Gathering the required items

- Home Assistant Yellow
- Heat sink assembly bag
- Ethernet cable
Additionally, make sure you have the following items which are not part of the Kit
- Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4)
- USB flash drive
- Optional: Power supply (12V/2A, if PoE is not used)
Opening the case
Step 1
Protecting from ESD
Grounding protects the components from the static electricity that can be naturally present (electrostatic discharge, ESD).
- Always: Touch the working surface before touching electronics.
- Ideally: Use ESD protective equipment, such as ESD table mats and grounding cords.
Step 2
Removing the case - bottom part
- Remove the 4 screws on the bottom of the Home Assistant Yellow Kit.
- Keep the thumb screws close by; you will need them again later.
Step 3
Removing the case - top part
- Make sure the interfaces are facing towards your left.
- Flip the case over.
- Slightly lift off the enclosure on your left.
- Slide the enclosure off towards your right.
Installing the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4
Step 1
Unpacking the components
- Make sure you have all the components:
- 1 Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4)
- 1 heat sink
- 2 thermal pads
- 2 push pins
Step 2
Align the CM4
- The raspberry icon needs to be upside down: check for correct orientation of the CM4.
- Use the outline of the chips to help find the correct orientation of the CM4.
- Carefully place the CM4 without force.
- Use the white outline representing the CM4 to align the CM4.
- The CM4 should fall into place slightly when correctly aligned.
Step 3
Installing the CM4
- Press the CM4 board onto the board-to-board connectors until it clicks into place.
- Make sure you press on both sides (the two long edges).
- Make sure the CM4 is installed correctly: it needs to run parallel to the Home Assistant Yellow board.
Step 4
Placing the thermal pads onto the CM4
- Remove the protective cover from one side of the square thermal pad.
- Stick the unprotected side onto the SOC (the silver square next to the raspberry icon).
- Remove the protective cover from the top side of the thermal pad.
- Repeat the steps with the rectangular thermal pad. Place it on the memory (the black rectangle next to the SOC).
Step 5
Placing the heat sink
- Push the 2 plastic push pins into the dedicated hole on the heat sink.
- Start by first aligning the right plastic push pins into the dedicated hole on the carrier board.
- Then, place the heat sink onto the CM4.
Step 6
Securing the heat sink
- Take the entire board off your workplace and push the pins firmly through the carrier board.
- Ensure that the CM4 is still fully seated after securing the heat sink.
Reassembling your Home Assistant Yellow
Step 1
Preparation
- Place the translucent bottom part of the case onto the table.
- Make sure the two round notches form a line pointing towards the top right corner.
Step 2
Reassembling - bottom part
- Place the board onto the bottom part of the case.
- Make sure the USB connectors are facing upwards, away from you.
Step 3
Reassembling - top part
- Turn the enclosure upside down.
- Then, slide the push buttons into the openings of the case.
Step 4
Mounting the case
- Insert the 4 thumb screws.
- Do not over-tighten the screws.
Installing Home Assistant Software on Kit
Step 1
Installing the Raspberry Pi Imager
- Install the Raspberry Pi Imager on your computer as described under https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/
- If your platform doesn't support the Raspberry Pi Imager, you can use another imager (e.g. balenaEtcher) and flash the Home Assistant OS Installer for Yellow directly from GitHub releases.
Step 2
Opening Raspberry Pi Imager
- Open Raspberry Pi Imager.
Step 3
Choosing the operating system
- Click Choose OS
- Choose Other specific-purpose OS.
- Choose Home assistants and home automation.
- Choose Home Assistant.
- Choose Home Assistant OS Installer for Yellow.
Step 4
Choosing storage
- Insert the USB flash drive into the computer. Note: The contents of this drive will be overwritten.
- From the dropdown menu, select your USB flash drive.
Step 5
Writing the installer onto the drive
- Click the Write button to start the process.
- Wait for the Home Assistant OS Installer to be written to the USB flash drive.
Step 7
Inserting the USB flash drive
- Insert the USB flash drive with the Home Assistant OS Installer into your Home Assistant Yellow Kit.
Step 8
Connecting the Ethernet cable
- Connect the Ethernet cable to your Home Assistant Yellow Kit.
Step 9
Connecting the power supply
- If you are not using PoE, connect the power supply to Home Assistant Yellow Kit.
- For CM4 Lite Home Assistant OS is automatically installed on the NVMe SSD. For regular CM4s Home Assistant OS is installed onto the eMMC by default.
- Advanced: Forcing installation onto the NVMe SSD when using CM4 with eMMC:
Press the blue button while the yellow LED is on constantly (during the 5s window, see next step).
Step 10
Watching the LEDs
- Wait for Home Assistant Yellow to start booting from the USB flash drive.
- During boot, the Yellow LED blinks in a heartbeat pattern.
- Once the installer is ready, the yellow LED is on constantly.
- Installation will start automatically after 5 seconds.
- If the yellow LED does not start blinking steadily after a few seconds, but stays on constantly: This indicates that there might be a network issue.
Step 11
Waiting
- Wait for Home Assistant Yellow to finish installing the Home Assistant Operating System.
- The yellow LED starts to blink steadily.
- Once the installer finished installing Home Assistant Operating System, only the red LED will be on.
Step 12
Disconnecting everything
- Remove the USB flash drive.
- Remove the power cable.
Step 13
Reconnecting power
- Reinsert the Ethernet cable.
- Reinsert the power cable to start Home Assistant (if PoE is not used).
Step 14
Getting started with Home Assistant
- Initial startup may take a while, depending on your internet connection.
- Install the appTo access Home Assistant from your mobile device, use the QR code to locate the app in the app store.
- Select your Home Assistant Server:
- Mobile: Confirm the IP address detected by the app. E.g. http://192.168.1.196:8123
- Desktop: Visit http://homeassistant.local:8123 to access the Home Assistant frontend.