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[Chunkers]

Is anyone else on here using Home Assistant ?

I have been trying sneakily (and unsuccessfully) to move my household out from under the unwavering gaze of Jeff Bezos and his minions i.e. looking for open source / privacy focussed alternatives to things like Alexa, Android, Firesticks, Windows blah blah blah

Mostly I find switching to open source alternatives involves unacceptable compromises ...... but if you haven't looked at Home Assistant its well worth playing with, I have been amazed at how far the eco-system has gone in supporting all kinds of devices, it really is extraordinary.

The future looks promising too, they are developing their own voice assistant / device - I would LOVE to get rid of Alexa

My home assistant homepage has a scary array of home devices it interfaces with all in one place including all my cameras, TV's, our dishwasher, electricity and gas meters, car, mobile phones, central heating, doorbell, NAS, UPS ... and on and on

The server runs on any old platform, I run mine on a horrible old fanless Asrock Beebox mini-PC, my guess is that my fellow nerds on here will have no trouble finding a better solution e.g. docker etc .

Anyone else a Home Assistant geek?

Cowabunga!

C

[meritez]

Not switched yet.
I'm currently running a 1st gen Echo Plus, it shares design similarities with the first-generation Echo, but also doubles as a smart home hub, connecting to most common wireless protocols to control connected smart devices within a home. It incorporates seven second-generation far field microphones and noise cancellation, while also supporting Dolby Sound.

So built in Zigbee, and the sound quality is extraordinary, plus it does not support Alexa+.
I then have a few Echo Flex that interface with the Echo Plus.

When Alexa+ actually is available, I'll probably start moving, but I mainly play the radio over the Echo Plus.

[broadstairs]

My wife hates technology and she would point blank refuse to allow me to have anything like this running the home. She would say 'What happens if something like yesterday in Spain/Portugal/France happens here" and I have to say it does worry me somewhat as apparently they are blaming an excess of reliance on Wind/Solar power as the cause! While I do think we need to help to save the planet going hell for leather that way if true certainly has potential to fail big time!

Stuart

[Chunkers]

My wife hates technology and she would point blank refuse to allow me to have anything like this running the home. She would say 'What happens if something like yesterday in Spain/Portugal/France happens here" and I have to say it does worry me somewhat as apparently they are blaming an excess of reliance on Wind/Solar power as the cause! While I do think we need to help to save the planet going hell for leather that way if true certainly has potential to fail big time!

Stuart

I know that you mean, we are getting solar fitted in a couple of weeks and it is completely dependant on network connectivity, we will have a battery storage as well but ironically the battery cannot be used to power your home in the event of a power outage, lol. It will be interesting to integrate the system into Home Assistant, I'll post a few pictures if it works ....

I honestly think the very fact that it makes economic sense to install home solar panels in the UK just demonstrates how ridiculous our situation is here, I don't know what actually happened in Spain but I do know they proudly announced they were 100% renewable shortly before everything went south.

[Alex Atkin UK]

ironically the battery cannot be used to power your home in the event of a power outage, lol.

That's a pretty poor system then, it should be a basic requirement for any battery system IMO.  Fair enough a few years back, but the equipment to do this is not rare/expensive any more.

I've even pondered if I would be allowed to get whole home battery backup (in a council house) without solar, on the grounds that we both have health problems that require working heating at all times.

[tubaman]

That's a pretty poor system then, it should be a basic requirement for any battery system IMO.  Fair enough a few years back, but the equipment to do this is not rare/expensive any more.
...

That's the way the vast majority of solar installations work unless you want the extra expense of a relay system that isolates it from the grid in the event of a power cut. Ours does have an output that you can power individual appliances from in the event of a power failure but I've never had to use it as power failures are pretty rare and usually short lived anyway.

[Alex Atkin UK]

That's the way the vast majority of solar installations work unless you want the extra expense of a relay system that isolates it from the grid in the event of a power cut. Ours does have an output that you can power individual appliances from in the event of a power failure but I've never had to use it as power failures are pretty rare and usually short lived anyway.

Having at least one grid disconnected output is at least something, its just inconvenient if its the opposite side of the house from the fridge.

[tubaman]

Having at least one grid disconnected output is at least something, its just inconvenient if its the opposite side of the house from the fridge.

It's worse that that as our inverter and batteries are in a detached garage.