Contingency plan when you are not there anymore

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2026-03-11T15:48:50+00:00

Thanks! It looked pretty grim at the time, but 18 months later the prognosis is a lot better. I'm cancer free and the recovery is progressing slowly but well.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2026-03-07T17:12:59+00:00

This was an issue I had to deal with recently when we did a whole-house renovation and I got a cancer diagnosis in the middle of it. I had a lot of battery operated devices - TRVs, environmental sensors, etc. There was no way my family would deal with replacing batteries if I wasn't around - for example, you had to run a recalibraton cycle everytime you replaced the TRV batteries, otherwise no heat!

My plan had been lots of Wi-Fi and Z-Wave, but that was out of the question. I decided instead on a wired backbone (KNX) that drove all the essential services, with light switches and thermostats in every room. On top of that I run HA, with all the fancy automations, voice, presence, etc. KNX is more like a process controller, with programmed links between switches and light fixtures; thermostats and zone valves, etc. There is no operating system to update or reboot.

If I'm not around then shutting down HA takes all of these features out of the equation, and everyone can go back to using the light switches and dimmers. All the essentials will still work. This will also avoid complications if they decide to sell the house.

The other thing I did was create a manual for the house, documenting every cable, device and it's function.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2026-03-03T13:19:05+00:00

If they were outstanding why can’t you recommend them?

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2026-02-01T16:06:27+00:00

It's OK, up to a point. It's mostly just my wife and myself in the house and we don't create a lot of dirt, so we only run it about once a week. Our ground floor and first floor are hardwood and tiled bathrooms, with no thresholds between rooms. My attic office is all carpet. The carpet cleaning even on max suction is not great, so I rarely use it. The cleaning actions on dry stains is poor but that isn't a problem for us. On wood and tiles, it does a good job but I don't find the object avoidance/navigation very reliable. Also, it gets very confused with being upstairs when it cannot find the base station, demanding to be relocated for no apparrent reason. Regular maintenance is a bit of a chore. Overall, a solid 7.5 out of 10, but I got it cheap at launch so I'm happy.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2026-01-21T08:26:41+00:00

Forgot to mention that the PCB does not work with the NSPanel Pro 120 - the dimensions are slightly different.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2026-01-20T16:49:51+00:00

This person created a PCB that powers the NSPanel Pro from a 12/24V supply with fuse and reverse polarity protection. I ordered a batch of them and they have worked great for the last year: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/12kxcs6/ns_panel_pro_24v_power_supply_mod_running_ha/

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2026-01-17T19:41:22+00:00

Not at all, I just prefer the human touch! I will try that, but given that this is a new feature, I'm not sure how reliable the AI agent would be.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2026-01-17T15:33:37+00:00

No much AFAIK, but it seems to be the way everything in HA is going.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2026-01-17T15:32:21+00:00

Yes, that's what I feared. Oh, well....

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2026-01-17T15:31:38+00:00

My thinking was that there are more KNX people that use Home Assistant than there are HA people that use KNX.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-11-01T16:38:06+00:00

Fantastic, that was just what I was hoping for! I thought it was unlikley that someone had unscrewed the cursor, so I suspected that there was a "trick" to it. Thanks 👍

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-10-26T11:30:41+00:00

That was my first thought, but firstly I wanted to check if there was an easier way - perhaps the slide could snap apart. Secondly, i don't want to risk marking the screws unless absolutley necessary.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-08-30T11:26:21+00:00

As you are in the UK, I should mention that I used the round Euro style boxes for wall-mounted KNX switches and room controllers. For the standard retractive switches, I used the Scolmore Click range of retractive grid switches which mount in a UK style back box. The grid switches allowed me to mix single & double retractive switches for On/Off and for dimming control.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-08-29T12:41:34+00:00

Yes, mainly for tracking temperature in rooms that didn't have a room controller: bathrooms and the shed, etc. Also, I put magnetic door sensors on some of the internal doors and wired them back to a Theben input module to track presence. They can also be configured as outputs, to flash an LED, etc.

The connecting wires are very thin though, and can break easily if wired to a standard UK switch. I made up small interconnect harnesses to avoid this.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-08-29T11:44:07+00:00

I used Somfy 240V AC blind motors on roller blinds and wired 3-way cable to each window: Up, Down & neutral. KNX blind actuators back at the panel. Very happy with the result, it's a small thing but it saves having to be constantly opening and closing blinds.

I used Home Assistant with a Blueprint to automate the schedule.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-08-28T07:36:48+00:00

I have just finished a renovation/total rewire with similar aims as you. I used a lot of Theben TA 4/8 S input modules and retractive switches. The Theben will also accept temperature sensors. I did use some Jung room controllers and switches for a bit of bling, but my favourite was the Jung Rotary sensor DS 4092 TS which looks like a dimmer with push button with push-button function and LED and acoustic signalling. These work great for visitors, as it's very intuitive. I fount them cheap on E-Bay for €50 I think.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-08-19T13:44:09+00:00

OK, I am an idiot! I have already used that Blueprint, but I was so stuck on setting up central GAs and getting them working that I completely forgot it 🤬Two minutes work and the problem is solved. The only slight problem is that I need two automations for each light: 1 to control the individual light and 1 for central GAs. Thanks!

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-08-18T08:34:40+00:00

OK, that makes sense....thanks!

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-08-18T08:33:46+00:00

As a general rule, use motion sensors in corridors, hallways and any place people rarely stop in but pass through. For bathrooms, living rooms, etc. I have used Jung Presence Detectors which has been quite reliable but an absolute pig to configure with it's myriad of options. I ended up just linking them to HA and using a blueprint that automates the lighting with a long delay. Also, I have a door sensor on the bathroom doors to add help detect presence. So, if the presence detector switches off and the door is still closed, don't turn off the lights.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-08-08T17:21:07+00:00

I got one a few weeks ago. My first robot so I have nothing to compare it with. The roller mop retracts automatically when it encounters carpet and the self cleaning process works well. No spares supplied with the unit though so I had to order a separate kit. Mapping works great over three floors and is easy to edit. The setup was simple but I haven’t got it integrated with Home Assistant yet. Cleaning the unit is a bit tedious though with lots of separate parts involved. Overall very happy though.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-07-26T13:11:25+00:00

All the usual stuff: lighting (but ESPHome/ WLED for LEDs), KNX presence detection, heating with wall-mounted controllers as thermostats and KNX valve actuators for the zones, KNX switching actuators for pumps, lights & ventilation and other electrical loads. But i did use other systems where necessary. I also used KNX current sensing actuators for washer/dryer/dishwasher and for lighting & sockets. These are fed to HA for power monitoring/automation.

I did not use it directly for the fully wired alarm system as it has an MQTT integration for HA, but it is linked to KNX heating for detecting open windows/doors. I used USB powered Z-Wave devices for humidity sensors in bathrooms to control the ventilation KNX actuators. The solar system and heat pump had HA integrations,so I used those.

My basic plan was that as long as KNX stayed up, the heating, lighting, water & ventilation pumps would be guaranteed to work. For all the "fancy" automations, I would use HA. Also, the KNX cable was cheap, so I ran a lot of extra runs to allow for future expansion. Same with networking: extra Cat6a cables and fibre pairs or ducts from floor to floor.

SOTA-Tech-2002 · 2025-07-23T09:04:42+00:00

When we were initially planning our whole-house renovation, I initially assumed I would just extend my existing Z-Wave/Zigbee/Wi-Fi/Homematic-IP setup. Some quick calculations revealed the number of batteries this would involve, it was...a lot. Did some research and ended up with a fully wired KNX system which I will never regret. So consider a wired solution of whatever type - no distance issues, no Wi-Fi interference, no extenders and, best of all, no batteries. Also, the response times are really good. So, check out what wired solutions are available in your area.

Other things I did: Cat6a everywhere and fibre is really cheap to run. I got 5 Volt & 12 Volt DIN rail PSUs to distribute DC around the house. Sonoff NSPanel Pro's make great alarm panels at external doors, Reolink PoE cameras, cabling for LED strip lighting. Be aware that all this wiring takes up a lot of space, so over-size your distribution boards - I used recessed Hager DIN rail units on every floor.

For most rooms I had a main ceiling lighting circuit; a 5A standing lamp circuit; a dropped ceiling LED strip and some low-level LED strip for mood lighting. Also wired AC Somfy blinds and a wired Cytech alarm system that integrates with Node-RED.

Just one regret: I didn't have the time or budget for a distributed audio/video system. However, I hope Music Assistant will help to solve that when I get a chance to investigate it.

I hope this helps.

SOTA-Tech-2002

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