I’ve been into home automation since somewhere around the year 2000. It’s been long enough that I can’t remember exactly when I got started but I vaguely remember wanting to control some Christmas lights, and using X10 equipment to do that. Somewhere along the line I graduated to a program called Homeseer that I used for several years, followed by Insteon hardware with an Elk security system, then the ISY long from Universal devices. I tried SmartThings for a little while but that just never took for me. I then moved to a Hubitat Elevation device (four of them at one point, actually, spread across four building on two different properties). I still use Hubitat but I’ve never really liked their user interface (or the ISY’s for that matter). I had heard about Home Assistant, but had never tried it until this year. Im becoming a fan, I think.

Apparently Home Assistant is incredibly powerful when it comes to flexibility and integrating with various types of equipment and other systems, but I’m just beginning to explore that. What I’m beginning to really like is the ability to create dashboards that make sense to me. If you’re a Home Assistant guru I may want to pick your brain from time to time, so feel free to reach out and let me know you’re there. If I can help you with something I know something about (maybe going off grid), maybe we can trade knowledge and help each other. For now, I’m just lurching along as I learn Home Assistant, but that’s good enough for me.