Website/content/blog/012-starting-out-with-homeassistant.md

---
title: Before you start with Home Assistant
tags:
  - Home Assistant
description: I use Home Assistant for my home automation setup. I plan do write some more blogs about it in the future. This is supposed to help those out who are considering starting out. It is not supposed to be a setup guide, rather some things to consider before starting out.
date: 2021-03-19
---

If you are considering getting into home automation, [Home
Assistant](https://www.home-assistant.io/) is a great way to start. My current
setup consists mostly of lighting, sensors and buttons, and a few small
appliances. I Before you start, there are a few things that you might want
to consider.

## Server

So, currently, I have home assistant installed on an old laptop that works as a
server. Alternatively, you could use a Raspberry PI or any similar single board
computer.

Home Assistant sells a single board computers which are a bit more powerful than
a Raspberry PIs and all the needed software is pre installed:

<https://www.home-assistant.io/blue>

What you end up doing will probably depend on your budget, what you have lying
around and how DIY you want the solution to be.

## Celling Lighting

One of the easiest / cheapest things to start with is lighting. It also brings
some of the (IMHO) biggest advantages. To do lighting, you have 2 options. Smart
switches or smart bulbs (or both, I guess that makes three).

### Smart Switches

This is (probably) the easiest and cheapest starting point, however comes with a
pretty big caveat. You'll need to check that your wall socket has a ground or
neutral wire (probably green and yellow sleeve in the UK). If not, this option
probably won't work for you. I am not an electrician so if you are in doubt,
find someone who knows what they are taking about. *SERIOUSLY*. If you electrocute
yourself, that is generally bad and not on me.

I use these [switches from
Sonoff](https://www.banggood.com/SONOFF-T1-EU-or-UK-AC-100-240V-1-or-2-or-3-Gang-TX-Series-WIFI-Wall-Switch-433Mhz-RF-Remote-Controlled-Wifi-Switch-Smart-Home-Switch-Works-With-Alexa-Google-Home-p-1470883.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=UK&ID=6278514).
They can be flashed with open firmware so you can be sure they are not talking
back to their mother ship.

It can be useful to get a switch panel with extra switches. That way you can use
the extra buttons for triggering automations or turning on other things other
than the celling lights.

### Smart Bulbs

Smart bulbs are a generally a bit more expensive than smart switches. However,
they often come with the advantage that you can change the brightness / colour
etc.

Unfortunately, you'll need to leave the switch on all the time if you want the
advantage of being able to turn them on with your phone or on a timer.

I use these [bulbs from BlitzWolf](https://www.banggood.com/BlitzWolf-BW-LT21-RGBWW-10W-E27-APP-Smart-LED-Light-Bulb-Work-With-Amazon-Alexa-Google-Assistant-AC100-240V-p-1551059.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CN).
These can also be flashed with with open firmware.

### What I do

Anywhere I have a smart bulb, I also have smart switches. This is so I can leave
the power to the bulb on at all times. You don't want (and your wife definitely
won't want) to have to get your phones out every time you want to turn the light
on or off. If you have a smart switch, it can "ask" the bulb to turn off but
without cutting its power. This means you can turn the bulb on with your phone
or a switch or an automation.

In some places, I only have a smart switch and dumb bulbs. This is basically
just the bathroom and kitchen where we have loads of spot lights and it's not
worth the cost to make each bulb smart

I can still turn the lights on / off with the switch or our phones or with
automations.

## Other small appliances

I also have things like lamps attached these to [Sonoff
Basics](https://www.banggood.com/SONOFF-BASICR2-10A-2200W-WIFI-Wireless-Smart-Switch-Remote-Control-Socket-APP-Timer-AC90-250V-50-or-60Hz-Works-with-Amazon-Alexa-Google-Home-Assistant-IFTTT-p-1019971.html?cur_warehouse=CN&rmmds=search).
They work in basically the same way as a smart switch with a dumb bulb. It means
that I can turn them off with smart buttons, my phone or any automations.

Lastly, I have some [Sonoff
S26](https://www.banggood.com/SONOFF-S26-10A-AC90V-250V-Smart-WIFI-Socket-CN-or-US-or-UK-or-AU-or-DE-or-FR-or-BR-or-CH-or-IL-or-IT-Wireless-Plug-Power-Sockets-Smart-Home-Switch-Work-With-Alexa-Google-Assistant-IFTTT-p-1308841.html?cur_warehouse=CN&ID=3426&rmmds=search)s.
I use these for appliances such as my kettle that are used around water and I
want to play it safe. You could probably use a Sonoff basic for this, but they
don't come with any water certification. At least these are kept above surfaces
that might have water on them.

I'm happy to pay a bit extra and just not risk electrocuting myself.

## Firmware

Everything I have linked above use a chip called an ESP8266 (or variations of
it) which mean it can be flashed with open source firmware called
[esphome](https://esphome.io/). This way, I am happy to buy cheep Chinese bulbs
and I am confident that the bulbs are not talking back to China.

If you are interested I can talk to you about flashing it at a later date.
Different devices require it to be done in different ways.

-----

Hopefully that should be enough to get you started, I will be writing more posts
on home automation in the future.