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    Home Automation Robot Vacuum Update

    February 04, 2020

    Home Automation Robot Vacuum Update

    Robot Vacuum Update

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 02:12 PM PST

    A couple of months ago, I posted a question about robot vacuum suggestions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeautomation/comments/d6k493/robot_vacuum_reccomendations/ I said I would come back to give an update, so here I am. I ended up getting a Neato D6. It happened to be on a lightning sale on Amazon a couple of weeks after I posted my original question, so I just went for it. Boy, am I glad I did. I have had a few hiccups, so I will talk about those first. My biggest complaint is about the WiFi connection. Some days, it just randomly decides not to connect. It doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason to it, and by the next day its totally fine. I also think it is kind of confusing to re-connect it to WiFi. But maybe that's just me. It also randomly stalls in between my bathroom and dining room. The weirdest thing about that is that I never get a notification about it being stuck, like when it is physically stuck on something. But I just press the resume button and off it goes. So, strange, but whatever. I have had to re-map the house once after the first run, but that's not a huge deal either. The positives outweigh the cons in a big way. The magnetic strips it comes with are totally discreet, but if you still don't like them, you can just throw a rug over them. Way better than Roomba's virtual walls. The No-Go Lines are a game changer. It's so nice just to be able to draw a line around something and not have to worry about Neato going there, and if you don't need it any more, just delete the line. Awesome. It cleans my downstairs in half the time my old Roomba did. As for cleaning power, I'm not sure if it's any more powerful than Roomba, both do a great job at picking up the everyday dirt of living in the country and having a couple of cats in the house. As for the old Roomba, once I moved it upstairs, which has very defined rooms as opposed to the more open-floor plan downstairs, it hasn't missed a beat. So, if someone asked me what robot vacuum to get, I would say get a Neato, and if you have the extra money or found a good deal, get a D6 or above. Totally worth it. And if you are looking to upgrade your old robot vacuum, don't throw out the old one. It might work better in a different part of your house, or maybe a friend or family member could give it a good home! Thanks again for the responses to my first post!

    submitted by /u/aliceinchainsrose
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    Finding a Z-wave sensor (no, not discovering one, FINDING it.)

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 08:51 AM PST

    I had a z-wave temp sensor in my daughter's room that has disappeared. No, not dropped out of the mesh network or off the hub. Its still there.

    I physically can't find the sensor. Its not where I left it, and my daughter (4 years old) doesn't seem to remember what she did with it.

    Is there a way to locate a sensor based on the other sensors its interacting with? Or some other way?

    submitted by /u/RedSoxManCave
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    HomeSeer vs Hubitat vs Home Assistant

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 05:57 AM PST

    I've been dabbling with home automation using SmartThings, Hue, Tradfri, and Aqara hubs and devices, using HomeKit and HomeBridge to tie them together. We are looking to move to a new house and it seems like a good time to start fresh. I'm seriously looking at HomeSeer , Hubitat and Home Assistant. I'd love to get everyone's opinion on these options.

    My primary drivers are:

    • Local Processing, which all these do
    • Reliability
    • Ease of setup
    • Device support

    HomeSeer appears to be the most reliable, and easy to set up. The lack of native ZigBee support is concerning, but not a dealbreaker. I haven't invested so much in ZigBee devices that I can't pivot to pure zwave, or to set up zigbee support later.

    Home Assistant appears to be the most powerful with the most device support, but also the most work to set up. I'm at the point in my life where I no longer enjoy spending hours figuring out how to get things to work, so that's a big one for me. I'd love to have something that works "out of the box".

    Hubitat appears to be a middle ground. Not quite as stable as HomeSeer, but easier to set up and manage than Home Assistant. It also supports Z-Wave and Zigbee and should support all my existing devices.

    Cost is a factor, but the lowest one on my list. If a z-wave door sensor costs $30 vs $10 for a zigbee one, that's a pretty minor cost over the lifetime of the system imo.

    What does everyone think? What would you go with, and why?

