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The Reluctant Home Assistant Guy: From Hue Chaos to Hour‑of‑Power Wins

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Manage episode 515238102 series 1451487
Content provided by HK Media. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by HK Media or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Chris joins Phil and Rohan to share a brutally honest smart home journey: starting with Philips Hue, hitting limits with multiple bridges, battling MyQ and RatGDO, and landing real energy savings with Home Assistant.

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://hasspodcast.io/ha207

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome

01:03 Meet Chris: the ‘reluctant Home Assistant guy’ (NZ/Canada background)

03:00 Hue as the gateway: GU10s, COVID mood lights, buying a house

04:39 Discovering Home Assistant; cost shocks and smart switch vs smart bulb decisions

06:30 Legal wiring quirks in NZ and scoring bulk Hue downlights

08:00 Hue motion/presence, bridge device limits, and Pro Bridge API exposure

09:50 Upgrade cadence, iOS/MacOS betas, and why Shelly bodies didn’t fit

12:00 Daily frustrations: a random red light, Roomba fails, Alexa vs Siri

14:36 Garage/gate saga: MyQ, RatGDO struggles, Grandstream Wi‑Fi, Meross HomeKit fix

20:00 Adaptive Lighting: Hue app vs HA integration; mixed CCT bulbs going ‘red’

26:00 Three points of failure; behavior change, the cleaners’ switch, and one non‑motion room

31:40 Protocol choices: Wi‑Fi vs Zigbee vs Z‑Wave; Matter/Thread pain in practice

36:40 Energy saving wins: free ‘hour of power’, Bosch Home Connect, Hue Tap + TTS

47:06 Simple scenes that matter: spa lighting that won’t trigger floods

51:00 Biggest surprises, time sink, and the idea of HA consultants

53:40 Advice for newcomers: hobby vs lifestyle; draw the line

56:00 Dashboards: new layouts, family tabs, activity timelines, and to‑dos

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

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.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to thesmartesthouse.com

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
  continue reading

280 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 515238102 series 1451487
Content provided by HK Media. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by HK Media or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Chris joins Phil and Rohan to share a brutally honest smart home journey: starting with Philips Hue, hitting limits with multiple bridges, battling MyQ and RatGDO, and landing real energy savings with Home Assistant.

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://hasspodcast.io/ha207

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome

01:03 Meet Chris: the ‘reluctant Home Assistant guy’ (NZ/Canada background)

03:00 Hue as the gateway: GU10s, COVID mood lights, buying a house

04:39 Discovering Home Assistant; cost shocks and smart switch vs smart bulb decisions

06:30 Legal wiring quirks in NZ and scoring bulk Hue downlights

08:00 Hue motion/presence, bridge device limits, and Pro Bridge API exposure

09:50 Upgrade cadence, iOS/MacOS betas, and why Shelly bodies didn’t fit

12:00 Daily frustrations: a random red light, Roomba fails, Alexa vs Siri

14:36 Garage/gate saga: MyQ, RatGDO struggles, Grandstream Wi‑Fi, Meross HomeKit fix

20:00 Adaptive Lighting: Hue app vs HA integration; mixed CCT bulbs going ‘red’

26:00 Three points of failure; behavior change, the cleaners’ switch, and one non‑motion room

31:40 Protocol choices: Wi‑Fi vs Zigbee vs Z‑Wave; Matter/Thread pain in practice

36:40 Energy saving wins: free ‘hour of power’, Bosch Home Connect, Hue Tap + TTS

47:06 Simple scenes that matter: spa lighting that won’t trigger floods

51:00 Biggest surprises, time sink, and the idea of HA consultants

53:40 Advice for newcomers: hobby vs lifestyle; draw the line

56:00 Dashboards: new layouts, family tabs, activity timelines, and to‑dos

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

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.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to thesmartesthouse.com

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
  continue reading

280 episodes

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