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You're reading from  Building Smart Home Automation Solutions with Home Assistant

Product typeBook
Published inSep 2023
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781801815291
Edition1st Edition
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Author (1)
Marco Carvalho
Marco Carvalho
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Marco Carvalho

Marco Carvalho is an experienced home automation hobbyist engineer, electrical engineer, and technician. Pursuing his passion for electronics and embedded systems, he created an embedded home automation task scheduler using X10 Home Automation devices in 2006. Nowadays, he uses wireless electronic devices and the Home Assistant software to build different smart home automation applications. As an MSc in Computer Science, Marco has worked with several well-known companies such as IBM, Jabil, Phillips, and Hexagon where he extended his support in development and manufacturing of electronic products. At the time of this publication, he is the Director of Engineering for Apex Microtechnology, where he is involved in the development of high power, high precision analog components.
Read more about Marco Carvalho

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Understanding hacking a sensor or actuator

As mentioned previously, the hacking operation is accomplished by replacing the original device firmware with other firmware that has some integration with Home Assistant. You might have the following motivations to hack the firmware of a sensor or actuator:

  • Integration is not yet available in Home Assistant
  • To achieve better control or management than the original device manufacturer’s integration
  • To change or add features to an integration by changing the sensor or actuator firmware

The main motivation when I started to hack the sensors and actuators for my home was because initial Wi-Fi actuator plugs I purchased some years ago don’t have integration to work with Home Assistant. Nowadays, you probably would not need to hack the firmware of your device since most new devices have integration available to work with Home Assistant.

You might opt to hack a sensor or actuator so that it can be managed...

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Building Smart Home Automation Solutions with Home Assistant
Published in: Sep 2023Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781801815291

Author (1)

author image
Marco Carvalho

Marco Carvalho is an experienced home automation hobbyist engineer, electrical engineer, and technician. Pursuing his passion for electronics and embedded systems, he created an embedded home automation task scheduler using X10 Home Automation devices in 2006. Nowadays, he uses wireless electronic devices and the Home Assistant software to build different smart home automation applications. As an MSc in Computer Science, Marco has worked with several well-known companies such as IBM, Jabil, Phillips, and Hexagon where he extended his support in development and manufacturing of electronic products. At the time of this publication, he is the Director of Engineering for Apex Microtechnology, where he is involved in the development of high power, high precision analog components.
Read more about Marco Carvalho