Home Assistant Podcast

Join hosts Phil Hawthorne and Rohan Karamandi as they explore the newest Home Assistant releases and the latest Home Automation news. Featuring guests who use or contribute to Home Assistant, the podcast aims to inspire new ways to make your home smarter.

  1. Brewing With Home Assistant: From Modbus PIDs to ESPHome Fermentation Control with Greg Martin

    2D AGO

    Brewing With Home Assistant: From Modbus PIDs to ESPHome Fermentation Control with Greg Martin

    Greg joins Phil and Rohan to share how he built a brewery control system with ESPHome and Home Assistant: Modbus PID retrofits, ESP32-based temperature control with one-wire probes and 24V valves, Bluetooth gravity sensors via proxies, pressure management, and full on-site HA installs with PoE satellites. Watch this episode on YouTube https://homeassistant.fm/ha210 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 00:00:00 Intro, sponsors, and Greg’s background 00:05:30 From Modbus PIDs to ESPHome brewery control (gravity, pressure, 1‑Wire) 00:10:45 Turning it into a business: pilot installs, testbeds, and scale 00:15:45 Local-first architecture: on-site Home Assistant, PoE satellites, Bluetooth proxy 00:22:30 Hardware talk: Blue/Yellow/Green, mini PCs, RAM needs, migration plans 00:28:00 Home automations: locks, Reolink presence, candles, sump/dehumidifier monitoring 00:35:00 Water and power: AI-on-the-edge metering, overuse alerts, three-phase pumps & contactors 00:42:00 QoL automations: fish-feeding sensor, night stair lighting, backup ideas 00:49:30 Fun stuff: ESPN team goal lights, polling vs. streaming delays, event triggers 00:55:00 Data + reporting: Utility Meter, History Stats, InfluxDB, AI ideas, alerts, wrap-up 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

    59 min
  2. Home Assistant 2025.11: Improved target picker and energy pie charts

    NOV 4

    Home Assistant 2025.11: Improved target picker and energy pie charts

    In this episode Phil and Rohan break down Home Assistant 2025.11. We cover the revamped Automation UI with the new target picker, naming options on dashboards, the new Energy pie chart, update progress indicators, and an upgraded Home dashboard. Watch this episode on YouTube https://hasspodcast.io/ha209 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 00:00:00 - Intro, sponsors, livestream 00:02:30 - Open Home news, GitHub 00:06:00 - Eltako joins works with program, Yellow retired 00:12:30 - LinknLink eMotion mmWave sensors hands-on 00:23:30 - AWS outage smart beds 00:27:00 - Plex debate, privacy 00:31:00 - Smart plugs and 3D printers 00:35:00 - Energy monitoring, CT clamps 00:38:30 - 2025.11 automation updates 00:44:30 - Smoke/CO relay project 00:47:30 - New integrations roundup 00:51:30 - Breaking changes, Python 00:54:00 - Neato cloud shutdown 00:56:30 - Wrap-up and outro 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

    57 min
  3. Garage Doors, E‑Ink Dashboards, and Entity Chaos with the Evil Genius Dave Slusher

    OCT 30

    Garage Doors, E‑Ink Dashboards, and Entity Chaos with the Evil Genius Dave Slusher

