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    Wednesday, August 12, 2020

    Home Unlabelled Home Automation Any good way to keep tv volume constant. There are some shows that are quiet and commercials are BANGING loud. Sony 950H. Onkyo receiver. 4k firestick. Smartthings.

    Home Automation Any good way to keep tv volume constant. There are some shows that are quiet and commercials are BANGING loud. Sony 950H. Onkyo receiver. 4k firestick. Smartthings.

    August 12, 2020

    Home Automation Any good way to keep tv volume constant. There are some shows that are quiet and commercials are BANGING loud. Sony 950H. Onkyo receiver. 4k firestick. Smartthings.

    Any good way to keep tv volume constant. There are some shows that are quiet and commercials are BANGING loud. Sony 950H. Onkyo receiver. 4k firestick. Smartthings.

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 06:27 PM PDT

    This is driving me nuts. It doesnt happen on every show but on the ones it does I'm fighting the volume every commercial break.

    I already went into Sony - > settings - > sounds - > advanced auto volume. I think that only did the TV volume, which is at 0 since I use the receiver and surround.

    There's gotta be an easy solution to this and I just can't Google it correctly.

    Please help

    submitted by /u/TheRealSpaceTrout
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    Multiroom playback with a personal music library

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 01:23 PM PDT

    Hey guys, first of all, I'm not sure if this belongs here. This is the most relevant place where I thought I could ask.

    I'va always bought my music on iTunes for years now and synced it with MusicManager to Google Play Music. I had bought 4 Google Home Mini and 1 Google Home and used them as speaker group. I really liked it and everything was perfect. But bad boi Google is dropping support on GPM and wants us to move to YouTube Music which doesn't even support chromecasting (at least for uploaded songs).

    So I'm looking for an alternative. I want to have multi room speakers where I can play my own library. I checked out Amazon Echo's but I don't think that they support personnal library songs and also I think that their speaker groups can't be used by bluetooth, I think it's only individual speakers (correct me if I'm wrong). I'm willing to change my GH's if required. Only other option I know is Homepods which are 300$ per unit and would only work because my music is bought on iTunes, it wouldn't work for other songs.

    It doesn't even need to be a home assistant (like Alexa), it can be pure bluetooth, some raspberry pi thing. I'm open, I'm begging you to help me.

    submitted by /u/cekoya
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    Just released my MQTT gateway for LAN relay board

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 10:01 AM PDT

    Here you have the mentioned relay board (HHC-N8I88OP): https://es.aliexpress.com/item/4000120026245.html

    It offers a good price per I/O channel. I have mine already installed.

    Warning! shitty code:

    https://github.com/gabrielgbs97/hhc_n8i8op_mqtt

    submitted by /u/gabrielgbs97
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    Took off an old thermostat and hooked up a Nest with the same wires, G, R, Y, W. There’s an extra red wire that wasn’t connected originally and wondering if this should be connected.

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 07:10 PM PDT

    I have central air and gas furnace. House is from the 60s, AC is 35+ years old.

    Wondering because the Nest has shut off the ac and fan and gone into countdown mode before turning back on.

    Nest was just installed today

    submitted by /u/karpomalice
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    Replacing Standard switch (non-dimmer) with Lutron Caseta dimmer

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 10:05 AM PDT

    Replacing Standard switch (non-dimmer) with Lutron Caseta dimmer

    I am in process of replacing the standard switches with Lutron Caseta Dimmer switches as I don't have neutral in box. I have them successfully changed in the existing dimmer switch location. Now I am looking to replace other non-dimmer location switches. Got some question before I could move on:-

    1. Will the Lutron Dimmer switch work with non dimmable bulbs or do I need to have the bulbs replaced as well?
    2. In the dimmer switch location I had 2 black and 1 green wire which I re-connected with the Lutron Caseta dimmer, but in the non-dimmer switch I have black and white and bare copper inside the box( see attached) . Do I need to connect the two blacks from the Lutron dimmer switch to the black and white of the existing wire and connect the Lutron green with the existing bare copper in the box.

    https://preview.redd.it/xdv632qcreg51.jpg?width=768&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37be3cd1f1ab2b904c04207e9edb8faf788b1437

    submitted by /u/aravindsivaraman
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    Recommendations for an always-on weatherproof bluetooth speaker for a patio?

