Roland “Accidentally” Installed Home Assistant, Then Automated Everything
Roland joins Phil and Rohan to share how a simple attempt to measure an old fridge's energy use led to a deeply data-driven Home Assistant smart home. Energy monitoring, solar forecasting, home batteries, EV charging, ESPHome, weather data and templates are all used to make his home smarter.
Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA251
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Chapters
00:00:00 Welcome
00:02:01 An accidental Home Assistant install
00:06:04 Scaling devices and automations
00:08:04 Solar forecasts and battery control
00:16:46 ESPHome windows and storm protection
00:21:03 Home Assistant at the university
00:26:16 Starting with energy data
00:29:08 Cooling buckets and digital grass
00:34:52 Turning data into automations
00:37:19 Summer-winter heating and cooling
00:43:52 Measuring a new home
00:47:21 Whole-home energy and smart PC
00:52:16 Pool monitoring and house insights
00:59:07 Future projects and stable automation
01:04:26 Updates, reliability and farewell
This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors
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You’ve heard him troubleshoot Home Assistant on the podcast. Now you can book him to troubleshoot yours. From broken automations and confusing YAML to dashboards, devices, and complete smart home setups: https://smarthomecto.com
Products Discussed
Navimow robotic lawn mower: https://amzn.to/4d7phni
Apollo Automation ESPHome Starter Kit: https://esphome.io/starter-kit/
Apollo Automation Cast 1: https://apolloautomation.com/products/cast-1-audio-casting-device
Shelly smart relays/switches: https://amzn.to/4tfoHdE
Shelly One relay: https://amzn.to/4wUFxj6
Hosts
Phil Hawthorne
Twitter: @philhawthorne
Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com
Rohan Karamandi
Twitter: @rohank9
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