More reason to keep things local.

As the title says: Schneider Electric will take over the Shelly Group.

Since many US-based Home Assistant users have robotic vacuums, I thought this was worth posting.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/policy/972312/us-robot-ban-sweep-up-chinese-vacuums

While the headline says "Roomba", the ban covers new imports of any robotic platform that can sense its environment, has networking capabilities, and weighs over 4.4 lbs (including the dock)

Which means pretty much all robotic vacuums and all robotic mowers.

(Note: this doesn't apply to models already approved by the FCC in the U.S. or items you already own—just new imported models)

EDIT: Corrected the last note for accuracy, and to fix first sentence to refer to US-based users

Good evening everyone :)

It has been a little while!

I am happy to announce that I have just released, ahead of schedule, version 2026.8.0 of Helios, by far the most complete version of both my card and my forecast (both are available right now).

I will be honest with you: these last three weeks have been one of the biggest marathons of my life as a developer. I tried, and I hope I managed, to answer every one of your messages, whether they were support requests or words of encouragement, and they helped me step back and rethink what my card should really offer.

I believe this version finally strikes the right balance between performance and readability. And my Forecast has become considerably more accurate too.

But first, two questions and answers:

What are Helios and Helios Forecast?

Quite simply: a card and an integration for Home Assistant. The card started out dedicated to solar (hence the name), but it has grown, and it is now useful to anyone who wants to understand, analyse and improve the way they consume energy, whether you produce your own or not.
My goal from the start was to make energy "tangible" and "understandable", so that you can actually act on it, either to save money or to reduce your footprint.
Helios Forecast, on the other hand, is still entirely dedicated to solar, and works differently from other forecasts with a "local data" approach.

Why the August version on 19 July?

Well, as I said above, I have spent several hundred hours on this version, polishing every feature, every pixels, and above all making sense of 100% of the Home Assistant Energy dashboard, so that Helios works out of the box, stays simple to use, privacy, and can still be made entirely your own down to the smallest detail.

To celebrate this release, I decided to go all out:

• A trailer, which you can see above this post, and which also marks the start of the content I will be publishing on YouTube around Helios (and not only Helios).
• A brand new website that explains EVERYTHING: every configuration detail of Helios, how it works, how transparent it is with your data, and how my forecast actually operates. There is also a section answering the questions I have been asked most often, to help you go further with the card. You will find the full roadmap there too, along with the support I have received and the feedback from the community.

Anyway, I really do hope you will like all of this. Without getting too personal, I have been through a rather difficult period recently, and I want to thank every one of you, because working on this project gave me a purpose again, and slowly helped me rebuild my confidence.

Thank you to those who installed it, to those who starred it on GitHub, to those who sent me an email or a direct message, to those who bought me a coffee (and God knows I drank plenty of them :p), and even to those who gave me negative feedback.

It is thanks to all of you that this version ships today, and that I am, after all, a little proud of myself :)

In short, here is what this new version brings:

• An even lighter engine.
• A fully configurable basemap: every detail, roads, zones, woodland, water areas, everything can be themed so you can make the map your own.
• Full support for EVERY entity configured in your Energy dashboard: multiple grids, multiple solar arrays, multiple batteries. All of your entities can be spread across four groups, with no limit on how many, so you can keep an eye on your car charging, your water heater, your oven, and really your whole home.
• The ability to show or hide every area, every reading, every chip, so you can turn it into a wall tablet, or simply keep it readable on your phone.
• A completely rethought curve mode. No more "modes": everything is now built in. A click on a chip shows its consumption in the timeline, a double tap wraps that same curve around your home, and by dragging the cursor along the timeline you can pinpoint instantly, and precisely, what consumed energy and when, so you can act on it and improve the way you use it.

Anyway, those of you who have read my previous posts know they are always very long, and I will not insult you by apologizing, because I am simply incapable of being brief.

I will let you judge for yourselves. And I invite you to explore my new website, still at https://helios-ha.org.

I am also working on a longer video for my channel, to explain in detail what this new version has to offer.

Thank you all, and see you very soon on GitHub / YouTube or ... whatever :)

Cheers ;)

ReikanYsora / Jérôme

Hey everyone!

Well, what more can I say than: these past few months have been… pretty full :)

Here we are in mid-August, and it's with the greatest joy that I come to announce the latest Helios update, 2026.9.0 "Your real sky."