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 02:08 PM PDT

    Goal

    I wish to have outdoor, chromecast-able speakers, ideally without drilling through my walls.

    What I've done

    I just got a Chromecast audio and they still work great.

    My plan is to set up a patio speaker and have it connect via bluetooth through my house's exterior wall.

    Chromecast audio -> Bluetooth transmitter -> air -> Bluetooth speakers

    I tested it with a portable, cheap bluetooth speaker and it works pretty well!

    The Problem

    There are so many bluetooth speakers, and even weatherproof speakers, but I can't find many that are designed to work off of AC power.

    My question for you guys: did any of you do something like this? Do you have an 'always on' outdoor speaker with bluetooth? I can manually switch it on too, but I don't want the annoyance of remembering to carry a speaker outside every time I wanna grill, and the sound off my phone isn't good enough.

    Thanks in advanced!

    submitted by /u/funkoid
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    PoE cameras to turn on sprinklers

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 10:38 PM PDT

    So, I've tuned the motion detection on my PoE cameras to be fairly accurate.

    Recently, I've had several incidents on my lawn. I don't live in the best neighborhood, and I've had:

    1) people letting their dogs take a crap on my lawn

    2) random homeless person finding a shaded place on my lawn, sleeping there and taking a shit

    3) kids dumping random trash on my lawn

    My cameras catch all the action but it's pretty frustrating not being able to do anything about it.

    I thought maybe I could install a speaker to tell them to go away, but that seems like people might ignore it after awhile.

    Then, I thought, what if I just set a rule that turns my sprinklers on everytime there is motion for 1 minute in that zone? Since it's just one zone, it shouldn't be too much water... That should deter these folks, right?

    Has anyone actually set up anything like this???

    submitted by /u/greentea45
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    Wunderground not working with Weather Binding

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 09:27 PM PDT

    Hi all.

    Could somebody please tell me whats wrong with my config? I can´t get this sucker working and no Error in the logs. Values keep staying on "-", so basically nothing. Already reinstalled and cleaned cash with dozens of restarts. Already tried deleting the weather.cfg in the user folders and restart. Also API-Key is working very good in the "meteo pws monitoring" app. So despite all the rumors i read online, wunderground seems to giveaway fresh API-keys... (propably because its my pws?)

    Also could somebody please tell me what the specific "weatherunderground binding" is for, if you already have the weather-binding?

    weather.cfg:

    # The apikey for the different weather providers, at least one must be specified
    # Note: Hamweather requires two apikeys: client_id=apikey, client_secret=apikey2
    #apikey.ForecastIo=
    #apikey.OpenWeatherMap=
    #apikey.WorldWeatherOnline=
    apikey.Wunderground= 8f1d2d43a2c647e7xxxxxxxxx
    #apikey.Hamweather=
    #apikey2.Hamweather=
    #apikey.Meteoblue=
    # location configuration, you can specify multiple locations
    location.home.name= Neumarkt_am_Wallersee
    location.home.latitude= 4x.941917419433594
    location.home.longitude= 1x.218546867370605
    #location.home.woeid= (required for Yahoo provider)
    location.home.provider= Wunderground
    location.home.language= de
    location.home.updateInterval= 10
    location.home.units= SI

    sitemap:

