Home Assistant

Sonnie Parker · Apr 23, 2024

Home Assistant

Open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server.

www.home-assistant.io

This probably doesn't need much of an introduction, although it is something I've never researched and am now thinking about trying it out. It certainly seems to be very popular.

@Travis Ballstadt ... you have it, so please feel free to chime in. Not having researched it very much... perhaps you have some links, tutorials you are aware of, etc, etc, that you might can share with us.

Is the $99 Home Assistant Green what most people purchase to get started with it?

I have the Lutron Caseta Pro Bridge, which I have not connected yet.

I've also ordered the Allonis Pi server for their Smart Remote with myServer 6 installed on the Pi. Just had to give it a swing (planning on comparing AVA Cinema, C4 Halo Touch, and the Allois Smart Remote).

Those are three boxes to connect to my Internet switch... can I eliminate any of them?

Travis Ballstadt · Apr 24, 2024

The Home Assistant Green is what I have. I believe the Yellow adds a bluetooth module built-in, vs having to add it to the green. I BELIEVE, don't quote me on that. There's some wireless tech that is not included with the green.

Home Assistant is very powerful. I have not learned or needed well over half of the functionality. Even the "Home Assistant Basics" videos I watched were a lot of stuff I didn't need. The ACTUAL basics are pretty simple. I'm planning another video where I walk through this process and then how I integrated those into the Remote Two as the front end, but here's a quick rundown.

Install Home Assistant.
Go to Settings > Devices & Services > Integrations.
Add all your devices.
If there are devices not listed, research and install HACS, which is basically a plug-in that adds access to a whole marketplace of user-generated integrations.

Up to this point should take you about an hour.

Once you have all the integrations configured, build scenes (Settings > Automations & Scenes > Scenes).
My scenes are basically lighting - Theater Welcome, Theater Intermission, Theater Playback.

You can add any and all devices to a scene and specify their exact settings:
- Theater Playback and Intermission may include your new blinds, at a fully closed setting, but you may still want them open for Theater Welcome.
- Theater scenes could also activate motion sensors outside or adjust the HVAC settings through the rest of the house.
- Maybe you have a Good Morning scene that has all blinds set to open, lights off except at your coffee brewing station, etc.
Once you have a good set of scenes, now you create Automations:
- What are the triggers you want to control the scenes?
- I personally think it's much smarter to use triggers for scenes, vs adding a ton of devices to a macro or an activity to dim lights, close shades, etc. all at once.
- My Kaleidescape/AppleTV and my JVC projector are the primary triggers for my scene automations.
  - When my JVC Projector turns on, it activates the Theater Welcome scene.
  - When my Kaleidescape or Apple TV begin playback, they activate the Theater Playback scene.
  - If I pause the Kaleidescape or Apple TV, they activate the Theater Intermission scene.
  - The Kaleidescape adds the trigger for "End Credits", which triggers the Intermission scene, then when I press Stop or the file ends, it triggers the Theater Welcome scene.
- By using triggers within Home Assistant, it really simplifies what you're doing with your remote programming, you're really just controlling playback, and the "Media Player Status" information in Home Assistant controls the automation.
- This is much more reliable, in my opinion. Home Assistant is 2-way communication, so it knows if a light actually turned on or not, and if it didn't, it can send the signal again. With a remote, it sends the signal and doesn't know if it was received or not.

Now, there are sometimes functions, button presses that aren't included in the Home Assistant integration. For any of these, if the device is not in the remote manufacturer's database, I have accentuated the remote control programming by learning IR codes. Only Kaleidescape and my Anthem AVR have required any learning.

Setup in this way, you can use Home Assistant to automate your lighting and smart devices with whatever remote you're using, even the factory remotes, because they're not automating with IR, they're automating by device status.

Travis Ballstadt · Apr 24, 2024

Looking through my YouTube history, here are some videos I actually watched start to finish, but I didn't review to see what was most helpful.

Sonnie Parker · Apr 24, 2024

Excellent info Travis... thank you!

I'll order up the Green and dive in.

EdgarQ · Jul 27, 2024

Hi Travis! I’m stuck on getting the Credits sensor set up. Is this something that can’t be done through the app? Or do I have to go into the code? Here’s where I’m stuck. There’s no drop down choices for the media location attribute.

EdgarQ · Jul 27, 2024

Actually I’m not stuck! Apparently you have to type in the word “credits” - and it works. Holy mackeral!

Travis Ballstadt · Jul 28, 2024

There's another cool hidden feature you can activate to create a longer duration of the transition between states, so you can set a slow fade up of your lighting, almost unnoticeable when you're in the room.

In the automation settings, click the three buttons in the top right and select Edit in YAML.

Screenshot 2024-07-28 at 10.49.10 AM.png

This will bring up the code behind the script, and you'll need to add the part about the duration.

