My aim is to have a single point of contact for many sensors and switches instead of the many proprietary apps. I started by searching for a piece of kit that could 'sniff' the airwaves and obtain data from the myriad of wifi connected stuff in my house.
I was advised to try Home Assistant (HA), which I now have running on a very compact Dell computer, however I have tried watching YouTube videos and reading many tutorials on getting started with HA, finding that the more I read the more I get bombarded with new words and jargon that add to the confusion rather than clarifying; words such as MQTT, docker, Node Red, Mosqitto, API, and many others pop up regularly, and I really can't be sure whether these things are things or software, and whether they are competing products or complementary to another product.
Perhaps some kind person would respond with a glossary of common terms, a short description of their function in plain English, and maybe their equivalents from other providers, so that I can decide on a design that will function now, and be expandable in the foreseeable future.
An example of a task I imagine I want to automate that will cover other tasks as and when my imagination allows....
Obtain hot water temperature from a Sonoff TH10 switch. Obtain a forecast of likely solar radiation from t'interWeb. Obtain state of charge (SoC) of batteries from a Victron Multiplus inverter via its CerboGX interface. Combine these three pieces of data in an algorithm that decides whether to and at what time to use battery power to heat my hot water, and to what temperature, and if not from the batteries from the heat pump or the gas boiler - maybe future integration with my mobile phone calendar to determine whether I'll need hot water that day, and indeed the likely number of house occupants.
All these data are things obtained from wifi signals transmitted around the house or from t'interWeb. I will develop the algorithm, the machine must get the data.
MM
I was advised to try Home Assistant (HA), which I now have running on a very compact Dell computer, however I have tried watching YouTube videos and reading many tutorials on getting started with HA, finding that the more I read the more I get bombarded with new words and jargon that add to the confusion rather than clarifying; words such as MQTT, docker, Node Red, Mosqitto, API, and many others pop up regularly, and I really can't be sure whether these things are things or software, and whether they are competing products or complementary to another product.
Perhaps some kind person would respond with a glossary of common terms, a short description of their function in plain English, and maybe their equivalents from other providers, so that I can decide on a design that will function now, and be expandable in the foreseeable future.
An example of a task I imagine I want to automate that will cover other tasks as and when my imagination allows....
Obtain hot water temperature from a Sonoff TH10 switch. Obtain a forecast of likely solar radiation from t'interWeb. Obtain state of charge (SoC) of batteries from a Victron Multiplus inverter via its CerboGX interface. Combine these three pieces of data in an algorithm that decides whether to and at what time to use battery power to heat my hot water, and to what temperature, and if not from the batteries from the heat pump or the gas boiler - maybe future integration with my mobile phone calendar to determine whether I'll need hot water that day, and indeed the likely number of house occupants.
All these data are things obtained from wifi signals transmitted around the house or from t'interWeb. I will develop the algorithm, the machine must get the data.
MM
