Home automation + IoT

Context

I wanted reliable local control and visibility over home devices and energy usage without relying on cloud-only services.

My Role

• Deployed Home Assistant with ESPHome integrations
• Integrated a solar inverter for metrics and dashboards
• Planned an ESP32 garage control automation

Stack

• Home Assistant
• ESPHome + ESP32
• Local networking with secure remote access

Decisions & Tradeoffs

• Prefer local control and privacy over vendor cloud apps
• Use simple, testable automations before scaling

Outcome & Impact

• Centralized dashboard for device and energy monitoring
• Clear roadmap for future automations

Learnings

• Device reliability improves when automations are simple and observable
• Start small, then build on proven integrations

Media (optional)

• Placeholder for dashboard screenshot