Screenshot 2024-07-28 at 10.49.24 AM.png

Once it's been added, you can see and adjust it in the visual editor.

Screenshot 2024-07-28 at 10.49.35 AM.png

Not sure why they hide this feature by default.

Here's the full YAML code I use for mine to go trigger the intermission scene when the Kaleidescape reaches the end credits. I also have a 7 second delay before beginning the transition. That was there from before I discovered the transition duration feature and I still like having it in there.

alias: Movie Credits
description: ""
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- sensor.kaleidescape_theater_media_location
to: credits
for:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 7
condition: []
action:
- service: scene.turn_on
metadata: {}
target:
entity_id: scene.theater_intermission
data:
transition: 20
mode: single

EdgarQ · Jul 28, 2024

Hey Travis, I made the enhancement you just described and it's really great! Thanks for posting!

I'll share that I made the subtle adjustment to have the credits trigger only the sconces in the room, so it's excluding my screen backlight LED strip and room spotlights. This really emphasizes the barely unnoticeable theme, and lets me still enjoy the credits without too many photons washing things out.

Travis Ballstadt · Jul 28, 2024

EdgarQ said:
Hey Travis, I made the enhancement you just described and it's really great! Thanks for posting!

I'll share that I made the subtle adjustment to have the credits trigger only the sconces in the room, so it's excluding my screen backlight LED strip and room spotlights. This really emphasizes the barely unnoticeable theme, and lets me still enjoy the credits without too many photons washing things out.

That's how I do it too. I have two strips on the side walls, and a strip above and below the screen. Only the sidewalls fade up slowly at the credits, then at the end the screen lights come up for extra lighting to exit. Really slick.

I wish the AppleTV would send the end credits trigger too, especially since it obviously is identifying them a la "Next Episode" or "Skip Credits" dialogs. Too bad it won't send them via the media player. Maybe someday.

EdgarQ · Jul 28, 2024

Nice! Are all the lights coming up at the end of the credits in the same automation? Or are they all coming on because you pressed stop, and that triggered your Intermission automation?

Travis Ballstadt · Jul 28, 2024

EdgarQ said:
Nice! Are all the lights coming up at the end of the credits in the same automation? Or are they all coming on because you pressed stop, and that triggered your Intermission automation?

They come up when the media player enters the “Idle” or “None” status at the end of a show. Doesn’t need to be a button press, it’s the playback status again.

Of course they also come up if I press stop manually, regardless of the playback position.

I have three lighting scenes: Welcome, Play and Intermission. And all these triggers activate one of the three scenes. (Ignore JVC Lumagen On, it was easiest to trigger the Lumagen power on off to listen to the projector, since they’re always needed as a pair.)

BennyS · Aug 15, 2024

Travis Ballstadt said:
They come up when the media player enters the “Idle” or “None” status at the end of a show. Doesn’t need to be a button press, it’s the playback status again.

Of course they also come up if I press stop manually, regardless of the playback position.

View attachment 72605

I have three lighting scenes: Welcome, Play and Intermission. And all these triggers activate one of the three scenes. (Ignore JVC Lumagen On, it was easiest to trigger the Lumagen power on off to listen to the projector, since they’re always needed as a pair.)

View attachment 72606

Hey Travis

Are you controling lumagen with IR?
Have you looked into serial to IP converter?
Someone AV says they used a Global Cache IP2SL Itach TCP/IP to Serial Converter to control their lumagen in HA.

Travis Ballstadt · Aug 16, 2024

BennyS said:
Hey Travis

Are you controling lumagen with IR?
Have you looked into serial to IP converter?
Someone AV says they used a Global Cache IP2SL Itach TCP/IP to Serial Converter to control their lumagen in HA.

I have found a Lumagen integration for HA and am using the Global Cache adapter to communicate.

What you’re seeing in that screenshot is just a connection so the Lumagen powers on/off according to the projector’s status. Then I’ve programmed the commands I need into another screen in various activities on the Unfolded Circle remote.

BennyS · Aug 17, 2024

Travis Ballstadt said:
I have found a Lumagen integration for HA and am using the Global Cache adapter to communicate.

What you’re seeing in that screenshot is just a connection so the Lumagen powers on/off according to the projector’s status. Then I’ve programmed the commands I need into another screen in various activities on the Unfolded Circle remote.

What Global Cache adapter are you using?

BennyS · Aug 17, 2024

BennyS said:
What Global Cache adapter are you using?

This is the one I bought.
Did you have to get remote codes from Lumagen?
This is using just IP correct not IR commands

Travis Ballstadt · Aug 17, 2024

BennyS said:
This is the one I bought.
Did you have to get remote codes from Lumagen?
This is using just IP correct not IR commands

I’m using the item linked below.

