The Home Automation Journey Part 1: Let's get going
- Venkat Swaminathan
- Jun 21
- 7 min read
By the end of this post, you should be having some idea of getting started with a popular open-source home automation platform and seen your credit card getting swiped a few times.
Fish. It was fish that started it all.
Fish and Fumbles
In 2009-10, a well-meaning colleague decided to help me embark on what seemed like a thrilling project: setting up an aquarium at home. At first, it was all excitement and joy, especially for the kids who were convinced they were now fish whisperers. However, the thrill quickly faded as I realized that maintaining this underwater paradise involved more than just admiring the fish. Suddenly, I found myself in a never-ending cycle of chores like topping up the tank and managing the tank lights. I began to wonder if there was a way to automate these responsibilities.
After some intense research (read: hours of aimless scrolling and watching YouTube videos), I stumbled upon a set of gadgets known as Arduinos. Who knew that my quest for fishy bliss would lead me down the rabbit hole of DIY tech? Clearly, I was destined to be the proud owner of a high-tech fish tank—or at least, that's what I told myself as I plunged into the world of automation.
In this series there will be two major types of... devices... or, installations... or scenarios that I will talk about -- often switching back and forth between them.
One is about assembling your own hardware projects where you get a little tiny microcontroller with some LEDs or motors or temperature sensors and build little gadgets that "do things". This is really about learning to work with microcontrollers and getting into the maker mode.
The other, is where you use off-the-shelf smart plugs and smart bulbs and motion detectors and configure them to respond to the environment.
You can, of course, merge the two types together, e.g. I have microcontrollers that can respond to a button being pressed on my mobile phone and open the garage doors and turn on the garage ceiling light (because I am too cheap to buy a commercial Wi-Fi-enabled garage door opener -- what's the fun in that!). You are constrained only by your imagination, your time, and the DPAF (Domestic Partner Acceptance Factor) of your creations.
As we go through the article I will also list out some buying recommendations with links that you can use to start off with.
HOME AUTOMATION ECOSYSTEMS
Let's start with the straightforward part. The software platform is crucial for launching home automation, and we'll address the hardware later. You have various options, some of which you might already be using or have heard about.
Popular platforms
Alexa, Google, and Apple each offer their own automation platforms, which are seamlessly integrated with voice interaction. They also have their respective devices, like Echo and Nest, that are highly integrated. As you browse through your local home improvement store or online sites, you'll notice devices labeled as compatible with Alexa, Homekit, and Google.
Plug-n-play
All you need to do is to buy the respective brands of smart plugs, smart bulbs, motion sensors, temperature/humidity sensors and install them in your home. The sensors typically work off batteries that will last several months to a couple of years and the bulks and plugs will directly work with your electrical outlets.
The installation procedure is fairly simple where you plug it in, maybe press some kind of reset button, open up your phone app, and there is a discovery/pairing process. You may configure your wifi details, give the device a name, and you are ready to now go "Alexa, turn on basement light" and see magic happen.
But...
What, if any, are the drawbacks of these platforms? The answer depends on your objectives. One consideration is the need to commit to a specific platform. If you're already a frequent user of Alexa, Google, or Apple devices, sticking with their ecosystem is simpler. However, you'll find limited options for personal customization. For instance, if you wish to coordinate multiple devices, such as turning off staircase lights when you open the door and then having them turn off two minutes after closing the door, you'll soon encounter the boundaries of customization.
Device families
There are whole ecosystems of device families that are manufactured by a few names and they come with their own apps and ecosystems. The screenshot shows some names I just picked off a search. They all typically come with their own apps and work well with their own families of devices. Most of them will offer interfaces to Alexa, Google, Apple. But they additionally come with warranties, support, etc. If you are planning to get your home devices professionally installed, then you will probably see your contractor using some of these types of devices. Because most of them are also integrating their own hardware platforms you will get a little more flexibility in how you can create automations and scripts to operate your devices.
THE ADVANCED HOBBYIST
This is where you live life on the edge.
