What Is Home Assistant? This is the ultimate beginners guide to start with Home Assistant.

This is the beginner or starters guide for Home Assistant. This video is an introduction to Home Assistant, what it is, and what you can do with it. Including controlling all your devices with only one app, show advanced dashboards, create complex automations, and show professional statistics about your smart home.
So, if you are new to Home Assistant and you want to turn your house from a smart home to a professional intelligent home with home automation, this video is absolutely perfect for you and a must-see!
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See the list of Smart Home devices that I use here:
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The letterbox implementation in Home Assistant is here: • You've Got Mail in Hom...
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If you got enthusiastic about Home Assistant, you can watch these videos too:
* How to install Home Assistant: • The Home Assistant ins...
* Set up automations in Home Assistant: • How to set up Automati...
* Ultimate presence detection in Home Assistant: • Ultimate Presence Dete...
* and many more in this playlist: • Home Assistant
Check my channel for more awesome Smart Home tutorials: / smarthomejunkie
#homeassistant #homeautomation #iot #smarthome

[@circleofowls]

This is by far the best overview of Home Assistant that I've seen, very helpful!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you for the compliment!!!

[@Runehorn]

I started home assistant this year and it's so fun to thinker with this!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Yes, so addictive!

[@Haegemon]

The example of turning on the lights when detecting movement. Can be done easily buying a simple movement detector device. Nowadays all include the PIR sensor and a timer.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Yeah, but that doesn't work for turning on multiple lights or turning on something completely different than a light based on movement.

[@robinmakkus6118]

Starting with home assistant next week. This was a great video. Thanks!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Glad to be of help!

[@aries6776]

This was a great introduction. I'm blown away by what Home Assistant can do.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

And its a really old video. Home Assistant can do a lot more nowadays. You will definately get hooked!

[@aries6776]

@@SmartHomeJunkie That's awesome! My wife will be filing for a divorce shortly! :)

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

@@aries6776 Hahaha!

[@shaunwhiteley3544]

Personally I don’t need this video but for people new to home automation and Home Assistant it was excellent! Thanks and I’m looking forward to more advanced videos in the future 👍. Cheers

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you for your support!

[@pereirabrian]

:-) Left me grinning throughout with the "Sorry I didn't understand". Nice videos. Informative and enjoyable. Thanks. Keep it going.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you for your kind words

[@kellydigital]

WAF is my new favorite acronym

[@kellydigital]

this is a great video - do you have a video or list of all the devices you are using?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Yes! This might be the new Buzz word...

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I can add the list of all the devices that I use in the description. Might take me a day or two 😉

[@kellydigital]

@@SmartHomeJunkie would be awesome to see since I'm planning the next phase of my Smart devices - thanks - I've seen some SH content creators link to a google sheet that they just update as they go so you don't have to paste a huge list in the description...

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Great idea. I will put my device list on my Github 👍🏻

[@cjrd28051994]

Awesome video thank you very much!

[@KeyJayHD]

Off to the races with Home Assistant. I'm transitioning from SmartThings + WebCore to SmartThings now and your videos have been a big help in understanding everything. I really like your master dashboard and I'm trying to replicate (most of) that now while also working on my personal slimed down ones. I don't plan on getting to technical with my implementation, but it certainly is pushing me to try given how much power this thing has (I using HA + Red Node). Anyway, thanks again and wish me luck in doing your Master Dashboard; I just installed HACS as well :)

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you for your kind words and good luck with your Home Assistant journey. It's very addictive! 😉

[@kevall1]

Could you make more videos that cause my Google devices to wake everyone up at 2 am?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Ehm...

[@remkospek746]

Whahaha....! The Wife Acceptance Factor..... So spot on! That was the stuff I am looking for. thanks

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Haha Remko. Yes, very important that WAF.

