A lot of my smart home automations feel a little bit like magic.When I saw a post on Reddit, however, I realized that I might be able to bring some genuine magic to Home Assistant.I bought an official Harry Potter wand and set it up to work as a magical smart home controller for my kids.
I saw a Reddit post and instantly fell in love A magic wand that could make real things happen The Home Assistant subreddit is a great source of information and inspiration for Home Assistant projects, so I read it a lot.A few months back, I came across a post that immediately grabbed my attention.A user called had posted a GIF of himself turning on his lights by waving a magic wand.
With a swish of the wand, the room went from darkness to light, exactly as would happen if you cast the spell in the magical world of Harry Potter.The post went on to explain that he was using a Magic Caster wand, an officially licensed product that has been discontinued.Before the app was shut down, you could use it to recognize spells performed by waving the wand in specific patterns.
These spells could then act as triggers to control compatible smart bulbs, send spell effects to compatible TVs, or play sounds through Bluetooth speakers.had built an integration that could pass spells recognized by the wand and expose them in Home Assistant, without needing the app that no longer exists.In his demonstration, he had managed to use the wand to trigger his lights to turn on.
Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C3 Brand Seeed Studio The Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C3 is the perfect budget-friendly microcontroller for smart home projects.With Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built-in, it also features a super deep sleep mode for low power usage when it isn't doing anything.The compact size makes this ideal for building smart home projects, and ESPHome allows it to easily integrate into Home Assistant.
$5 at Seeed Studio $10 at Amazon Expand Collapse Getting my hands on a Magic Caster wand was a challenge I had a couple of failed attempts As soon as I saw the post, I knew that I had to try it.I'm an unashamed fan of the Harry Potter books, and reading them to my kids has been one of the biggest joys of my life.Both my kids are huge Harry Potter fans, and I knew that they would love to be able to wave a wand to turn on their lights or play music.
The problem was that the wands are no longer manufactured or sold through official channels.The only way to get your hands on them is via secondhand marketplaces.Annoyingly, after the Reddit post, these wands became harder to find and more expensive to buy.
I had a couple of failed attempts to get my hands on one of the Magic Caster wands.In the first instance, I took a massive gamble with an ad I'd found on Facebook Marketplace from a seller who was too far away for me to collect in person.I asked them if they would send the wand if I paid up front, and they agreed, but after paying the money, I never heard from them again.
It was a risk that didn't pay off, and a lesson learned.The second time, I used a secondhand marketplace app, where my money was at least protected.Despite paying the asking price, the seller never sent the item, which makes me think that they may have gotten a better offer.
I was at least refunded what I'd paid.On the third attempt, I finally managed to get my hands on a wand for about $45.It certainly wasn't cheap, but I'd seen them going for over $100 on other sites, so it felt like a reasonable price.
Related My Living Room Had Way Too Many Remotes, Here's How I Solved It When the universal remote I'd been using was discontinued, I decided to make my own.Posts 14 By Adam Davidson Setting up the wand was reasonably simple The basic spells are recognized by Home Assistant Close $45 seems like a lot for what is essentially a toy, but the quality is excellent.The wand comes in a wand case that also acts as the charging hub.
When you plug it in and open the case, the case lights up and actually plays the Harry Potter theme music, which my kids loved.The wand itself is also good quality, with lights built into the wand.I installed the Magic Caster Wand Home Assistant integration via HACS and charged up the wand.
I was ready to test it out.The wand works over Bluetooth, but I have plenty of ESP32 devices around my home that act as Bluetooth proxies and already had one set up in each of the kids’ rooms.I installed the custom integration and then pulled out the wand and started waving it around near a Bluetooth proxy.
It was recognized almost immediately, and in the integration, I could see information such as the battery level and button values changing as I waved it.I tried the spell, which involves raising the wand at an angle and then down at the opposite angle, to form two sides of a triangle.On my second try, the spell was recognized, and the state of sensor.magic_caster_wand_spell changed to Lumos.
I then set up a simple automation that turned on the light in my kid's room when the state of this sensor changed to Lumos.I turned the light off, performed the spell action, and the light turned on.My kids love controlling their lights and music with a wand It really does feel like magic The final step was to set up automations that would allow both of my kids to use the wand in their own rooms, since they'd have to share it.
I already have the Bermuda integration set up to track my phone and Apple Watch, so it was simple to add the wand as a tracked device.Bermuda can then estimate which room the wand is in based on the strength of the signals detected by the Bluetooth proxies in the kids' rooms.Now, if my son performs Lumos in his room, his light will turn on, but if my daughter performs it in her room, her light will turn on.
I've set up other automations using to turn off their lights, to play music on their smart speakers, and to turn their smart bulbs green and play from the movie soundtrack.The kids absolutely love it.It's the first time they've really gotten on board with my smart home obsession.
I was very proud when my daughter first said to me, "So Daddy, does this work using Home Assistant?" That's the real magic right there.Smart homes can be fun Automating your lights is awesome, but not particularly exciting.Controlling your lights with a magic wand really is fun, which just goes to show that a smart home doesn't just have to be practical.
It can be entertaining, too.
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