Kevin Brown-Silva

@mike the #WLED project is pretty highly recommended, though I'll admit I've never used them. For single color light strips (so not the fancy ones, but the ones that have existed for years), I personally use a #ZigBee LED controller from #Gledopto with some cheap RGB-CCT strips purchased off of #AliExpress. Integrates with #Zigbee2MQTT without any issues, and also integrates with #PhillipsHue if that's your thing.

@rusty I'll note that Securify Peanut plugs also allow for power monitoring and are #ZigBee plugs, but they require manual configuration (they don't report the model properly) and they have worse issues than the Innr plugs falling off the network (they randomly restart). I ended up switching to #Athom #ESPHome plugs after trying all of the power monitoring plugs on the Blakadder ZigBee list.

@michael I've had really good luck with #Aqara buttons, Aqara remotes (battery powered, but on the wall near your other switches), Aqara switches (so replacing existing ones, mostly US Decora), and #PhillipsHue dimmer remotes (with Decora faceplates off of #Etsy). All of them work via #ZigBee (and I use #Zigbee2MQTT) without any issues.

An #Introduction:

I'm a #Python #SoftwareEngineer by day, but after that I interact with a lot of #FOSS and other #OpenSource projects.

I maintain and own #Select2, the #JavaScript library that I joke is keeping #jQuery alive. I'm also a maintainer on #DjangoRestFramework and #Jinja2 but I'll admit I do less with them now that I don't use #Django for work.

I have a lot of #HomeAutomation projects that make heavy use of #HomeAssistant (#ESPHome, #ZigBee).

@damacus I'm not sure ZigBee supports multiple coordinators in a single network? I've got a single #Zigbee coordinator (#Conbee) relaying using #Zigbee2MQTT for better availability to work around that issue.

@mattb Huge fan of #Athom smart home devices, especially their #ESPHome stuff. You should be able to provision them through your phone by just connecting to the WiFi network it creates. They are picked up by #HomeAssistant and the ESPHome web interface without issue once you get them on your main network. Some of the easiest #WiFi #SmartHome plugs I've ever used.

@vladdi I personally run a bunch of cameras through #Frigate. If you have a #RaspberryPi you can run a handful (3-5) without a #CoralAI TPU. I personally run on larger hardware (newly with a TPU) and haven't had any issues with it. If you want more accurate object detection and use better hardware then I'd recommend #DoubleTake for simplified model training and fully local detection.

@bigcalm what integration do you use for your solar in #HomeAsisstant? I've tried #Solcast and #ForecaseSolar but neither of them have allowed me to adjust for shade levels so they're pretty hit or miss for me.

@jitteringrunt @compulsivecyclist @eskibrew +1 to using #NabuCasa for #Alexa and #GoogleHome integrations. While I'm using #cloudflared for tunnels, I think it's worthwhile to pay for nabu.casa to support the devs and get the much nicer integrations.

@nannooskeeska You can still do #HomeAutomation in an apartment, you just have to do the kind that's reversible. For example, you can automate toggle/rocker switches with a #ThirdReality #Zigbee smart switch. Or you can hang some #Aqara contact (door/window) sensors with command strips to automatically turn on your #Hue lights when you open a door. Or use an Aqara humidity sensor to turn off the bathroom fan once the humidity drops after a shower (probably using one of those switches).