    sitemap wohnung_admin label="Wohnung Admin" {
    Frame label="Erdgeschoss" icon="groundfloor" {
    Group item=W_LivingDining
    Group item=W_Office
    Group item=W_Bedroom
    Group item=W_Corridor
    Group item=W_Bathroom
    Group item=W_Toilet
    Group item=D_FrontYard
    }
    Frame label="Wetter"{
    Text item=Humidity
    Text item=Visibility
    Text item=Pressure
    Text item=UV_Index
    Text item=LastUpdate
    Text item=Rain
    Text item=Snow
    Text item=Precip_Probability
    Text item=Temperature
    Text item=Temp_Feel
    Text item=Temp_Dewpoint
    Text item=Temp_Min
    Text item=Temp_Max
    Text item=Temp_MinMax
    Text item=Wind_Speed
    Text item=Wind_Direction
    Text item=Wind_Degree
    Text item=Wind_Gust
    Text item=Wind_Chill
    }
    }
    weather.items: (all from the open hab homepage, all standard except for //´s, i dont need 'em)

    Number Humidity "Humidity [%d %%]" <humidity> {weather="location=home, type=atmosphere, property=humidity"}
    Number Visibility "Visibility [%.2f km]" <camera> {weather="location=home, type=atmosphere, property=visibility"}
    // Number Visibility_Mph "Visibility [%.2f mi]" {weather="location=home, type=atmosphere, property=visibility, unit=mph"}
    Number Pressure "Pressure [%.2f mb]" <pressure> {weather="location=home, type=atmosphere, property=pressure"}
    //Number Pressure_Inches "Pressure [%.2f in]" {weather="location=home, type=atmosphere, property=pressure, unit=inches"}
    String Pressure_Trend "Pressuretrend [%s]" <pressure> {weather="location=home, type=atmosphere, property=pressureTrend"}
    //Number Ozone "Ozone [%d ppm]" {weather="location=home, type=atmosphere, property=ozone"}
    Number UV_Index "UV Index" <sun> {weather="location=home, type=atmosphere, property=uvIndex, scale=0"}
    // clouds
    Number Clouds "Clouds [%.0f %%]" {weather="location=home, type=clouds, property=percent"}
    // condition
    String Condition "Condition [%s]" {weather="location=home, type=condition, property=text"}
    String Condition_ID "Condition id [%s]" {weather="location=home, type=condition, property=id"}
    DateTime ObservationTime "Observation time [%1$td.%1$tm.%1$tY %1$tH:%1$tM]" {weather="location=home, type=condition, property=observationTime"}
    DateTime LastUpdate "Last update [%1$td.%1$tm.%1$tY %1$tH:%1$tM]" <time> {weather="location=home, type=condition, property=lastUpdate"}
    String CommonId "Common id [%s]" {weather="location=home, type=condition, property=commonId"}
    // precipitation
    Number Rain "Rain [%.2f mm/h]" <rain> {weather="location=home, type=precipitation, property=rain"}
    //Number Rain_Inches "Rain [%.2f in/h]" {weather="location=home, type=precipitation, property=rain, unit=inches"}
    Number Snow "Snow [%.2f mm/h]" <snow> {weather="location=home, type=precipitation, property=snow"}
    //Number Snow_Inches "Snow [%.2f in/h]" {weather="location=home, type=precipitation, property=snow, unit=inches"}
    Number Precip_Probability "Precip probability [%d %%]" <rain> {weather="location=home, type=precipitation, property=probability"}
    // temperature
    Number Temperature "Temperature [%.2f °C]" <temperature> {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=current"}
    //Number Temperature_F "Temperature [%.2f °F]" {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=current, unit=fahrenheit"}
