From an Orange Bulb to a Smart Home: Claudia’s Home Assistant Journey

Claudia joins Phil and Rohan to share how an orange Philips Hue bulb sparked a full-blown smart home powered by Home Assistant.

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Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA238

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Chapters

00:00:00 - Intro

00:03:35 - Early lights to Apple Home

00:06:24 - Why local-first and fewer subs

00:07:59 - Server closet hardware and UDM

00:10:24 - Magic lights with mmWave

00:15:12 - Nap-time button and scenes

00:19:22 - Local voice, Music Assistant

00:27:03 - Protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread

00:31:00 - Door sensors and recessed mods

00:34:40 - Climate data and ESPHome AC

00:38:30 - Ceiling fans and canopy modules

00:41:30 - Partner approval and tweaks

00:44:30 - Cats: Litter-Robot and cameras

00:45:15 - Robot vacuums and Valetudo

00:48:30 - Dashboards that are simple

00:52:10 - YAML, AI helpers, and costs

00:56:20 - Cloud-optional philosophy

01:01:06 - Robot mowers and real limits

01:01:06 - Humanoid robots chat and wrap

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

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Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

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Apollo Automation

Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box.

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Products Discussed

Unifi Dream Machine (UDM) router: https://amzn.to/4wPeLJG

Aqara FP1E mmWave presence sensor (Zigbee): https://amzn.to/4wLIrXY

Products we Recommend

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

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Rohan Karamandi

Website

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

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