We have an offer on the table for pretty much the same set-up, less the water heater, for £8,500 installed. Planning on using Octopus Go for £0.08 per kWh evening off peak charging to fill fully charge the battery and charge the EV. I reckon payback should be just under 8 years. I wonder if this comment will age. Thanks for the informative video.

Nice video, clear explanation. Subscribed. A timer helper might be useful here as well, which can be reset upon vibration and when reaches zero the announcement follows. With the HACS timer-bar card you can nicely display the remaining time on the dashboard.

Love this. Does the virtual switch have to be reset to “off” state to function again or does that happen automatically?

Nice. Sometimes you get the whole thing right from the start, but most of the time you tweak and improve until it does just what you want. Your next challenge, should you accept, is to only have the announcement sound in a room that you or Lizzie are in, rather than throughout the house 😉.

Nice video. I would really like a video about the PC shutdown too, have a NAS running that would be nice to shut it down, when not in use, and save a little on the electricty bill. Keep up the good work.

Just in time, I have Third Reality's new Zigbee Plant moisture sensor en route for delivery right now.

Do you need the dashboard toggle as a condition, could you not have the automation turned off from the dashboard

Do you use this Meaco unit to treat the air in the whole house? Very helpful video btw, thanks!

Great video, clear and quick. I have very basic knowledge of pc's but would like to set this up. Can I do this with WiFi or does it need a kabel connected to the Internet?

This is a great idea!

Thanks for sharing, great idea 👍

First 😊

Do you have any cycle data for those 2.5 years? How hard you cycle them? Batteries don't just switch off after 15 years, they slowly get worse over time resulting in being cycled even harder

All good fun, but you did not elaborate on the sizing of the battery. Did you make any calculations before going for 9.2kWh, or you simply got it, because that size was available??

Alert about light is not triggered when sun goes down but when plan does not receive enough light during the day. Can you specify which device you are using? What I hate about aliexpress is that you can't sometimes tell the difference. There is this black one that says "Ordinary version - no app indicator light, no smart" (so how that works?), you seems to have 2x more expensive white, which is named "global version" - is that the one? It would be also great to know whether it uses capacitive sensor or resistive sensor, because resistive one is not healthy for your plant - it basically corodes over time

Thanks for this great video ! Going to order a couple of the sensors and see if it can help me to keep my plant alive 🙈

Great video mate!

Nice Integration 👍 Are you using multiple solenoid valves to group different types of plants??

Have you had a look at what the boys over at Apollo Automation are up to? Their new m'T'r-1 can track multiple people, and has 3 adjustable zones. My house has line of sight from the back door entryway, through my office area, and into the kitchen. All of the lights in these areas are covered by one sensor. It works great most of the time. Highly recommend.

I like the choice of the longer rope light, with the smaller board. Your friends are going to have to get pretty creative to create phallic outlines.

Great vid, just subscribed! I'm sure you're already aware of it, but HASS.Agent lets you pull a bunch of info from Windows into HA, including which application is in focus. Might be good alternative to automate your button press for your office lights.

No Cornetto? I have a similar stretch automation to dim the office lights when it’s been over 90 minutes of me being sat in the chair. Forces me to stand up and walk over to a NFC tag the other side of the room to cancel the lights turning off.

Can you point me in the correct direction that will lead to me having a similar weather card to yours?

I saw on your HA screen shot you have Zigbee2MQTT. I have a few Aqara devices, but I can't figure out to connect them to HA. All the you tube videos are old and the screens and options are no longer available. Any thoughts or links to how to do it in 2024?

I use them for several things. I have two in my mailbox, one on the slot and one on the door. When we get mail we get a notification on our phones. One led strip in our halleay turns blue, I also have one IKEA lamp that turns blue that we can see when we enter our driveway. When we open the door to empty the mailbox we get a new notification and our lights are turned off. I have one connected to my old doorbell. Did solder some wires instead of the magnetic switch. When the button gets pressed the sensor will activate a notification, ring on my Eufy Homebase and send a picture from my security cam to my Smart Displays (and phones). I have a contact sensor on my robotic lawnmower. If it doesn't return to the dock within 90 min I get a notification that it's stuck. I use them for all my doors as an alarm, it also turns on lights in out hallway when we open the door. I have one on our hatch to the attic, to turn on lights.

Great idea. Does the dehumidifier turn on straight away from the socket or does it need the power button to be pressed ? I have a meaco one but I have to manually push the power button to turn it on even if the smart plug is turned on.

I'm just getting in to Home Assistant, and it's a steep learning curve. Your videos help. I've ordered a couple of the MMW sensors; could you give a link to the PIR sensor you are using, too. I think I'll be keen to have some sensors that run on batteries, as well. Thanks a lot.

How to power these ones? Any link ?

Just a tip: For one ledstrip you should always use GPIO2, only if you are using two ledstrips on the same controller, you also are using GPIO5.

Great idea 👍

Just seen a bunch of your videos, good content, so you have a new subscriber. One small remark, I find the background music somewhat to loud. Have a great day.

can you add the code for the fish been fed ?

Cornetto should be a sponsor 👌 Seriously though, the humidity here in the Ohio Valley is brutal during the summer, so this has come at a great time as I am just starting to automate my house with Home Assistant.

I like it. It’s a good idea. I use a smart plug to only let mine run when I have solar working, but it’s a good idea to add your idea of empty it before it sets too long. Keep up the good smart homework.

Great video, and great ideas! I use contact sensors everywhere. On closet doors to control lights is a favorite.

Did you make the ladder to the attic? Looks like a generic telescopic ladder with some custom brackets?

@BensSmartHomeIdeas 2:05 Liking some of the contact sensor ideas, but could you possibly guide me to the integration and card you used for the 5 day weather in your overview dashboard?

I use a PIR to turn on the lights and a presence sensor to keep the lights on in my office. Sometimes I was sat in a meeting not moving enough for the PIR to register my presence that the light would go off. Not any more. With the sensitivity dialed right down, the presence sensor only picks up motion in my office and not when I walk past.

Nice job..I have a fish tank so might be setting what u have done...I'm away most of the time and my partner forgets to feed my fish...nice way to know 😅

Any recommendations whether to use Google smart speakers or Amazon to have a "smart siren" that can tell for example whats happening. Like a "break-in in progress" or "fire in living room" etc.. I was thinking for a siren but perhaps add few speakers aswell ? Echos or Nest mini's

I wonder if that cheaper sensor is supported by ZHA instead of zigbee2mqtt…

That standing desk automation is a great idea. Being brand new to Home Assistant - literally 2 days since I installed my Home Assistant Green device - I am gobsmacked at the possibilities. My automations are basic motion activated lights right now, but your desk idea is one I’m going to implement, as I sit way too much for my day job. Great video! Subscribed.

Hey Ben, nice video! Keep them coming! For your automation instead of checking for each person in a zone, you could also trigger when the 'count' of people in the zone is 0 or more than 0. This means you wont need the extra condition to check if the other person ia still home.

the big box for the aquara sensors really bothered me as well!

Hi, I love your videos on smart home devices. I work for a company that specializes in these products and would like to discuss a collaboration with you. Could you please share your email address?let me know the best way to contact you? Thanks!

Great sharing.

Great to see a new home assistant KZbinr! Great video

I followed the steps but I can not get the Alarmo to show on the left column like yours shows?

Nice, looking forward to more - like the level of detail.

Love the video! Do you have any plans on showing us how you might go about modelling the clips?