Just kidding. There are well-known companies and brands that offer smart home devices on Amazon and other online platforms at a lower cost than some of the brands mentioned earlier, without compromising on quality or functionality. While they might be influenced by global political trends and relationships, that's a separate issue. Brands such as Kasa, Tuya, TP-Link, Govee, and SonOff fall into this category. I purchased my first SonOff device, a WiFi-controlled power relay, in 2017, and it still functions perfectly, controlling the lights and fans in my home office.
Software
If you are going down the Advanced hobbyist route or if you have devices from different manufacturers, then you are going to need a home automation platform that can talk to multiple devices. And provide all the cool features you want. And again, you have choices.
One of the very popular ones is called Home Assistant and that's the one I have been using for a long time now. It's open source and you can pretty much use its features for free without requiring any subscription or fees. There is a feature where it allows you to connect to your home from the internet so you can operate your devices from anywhere, and that is offered as a paid option. If you are already running a VPN into your house or are otherwise comfortable with managing your own network security and stuff, then you won't need to pay this. Home Assistant is supported by a very strong community with several integrations. E.g. I can monitor my car status and location and lock/unlock my car through Home Assistant integration with my car. It also provides a front end to design dashboards.
Geek alert
What I really like about Home Assistant is the ability to integrate with external services. You can use an external MQTT broker for both, control and data. You can integrate with external databases, systems, APIs, with very little restrictions. A lot of the components of Home Assistant run as managed Docker containers that are hidden from a typical user and hence it's fairly reliable in terms of operational stability. All good stuff. The learning curve can be a bit steep but that's the starter fees you are going to pay. It only gets easier after that :-)
/Geek alert
Hardware
Where do you run Home Assistant after downloading? Well. maybe start with your laptop, no? oookkkkk...k! And when I need to head out with my laptop, then what?
Ah! Now you have started going down the rabbit hole.
One of the big advantages of using something that's "cloud powered", e.g. like a Philips light bulb or a Honeywell thermostat, and using their own apps, is that the devices directly talk to your wifi network or through a hub and you can use your mobile phone with an app to control the devices. You don't need another laptop or computer running all the time. But if your internet connection to the outside world is down, then your devices are no longer available. Or, if you are sensitive about data from your home, e.g. a camera that looks out onto your porch or backyard, going out to the cloud then you might have an issue. The diagram below shows how the devices talk to each other.
If you run your own integration system, like Home Assistant, then you need to provide a place for it to run 24x7. You then get more control over keeping data within your home and deciding what parts you want to share with which company. But then you are stuck with maintaining the hardware. The following diagram describes your situation now.
As you can see, you have option of keeping everything within your network.
A very common hardware platform that is used to run home automation, and especially Home Assistant, is the Raspberry Pi. The newer versions are more than capable of running the platform for most scenarios. A Pi 4 Model B or a Pi 5 is recommended. You will need a microSD card to use for the Pi, and you can download the appropriate binary version, install on the card, pop it into the Pi, start the Pi, and off you go.
Home Assistant is also selling their own hardware called Home Assistant Green with the software installed that you can just plug into a network and get started.
MY RECOMMENDATION
Get your hands on a Pi 4 Model B or a Pi 5.
Buy a decent power supply for the Pi. Do not skimp on this -- you will regret it. Power supply related issues tend to occur infrequently and are a pain to debug later on.
Get a 64GB or 128GB microSD card of a decent brand (Samsung, Sandisk). If you do not have a microSD card reader you will need that too. Avoid use of cheap microSD cards. If they fail, you have to reinstall and start all over.
You will need a monitor, keyboard, and mouse for the initial setup of the Pi. Once it's setup and connected to the network you will rarely ever need to connect to it again.
Download Home Assistant on your laptop/computer.
Use balenaEtcher or Raspberry Pi Imager to transfer the downloaded image to the microSD card
Insert card into Pi and power it up.
If your stars are aligned right, and you already have some devices at home, then they will often be auto discovered, and you may see a screen like this (from Home Assistant Green - Home Assistant).
Discovered devices on your network
CONGRATULATIONS! You have begun automating your home.
In the next post, I shall some details of how I have configured some of the devices at my home. Join me as I dive into the wild world of home automation! Spoiler alert: my design choices might make you question my sanity, but hey, at least my devices are smarter than me! We will look at the types of devices, what kind of design decisions I made (and regretted).
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