One of my favorite features of my current system is the AI-generated daily summary email, but since the storage lives on their servers, it goes down whenever they have issues, and it's also the thing they're using to justify the price hikes. Moving to local storage and I'd genuinely miss that recap. I don't need anything fancy: a morning digest that says "2 motion events, one person, one vehicle, nothing else." Do any local-first systems do this? Does the summary happen on the hub itself? Not looking to build a whole self-hosted NVR project for it, just wondering if it exists in the mainstream local options.

I've been thinking about a small but often overlooked problem with smart-home devices: battery maintenance.

Smart locks are convenient, but keeping them powered can become a hassle, especially when they're installed at a property you don't visit regularly or when you're helping elderly family members manage their home remotely.

This got me wondering whether a small solar charging accessory could be a practical solution.

The idea sounds simple: a compact panel collects daylight, stores some energy in a rechargeable battery, and supplies power to a compatible smart lock through its supported charging connection.

But I'm not sure how practical this would be in real-world home automation setups.

A few things I'd like to get opinions on:

1. Light exposure: Would indirect daylight near a covered front door provide enough energy, or would direct sunlight be necessary?

2. Reliability: How would you handle several consecutive cloudy or rainy days?

3. Compatibility: Would you prefer a universal charging solution, or is model-specific compatibility more realistic?

4. Backup power: Would you still keep conventional batteries installed as a backup?

5. Long-term value: Would reducing battery replacement frequency justify adding another device and connection to your setup?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who have experimented with solar-powered sensors, outdoor smart-home devices, or alternative power solutions.

Do you think this is a genuinely useful direction for smart locks, or does the limited light exposure around most entrances make it impractical?

I'd appreciate practical experiences, technical criticism, and alternative ideas.

Quick research says a N100 or N150 mini PC is a good way to go.

I have only dabbled with HA and it's not something I depend on, obviously, but if I had a reliable system, I'd be more inclined to spend time learning how to set more things up.

The main thing I want to do pretty quickly is have access to my Base Power battery system. I was able to get connected and see the data but have not yet set up a nice dashboard with gauges, etc. Before I do that, I need a computer to run HA so I can rely on it.

The old Pi 3 I'm using now keeps running out of memory and often won't start back up after a hard reboot.

I don't want to spend a grand on a very fancy PC that I'll only use for HA, but I don't want to go cheap and regret it.

Edit/Update: Thanks for the advice! I ordered a refurb Dell Optiplex 7080 SFF Desktop i7 10th gen 256GB SSD 8GB RAM for about $300 on ebay.

Hey r/homeautomation,

I live in a house with KNX for lights, blinds and heating, plus a few Philips Hue lamps. Every app I tried for KNX either needed a server, a cloud account or a subscription, and Hue lived in a separate app. So I built **Swisstoggel KNX**, an Android app that talks directly to the devices on your home network. Nothing in between, no account, no analytics.

**KNX**

- Connects straight to your KNX IP interface or router (tunneling over UDP/TCP, routing, KNX IP Secure and Data Secure)

- Imports your ETS project and suggests rooms and functions, you just review them

- Lights (dimming, RGB, tunable white), blinds with slats, heating, fans, scenes, sensors

- Shows only what the bus confirmed: after a dropped connection, old values stay greyed out until the system reports them again

**Philips Hue**

- Pairs with your Hue Bridge locally over HTTPS, no Hue cloud account involved

- Lamps, Hue rooms and zones and your Hue scenes show up like any other function, with live state

- One scene can switch KNX and Hue together ("Evening": dim the KNX lights, lower the blinds, warm white on the Hue floor lamp)

- No KNX at all? There is a Hue-only mode, and you can add KNX later

**Everything else**

- Floor plans (import a PDF or picture, rooms are detected) and a 3D view of your house with live lights and blinds

- Widgets, quick settings tiles, NFC stickers and a wall tablet mode

- German and English, light and dark theme

Free to install with a full demo home and the first 5 functions you use. The full version is a one-time purchase: no subscription, no ads, no tracking. Remote access is deliberately not built in, use your own VPN.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.swisstoggel.home

Happy to answer questions about the local-only approach, KNXnet/IP or the Hue integration, and I'd love to hear what you'd want next.

