During the day, I use regular video calls, but at night, in the dark, he can't see anything, and if I leave a few lights on, I sleep poorly (even wearing a cloth mask, some light gets into my eyes and disturbs my sleep).

So I thought about an infrared camera, which would allow the other person to see me continuously even if he's several kilometers away. However, I've read that the camera app typically blocks the view after a certain amount of time and asks, "Are you still there?" and if you don't respond, it turns off. The other person could click "yes" if he's awake, or if he dozes off for a bit and then wakes up, he could reopen the app and see me again, right? Or is there a way to continuously view?

Can you help me understand? Do you have any advice?  I'd like to spend as little as possible, I don't care the quality, the important thing is that it does its job.

I'm finally replacing my broken doorbell. I want a video doorbell but I don't want to pay $15/month for cloud storage forever.

Ring seems like the default but the subscription model bothers me. Eufy has local storage but I read about their privacy issues a few years back. Reolink also keeps coming up.

For people who've had a video doorbell for 2+ years - which one, no-subscription option, and is the local storage actually reliable?

Running a small business out of my house means the line between work and notwork is basically theoretical. My spouse is great about it but we just started sharing a space and I want to get this right before bad habits form.

What I have so far: a Shelly on my office light so the color shifts when I'm on a call, and a cheap Zwave contact sensor on the door that triggers a do not disturb mode in Home Assistant. Works, mostly. The color signal gets ignored more than I expected.

What I'm actually wondering is whether anyone has built something more assertive. Not pigeondefensesystem aggressive, but something that creates a clear environmental signal without being annoying or passiveaggressive. That mailbox motion sensor post from a few days ago got me thinking about cheap sensors doing unexpected jobs.

The other thing I keep coming back to: does any of this actually change behavior long term, or do people just habituate to the signals? I haven't found solid data on that and I'm skeptical it exists. If someone has done something that genuinely worked for household members over months rather than just the first week, I want to know the specific setup.

What protocol, what trigger, what was the visible or audible output.

Hi everyone! As someone heavily focused on eco-friendly smart home controls and micro-energy harvesting, I frequently get asked how "battery-free" switches actually work without wires or external power.

Since battery clutter is a growing headache in large smart home setups, I wanted to write a quick teardown/breakdown of how kinetic self-powered technology functions, along with its main advantages and limitations.

1. The Core Mechanism: Micro-Energy Harvesting

When you press a kinetic switch, you aren't just toggling a contact—you're physically driving a tiny micro-generator (an electromagnetic harvester).

Mechanical Motion: The tactile force of your finger depresses a spring-loaded mechanism.

Electromagnetic Induction: This movement rapidly shifts a small magnet through a copper coil inside the module.

Instant Power Generation: The brief magnetic flux change generates a small pulse of electricity (usually a few millijoules)—just enough energy to power a Ultra-low-power microchip for a fraction of a second.

2. Signal Transmission

The tiny burst of harvested energy powers an RF/wireless transmitter module, which immediately broadcasts a coded signal payload (typically via 433MHz RF, RF2.4G, Zigbee Green Power, or Matter/Thread protocols) to a paired receiver/relay module wired to the light load.

Latency: Practically imperceptible (<20ms).

Pairing: Most systems support 1-to-many or many-to-1 pairings without needing internet or a complex hub, though Zigbee/Matter variants can pair with platforms like Home Assistant.

3. Key Advantages

Zero Battery Replacements: Eliminates dead batteries, toxic battery waste, and annual maintenance.

No Wall Cutting / Wiring Needed: Perfect for retrofitting older homes, tile walls, glass doors, or placing a switch right next to a bedside table.

Long Lifespan: Rated for 100,000+ presses (over 10-15 years of daily use).

4. The Trade-offs (What to Keep in Mind)

Tactile Feel: The switch click requires slightly more actuation force than a standard mechanical light switch to charge the generator coil.

