Note: This is generated from a transcript from one of my YouTube videos

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This article provides a comprehensive tour of a “Smart Home Dashboard 2025” setup, offering insights and ideas for designing your own home automation interface. It details various features, design principles, and practical applications of a well-integrated smart home dashboard.

Introduction to the Smart Home Dashboard 2025

This guide offers a detailed look at a personal smart home dashboard setup, providing inspiration and practical examples for your own home automation projects. While implementation details are not the primary focus, the aim is to present a range of functionalities and design choices.

Dashboards are strategically deployed in two primary locations: the hallway and on a desk. Both utilize Philly Kiosk, a system that enables person detection to activate the screen when someone is present. The hallway dashboard further enhances this by remaining active when a user is looking at it, leveraging face detection technology.

Dynamic Display and Event-Triggered Notifications

One of the most valuable features is the dashboard's immediate response to a doorbell ring. When a visitor is at the front door, the dashboard instantly activates and transitions from displaying a clock and weather card to showing a live camera stream of the person at the door. This functionality is mirrored across both dashboards, ensuring that whether you are near the hallway or working at your desk, you can identify visitors without manual intervention.

The remote control feature of Philly Kiosk facilitates this rapid response. While it might seem redundant to activate the dashboard when it would eventually turn on via presence detection, these additional seconds are crucial. They allow the camera stream to buffer and display the feed before you even reach the dashboard, ensuring instant visibility without waiting for the video to load.

Core Interface Design Principles

Significant effort has been invested in maintaining a clean and consistent interface. For instance, temperature controls dynamically adapt based on the ambient temperature. Above 15 degrees Celsius, the interface displays air conditioning controls. Below 15 degrees, the air conditioning controls disappear, replaced by heating controls and a hot water boost button.

A key design principle is the static positioning of elements. Components do not jump around; instead, they transform within their designated space. The clock/weather cards and the camera stream, for example, occupy the exact same screen area. Similarly, the air conditioning and heating controls maintain consistent spatial allocation.

Essential Home Timers

The dashboard incorporates several useful timers for daily routines: a kids' TV timer, a hot water boost timer, and even a potty training timer for young children. While these could be hidden using conditional cards when not in use, displaying them consistently helps maintain a stable dashboard layout and offers a neat aesthetic.

The kids’ TV feature is particularly convenient. Tapping the “kids” button presents options for different shows. Upon selection, an automation triggers, granting exactly one hour of TV time. As the time approaches its end, the lights behind the TV turn red, and a Google Home device provides a 30-second warning before the TV powers off. Children can also independently check their remaining TV time by standing in front of the dashboard, which activates and displays the timer.

The hot water boost button is frequently used, especially during winter months. Pressing it initiates a hot water boost, and the corresponding hot water timer begins its countdown. Additionally, automations are configured to boost hot water during specific activities, such as training sessions, which also activate the timer.

Integrated Task List

Directly below the timers, a task list powered by Todoist is integrated. A custom project named "home" in Todoist allows for adding reminders such as "take out the bins" or "recycling." This is ideal for tasks that need to be remembered when in the hallway or near the front door area of the house.

Garage Door Control

The garage button is intentionally large and easy to tap. It also displays the current state of the garage door, allowing for a quick glance to confirm if the door has been left open or closed. This functionality is powered by a MiRos garage controller, which is wired directly into the garage door opener. Tapping the button sends a command to the MiRos controller, toggling the door's state.

Family Location Tracking

The dashboard displays the locations of family members, showing their movement between different zones. This feature, initially considered a novelty, has proven surprisingly useful in various scenarios. For example, if you go downstairs to make coffee and glance at the dashboard, you might see a family member is at the shop, prompting a quick message to request an item.

Real-time Energy Monitoring

Given the investment in solar panels, tracking energy usage is a priority. The power flow card visually represents how electricity flows through the house: from solar panels to the battery, current consumption, and energy sent back to the grid. Updates are received from the inverter approximately every 30 seconds, providing near real-time data that is sufficiently accurate for monitoring.

Integrated Alarm System Control

When leaving the house, the alarm system automatically activates, and an alarm control card appears prominently in the center of the dashboard. This is one of the few instances where the dashboard layout will dynamically change. However, when interacting with the alarm panel, it is the primary concern, so layout shifts are acceptable. It is unlikely that one would need to adjust heating settings while disarming the alarm. Once the alarm is deactivated, the layout reverts to its original configuration. The alarm card is displayed using a conditional card, which only becomes visible if the alarm's state is active.

Local Weather Insights

For sunny days in the UK, a UV index card is displayed, drawing data from Pilot Weather. While the UV index is typically an integer, the API sometimes returns it with two decimal places. Additionally, a percentage chance of rain card is included, often indicating the likelihood of rain in the UK, prompting users to grab an umbrella before leaving.

Custom Automation: The Lunch Button

A favorite custom feature is the "lunch button." When lunch is ready on work-from-home days, a family member can tap this button to notify the user. Upon activation, the office transforms into a "disco mode" with various light strips engaging in a tasteful display.

Exploring Secondary Dashboard Tabs (Mobile-Optimized)

While the main tab on the hallway dashboard is primarily used for quick glances, several other tabs are available and are typically accessed via a mobile phone. These tabs offer more detailed control and information.

Lighting Control Tab

The “Light” tab provides individual or group control over every light in the house. This is particularly useful on gloomy days when you might want to illuminate an entire room by activating all lights simultaneously.

Smart Plugs and Sockets Tab

Similarly, a dedicated tab exists for controlling all smart plugs and wall sockets.

TV Control and Virtual Remote

The “TV” tab tracks viewing time and includes a virtual remote control. This feature is a lifesaver when the physical TV remote inevitably goes missing, whether it’s in a toy box or down the back of the sofa. Despite having a home controller, physical remotes often disappear, and this virtual solution provides a temporary alternative to searching the entire house.

Room Temperature Monitoring

The “Temperature” tab displays readings from every room in the house using gauge cards. Thresholds are customized for each room, acknowledging that comfortable temperatures vary (e.g., a dragon’s terrarium might require different conditions). The gauges visually indicate whether a room is too hot or too cold.

Advanced Energy Analytics Tab

The “Energy” tab, marked with a lightning bolt icon, caters to data enthusiasts. It displays current power consumption and export to the grid in near real-time, with approximately a 30-second delay. Unlike the main power flow card, this tab allows users to tap through for a detailed history of energy usage. A two-hour consumption history is particularly useful for identifying unexpected energy spikes. If a spike is observed, users can retrospectively analyze activities from about half an hour prior to diagnose the cause and drill into diagnostics.

A favorite feature is the “free energy graph,” which combines solar generation and battery usage. This visually demonstrates daily savings and is quite satisfying to review. The weekly power graph provides a further breakdown, and detailed readings from the inverter are available for in-depth analysis.

Cost Tracking Tab

The “Cost” tab, indicated by a pound symbol, displays monthly gas and electricity expenses, highlighting the difference between summer and winter bills. It also serves as a baseline for observing changes in energy tariffs over time. This data is accessible across various time spans, including a six-month and a weekly breakdown.

Humidity Monitoring Tab

The “Humidity” tab retrieves data from temperature sensors in key rooms. The Aqara and Zone Off sensors used both include temperature and relative humidity sensors. While numerous automations control humidity, this tab allows for manual monitoring and easy access to historical statistics for each room.

Smart Plant Care Tab

Finally, the “Plant” tab provides a visual overview of houseplant health. Bluetooth sensors placed in plant pots connect directly to Home Assistant, sending alerts when plants require watering. This is especially useful for tracking metrics like daily lighting across seasons. If a plant needs watering, the soil conductivity can be checked to determine if feeding is also necessary.

Conclusion and Next Steps

This article has provided a comprehensive tour of a smart home dashboard setup. While initial skepticism existed regarding the utility of a hallway dashboard compared to a mobile phone, its presence has proven invaluable and would be significantly missed. The convenience and immediate access it provides are highly appreciated by all family members.

To build a similar system, refer to the description for links to the mentioned cards and components. For more smart home projects, consider liking and subscribing. Happy automating!

Links:

Here are all of the Lovelace cards that I’m using:

Clock weather card: https://github.com/pkissling/clock-weather-card WebRTC camera card: https://github.com/AlexxIT/WebRTC Timer card: https://github.com/karlis-vagalis/circular-timer-card Alarmo card: https://github.com/nielsfaber/alarmo-card Todoist card: https://github.com/grinstantin/todoist-card Power flow card: https://github.com/ulic75/power-flow-card TV remote card: https://github.com/Nerwyn/universal-remote-card Flower card: https://github.com/Olen/lovelace-flower-card

Video

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