Thread by @jamescallaghan

I finally found the answer to @home_assistant in-wall room controllers. Inspired by the outstanding content from @blakadder and @camerongray1515 I ventured down the Android panel path. Accessing dedicated Lovelace dashboards just makes sense! 🧵 /1

I started out using the Sonoff NSPanel last year and had great hopes. Lots of potential but way too much customisation is required + the limitations with the screen. Fortunately, I only invested in a couple of units to begin with so time was on my side. /2

This holiday was all about recovery for me as I’ve really struggled to shake off the flu and a heavy chest cough 🤒🤧 This was the perfect stop start maker holiday project for me. /3

Following @blakadder_'s vast posts and @camerongray1515's fantastic video, I set off to configure my first unit. All very simple and quick to achieve. ADB over the network makes this incredibly easy. I was up and running in no time. /4

I spent a fair amount of time trying to optimise the panel and app settings to avoid screen timeouts and weird screen flashes where the screen would turn off and back on again. This was mostly my fault messing around with settings in the Fully Kiosk Browser app. /5

Ease of use was important, as was a great user experience #UX! I created a dashboard for each area/room where the Android panels are fitted. These dashboards have views for all the different contexts in that area. /6

I’m mostly using Mushroom cards with some additional styling from Card Mod and Swipe navigation for better touch screen interaction. I’m also using conditions to hide certain things when they’re not relevant. The clock-weather-card was a great find (with some CSS edits)! /7

The best bit is the ‘navigate views’ automation which cycles through all the different views when the screen has been idle. It also promotes certain views when certain events occur. The time view shows more often. Once the area is no longer occupied the screen is turned off. /8

View navigation automation ensuring certain views are promoted more often than others. /9

Another favourite is a couple of Browser Mod pop-up tricks.
(1) When there is motion detected on our drive or someone is at the door, I show the camera feed in a pop-up on all devices which is then closed on all devices when acknowledged on any device otherwise it timeouts. /10

(2) The other is a pop-up with some basic text-to-speech commands. /11

I also had some fun animating Mushroom icons. This one indicates which bins need taking out the night before they are collected. /12

Easter Egg 🚽 /13

Behind the scenes, between Fully Kiosk Browser and Browser Mod, I have a maintenance automation which reloads the browser or reboots the panel if there are any problems. When HA is restarted the panel goes into maintenance mode to show it can’t be interacted with. /14

With the Android TV integration I can leverage the local HA Python ADB implementation to send commands to the panel. I also created template camera with the screen provided by ADB so I can see a mirror of the Android panel making it easier to manage remotely. /15

I'll share some pictures of them installed in the wall soon, but I have nothing but praise for these Android panels. 👌🏼⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 16/16