https://midwinter.io/blog Notes from a house that talks back. Home automation writing from Craig Midwinter. en Thu, 05 Jul 2018 00:11:00 GMT https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-07-smart-home-vs-home-automation-whats-the-difference https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-07-smart-home-vs-home-automation-whats-the-difference Thu, 05 Jul 2018 00:11:00 GMT Whether you’re researching smart bulbs or exploring the capabilities of your new voice assistant, you’ve probably encountered the terms Smart Home and Home Automation, and you’ve got yourself wondering, is there a difference? https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-06-i-hired-a-dude-who-voices-nike-commercials-to-tell-me-when-my-cat-litter-is-full https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-06-i-hired-a-dude-who-voices-nike-commercials-to-tell-me-when-my-cat-litter-is-full Wed, 04 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT So, recently I decided to step my game up with my audio notifications for my home automation setup. I’m in the process of slowly redoing some of my YAML automations in Node-RED, and I thought what better of a time to make some improvements. https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-06-automatic-litterbox-notifications-using-an-home-assistant-and-node-red-with-an-external-rest-api https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-06-automatic-litterbox-notifications-using-an-home-assistant-and-node-red-with-an-external-rest-api Sun, 24 Jun 2018 00:03:00 GMT Cleaning the cat litter– it’s the job the whole household fights over. Nothing is quite as glamourous as scooping shit out of a box in a dark corner of the basement. https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-05-making-my-dumb-bed-smart-home-assistant-bed-occupancy-sensor https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-05-making-my-dumb-bed-smart-home-assistant-bed-occupancy-sensor Sun, 20 May 2018 23:43:00 GMT I’ll try not to be as long-winded as I usually am, but I’m pretty proud of the bed sensor I built. Here’s a video of it working in Home Assistant: https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-05-smart-garbage-pt-1-pattern-for-deferring-service-calls-in-home-assistant https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-05-smart-garbage-pt-1-pattern-for-deferring-service-calls-in-home-assistant Wed, 16 May 2018 23:27:00 GMT Garbage day is the same day every week, but somehow I haven’t developed a steady routine surrounding it. Our garbage is picked up out front, but the main way we enter and leave the house is through the back door. As a result, I’ve got a bad habit of forgetting to put out the garbage and recycling… https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-05-telegram-keyboard-and-callbacks-in-home-assistant-with-node-red https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-05-telegram-keyboard-and-callbacks-in-home-assistant-with-node-red Thu, 10 May 2018 22:56:00 GMT Last week I made this blog post describing how to use the Telegram inline keyboard and callback functions within Home Assistant. I posted the article to Reddit and a user left a comment wondering how to accomplish this within Node-RED, so I thought I’d make a quick post on how to do that. https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-05-the-simple-guide-to-creating-actionable-notifications-in-home-assistant-using-telegrams-custom-inline-keyboard-and-telegram_callbacks https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-05-the-simple-guide-to-creating-actionable-notifications-in-home-assistant-using-telegrams-custom-inline-keyboard-and-telegram_callbacks Fri, 04 May 2018 22:27:00 GMT Note: If you'd like to see how this is implemented with Node-RED instead, check this post. https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-11-my-house-automatically-orders-pizza-for-me-dominos-pizza-automation-using-home-assistant https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-11-my-house-automatically-orders-pizza-for-me-dominos-pizza-automation-using-home-assistant Fri, 04 May 2018 22:17:00 GMT Note: If you were linked here to see my telegram keyboard/callback implementation, I've got a more complete example here https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-02-nhl-goal-light-celebration-with-home-assistant-and-philips-hue https://midwinter.io/blog/2018-02-nhl-goal-light-celebration-with-home-assistant-and-philips-hue Sun, 11 Feb 2018 22:02:00 GMT 2025 Update: The Goalfeed integration is now a free addon instead of a component with a paid subscription. Everything else in this guide should still be relevant though. See Goalfeed Hassio Addon https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-12-my-nighttime-reading-setup-using-philips-hue-and-koreader https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-12-my-nighttime-reading-setup-using-philips-hue-and-koreader Fri, 19 Jan 2018 21:14:00 GMT Just wanted to quickly post about my new night-time reading set-up since I’m pretty happy with it, so far. I hesitate to call this a scene, because when I think of a scene in the home automation context, I think of several entities getting set to a state by a single action trigger, and by that… https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-12-using-home-assistant-and-philips-hue-to-create-a-full-colour-sunrise-alarm-clock https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-12-using-home-assistant-and-philips-hue-to-create-a-full-colour-sunrise-alarm-clock Wed, 06 Dec 2017 21:58:00 GMT This is a new automation in my set-up, but it’s one I’m pretty happy with, not only because I think it’s a pretty cool effect, but for me, it’s actually a real money-saver. https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-11-quick-tip-controlling-colour-of-groups-of-philips-hue-lights-in-home-assistant https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-11-quick-tip-controlling-colour-of-groups-of-philips-hue-lights-in-home-assistant Tue, 28 Nov 2017 22:12:00 GMT Just a quick little tip for anybody using Philips Hue and Home Assistant-- https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-11-philips-hue-and-tasker-use-your-lights-as-a-notification-for-text-messages https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-11-philips-hue-and-tasker-use-your-lights-as-a-notification-for-text-messages Sun, 19 Nov 2017 22:57:00 GMT A couple years ago, back when I first bought my Philips Hue lights, I posted this video of me using my lights as a notification for incoming text messages. https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-08-using-the-xiaomi-mi-flora-and-home-assistant-for-twitter-enabled-plants https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-08-using-the-xiaomi-mi-flora-and-home-assistant-for-twitter-enabled-plants Sun, 19 Nov 2017 21:34:00 GMT 2025 Update: The Mi Flora integration appears to be replaced by the Xiaomi BLE component. I haven't used it yet, but the same logic/process should apply https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-07-insteon-switchlinc-2-wire-dimmer-review https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-07-insteon-switchlinc-2-wire-dimmer-review Wed, 09 Aug 2017 23:10:00 GMT I've got an old house with old electrical, and when it comes to smart lighting, the lack of common/neutral wire is a bit limiting. Luckily, Insteon makes these wicked little 2-wire dimmers that work in any traditional 2-wire box. I've got 5 of these suckers in my house, and I can't say enough about… https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-07-raspberry-pi-jukebox https://midwinter.io/blog/2017-07-raspberry-pi-jukebox Wed, 09 Aug 2017 21:28:00 GMT Since my fiancée, Jess, and I are getting hitched in a few months, we've obviously been in the midst of wedding planning (prior to starting work on this game). When discussing our options for music, we thought that the money we could spend on hiring a DJ could be better spent elsewhere. Initially…