    Number Temp_Feel "Temperature feel [%.2f °C]" <temperature> {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=feel"}
    //Number Temp_Feel_F "Temperature feel [%.2f °F]" {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=feel, unit=fahrenheit"}
    Number Temp_Dewpoint "Dewpoint [%.2f °C]" <temperature> {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=dewpoint"}
    //Number Temp_Dewpoint_F "Dewpoint [%.2f °F]" {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=dewpoint, unit=fahrenheit"}
    // min and max values only available in forecasts
    Number Temp_Min "Temperature min [%.2f °C]" <snow> {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=min"}
    //Number Temp_Min_F "Temperature min [%.2f °F]" {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=min, unit=fahrenheit"}
    Number Temp_Max "Temperature max [%.2f °C]" <fire> {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=max"}
    //Number Temp_Max_F "Temperature max [%.2f °F]" {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=max, unit=fahrenheit"}
    String Temp_MinMax "Min/Max [%s °C]" {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=minMax"}
    //String Temp_MinMax_F "Min/Max [%s °F]" {weather="location=home, type=temperature, property=minMax, unit=fahrenheit"}
    // wind
    Number Wind_Speed "Windspeed [%.2f km/h]" <wind> {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=speed"}
    //Number Wind_Speed_Beaufort "Windspeed Beaufort [%d]" {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=speed, unit=beaufort"}
    //Number Wind_Speed_Knots "Windspeed [%.2f kn]" {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=speed, unit=knots"}
    //Number Wind_Speed_Mps "Windspeed [%.2f mps]" {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=speed, unit=mps"}
    //Number Wind_Speed_Mph "Windspeed [%.2f mph]" {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=speed, unit=mph"}
    String Wind_Direction "Wind direction [%s]" <wind> {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=direction"}
    Number Wind_Degree "Wind degree [%.0f °]" <wind> {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=degree"}
    Number Wind_Gust "Wind gust [%.2f km/h]" <wind> {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=gust"}
    //Number Wind_Gust_Beaufort "Wind gust Beaufort [%d]" {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=gust, unit=beaufort"}
    //Number Wind_Gust_Knots "Wind gust [%.2f kn]" {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=gust, unit=knots"}
    //Number Wind_Gust_Mps "Wind gust [%.2f mps]" {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=gust, unit=mps"}
    //Number Wind_Gust_Mph "Wind gust [%.2f mph]" {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=gust, unit=mph"}
    Number Wind_Chill "Wind chill [%.2f °C]" <wind> {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=chill"}
    //Number Wind_Chill_F "Wind chill [%.2f °F]" {weather="location=home, type=wind, property=chill, unit=fahrenheit"}
    // weather station (only Hamweather)
    String Station_Name "Station Name [%s]" {weather="location=home, type=station, property=name"}
    String Station_Id "Station Id [%s]" {weather="location=home, type=station, property=id"}
    Number Station_Latitude "Station Latitude [%.6f]" {weather="location=home, type=station, property=latitude, scale=6"}
    Number Station_Longitude "Station Longitude [%.6f]" {weather="location=home, type=station, property=longitude, scale=6"}

