I Made These Home Assistant 新人 Mistakes So You Don't Have To
Home Assistant is powerful open-source smart home ソフトウェア that can 支配（する）／統制する and 自動化する a 抱擁する number of smart 装置s. Unlike popular smart home ecosystems such as Alexa and Siri, Home Assistant isn't locked to any 明確な／細部 装置s or 議定書s; you can use it with 事実上 any smart home 装置 you want.
There's a 公正に／かなり 法外な learning curve, and when I first started using Home Assistant, I made plenty of 新人 errors. Here are the biggest mistakes I made so you don't have to.
Running Home Assistant on an SD Card
Like many people, I 始める，決める up my first Home Assistant server on a Raspberry Pi. It's a decent choice for your first 探検 of Home Assistant, as it's powerful enough to 扱う the main Home Assistant features, while also 存在 a low-cost 選択. I ran Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi 3B for several years without too many problems.
One big mistake I made was to have everything running on a microSD card. A Raspberry Pi does not have any 内部の 貯蔵 of its own, and the simplest way to 始める，決める one up is to flash the necessary ソフトウェア to a microSD card, 挿入する it into the Raspberry Pi, and run everything from that. The microSD card then 効果的に 行為／法令／行動するs as the Raspberry Pi's hard 運動.
The trouble is that microSD cards aren't designed to be used this way. They don't like 存在 written to over and over and over again, and this is 正確に／まさに what happens as Home Assistant 令状s スピードを出す／記録につける とじ込み／提出するs or 記録，記録的な／記録するs the changing 明言する／公表するs of 装置s. Over time, the microSD card can wear out, and when it fails, you may find that your entire Home Assistant server is lost.
I was lucky that my microSD card never failed, but I 結局 switched to running Home Assistant from an 外部の SSD, which is a much safer 選択.
Not Making Backups
If my microSD card had failed, I would have lost my entire Home Assistant 体制／機構. That's because when I first started using Home Assistant, I wasn't taking any backups at all. If my system had died, I would have had to start everything again from scratch.
支援する when I 始める，決める up my first Home Assistant server, there wasn't a native system for easily making backups outside of my Home Assistant server. I 結局 moved to using the Google 運動 Backup 追加する-on, which 許すd me to save backups to Google 運動 so that if my Raspberry Pi died, I'd still be able to 回復する the saved backup to a new 装置.
Home Assistant 2025.1, however, saw the 傾向 of new 自動化するd and off-場所／位置 backup features that make it 平易な to create 多重の backups and save them to Home Assistant Cloud. Later 解放（する）s 追加するd the ability to 蓄える／店 backups in cloud services such as Google 運動 or Microsoft OneDrive, and with a little 成果／努力, you can even save your backups to iCloud. It's never been easier to follow the 3-2-1 backup method, with three copies of your data on two different マスコミ with one off-場所／位置 backup.
Trying to 追加する Too Much at Once
I was incredibly 有罪の of doing this when I first 始める，決める up Home Assistant. If you already own a lot of smart home 装置s, it's difficult to resist the 勧める to 追加する everything to Home Assistant at once and create automations that 伴う／関わる every connected 装置.
When you're starting out, however, this can just make things far too 複雑にするd, and it makes troubleshooting a real nightmare. You can't easily be sure if your automation isn't working because you did something wrong, or because there's a problem with one of the many 統合，差別撤廃s that you're using.
It's far better to start small and build up 徐々に. Try 追加するing just one or two 装置s first and creating automations 単独で for those 装置s. Your automations will be いっそう少なく コンビナート／複合体 to create and far easier to troubleshoot.
Once you've got things working as you want them, you can slowly 追加する in more 装置s and more automations. If things stop working, you can easily 決定する the likely 原因（となる）, as it will be something that you changed since the last working 明言する／公表する.
Not Using （疑いを）晴らす 指名するing 条約s From the Start
Another major 悔いる I have from setting up my first Home Assistant server was that I didn't use a 一貫した 指名するing 条約. Just 無作為に 指名するing （独立の）存在s within Home Assistant doesn't stop things from working, but it makes life a lot harder when you want to create more コンビナート／複合体 automations or you need to switch out a 装置. You are likely to 結局最後にはーなる with a 重要な number of （独立の）存在s in Home Assistant, and if you start with a 一貫した 指名するing 条約, it makes things so much easier.
The 指名するing 条約 you use is a 事柄 of personal preference, and there is no 選び出す／独身 "訂正する" method. However, using a system such as domain.area_location_additional_information is often a sensible 選択. For example, a lamp in the bedroom might be 指名するd light.bedroom_sidetable_right, while another might be 指名するd light.bedroom_sidetable_left.
