Home Assistant Podcast

We’re sitting down with Nick and Larsen from FireAvert to talk about how FireAvert aims to stop house fires, and how they can tie into smart home systems like Home Assistant
Watch this episode on YouTube
Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA231

Support the Podcast
Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.
https://homeassistant.fm/patreon

Share your story
We 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.

Chapters
00:00:00 Intro and Sponsors
00:04:00 What FireAvert Does
00:08:00 Technical Challenges and Detection
00:12:00 Form Factor and Installation
00:16:00 Accuracy, ML, and Notifications
00:20:00 Smart Automations and Control
00:24:00 Product Evolution and Z-Wave/LoRa
00:31:00 Risk Areas: Kitchens, EVs, Dryers
00:35:00 Water Leaks and Mitigation
00:39:00 Startup Lessons and Team
00:43:00 Home Assistant Dev and Roadmap
00:46:00 Global Availability and Wrap-up

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors
Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa
Easily 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.

Zooz
If 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 https://thesmartesthouse.com

Apollo Automation
Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box.

Products Discussed
FireAvert Gas Auto Shut-Off: https://amzn.to/4vLz0rl

Products we Recommend

Hosts
Phil Hawthorne
Website
Twitter: @philhawthorne
Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com
Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi
Website
Twitter: @rohank9
Buy Rohan a Coffee

This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Industrial data pro Mike joins Phil and Rohan to unpack his Home Assistant setup. We dive deep into Node‑RED flows, mmWave presence, actionable dashboards, and AI‑assisted automations—including recognizing his own cat and verifying the right bin is curbside.

Watch this episode on YouTube
Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA230

Support the Podcast
Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.
https://homeassistant.fm/patreon

Share your story
We 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.

Chapters
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:28 - Mike’s background and location
00:03:43 - From OpenHAB to Home Assistant
00:06:11 - Cloud vs local pragmatism
00:09:40 - Zigbee, Thread and Matter lessons
00:12:17 - Distributed hardware and Docker setup
00:16:08 - Family UX and presence ethos
00:20:26 - PIR, mmWave and context signals
00:24:41 - Automations with Node‑RED
00:29:50 - AI‑assisted automation building
00:34:44 - Dashboards and notifications
00:43:42 - Cameras, AI and the cat
00:50:59 - Smarter heating and preheating
01:03:33 - Actionable notifications philosophy
01:05:40 - Evangelizing at work and wrap‑up

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors
Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa
Easily 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.

Zooz
If 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 https://thesmartesthouse.com

Apollo Automation
Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box.

Clean My Mac
Get Tidy Today! Get 7 days free and use our code ASSISTANT for 20% off

Products Discussed
Aqara Cube: https://amzn.to/47C7YIm
Intel N100 Mini PC: https://amzn.to/4v13dC8
Oral‑B Electric Toothbrush: https://amzn.to/4tfVoGV
Products we Recommend

Hosts
Phil Hawthorne
Website
Twitter: @philhawthorne
Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com
Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi
Website
Twitter: @rohank9
Buy Rohan a Coffee

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Electrical engineer Braden joins Phil and Rohan to share practical Home Assistant wins. From migrating to Zigbee2MQTT, taming a Whirlpool ice maker with ESPHome, building a garage door opener, and planning a sensor-packed greenhouse lab.

Watch this episode on YouTube
Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA229

Support the Podcast
Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.
https://homeassistant.fm/patreon

Share your story
We 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.

Chapters
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:23 - Meet Brayden in Windy Indiana
00:03:35 - From Hue to Home Assistant
00:08:50 - Greenhouse Lab Plans
00:12:45 - Nursery Voice and Motion Tactics
00:18:20 - RFID Cards for Kids’ Media
00:29:00 - Zigbee2MQTT, Aqara, Litter Box Hack
00:36:40 - ESPHome: Ice Maker and Garage
00:43:40 - Power Monitoring and Breakers
00:47:00 - Unifi, Cameras, and ZBT-2
00:52:30 - Agents, Dashboards, and Presence
01:00:20 - Wrap-up and Thanks

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors
Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa
Easily 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.

