Aaron returns to share how his Home Assistant setup evolved from endless tinkering to a rock‑solid system that runs his family life. We cover Z‑Wave provisioning, ESPHome vs off‑the‑shelf reliability, RATGDO for garage doors, HA Green/Yellow, voice‑first routines, and the rise of AI‑powered helpers.

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Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA218

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Chapters

00:00:00 - Welcome, guest intro

00:02:30 - Aaron’s Home Assistant dev journey

00:06:30 - Life change and HA evolving

00:10:30 - HA Green/Yellow setup ease

00:14:30 - Proxmox vs appliance hubs

00:18:30 - Remote radios and antennas

00:22:30 - AppDaemon to UI automations

00:26:30 - AI helpers and sensors

00:30:30 - Dashboards vs default view

00:34:30 - Voice and automation-first

00:38:30 - Community ideas and sharing

00:42:30 - Maintain vs rebuild strategy

00:46:30 - Vacuum and dishwasher flows

00:50:30 - Guest mode with Shortcuts

00:54:30 - ESPHome vs plug-and-play

00:58:30 - Z-Wave provisioning

01:02:30 - Local-first hardware wins

01:06:30 - Matter, cameras, standards

01:10:00 - Open-source continuity, advice

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Products Discussed

Home Assistant Connect Z-Wave (ZWA2) antenna: https://amzn.to/48PrphT

Ubiquiti Protect cameras: https://amzn.to/4asHXxt

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

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Rohan Karamandi

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Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

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