
Ask HN: DIY Home Automation - arathore
I want to try my hand at a self rolled basic home automation system. I am looking to have very basic automation like turning the lights on&#x2F;off, playing some music on the speakers etc. I am not very keen on using IOT devices that connect to the internet, but am open to hear about secure solutions for that as well. Would love to hear how other people have gone about with DIY solutions for this?
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machinecontrol
Check out Home Assistant, it’s exactly what you’re looking for. Open source,
easily extensible, plugins for every iot device out there. Get a Raspberry Pi,
install Hassbian and components for your IOT devices. It can run entirely on
your home network without connecting to the internet and be easily extended
via Python.

If you’re comfortable with Arduino, get some $5 Sonoff switches and flash them
with custom firmware.

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o-__-o
Also consider OpenHAB as it is less configurery and gives you a basic front
end and backend ui out of the box. It has a drag and drop ui builder for
fancier dashboards, and supports a full backend scripting system. It’s based
on java and integrates with tons of automated products. It has a cloud connect
function for your own server or their own cloud service. The mobile apps work
(but missing functions I would like, such as translating hardware volume
controls to automation actions), provide security cam integration, and support
internal and external URL’s based on your WiFi.

I found openHAB much easier to setup with my zwave devices, DCS security
integration, stereo controls, and custom actions based on external data (I
have security cameras running through OpenCv that fire alerts)

Also openhab supports MQTT so you could even integrate home assistant and
openhab together!

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deepsy
Hey! I've made [https://github.com/deepsyx/home-
automation](https://github.com/deepsyx/home-automation) about 2 year ago, it
might give you some inspiration :) It controls the lights, ac, heater and
displays the current temp on mobile app

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arathore
Wow! I am sure that I would want to integrate some of the ideas from your
project especially the servo motors and IR emitters since I don't want to
replace the existing hardware in my house.

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Samon
As a nodejs dev, NodeRED appealed to me. I have lights, curtains, irrigation,
aquarium, etc all controlled from my phone/tablet via a raspberry pi.

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moksly
I know this isn’t the most informative post, but a lot of the IT guys in our
operations unit do a lot of DIY “home-improvement” projects. It’s stuff like
controlling lights, automated blinds, monitoring their indoor plants,3D
printing tools for their expensive bikes.

It’s all self-made and most of it is self programmed and hosted on whatever
hack solutions they use, and they mainly use YouTube videos for DIY
electronics to make it happen.

Like I said, not that informative for a HN reply, but I would start there.

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arathore
Thanks, I have been looking at subreddits and youtube videos like you have
mentioned. I posted this here because I feel responses here would help me have
a better filter for stuff I can find online since there can be a lot of things
that can be done horribly wrong :)

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djbelieny
You said you are not too keen on internet connected devices but look into the
qolsys IQ Panel 2, it ca integrate z-wave, rf and more and you can control it
with an alarm.com account. this would be a mix of DIY and commercial app but I
can tell you it's a solid solution. The comms between panel and iot devices is
not over internet and you would have only one point connected which is the
panel.

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mikebos
I'm using homeseer. It offers a lot of integrations, there are plugings for
functionality, but you can also write your own or add scripts. It enabled me
to smart small. The experimenting and small steps ensured the WAF (wife
acceptance factor) to be high.

I tried several open source solutions but they just needed to much work or
upgrading broke stuff. Nog good for the WAF.

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tehlike
I have homeassistant running on a pc with cameras attached. Dont have a great
solution for cameras, but xiaomi sensors and switches with zigbee interface
works solid.

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oceanplexian
If you plan on taking it seriously at some point (Own your own place and want
hard-wired gear, switches, and outlets), I would highly recommend Indigo
([https://www.indigodomo.com/](https://www.indigodomo.com/)) and Z-Wave. The
OSS tools are not something I'd trust my property or life to, especially if
you need to manage things like Water Valves, Garage Door Openers, Locks and
Gates. They're also full of bugs and once you start to add hundreds or
thousands of devices most solutions start to break down or become
unmaintainable (constantly editing JSON or XML files, etc)

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Odenwaelder
Check out the relevant Reddits r/homeassistant and r/homeautomation.

I started using Home Assistant a year ago and it has become a fun hobby.

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yayr
try [https://www.openhab.org](https://www.openhab.org) very extensible, and
even has some open source mobile apps