    Podcaster Dave Slusher joins Phil and Rohan to share hard-won smart home lessons: building a reliable mesh, solving a 100m mailbox sensor with Z-Wave Long Range and the ZWA2, and retiring MyQ with RATGDO + ESPHome. We also cover using an e‑ink terminal as a Home Assistant dashboard. Watch this episode on YouTube https://hasspodcast.io/ha208 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 00:00:00 Welcome 00:01:23 Guest intro: Dave Slusher’s podcasting origin story 00:04:59 Discovering Home Assistant  00:07:20 Hardware journey: Raspberry Pi 3/4, SD crashes, backups, staying on Pi 00:09:40 ZWA2 portable capability 00:11:10 Zigbee mesh realities 00:13:56 The mailbox quest 00:19:16 Power monitoring the lawnmower + adding Z‑Wave plug to the mesh 00:20:31 Beating peak electricity pricing with calendar‑driven automations 00:24:50 Buying for Home Assistant 00:31:26 Audi e‑tron HACS 00:33:00 ‘Terminal’ e‑ink display 00:41:11 Fun APIs: Domino’s throwback and accidental developer‑friendly brands 00:44:25 Update strategy + restoring from backups when an upgrade breaks boot 00:46:26 Entity naming conventions, device vs entity IDs, and maintainability 00:49:18 The router kill‑switch: renaming a plug and unintended automations 00:52:19 Ping watchdog automation for internet recovery (8.8.8.8) 00:54:58 Labels, documentation, and making a smart home family‑friendly 01:00:00 Selling a smart home: what stays, what goes, and account handoffs 01:02:16 First device nostalgia: Sonoff relay, app sprawl, and converging on HA 01:07:52 Next projects: buying with purpose, reliability over novelty 01:10:00 Mac mini (Linux Mint) homelab, Synology vs Docker, consolidating services 01:12:18 Package tracking with 17Track, long strings, and dashboard rendering 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 Notion Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one connected space that just works — it’s seamless, flexible, powerful, and actually fun to use. With AI built right in, you spend less time switching between tools and more time creating great work. Try Notion, now with Notion Agent, at notion.com/homeassistant 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

    1h 24m
  4. The Reluctant Home Assistant Guy: From Hue Chaos to Hour‑of‑Power Wins

    OCT 23

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

    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

    1h 7m
  5. AirGradient: From Thai Wildfires to Open Source Hardware feat Achim Haug

    OCT 14

    AirGradient: From Thai Wildfires to Open Source Hardware feat Achim Haug

    Discover the origins of AirGradient, which began as a volunteer project in Northern Thailand during the harsh "burning season" of 2019. Learn how this effort evolved into a company focused on providing open source air quality hardware, measuring critical metrics like PM 2.5 and CO2 to safeguard classrooms Watch this episode on YouTube https://hasspodcast.io/ha206 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 01:04 Meet Achim: From Siemens to Thailand and a Wildfire Crisis 03:20 Burning Season 2019: The School That Sparked AirGradient 07:50 DIY to Open Hardware: Arduino, ESP32, PM2.5 + CO2, and Dashboards 12:24 Values: Repairability, Ownership, and CC BY‑SA Licensing 16:40 Global Takeoff: Hacker News, Jeff Geerling, and the Kit Era 20:16 ESPHome vs Native: Building the Official Home Assistant Integration 32:26 Works with Home Assistant Platinum: Local‑First and Privacy by Default 36:40 Open Culture, Community, and Academia: Why Sharing Pays Back 41:45 UNICEF Laos: ML Air‑Quality Forecasts + Open Map Integration 44:55 Roadmap: Larger Displays, Portable Monitors, and More Pollutants 46:27 Safeguarding the Mission: Foundation Plan (Switzerland) 49:45 Achim’s Home Assistant Setup: Z‑Wave, ESPHome, Geofencing 56:16 Real‑World Use Cases: Factories, Schools, and Ventilation Control 01:01:58 Accuracy Matters: Calibration, Pitfalls, and Transparent Limits 01:05:19 Wrap‑Up and Where to Buy 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

    1h 6m
  6. Philips Hue's New Bridge and the Cat Automation Problem with Josh Burg