[@EllandwmcCoUk]

Enjoying this vid, nice work clear, just wondering though are you a millionaire?, opening and shutting windows, that my friend would only happen for me in my dreams but still its good to know all this stuff.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I appreciate your kind words about the video, and I'm glad you found the content informative!

[@denis2381]

Hello Sir, may i ask if you let your HA into the internet? There is an option where u can check https.

[@stephenchurchill3929]

Great

[@onnodekker6799]

Thank you for your clear explanations in the use of home assistant and creating automations. It helped me to make my first automations in HA. Is it possible you do a video about what kind of sensors (hardware) you use in your house? I'd also like to see more about the automations you created. Thank you in advance. Keep up the good work!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thanks Onno! I just started to add a link to every video description that points to all the devices that I use. It's not complete yet, but it might give you an idea already. I will create more videos on automations in the future.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

By the way, did you see my extended video on how to create automations?

[@onnodekker6799]

@@SmartHomeJunkie I found your devices on your Github page. Thank you.

[@toddcoello6461]

@@onnodekker6799 I was just thinking the same thing. I'd like to start using this but what kind of devices can I use and make.

[@TechTutorialsDavidMcKone]

A good overview. Thanks

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you for your kind words

[@everyhandletaken]

Nice setup! Looking forward to investing thousands of hours on HA (it’s like I can predict the future), moving on from a fairly basic & sometimes frustrating HomeBridge setup.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

It is very addictive 😊

[@brunomiguelleal]

What devices you have for temperature? Central heating or air conditioning?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I use Honeywell Evohome for my hearing and I use aqara humidity / temp / pressure sensors too. The complete list is here: github.com/smarthomejunkie/MyDevices

[@christopherkofon7766]

Thanks very much for the video.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you for your kind words!

[@jimmcdonald6465]

Really helpful. Thank you for creating the video!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you. I will create an updated version soon.

[@dinesyalisivas2984]

Super video. Simpel clear explanation.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you for your kind words.

[@seda14us]

Super,super ,super... Thank you

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

You are welcome!

[@MartyW74]

can you do a video on how to setup the section that shows you what bin to put out please

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Hi! I've created a (non video) about it for Dutch people. The issue with this is, is that it makes use of a Dutch provider and I think that every region has their own providers, so it might be difficult to create a generic video about it. But, I can try...

[@mskikitv1681]

Hello , I am New to HA and recently set up HA but now I have changed my router and now I am unable to access HA..so before I delete everything and start over I wanted to know if there is a way to access my HA if I have changed my Router. Thanks in advance

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Can't you access it through homeassistant:8123 or homeassistant.local:8123?

[@paulmelanson1527]

Great Video. Thank you very much. I'm very new to this automation thing. I have too many seperate apps running.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Beware! Home Assistant is very addictive 😉

[@paulmelanson1527]

@@SmartHomeJunkie can i still use the laptop for windows while having home assistant installed on it.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Yes, but I'd suggest to install HA on a dedicated mini computer like a Raspberry Pi or an Odroid N2 Plus

[@shaunwhiteley3544]

Looking forward to to the Grafana video, I’m interested in tracking and recording long term and short term energy use and how to specify what data to keep and what not to. Cheers

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you for your kind words! I will create a grafana video in the near future!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Yes, it's here now! kzbin.info/www/bejne/qImpXn-vmMedpaM

[@benjamink7311]

Which smart switches are supported by home assistant and how to configure devices please advise

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I can only point you to the list of devices that I use at github.com/smarthomejunkie/MyDevices

[@davidheron1505]

An impressive demo' and very engaging style. I look forward to the Grafana video, too.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you for your kind words! 🙏🏻

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Yes, it's here now! kzbin.info/www/bejne/qImpXn-vmMedpaM

[@davidheron1505]

Thank you. It's appreciated.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

You are very welcome!

[@DIYReid]

Do you do anything with Node Red for automations?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

No, I do not use Node Red. I solely use Home Assistant automations.

