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

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.

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

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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

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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

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