    Thanks!

    submitted by /u/kylemhall
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    Windows NUC vs Rpi vs Smart things hub for automation

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 07:06 PM PST

    Still trying to decide on what I want to do for my home automation. I want everything to be Z-Wave and only local network. What are the pros and cons with Windows setup vs the Rpi? Looking at something like this or an Rpi 4.

    https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0827989ZG/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_SyHoEbBDEBY0N

    I got a smart things hub, a smart switch, motion sensor and 2 light bulbs as part of a deal when I bought my note 10, but my understanding is that interface is all through the cloud. It's all still in the box. 😅

    Eventually I want to run all the lights on the main floor, a couple lamps and fans upstairs, lights outside, door locks, maybe the garage door opener, some motion sensors in bathrooms for lighting and to turn on a recirc pump to get hot water to the faucet/showers sooner without running the pump all day on a timer.

    submitted by /u/Tsiah16
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    RS485 to ethernet?

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 10:46 PM PST

    Hi,

    I'm thinking heaps of solar inverters and pool chlorinators have RS485, is there a reasonably standard hardware and software way to convert RS485 to ethernet and translate home automation (like HASS MQTT) functions to read/write serial / modbus commands, for example:

    Query a sensor value:

    0x01 0x03 0x0001 0x0004 0x15C9

    Returns:

    0x01 0x03 0x08 0x00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0x95 D7

    HA should display "00 00 00 00 00 00 00"

    Configure a setting:

    0x01 0x11 0x1324 0x0001 0x02 0x00 0x00 0x43B9

    Returns:

    0x01 0x11 0x1324 0x0001 0x80 0x4546

    Because we received 0x80 then HA can signal that the setting was accepted.

    Thanks.

    Richard

    submitted by /u/rthorntn
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    Inde-Project Narwal Robot Mop/Vacuum Shipping Delay...

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 06:51 PM PST

    One of the best-funded kikstarter/Indiegogo projects to date has pushed shipping of initial products back until March due to delays at the Chinese factories...

    https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/narwal-the-first-self-cleaning-robot-mop-vacuum#/

    submitted by /u/Abdiel_01
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    Smart switch for this weird fan/light switch? Alexa compatible?

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 10:35 PM PST

    Home Assistant Compatible Wall outlets (not plug) with no Override on Plug

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 06:44 PM PST

    I have a buddy that is starting to build out a home assistant server. He wants to replace his outlets in his playroom so that he can kill power to them after x time etc. He wants to make sure there is no on button on the outlet that the kids can turn it back on.

    Any recomendations?

    submitted by /u/neminat
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    [question] safely shutting down rasp pi home surveillance?

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 11:54 AM PST

    My home surveillance setup is IP Cams connected to Pi 3s streaming to Blue Iris server

    Is there a way to safely and securely cut the power to the PIs without corrupting the SD card?

    My goal would be to have the cameras inside my house power down with some kind of presence detection if a family member is home, or even a time based parameter.

    submitted by /u/CalvinsStuffedTiger
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    Could someone tell me what smart thermostats I can use based on my current one.

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 09:23 PM PST

    Could I get some help selecting under-cabinet lighting components?

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 01:30 PM PST

    I just want some basic under cabinet lighting that's easy to use on a daily basis.

    A package like this has almost everything I want but instead of that cheesy remote I'd much rather have something like this that's attached to the wall.

    Plus, I'd like to connect it to Alexa so I can schedule generic on/off times.

    Where I'm stuck is I'm assuming that switch/dimmer isn't compatible with the kit I was looking at and I have no idea what I need to connect it to Alexa.

    Any suggestions are appreciated.

    submitted by /u/pedantic_asshole
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    Help with pre-wired door and window contacts?

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 11:08 AM PST

    Take a look at the existing wiring: https://imgur.com/a/atJWiI7

    My house has pre-wired low voltage wires for door and window contacts and I want to integrate them with Home Assistant and my Z-Wave network. I just have a few questions...

    1) Why are there 4 wires per cable? Do I use only 2 of them?

    2) For the windows I just need to add the magnets since the surface mounts are already wired. Does the spec matter? I was looking at these, which is labeled W0115 https://www.amazon.com/10-Suface-Mount-Magnetic-Contacts/dp/B0011W4YNK whereas mine is labeled W0217

    3) Same with the doors, is this going to work? https://www.amazon.com/Hxchen-Normally-Recessed-Contact-Magnetic/dp/B07SWHSCMY

    I plan on connecting them to the aeotec door sensor dry contact https://aeotec.com/z-wave-door-window-sensor/

    Really wish there was a z-wave hub to support a dozen or two zones, but this is my plan.

    submitted by /u/Ryan0x52
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    I don’t know if I should replace the battery or not. Still working. I’m no scientist, but... what the eff.