    Thanks in advance!

    PS: Pls somebody help :(

    submitted by /u/xKoNsTix
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    Sonoff mini, 2 switches, 1 light

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 08:08 PM PDT

    Just starting trying to setup my home with some home automation. I will be using Sonoff Mini's flashed with tasmato. I have a few lights that are controlled by 2 switches (ie, either side of Hall way). My switches are setup as so: each has 3 wires + the ground wire. The neutral wire is also in the hang box and available for attaching to the sonoff mini. I just don't understand exactly how to make to connection for this. My research has shown that it can be accomplished using only 2 sonoff mini, I am just confused on what and how to wire it up. Any assistance is appreciated.

    submitted by /u/hey_you_look_at_me
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    Experiences with Nest Hello in cold climates (below -30C)

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 02:10 PM PDT

    Does anyone have experience with Nest Hello performance in cold climates (below -30C)?

    We had been using the Honeywell Skybell. I selected Skybell because the advertise -40c but we found after 1 or 2 winters they stopped connecting to network closer to -25C.

    I was hoping for some user feedback for the Hello.

    ​

    Thanks in advance

    submitted by /u/rocko-wpg7
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    I am looking for a good 15m LED strip light from aliexpress.

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 06:56 PM PDT

    Anyone knows a good product or a good setup. I would prefer to have multiple colors. I heard they are less brighter than single colors but i could be wrong.

    submitted by /u/Hacker_wana_be
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    Smart Recessed Lights with Gimbal

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 02:21 PM PDT

    This has been driving crazy! Has anyone had any luck finding recessed lights with a gimbal that also has smart home capability? I can't find any from reliable companies and it makes no sense to me.

    submitted by /u/FoeJred89
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    Multi-room home video/audio

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 02:06 PM PDT

    Hi, I'm fairly new to home automation and don't know a lot about home audio/video so this is probably a noobish question. Sorry if wrong subreddit.. might be more of a home theater question but thought home automation people would be more likely to do this kind of setup.

    Current Setup: I am using a combination of a 4x2 4k HDMI Switch, Logitech Harmony hub, and Google Home to manage inputs on 2 TVs using either voice commands or the harmony app. My devices are plugged into the HDMI switch. The first output of the HDMI switch goes to my older receiver which outputs to my main TV. The other output of the HDMI switch goes straight into my other TV in another room. I am able to use the harmony app/voice commands to control my HDMI switch having all of my devices wherever I am.

    I am looking to upgrade to a 4k 120hz TV in my living room but my HDMI switch does not support 120hz and my receiver doesn't support 4k at all. I tried Denon support first to see if they had anything that could work, I thought their AVRS960H receiver might do it (and possibly replace my harmony hub as well as my hdmi switch leaving me with less devices) as it has multiple hdmi 2.1 outputs, supports google home, and two zones but they said I would have to keep or replace my HDMI switch to do what I am currently doing. I'm hoping someone could explain why that wouldn't work as they offered no explanation.

    Another option I thought of was purchase a 4k 120hz 4x2 HDMI switch and I could do what I'm doing now, but in my living room output to the TV and then use an optical cable to receiver for sound. However I can't seem to find one yet and I would much rather replace my receiver and have less overall devices if possible.

    Any advice on the proper way to do this? Or any recommendations for a receiver that would work?

    submitted by /u/Linkage8
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    More controllers for led strips?

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 04:51 PM PDT

    I've recently bought some Govee led strips however im planning on splitting them. Would I need some sort of proprietary controller to access the extra set from the app? If so does Govee sell the controller?

    submitted by /u/NickooRs
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    Max devices on router. Devices dropping from network.

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 01:00 PM PDT

    As the title states I have too many devices connected to my router, resulting in devices being kicked off spontaneously as others try to connect. I've tried some simple stuff like adjusting QOS device prioritization and moving essential devices onto the 5G band but im still running into issues.

    I currently have 33 devices connected to my Nighthawk X4S (netgear recommends 32 at most)

    Iot devices are TP-link HSxxx switches, Nest minis, chromecasts, and a couple computers/phones. All need wifi so an IoT hub wont work.

    I thought about getting another router to move the load of low bandwidth devices to but my concern is that I wouldn't be able control devices from one network to the other.

    What can I do to manage all these devices? Can the second router be set to operate in bridge mode and fix the cross network communication issue?

    submitted by /u/Putsome-Putin-onit
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    Automate August to disable auto lock?

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 12:44 PM PDT

    I hate having to pull out my phone to unlock the door when I'm doing yard work etc. I also dislike having to manually change my auto lock settings manually multiple times in a day.

    My initial thought was to use IFTTT to create an applet where saying "I'm going outaide' to the Google assistant would disable the auto lock setting in August. As far as I know though, August can only be used as a trigger, not as an action.

    Does anyone have an idea about how to automate changing the auto lock feature? Whether it be by geo fence or voice command?

    submitted by /u/I_ask_pf_questions
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    Mi Home / Roborock S5: Is there a way to separate rooms it maps out? This is a hallway, bathroom, and bedroom and I’d like the bedroom to be it’s own thing.

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 04:24 PM PDT

    Sonoff vs. SwitchBee...Which is better for whole home automation?