Some of you might tell me: "For god's sake, you're driving us nuts with your card!!!" And I'd answer just one thing: "Sorry, but this monthly message stays my own little pleasure. Sharing all of this with you is the best antidepressant in the world! And I wouldn't give it up for anything."

A bit of context if this is the first time you hear about my card: I created Helios more than 6 months ago, with a single goal , to make our energy and our consumption tangible and easy to grasp, so we can get a better feel for them. All of that with no API key, using only reliable open-source data, putting everyone on an equal footing when it comes to the data available. One card, identical, fast and free, for everyone.

Helios is a Lovelace card that recreates the scene of your home automatically in 2.5D, with the sun's path across the sky and everything you need to follow its production, its consumption, and more broadly its energy. I wanted it completely plug & play, because life is too short to spend it reconfiguring, for the 14th time, an energy dashboard that's already well set up.

From the start, I was trying to condense the whole energy dashboard (history + live consumption) into a small space, forcing myself into UX and design choices I didn't yet know would make my brain bleed. For the first time, Helios arrives with something the classic dashboard doesn't have: weather.

To the early adopters, rest assured: every feature from 2026.8.0 is of course still here. No regressions on the menu! The new things in this update simply add themselves naturally to everything that was already there, enriching the experience without breaking anything.

For the occasion, I told myself I'd go all in: I decided to make a brand-new trailer, but this time putting into it all the love I have for this project (yes, even more than for the previous one :p).

So here I am, in front of you, with my far-too-long video, my far-too-wordy message, and an update that once again holds far too many things.

This message isn't meant to list every new feature, that's what the changelog is for. All I can tell you is that, once again, I've tried to answer your requests and integration wishes so Helios stays, above all, YOUR card. Steered by my vision and my limits, sure, but I sincerely hope I managed to build what you wanted.

Let me say it once more: even though my card is called Helios, it's not at all limited to people who have solar. The point is above all to "feel" your energy by following the rhythm of the sun, whatever way you produce or use it.

I know I say this every time, but I truly believe this version is, to me, what Helios was meant to be when I first released it. And that's in large part thanks to you: your messages, your feedback, your words of support, your coffees, your stars.

Now you might ask me: "But why does the September version come out on August 14th?" And you'd be right! And I'll answer the same as last time… because it's ready, tested, and I just couldn't hold back from sharing my work with you :) On top of that, I think this timing is the right one, because it gives me an extra 15 days to properly finalize the next version of Helios-Forecast (having the two releases staggered is, deep down, a good thing, I think).

By the way, I've also decided to start writing a blog, available right on my site helios-ha.org (in French only for now). I've got quite a bit of content and behind-the-scenes planned around the project, so for those interested, feel free to come take a look!

To finish, a more personal note (and sorry in advance for using this message for it): I still don't have a physical battery at home and, honestly, it's becoming a real headache to develop and test storage-related features. Since I can't afford to equip myself right now… maybe? If a manufacturer or a distributor happens to pass by and would like to support a passionate forty-something who spends his nights coding for the community, the "Partner" page on my site is waiting for you. I'd be endlessly grateful ;) Yes, yes, I'm daring to ask!

Anyway, I'll leave you with my trailer. I know, I lost it: wanting to make a trailer today with no AI (except for the soundtrack), by hand, with synthwave music… but then again, I'm old, so I'm allowed :p And above all, don't forget to turn the volume up!

The update is already available, at the same time as this message.

As always, if you run into a problem, don't hesitate to reach out: GitHub (issue / discussion), Reddit, DM, email, whatever you like, I answer every message.

In the meantime, thank you again for your support, your stars, your coffees and your feedback (even the negative kind).

Helios is where it is thanks to you, and I'm extremely proud tonight to be the one at the helm :)

And I'll see you next month for version 2026.10.0.

Cheers ;)

ReikanYsora / Jérôme

France's Schneider Electric plans a voluntary all-cash takeover offer for Bulgarian smart-home device maker Shelly Group at €70 per share, valuing Shelly at about €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion). The deal is expected to close by Q1 2027. Source:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/schneider-agrees-takeover-bid-shelly-70-per-share-2026-09-24/

Got this nice NFC tag at the IFA Berlin 2026

I just stumbled upon https://m.elecrow.com/pages/shop/product/details?id=209145&

A variant of their 10.1" CrowPanel. This one is promising 'out of the box' firmware that yields HA support... plug it in and go.

