Home Automation with Home Assistant and Node-RED

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Node-RED Basics

    If you’re here, it likely means you are at least aware of both Home Assistant and Node-Red and even if you’re not, this is a good place to learn. I hope to provide enough info in this article to help someone who is new to Node-RED, understand the basics. If you’d rather get your information…

  • TV Ambient Lighting, with Node-RED

    I have a Hue LED strip mounted to the back of my 65″ TV, and I like to have it change color, according to input and activity on screen. It’s a pretty straight forward and easy setup, but one that people really enjoy. Listed below is my setup and config, but I will try to…

  • Time based automations, with Node-RED

    Time based flows are probably the easiest to do. In this example, you can see that I’m using an inject node set to trigger at 8pm to set my Ecobee thermostat to 73*. The same with setting the alarm, turning lights on and off, etc. Setting up something to trigger at a specific time is…

  • Using the “stoptimer” node, in Node-RED

    The stoptimer node has two functions. It refreshes the timer whenever it receives a new message, which is useful for motion automations; and it can start a timer when something happens, and stop the timer if something else happens. They are very useful in motion lighting automations. In the flow screenshot above, when the kitchen…

  • Better notifications with Telegram and Node-RED.

    Previously, I made a post about setting up a Telegram bot with Node-RED and sending notifications using a call service node. This works great for basic notifications, although it doesn’t handle any of the custom formatting that Telegram supports, or the logging that can be kept. To get better notifications, we’ll want to have everything…

  • Zooz ZSE40 Z-Wave Plus sensor with Home Assistant and Node-RED

    (Amazon links are affiliate links, where I get a small commission of purchased item) The Zooz Z-Wave Plus 4-in-1 Sensor ZSE40 has become my go-to and I’ve replaced all of the other motion sensors in my home with them. They are fast, super cheap and can be mounted on the ceiling (which is my preference),…

  • Controlling a Google Home, with a zigbee button and Node-RED

    (Amazon links are affiliate links, where I get a small commission of purchased item) Our son has a SmartThings button, and a Google Home in his bedroom. He plays with the GHome and we use it for sleep sounds at night. Anytime after 9pm, the button turns on his lamp at 10% red, and then…

  • Sending picture notifications, with Node-RED and Telegram

    (Amazon links are affiliate links, where I get a small commission of purchased item) I have a SkyBell HD doorbell, and it sends notifications to my wife and I with the SkyBell app when it detects motion or the doorbell button is pressed. It works well enough, but it’s another separate app sending separate notifications.…

  • Location based automations, with Node-RED.

    Location based automations are a great way for your house to respond to your presence. Set your thermostat, alarm, and lights depending on whether you are home or not. I do this using trigger state nodes. This nodes considers an entity’s current and previous state and passes on the message. We’re going to use it…

  • Node-RED and Telegram

    If you already have a Telegram bot setup in Node-RED, see my post, Better notifications with Telegram and Node-RED to send notifications with Telegram formatting and logging. In my humble opinion, Telegram is probably the best way to send and receive notifications from Home Assistant. You can create groups for everyone in your house, you can…

  • Working with motion flows in Node-RED

    Motion automations are some of my favorites. I’ve noticed a lot of questions across the internet about how to set them up, so I’ll do a few simple ones to help others get started. Motion activated light.Super simple. Grab an “events: state” node , and a “call service” node . Configure the events state node…

  • Node-RED + Home Assistant Security System

    In this post, I will show how I setup my home security system. Setup this way, it is a manual system, and will need to be manually armed and disarmed. I will share how I’ve automated the system in later posts, that will be linked here. My last two houses were smart homes. SmartThings was…

  • Using smart switches and smart bulbs together, with Home Assistant and Node-RED.

    (Amazon links are affiliate links, where I get a small commission of purchased item) I have 6 Hue A19 Color bulbs in the ceiling of my kitchen. We were using them with standard dummy switches, which was a pain as I had to constantly remind people to leave the switches on. Not to mention that…

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