Unidirectional Signal (for basic RF): Basic kinetic switches only send commands; they don't receive state updates (though modern smart receivers connected to your hub handle the state management).

I've been manufacturing and optimizing these modules at XlazyHome to make green home controls more accessible.

Happy to answer any technical questions about kinetic energy harvesting, RF range through concrete walls, or integrating self-powered switches into modern smart setups!

Purchased a home with a Honeywell 6270 ADT on the wall in the master bedroom. Did not get the code from previous owners and factory reset codes aren’t working. I had to take it off the wall and disconnect the speaker as the only way to get some silence. I’d love to keep the system as it is already set up with door, window, occupancy, fire, monoxide, and probably other sensors I’m forgetting to mention. Should I just pay someone to come out and fix it or would I be able to do so myself.

A little background:

I believe the control panel is in the basement, but the previous owners didn’t know the code to it so they flipped off the breaker when they sold us the house. Unfortunately the breaker also controlled our sump pump and electrical components to our plumbing. Well we had shit storm yesterday (literally) when sewage started coming up from the toilets, showers, and bath tubs. Long story short (kinda) we had to flip the breaker back on to have the plumbing working normally. Now the system is blaring and the only thing I was able to do is disconnect the wire internally for the speaker itself, there is no company name for installers for an installers code and anything simple like the address and zip code don’t work neither do the manufacturer recommended reset codes.

I run a wind-down scene at night and 2700K still reads as office lighting to me. I want something closer to a candle for the last hour before bed and most bulbs simply stop at 2200K. Half the specs pages do not even publish the bottom of the range. Has anyone found bulbs that genuinely go down into candle territory, and does it hold that color when dimmed?

Looking for an alternative to Shelly EM-50. I guess people in this subreddit should have some ideas.

I need to measure consumption on a 20A circuit, the measurement device should use split core CT’s.

Actually the EM-50 would be great but it’s also not accurate enough to my taste. Because of it measuring on a single CT per circuit it is way to sensible to false readings. Because of this I am getting on average 2% offset due to false production readings on a consumption only circuit. Shelly support says this is normal. Not here to shame Shelly about this but I would prefer more accurate readings.

Any advice?

EU based if that matters.

My detached garage’s door is hard to see from my house and I’ve left it open overnight more times than I’d like to admit. What is my best option to add an automation that would close the door at a set time, say 9pm daily, if the door is open? I don’t need any other functionality. The garage does receive a WiFi signal but would prefer something “dumb” that doesn’t need an app or WiFi access and just runs as long as there is power.

I’ve seen a few options like MyQ and Meross but have also ready complaints about both.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a way to track the power consumption of my washing machine in the basement, where I don’t have Wi-Fi access. Is there a smart plug with energy monitoring that’s compatible with the Tuya ecosystem and can transfer data over Bluetooth? Ideally, the data should sync automatically in the Tuya app whenever I’m within Bluetooth range.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

looking for beta testers for a plugin that uses Google Cast, Android TV Protocol v2 and ADB protocols for adding, remote controlling and synchronizing playback status of google Chromecast/ android TVs.

sudo npm install -g github:vivekanandbv/Homebridge-ADB-Cast

I had an old iPad sitting around that wasn't really being used anymore.

Snapframe in the action

Since I already run Home Assistant at home, I thought it would be cool to turn the iPad into a proper digital photo frame that could also react to my smart home.

So I built SnapFrame.

👉 GitHub: https://github.com/emo546/ha-snapframe

The basic idea is:

old iPad/tablet → SnapFrame → photos from my local network → Home Assistant controls

What it can do

• 📸 fullscreen photo slideshow
• 📁 photo albums
• 💾 local photo storage
• 🔒 no cloud required
• 🖼️ HEIC/HEIF support
• 📅 EXIF information
• 🌙 night mode
• 🌤️ weather display
• 🏠 Home Assistant integration
• 📱 designed to reuse old tablets/iPads

The part I like most is that it can be combined with Home Assistant automations.

