Home automation FAQ: your smart home questions answered

casasmooth is a local-first smart home platform that automates lighting, climate, security, energy, shutters, and more. It runs on your own hardware and keeps your data at home.

casasmooth manages lighting, heating, air conditioning, and other energy-intensive systems by automatically adjusting their operation based on real needs and environmental conditions — reducing energy consumption and associated costs.

Yes. casasmooth provides a mobile web app and optional remote access to control and monitor your devices — lighting, security, appliances, and more — from anywhere.

casasmooth integrates alarm systems, surveillance cameras, CO/smoke/temperature detectors, motion and presence sensors, and smart locks — providing real-time alerts via notifications and sirens.

casasmooth supports over 15,000 devices and 2,900+ integrations. Check our store for validated devices, or contact us if you're unsure about a specific product.

casasmooth runs entirely on your local network without requiring an internet connection. No data is sent externally unless you explicitly enable cloud services — and you are always informed about what data is shared.

Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Z-Wave, Thread/Matter, KNX, Modbus, M-Bus, BLE, and internet-based cloud integrations. This ensures compatibility with virtually any smart home device on the market.

The central hub — running on a Raspberry Pi, mini PC, or server depending on your needs — acts as the brain of your smart home, coordinating all connected devices.

Visit our Getting Started page for a step-by-step guide covering hardware selection, protocol choice, and your first installation. You can also contact us for a personalised project analysis.

casasmooth controls your energy equipment directly, and can also control any SmartGridReady (SGr) labelled device — heat pumps, EV chargers, meters, inverters, batteries — regardless of manufacturer. SGr is a Swiss standard driven by industry, in particular electricity distributors for whom smart-grid management is a major stake for the future. The system automatically adjusts compatible devices based on solar production, the current tariff and grid conditions, without ever compromising your comfort. All control stays local, with no proprietary gateway or third-party service.

casasmooth simplifies installation with pre-built automations for common use cases. You add devices, and casasmooth recognises and integrates them. For complex setups, our team provides professional installation and support.

If Hue devices were added via the Hue bridge, they are controlled by the bridge — not ZigBee directly. To use ZigBee, remove devices from the bridge and pair them directly. Note: some older Hue devices may not be ZigBee-compatible.

ZigBee works over short distances, but most devices act as signal routers. Check the network map in Settings → Devices & Services → Zigbee Coordinator → View Network. Moving devices closer or adding intermediate devices improves signal quality.

Yes. Navigate to Settings → Automations & Scenes → Create Automation. We also offer training sessions to help you build personalised automations for your specific needs.

Absolutely. casasmooth is designed to evolve — you can add new devices and integrate emerging technologies through software updates and optional extensions at any time.

casasmooth offers phone support, automatic software updates, and maintenance services. See our offers page for details on support tiers included with each subscription.

Each installation includes an admin account for remote diagnostics. We can troubleshoot and resolve most issues without an on-site visit, provided remote access is configured.

casasmooth uses ZigBee, Z-Wave, and Thread — protocols that emit up to 1,000 times less radiation than mobile phones and Wi-Fi. Your smart home doesn't have to compromise your well-being.

There is no opposition: casasmooth is a module that runs on Home Assistant. With Home Assistant alone, you get a very complete platform that you configure entirely yourself: naming devices, building dashboards, writing and maintaining automations, and redoing part of the work with every device you add. With casasmooth, that configuration is generated from what you install, validated, maintained over time and backed by our team, and it adapts as your installation evolves. You also get complete, ready-to-use modules: energy management with an optimiser and dynamic tariffs, a mobile app, a 3D floor plan, lighting, shutters, security, air quality. You keep Home Assistant underneath with all its possibilities. The choice depends on the time you want to spend: doing it all yourself is possible, casasmooth saves you the days of learning and fine-tuning. And hardware is a separate question: both Home Assistant and casasmooth run on many machines, the Green included.

The Home Assistant Green is the official entry-level hub, launched in 2023: a quad-core 1.8 GHz processor, 4 GB of memory, 32 GB of storage, an Ethernet port, no WiFi, no Bluetooth and no home automation radio, a ZigBee or Thread dongle is bought separately. Its price was raised in 2026 to about 199 dollars or 179 euros. The Raspberry Pi 5 is a generation newer: four cores at 2.4 GHz, markedly faster, with WiFi and Bluetooth built in. The casasmooth box is a Raspberry Pi 5 in a custom case, with the ZigBee and Matter dongle, a high-endurance card, the official power supply and a fan, preconfigured and ready to plug in, for about 230 francs. Both run Home Assistant, and casasmooth installs on either, or on the mini PC or virtual machine you already have. The hardware difference matters mostly as the installation grows: more cameras, devices, analyses and history need more processor and memory.

