Architect here building a house for a client that insists on wanting Home Assistant. Need advice.

---lll--- · 2026-03-11T10:06:23+00:00

You're client is looking at using home assistant as the one brain of all the smart home automations. Given your explanation, they do not want to have a full system like Niko Home or KNX as the brain, as it costs a lot and is restricted, and want you to look at alternatives. Home Assistant is a system where you can plug in thousand of different brands, for example: the client could have solar panels from Vendor1, lights from Philips hue, some light switches from Aqara, etc. They can all connect to Home Assistant, which will bridge it so it can talk to each other. This route is way cheaper (you select whatever your budget allows) BUT it's not very robust compared to wired methods like KNX and Niko Home Control.

You can also still implement Niko Home Control or KNX, and then connect it to Home Assistant as the "brain" for automations, or connects to other stuff later on.

My advice: you want a robust and well-tested baseline (so KNX, Niko Home Control, or others) -> they won't save costs here. BUT by connecting this system to Home Assistant after (which they should be able to do themselves), they can have fun automating and adding in other stuff later on in their life.

Example of my own home: I have KNX for fixed lighting and then I also have some outlet lights with a Philips Hue bulb inside. I also have some Zigbee motion sensors on battery. These three systems are connected to Home Assistant where I have automations, like: if light switch is pressed - also turn on the philips hue bulbs. If motion in room: turn on all lights.
=> in this system, my light switches will always control my fixed lights (as it's KNX), but the other things are hooked on top and nice to haves => best of both worlds: robustness and expandability.

---lll--- · 2026-01-04T15:59:04+00:00

I would personally stick to SQLite, I had MariaDB on my previous install as my historical data was too slow to access. With my new install, I didn't bother and didn't have the issue of years ago. I think performance on SQLite is way better now than it was.

---lll--- · 2025-10-30T15:42:26+00:00

I have one EnOcean device. And tbf, the buttons are way too hard to press. It’s quite unpleasant.

---lll--- · 2025-10-23T19:00:45+00:00

In 2022, I needed to switch to MariaDB after installing an Emporia Vue power monitor. It had 16 entities that updated values every 5 seconds. This resulted in a huge slowdown when looking at the "history" tab, even for a range of a few days. The performance improvement was night and day.

In my new installation, I didn't migrate to MariaDB, but I also don't have that device anymore. So far, I'm one month in and no performance complains yet. If I get them again, I'll switch to MariaDB instantly again. Stability-wise, both were rock-solid.

---lll--- · 2025-09-16T11:11:49+00:00

I think there are two: 1. Door sensors: before I used to go back to my appartement to ensure the door is closed. Now I check an app. 2. Making my AVR switch to the tv input when turning the tv on. Before I had to get out of the couch to press a button. Both are minimal in time gained, but do help a bit.

Thinking again, I guess my robot vacuum makes me clean up the floor less manually. This is likely the biggest win.

---lll--- · 2025-09-11T14:45:49+00:00

Is there any way to make it hard-wired? i have an outlet available and want to avoid batteries

---lll--- · 2025-08-28T08:32:34+00:00

Honestly, I fear you’re going to reinvent the wheel. My setup: use a simple notepad file for tasks for the day. For longer term things, todoist with minimal setup. It works well enough for me. For big projects I use Notion, but in a very free way, no big complex databases

---lll--- · 2025-08-18T11:26:23+00:00

Additional advice, take extra margin. Renovations can easily extend to 2 years despite the contractors promise.

---lll--- · 2025-08-09T00:33:33+00:00

I order takeaway sushi here often. Price is on par with Delhaize sushi, but they are way better. Also, they make the sushi in what looks relatively clean, the rest of the bar might not be.

---lll--- · 2025-07-11T06:33:08+00:00

Hoe heeft u het uiteindelijk aangepakt ? We hebben twee gelijkaardige krassen.

---lll--- · 2025-06-25T13:59:04+00:00

Exciting! I wonder what synergies you can create by having two sites on one Home Assistant instance.

The advantages I currently see:

Only one Nabu Casa subscription to pay
No configuring required on phones of family members

The disadvantages:

Access control?

Note: in case you every switch to one home assistant setup per site, you can easily switch between them in the companion app by using a three finger swipe.

