From Tuya to Home Assistant: A Kiwi’s Smart Home Journey

Steve from New Zealand (Kiwi Smart Tech) shares his journey from Tuya bulbs to a powerful Home Assistant setup. We dig into garage door woes and wins, cross‑protocol sensors, mmWave presence, and why Apple Home is his go‑to interface

Watch this episode on YouTube

Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA237

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

00:03:00 Steve’s Kiwi smart home origin

00:10:15 First Home Assistant wins and fails

00:16:00 Garage door saga and ESPHome

00:23:50 Access control

00:28:01 From tinkerer to creator

00:41:00 Apple Home as UI

00:46:30 Ambient alerts: plants, leaks

00:55:10 Appliances, HACS, lock‑in

01:04:00 Cameras and continuous video

01:07:30 Wrap‑up and links

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 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

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(251)

From an Orange Bulb to a Smart Home: Claudia’s Home Assistant Journey

Claudia joins Phil and Rohan to share how an orange Philips Hue bulb sparked a full-blown smart home powered by Home Assistant.Watch this episode on YouTubeShow notes for this episode are available at...

16 Kesä 1h 5min

Home Assistant 2026.6, E‑Ink Unboxing, Yoto, and Smarter Automations

Rohan and Phil are breaking down the 2026.6 release, which features updates for Infrared, Purpose specific triggers and conditions. Plus we talk KVM’s, eInk displays and starting from scratch in 2026....

3 Kesä 1h 1min

MiciMike will turn your Google Home Mini into a Home Assistant Voice Satellite

Imre is a Home Assistant user, who was frustrated with his Google Home mini, so he created a PCB that can turn your Google Home Mini into a Home Assistant Voice SatelliteWatch this episode on YouTubeS...

26 Touko 58min

Giovanni’s Self-Hosted Home

Giovanni joins Rohan and Phil to dive into a fully local, privacy-first smart home. We cover Home Assistant on an Intel N100, Shelly devices, Zigbee vs Wi‑Fi, ESP32 Bluetooth proxies, Frigate with a C...

19 Touko 58min

Mark's Home Assistant Setup: The Good, The Bad, The Exploded Server

Mark went from a rocky SmartThings world to a rock-solid Home Assistant install. He shares his tails of disaster and recovery, as well as his journey from Tasmota to ESPHome.Watch this episode on YouT...

12 Touko 52min

Home Assistant 2026.5 introduces RF and RS-232 Control

We’re diving into Home Assistant 2026.5 and re-capping the highlights from State of the Open Home 2026. There’s new RS-232 serial control, dashboard strategies, and more purpose-specific triggers.Watc...

6 Touko 1h 5min

How FireAvert wants to prevent house fires with a smart home twist

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 AssistantWatch this episode on YouTu...

21 Huhti 47min