The Reluctant Home Assistant Guy: From Hue Chaos to Hour‑of‑Power Wins
Chris joins Phil and Rohan to share a brutally honest smart home journey: starting with Philips Hue, hitting limits with multiple bridges, battling MyQ and RatGDO, and landing real energy savings with Home Assistant.Watch this episode on YouTubehttps://hasspodcast.io/ha207Support the PodcastGet early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.Support Rohan and Phil on PatreonShare your storyWe wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.Chapters00:00 Welcome01:03 Meet Chris: the ‘reluctant Home Assistant guy’ (NZ/Canada background)03:00 Hue as the gateway: GU10s, COVID mood lights, buying a house04:39 Discovering Home Assistant; cost shocks and smart switch vs smart bulb decisions06:30 Legal wiring quirks in NZ and scoring bulk Hue downlights08:00 Hue motion/presence, bridge device limits, and Pro Bridge API exposure09:50 Upgrade cadence, iOS/MacOS betas, and why Shelly bodies didn’t fit12:00 Daily frustrations: a random red light, Roomba fails, Alexa vs Siri14:36 Garage/gate saga: MyQ, RatGDO struggles, Grandstream Wi‑Fi, Meross HomeKit fix20:00 Adaptive Lighting: Hue app vs HA integration; mixed CCT bulbs going ‘red’26:00 Three points of failure; behavior change, the cleaners’ switch, and one non‑motion room31:40 Protocol choices: Wi‑Fi vs Zigbee vs Z‑Wave; Matter/Thread pain in practice36:40 Energy saving wins: free ‘hour of power’, Bosch Home Connect, Hue Tap + TTS47:06 Simple scenes that matter: spa lighting that won’t trigger floods51:00 Biggest surprises, time sink, and the idea of HA consultants53:40 Advice for newcomers: hobby vs lifestyle; draw the line56:00 Dashboards: new layouts, family tabs, activity timelines, and to‑dosThis episode was made possible thanks to our sponsorsHome Assistant Cloud by Nabu CasaEasily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.ZoozIf you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to thesmartesthouse.comHostsPhil HawthorneWebsiteSmart Home ProductsTwitter: @philhawthorneBluesky: @philhawthorne.comBuy Phil a CoffeeRohan KaramandiWebsiteSmart Home ProductsTwitter: @rohank9Buy Rohan a CoffeeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy