My home automation setup has been through many changes over the years. From my simple beginning with X10, on to custom setups with the Arduino UNO, and now with the fantastic platform that is Home Assistant. Technology changes fast, and keeping things working together has always been a pain. Since switching to Home Assistant several years ago, those pains have been gone.

My existing setup is a mix of Z-Wave, WiFi, Ethernet, Modbus, RF, IR, and probably others that I'm forgetting.

My light switches and exterior smart bulbs are all Z-Wave. I really like Z-Wave. The price is a bit more, but you get a device that is certified to a standard. Everything just works with very little setup.

My outlets controlling devices like fans, appliances, etc. are a mix of both TP-Link and Tuya WiFi devices. I much prefer the TP-Link devices, but the Tuya devices are usually cheaper. Both brands are set up to communicate locally and do not require a cloud connection.

My LED strip lights are a custom build using an ESP32 controller running WLED. I only use these for accent lighting / seasonal lighting and for indication of different things around the house such as armed/alarm status of my burg system.

I have a Modbus device using inputs and outputs to control my burg system. The panel I have doesn't have a way to integrate directly to anything so this was the best solution I could come up with . I have outputs that will arm home and arm away, and there are inputs that monitor armed, alarm, and trouble status.

My washer and dryer aren't smart home devices, so I had to come up with something myself. My washer is plugged into a TP-Link smart plug that monitors the current draw from the washer. If the current goes over a certain threshold for more than 2 minutes, we assume that it is running. If the current then drops to zero, we assume it is finished. The dryer has a 120v relay hooked up to the buzzer that shorts an input on an ESP32 board to indicate when the dryer is finished. I had planned on using something like a vibration sensor to tell when it is running, but I ended up not doing that as it wouldn't really be worth the effort. Maybe I'll get to that in the future.

My TVs are a mix of smart and standard TVs. The smart TVs are controlled directly with ADB and the standard TVs are controlled by raspberry pi zeros that control it via HDMI CEC.

My thermostat is an Ecobee device. It is the only cloud dependent device that I have, but there was no real good option for local control that had all the features that I needed at the time. I've never had a problem with their service, but I don't like to rely on another company to exist in order to use my devices. I also have the small room sensors in most rooms to tell me occupancy and temperature. My daughters room is the only one with an extra device since her room doesn't have a vent connected to the main system. I have a Z-Wave thermostat controlling her electric baseboard heat. It is automatically adjusted with the home thermostat depending on occupancy, time, season, etc.

What system would be complete without voice control? I have several Amazon Echo devices around my home. They are all integrated with Home Assistant and also connected with the Alexa Media Player integration for voice announcements for things like laundry, doorbell, alarm system status, emergency alerts, etc. Obviously I can control everything through the web interface or with the mobile app, but the convenience of voice activation, especially for visitors, is worth the cloud connected devices. I do have several several security measures in place like not allowing Alexa disarm my security system just to be safe.

Now, bringing some of my hobbies together, I do have my Icom IC-7600 connected to Home Assistant too. I am using MacLoggerDX to control my radio. That data is passed via a UDP stream to Node Red witch then passes the data to home assistant to be displayed on the UI. I am not doing anything particularly interesting with the data yet, it was more just a test to see if I could. Hopefully I will come up with something fun to do with it soon. If you want more information on this integration, I have a more detailed write up in my "Hacks, Mods, and Guides" section under "MacLoggerDX".

I won't bore you with too much detail so here is a quick list of some of my other devices. This list isn't exhaustive and I'm always happy to share information, so if you have questions, feel free to contact me.

1. Z-Wave temp/humidity/light/vibration sensor in server room

2. Z-Wave flood sensor in basement

3. Axis Ethernet doorbell (Axis integration and ONVIF integration)

4. CCURE 9000 and custom PCB for access control and manual override

5. Several different IP cameras from different manufacturers via ONVIF integration

6. Eagle 200 power monitor

7. More info to come soon...