looking forward to setting up open HAB 3 on a Rasberry PI 4 and then starting to build my home automation. I live in the UK
Are there any good resorces to get started ?
Are there any do’s and don’t ? not sure what’s involved in getting OPENHAB3 installed and configured for the first time
any help appreciated
my first device I would like to control is an Atlona AT-UHD-PRO3-88M
I am under the impression the bindings / control code is already written and tested
the second item I would like to control is LED lighting, LED Downlighters etc.
Can anyone suggest the Best, Brightest and most impressive LED RGBW downlighters that are NOT main branded, did not want to go down the pillips hue route due to the cost of many units
So would rather go unbranded, I have been looking at a company called Zemismart and their Downlighters, not sure what is required?, and wheather they will work with openhab ? think i may need a zigbee hub aswell to control multiple downlighters,
I am also seeing the word Tuya a lot ?? is this different to zigbee ? what should I go for
are these the best unbranded downlighters at the best cost/value and BRIGHTNESS / Quality
any help would be appreciated.
Obviously there are many items that can be purchased for home control, from sensors, lighting, control etc.
Where is a good place to start looking for all these items, are there any good resorces and placed to study / purchase
Depends on your definition of “good” and what you want to actually get started doing and where you are starting from. Assuming you are planning to run openHAB on an RPI I recommend https://www.openhab.org/docs/installation/openhabian.html. If not, find the installation instructions for the OS you want to install it on in the docs.
Once installed, the first and obvious source will be Getting Started - Introduction | openHAB. Beyond that see How to get started (there is no step-by-step tutorial) for a number of links to resources that can help you get started. But the main point of that post is to explain why you will not find a single end-to-end tutorial because everyone’s home automation requirements are unique. Instead you’ll need to string together a series of separate smaller tutorials to reach your end goal.
Do try the best you can. When you run into trouble and need to ask for help, please tell us what you’ve tried. You cannot provide too many details. I’d rather see a really long post with a simple answer than have to play 20 questions just to get enough information to start helping.
And if you show a some effort and willingness to learn, we will bend over backwards to help. We really don’t expect you to figure it all out on your own. But do we expect you to try.
I can’t help with 3 or 4.
To be successful you will need to become at least a little familiar with the technologies you want to use and how they work. Often, reading the binding docs and maybe a wikipedia article is enough to tell you what you need to know. For example, a quick search of this forum or Google should tell you that Tuya provides WiFi bulbs. A quick read of the wikipedia article on Zigbee should tell you that Zigbee is not WiFi.
There will likely not be anyone here who can answer the last part. We don’t know your requirements. Your skill level. Your Budget. Your end goal. Most of the time you’ll have to do some research and experimentation to figure out what best meets your specific requirements. That’s why I highly recommend starting slow with just a few devices. You won’t get it right immediately. You’ll head down some wrong paths and you don’t want it to cost too much to change directions if you discover a certain brand or technology just isn’t working out.
You will want to standardize on a few technologies. Then you will want to try to stick to those technologies. That will give you less to learn over all. But you will not find a single page that is going to tell you what to get.
The way I do it is I shop around for a device. Then I’ll look to see if that device/technology is supported by openHAB by looking for an appropriate binding and searching the forum. Based on what I’ve learned I make the buy/don’t buy decision. Repeat.
No one is going to be able to do this for you. And mistakes will be made. But that’s part of the fun!
I’m also in the uk, you’ve got plenty of options for most things (apart from sockets (not plugs).
If I started again (my lights are mainly hue), I would go z-wave all day long. I find zigbee hit and miss whether it works, also runs on congested 2.4ghz network. Tuya/sonoff/magic home are a few cheap brands, a lot can be flashed with tasmota, I have also written a Sonoff binding (search forum) in case people don’t want to flash.
Best thing, keep it ‘local’ control, not cloud.
Z-wave is a bit pricier, but it works flawlessly (for me anyway over many years), is local control, and operates at a low level frequency pretty much unoccupied. An aeotec gen 5 stick is what I use (think there may be some pi issues so check first for right one). Biggest brands here are fibaro and aeotec.
There’s also a database to add new devices if not supported / can check before you buy if supported if you don’t want to add.
Can pretty much get everything you need too (other than sockets)
You might be restricted on gu10 z-wave bulbs, for this you could use zigbee bulbs if you want rgb (can potentially use these with the hue hub too), or if no rgb just use a z-wave dimmer module with standard bulbs. Also be careful of the depth of the Downlight, most smart gu10’s will not fit in most (trust me ). I only found 2 that could accommodate them when I put 16 in my kitchen. I now have 32 down lights sitting in my garage
). I only found 2 that could accommodate them when I put 16 in my kitchen. I now have 32 down lights sitting in my garage 