For example, you could have:

motion detected → activate "weather mode" → return to photos

or:

night → turn the into night mode

showing weather between the photos slideshow

I'm still working on it and would really like some feedback from the HA community.

Would you use something like this with an old iPad/tablet you have lying around?

What features would you want to see next?

GitHub: https://github.com/emo546/ha-snapframe

Thanks for a feedback!!

I am doing market research and I am looking for people who can spare 10 to 15 mins of their time to answer a few questions. This is about people who have been involved in the migration of workflows from one platform to the next. So, make to n8n or zapier to n8n.

Anyone out there who can help?

I am new to home automation. The most I've ever done was some hue lights years ago.

Recently we bought a new home and we are considering turning our living room into an automated media room. We have 7 windows with roller shades and a few more windows covered with a couple sets of curtains. The goal is to use a single remote button or voice command to trigger all the shades/curtains to close, the projector screen to open, the projector and Xbox to turn on, etc.

We're thinking we'll retrofit the roller shades with SOMA Smart Shades 3, and use SwitchBot Curtain 3 for the blackout curtains to get the room dark. I'm looking at motorized drop-down or pop-up projector screens to work with a ceiling mounted projector, but the sea of information online is a bit overwhelming to figure out what works well within a reasonable budget.

We're leaning toward Zigbee and Home Assistant, but we have little idea how those work.

For reference, my wife and I are both loosely familiar with some types of coding (SQL, Java, Python, VBA, etc.) so we are trying to DIY this setup, but we're not otherwise overly tech savvy or too familiar with many IT-related concepts.

Can anyone lend some feedback and guidance to a complete beginner?

Any suggestions, resources, guidance, etc. is greatly appreciated!

I've been thinking about this recently after looking at some of the tools and cooking stuff I've accumulated over the years and wondering how much of it I actually remember I have.

I'm not really talking about a home inventory for insurance purposes or keeping track of every TV and piece of furniture. I'm thinking more about useful stuff such as tools, kitchen equipment, appliances, spare parts, filters, equipment in the garage or basement, etc.

I've looked around and I've found some ways to do this. HomeBox is one example. My bigger question is whether anyone actually finds keeping this information useful enough over the long term to keep doing it.

If you do, what do you use and how do you actually leverage the information?

And if you've tried and eventually gave up, why? Too much investment of time to keep everything up to date? Didn't use the information enough? Something else?

I'm not really looking for a particular app or solution at this point. I'm more curious whether anyone has actually made this useful enough that maintaining it is worth the effort.

The central air doesn't reach our back sunroom so I am putting in an independent ductless heat pump system just for that space. I picked up a costway blast pro 9000 btu 20 seer2 wifi enabled mini split so I could bypass my main thermostat entirely. I really want to pull the control logic directly into home assistant instead of using the clunky factory app it comes with. Does anyone have experience using something like a broadlink rm4 to clone the infrared commands of these direct-to-consumer hvac units? I would love to know what roadblocks you hit trying to force third-party equipment into your local dashboard routines.

Remote work changed how I think about the front door way more than I expected. Package deliveries during meetings, dog walker showing up, wife getting home at random times because her schedule flips around. I was fumbling with my phone during calls constantly just to handle basic door stuff.

Set up a smart lock tied into Home Assistant a few months ago and layered in some presence detection so the door autounlocks when my wife pulls into the driveway. That part works great. The delivery situation is still kind of a mess though. I have a contact sensor on the door and a camera, but I want something that actually does something useful when a package gets dropped versus when it's just the neighbor stopping by.

The mailbox sensor post floating around here got me thinking about this again. I like the idea of something physical triggering an action rather than relying on a camera doing object detection, which in my experience either misses stuff or goes off for a squirrel.

What are people actually running for delivery detection that holds up day to day? And does anyone have presencebased unlock working reliably or does it false trigger constantly? Mine has been solid but I'm suspicious it's going to betray me at some point.