[@JulianMakes]

Can you do a video ‘for total beginners?’, i think everyone watching this will realise they want home assitant automation in there lives! But i have always struggled on how to install it (especially as im on an old win10 i7 laptop). And then get it going with say a few sensors and lights. Should i try to install a new os? Or carry on trying with a vm (but therefore not having the ui like all the tutorials - which makes it very hard unless you are used to command line stuff which i am not!). Many thanks great video!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Maybe this one might help? It's an old video, but still valid. The Home Assistant installation guide for beginners. Step by step tutorial. kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJmqm5doZ7qrla8

[@JulianMakes]

@@SmartHomeJunkie thank you i will check it out

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

@@JulianMakes Great! Let me know if you have any questions.

[@MrDabango]

Great overview of HA. I currently run Homebridge Raspbian on my RPi3b. Can Homebridge be integrated into HA? I'm thinking of replacing homebridge with HA on my RPi3b. I've been told to get a raspberry pi 4 with atleast 4gb RAM for HA which I'm reluctant to do.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Yeah, a pi4 is way better for HA than a pi3. I would go for that!

[@creeek3]

Everyone always shows the Home assistant dash board, but I have yet to find out HOW this is installed?? I have tried and tried, wasted so much time on it. How do you ACTUALLY start!!!? Everyone assumes this is done

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

You might want to try this video for it: The Home Assistant installation guide for beginners. Step by step tutorial. kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJmqm5doZ7qrla8 Is an old video, but still valid.

[@avs7871]

Hello, thanks for this video. Great to know what we can do with this tool. But, what is the exact title of your video for starting installing from the very beginning: type of material to buy, how to make it start ...

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

See this video for that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJmqm5doZ7qrla8

[@avs7871]

@@SmartHomeJunkie Thanks a lot, you are very helpful ! I am going to jump into it now !

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Great! Beware, this is very addictive... 😉

[@BlueBotTech]

Thanks for the great video!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

You are very welcome!

[@FilipeNeto616]

Could you also show us some of the devices you're using? Myself I'm using sonoffs and WeMos D1 custom made both flashed with Tasmota because I don't like to rely on 3rd party clouds. But this has the disadvantage of taking me too much time to deploy new devices.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

There's a link to all the devices that I use in the description of this video. Is this one: github.com/smarthomejunkie/MyDevices

[@leiathedog999]

Great video. Looking forward to more.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you Ian!

[@WINGNUT307]

I'm only a few weeks into all of this; I've got it working with Alexa and Google Home, integrated traccar, Grafana, MariaDB and DuckDNS, so not doing too bad. I've got a lot to do to get to your level of sophistication but hey, what else is there to do during lockdown. I'd be interested to know how you got the data on Corona into the system. And did you have a graph showing broadband speed over time?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Hi Graham, Here's the documentation for the Coronavirus integration: www.home-assistant.io/integrations/coronavirus And a graph about broadband speed is also possible, but I did not install it yet. I will experiment with it and let you know over time.

[@pieterd]

leuke video! ik ben op zoek naar dit soort systeem voor bij mij thuis! nu vroeg ik me af wat de intallatie mogelijkheden zijn? enkel op een raspberry pi? ik heb momenteel een google hub staan kan hij ook gewoon via daar werken? andere mogelijkheden?

[@_A_T]

Do you need an always on computer for the home assistant?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Sort of, but you run it on a Raspberry Pi or an Odroid N2 Plus which is actually a mini computer which uses just a small amount of energy.

[@jeroenpruissen1245]

Whauw, that is a great video. I'm going to build a new house in the Netherlands in the upcoming 6 months. I hear you saying, there is no alarm system needed. Are you really convinced that I can skip the need of an alarm system, so I can delete the wiring of an old-fashioned system, like Satel? I'm really curious about your answer. Also, can you tell me which gardening sprinkler system you use? Thanks a lot for your reply. Kind regards, Jeroen.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Hi Jeroen, Watch this video on setting up an alarm system: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIG2dXSpr9F8f5Y. I have a groundwater pump that I control with a smart plug.

