Home Automation Controlling Zigbee Lights with a Shelly Detached Switch Throughout the house, nearly every single light is controlled by a Shelly. Last year, we installed a UniFi G4 Video Doorbell, and whilst we were having this fitted, it made sense to replace some of the outside light fittings and install some Shelly Duo GU10 RGBW bulbs. Out of the
Home Automation Using Helpers to Abstract Complex Logic in Home Assistant I have a handful of helpers in my Home Assistant setup that track the basic state of a few things. For example, we have a simple "guest mode" boolean that will turn on or off certain automatons when we have guests, and for my bin reminder automation, I
Home Automation UniFi Doorbell Chime Sounds with Amazon Alexa and Home Assistant When I first got my UniFi G4 Doorbell, I originally set up Home Assistant to announce, "There is someone at the door," using Amazon Alexa. More recently, I have transitioned to playing a chime sound on Alexa when someone rings the doorbell. In this blog post, I outline
Home Automation Implementing a Bin Day Reminder Automation We have a wall-mounted dashboard for Home Assistant in our Kitchen, which displays what bin day it is via a coloured Mushroom UI icon. Where we live, like most other places in the UK, there are different coloured bins for different types of waste, and each week the rubbish
Home Automation Adding Working Location to my Home Automations I have several home automations that run based on the day of the week. For example, there is no point opening the curtains or turning on the heating in my home office if I'm not going to be in there. As a result, most of these day-specific
Home Automation Smart CCTV Alerts using Object Detection with Frigate NVR and Coral AI In the winter months, I get spammed with false CCTV motion alerts. With the winter months being darker, headlights from passing traffic often cast shadows and silhouettes that cause the motion zones to trigger when nothing is really happening. I run a Ubiquiti home network with G3 cameras – if we
Home Automation Webcam State Detection and Elgato Key Light Automation with Home Assistant During the COVID pandemic, I invested in improving my working-from-home setup with a better webcam and an Elgato Key Light. I usually control the Key Light using my Stream Deck (which was another lockdown purchase and project). Over the last few weeks, I've been working from
