Home Assistant Podcast

Greg Martin, a passionate homebrew enthusiast and electronics guru, shares insights on building brewery control systems using ESPHome and Home Assistant. He explains how he retrofitted Modbus PIDs for seamless temperature and pressure control. Greg also reveals his journey into brewing automation, turning his project into a scalable business. Discover innovative uses of AI for metering, clever home automations like fish-feeding sensors, and how he celebrates sports at home with dynamic LED lights. His expertise blends brewing with automation for a smarter setup!

Discover the exciting new features of Home Assistant 2025.11, including an upgraded Automation UI and a snazzy target picker. Dive into the new Energy pie chart that uncovers insights for better energy management. Learn about the retirement of Home Assistant Yellow and the shift towards mini PCs. Explore the latest integrations, from SwitchBot to smoke and CO detection. Plus, hear the hosts debate the Plex UI and privacy issues, and share tips on energy monitoring and smart plug troubleshooting.

Join Dave Slusher, a seasoned podcaster and smart home enthusiast, as he shares his journey through home automation. He dives into the challenges of building a reliable Zigbee mesh and his year-long quest to perfect a Z-Wave mailbox sensor. Discover how Dave replaced a malfunctioning garage door opener with RATGDO and ESPHome. He also unveils his creative use of e-ink displays as Home Assistant dashboards and explores clever automations to tackle peak electricity pricing. Perfect for DIY lovers and tech enthusiasts!

Chris, a home automation enthusiast originally from Canada and now living in Auckland, shares his candid journey from starting with Philips Hue lights to embracing Home Assistant for energy-saving automations. He recounts the challenges of multiple bridge setups, motion sensors, and various frustrations like Roomba failures. Chris also discusses the migration to adaptive lighting, the importance of choosing the right protocols, and how he optimized appliance use around a free power hour, all while navigating his family's unique needs in this tech-savvy home.

Achim Haug, founder of AirGradient and an open-hardware advocate, shares his journey from a volunteer project in Northern Thailand to creating a mission-driven company. He discusses the critical need for air quality monitoring tools during the 2019 burning season. Achim highlights the transition to open-source hardware, emphasizing repairability and user ownership. He also details collaborations with UNICEF for air quality forecasting and reveals future plans for new devices and features, showcasing the power of community and open culture.

Join psychologist Josh Burg, who transitioned from Google Home to a local Home Assistant setup. He shares insights on automating his home with Philips Hue, discussing innovative lighting projects and motion sensor challenges, especially with his cats. Josh also dives into local vs. cloud hosting concerns, exploring responsive technology and the community's influence on his journey. Plus, he reveals his plans to self-host media and enhance automation with AI, all while highlighting the importance of a reliable and secure smart home.

Discover the exciting bilingual voice support in the latest release, allowing users to switch languages with ease. Explore improvements in the automation editor and a new AI image generation service for creative use cases. Learn about the Philips Hue partnership with Sonos, enhancing voice control for lighting systems. Delve into updates on Lutron's multi-tap actions for innovative automations and hear about the latest features for energy monitoring and driveway gate detection using LLM Vision.

Gimmy Chu, CEO of Nanoleaf, dives into the world of innovative smart lighting. He shares the inspiring origin story of Nanoleaf, from solar car roots to a successful Kickstarter campaign. Gimmy discusses the importance of an open API for community engagement and how AI is shaping the IoT landscape. With insights on using his home as a testbed for product innovation, he reveals the challenges of commercial vs. consumer lighting, and teases future advancements with Matter and energy-efficient solutions.

A guest shares their inspirational journey of building an accessible smart home, featuring innovative projects like a ChatGPT-powered smart mirror. The discussion highlights unique challenges faced by individuals with vision impairments and the role of smart lighting in enhancing visibility. Insights on using voice assistants, integration with Apple products, and practical automation solutions are explored. Personal stories from the community emphasize how technology can improve accessibility and everyday living challenges, inspiring innovation and shared experiences.

Join Tsvi Mostovicz, the developer behind Home Assistant's Jewish calendar component, as he shares insights into creating Sabbath-compliant automations. He discusses his journey into home automation, highlighting the balance between technology and religious practices. Tsvi delves into challenges like integrating various devices and the importance of community-driven projects. He also envisions the future of smart home technology, sharing hopes for advanced features and improved user interactions in automation.