If you ever need to switch out the lamps to a different brand, you just give the new 装置 the same 指名する, and your automations should continue to work as 推定する／予想するd. If you use 発言する／表明する assistants, you have the 選択 to give your 装置s 第２位 偽名，通称s that are easier to use with 発言する／表明する 命令（する）s. As long as you find a system that 作品 for you and stick to it, you should find that it makes keeping on 最高の，を越す of your smart home a lot easier.
焦点（を合わせる）ing on Wi-Fi 装置s
Wi-Fi seems like an excellent choice for smart home 装置s. There's no need for any proprietary 中心s, since the 装置s can communicate 直接／まっすぐに with your router, and Home Assistant will often （悪事，秘密などを）発見する them and 示唆する the appropriate 統合，差別撤廃 to use with them when you 追加する them to your smart home. I started out using mostly Wi-Fi smart 装置s with Home Assistant.
However, Wi-Fi 装置s come with some major downsides. The first is that the more of them you 追加する to your smart home, the more congested your Wi-Fi 網状組織 becomes. If every smart 装置 in your home is trying to connect to your router at once, things can start to become 不振の or even 減少（する） out 完全に.
Many Wi-Fi smart home 装置s also rely on connecting to the cloud ーするために work 適切に. These cloud-扶養家族 装置s become mostly useless if your internet 関係 goes 負かす／撃墜する or there is an 問題／発行する with the 製造業者's servers. It also means that data about your smart home can leave your home, putting it at 危険 of 存在 迎撃するd by malicious （独立の）存在s and 危険ing your 安全.
Another major 問題／発行する with Wi-Fi 装置s is that they're 扶養家族 on 存在 able to communicate with your router. If you want to put smart home 装置s far away from your router, such as in a garage, they may not be able to get a strong enough Wi-Fi signal to be of any use.
A better 解答 is to use smart home 装置s that use 献身的な mesh 網状組織ing 議定書s such as Zigbee or Z-Wave. In these mesh 網状組織s, 装置s can 行為／法令／行動する as nodes, passing （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） 支援する and 前へ／外へ to other 装置s on the 網状組織, rather than each one having to communicate 直接／まっすぐに with a central 中心. It means that you can 延長する your mesh 網状組織 around or even beyond your home, so that 装置s in your garage can communicate just as easily as those 権利 next to your router.
Zigbee and Z-Wave 装置s are also more 力／強力にする-efficient than Wi-Fi 装置s, with many of them 有能な of running on 殴打／砲列s rather than needing to be plugged in. This makes them far more versatile, as you can place them almost anywhere you want them.
From a 安全 見地, Zigbee and Z-Wave 装置s can give you 完全にする 地元の 支配（する）／統制する, so that 非，不，無 of your （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） needs to leave your home in order for your smart home to 機能（する）／行事. Using these 装置s also 解放する／自由なs up more Wi-Fi bandwidth for the 装置s that really need it.
Zigbee and Z-Wave aren't the only 選択s. For example, 事柄 is now another viable 代案／選択肢 to Wi-Fi. For now, however, I'm sticking with my Zigbee 装置s.
Creating Automations Without 是認
Tech is 十分な of TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms), and one of the most important when creating a smart home is SAF―the Spouse 是認 Factor. You can create the most amazing smart home automation in the world, but if your 重要な other doesn't like it, it's probably not going to 飛行機で行く.
When I 始める，決める up my first smart home automations using Home Assistant, I created a whole bunch of them without running any of them past my wife first. I was very impressed that I could get the lights to turn on at sunset, for example, but she was far いっそう少なく impressed that when she tried to turn the lights on at the switch, nothing would happen. This is a ありふれた problem when using smart bulbs with dumb switches, and it would stop my automation from working, so both of us would 結局最後にはーなる annoyed.
If you're going to create automations that 影響する／感情 the other people in your home, then it's only fair that they get a say in whether they're 器具／実施するd or not. In fact, creating automations that solve a problem that your spouse is 直面するing is one of the best ways of getting them on board with your obsessive hobby.
There are plenty of mistakes you can make when setting up a コンビナート／複合体 smart home system using Home Assistant. I should know, because I've made many of them myself. Hopefully, you can 避ける some of the same mistakes I made and have more time to 充てる to creating your perfect smart home. Home Assistant can make your home smarter; just make sure you're smarter than I was.