Apollo Automation
Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box.

Zooz
If 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 https://thesmartesthouse.com

Notion
Notion is an AI-powered, connected workspace for teams. Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one space that just works. Try Custom Agents now at https://notion.com/homeassistant

Hosts
Phil Hawthorne
Website
Smart Home Products
Twitter: @philhawthorne
Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com
Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi
Website
Smart Home Products
Twitter: @rohank9
Buy Rohan a Coffee

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Home Assistant 2026.4 is here! We break down Infrared as a first‑class feature with IR proxies, expanded purpose‑specific triggers, dashboard background colors, favorites for lights/covers, Matter lock credential management, and more. We also cover a critical HA OS/Supervisor security patch you should apply now.

Watch this episode on YouTube
Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA228

Support the Podcast
Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.
https://homeassistant.fm/patreon

Share your story
We 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.

Chapters
00:00:00 Intro, sponsors, housekeeping
00:02:30 2026.4 overview and event
00:05:00 Security alert and patch tips
00:07:30 New Works With partner: HeatIt
00:10:00 Feedback: Frigate and Litter‑Robot
00:12:30 Thread/Matter experiences and FP300
00:15:00 Local LLMs and home agents
00:17:30 Cat litter → RoboRock cleanup
00:20:00 Entity naming change delayed
00:23:00 Infrared goes first‑class
00:26:00 IR proxies now, RF coming
00:28:30 Purpose‑specific triggers expand
00:31:00 Dashboard background colors
00:33:30 Favorites for lights and covers
00:36:00 Matter lock credentials, locks
00:38:30 Robots: Roborock Q10, SmartThings
00:41:00 Jellyfin and Proxmox updates
00:43:30 Voice cleaning, backup progress
00:46:00 Markdown actions, LG IR nuances
00:48:30 New integrations roundup
00:51:00 E‑ink, energy, access, breaking changes

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors
Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa
Easily 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.

Zooz
If 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 https://thesmartesthouse.com

Apollo Automation
Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box.

Hosts
Phil Hawthorne
Website
Smart Home Products
Twitter: @philhawthorne
Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com
Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi
Website
Smart Home Products
Twitter: @rohank9
Buy Rohan a Coffee

This video contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Director-turned-vanlifer Mike from the YouTube channel SmartyVan shows how he turned a bare Mercedes Sprinter into a fully automated, off‑grid smart RV powered by Home Assistant and ESPHome. We cover DC power realities, alternator charging vs solar, Starlink on the move, Bluetooth presence, wired vs Zigbee sensors and PoE cameras with Frigate. Perfect for vanlife, RV, and tiny home builders.

Watch this episode on YouTube
Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA227

Support the Podcast
Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.
https://homeassistant.fm/patreon

Share your story
We 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.

Chapters
00:00:00 - Intro, sponsors, Mike arrives
00:05:00 - From Sprinter shell to smart RV
00:10:00 - Power: solar, alternator, efficiency
00:16:00 - Home Assistant in a DC world
00:22:00 - Pi 4, microSD, backups
00:28:00 - Internet, Starlink, offline logic
00:35:32 - Van automations that matter
00:41:00 - Service mode and shop visits
00:47:00 - Presence without motion sensors
00:53:00 - OBD-II, WICAN, vehicle data
00:59:00 - Wired sensors vs Zigbee
01:05:00 - Cameras, Frigate, PoE control
01:09:00 - What’s next and where to find

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors
Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa
Easily 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.

Zooz
If 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 https://thesmartesthouse.com

Notion
Notion is an AI-powered, connected workspace for teams. Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one space that just works. Try Custom Agents now at https://notion.com/homeassistant

Products Discussed
Google Coral USB TPU accelerator: https://amzn.to/4cNVot1
Aqara contact sensors: https://amzn.to/4utywFk

Hosts
Phil Hawthorne
Website
Smart Home Products
Twitter: @philhawthorne
Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com
Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi
Website
Smart Home Products
Twitter: @rohank9
Buy Rohan a Coffee

This episodes contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy