Home Assistant Green Is the Best Smart Home ¹ØÆþ¡Ê¤¹¤ë¡Ë I've Ever Made

When I started building a smart home, my Samsung ¤Ç¤Ã¤Á¤¢¤²¤ë¡¤¿Í¤òºá¤Ë´Ù¤ì¤ë TV served as the Ãæ¿´ that connected everything together. Now the brains of home is a tiny box that »ÙÇۡʤ¹¤ë¡Ë¡¿ÅýÀ©¤¹¤ës everything Ãϸµ¤Ç instead of relying on the cloud. It¡Çs called Home Assistant Green, and it¡Çs the Áª¤Ó½Ð¤¹¡¿ÆÈ¿È best Åê»ñ I¡Çve made in my smart home.

I Didn't Want to Ǥ̿¤¹¤ë¡¿Æ³Æþ¤¹¤ë Home Assistant Myself

Home Assistant is an Âå°Æ¡¿ÁªÂò»è to ÃÅ¡¦¹ËÎΡ¦¸øÌós like Samsung SmartThings and Google Home. Unlike those, Home Assistant isn¡Çt tied to a ²ñ¼Ò¡¿ÃÄÂÎ. It¡Çs a ²òÊü¤¹¤ë¡¿¼«Í³¤Ê and open source »ö¶È¡¿·×²è¡Ê¤¹¤ë¡Ë ¶¡µë¤¹¤ëd by a community of developers working together to ¿½¤·¹þ¤à¡¿¿½¤·½Ð a »äŪ¤Ê way to »ÙÇۡʤ¹¤ë¡Ë¡¿ÅýÀ©¤¹¤ë our smart homes, one that won¡ Çt suddenly break ͽÄê to a company losing Íø±×¡¿¶½Ì£.

One Íø±× of Home Assistant is that you can download the ¥½¥Õ¥È¥¦¥§¥¢ for ²òÊü¤¹¤ë¡¿¼«Í³¤Ê and run it on a PC you already have.

Ëܿͼ«¿È¤Ç, that¡Çs not a »ö¶È¡¿·×²è¡Ê¤¹¤ë¡Ë I have the time nor Íø±×¡¿¶½Ì£ in taking on ¸¢Íø now. My two young kids have taken up all the time I once had for the ºÛȽ¡¤¸øȽ and error that often comes with DIY »ö¶È¡¿·×²è¡Ê¤¹¤ë¡Ës and tinkering with tech. Besides, I don¡Çt have a ¾®·¿¤Î PC or Áª¤Ó½Ð¤¹¡¿ÆÈ¿È board computer lying around.

Home Assistant Green Does the Work for You

Home Assistant Green is a pre-built Ãæ¿´ that comes ľÀÜ¡¿¤Þ¤Ã¤¹¤°¤Ë from the Home Assistant team. It's marketed as the easiest way to get your ¼êÅϤ¹s on Home Assistant if you don't want to »Ï¤á¤ë¡¤·è¤á¤ë things up yourself. I placed an order from AmeriDroid, and within a week, the °ì³ç was on my doorstep.

The ÂÎÀ©¡¿µ¡¹½ ²áÄø was so simple that even though I did it at night when I was already tired, it only took a few minutes, and I didn't make any mistakes.

This is a box you can recommend to anyone with an active Íø±×¡¿¶½Ì£ in creating their own smart home. This is also a »öÎã¡¿´µ¼Ô where the open source ²òÅú is more powerful and ͭǽ¤Ê than ¾¦¶È¤Î Âå°Æ¡¿ÁªÂò»ès. On the downside, the »ö¶È¡¿·×²è¡Ê¤¹¤ë¡Ë feels a bit like VLC¡½it will play anything, but it¡Çs neither the prettiest nor most intuitive.

This Saves Energy Compared to Old Tech

Home Assistant can run off any old computer you have lying around, assuming it ²ñ¹ç¡¤²ñ¤¦s the pretty low system ɬÍ×ʪ¡¿É¬Í×¾ò·ïs. The downside is energy ¾ÃÈñ. A desktop PC draws a lot of ÎÏ¡¿¶¯ÎϤˤ¹¤ë for something that needs to run 24/7. This isn¡Çt ideal for an old laptop, either.

Home Assistant Green comes with a 1.8GHz quad-³Ë¿´ ARM ²Ã¹©¶È¼Ô, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of eMMC Ãù¢, two USB 2.0 ports, and Gigabit Ethernet. It only ¾ÃÈñ¤¹¤ës 1.7 ¥ï¥Ã¥Ès while idle and 3 ¥ï¥Ã¥Ès while under Ééô. Even an energy-efficient ¾®·¿¤Î PC with a fanless Intel N200 CPU may still draw around 6W. This is more akin to Ǥ̿¤¹¤ë¡¿Æ³Æþ¤¹¤ëing Home Assistant yourself on a Áª¤Ó½Ð¤¹¡¿ÆÈ¿È- board computer like a Raspberry Pi, since that¡Çs ´ðËÜŪ¤Ë all that Home Assistant Green is. It ÍøÍѤ¹¤ës a Rockchip RK3566 Áª¤Ó½Ð¤¹¡¿ÆÈ¿È-board computer, which you can ¹ØÆþ¡Ê¤¹¤ë¡Ë yourself if you want to go DIY. But by the time you factor in an enclosure, you¡Çre not saving as much money as you might think.

