Our guide to integrating Alexa in Home Assistant

Give your home a personality and have some fun too!!!

It's all very well having your home automated but, what if you're not near a control panel or your phone is over there!!! That's when you need voice control...

Being able to tell your home what you want AND have it talk back to you was a dream some years ago. Now you can DIY it yourself - for the cost of a 'Smart' Speaker

This series of tutorials will show you how to get voice control and feedback using more open-source software and plug-ins. There's no complicated setups, no extra sign-ups or subscriptions...

-  (unless you want to subscribe to our YouTube channel - thnx)

First: Getting Alexa and Home Assistant connected

There are many ways to integrate Amazon Alexa in to Home Assistant, this by far the easiest and quickest... 

https://youtu.be/r-pwLvCT0Bg

Next: Controlling your Home Assistant Devices

While all devices are 'discovered' as lights, we show you how much you can do using the power of Node-Red.

https://youtu.be/l1as3tYVy64

Now the fun part: - Advanced TTS (Text to Speech)

Of course there's standard TTS - blocks of text that are the same every time. How about automating random made phrases, given you HUNDREDS of variations.

https://youtu.be/3MdnRfCQcVE

Taking it even further: The power of TTS in Node-Red

Scripts and Home Assistant are fun but if you want more sophisticated speech, Node-Red gives you a re few more features.

https://youtu.be/Ib8RffCYcfo

More than one Alexa ?

In a another room and want to hear what the temperature is or need to have TTS follow you around the house? Let her know where you are!

https://youtu.be/cLv0CGgoTJ0

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Home Assistant & ESPHome Humidifier convert Demo

Here's a brief demo of my latest endeavour - Making a standard Humidifier 'Smart'

Using just a D1 mini programmed with ESPHome (through Home Assistant) I brought all the controls back to Home Assistant, including the Water Level Sens,r. plus, control of the LED/Night-Light.  

Internally I've stepped down the devices' in coming 24VDC supply to 5V, for the D1 mini. Then used the GPIOs to command the Humidifiers own CPU.
At this point the original rotary switch is disconnected. However, in the next update / phase of this project I will add that back in - as well as some indicator lighting.
There is also plans to change the on-board Light for something a li'more... well, RGB!!!  

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Home Assistant: Fans | Thermostats | other DIY - Oh Yeah

The main topic of this Live Stream is 'Ultimate Fan Project'

Watch Dave convert, from scratch, a standard 3-Speed Desk Fan. That note only is controllable from Home Assistant but also has local control by re-deploying the on-board speed selector. Plus add in some speed indicator LEDs

This fan can now be controlled by Home Assistant, Voice and still have manual local control... and of course reap the benefits of temperature, time of day and other automation controls.

You will see how to program a Sonoff Basic to use an 8 port expander to provide the necessary GPIOs for:

• 3 Fan Speeds
• 3 Indicator LEDs
• 3 Speed Selector Buttons

My GitHub page for ESPHome code & Other Info:

https://github.com/3ative/ultimate-fan-project

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ESPHome, Home Assistant DIY Digital Thermostat - demo

Just a quick update for a DIY ESPHome Thermostat...

Using just a D1 Mini programmed with (yes you're guessed it) ESPHome. Dave put together a working Wi-Fi thermostat. It is bi-directional meaning, it is able to control the Software thermostats in Home Assistant and get updates from Home Assistant and everything you need is displayed in the integrated OLED display. 

Once all the kinks are worked out a step-by-step tutorial will be made and the full code will be released.

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3ATIVE is getting all Automated

GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY!

Over the last year we have been working and testing some home automation products. Now we've settled on the open source software - "Home Assistant", it's time begin putting back to the community.
You may have seen previous post, where we discussed building an LED indicator/display in the IR remote receiver for a Media Centre PC.

We've recently started adding tutorial videos to our YouTube Channel and have a Playlist for our Home Assistant; Programming, Device and Gadget builds.
With accompany code and other information on our GitHub Page we hope to become a helpful resource for beginner to advanced users for this FREE software.

So, please Subscribe and tell everyone about us! LOL


More to come soon, stay tuned.

Home Automation - Project: Black Box

Problem: Have a visual indication from a couple of sensors always visible

Sure, I have them on a Lovelace panel but, I'd like them to be visible without opening a browser or turning on a tablet/phone etc.

Solution: D1 mini with a couple of RGB LEDs attached! 

In this first integration, the two RGB LED's are mounted in a project box under the IR receiver of my 'Media Centre PC'.

It was powered by a separate 5v USB Phone charger but, as my Media PC only goes to sleep (the IR receiver is USB powered all the time) - let's use that instead.

Here's a brief guide to making your own Home Assistant "Black Box". I've also included the ESPHome yaml at the end.

1. Time to get the Soldering Iron out and package the whole thing on some VERO (Strip-board)

2. Re-Build on VERO-board and test. 

3. Trim VERO board to be as small as possible to fit the inside the case.

4. Using the incoming USB connector, solder the 5V & GND to the back of the cable socket. 

5. Hot Glue some foam and secure the D1 Mini to the host board.

6. Drill out and mount the LEDs in some plastic and hot glue to host board.

7. Test again, put everything back together and put back on the shelf... 

Now that everything is setup, tested and working you can make your own automation(s) for colour, brightness, etc...

My LEDs switch between Red & Green. Left indicates my home alarm status and the right one shows another binary sensor. However, you can have them show any colour for different states, controlled by your own automations. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ESPHome Code:

esphome:

  name: black_box1

  platform: ESP8266

  board: d1_mini

wifi:

  ssid: !secret ssid

  password: !secret wifi_password

# Enable logging

logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API

api:

ota:

light:

  - platform: rgb

    name: "Left LED"

    id: left_led

    red: left_red

    green: left_green

    blue: left_blue

    restore_mode: ALWAYS_OFF

    

  - platform: rgb

    name: "Right LED"

    id: right_led

    red: right_red

    green: right_green

    blue: right_blue

    restore_mode: ALWAYS_OFF

output:

  - platform: esp8266_pwm

    id: left_red

    pin: D1

    inverted: true

  - platform: esp8266_pwm

    id: left_green

    pin: D2

    inverted: true

  - platform: esp8266_pwm

    id: left_blue

    pin: D3

    inverted: true

    

  - platform: esp8266_pwm

    id: right_red

    pin: D5

    inverted: true 

    # frequency: 1hz  # -- *** Use to make 'RED' flash when on ***

  - platform: esp8266_pwm

    id: right_green

    pin: D6

    inverted: true    

  - platform: esp8266_pwm

    id: right_blue

    pin: D7

    inverted: true

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