[@KaleoMgmt]

Started with HA a few months ago, and love it. Some of your videos have been HUGE is helping and giving me ideas. Thank you. Now a question: I have a vacation home in the mountains. Internet connection is spotty at best. Currently using SmartThings, but the poor connection makes turning lights on and off a pain. I'm going to set up HA to localize control. Is there a way to control two HA servers (one for our Home, one for our Cabin) from a single phone? I've done a quick check on Google, but figured I reach out to the pros, too. Keep up the awesome videos. Thank you!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you for the great compliments! I did not try this before, but with this integration in HACS you should be able to set this up I guess. github.com/custom-components/remote_homeassistant

[@KaleoMgmt]

@@SmartHomeJunkie I'll check it out. Thanks for the lead.

[@mil3761]

Great video. Thank you. What did you use as a sensor for your door letter box opening? Also, how reliable is Home Assistant? If it requires restarting even if it is very rare, then that'll get quite annoying.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thx! See the letterbox video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2WueJeGnZuoqJI Home Assistant is very stable on my Raspberry Pi 4b with SSD attached. I never have to reboot it unless I want it myself.

[@misterblort]

What sensors do you use? For humidity etc? Any specific brand?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Hi, see this link for the devices that I use: github.com/smarthomejunkie/MyDevices

[@misterblort]

@@SmartHomeJunkie Should've read the description.. :) Thank you

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

😉

[@martinsoanes4113]

Great video. Hey what's the lovelace card used where you show multiple attributes of a sensors on the same card/same row. eg, motion sensors showing battery, last triggered and current state. Cheers.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Hi, it's multiple-entity-row. You can install it through HACS.

[@francoiscoulombe7939]

Thanks for the video ! You're the first I found that make me understand the basics... I'am starting with a few modules to experiment Google Assistant and next the Home Assistant. My modules are from Geeni and Globe company. (Lamps & outlets & contacts sensors). I dont see any of those in the "integrations" section. Do you think I will be able to control them with Home Assistant ??? For now, they work well with there cloud controls & Google Home Assistant. But if someday, they closed, I wont be able to do anything with those modules, am I right ? Thanks again !

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Are those lamps that work with Tuya or Smart Life? If so, they are compatible through the Tuya integration.

[@francoiscoulombe7939]

@@SmartHomeJunkie I will try....Thanks !

[@francoiscoulombe7939]

@@SmartHomeJunkie" I recently discovered that these Geeni smart bulbs use the Tuya API "....someone wrote... So you're right, I can integrate it in Home Assistant...Good !

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Great! I'm sure you will succeed!

[@rrrrrrrr290]

hi thanks for making the video which card are you using for your light switches with the dimmer control

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

custom:slider-entity-row. You can install it with HACS.

[@rrrrrrrr290]

@@SmartHomeJunkie thanks

[@lucamarcio4110]

Hi! I was looking for an easy learning channel to enter Home Assistant World and I found yours, by luck. Since I need to start buying the smart devices I had a look to your configuration and I saw that you are using different kind of sensors to do the same job (e.g. Aquara and Wemos to do temperature/humidity monitoring): can you tell me why, please? Do you also have a file/media server? I'm asking this because I need to decide between miniPC and RPI 4Gb. Thank you for your answers and for sharing your experience. Looking forward to watch you again soon. Thank you.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Hi, The sensors is legacy basically. I experimented with some things, but I now stick to Zigbee Aqara devices in combination with a Conbee 2 stick. This does the job best imho.

[@lucamarcio4110]

@@SmartHomeJunkie thank you for your kind reply. About Xiaomi and other Chinese connected devices: can they work in local network without using Chinese cloud?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

As long as it is Zigbee they can. Or if it is Tuya, you can sometimes flash then with Tasmota to get it out of the cloud, but that depends on the chip that is used in the device.

