So last week I had a Proxmox fuckup and lost everything. I learnt the hard way what living without backups is like and I don’t recommend it.
Silver lining is that I don’t have to tidy up all those old automations and entities anymore.
Anyway it made me realise what I’d miss if I didn’t have them, because I didn’t have them.
I’ve been really really tired this week. I get up at 5am and start work at 6, and while I don’t like it, I usually cope with it better than most and have comments about how “It’s too early for you.” But not this week.
I’ve put it down to losing my connection between my alarm clock and HA. I use SleepAsAndroid and have done for a long time. Back when I started it was because it connected to Tasker, but over the years I’ve moved to HA and still use it.
SleepAsAndroid with Tasker was done with web hooks but I use the MQTT integration with HA. This means it’s connected when I’m home but not in network when I’m away, so it can’t fire the messages, which is what you want.
Previously I used Node Red to set up this automation but I haven’t reinstalled it yet, I’m seeing if I can do it all on HA, then it’s one less thing and I can automate in the app.
I spent a while this morning trying to figure out how to reintegrate it with HA and struggled, but eventually I found an integration in HACS which meant I just had to change my device identifier in the alarm app by adding /MyName to the end of the SleepAsAndroid topic so it reads SleepAsAndroid/MyName, add the HACS integration and then add it again in the Integrations pane, with MyName plumbed in.
Then I added a blueprint from the add ons page and left the house to go on a day trip.
In and amongst the day trip I’ve been making my automation on the HA app via the blueprint, and have come home, loaded a bowl and set my alarm for 1 minute time, then smoke the bowl and wait…
Success!
Hopefully I’ll have more energy this week when I wake up to my lights turning on, instead of complete darkness and a strange noise.
Now what would you miss that isn’t obvious (like motion activated lights)?
I just moved into a house with my friend and he gave me full reign to smart home the house. Every light has an Innr Zigbee bulb, which are great for having colors during parties and color temperature throughout the day (Adaptive Lighting in HACS), as well as motion controls in the hallway (which has a broken 2 way switch) and kitchen. The front porch light turns on when I come home if I’m on foot, and the back porch light comes on if I’m driving. The lights in the living room turn down if something’s playing and it pauses if I leave the room. We’ve got an old android tablet I stole from the trash on the kitchen wall for a shopping list as well as an overview of the house. They washer and dryer have vibration sensors so we get an alert on our Google homes when our load is finished (we’re both forgetful as fuck). I had an extra contact sensor left over from the doors that I put on the mailbox, so we get a nice AOL “you’ve got mail” when the mailman comes.
Frankly I don’t know how I survived without automation. I forget things so much less now.
I’m missing having my doorway light turning green when the door opens on Tuesday mornings, and the house telling me to “Take the Recycling up the stairs” hope I don’t miss it tomorrow morning!
I have a similar thing, it just sends me a notification to my phone on Tuesday night and it won’t let me clear it unless I mark the trash as taken out
That sounds just as good and easier to set up, think that’s what I’m doing