I started my journey with Temperature & Humidity sensors so that I could monitor humidity mostly (to know when condensation and potential mould growth is likely). Our UK home can become cold during the winter months, and some north facing surfaces get very cold.
The devices are simple and work perfectly for my needs, using Sonoff Zigbee Dongle with Home Assistant.
Shortly after, I expanded with TVOC Sensors and Smart Hub M2 (Rarely used, and now collecting dust).
I upgraded the M2 to Camera Hub G3 (That is only used as a HomeKit camera).
- Aqara Camera Hub G3 (Connected to Aqara App and HomeKit Secure Video)
- Temp & Humidity Sensors.
- TVOC Air Quality Monitors.
- Door & Window Sensors.
- Smart Radiator Thermostat E1.
- Climate Sensor W100.
- Floor Heating Thermostat W500.
All devices (other than camera) are connected using Zigbee (Zigbee2MQTT ) which I control using Home Assistant (with Mosquitto in the middle). I have other Zigbee devices / systems.
Our primary control system is Apple HomeKit (exposed via Home Assistant).
This year, I started from scratch and still working on the system and introducing Smart Control and automations such as:
- Notifying me when Humidity levels are high and suggesting I open a window (if external humidity is lower than internal).
- Notifying me that the fridge or freezer temperatures are outside ideal range.
Notification are via Apple HomeKit, so I have to be inventive with them as you can only receive alerts for certain device classes. For humidity, I can use:
- Window Open - I know I should open a window.
- Moisture - This is a critical alert, so more prominent and annoying for other members of the family.
For the fridge/freezer, I use a fake door entity so that I can get a notification that the fridge or freezer door is open - I then know to check the temperatures and door(s).
Home Assistant is the brains of the operation, but not used by family members. It’s used for linking everything together and automations.
I’m currently running the following Docker Containers as part of my system:
- Home Assistant: Brains of Home
- Homebridge: Only used for Nest Protect Smoke Alarms
- Mosquitto MQTT: MQTT System
- Zigbee2MQTT: Aqara / Philps Hue Plugs (Only as Zigbee Routers)
- Texecom2MQTT: Monitoring of intruder alarm sensors only (not used for arming / disarming)
- MariaDB: Home Assistant DB
- InfluxDB: Home Assistant DB
- Grafana: This is a new addition that I haven’t really played with yet
- Cloudflared: Enables remote access to all services on local area using Microsoft Entra Authentication (Enables secure login using M365 Passkeys)
Aqara is my go to for many sensors, and I don’t think I would deviate from that as they feel well made and work well. However, I do also use:
- Philips Hue: Almost all lighting
- Shelly: Energy Monitoring / Remote Switching (Using MQTT)
- Hildebrand Glow Smart Meter IHD: Shares Electric / Gas Meter data with Home Assistant (Using MQTT) - Glow Display