At around $120, I feel the »ö¶È¡¿·×²è¡Ê¤¹¤ë¡Ë is asking a fair price for the ¶âʪÎà¡¿Éð´ïÎà I¡Çm getting. I also like supporting ²òÊü¤¹¤ë¡¿¼«Í³¤Ê and open ¶âʪÎà¡¿Éð´ïÎà when I can, rather than giving that same money to a ²ñ¼Ò¡¿ÃÄÂÎ whose ¥½¥Õ¥È¥¦¥§¥¢ I ¡¼¤¹¤ë¤Ä¤â¤ê¤Ç¤¢¤ë to ¼è¤Ã¤ÆÂå¤ï¤ë with code I ºÇ½ªÅª¤Ë don¡Çt have to »Ùʧ¤¦¡¿Ä¶â for. I¡Çm happy to think of any ¾ÞÍ¿¶â as a ´óÉÕ to the »ö¶È¡¿·×²è¡Ê¤¹¤ë¡Ë¡Çs continued ¸ºß.

Faster and More »äŪ¤Ê Than a TV or the Cloud

My smart home used to be based on Samsung SmartThings, and every ÁõÃÖ that isn¡Çt a Samsung ´ï¶ñ is connected using »öÊÁ. The nice thing about »öÊÁ is that ´Ø·¸s take place Ãϸµ¤Ç and aren¡Çt ÉÞÍܲȲ on a web server ¡¼¤¹¤ë¤¿¤á¤Ë µ¡Ç½¡Ê¤¹¤ë¡Ë¡¿¹Ô»ö. The downside of SmartThings is that it, however, is. I was ¸ú²ÌŪ¤Ë using a web app to »ÙÇۡʤ¹¤ë¡Ë¡¿ÅýÀ©¤¹¤ë ÁõÃÖs that don¡Çt need to be connected to the web.

Home Assistant runs ´°Á´¤Ë on my Ãϸµ¤Î ÌÖ¾õÁÈ¿¥, and it's faster as a result. I didn¡Çt think of SmartThings as slow, but Home Assistant is milliseconds faster. Toggling »ö¼Â¾å¤Î buttons, lights, and Å·°æ fans feels instantaneous. The ÊÖÅú time ¸½¼Â¤Ë feels faster than some apps running ´°Á´¤Ë on my phone.

All the while, Home Assistant is ¸½¼Â¤Ë À¸À®¤¹¤ëing and ¸½ºß¤Îing more ¡Ê·Ù»¡¤Ê¤É¤Ø¤Î¡ËÌ©¹ð¡¤¹ðÁʡʾõ¡Ë than the ¾¦¶È¤Î Âå°Æ¡¿ÁªÂò»ès. The ÎÌ of ¡Ê·Ù»¡¤Ê¤É¤Ø¤Î¡ËÌ©¹ð¡¤¹ðÁʡʾõ¡Ë it can ¶¡µë¤¹¤ë is staggering if you really want to get into the ¾¯¤·¤Îd of how much energy ³Î¤«¤Ê ÁõÃÖs are using at any given time.

Before I ÌÀ¸À¤¹¤ë¡¿¸øɽ¤¹¤ëd my smart home ι¹Ô, I heard it said that whether you start with Apple Home, Google Home, ¥¢¥Þ¥¾¥ó Alexa, or Samsung SmartThings, you ·ë¶É ·ë¶ÉºÇ¸å¤Ë¤Ï¡¼¤Ê¤ë on Home Assistant¡½after you ²¡¤·¿Ê¤á¤ë up against the À©¸Âs of what you can do or start to develop privacy ´Ø¿´s about all the data you¡Çre À¸À®¤¹¤ëing as you ´Êñ¤Ë go about your life.

I like to ¾ÚÌÀ¤¹¤ë people wrong, but in this »öÎã¡¿´µ¼Ô, they were ¸¢Íø. While Home Assistant could Íø±× from some interface ²þÎÉs and usability enhancements to make it more approachable, it¡Çs a ¹­Âç¤Ê¡¿Â¿¿ô¤Î¡¿½ÅÍ×¤Ê °Ö°Â to know that every smart switch and Æ°µÄ sensor I Ǥ̿¤¹¤ë¡¿Æ³Æþ¤¹¤ë isn¡Çt sending more ¡Ê·Ù»¡¤Ê¤É¤Ø¤Î¡ËÌ©¹ð¡¤¹ðÁʡʾõ¡Ë to someone¡Çs servers.