Yes, casasmooth integrates the Matter standard while remaining compatible with other protocols like ZigBee, Z-Wave, and KNX for a seamless experience.

The Matter Standard: A Breakthrough for Home Automation

The Matter standard is a promising initiative for the interoperability of smart home devices. Many manufacturers, including IKEA, are adopting this standard to simplify the integration of devices into connected homes.

Extended Compatibility

At casasmooth, we anticipated this evolution by integrating Matter from its inception. However, we also support other protocols like ZigBee, Z-Wave, KNX, and many more. This ensures maximum compatibility with a wide range of devices, even those not yet compatible with Matter.

A Seamless Experience

Thanks to our modular and open approach, casasmooth offers a smooth and integrated user experience, regardless of the protocol used. This way, you can enjoy the benefits of Matter while keeping your existing devices.

Learn more about our home automation solutions at casasmooth.com.

From 2027, remuneration for exported electricity is calculated per quarter-hour. casasmooth shifts your controllable loads into your production hours, stores the surplus where it makes sense, and exports only what is left — all locally, with no dependency on a cloud service. The decisive point is not the buyback price anyway, but the gap between export and consumption: a self-consumed kilowatt-hour is worth several times an exported one. More on www.casasmooth.com

What changes in 2027

From 1 January 2027, remuneration for solar electricity fed into the Swiss grid will be calculated quarter-hour by quarter-hour, based on day-ahead spot prices. The value of the kilowatt-hour you export will therefore depend on when you export it.

One point to clear up first: under 30 kW — the typical residential case — the Energy Act (art. 15 EnA) guarantees a minimum remuneration of 6 cts/kWh, applied to the quarterly average. Your quarterly settlement therefore cannot go negative, even if individual quarter-hours do. There is no "penalty" to dodge.

The real lever

A self-consumed kilowatt-hour is worth 3 to 5 times an exported one: roughly 6 to 10 cts/kWh on export against roughly 30 cts/kWh on consumption. That gap already exists today and depends on no legislative revision. Dynamic pricing merely adds a second layer of optimisation: when to export whatever surplus remains.

What casasmooth does

• Shift controllable loads into your production hours: washing machine, dishwasher, electric vehicle charging, water heater.
• Anticipate using weather forecasts and occupant habits, for heating, cooling and the heat pump.
• Store the surplus in a battery where it makes sense, and release it in the evening.
• Arbitrate the export of the remaining surplus according to the quarter-hourly price signal.

Control runs at your place, integrates with existing meters and inverters, and keeps working even if your internet connection drops. Your consumption and presence data stay with you.

A summer day, concretely

• Around midday, production peaks and export prices are at their lowest: the system starts the deferrable loads — vehicle charging, hot water, washing machine — rather than exporting at low value.
• In the late afternoon, production falls and prices rise: the stored surplus takes over, and non-essential loads stay on hold.

Two prerequisites

• A smart meter measuring per quarter-hour: a condition for the new model to apply.
• Access to day-ahead prices usable automatically; without a data feed, no fine-grained control is possible.

Check what your grid operator offers too: not all of them switch at the same time, and some may propose an alternative fixed tariff.

For installation and integration in Switzerland, casasmooth works with teleia. Discover the platform on casasmooth.

casasmooth combines presence sensors, outdoor cameras, personalized alerts, and automations to secure your home without filming the interior, all at a controlled cost.

Discreet and effective security

With casasmooth, secure your home using multifunctional presence sensors, also used for lighting or heating. The cameras, exclusively facing outward, preserve your privacy while ensuring optimal surveillance.

Customized alerts and automations

Receive light or sound alerts in case of intrusion and automatically inform trusted individuals. Your doors lock and unlock based on your presence or a defined schedule.

Simulate active presence

Enjoy simulated lighting based on your habits to deter intruders. The system also checks that all doors and windows are properly closed when you leave.

Find out more at https://www.casasmooth.com and for professional installation in Switzerland, trust our partner teleia.ch.