Getting Started with Home Assistant

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If you are ready to explore more features and integrations, visit the official Home Assistant Getting Started Guide

Thank you again for choosing Pulcro.io. We hope our device will serve you well.

Video Transcript

00:00
Thank you for purchasing a Pulcro TurnKey Mini PC, assembled with care right here in the United States. In this video, I’ll walk you through how to set up your Pulcro Mini PC for Home Assistant, how to find its assigned IP address, and a quick mention how to begin using Home Assistant. If you’ve purchased our Smart Home Starter Kit, I’ll show you how to integrate Zigbee devices and create your first automation. So let’s dive in.

00:29
To get started, you’ll need the unit itself, the included power adapter, and a network cable. While Home Assistant is designed to run headless and without a monitor, we recommend connecting a monitor just for the initial setup. This will help you identify the device’s IP address more easily. Once setup is complete, you can unplug the monitor and store it away. Before connecting anything, ensure your power adapter is unplugged from the power outlet. We’ll plug it in in just a moment. For the TurnKey Two Mini PC, what I want you to do is plug the power cable into the power inlet. Connect the network cable to the port closest to the power inlet. Connect a monitor via HDMI. If you have a Zigbee or a Z-Wave USB dongle, like the one in our Smart Home Starter Kit, connect it to any available USB port. For the TurnKey QBE Mini PC, what I want you to do is plug the power cable into the power inlet. Connect the network cable to the port furthest from the power inlet. Optionally, connect a monitor to the HDMI port closest to the back, and any USB dongles can be connected to any available USB port.

01:42
Now, if you have our TurnKey Node Mini PC, start by connecting the included power cable to the power adapter, then plug the adapter into the Mini PC.

01:54
Next, connect the Ethernet cable and plug your monitor into the HDMI port.

02:02
And finally, if you purchased our Zigbee dongle, plug it into any available USB port on the front or back of the device.

02:11
Pro tip: use the included USB extension cable with your radio-based dongles. It significantly improves Zigbee and Z-Wave signal reliability by having the extra distance between your Pulcro Mini PC and the USB dongle.

02:27
Now plug in your power adapter into a surge-protected power strip and turn it on.

02:34
All Pulcro Mini PCs come pre-configured to auto power on, so in case of power outage, they’ll boot up automatically. The boot process may take a few minutes, but when ready, you’ll see a Home Assistant console screen. You don’t need to interact with it, just take note of the IP address shown on screen. In my case, it’s ten dot one ninety-two dot one seventy-six dot one zero nine. You can ignore everything after the slash. On another device connected to the same network, such as your phone, your laptop, or a tablet, open a web browser and type HTTP colon slash slash your IP address colon eight one two three.

03:17
Welcome to the Home Assistant onboarding screen. To begin the journey, click Create My Smart Home.

03:24
Then, create a local account by entering your name, username, and password. Then click Create Account. Enter in your home address. This allows Home Assistant to calculate sunset and sunrise triggers in any weather conditions based on your location. Decide whether you wish to share anonymized data with the Home Assistant developers, and click Next. You’ll see a list of auto-discovered devices. Don’t worry if yours aren’t listed. Many devices need to be added manually. Then, click Finish to enter the Home Assistant dashboard.

04:04
If you’ve purchased our Smart Home Starter Kit, let’s get it up and running. First, attach the antenna onto your Zigbee USB dongle by twisting the antenna onto the metal thread. Then, plug the dongle into the included USB extension cable and then into your Mini PC if it hasn’t been plugged in already. Why the extension cable? It helps isolate the dongle from radio interference, boosting range and performance. Next, in Home Assistant, go to Settings,

04:35
Add Integration, search for Zigbee Home Automation,

04:40
and select the device entry that includes Zigbee 3.0 USB, and then click Submit. Click Create a Network and assign it to a room if you’d like. Now that you have your Zigbee network initialized, it’s time to connect your door sensor. Firstly, pull and remove the plastic battery tab. The red LED should start blinking. If it doesn’t, use the included pin to press the side reset button for five seconds.

05:17
Then, in Home Assistant, click Add Devices via this device and let it detect and configure.

05:29
Name your device, for example, Kitchen Door Sensor, and assign it to a location.

05:36
Next, let’s set up your smart plug. Plug it into any wall outlet or power strip. It should be detected automatically within a minute.

05:46
Assign it a meaningful name, for example, Kitchen Lamp, and then assign it to a room. On the side of caution, ensure that you don’t overload your smart plug with anything greater than eleven hundred watts aggregate.

06:00
Now, let’s make your devices talk to each other. We’ll create an automation that toggles the kitchen lamp when the kitchen door sensor detects that the door is opened. In Home Assistant, go to Settings, Automation and Scenes, and then Create Automation.

06:17
Select Start with an empty automation. Now, let’s break this page down section by section.

06:23
Under When, as in when should this automation activate, click Add Trigger, choose Device, then select Kitchen Door Sensor.

06:35
Set the event to Opened or Turned On. Under Then Do, as in what actions we want to have happen as a result of the trigger, click Add Action, search for Toggle, and select Switch Toggle, as our smart plug is technically a switch. Then choose Kitchen Lamp.

06:54
Give your automation a meaningful name and a location where it will run, and then click Save.

07:03
Okay, let’s try it out. When you open the door, the sensor sends a signal to Home Assistant, which toggles the smart plug. When the door closes, nothing happens because we only set it to react to the open event. Open the door again, and the smart plug toggles on again. This is just the beginning. With Home Assistant, you can expand, stack, and refine these automations in powerful ways.

07:30
Congratulations, you have completed your first smart home setup using your Pulcro TurnKey Mini PC. If you’re ready to explore more, visit the official Home Assistant Getting Started guide at the link below. There, you will learn more about different integrations, automations, and how to join the thriving Home Assistant community. Once again, thank you for choosing Pulcro.