Home Assistant Presence Simulation

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Presence Simulation & Fun Uses

  • People use presence simulation to make homes look occupied at night: motion-triggered lights, random light cycling, or simple fixed schedules.
  • Pets, especially cats, can incidentally trigger motion-based presence; some worry that unusual cat behavior timing might actually signal absence.
  • Motion sensors with “pet mode” often detect cats anyway; some prefer simple hardware motion adapters or sensitive Z-Wave sensors.
  • Thread includes playful ideas: automating a moving cutout on model trains, syncing with pizza-ordering scenes, etc. Several note this is feasible with ESPHome, smart plugs, or DCC/Arduino systems.

Hardware Choices for Home Assistant

  • Strong divide over Raspberry Pi:
    • Some report years of rock-solid performance on Pi 2/3/4 with good power supply, Ethernet, SSD or robust SD cards, and light workloads.
    • Others describe persistent instability, SD corruption, USB/power issues, and poor performance with many devices; they’ve moved to mini PCs, Mac Minis, or laptops.
  • Many recommend small x86 mini PCs (e.g., used corporate desktops, N100-class boxes) or Home Assistant Green/Yellow for better reliability and headroom.
  • Pi 5 is viewed as overkill for simple services like Pi-hole, and mini PCs compete on price once you add Pi accessories.

HAOS vs Docker vs “Bare Metal”

  • One camp recommends HAOS, especially on a VM (Proxmox/KVM), citing:
    • Easier add-ons, backups, and official support.
    • “Set and forget” updates via GUI.
  • Another camp prefers plain Docker or even pip in a standard Linux distro:
    • More control, easier debugging, avoids HAOS-specific issues, especially around filesystem corruption on SD cards.
    • Some had HAOS images fail to boot after corruption and found repair difficult.

Configuration, YAML, and Reproducibility

  • Several criticize Home Assistant’s mix of YAML and WebUI:
    • Harder to reproduce setups, automate provisioning, or version-control everything.
    • Integrations that are only configurable via UI are a pain during migrations or rebuilds.
  • Others accept the complexity because HA “mostly works” and alternatives are seen as lacking.

Usage Patterns & Automations

  • Some users rely on simple, always-on time-based automations (sunset/bedtime) rather than explicit “vacation mode.”
  • Others prefer random light selection and timing to better mimic real occupancy patterns.
  • A few see HA as a hobbyist tinkering platform rather than a necessity.

UWB and Item Tracking

  • A side discussion covers UWB tags to help a neurodivergent person find lost items:
    • Mentions of dev kits and past Decawave experiments.
    • Consensus that DIY UWB with Airtag-like size and low power is challenging.
    • Non-DIY ecosystems (e.g., smartphone “Find My” style) reportedly work well in practice.

Door-Knocking, Security, and Community

  • One thread notes that burglars often knock first; cameras with backup power/network are prioritized.
  • Some never answer unsolicited knocks; others describe frequent neighbor/child visits and value a more communal neighborhood culture.
  • There’s debate over ignoring knocks from utilities warning about imminent outages versus the convenience of advance notice.