#smart-home-security

Frigate + Coral cookbook — eight months of tuning

“The difference between a useful Frigate setup and a noise-fountain isn't the model. It's the masks and the thresholds. The model is the easy part; the YAML is the work.”

Wireless cameras and bandwidth — when WiFi cams work

“PoE is structurally better for cameras. WiFi cameras are a pragmatic 'good enough' when running Cat6 isn't an option. The bandwidth math is the constraint that decides.”

Doorbell camera on the Google Home Hub display

“Seven local systems — camera, person detection, hub, displays, voice, phones, NAS — all triggered by one button press, none of them phoning a vendor cloud. That's the smart-home magic that justifies all the YAML.”

PoE cameras + Frigate NVR — local object detection

“Cloud camera services charge $5-15/mo per camera. Frigate + a Coral USB does the same object detection locally for $75 of one-time hardware. The cost-per-camera-month asymptote is zero.”

Building the security alarm panel in Home Assistant

“An arm/disarm state machine isn't optional once the sensor count crosses a threshold. With 14 security sensors and 3 modes, the alarm-panel abstraction is the only way the family can use the system without me on call.”

Glass-break and vibration sensors — the second-layer security

“Door sensors catch the opening. Glass-break sensors catch the breaking. The second one matters because the first one assumes the intruder walks in like a guest.”

Smoke detector integration — alerts that actually matter

“Smoke is the one device class where every clever automation hangs off a single signal you cannot afford to miss. The integration matters; the alert's dependence on the network does not. Standalone buzzer first; Home Assistant second.”

Water leak sensors + automatic shutoff

“Every other piece of smart-home gear is a quality-of-life argument. Leak detection plus main-valve shutoff is an insurance argument — and that makes it the one piece I'd hand a non-enthusiast first.”

Amazon buys Ring — what a surveillance doorbell does to the threat model

“A cloud camera is a camera you've agreed to let someone else watch. The footage is useful exactly because it's always recording — which is also precisely the problem. The threat model isn't the burglar; it's the terms of service.”

Aqara Zigbee door/window sensors at scale

“Aqara door sensors are a third the size of a SmartThings Multipurpose, run two years on a single CR1632 button cell, and cost nine dollars each. The catch: they speak a slightly-off interpretation of the Zigbee HA spec, so the consumer hubs choke on them.”

Migrating the SmartThings security automation to Home Assistant

“Same automation. Sub-second latency instead of three seconds. Runs when the internet is down. Cost: a $50 Z-Wave stick and a Saturday afternoon.”

Aeotec Multisensor 6 — six sensors in one Z-Wave device

“Six sensors in one device on one Z-Wave node means six new automations are one device install away. Cost per sensor reading drops by a factor of six.”

First security automation — door/window + presence

“The Arrival Sensor is a Bluetooth dongle the size of a key fob with a CR2450 battery. It's also unreliable enough that I'm already planning to replace it with phone-based presence.”

SmartThings starter kit unboxing — first credible hub

“A hub with two radios, a rules engine, and a Groovy SmartApp platform is the first thing that makes a multi-vendor smart home tractable. Eighteen months overdue, finally here.”