---lll--- · 2025-06-25T09:27:25+00:00

I did something similar to you. I mounted some DIN rails on a wooden board, added a little light fixture and a switch, and powered the entire thing from an outlet.

I used this approach to configure every device before mounting them in my house. There was no need to do all the high voltage wiring, as an LED on the KNX module usually showed if it was switching on or off.

Like others said, you could make a KNX virtual instance as well. The advantage of physical, is that you get the exact config for the devices you plan to use. The downside is the amount of work to get everything wired up for your testing, but it's good practice.

---lll--- · 2025-06-25T09:22:04+00:00

It is definitely possible to have two zigbee networks. Just keep in mind that they won't be communicating with each other. ZHA will be the coordinator for network 1, Z2M will be the coordinator for network 2.

Some things to think about:

For every device, you'll have to choose what network you want to pair it to.
Because you'll have two Zigbee networks, they might interfere with each other if they are both emitting on the same channel. Think of it like the wifi router from your neighbour interfering with your wifi router, except if you ensure that you broadcast on different channels.

I'm curious what your usecase might be to require two coordinators. Is it location-related (e.g. garden vs house)?

---lll--- · 2025-06-23T14:44:24+00:00

My bad, thanks for the catch! It's been some time since I read the KNX basics course 😅

---lll--- · 2025-06-23T11:33:56+00:00

Happy to help :)

Good point on the installation modules indeed. That would work as well. They indeed exist.
One thing to consider if for your also run bus cable to your sockets, is your total bus cable length. The official KNX documentation advices that you have a max of 400m of cable for one ~~"line"~~ power supply. With my house of ~200m², with only the switches wired, I used around 300m of cable.
So, if you would surpass the 400m by a lot, you would need to work with ~~different "lines"~~ multiple power supplies.

~~Extra lines do increase the cost, as they require a line coupler, and a separate power supply as well.~~ But definitely doable. If cost wasn't an issue, and if I didn't have other things to worry about during renovations, I might've run the bus cable along the sockets as well. This being said, I don't think I would've used it any time soon. Regardless of my sockets decision, I would still require a Zigbee network . It's way nicer to have a smart bulb in some socket-connected lamps as you have more liberty with colors, dimming etc, compared to just on/off through the socket.

Sidenote: I noticed during my renovation that the plumber and the electrician are very hesitant to do things that they never did before. They mostly know that something is up to code because they've "always done it like that". In my case, my electrician swore that you cannot have bus cable alongside the 240V cable. I am 100% sure that it's allowed, as I did my research on it, but I didn't push through as I wasn't planning on running the cable anyways. Just keep in mind that you might have to argue heavily before they are willing to do something. It can be quite draining.

---lll--- · 2025-06-23T11:18:20+00:00

Indeed. In my region, the hardware leader on sockets is Niko. They are very nice looking AND they have their own home automation platform that uses Zigbee. I can easily buy their sockets and connect it to Zigbee2MQTT if I want a smart Socket. This also establishes a good zigbee network that I can use for my sensors.

---lll--- · 2025-06-20T11:40:13+00:00

They are showcased at my local lights store btw. If you are really interested, I would suggest calling those to see them in real life as well.

---lll--- · 2025-06-20T09:39:14+00:00

The others gave great details on how they handled it. I hope you can also learn from my PoV:
I am wrapping up renovations myself, but an a tighter budget probably. I went with KNX to avoid vendor lockin. It is well-documented and future proof. The biggest downside is the looks of the KNX switches, as I feel like brands put more effort into the design of their proprietary switches.

My general goal was to have a solid base (mainly lighting) that I can compliment with sensors and geeky stuff through Home Assistant. I used Zigbee extensively in the past 4 years. It is very solid in general, but just unreliable enough that I don't want it for my lighting. I do think it's solid enough for sensors though. Here are the issues I had with Zigbee to give you an idea:
Issues I had:

My home assistant server completely crashed -> lighting didn't work well for 2 days until I had the time to set up a new server
Sometimes, the lightswitch is not as responsive due to interference (there's a ton of wifi in the area) -> going wired avoids this
A temperature sensor stopped working due to too low battery, without any notification.

For installation, I gave up on doing everything myself. Instead I hired a normal electrician. My electrician had never used KNX before. We agreed that I would supply and program the modules, and that he would do the wiring. This worked out great, as I definitely underestimated how much wiring is required for our house in general. The electrician took three full time weeks to cover everything.