Correct, it’s using IP control. The Lumagen remote codes are of an older standard that my Unfolded Circle Remote Two could not learn, even when adding the codes provided by Lumagen. The Harmony Elite, however, did have Lumagen codes in their database that worked successfully so it may be a hardware limitation of the UCR2.

I found someone who had created a Lumagen integration for HA that controls it via the Global Cache RS232 to Ethernet converter. It is not a published integration but if you need it I can put you in touch with the owner on GitHub.

https://amzn.to/4dPT02b

BennyS · Aug 23, 2024

Travis Ballstadt said:
I’m using the item linked below.

Correct, it’s using IP control. The Lumagen remote codes are of an older standard that my Unfolded Circle Remote Two could not learn, even when adding the codes provided by Lumagen. The Harmony Elite, however, did have Lumagen codes in their database that worked successfully so it may be a hardware limitation of the UCR2.

I found someone who had created a Lumagen integration for HA that controls it via the Global Cache RS232 to Ethernet converter. It is not a published integration but if you need it I can put you in touch with the owner on GitHub.

Hey Travis

Struggling to get this Global Cache RS232 to work.
Connections, serial port from lumagen to serial port to the Global Cache RS232, correct
Is there any software that needs to be downloaded for the Global Cache? Does this need to be configure?
Is there any codes or anything needed from lumagen?

Travis Ballstadt · Aug 23, 2024

BennyS said:
Hey Travis

Struggling to get this Global Cache RS232 to work.
Connections, serial port from lumagen to serial port to the Global Cache RS232, correct
Is there any software that needs to be downloaded for the Global Cache? Does this need to be configure?
Is there any codes or anything needed from lumagen?

Do you have the Lumagen Home Assistant integration?

BennyS · Aug 24, 2024

Travis Ballstadt said:
Do you have the Lumagen Home Assistant integration

No I don't
How do I get that?

BennyS · Aug 24, 2024

Questions

I don't have my Full Circle remote yet

When Setting up HA
I have it set up to turn on all devices and select the right input through HA using my HA app. All but the lumagen right now.
I have Welcome lighting integrations, intermission and on and off control

As of now I am using AV10 remote to control volume, Kscape remote and appleTV remote

For basic remote functions like play, pause, volume, stop and so on
Did you set up in HA or is that through the remote integration?

Travis Ballstadt · Aug 24, 2024

I don't do much remote control through HA at all. I am using the Unfolded Circle remote, and was using a Harmony prior to that. I'm primarily using HA for automations. This way regardless of what remote I'm using to control the devices, the automations will still work as expected.

The Lumagen is set to turn on/off based on the power status of my JVC projector.

I'm only using the Kaleidescape HA integration to trigger lighting automations. I would continue to use your individual remotes to control basic playback features until your Remote 3 arrives. Some remote functionality can be done via HA, but I don't find it to be an enjoyable experience. I use the HA app to launch a Remote Two activity from upstairs so the theater can be fired up and ready to go when we get downstairs. Other than that, I use the Remote Two for all navigation and playback control. Everything in HA happens in the background without interaction from me.

BennyS · Aug 24, 2024

Travis Ballstadt said:
I don't do much remote control through HA at all. I am using the Unfolded Circle remote, and was using a Harmony prior to that. I'm primarily using HA for automations. This way regardless of what remote I'm using to control the devices, the automations will still work as expected.

The Lumagen is set to turn on/off based on the power status of my JVC projector.

I'm only using the Kaleidescape HA integration to trigger lighting automations. I would continue to use your individual remotes to control basic playback features until your Remote 3 arrives. Some remote functionality can be done via HA, but I don't find it to be an enjoyable experience. I use the HA app to launch a Remote Two activity from upstairs so the theater can be fired up and ready to go when we get downstairs. Other than that, I use the Remote Two for all navigation and playback control. Everything in HA happens in the background without interaction from me.

Got it
This is exactly my thought process

Thanks

BennyS · Sep 4, 2024

I have the NSPanel running off home assistant.
Quick 1 touch buttons to activate scenes

Travis Ballstadt · Sep 4, 2024

Home Assistant is brilliant. There are folks who've paid tens of thousands for less.

Sonnie Parker · Sep 4, 2024

I purchased the green unit a while back but could never find a use for it. I guess we are too simplistic. We have Lutron light switches and shades, but that is all easily controlled with the Lutron app. Our outside lights turn on at sunset, and certain shades open and close at different times. We control everything else in the house at will because other lights and shades need to be controlled at different times.

HOWEVER... the AV room is a different story. The wall panel is interesting and I think it would be nice to walk in and hit the Apple button or Kscape button and have everything turn on for those items. The one thing I haven't done yet is upgrade my light switches to Lutron in the AV room, which I sorely need to do.

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