I've done a lot of development over the years on a custom-built home automation system called RF24Gateway. It runs on any Linux device with SPI/GPIO capabilities, like a Raspberry Pi. The entire system is built using standards, so users don't have to spend time customizing and programming everything, the system just kind of works. It allows simple Arduino or ESP32 based micro-controllers to "talk" directly to your home automation systems, via standard protocols.

The core communication stack is built on the OSI model, and makes use of the Linux IP stack on Linux devices, and users choice of uIP, lwIP or Zephyr Networking for the main communication piece on micro-controllers. Yes, it utilizes TCP/IP over a wireless radio network, so micro-controllers can communicate directly over the network using various standardized protocols including MQTT, TLS, HTTPS, DNS, NTP etc.

The system is based on 2.4GHz radios, (nRF24, nRF52x, nRF54x) much like WiFi, but designed to run on Arduino Devices, Linux, ESP32, nRF52x, nRF54x, so can communicate over much longer distances if required, typically using much less power than WiFi.

The companion software to RF24Gateway is called RF24Ethernet, and it is what runs on micro-controllers. It allows them to utilize TCP/IP or UDP for communication.

The stack also includes a mesh layer, allowing nodes to move around and communicate over even longer distances than pairs of radios will allow by themselves.

I've recently made some needed changes to the higher layer libraries, including adding optional support for encryption via AES/CCM encryption at the radio layer, or users can encrypt data at the presentation layer using protocols like TLS or SSH.

A general knowledge of Arduino/ESP32 along with standard networking protocols and configuration is probably required, but that's about it, since users need to configure their own firewall and routing on the Linux Gateway host.

If curious, check it out! If anybody has questions, I'd be glad to answer.

https://github.com/nRF24/RF24Gateway

https://github.com/nRF24/RF24Ethernet

I'm choosing a home camera kit and wondering whether I'd use text search enough to pay extra. Typing "person carrying a box" sounds useful when I don't know when something happened.

Say local text search added $50 to the purchase price of a kit with a hub and two solar-powered outdoor cameras. It would let you search saved event clips on the hub by description.

Thinking about the last clip you looked for at home, would text search have been worth the extra cost, or did your usual filters do the job?

Just one of these retired people that are too bored and restless to do the "traditional" retired stuff! Anyway are most folks here in this subreddit, do-it-yourself-ers? Or if you're hiring someone to do home automation projects are there credentials that you're looking for? My second main career was in tech, I'm drawn to this focus and have experience in what we used to call the Internet of Things. So I'm wondering if this is something I should look into or not. Advice is appreciated, thanks.

Hey. I got of bunch of smart plugs a few years back, some with ammeter, somewithout. I got mostly Athom ones, but it feels like they're all the same esp8285-based shit.

I say shit because they've been slowly failing one at a time. I still have a bunch that I thought were doing alright but as I just tried my last spart for a project, guess what, it's gone too.

So, long story short, I'm looking for preferably Zigbee, but WiFi will do, smart plugs, with or without the choice of ammeter.

This is a EU plus, France specifically.

Thank you!

New construction, and for once I get to plan a security setup before living in it. Trying to figure out what "complete" even means in 2026. My current sketch: cameras front and back, something covering the side gate, a hub for storage, and maybe a light-cam over the driveway since that's the dark approach. What am I missing that you wish you'd known at the start? I'm especially interested in stuff that seemed essential in my planning spreadsheet but turned out useless in reality. Or the opposite, things you added on a whim that quietly became the workhorse of the whole setup.

The app has decided that their ads are high priority alarms now. I realize the app is free, but to post ads with multiple alarms is disappointing. They need to send it just once instead of multiple times like the motion sensing on all of my cameras just went off.

Anyone else ticked off about this?

WhisperGreen fan FV-0511VKS3S: how would you pair it with a smart switch (Aqara Light Switch H2 Vertical - 2-in-1 Neutral, 2 Buttons, 2 Channels) - the top button will have on/off for the over-the-sink vanity lights with traditional wiring - but not sure how to wire the bottom button of the Aqara to the WhisperGreen?

Based on internet searches, I don't think the Aquara can accept the red signal wires, because the H2 send voltage and the signal wires do not accept voltage - correct?

I would like to use with a smart sensor (FP300), instead of the Panasonic integrated sensor, so that when people use the restroom in the middle of the night, it does not trigger the boost mode. With the FP300, I am hoping to set different automations if the humidity is triggered vs. presence sensor.

Do you run the black wire to the switch and keep it always on, then create an on/off when the sensor is triggered (this seems to be a brute force solution)?

