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 app
    To access Home Assistant from your mobile device, use the QR code to locate the app in the app store.
  • Select your Home Assistant Server:
  • The Home Assistant frontend guides you through the initial onboarding.
  • For further information, refer to the instructions provided under https://www.home-assistant.io/getting-started/onboarding/.