Podcast Hype Realized: Streamlining Remote Access with Tailscale in my Smart Home

Intrigued by the incessant plugs on various podcasts, I finally took the plunge into the world of Tailscale—a decision fueled by the allure of a free-for-life basic account and the promised ease of setup. True to the advertisements, the setup was a breeze, prompting me to explore its potential in enhancing remote access to my smart home.

While I had been using the Wireguard addon in Home Assistant for a VPN on my cell phone, Tailscale presented itself as a compelling alternative. The idea of ensuring constant network access, even in the face of an ISP-induced IP address change while I'm away, fueled my desire to experiment further.

Managing my Home Assistant instance, housed under my physical control, I took a proactive step by disabling key expiry. This ensures that I won't inadvertently forget to renew the key, providing uninterrupted access even when I'm miles away from home. The newfound confidence in always having access allows me to fine-tune my home's heating and cleaning settings with ease, even when on vacation.

The initial results have left me impressed, and I'm inclined to explore using Tailscale to simplify remote access and potentially enhance the security of my home network. The prospect of closing every single port on my router using Tailscale and Home Assistant Cloud is a realistic consideration, given the smooth performance thus far. While I usually steer clear of relying on third-party services in my smart home, Tailscale seems like it might end up being a permanent exception. The flexibility to switch back to Wireguard and an open port if Tailscale falters ensures a safety net, making it a reliable addition to my smart home arsenal.

In a world of endless possibilities and evolving technology, Tailscale has proven to be more than just podcast hype—it's a tangible enhancement to my smart home experience.

Freedom Unleashed: Disney's Iconic Mickey Mouse Breaks Free from Copyright Shackles

It is a day I never thought would come; the renowned Mickey Mouse has broken free from the clutches of the Micky Mouse Curve. The iconic character, a cornerstone of Disney's empire, is now on the loose as Disney's copyright on the 1928 short film "Steamboat Willie" has finally expired, landing it in the public domain. Had I shared this short just a day ago, it would have been deemed a criminal act—talk about the winds of change.

While "Steamboat Willie" may seem quaint by today's animated standards, it served as the launchpad for a colossal entertainment empire. Reflecting on the stark contrast between this early animation and today's sophisticated films and shows, it's awe-inspiring to witness the humble origins of a cultural phenomenon that has stood the test of time.

Yet, Mickey Mouse is just one of many creative works that have now been set free for the people. The shackles of copyright have loosened, allowing a multitude of artistic treasures to enter the public domain. If you're curious about the plethora of works that have joined the ranks of freedom, CopyrightLately has compiled a list of some of the more popular items on their website: Public Domain Day 2024.

This significant moment marks a celebration of creativity, as once-guarded treasures become accessible to a wider audience. It's a testament to the evolving landscape of intellectual property and a reminder that even the most iconic characters, like Mickey Mouse, can now be embraced and reimagined by new generations. So, let the adventures in the public domain begin, and may the legacy of these timeless creations continue to inspire and captivate audiences around the world.

Garage Door Local Control

 In an effort to further remove my homes dependency on the internet for my smart home gadgets I have just replaced my smart garage door opener.  While my MyQ opener worked fine for the last few years, it did have a single outage caused by MyQ service changing a header requirement which one of the open source contributors fixed in the following release of Home Assistant.  To eliminate the posibility of this happening again and as that I could stop worrying about a door to my house being exposed directly to a third parties servers.  This also removed the dependency on batteries that the MyQ sensor required.

ESP home was the solution I turned to. This allowed me to use one of the many D1 Minis I have on hand for WLED projects and gain complete local control. Since I used ESP home I was able to directly integrate with my Home Assistant instance without having to expose the opener to the broader internet.

All I had to do was use a rely hat wired to the same contacts to dumb button uses and add a magnet and reed switch to detect when the garage door is closed. I could also add an additional reed switch sensor for the fully open position, but I don't feel need to have that at this point. 
All of this circuitry was able to be mounted directly to the existing garage door opener. It is a little crazy to think that my garage door opener that is almost as old as I am is now hardwired to the internet in a round about way. 

Chore tracking

As the seasons have changed I have started to have to mow my lawn again. This had me once again considering buying a smart lawn mower to automate this task. I think that is both driven by my not wanting to waste time outside and several youtuber's reviews of the EcoFlow BLADE.

While that does look really cool and a leap forward in technology for smart mowers, it still has a price tag that makes me hesitate upgrading. Two other factors have stopped me from buying one;  I don't really know how much time this will truly save me and I don't know how well those mowers will hold up.

Only time will tell if they are truly well made enough to last and function week after week. As I wait for that technology to mature a little more I have decided I should probably quantify the time savings I would get if I do every purchase one.  Que Home Assistant to track this data.

 I have added a few helpers and scripts to Home Assistant to collect this data. A new chores tab has been added to my dashboard. Scripts are called when they are selected on the dashboard; this triggers an update to the Last Mowed  date/time value and increment the count for the season.

