BKHome Automations

A real home, run by Home Assistant.

Rooftop solar, a 48 kWh battery, an electric car, eight air-conditioning zones and two heat-pump hot water units, working together every day. Private details are left out.

automations in daily use
80+
areas mapped
16
entities organised
1,200+
climate zones
8

Where the energy is going right now

The picture follows the real house. Dots show which way power is moving, including into the car while it charges. The battery fills to its real level, and the scene turns to night when the panels stop producing.

Energy readings and the car's charge level only. No cameras, locks, location or controls are ever published.

How privacy is handled
Solar–
Grid–
Home–
Battery–
Right now at the showcase homeConnecting

Waiting for the latest reading.

A day in this home

What the house does by itself, from sunrise to overnight.

  1. Morning

    • Solar starts covering the home
    • Spare sunshine goes into the car

  2. Daytime

    • Electricity is free
    • Hot water heats at full power
    • Dishwasher and washing machine run
    • Battery and car top up from the grid

  3. Evening

    • The battery runs the home
    • The garage opens for a recognised car, and its light follows

  4. Overnight

    • A late check turns off anything left on
    • A backup goes to an isolated disk

The heavy lifting happens when electricity is free.

The home's electricity plan includes free power during the daytime. Flexible loads move into that window on their own:

  • Hot water units switch to performance mode
  • The dishwasher and washing machine start, but only if loaded, closed and idle
  • The home battery and the car top up from the grid at no cost

Why it works: every machine checks it is ready first, and a simple "dishwasher loaded" switch keeps a person in charge.

Home Assistant energy flow: the grid feeding the home and charging the battery while solar also contributes
During free daytime power, the battery charges from the grid.

The car charges from spare sunshine.

Outside the free daytime window, charging follows measured solar surplus, with three safety checks:

  • Stops at once if the house starts importing from the grid
  • Stops if the home battery drops below its minimum
  • Sends an alert if charging is on but the car is not plugged in

Lesson learned: the plug-in check now reads the charger's own local sensor, after the car maker's cloud went stale during an outage.

Home Assistant EV dashboard with battery level, range, charger controls and a charge schedule
One screen for the car, the charger and the solar-balancing logic.

Climate, hot water and history in one place

Wall controllers and manufacturer apps still work. Home Assistant puts them side by side.

Four air-conditioning zone thermostats with target and current temperatures
Air-conditioning zones with a whole-house quiet mode.
Two heat-pump hot water units showing tank level, mode and daily energy
Both hot water units, with tank level and daily energy.
Bar charts of daily EV charging energy and home battery charge over a month
A month of EV charging and battery history.

Details that make it trustworthy

None of these are flashy. They are why the flashy ones can be left running.

  • Impossible readings are ignored

    A battery jumping from 0% to 50% in ten seconds is a glitch. It is logged, not acted on.

  • Commands are checked

    After a scheduled switch, the system confirms it happened, retries once, then alerts.

  • Restarts are handled

    After a restart, the battery is put back into the right mode.

  • A light says "we're exporting"

    A kitchen light turns on when there is spare solar. A good moment to run something.

  • A fan reacts to the air

    The laundry fan follows humidity and temperature, with a 90-minute cap.

  • The garage looks after itself

    It opens for recognised vehicles and closes on departure. Remotes and safety sensors stay in charge.

Four automations you could use

Short demonstrations of the logic. They are not footage from a customer home.

A calm sunset

When
the sun sets
And if
the room is occupied
Then
warm and dim the lights

Comfort with context

When
a room gets too warm
And if
the windows are closed
Then
start cooling

Use spare solar

When
solar is being exported
And if
the appliance is ready
Then
run it now

Garage for the right car

When
a known car arrives
And if
a second signal confirms it
Then
open the garage

Six rules behind every plan

  1. Name things before there are hundreds of them.
  2. Keep settings separate from the logic.
  3. Plan for restarts and dropouts.
  4. Use local sensors for decisions.
  5. Sanity-check readings that drive money or safety.
  6. Test the backup by restoring it.
Home automation architecture Devices connect to Home Assistant on a local server. Phones reach it through an outbound encrypted tunnel. Backups go nightly to an isolated disk. Home Assistant local server Solar, battery and EV charger Lights, switches and sensors Air-con, hot water and appliances Phones app and alerts Isolated backup disk, nightly encrypted tunnel
One small local server. Remote access uses an outbound encrypted tunnel, so no router ports are opened.

Most homes need five good automations, not eighty.

I will help you find the ones worth doing first.

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