From Tuya to Home Assistant: A Kiwi’s Smart Home Journey

Steve from New Zealand (Kiwi Smart Tech) shares his journey from Tuya bulbs to a powerful Home Assistant setup. We dig into garage door woes and wins, cross‑protocol sensors, mmWave presence, and why Apple Home is his go‑to interface

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Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA237

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Chapters

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:00 Steve’s Kiwi smart home origin

00:10:15 First Home Assistant wins and fails

00:16:00 Garage door saga and ESPHome

00:23:50 Access control

00:28:01 From tinkerer to creator

00:41:00 Apple Home as UI

00:46:30 Ambient alerts: plants, leaks

00:55:10 Appliances, HACS, lock‑in

01:04:00 Cameras and continuous video

01:07:30 Wrap‑up and links

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

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Phil Hawthorne

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Rohan Karamandi

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