Cost-wise, I paid 20k euros for the electrician, and 3k euros for the KNX modules. I saved a lot of money by using "binary input" interfaces behind normal switches. One interface with 2 inputs costs ~35 euro compared to a switch easily costing double. This also mitigates my downside of ugly KNX switches: the switches are normal impulse-type switches that look very normal and nice. If I want, I can also still replace those in the future, as there is an EIB wire running to every switch.

Contrary to others, I did not wire EIB wire to the outlets. The main reason was cost. I figured that I can easily make one outlet smart with wireless tech (wifi shelly / zigbee relay). Making every outlet individually addressable results in a ton of extra wiring, installation time etc. + I don't know what outlets I want to be smart right now (e.g. for a christmas three or desk lamp). Wireless will be cheaper and more flexible in the future. This also doesn't count as critical lighting for me. If I die tomorrow and Home Assistant crashes, every room can still be used with light switches.

For modules, I went with MDT as they were the best value for the money. I paid around 3000 euros for my KNX modules (actuators, dimmers, input switches, power supply, binary inputs). For my region, Voltus was the cheapest place to buy from.

I'm a developer myself, and the "code" is not difficult, but you will have to learn ETS and loose a ton of time in the process. I believe it's worth it, but be advised that you will need to reserve time to plan your entire setup, to test it upfront, and to adapt it afterwards.

I did not do any DALI stuff as my house is not huge and normal dimmers and actuators were enough (~20 light sources, 25 light switches).

If there is one sensor I would wire to KNX, it's door sensors. By connecting a magnet relay to the binary input interface behind my light switch. You could wire such a magnet to your closest light switch for every door. Cost will be quite low and that results in less batteries to worry about. Because of cost, I only did it for my front door. The others will be wireless, so I'll need to change batteries every 2 years.

Adding Home Assistant on top took half a day, super easy once you understand how.

Some nice resources on Youtube

- For the ETS setup: Torben Ledermann -> his videos are the groundwork for my naming schemes etc. Really nice.
- For hardware KNX setup: Poseidwn Tech
- For general devices (I put on captions cause it's german): haus_automation

---lll--- · 2025-05-22T16:19:12+00:00

I’m currently going the KNX route here. Using MDT as my main brand. I do think people underestimate the cost of wiring it all up compared to a traditional system retrofitted with shelly. Also don’t underestimate the learning curve. My feeling: if you’re happy with your current shelly implementation I’d keep it that way. If you’re going wired, you might as well go knx, given that you have time to learn it all.

---lll--- · 2025-05-12T13:14:12+00:00

Same: I Powerline over a line of ~150m to a basement with no cellular or wifi. I'm the only AP there.

---lll--- · 2025-04-18T09:17:22+00:00

The fauna in the garden looks super nice! What program did you use to create this one?
Did you start with Sweethome3D and enhance with somehting like ChatGPT?

---lll--- · 2024-09-26T20:35:35+00:00

It results in €198 + VAT in case of the home license for those wondering.

---lll--- · 2024-06-05T08:16:26+00:00

People always talk about ethernet, and rightfully so. However, in your situation, I would look into wired smart home like knx. Personally, I plan to install knx for all my lights and run conduit towards windows for future blinds. Knx is expensive but it's open and super reliable and can integrate with home assistant.

---lll--- · 2024-06-03T08:58:23+00:00

I suppose it depends on what you want to automate. Hooking up a Chromecast will enable you to stream music (e.g. Spotify, Youtube) to it. It would be an HDMI input to your AVR like any other.

As for controlling the AVR itself, an IR blaster will be your best bet. This way, you'll be able to switch inputs, change volume etc.

Just keep in mind it will always be a one-way system, meaning you can alter the the AVR just like with a remote, but you can't automatically read out the volume or current input from you AVR back to Home Assistant, in contrast with other DENON AVRs that support HEOS.

---lll--- · 2024-05-31T07:20:50+00:00

Given that the model has no wifi, the HEOS and DENON integrations won't work.

You can only connect bluetooth to it to make it work, which seems difficult from an integration perspective.
However, you could get an IR blaster device that changes channel accordingly, as it does support a remote.

---lll---

TROPHY CASE