle Lite to use with my laptop and #HomeAssistant before having a dedicated hub.

That's £51 so ok to play and get the basics.

Got any thoughts or suggestions?

Home Assistant Green looks good for a dedicated hub but at £150 a bit much until I've tested the basics out. This is for a house I'm not living in yet so monitoring is all I need.

Show threadhappyborg4d ago

If the above goes well and I add a dedicated hub I'll probably use an old mobile with cheap broadband plan as a hotspot to allow remote access as I don't have broadband.

Does #HomeAssistant help handle IP address changes by the mobile ISP?

I have in the past hacked my own and could do that again, but wonder if this supported as it must be a common requirement for this kind of setup.

Or wait, do folk use a mobile app over the internet when not at home (with privacy)?
#HomeAutomation

Show threadTim M
@happyborg I just use an old R Pi (booting off a decent quality USB stick as ever so slightly less prone to corruption than SD cards) and run Tailscale for remote access - easier now there's an integration to install/manage it within HA
Mar 24 at 10:05pmWeb
Show threadhappyborg3d ago
@schmerg thanks. What kind of things do you use HA for?
Show threadhappyborg3d ago
@schmerg I got carried away and ordered a refurbished  mini PC.
Show threadTim M3d ago
@happyborg I have small Intel N100 box that I'm planning to move it to Real Soon Now
This sort of thing
https://blog.alexellis.io/n100-mini-computer/
I Bought An N100 Mini PC, Then Another

Exploring the capabilities of the Intel N100 Mini PC for work and self-hosting as an alternative to public cloud.

Alex Ellis' Blog
Show threadhappyborg3d ago
@schmerg I hadn't heard of ProxMox until this thread and now I feel the pull of that rabbit hole and can imagine adding multiple mini PCs and whatever keeping me warm in winter.
Show threadTim M3d ago
@happyborg Yeah.. I use Tier1 for sourcing my refurbished Thinkpads and considered a mini PC from them but the N100 was cheaper (tho I do have discount codes for Tier1)
https://tier1online.com/collections/refurbished-desktops?sort=price-ascending&stock_status=true
Refurbished Desktops

Show threadhappyborg3d ago
@schmerg I just went to ebay  These things are so cheap anyway. I'll keep Tier1 in mind if I start to fill that room. 🙂
Show threadTim M3d ago
@happyborg A few things on smart plugs with schedules and manual override (coffee machine, heaters in the studio), pulls in weather forecast, tube status, live departures, family calendar & bin schedules, home/out status (by phone presence)
ie mostly a "by the front door status dashboard for when I'm about to head out or just getting home"