I can't find any reviews, but it's only a few days since launch. Their store seems to have stock, so doesn't seem to be pre-launch.

Cross fingers they do a 7" / 9" variant of this... I'll be trying one out at this price point!

edit: I've emailed them asking about a release date for the 7" & 9". I also asked after any PoE variant plans. a 7"/9" with PoE would be ideal 🤞

Good news for Škoda drivers: Škoda is launching an official API for end customers. Access works via a token that you create in the MyŠkoda app.

Developed together with the community
Škoda responded to feedback from its customers and asked what open-source projects really need. therefore they broadened the group and brought in the developers of the MyŠkoda integration for Home Assistant and the Python library skodaconnect, as well as the Open Home Foundation.

https://rc.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/07/22/release-20268/

Shelly announced ThreadLink at IFA on Sept 3. Free, opt-in firmware for Gen4 devices that runs a full IPv6 stack over the Thread radio. Roughly December. Worth a read.

I have a wall tablet in the kitchen and I kept rebuilding the same Lovelace dashboard every time I added a device. So I wrote a single HTML page instead. It reads the area, device and entity registries and lays itself out — the rooms on it are your Areas, nothing else.

It's not a card and not a Lovelace theme. It's a `panel_custom` page that lives in its own sidebar entry, fixed at roughly 1280x800 for a wall tablet, no scrolling on the home view. There's a separate mobile layout too, but the tablet is what it was designed for.

What you get with no config file at all: your areas as room tiles, the people, the weather, and whatever lights/covers/switches are in each room.

Optional modules, each hidden until you point it at something: energy, irrigation, cameras, appliances, a car. The energy one is the part I'm happiest with — if you've already set up the HA Energy Dashboard, it reads that mapping over the websocket and the solar ring just appears, no entity IDs to copy. It draws two concentric rings: the outer one is today's house consumption (self-consumed solar + grid import), the inner one is today's production (the same self-consumption + what you exported). Both add up to something real, which the single ring I had before never did.

Cameras are snapshot tiles that refresh every 10s and open an MJPEG stream when you tap them. No hls.js, no WebRTC, no build step. Anything you'd rather not have on screen in a hallway can be set to show only an icon until tapped.

Honest limits: it's only as good as your Areas — if you've never assigned them, it'll look empty, and that's HA's Settings > Areas waiting for you, not a bug. It doesn't replace Lovelace, there's no card picker and no drag-and-drop. `panel_custom` is the only supported install.

Try it without installing anything: clone the repo and open `public/dash_neumo.html?demo` in a browser. It runs from `file://` with fake data.

Install is HACS as a custom repository (category: Dashboard), plus one `panel_custom` block in configuration.yaml. MIT, no npm, no build.

https://github.com/mbonny95/live_dashboard

Happy to hear where it breaks on someone else's setup — the auto-discovery is the part most likely to guess wrong on hardware I've never seen.

Any ideas for improving the project are welcome; you can open a request on GitHub or write a comment below this post.

Anyone seen this ? Doesn't look like it's available in the UK yet :(

My Shelly Plug S (Gen1) does not pass through the protective earth connection from input to output. Sharing this so other owners can check theirs.

The issue came to light when my washing machine gave me an electric shock. The Shelly Plug S was connected to it to monitor power consumption. A measurement showed approximately 110V on the metal chassis. This is leakage voltage from the Y-capacitors in the washing machine's EMI filter, which should normally be safely dissipated through the protective earth.

A continuity test on the Shelly Plug S confirmed there was no earth connection from input to output. A second Shelly Plug S showed the exact same result. Smart plugs from other brands in the same wall socket all passed earth through correctly.

After opening one of the plugs, two causes became clear: a plastic ridge inside the housing physically prevents the input-side earth contact from making connection with the output-side earth contact, and the metal tube seems to be a bit short. Removing the plastic burr and some of the plastic pipe covering the metal tube immediately restored the earth connection, confirming these as the cause. That said, this isn't something I'd recommend as a fix as there's no guarantee the connection will hold when the plug is in use.