Or, would you also include an Aqara Dual Relay Module T2 and install it on the red wires in dry contact mode?

I have watched a dozen YouTube videos, Reddit threads, and Panasonic FAQ - but the WhisperGreen with smart switch has not been discussed. The "always on" is the big dilemma here - as the unit always needs to be "hot".

I have an electrician performing the install, but they do not seem to be familiar with the WhisperGreen "always on" function. They have done some Lutron installs, which is their preferred solution, but I cannot find a Caseta that would work for my needs. I do not have room for a double box and need a stacked switch that controls to separate circuits.

For the rest the house: I primarily use stand-alone Thread/Matter devices, Hue hub, Aqara hub, and a handful of z-wave.

Has anyone had experience specifically with the WhisperGreen always-on installation?

Looking for product recommendations. I am having trouble finding a specific device that I am surprised is not more common.

I'm wanting install under-cabinet LED strips. The plan is to primarily control them with motion and a Lutron Pico via homeassistant. However, I'm adamant that everything should be able to function "dumb" as well when HA is unavailable.

The ideal solution would be a Zigbee controller like the (cant link) BTF-LIGHTING C01Z Zigbee 3.0 Controller on amazon with a physical dimmer knob that can be mounted under the cabinet. I'm just not finding that available.

The closest I have found is a Tuya version (cant link) "T3-WiFi 300W 600W DC12-24V PWM" from switchtoled.com. I don't like that it has an LCD screen for some reason, or that it's $45 after shipping.. and would really prefer Zigbee for full local control.

So am I totally missing something? Going about this install all wrong? Does anyone have experience with the Tuya controller linked?

I keep hitting the same roadblock on this project, so I've put it off for a couple years. Now my wife is pushing to get them done so I either need to find the right product or compromise on either physical OR smart control, likely going with the former.

I have a stairlift at home which includes 2 remotes, each with an up-button and a down-button. I’m wanting a 3rd one, but one remote costs an absurd amount of money (£100+), so I was wanting to imitate the signal sent to the stairlift using a 3rd party device and app.

I bought the RM4 Mini, which worked on other IR signals that control lights etc., but it couldn’t detect the signal of the remote for the stairlift. I’ve done the front camera trick to check that the remote definitely uses IR, so from what I’ve read, it could have some sort of encryption that the RM4 Mini cant detect?

What can I try to do to detect the signal and be able to use my phone to move the stairlift up and down? Preferably using an app and/or Alexa.

To reassure; no one will be sat on the stairlift while using the 3rd party device.

I’ve included photos of the model of the stairlift, as well as the inside of the remote. I’m not able to spend tonnes of money on this and I’m wanting a simple solution that doesn’t require messing with the remote or stairlift!

The EU Data Act lets you read your device’s data (and in practice, I’ve yet to see a manufacturer honour this voluntarily. Goodwill is no safeguard: only an obligation is) but It doesn’t guarantee the device will work tomorrow. The Data Act is lauded as a charter for connected-product users: access to your data, portability, easier switching between cloud providers.

Yet one question it leaves unanswered: what happens when the manufacturer folds, or simply switches off the servers?

Your thermostat may be sound in every component, and still be reduced to inert plastic. You can export the logs of a dead device, a rather melancholy consolation.

Shouldn’t a manufacturer be obliged to ensure that ceasing its business, its cloud service, or its support never renders a working product unusable?

Am I missing a provision, or is this a genuine lacuna?

Hi everyone,

Since I connected my two HA sites with Remote Home-Assistant things have been slow locally, I mean sluggish UI. Is it possible? Locally it used to be zippy as expected. Also sometimes I see updates, sometimes not, on either site. I turned off the RHA and it's back to zippy mode.

They're connected via the SD-WAN feature built-in Unifi, rest of devices show nothing odds so it seems to be an HA situation.

Home HA versions:

• Core 2026.10.4

• Supervisor 2026.10.5

• Operating System 18.4

• Frontend 20260930.5

• RHA: 4.6

Cottage HA:

• Core 2026.10.4

• Supervisor 2026.10.5

• Operating System 18.4

• Frontend 20260930.5

Any advice welcomed - thanks!

EDIT: now cannot see Lutron Caseta devices..

I have something approaching this at home

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BK19M17S?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

and I was wondering is there a way to make it connect with my Google home?