Projects · Exploring
Home automation.
Automated and secure home management. Sensors, roller shutters, heating, lighting, security and robots each come with their own app; the goal is for them to work together, with a constant eye on energy spending.
Connect everything
One hub, every device.
Home Assistant, installed on my Synology NAS, becomes the place where every device reports what it knows and receives its orders.
Sensors
Temperature, humidity, opening, motion, all around the house.
Roller shutters
Open, closed or half-way depending on the time, the sun and the season.
Heating
Settings per room, eco mode when away, warming up before you come home.
Lighting
Moods, all-off, presence simulation.
Security
Alarm, detectors and phone alerts, armed depending on presence.
Robots
The Roborock vacuum and the Mammotion mower, started at the right time.
Energy
Overall and per-use consumption, tracked over time.
Recommendations
What the house suggests: a window left open, a setting that uses too much.
Synergy
Rules that combine devices.
The point is not to control each device remotely, but to make them react to one another. A few examples:
- When
A window opens, the room’s heating turns off until it is closed.
- When
Everyone has left, heating in eco mode, lights off, alarm armed, and the Roborock does its round.
- When
The sun beats on the south side in summer, the shutters come down half-way: the house stays cool without air conditioning.
- When
Dry lawn and no rain forecast, the Mammotion mows, preferably when nobody is in the garden.
- When
Motion at night, alarm armed, lights on, shutters open and an alert on the phone.
- When
Consumption goes above the usual, the house flags the device involved and suggests a setting.
A typical day
What the house would do on its own.
Example scenarios for a weekday. They will be adapted to real habits.
- 6:45
Heating goes up in the bathroom and the kitchen before waking up.
- 7:30
The shutters open, unless it is still dark.
- 8:30
Nobody home: heating in eco mode, lights off, alarm armed.
- 9:00
Empty house: the Roborock vacuums and returns to its base.
- 14:00
Strong sun: the south-side shutters close half-way.
- 16:00
Dry weather: the Mammotion mows the lawn.
- 18:00
Return announced: alarm disarmed, the house warms up again.
- 22:30
“Good night”: shutters closed, lights off, heating lowered, alarm in night mode.
The approach
Five steps, without changing everything.
- 01
Take stock
List the sensors and devices already installed, their apps and how they communicate (Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Matter, online services).
- 02
Install Home Assistant
Set up a Home Assistant instance, widely used open-source software, on my Synology NAS: it brings the devices together and runs at home, without relying on an online service.
- 03
Connect the devices
Integrate sensors, shutters, heating, lighting, security, Roborock and Mammotion one by one, and check that each reports its data.
- 04
Write the rules
Start from real habits and create rules that combine devices, testing them one by one.
- 05
Measure and recommend
Track energy spending and let the house suggest settings, using an AI model, hosted at home if possible.
Points of attention
Ground rules.
- Security first. Home Assistant will not be exposed directly on the internet: remote access will go through an encrypted tunnel, with protected accounts.
- Privacy. Presence and habit data stay at home, and none of it will be published here.
- Work without the internet. Essential automations, the alarm first, must keep running if the connection or an online service goes down.
- Compatibility. Not every device speaks the same language: some will go through their online service, others through a local bridge.
- Stay in control. Every automation must be overridable by hand, from the wall switch as from the phone.
Progress
Section open, project taking shape.
First step: take stock of what exists, then install Home Assistant on the NAS. Choices and setups will be presented here; non-public elements require private access.