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 07:00 PM PST

    Home Security

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 03:03 PM PST

    Has anyone created their own home security using their own programming, sensors, alarms, cameras, ect... Instead of using ADT or similar businesses?

    If so, Mind sharing your thoughts / experience / hardware / issues? The idea of building my own home security system popped in after calling ADT. Any discussion regarding this is welcomed. Thanks!

    submitted by /u/ElCapitan-
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    Advice needed: setting up a smart home in my new apartment's public WiFi

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 06:48 PM PST

    I just moved into a new apartment building, and I'm trying to connect my smart home stuff, mostly Google homes and wyze bulbs/plugs. They all use WiFi. My new building has WiFi included, but it's just one building wide network with a common password. It's set as a public network so devices are not able to see/talk to each other (can someone please tell me the technical term for this?) I contacted the company that provides the wifi, and asked if they have a recommended solution to this, and they have not responded yet. I kinda doubt they will.

    I did some research and I guess what I want to do is called a Cascade network, and I would do a LAN to WAN connection between the building wifi and a router that I could buy, but it seems there is no way to do that wirelessly, and I don't have access to the router. Maybe I could get a WiFi extender that would allow me to create a second network? Or I might be able to pay for a separate connection with the cable company. Does anybody have any better ideas or advice on how exactly i should go about this?

    submitted by /u/asdeasde96
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    Cut the house power whenever the weather mentions heavy lightning in the area?

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 06:15 PM PST

    IST I2000 Roughin

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 09:20 AM PST

    Anyone here have experience with the IST I2000? I have never installed one but have a customer building a home and he wants the system. I'm trying to figure out the cable runs I need to put in place during rough in. For example, home run cat5 for all stations to the head unit or do they wire in series? Do the speakers wire to the stations or home run to the master? Is there any power required to be roughed in besides the power for the master unit?

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    If there is a better place for me to ask this, please let me know.

    submitted by /u/_CapnObvious_
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    Easiest way to get notifications (to smartphone) on movement? I have Hue Motion Sensor

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 09:06 AM PST

    What do you guys use and how does it works the easiest way?

    submitted by /u/takingitsrs
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    Can anyone suggest a camera that can stream to a raspberry pi?

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 08:10 AM PST

    I've built a little home dashboard which shows some of the usually info (time, weather, calendar) and also controls my lightwaverf lights (via udp requests).

    Its built with apache/ php and vuejs (I know you all probably rolling your eyes at php but its my lanuguage! ) what I'd really like to add is a view of my front door/garden.

    The pi is too far to run a cable to the front door so it would have to be something network connected.

    ​

    Can anyone suggest a camera that I could use that I can stream to the dashboard or would a pi zero with a camera be the best option?

    submitted by /u/thewindburner
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    Indoor motion detector light where the detector can be in room and light outside

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 10:16 AM PST

    we have conference rooms in our office that are private - i'm looking for a motion detector light where once setup the motion detector can be on the wall in the room and the light can be outside of the wall.

    the goal is that if someone is in the room the light will turn on with the motion detector

    submitted by /u/reddit_reader777
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    What Sensibo features are lost if your window ac remote does NOT have an LCD screen readout?

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 01:30 PM PST

    My through wall GE ac unit has an IR remote but does not have an lcd readout on it. I'm wanting to:

    1. Remotely Detect thermostat setting of the ac unit (kids leave house and forget to turn it up)
    2. Remotely adjust temps
    3. Remotely detect room temp

    Will sensibo do this or another product that can be recommended? Thanks

    submitted by /u/Max_Roc
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    Shelly 1 with rocker switch?

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 07:21 AM PST

    Can a Shelly 1/2.5/dimmer work/be installed with a rocker switch ?
    How do you have to wire this?

    Cheers!

    submitted by /u/Track_Build
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    Shut light off at certain time when another light is on (Wemo)

    Posted: 04 Feb 2020 09:27 AM PST

    Hello, I have the wimo dimmer as well as a wemo outlet. Is there a way to setup this automation.

    1. I turn on a lamp connected to my wemo outlet.

    2. After lamp has been on for 5 min it turns off my wemo dimmer switch

    I can only seem to have it turn off the dimmer as soon as I turn on the lamp. I went it so that it's on a time frame.

    submitted by /u/GMT_Tech101
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