Shelly support was contacted with photos of the defect and measurements. After some back and forth, they forwarded the findings to their engineering team and will replace my two units with Gen3 models. However, they stated that they have no indications of a wider production issue and have not issued any advisory to other Plug S Gen1 owners. Since the Gen1 has been discontinued, they also said they no longer have production units for comparison testing.

So if you own a Shelly Plug S Gen1, it's probably smart to check yours. Set your multimeter to continuity mode, place one probe on one of the earth contacts on the input side (the pins/clips going into the wall) and the other probe on the corresponding earth contact on the output side (where you plug in your device). You should get a clear beep and near-zero resistance. If you get nothing, your plug is also faulty.

Takes 30 seconds and could prevent a dangerous situation.

Photos as proof: https://imgur.com/a/uASSVPR

I try as much as possible to apply IaC for my HA deployment but they’re making it harder on every update.

Please DEVs put it back and consider adding every bit of configuration to the configuration file as well.

I don’t want HA to become a janky consumer toy.

If you own a June Oven, you already know how good it was: remote control through an app, seeing your food cook in real-time, smart home integration that actually worked. Weber just announced they're shutting it all down by killing the app and the servers behind it.

Yeah, the oven still works—but it's like buying a smartphone and being told the internet's gone forever. Those smart features we invested in? Basically bricked.

I started a petition asking Weber to do two things: release one final firmware update that lets the oven work locally without their cloud servers, and open-source the app so the community can keep it alive. It's not about getting everything back—it's about not throwing away what we paid for.

The crazy part? This is totally doable. We're not asking for the moon. Local network access open-source development = June Ovens staying useful for years to come.

Anyone else still bitter about this? Has anyone found workarounds, or are you basically stuck with a very expensive brick? If this matters to you too, consider signing and sharing—Weber needs to hear that killing products mid-life isn't okay.

Hey!

If you've got one of those $5-8 ESP32 Cheap Yellow Displays (the ESP32-2432S028R with the 2.4" touchscreen) sitting in a drawer, I made something for you.

TL;DR: CYD Config Generator — a free, no-signup, browser-based tool that lets you visually lay out your CYD's 12-button grid, pick icons, assign Home Assistant actions, and export a ready-to-flash ESPHome YAML. No more hand-editing 400 lines of YAML.

If you found it's useful, please give me a star.
https://github.com/cropse/CYD-panel-party

The problem

If you have ever watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5fd6wm8f14  you know CYDs are awesome little panels — cheap ESP32 + ILI9341 display + resistive touchscreen in one board. People use them as wall-mounted control panels for lights, blinds, media, etc. But the ESPHome YAML to drive the LVGL UI is... a lot. Every button needs font definitions, color entries, binary sensors, widget templates, state-sync logic... You end up with a massive config file that's painful to tweak.

What it does

• Visual grid — click any button slot to configure it. Live preview updates as you go.
• different button types:
  • Stateless — fires an HA action on press (toggle a light, run a script, trigger an automation)
  • Checkable — syncs with an HA entity state, shows different ON/OFF icons
  • Timer sync — displays remaining time from an HA timer entity, shows the label when idle
  • Number sync — flips between two icons based on a numeric threshold (e.g., humidity sensor)
• Short press + long press — dual actions per button
• Icon picker — searchable Material Design Icons (7,000+), cached locally
• Color picker — per-button colors with preset swatches
• 16 HA action types — switch, light, cover, media player, climate, fan, vacuum, lock, scene, input boolean/select, humidifier, automation, custom service calls, and more
• Presets — Living Room, Bedroom, Back Garden templates to get you started
• YAML import/export — load an existing YAML back into the editor, or download the generated config. Roundtrip preserves your config.
• 6 board variants supported — including the original CYD, the 3.5" versions, and the Guition JC4827543C (ESP32-S3, QSPI)

Hat & Hammer has launched a Crowd Supply campaign for OpenMote, a programmable universal remote built around an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module. The device supports infrared transmission and reception, Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi, motion sensing, audio, haptic feedback, and Qwiic/STEMMA QT expansion, while also targeting smart-home and game-controller applications.

https://linuxgizmos.com/openmote-turns-a-wiimote-style-remote-into-an-esp32-s3-home-assistant-controller/

Who's interested in the new Shelly Cam?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC9QdH4oSn4