Installing Home Assistant to the Raspberry Pi
So now you have finished building your kit and its time to install Home Assistant and add the Marine Assistant code. By the end of this guide you should have Home Assistant up and running ready to setup the ESP32 for sensors and other inputs/Outputs.
Quick guide...
Here is a quick breakdown of the steps that you will need to do to get your Raspberry Pi setup.
Below each step is explained in more detail if you need.
Home assistant is constantly being updated, It is possible that there is some variation to what is expained below. Google is your friend!
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Detailed Guide
Depending on your experience with home assistant you might already be familiar with some of these steps. Home assistant is constantly being updated, Which is good but also means that some of the Install processes might change as time goes by. If something comes up that's not detailed below, Google is your friend. If not, Send us a message via the Contact page and we will Help out ASAP...
1. Burning The SD card Image
To Write (or Burn) the Sd card image you will need to down load the Raspberry pi imager, This software downloads the Home assistant software and writes it to your SD card based on what Pi version you have and the latest HA version available.
The Pi Imager has 3 boxes that need filling out, Device, operating System and Storage
Device
This is the raspberry pi hardware that you will be using, In my case i have Raspberry Pi 4 selected. You select the Version you have. Pi 4 or 5 are recommended.
Operating System
This is the Software that we want to run, In Our case Home Assistant. In the drop down menu scroll down to find "specific use OS" there you will find an option for Home Automation/assistants then after that you should find the latest version of Home Assistant.
Storage
This Is the Location Of your SD card, Be sure you have this selected correctly! Check "My computer" if unsure.
2. Initial Home Assistant Setup
To Access Home Assitant open your internet browser and type in the following:
Once the SD card is finished writing you can insert it into the slot on the back of the Pi, connect your ethernet connection and 12v power supply, Wifi can be set up after if you wish.
The First boot can take up to 20 minutes to finish, it is configuring settings and preparing Home Assistant, just let it do its thing and follow the instructions on screen until you get the prompt to create an account. Once you have an account setup you can login and will be greeted with the Initial dashboard.
Create a HA Account
Create an Home assistant account, this is the local account that will be used to login to HA. Be sure to write these detail down and keep them safe.
Initial Dashboard
3. Installing add-ons
There are Two more Add-ons that need to be installed, File Editor and ESPHome both are needed to get the features for Marine Assistant. Here is how to install them...
File Editor
This Add-on is Installed through Home assistant itself, Go to settings then add-ons and click on "add-on" store in the bottom right corner.
Search for the File editor add-on , Click on it then click on Install. This will give us access to the file system on the Raspberry pi. Once it is installed be sure that It is running.
What is this for?
Click here
This will enable Access to the File system of the Raspberry pi where we can add other things in the future.
ESP Home
This Add-on is Installed through Home assistant itself, Go to settings then add-ons and click on "add-on" store in the bottom right corner.
Search for the "ESPHome" add-on, Click on it then click on Install. This will add ESP32 support. Once it is installed be sure that It is running.
Be sure not to install the "DEV" or "Beta" version.
What is this for?
ESPHome is used to input the code for the sensor module and future modules, It speaks to the ESP32 in the sensor module. The Pi hat doesnt need it directly but prepareing this now will make it easier in the future.
You will now need to restart
Tips And Tricks
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Use a Good quality SD card, I prefer the Samsung or SanDisk cards - 64Gb.
Troubleshooting
Problem
Solution
Home assistant doesn't load in browser.
Be sure you have the address correct: http://homeassistant.local:8123
Find the IP address in your Router and put that into your browser.
Check ethernet / WIFI connection.