senn-techTopics
Smart home and building automation
Home Assistant, Loxone and radio-based devices in residential builds: wiring, switches, heating and integration with your own systems.
7 posts
- 2026-10-24 · Smart Hometado open window detection gets AI, the automatic heating pause stays behind a subscriptiontado wants to improve open window detection by learning each room. Without a subscription you still get only a push notification. We separate what heise and ComputerBase confirm, what tado merely claims and what a contact sensor does without a subscription.
- 2026-10-20 · Smart HomeIKEA LILJEBAGGE: a roughly 15-euro Matter thermostat arrives in early 2027IKEA confirmed to heise that Germany gets the thermostat in early 2027. In Sweden it costs 199 SEK; the German price of 14.99 euros is unconfirmed. You need a Thread border router.
- 2026-10-20 · Smart HomeHome Assistant brings HACS into Core: the Marketplace arrives with 2026.11The Home Assistant Community Store moves into Core as the Marketplace. No GitHub account for the regular catalog, automatic migration of existing installs, but no support for AppDaemon apps and Python scripts.
- 2026-10-16 · Smart HomeSmart plugs for Home Assistant: Shelly, Tapo or Tasmota, and what still needs the cloudTo measure or switch single appliances you buy a Wi-Fi smart plug. We compared three kinds against datasheets and the Home Assistant documentation: Shelly, Tapo and pre-flashed Tasmota. Plus a Matter trap that hits at once if Home Assistant runs in a container.
- 2026-10-16 · Smart HomeHome Assistant next to Loxone with a local language model: what we built, what we did not and whyLoxone runs the house, Home Assistant supplies what Loxone cannot, and a local language model is meant to serve the living room. We explain the rules that held up while building, the measurements on the model and the traps that cost time.
- 2026-10-14 · Smart HomeShelly i4 Gen4: a Matter and Zigbee input for the wall switches you already haveFour switch inputs, Matter over Wi-Fi or Zigbee, 16.90 euros and no relay: the i4 Gen4 turns an old wall switch into a trigger for automations.
- 2026-10-06 · Smart HomeHomematic IP HCU opens to partner plugins on 27 October 2026With the HCU update of 27 October 2026, eQ-3 introduces partner plugins. What the three plugin categories mean, why developer mode costs you support, and what is still unknown.