[@fantasma62]

I’m currently working on the alarm. Can you share how you did that?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I will create a video on this shortly. Stay tuned!

[@fantasma62]

@@SmartHomeJunkie great, thank you! I’m working on a few things, but because I’m a bit new, I get lost in some places..thanks again!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I hope I will find time this weekend to create it.

[@fantasma62]

@@SmartHomeJunkie I’ll be happily waiting to see where I’m screwing up...😁

[@jonasbille5599]

How did you make the garden spinkler control?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Hi Jonas, I planned to create a video for it. Stay tuned!

[@ttss5726]

Not really a guide for beginners you basically just explained what the program does.... a beginners guide would explain things like how is something added or how is all this stuff being connected to home assistance like fans? What are you component are you adding at the light or fan etc that allows it to connect to home assistance

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I understand what you're saying, but there are a lot of people who wonder what Home Assistant can do for them. In that way it's a beginners guide.

[@mattchew5965]

1st day looking into smart lighting, stumbled on the buzzword "Home Assistant," now finding this video highly useful. Technically, it could be more appropriately labeled "High Level Introduction," but I think the keywords "Beginner" and "Guide" are what most day 1 people would search to find a high level overview like this anyways.

[@jack079tube]

Hi, great video’s you start the introduction with a google home, so was hoping to find a tutorial on your channel. Will there be a tutorial about the integration off google assistant devices and Home Assistant?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Hi, I thought about this multiple times, but there are already a couple of videos on how to install this, so it's not high on the priority list of videos that I want to create. Will reconsider this though and might create a video on it shortly.

[@lauraelf1]

Great video, I am interested in setting up home assistant for the climate control for some experimental plant chambers for my lab. The data and "geeky" stuff is particularly interesting and I was wondering about options for exporting that data to .csv for external analysis (statistics and whatnot). Do you have suggestions.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

You could use Grafana for statistics.

[@johnnyboy0069]

This shows a walkthrough the dashboard, but skips how to get it, is this on your phone or computer, there's lots of information missing that beginners need to know, very misleading title!

[@tonvanleeuwen4009]

Thank you for the videos. What (custom) cards did you use for small sized sensor cards?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

This is multiple-entity-row

[@tonvanleeuwen4009]

I mean f.e. The ones like the 3 sensors Temp, Humidity an Pressure for your office?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Ah, that is the mini graph card. See this video how to use it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqaYlKmDm6iinrc

[@tonvanleeuwen4009]

Thanks :-)

[@tonvanleeuwen4009]

Works like a charm 👍🏽 Thank you

[@robertd5916]

Could you please share your ha config ?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I will think about it. I have to clean it up a little and make sure that all the sensitive information is not in there anymore.

[@robertd5916]

@@SmartHomeJunkie OK thanks. I am waiting for results.

[@robertd5916]

@@SmartHomeJunkie Can you share the sensor card code from the 11th minute of the video?

[@DixieFatline]

lol. corona dashboard. that didnt age well...

[@johnhampson7]

Stopped this video at 12:26. By then I hadn't learned a damn thing. No time to listen to someone who tells you nothing.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I'm sorry to hear this. Done people do not know anything about Home Assistant. That's what this video is for. If you are already familiar with HA than I can understand what you're saying.

[@DanielKrennonline]

This is a joke. Can't even control a next thermostat? waste of time...

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Did you try the new Nest integration? This is not a Home Assistant problem. Nest closed down their api for a while which is a very disturbing development in itself.

[@fluxpistol3608]

Don't open with okay google!!!!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

😂😂😂

[@9856CB]

Not so much a "Guide" as a "Look what you can do" video..........sorry

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

That's exactly what it is yes. See my other tutorials to set it up.

[@davidchavarria]

What sensors you are using for humidity , temp

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Hi, you can find my list of devices that I use and recommend here: github.com/smarthomejunkie/MyDevices