    OCT 7

    Philips Hue's New Bridge and the Cat Automation Problem with Josh Burg

    We're joined by psychologist Josh Burg, who shares his unique journey from Google Home to a fully local Home Assistant setup. We get to see how he’s using some of the new Philips Hue zone capabilities to make his home smarter Watch this episode on YouTube https://hasspodcast.io/ha205 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 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:09 Introducing Josh 00:01:15 Josh's Location and Weather 00:02:41 Journey into Home Automation 00:03:40 Networking Challenges 00:06:14 Switching to Unify Networking Gear 00:09:10 Home Assistant Setup 00:13:16 Smart Home Integrations and Projects 00:17:25 Lighting Automation 00:27:20 Introduction and New Gadget Excitement 00:27:30 Home Assistant Update 00:27:52 Motion Aware Technology 00:28:38 Setup Challenges 00:29:39 Community Involvement 00:30:37 Sensitivity and Testing 00:31:36 Performance Comparisons 00:31:55 Hardware and Ecosystem 00:38:05 Hue Light Scenes 00:47:22 Randomized Notifications 00:51:45 AI Integration 00:53:49 Google Home Issues 00:54:26 Apple Ecosystem 00:54:35 Home Integration and Nest 00:56:22 Network Concerns 00:57:10 Privacy and Data Traffic 00:58:06 Local vs. Cloud Hosting 01:01:55 Community Support 01:06:17 Open Source Development 01:07:10 Supportive Communities 01:09:11 Conclusion and Farewell 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

    1h 10m
  7. Voice goes bilingual with Home Assistant 2025.10

    SEP 30

    Voice goes bilingual with Home Assistant 2025.10

    Rohan and Phil are breaking down the 2025.10 release, which includes bilingual support for assistants. Meanwhile Sonos finds a new partner, and we answer some listener questions Watch this episode on YouTube https://hasspodcast.io/ha204 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 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:59 Discussion on 2025.10 Release 00:01:25 Automation Editor Updates 00:03:51 AI Image Generation Service 00:06:05 Dashboard Entity Suggestions 00:11:39 Voice Assistant Updates 00:12:05 AccuWeather and Reolink Features 00:22:51 Media Player Panel Update 00:24:31 Matter and Logbook Updates 00:25:28 Philips Hue Motion Updates 00:27:14 LG ThinQ and Litter Robot Enhancements 00:29:39 Lutron Caseta Multi-tap Actions 00:33:24 Shelly and SwitchBot Updates 00:57:20 Notification Customization 00:57:42 Using Emojis for Alerts 00:58:35 Testing LLM Vision for Driveway Gates 00:59:22 Memory Feature in LLM Vision 01:00:10 Discussion on Breaking Changes 01:00:38 Shoutout to Home Assistant Cards 01:01:11 Philips Hue and Sonos Partnership 01:02:33 Conclusion 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

    1h 2m
  8. Beyond the Bulb: Gimmy Chu Talks Nanoleaf, Smart Homes & Community Integration

    SEP 23

    Beyond the Bulb: Gimmy Chu Talks Nanoleaf, Smart Homes & Community Integration

    Phil and Rohan talk to Gimmy Chu, CEO of Nanoleaf, about the Nanoleaf smart lighting ecosystem, their open API vision, and how Nanoleaf got its start in the world of innovative lighting technology. Watch the full episode on YouTube https://hasspodcast.io/ha203 Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:27 Home Assistant and IoT 00:06:43 AI and IoT Integration 00:11:31 Challenges in IoT Development 00:17:54 Open Source and Future of Nanoleaf 00:22:42 Nanoleaf Origin Story 00:27:35 Introduction of Nanoleaf Product 00:27:48 Development of Energy Efficient Light Bulb 00:28:33 Launch and Success on Kickstarter 00:28:44 Rebranding to Nanoleaf 00:29:33 Impact of COVID on Home Décor 00:32:41 Home Automation and Product Testing 00:42:32 Challenges in Commercial Lighting 00:45:13 Development of Lighting Effects and Orchestrator App 00:51:39 Future Products and Expansion 00:56:02 Challenges with Matter Over Thread 00:56:37 Current Solutions with Nanoleaf 00:57:39 Issues with Matter Adoption 00:58:45 Future of Matter and Thread 01:01:12 Personal Experiences with Matter Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon 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. So 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

    1h 3m
4.9
out of 5
69 Ratings

About

Join hosts Phil Hawthorne and Rohan Karamandi as they explore the newest Home Assistant releases and the latest Home Automation news. Featuring guests who use or contribute to Home Assistant, the podcast aims to inspire new ways to make your home smarter.

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