Since I have this new tab setup I decide I should add similar chore counters for devices that could automatically be tracked based on existing integrations/data. So far this includes laundry, dishes, and vacuuming. This might eventually be enhanced to include car charging and collecting the mail. 

Additionally I have started adding tracking for less frequent tasks including routine pest control spraying. I also moved the details for my air filter changing since it seems to fit here well. 

Smart Doorbell

 I keep my Home Assistant instance up to date by ensuring I install the latest release once the second or third patch has been published. I have just updated to 2023.4.2  By  delaying updates I avoid the bugs that sometimes crop up in the initial release each month as new features are added. I only install the initial release if there is a fix I am waiting for or a new integration/feature I am really excited for. 

A new integration that was added in the 2023.1 release that peaked my interest was the integration with Reolink.  I already had a Reolink  camera setup as an RTSP camera, so testing out the new integration was easy. The only problem I had with it was that motion sensors integrated into Home Assistant was not consistently functioning. Home Assistant clearly informed me of the issue with basic steps to resolve the issue, but those steps didn't work.  This was due to my instance of Home Assistant using port 8123 with https and Lets Encrypt to use my own domain. 

I thought I was just stuck, but someone else posted the same issue to the Home Assistant sub-Reddit. Someone there suggested setting up a reverse proxy to get around the issue, in this post. Following a basic tutorial for that setup, restarting Home Assistant, and adding some additional firewall rules to re-direct 8123 externally to 443 internally resolved the issue. 

With my existing camera working I was able to see what all the fuss was about.  The motion, person, vehicle, and pet detection was simply awesome. All of that worked on the device without having to run processing on my raspberry pi or involve another server or service. 

I was so impressed with how it handled things I decided to start the process of converting my remaining cameras to Reolink, but saw their new doorbell that several youtubers have given glowing reviews recently was on sale. I purchased the wifi version to avoid having to run an additional POE run or replace my POE switch that is already at capacity with my current cameras. 

This device was almost as easy as installing a simple replacement button. The only additional step was to add a jumper in the chime. All told it took about 25 minutes to get physically installed and connected to the Reolink app. Adding it to Home Assistant and fine tuning the motion alert area and recording settings took a bit longer but I am very happy with the edge storage, batch FTP backup, and ability to control alerting from inside Home Assistant.  

Given how simple this was to setup I will probably be ordering the remaining cameras to tackle that project next week end so that I can get it done before the summer heat makes it a less appealing chore.

Date Time Helpers

I am trying to simplify my Home Assistant dashboard to be able to provide clear information without having to drill down into sensors. The first step forward in this goal has made me realize how great the helper entities for date/time are.  I have been able to add helpers to track the start and stop time of my car charger.  

This allows me to more easily guess how long is left till my car is charged. This isn't critical information as my car is a plug in hybrid, but I do sometimes find myself waiting for the charge to complete to run additional  errands a couple times a month.  I know some different EVs actually expose that info directly and whenever I show for a new vehicle I will keep that in mind. 

While I am not thrilled with the current display being and input text box for the helper entities it is much better than having to switch to my vehicle view and select the current sensor in order to manually check the history to find out when exactly I started charging.  These helpers are set when the current spikes and dips when the charging cycle starts/ends.

Additionally I have started to add helpers for routine chores that I sometimes forget to do on their proper cadence. This includes changing air filters, watering plants, and changing sheets.  I am still working out how to get notifications based on this tracking. So far my best plan is to have a separate days counter incremented in my midnight chron task and reset in the same NFC automation that sets the date/timestamp helper.

 

Cutting the Internet out of Smart Devices

For the last couple years I have made an effort to choose devices with local control whenever possible. I have decided to remove dependency on a constant internet connection from as much of my smart home as possible. At this point the devices I have that rely on internet are  a Nest thermostat, Shark vacuum, Withings bed sensor, Withings scale, Zmodo cameras, and Chamberlain myQ garage door opener. 

The first step in this journey was the most mission critical, my home thermostat. After looking at the various options I settled on the Centralite Zigbee based option. This has allowed me to have completely local control. 

While I do miss the nice information that Nest provided, if I really want to I can re-create any of those features locally. The one feature that I really need to replicate is the reminders for changing the air filters.

The next step in cutting my dependency on the internet will probably be using Esphome to create a custom garage door opener. 

Chat GPT

 
I tried to use chat GPT to help improve my writing for this blog.  I prompted it "please help expand the following blog post about setting up google nest wifi pro.", and fed it my last post about  setting up my new router.  

It seemed to expound on what I had written and even added some helpful specific steps on how to restrict a devices from being able to access the internet. The only problem is the specifics it wrote are incorrect. The menus listed aren't accurate and the process is nowhere near as straight forward. The options are located under a feature named "Family Wifi" and requires you to setup a group or schedule for when internet is allowed for the device. 

