My Home Assistant Smart Home setup with hardware list
On this page I keep track of my current Smart Home setup, built around Home Assistant, Deconz and Node-RED. So, if you are interested in my setup please read on. The list of devices I use has grown organically over time, sometimes based on a certain need (like a proper light sensor), and sometimes based on a specific sale or interest for a device. Still, if I had to start over I would still pick many of these devices for a second time.
Note: The pros and cons described here are my personal experiences.
Note 2: All trademarks, logos and brand names are the property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only. Otherwise, it would be very hard to explain which hardware devices or software I use or consider for my home automation project!
Controllers
My smart home runs on Home Assistant, App Deamon, Node-RED, and Deconz. I started small with a set of Raspberry Pis. At some point, I required a bit more processing power and switched to an Intel NUC with Docker.
Intel NUC
Main controller of the system running all services through Docker.
Pros
- Powerfull, runs all your services on one device.
- Home Assistant is more responsive, especially with a large network of devices.
- Can also run other services.
- Docker (with Docker compose) gives more flexibility.
Cons
- A lot more expensive than a single Pi.
- Higher learning curve.
ConBee
My main Zigbee hub using software from Dresden Electronics, connected to my Intel Nuc. I use the v1 version, but a newer v2 version is now available. The ConBee is compatible with most of devices of Hue, Osram, Innr, Ikea and Xiaomi. I chose for the USB version so that I could always switch to another device if needed. As I started with a Raspberry pi, and then moved to an Intel Nuc this turned out to be a good choice.
Pros
- Huge list of compatible devices, see the compatbility list.
- Nice interface for joining lights, sensors and switches.
- The GUI can be used to debug/view the Zigbee network (gives great insight in the mesh abilities).
Cons
- More expensive than the flash-your-own Zigbee radios.
- Higher learning curve than the vendor hubs.
Raspberry Pi 3B+
My first smart home setup consisted of Home Assistant, App Daemon and Node-RED are all running on a Raspberry Pi. Two other Pis, one for Deconz and one for PiHole, completed the set. While I could have ran all these services on a single device (like a NUC), I wanted to start small with a single Pi, and I have extended it since then. Currently, the Raspberry Pis have been replaced by a single Intel NUC.
Pros
- Cheaper / easier to start with.
Cons
- Less room for future upgrades, SD cards will not run indefinately.
Sensors
Sensors are what transitioned my home from an app powered home to a smart home. Before I had any sensors, lights were controlled by an app (e.g. the Philips Hue app) and everything was manual. Now, with the introduction of these sensors, most lights can be turned on and off automatically.
Xiaomi Aqara motion sensor (RTCGQ11LM)
In my opinion, the best motion sensor for this price. I use this sensor in all places where I want to automate something based on motion. Usually sells for around €10 (keep an eye on sales!). The device also includes a light sensor but the sensor readings are very inaccurate. The motion detection range is quite good but large rooms will need more than one.
The Xiaomi hub is not required as it connects to my ConBee. An alternative is to run Zigbee2mqtt.
Pros
- Best for the price.
- Small form factor.
Cons
- Not available locally.
- Sends max. 1 update per minute.
Xiaomi Aqara door sensor (MCCGQ11LM)
Door sensors are one of the most usefull sensors to integrate in to a smart home. They can of course be used as part of an alarm on both windows and doors. Moreover, my main use for them is to turn on lights when a door is opened. This makes sure that lights are on even if the motion sensors did not register the motion yet and results in a nice transition.
These sensors from Aqara are one of the cheapest available, but work great. They are really small and sell for around €7.
The Xiaomi hub is not required as it connects to my ConBee. An alternative is to run Zigbee2mqtt.
Pros
- Best for the price.
- Very small.
Cons
- Not available locally
Philips Hue Motion Sensor
The Hue motion sensor is bit more expensive than the Aqara motion sensors and is also larger in size. I still bought one as the light sensors in the Aqara sensors are not very precise and I wanted to monitor natural light intensity.
Pros
- Very precise light sensor.
- Can be installed using a magnet.
Cons
- Expensive.