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 03:39 PM PDT

    Hi,

    So, I just got a quotation from a local tech integrator here in the Dominican Republic.

    They are offering whole home automation with both brands.

    Can anyone recommend which is better and in terms of integration with google home how reliable is it?

    The switchbee offer is by far more expensive but that is no problem.

    Would greatly appreciate any recommendations.

    Thanks.

    submitted by /u/dblum217
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    Buying a house - what to do to prepare for a smart home before moving in?

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 02:39 PM PDT

    Hey,

    I am buying a house which was built in 2008. So it's not that old, but it wasn't designed with smart solutions at all.

    Therefore, before moving in, I would really like to leverage the glory of 2020 smart tech while not getting broke and also preparing for whatever may come in the future.

    I work in IT and have previously used home assistant on my RPi (with some temperature sensors) + I also code in Python so was able to adjust it slightly. That said, I don't mind getting my hands dirty and get deep in the tech, but I don't want to do it just for its own sake (anymore, for the most of the time...).

    I am therefore curious if you had some comments on my next steps like being too naive, missing something obvious or anything. Apologies in advance for not being able to be more specific:

    1. I wrote to 10 companies I could find in my country when searching for "smart home project house" and I want them to let them make a project for me. That kind of guys like Loxone and others. Did everyone here just design the stuff by themselves or?
    2. I plan to use a Home assistant as the central hub to integrate other devices with this, therefore I need systems which are open enough to be integrated with this great tool
    3. The first thing to invest in seems to be HVAC (recuperation and AC). We work from home, really want to have fresh air without having to open windows due to the noise and insect. I also hope it would make the home a bit more energy-efficient and therefore the savings from being smarter about heating can go to AC cost. This means the house will need new ducts and wiring...
    4. ...and because new wiring and ducts will be needed because of HVAC, I would also like to plan all necessary wiring for smart home devices and whatever can come so I don't have to drill holes anymore. Should I just go with conduits in walls everywhere possible and get the Cat6 through it for now? How about electricity? Bigger holes to accommodate smart outlets? What about lightning - bigger as well as advocated here (<- this kind of stuff is something I am looking for)? Should I let the company from the step 1. do the plan for me or is there something better or more universal like "cat 6 in every room next to the door" or "have a smart outlet in every corner"? Can I use conduits for electricity too?
    5. The next "obvious" step needs to buy a lot of switches and power outlets with z-wave e.g. as mentioned here. Having it everywhere seems like overkill (and we simply could make the holes ready enough for smart switch later on), as I enjoy nice lighting behaviour (timing, presence sensors, ...). Following on that, some cheaper (Ikea?) shades.
    6. I don't need a lot of "media" stuff. Like, we don't use TV or Audio much (yet?).

    Thanks a lot!

    submitted by /u/kotrfa
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    Smart Plugs in a WiFi restricted environment

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 02:03 PM PDT

    So I work in a studio that includes a number of hard to reach power outlet places that we're hoping we can connect some smart plugs to help remedy this by controlling them wirelessly.

    The problem is, the space that it will be in has an open enterprise wifi so IT won't like the idea of having these plugs connect to that network. And I won't have the ability to connect them to any other network as well.

    What would be my best option going about this?

    submitted by /u/blue_dingo
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    My first home automation project.

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 01:18 PM PDT

    Gut Reno Whole House Smart Lighting Design Challenge

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 01:13 PM PDT

    I'm designing a full gut renovation of my grandfather's old house in New Hampshire (early 1900s; this is my first reno ever). Given that I've been tearing out everything down to the old posts and will be moving walls around, I'm presented with a great opportunity to implement a lighting & control system from scratch!