This shows how Chat GTP is good at expanding text writing reasonable sounding paragraphs that might fool someone unfamiliar with the technology or terminology. It can not be trusted to provide technical information or to provide factual information in its responses. It is a language model/chat bot, not an AI like people often imply it is. 

"Setting up Google Nest Wifi Pro is a straightforward process. First, unbox the unit and plug it in. You'll need to download the Google Home app to your smartphone or tablet to get started. The app will guide you through the setup process step-by-step, including the creation of a Google account if you don't already have one.

Once you've created an account and the app has found your Nest Wifi Pro unit, follow the instructions to create your Wi-Fi network. You can choose a network name and password, and customize other settings like guest access and network prioritization.

As the Nest Wifi Pro only supports a single SSID for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, you won't be able to replicate your previous network. However, you can still segment your network to isolate your IoT devices by using the group functionality. This allows you to group your devices and control their access to the internet.

To add devices to a group, open the Google Home app, select the device you want to group, and choose "Group" from the menu. You can then add the device to an existing group or create a new one. Once you've created a group, you can control the internet access for all devices in that group.

To disable internet access to a device, open the Google Home app and select the device you want to restrict. Choose "Device settings" and then "Wi-Fi." Toggle the "Allow internet access" switch to off. This will prevent the device from accessing the internet, but it will still be able to communicate with other devices on your local network.

If you have any issues with your Nest Wifi Pro, you can contact Google support for assistance. They have a comprehensive support website and a dedicated support team that can help you with any problems you may encounter.

In summary, setting up Google Nest Wifi Pro is a simple process. Although it only supports a single SSID for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, you can use the group functionality to segment your network and control internet access for your IoT devices. If you encounter any issues, Google support is available to help you troubleshoot and resolve any problems."

Google Pro Wifi

 

Last week my internet stopped working. It stopped routing traffic and allowing access to its configuration page. Even after removing all other devices and attempting to factory reset it, it still failed to function other than the DHCP server still functioning.

I purchased the Nest Wifi Pro as a replacement as it was one of two mesh network options that supported WIFI 6 that I could purchase locally. It didn't hurt that it would fit in with my existing google phone and google home smart speakers.

 

My previous router was setup with separate SSIDs for the 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks and made use of both the primary network and guest network for various devices as I had intended to eventually segment my network to isolate the various IOT devices from my personal system and servers. I was disappointed to find out that I couldn't replicate my previous network as the Nest Wifi only supports a single SSID for both frequencies.

 

Since I had to re-provision almost all of my Wifi IOT devices, I decided to add all of them to the main network and make use of the group functionality to completely cut the internet access to most of the IOT devices, as true to the minimal documentation, telling the Nest Wifi to disable internet access to a device still allows local communication on the LAN. The only devices that still have internet access are my MyQ garage door opener gateway and my solar inverter.

 

Oddly my network switch also seems to have died at the same time. It was still technically functioning, but any device connected to it was getting assigned an IP but not resolving DNS requests. Luckily, I have a spare switch that I was able to start using as soon as I noticed the issue, but now I have to go through the annoying task of swapping that hardware. At least it will give me an opportunity to properly cable manage everything. Various hardware changes and replacements over the last couple years have left that a mess.

Withings

While trying to better track my health I have bought into a few Withings products. It started with the desire to get a smart scale that could integrate with Home Assistant. This desicion was made before they started having Bluetooth as a main way of integrating, so the Withings Body+ seemed like an ok compromise (settling for a cloud polling integration). 
While the weight tracking works exactly as expected once a developer account was created and port 443 was forwarded to 8123 to allow Withings to validate  the connect, I did have to manually add a sensor in configuration.yaml to convert the metric weights to pounds. 

After some success with this scale integration I found a good deal on their under bed sensor for sleep tracking.  This also worked great for sleep tracking but failed to push occupancy data to Home Assistant in a timely manner. To get that closer to real time data into my system I ended up having to setup make use of webhooks and use two of the five free automations in my if this then that account. 
This sensor proved very valuable as an added conditions to a few of my motion sensors as my puppy dog started triggering some of my lighting/morning routine automations were being triggered by him when he was allowed out of his crate overnight a few times. 

The only disappointing thing I have run into with Withings is the lack of smart watch data being imported. I don't know what I would do with my step count, but I am sure I could come up with some interesting notifications for motivation/reminders to get my steps in for the day.

Oral B

 The future is kind of stupid. Home Assistant just added support for my toothbrush to directly integrate with local pushing of data.  They made it so easy to integrate since they made Bluetooth a direct way of integrating things, all I had to do was click configure after turning on my toothbrush. 

While this might seem silly for a grown adult to track, I will be converting a time based notification that reminds me to brush after breakfast and before bed to only be sent if I have not brushed the appropriate number of times that day. I have also added a counter to track how many times the brush head has been used. Most of those functions are probably available in the corporate application, but now I can delete their app and have total local control over this health related data.

I could see people with little kids being able to automate a great deal of things to only be allowed for their kids if they have properly brushed their teeth for the day.