- Larger than the Xiaomi version.
Lights
Lights are the main 'output' of my smart home and are controlled by various inputs. As I use Deconz as my main Zigbee hub I'm not limited to a single brand. I have tested multiple brands (Hue, Ikea, OSRAM, Innr) and the lights I use the most are described here.
Philips Hue Color Bulbs
Although a bit expensive, the quality of these bulbs is very good and they have a great range of colors (in comparison to other lights I've tested). I use them to create some color highlights. For larger areas that do not need colors I went with the cheaper White Ambiance variant.
Pros
- Very good color range.
- Great dimming capabilities.
- No problems with faulty bulbs (so far).
Cons
- More expensive than alternatives.
Philips Hue White Ambiance Bulbs
I use these lights as a cheaper alternative to the color Hue lights. I use them in places where controlling brightness and color temp is sufficient. Excellent dimming quality and the color warmth has the best range in comparison to the other brands.
Pros
- Very good temperature range.
- Great dimming capabilities.
- No problems with faulty bulbs (so far).
Cons
- More expensive than alternatives.
Ikea Tradfri GU10 dimmable led
What can you do wrong with a €7 smart light? Not much. These lights are very good as a basic lights for rooms that do not need more than dimming. I did have some problems with some of these though, like flickering when they were off or not wanting to connect to my hub.
The Ikea hub is not required as it connects to my ConBee. An alternative is to run Zigbee2mqtt.
Pros
- Great entry-level light.
- One of the cheapest Zigbee lights available.
- Decent light quality.
- Good value for your money.
Cons
- Dimming capabilities are moderate, 1% brightness of this light is 10% of a comparable Hue light.
- Had some problems with faulty bulbs.
Philips Hue White Ambience GU10
Highest quality GU10 Zigbee lights I found so far. Excellent dimming capabilities (great for night lights) and a wide color range. If they would have been cheaper I would have bought more of these.
Pros
- Superb dimming capabilities.
- Nice color temperature range.
Cons
- More expensive than alternatives.
Ikea Tradfri GU10 dimmable led + color temp
Double the price of the simple Tradfri light but includes adds color temperature. The range of temperatures and the dimming capabilties are still not great, but the lights have a very good value for the price. If you're not to picky for light quality, these lights are a great starter-buy.
The Ikea hub is not required as it connects to my ConBee. An alternative is to run Zigbee2mqtt.
Pros
- Very good price.
- Decent light quality.
- Has color temperature support.
Cons
- Dimming capabilities are moderate, 1% brightness of this light is 10% of a comparable Hue light.
- Setting temperature and brightness at the same time can be difficult (more info).
Buttons and switches
Philips Hue Smart Dimmer Switch
A four-button wireles switch that is often present in the starter packs of Philips Hue. Its intended use is to dim lights, however I use it as a remote for my Sonos-powered music system. Using Deconz and Node-RED I mapped the single buttons to music functions: shuffle, volume and skipping songs.
Pros
- Four buttons, wall mount using magnets.
Cons
- Labels on the buttons (can be a pro or con).
- Bit more expensive than a single Xiaomi button.
Xiaomi Aqara wireless switch (WXKG11LM)
Very useful and cheap (around €7) switch with a single button. I have spread several of these around my house controlling a wide range of functions. They are especially usefull to add a simple light switch to rooms.
The Xiaomi hub is not required as it connects to my ConBee. An alternative is to run Zigbee2mqtt.
Pros
- Small form factor.
- Good price.
Cons
- Not available locally
Xiaomi Aqara wireless switch (WXKG01LM)
Comparable to the other switch (see above), but this one has a bit larger touch area. I use one in my kitchen as I can activate this switch with my elbows which is usefull during cooking. Its a bit more espensive though, usually around €9. The Xiaomi hub is not required as it connects to my ConBee. An alternative is to run Zigbee2mqtt.
Pros
- Larger touch area.
Cons
- Not available locally.
- Bit more expensive than WXKG11LM.
Dashboards
A tablet-powerd dashboard is a great way of interacting with your house. I use it as the main control panel that gives access to the most important features and settings. It's also a very convenient way of giving guests access to your smart home system without having them to install an app or browsing to a website.
