Home Automation

At the time of writing (March 2026) my current setup is as follows:

  • Virgin Media XGS-PON 1Gb Fibre – running in router mode at present due to issues running in Modem Mode on the Hub 5X – only handling DHCP, WiFi provided by the Unifi stuff
  • Unifi Switch Lite 8 PoE
    • Proxmox Host – HP EliteDesk 800 G2 SFF i7 6700 3.4GHz 16GB DDR4 with 2 PCI 1GBs NICs
      • Home Assistant
      • Unifi OS Server
      • MQTT
      • Matter
      • Tailscale
      • Planka
      • Proxmox Backup Server
    • Unifi USW Mini – Living Room
      • Google TV Streamer 4K
      • Xbox Series S
    • Unifi USW Mini – Zacs Room
      • Xbox Series X
    • Unifi USW Mini – Max’s Room
      • Xbox Series S
      • Maxs PC
    • Unifi US-8 PoE 60W
      • My PC
      • Octoprint (Raspberry Pi 3b)
      • Unifi AC Mesh (Outdoor WiFi Access Point)
    • Unifi AC Pro (Homes main WiFi Access Point)

Ive used Home Assistant for years, and its improved a lot since I first started. It gives me a fancy dashboard I can use when I’m at my desk, and it does a lot of automating for me;

My main dashboard is probably the most used, gives me the controls I need to listen to some music on the Google Nest Hub Max, but I can also cycle through it and select the other players (I have Google Hubs everywhere!) But if you scroll through the others, I have separate pages for lighting (I have Sonoff T series light switches in every room, flashed with Tasmota)

Maxs page shows me if hes home first of all, this is determined by whether his phone is connected to the network, I can see his Xbox status, lights and that sort of thing. And something I’ve been working on for both of them is an internet kill switch (So that I can make them do their chores)

The octoprint stuff is pretty much out of the box entity cards, showing current status and that sort of thing as well as a thumbnail for the webcam.

Google
Home
Octoprint