Quick updates, thoughts and discoveries from the smart home world.
On vacation, yearly heating maintenance was due. Old me would have cancelled. Instead I generated a temporary access code on my phone — technician let himself in, did the job, code auto-expired afterwards.
Smart locks earn their keep on the days you’re not even there.
A joystick transplant saved my kids’ RC monster truck this weekend. Both original sticks snapped off — I spent hours suspecting the wrong patient (the truck itself) before catching it. Then desoldered the dead sticks, wired in a generic 2-axis KY-084, cut its PCB to fit the housing, modded the top cover. Not fast, not pretty. But the truck rolls again.
Our smart home knew we were stressed before we did. A 0–100 family stress score blends six sensor signals — living-room mic peaks, motion bursts on the ground floor, time of day, who’s home alone with the kids, plus a weekend modifier — into one number that quietly reshapes the house. When the score climbs over 60, lights warm automatically, music suggestions get softer, notifications get held back.
Today the score ran exactly the curve you’d expect: calm morning, red zone in the late afternoon, back to quiet after bedtime. Watch the 50-second walkthrough for the full breakdown.
Another one of my kids’s toys broke. A cheap fire truck with sound and lights — dead in months. Like always.
I won’t buy a new one. I’ll fix it. Not for the money — for the lesson my kids take away: broken doesn’t mean trash.
Maker mindset > consumer reflex. 🔧
#ToyRepair #RepairDontReplace #MakerMindset #SustainableParenting #DadProjects
My house is smart. My terrace? Stone age.
Every tile stains constantly — moss, pollen, dirt — and the only fix is hours of manual pressure washing. There is no smart-home automation for any of this.
We have robot vacuums, mowers, pool cleaners. Where is the outdoor cleaning robot? Who is building this?
It is time to automate the driveway. 🤖💦
#SmartHomeGap #OutdoorAutomation #SmartHomeMaker #RobotEverything #PressureWashing
Tightened the loop with my home AI assistant: I dump rough ideas into it, it drafts proper concept notes from them — and now sends me a Telegram message with Implement / Refine / Discard buttons whenever a draft’s ready. Click → it picks up the next step. No more concepts vanishing in the chat scroll. 🧠
#HomeAssistant #LLM #AI
Smart-home ghost: the sleep-mode notification claimed “activated! score 45%” — but my trigger requires 80%. Both were technically true: 80% at fire-time, 45% half a second later (after motion sensors picked up me going to bed). Fix: log the score at *trigger time*, not when the message gets sent. More on this AI-driven sleep mode → https://the-smart-home-maker.com/sleep-mode-with-ai-smarter-than-any-rule-in-home-assistant
#HomeAssistant #SmartHome #DIY
Smart home automation fighting itself: my stair light wouldn’t stay off at night. Sleep mode turns it off → motion sensor turns it back on → fine, except the automation also tried to “restore the previous state” after motion. Problem: it kept saving the *current* state, including its own “ON”. So restore = no-op. Light stayed on all night. Fix: only save the state when the light is OFF. 🤦
#HomeAssistant #SmartHome #DIY
🎉 Celebrating 20 years of the Maker Movement! From DIY projects to innovative tutorials, this community has transformed how we approach Smart Home tech. What’s your favorite maker project or hack? Share your experiences and let’s inspire each other! #MakerMovement #DIY #SmartHome #20YearsOfMaking
🎉 Celebrating 20 years of the Maker Movement! From DIY projects to innovative tutorials, this community has transformed how we approach Smart Home tech. What’s your favorite maker project or hack? Share your experiences and let’s inspire each other! #MakerMovement #DIY #SmartHome #20YearsOfMaking
People ask me how many automations I run. Current count: 275+ 🤖 148 Home Assistant automations and 127 n8n workflows. Some save energy, some save time, and some just make me smile. What’s YOUR count? 👇
#HomeAssistant #SmartHome #Automation #n8n
Ever had a Smart Home fail that left you laughing (or crying)? 😅 Share your funniest stories of tech gone wrong! Let’s learn from each other’s blunders and make our homes smarter together! 🏠💡 #SmartHomeFails #TechTroubles #HomeAutomation #ShareYourStory
I track every watt in my house. Last month my solar panels covered 39% of our energy needs ☀️ Not bad, but there is room for improvement! Do you track your energy? What tool do you use?
#SmartHome #SolarPower #EnergyMonitoring #HomeAssistant
“Do you run everything locally?” — I get this question a lot. Honest answer: it depends on the use case. Some things NEED to be local (privacy, speed), others work better in the cloud. It’s not black and white. I discussed this in depth with @hobbyblogging — check it out: the-smart-home-maker.com/local-first-vs-cloud-in-smart-homes-which-strategy-is-right-for-you/ 🏠☁️
#SmartHome #LocalFirst #CloudVsLocal #HomeAssistant
3D printing + Smart Home = perfect match 🖨️ Custom sensor housings, wall mounts, display cases — I design and print all my enclosures. Check out my models on Printables: printables.com/@the_smart_ho_1245492 — more coming soon! What have YOU printed for your smart home? 👇
#3DPrinting #SmartHome #DIY #Maker #Printables
Smart Home fail confession: My hallway light automation had a bug that kept the light on ALL DAY because it kept re-triggering itself in a loop 💡😅 Took me a while to figure out it was an OR condition that shouldn’t have been there. What’s your worst smart home fail? 👇
#SmartHome #SmartHomeFail #HomeAssistant #Automation
Ready to elevate your living space? Meet ! 🎉 This innovative German smart home content creator is redefining home comfort with his creative smart home projects. Imagine controlling your couch with just a tap!
Check out his channel: @flotomation
What’s the one automation that completely changed your daily routine? 🏠 For me, it’s my morning briefing — every day at 6 AM, my AI assistant reads me weather, calendar, and energy stats. What about you? 👇
#SmartHome #HomeAssistant #HomeAutomation
What automation changed your daily routine? 🤖✨