    What I'm looking for

    • LED-only
    • Variety of bulb types for recessed, track, pendant, under/in-cabinet, sconce, lamp, etc implementations
    • Dimmable almost across the board
    • Bulb color temperature adjustment would be great, though not a deal-breaker
    • No need for fancy colors
    • Controllable by mobile app (Google Home, Apple HomeKit, or equivalent and ideally agnostic between them — mostly I'd like to avoid janky apps half-assed by bulb manufacturers or flash-in-the-pan home automation companies with horrid user interfaces), voice assistants (agnostic as well), and physical dimmer switches (aesthetically minimalist is important!)... please no dedicated tablets, wall-mounted screens, etc
    • Ability to map bulbs' states to scenes
    • Not opposed to motion sensors in main spaces (for navigation lighting only)
    • Ability to turn off lights when not on the home WiFi network would be slick for those times I forget on my way out

    I don't like looking at most smart hubs because they're usually pretty ugly (I'd describe the current-gen Nest WiFi router as almost perfect whereas the Philips Hue Hub is far from it) so solutions that have next to no extraneous hardware, integrate with an existing suite of smart speakers, or whose boxes are either pretty to look at or visually disappear would be easy favorites.

    I also have a pet peeve about switches: I want physical controls in every space as silent/phone-less fallbacks but I hate situations where multiple switches control the same bulbs and the position of at least one switch doesn't correspond to the bulbs' states (a problem exacerbated by app/voice assistant integration). Therefore I'm very interested in buttons, capacitive sliders, knobs without limiters, or switches that return to neutral after being pressed.

    What I've found
    I use GE C-Life bulbs in my apartment. They were easy to retrofit into existing hardware and got me hooked on controlling lights without getting up from the couch. They also connect directly with my Nest Minis, so there was no extra hardware or software to set up or look at. Unfortunately they have very limited functionality, and they mean all my switches are up all the time which looks weird and causes confusion for visitors when their first flick doesn't do anything.

    Because of this, I feel like smart bulbs and hubs are fine for retrofits but maybe not the best for starting from scratch? Unless I abandon the idea of wired wall switches in favor of those wireless wall-mounted remote controls the brands offer...

    This seems to put me into the realm of dumb LED bulbs with traditional circuitry and locating all the brains in the switches? Finding switches that work both in tandem with one another for the same lights and with voice assistants (and which are also pretty) has been a headache, so I would love some direction here!

    I think my favorite switches so far are from Lutron and Legrand. Lutron's Sunnata touch dimmer became quick fodder for my minimalist heart, but it is unclear to me how it would handle syncing state with other switches, and it appears unlikely to respond to a voice assistant or home control app unless there's something I'm missing.

    What do I need to know?
    I'm not 100% certain what I should be asking everyone — I have plenty of UX targets but no real understanding of how the components come together, even with traditional bulbs+switches in an average home.

    If you were to design this kind of system from scratch, what would you think about? What brands might you consider, and how would you expect the various pieces to come together as a cohesive whole?

    Finally, I know security has been a bit neglected by IOT manufacturers, but any suggestions that gravitate toward brands known to be better about OTA security updates, long-term support, or at the very least don't store network passwords in plain text would be AWESOME.

    Thank you so much!

    submitted by /u/nagaant
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    Help choosing a secure doorbell camera?

    Posted: 11 Aug 2020 11:37 AM PDT

    Hi All, I searched through this subreddit for details about a doorbell camera, but I haven't seen anyone addressing one of the things that have kept me from actually purchasing one. I am looking to get a small, non-intrusive, budget doorbell with a camera on it, but I can't find any information regarding which are the most "secure" companies. I've seen a lot of articles and stuff about how Ring doorbells aren't very secure (unauthorized people can view the feed, videos are given to law enforcement, etc). I'm not very familiar with the brands that are offering doorbell cameras, but I was wondering if any of you could help me understand some of the security concerns around these devices and which brand would be the best for me to purchase with this concern in mind.

    Thanks all!

    EDIT: I currently don't have very much in terms of smart-home tech, but I do have one Google Home mini, so if there is a lot of cross-use with the Nest brand doorbells, I might be considering that as well.

    submitted by /u/LonelyRoast
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