Hey, it’s almost September 2024 again, and of course, that means there’s another monthly update for Home Assistant. This time, it’s version 2024.9, where sections have been further developed, you can track untracked energy, and improvements have been made to LLM agents once again. Let’s quickly check out what’s new!
⭐⭐⭐ NOTE: ⭐⭐⭐
This article accompanies a YouTube video. I wrote it for people who would rather read than watch a video. To keep doing this, I want to ask you to check out the video, leave a comment under the video, give the video a thumbs up, and subscribe to my YouTube channel. This means that the video is offered more often to new visitors so that they also stay informed of the latest Home Assistant tutorials.
Thank you for your support!
Ed
Yes, here we are again, this time with the September update of Home Assistant version 2024.9. Thanks to the new options in this release, my dashboard is looking better and better and works perfectly on my dashboard, tablet, and phone! Version 2024.9 will be released on the first Wednesday of September. This video is based on the beta release, so there may still be some minor changes made before that Wednesday.
Sections go BIG
First of all, you can now stretch a section across multiple columns. This way, you can create a header, for example, that only shows messages if they are relevant. In my case, I use it to display whether there’s a mouse in my mousetrap or if the garbage needs to be put out on the street. Also, check out my video on how to automate your mousetrap. But, it can also be useful to create one section with a single column and another section with two columns to display a larger version of your history, map, or camera. You can now specify per card whether it should be displayed across the entire width of the section, so you have a lot of flexibility.
Take a look at this example. Here, I created a view that is three columns wide. I started by creating a section that spans the full width. In it, I placed a Mushroom Title card with the title of this view. In my case, it’s “My Home”. I set this card to occupy the full width of the section. Then, I created a second row. First, I made a section that is one column wide. Inside, I created a menu that links to all the rooms in my house. For each menu card, I set it to take up the entire width of the section. Next to it, I created a section that is two columns wide. Within this section, I placed a picture-entity card that shows my doorbell camera. I also set this card to be a full-width card, so my camera is nicely displayed across two columns.
At the bottom, I created a section that is three columns wide. Inside it, I added some more menu buttons, which are neatly displayed next to each other. You can probably imagine how flexible you can now set up your dashboard. It’s entirely up to you how your dashboard will look. As I mentioned in an earlier video, I will make a complete dashboard video once the sections are fully developed by the Home Assistant team. But, that might take a while with all the changes we see coming through every month.
Tracking your untracked energy
In the energy dashboard, you could recently start tracking the energy usage of individual devices. However, your home often consumes more energy than what you monitor per device. In the “Individual devices detail usage” graph, you can now also see the Untracked consumption. This can help you identify which devices you might want to install an individual energy tracker for, such as a smart plug or something similar.
New LLM agent
Home Assistant already supports two cloud-based conversation agents, namely OpenAI and Google AI. Additionally, the local conversation agent Ollama has been supported since version 2024.8 of Home Assistant. Starting with version 2024.9, the cloud-based conversation agent Anthropic is also supported, giving you even more options to experiment with AI in Home Assistant.
To be honest, I don’t use voice commands much in Home Assistant. My home is mostly automated with smart automations that work independently. I’m actually curious to know who uses the voice features in Home Assistant on a daily basis, especially the AI options. I think there won’t be many people who do. Let me know in the comments if you use AI and voice in Home Assistant. I’m very curious!
I need your help!
You will be doing me a huge favor if you subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already. And, you will help me a lot if you also give this video a thumbs up and leave a comment. This way, YouTube will present this video to new people, making the channel grow! In the video description, you will also find information about how you can sponsor me so that I can continue to make these tutorials for you.
Thank you!
Integrations
As with every new version of Home Assistant, this version also includes some new integrations and a few changes to existing integrations. You can find the full list here.
One of the things that caught my eye is that you can now create a Number Template Helper via the UI. Nice!
Other Noteworthy changes
Besides the things I’ve already shown you, there are a few other things worth mentioning. You can find them in this list. The link is in the description of this video.
Backward-incompatible changes
And, of course, there are also the backward-incompatible changes. Before you update Home Assistant, it’s always a good idea to carefully review this list to make sure nothing will break when you perform the update. For example, take note of the proximity entity that has been removed in this version. I previously made a video explaining how to use proximity to detect if someone is approaching your house so you can turn on the heating in advance. Check it out.
So, these were the new features and changes in Home Assistant 2024.9. Thanks for watching. If my videos help you, you can support me via Patreon, Ko-Fi, or by becoming a paid member of my channel. You can find the links in the description of the video. These people have already supported me, and without them, this channel would not have existed for so long. Thank you all for your trust!
And don’t forget to give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already.
I’ll see you soon in my next video.
Bye Bye!