Completely new automations are rare in a refined smart home, so my purchases this year are modest. However as I wrote this list, I realized that I've actually been fairly active with improvements in 2023.
-
Aqara FP2 of course. It has suplimented three existing motion sensors, and now tracks presence in our living room space, so even if one of us activates our goodnight scene, that doesn't shut off the light in the livingroom if anyone in the house is still awake watching TV or reading. Excellent devices and one of the most useful additions this year. Connection is via the HomeKit Device integration in Home Assistant (formerly named HomeKit Controller) and the zone states are synced with Hubitat via Home Assistant Device Bridge.
-
Better integration of my Delta Voice IQ faucet. Previously I could only activate via Alexa routines. The integration that @tomw and @Sebastien worked on made it so much more useful by eliminating Amazon's cloud server from the mix. I use this every single day, pressing buttons for the amount of water needed to make coffee. Such a welcome change and 100% reliable vs the previous Amazon connection that was down quite frequently.
-
Added an inexpensive Misol gateway and three soil moisture sensors. This compliments my Oribit B-Hyve water valves and uses the smart watering integration that is possible with a custom Home Assistant integration. Plants were very happy this year and my water bill was lower than last year.
-
Added three Zigbee Tuya 24G mmW sensors. These are said to be spammy and may be problematic sensors when directly connected Hubitat, but I have mine connected via Z2M and Home Assistant Device Bridge and they do not cause a problem on either platform. They are being used to check for presence and lower our electric heat in rooms that are not occupied. I am saving very significant amounts of money with these inexpensive sensors.
-
Utilizing the presence capabilities of Nest Protect AC powered units via a Homebridge plug-in. I have two AC powered Nest Protects in our rental space and I'm using the presence capabilities in combination with on Tuya mmW sensor to determine if my tenant is home. If no presence is detected for 30 min, the heat is reduced to a specific level, and on their return it is returned to their desired level which is automatically captured each time absence is detected and the heat is lowered to the set level.
-
Added two additional Hue outdoor motion sensors for outdoor lighting to assist our tenant. These are such nice sensors and they have helped us too when we arrive home in the dark. They are so sensative that they respond to our vehicle movement as we roll into the driveway and our house lights up as we arrive. The Hue bridge integration via Home Assistant is fantastic and it's allowed me to not have to redo everything that I already have integrated with Hubitat via the Hue Bridge Integration, and yet still use HA with the Hue Bridge to get instant status of lights when I need it, and all the parameters of the Hue motion sensors, despite them being directly joined to the Hue Bridge.
-
Added one more SwitchBot Contact sensor to turn on lights in our stairwell with its integrated motion sensor, as well as monitor the state of the door that separates our living space from the tenant. Still in love with these handy little sensors, and their connection to HA via a D1 Mini ESP32 and MQTT. Their state is synced with Hubitat via Home Assistant Device Bridge.
-
I have finally utilized the Emulated Kasa feature of the Sense integration on Home Assistant. This has enable me to more accurately track energy 8 of my electric baseboard heaters that Sense wasn't finding or consistently detecting when in operation. I'm using Sinope Zigbee thermostats with the drivers that @samuel.c.auclair wrote (can be found on HPM), so sharing their power data wasn't difficult. I simply used the HE > HA integration by @jason0x43 for that.
-
Have been making better use of the middle buttons and hold actions on my many Pico remotes to add convenient scenes and actions. One that is particularly useful is in my garage. I gave up fighting with trying to keep lights on with IR motion sensors. while I'm in there, and while I now realize I could add a single mmW sensor to address the problem, I've instead landed on using the middle button of a Pico in my garage to toggle a virtual switch that deactivates automatically turning off the lights. A color Hue bulb on my bandsaw serves three purposes. When I'm using the saw, it's white so I can see the cut better, and when I hold the Pico middle button to toggle the garage lighting automation, it shows Green when the automation is active, and Red when it's deactivated. If I want to check if the lighting automation is active or inactive, I can just momentarily press the button and the Hue bulb brieflly illuminates the color (green or red) related to the current state of the automation.
-
Wired an IKEA STYRBAR button to my doorbell button. Previously I was using a Xiaomi button, but it proved unreliable. Connection is Z2M on HA and the state is synced to Hubitat via Home Assistant Device Bridge. The STYRBAR button supports pressed, held and released, so it captures a button press of my doorbell no matter how brief or long the button is held. Notifications are voice via the Hubitat Amazon Echo Skill and mobile via the Hubitat mobile app.
-
I am now using a previously unutilized feature of the KIA/Hyundai integration on HA to remind us via the Hubitat Amazon Echo Skill, that we should plug the car EVSE in if we activate our goodnight scene and our IONIQ 5 has a 30% or less state of charge.