Amazon Fire Tablet
I use a basic Fire 7 tablet from Amazon for my dashboard. In combination with the Fully Kiosk Browser it's a really conventient way of controling my smart home. Fire OS (what runs on these tablets) can be a bit limiting but, for me, is enough for running a dashboard.
Pros
- Good price
Cons
- Not the fastests tablets.
- Not available in all countries.
- FireOS can be restrictive.
Plugs
Smart plugs are an easy way to make dumb devices a bit smarter. For example, I use one to control the charger of my wall tablet and a second one to control my (non-smart) TV.
OSRAM Smart+ Plug (Sylvania in the US)
Simple plug that I use for adding on/off control to non-smart devices. I've only tested the EU OSRAM version, in the US this brand is available under the Sylvania name.
The OSRAM hub is not required as it connects to my ConBee. An alternative is to run Zigbee2mqtt.
Pros
- Good value for your money.
- Good zigbee meshing capabilities.
Cons
- No power measurement (at least in Deconz).
22 comments
Archived from the years this post accepted comments, 2019 to 2021. Commenting is closed; for questions or remarks, use the contact page.
MrNirual
Hey Wouter, I am new to Home Assistant and wanted to make my first steps with some Hue Lights and a Hue smart dimmer switch over zigbee2mqtt (1.1.1) and Home Assistant (hass.io 0.87.0).
I reset the switch and connected it and two lights successfully to hass via zigbee2mqtt. I can control the lights from there and I can see the mqtt messages created by the switch (in the zigbee2mqtt addon as well as in mqtt.fx) - but for some reason hass seems to think the switch (listed as sensor btw) is "unavailable" all the time. Did you have that problem, too?
I tried to reset the switch again but that doesn't change anything. I am not sure if that would even help as the mqtt message seem ok to me, it rathe seems to be a problem of hass.
As your setup is working I was wondering if I have overlooked something which you may have done?
Thanks a lot & kind regards,
Nirual
Wouter Bulten
Hi Nirual, I think I know what is going on. Just as a disclaimer: I have used zigbee2mqtt only for a short while (when it was below 1.0) and have since then switched to a Conbee stick in combination with Deconz. Nevertheless, I do think that I know what's going wrong as I had the same problem when I started. This also holds for my current setup using Deconz.
The dimmer switch shows up as a sensor because it is event-based and not state-based such as the lights. Your lights have a state ("on" or "off") but the dimmer switch doesn't have a state (it just has four buttons). Instead, zigbee2mqtt sends a mqtt event every time a button is pressed. In your automations you should be able to create a trigger based on these events. That the sensor state is "unavailable" doesn't really matter as there is no state between button presses.
MrNirual
Hi Woulter, thanks for your quick reply. Actually in this specific case it was a matter of "restart the pi", I guess the zigbee2mqtt stick was in a bad state somehow which was resolved by the restart. Now it works! :-) The mqtt messages are correctly accepted and I have some automation scripts to use the dimmer switches as well, even though it is not exactly the same as when the dimmer is directly synced to the lamps. I wanted to use the "detour" over hass to help me understand how to use hass for automation.
I am looking forward to reading further posts of yours, they are informative to read and written intelligibly - thank you!
Wouter Bulten
Hi Nirual, thanks for the compliments! Good to hear that you figured it out :)
inquanto
Hey there,
Could you maybe point me in the right direction of how to trigger node red automations from a deconz device. Im using hassio with a conbee ii and a Xiaomi Aqara wireless switch. It is all setup on the hass.io side and it registers as a deconz event when i press the button. I just installed the nodered addon but im kinda lost on how i would detect that deconz event? or would i connect to the deconz server directly? Its all running on the same pi in my case...
Any help would be much appreciated thanks!
Wouter Bulten
Hi! In nodered you can listen for general events from Home Assistant. In that case you need to filter for deconz events. In each deconz event you can find the device that triggered it. No need to directly connect nodered with deconz.
inquanto
Hey, thanks a lot I managed to get it working now :)
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